Additional Opportunities for SIR
Essay and Design Competitions for Students in Mathematics and Sciences
Following is a partial alphabetical list of essay and design competitions, ordered by approximate deadlines. Please be sure to confirm all information with the official sponsor and official web site. Check all official rules and requirements carefully.
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• Botball: Botball is a hands-on learning experience in robotics designed to engage students in learning the practical applications of science, technology, engineering and math sponsored by the KISS Institute for Practical Robotics (KIPR). This is a heavy-duty educational robotics competition for teams.
More Information and Application: http://www.botball.org/about-botball/overview.php
Deadline: usually December; check web site for details
• Chemagination: High school chemistry students are invited to write an article as if it were part of a future issue of ChemMatters magazine, the premier magazine for high school chemistry students.
More Information and Application: http://www.chemistry.org/portal/a/c/s/1/acsdisplay.html?DOC=oca%5Cchemagination.html
Deadline: usually, September; check web site for details
• Creative Energy Challenge: Johnson Controls and the National Energy Foundation (NEF) sponsor the Igniting Creative Energy Challenge, which is an educational competition designed to encourage students to learn more about energy and the environment. Students are asked to submit entries that reflect the competition theme, and demonstrate an understanding of what an individual, family, or group can do to make a difference in their home, school, or community. Students may express their ideas on energy conservation and the environment in the form of science projects, essays, stories, artwork, photographs, music, video, or website projects. They may also submit recent service projects or results from
More Information and Application: www.ignitingcreativeenergy.org
Deadline: February
• DuPont Challenge Essay: The DuPont Challenge is an essay of 700 to 1,000 words discussing a scientific or technological development, event, or theory that has captured your interest and attention.
More Information and Application: http://www.glcomm.com/dupont
Deadline: usually January; check web site for details
• Eureka: supports inventions. Eureka provides the necessary tools (financial promotion for ideas and innovations, scientific resources, and practical information) so ideas for invention can become reality. A jury selects the most promising ideas and helps the students bring their ideas for inventions to reality, then supports construction and marketing of the invention.
More Information and Application: http://en.eureka-international.com
Deadline: rolling; check web site for details
• Exploravision: Students in teams of two, three or four, along with a team coach, select a current technology, research its history, and explore a new use for the technology and what it could be like twenty years from now. Twenty-four regional teams will be chosen as semi-finalists who will then create Web sites to showcase their ideas. Next, eight finalist teams will be selected and invited to Washington , D.C. for the ExploraVision Awards weekend.
More Information and Application: http://www.toshiba.com/tai/exploravision
Deadline: usually February; check web site for details
• FIRST: FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a multinational non-profit organization, that aspires to transform culture, making science, mathematics, engineering and technology as cool for kids as sports are today. FIRST operates the FIRST Robotics Competition in which teams of high school students, sponsored and assisted by local companies and volunteers, design, assemble, and test a robot capable of performing a specified task in competition with other teams.
More Information and Application: www.usfirst.org
Deadline: usually December; check their web site
• JETS: The Junior Engineering Technical Society sponsors a variety of contests for teams to apply mathematics and physics principles to engineering problems.
More Information and Application: www.jets.org
Deadlines: check the web site for due dates for any particular contest
• KIPR: KISS Institute for Practical Robotics (KIPR) is a private non-profit community-based organization that works with all ages to provide improved learning and skills development through the application of technology, particularly robotics. They do this primarily by providing supplementary, extra-curricular and professional development classes and activities.
More Information: http://www.kipr.org
Deadlines: check the web site for due dates for any particular contest
• Lemelson-MIT Program: InvenTeams are formed by high school students, their teacher, and an industry mentor for the purpose of inventing something of value for their school or local communities. The Lemelson-MIT Program awards InvenTeam Grants to generate excitement about the rewarding process of identifying a need, brainstorming on a solution, and working through the inventive process to produce something beneficial to the community. A non-competitive, team-based approach enriches this experience.
More Information and Application: http://web.mit.edu/inventeams/
Deadline: usually May; check web site for details
• Neuroscience Creativity Prize: This prize, from the American Association of Neurology, identifies students whose creativity and ability to use the scientific method indicate the potential to make significant contributions in the field of neuroscience, and rewards the efforts and dedication of the teachers who have supported these students.
More Information and Application: http://www.aan.com
Deadline: usually December; check web site for details
• Outdoor Illinois Photo Contest: The Illinois Department of Natural Resources sponsors the "Outdoor Illinois Photo Contest."
More Information: www.dnr.state.il.us/photos
Deadline: check web site for details
• Thinkquest: The teachers and students form teams around the project of their choosing and the result is an educational website. The team, in the course of participating in this program, will explore and add to growing sources of educational information on the Internet for kids, by kids.
More Information and Application: http://www.thinkquest.com
Deadline: usually February; check web site for details
• Young Epidemiology Scholars Competition: The future health of the American population depends in large part upon the knowledge and ability of our upcoming health leaders, practitioners and researchers. The Young Epidemiology Scholars (YES) competition for original student research is designed to inspire talented students to investigate the many behavioral, biological, environmental and social factors that affect health and, based upon this knowledge, to identify ways to improve the health of the public. The YES Competition offers college scholarship awards to high school juniors and seniors who conduct outstanding research projects that apply epidemiological methods of analysis to a health-related issue.
More Information and Application: http://www.collegeboard.com/yes/index.html
Deadline: usually early February; check web site for details
• Young Naturalist Award: You, too, can join with scientists in exploring the world around you. The Young Naturalist Awards program invites you to plan and conduct your own scientific expedition, one which will provide original data, questions, and observations on a topic in the natural sciences. You are not expected to make a new scientific discovery. However, your expedition should provide you with a new understanding about the question you investigated. Tell us about your expedition in an essay that includes artwork and/or photographs that help to illustrate your findings.
More Information and Application: http://www.amnh.org/youngnaturalistawards
Deadline: usually early January; check web site for details