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Winning projects

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.

9 projects

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MCMC Sampling of Origami and Linkages

Hikaru Kuribayashi

Grand award · Regeneron ISEF 2026

Simulation software that applies Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling to the configuration space of folded structures and mechanical linkages, exploring many folding states at once instead of following a single path. The intended applications are compact deployable structures such as satellite solar sails and folded medical devices.

  • origami
  • computational-geometry
  • simulation
  • +2
Physics & AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy
advanced

Nanocellulose Hydrosponges for 6PPD-Q Removal

Lakshmi Agrawal

First place · Regeneron ISEF 2026

Reported roughly 80% removal of the target contaminant, using 85% less energy and costing 98% less than the alternatives it was compared against.

  • water-treatment
  • 6ppd-quinone
  • nanocellulose
  • +2
Chemistry
advanced

Solvability of Equations in Elementary Functions

Nikola Veselinov

First place · Regeneron ISEF 2026

A new theorem giving conditions under which an equation cannot be solved in elementary functions, developed by combining ideas from topology, symmetry and Galois theory.

  • pure-mathematics
  • galois-theory
  • topology
  • +1
Mathematics
advanced

Capturable Carbon Dioxide to Save Our Bees

Aakash Manaswi

Third place · Regeneron ISEF 2026

Reported mite elimination as effective as pesticide treatment, without pesticide residues, alongside improved hive health measures.

  • beekeeping
  • varroa
  • pest-management
  • +1
BiologyAnimal Sciences
advanced

MXene-Based RFID Tags for Plastic Waste Sorting

Kevin Sun

Third place · Regeneron ISEF 2026

Radio-frequency identification tags printed from conductive MXene material that identify a plastic's type during sorting and then dissolve during standard recycling instead of contaminating the output stream.

  • recycling
  • mxene
  • rfid
  • +2
Materials Science