What strong projects actually look like — the question they asked, the design that survived review, and the one decision that made the difference.
Archive entries are summaries compiled for study. Read them for how a project was structured, argued, and defended — not as a template to reproduce. Copying someone else's project is the one thing that will end yours.
8 projects
Benjamin Davis
First place · Regeneron ISEF 2025
Reported about 45% greater efficiency than comparable systems at roughly 90% lower cost.
Siyaa Poddar
First place · Regeneron ISEF 2025
Low-cost detectors for toxic silica and uranium dust, built from colour-changing chemistry stabilised inside metal-organic frameworks, developed with Indigenous communities near abandoned mines in the US Southwest in mind.
Adam Kovalčík
Grand award · Regeneron ISEF 2025
Cut the synthesis from 15 steps to 10, roughly doubled yield in less time, and brought the reported cost down from about $75 per gram to about $12.50 per gram.
XinYan Chen
Third place · Regeneron ISEF 2025
Reported indoor formaldehyde reduced by nearly 90% over 18 hours.
Aleksandra Petkova
Third place · Regeneron ISEF 2025
A study of how vessel speed shapes wake patterns, combining aerial photography of real wakes with controlled trials using remote-controlled boats, to predict the speed that minimises drag for a given hull size.
Cory Seelenfreund
Third place · Regeneron ISEF 2025
Simulation and mathematical modelling of how memory length and degree of self-interest change outcomes in the iterated prisoner's dilemma, framed around implications for AI agent design.
Uma Sthanu
Third place · Regeneron ISEF 2025
An investigation of how prostaglandin E2 affects damaged neural cells, aimed at treatments for brain disease and traumatic injury.
Samuel Skotnikov, Chanyoung Kim, and Eeshaan Prashanth
Second place · Regeneron ISEF 2025
Reported 98% accuracy predicting intended movement from EEG.