Virtual STEM Challenge 2026
A Virtual Science and Engineering Fair for Grades 3 to 12 students
Sponsored By
Summer Cohort Results Announced
Nearly 200 students in Grades 3 to 12 participated in the Summer Cohort of Virtual STEM Challenge 2026. These students worked individually or in a team to complete an innovative Science or Engineering Project that they are most passionate about. Project submissions included an Abstract, Poster, a brief Video and an SDG document (in case their project aligns with United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals) for virtual judging, recognition, and awards.
Congratulations to all the participants! Every project deserves an applaud.
We are pleased to announce the winners of the Virtual STEM Challenge 2026, Summer Cohort! There are multiple awards:
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Category Awards - Elementary, Middle School, and High School Projects
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SDG Awards - Projects aligned to United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals
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IEEE Sponsored Awards - Projects aligned to Engineering and Real-World Impact
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Honorable Mentions
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Meet Our Award-Winning Young Scientists and Engineers
CATEGORY AWARDS
Elementary Level - Grades 3 to 5
Ist Place Award
Activated Carbon Wall - A Sustainable Barrier to Landfill Odors and Air Pollutants
By Sara Patwardhan
2nd Place Award
A Green Innovation
By Ayansh Bhand and Srishti Vadlapatla
3rd Place Award
Jumping Shoes
By Nyra Garg
Middle School Level - Grades 6 to 8
Ist Place Award
Social Jetlag - Linking Sleep Schedules to Daytime Fatigue
By Seoyoon Shin and Ellie Yoon
2nd Place Award
Urban Heat Island Effect
By Sechan Chang
High School Level - Grades 9 to 12
Ist Place Award
Development of a Multi-functional Smart Bioplastic Integrating Natural Antimicrobial Protection with Colorimetric Spoilage Detection for Sustainable Food Packaging
By Kristina Goldovsky
2nd Place Award
Structure and Expression Guided RNAi Target Selection in Familial Hypercholesterolemia
By Mitali Alurkar
3rd Place Award
TrustSkinAI: Equitable Non-Invasive Skin Cancer Detection for Diverse Skin Tones
By Anshin Cheng
SDG AWARDS
Ist Place Award
Vision Ripe
By Aditya Kishore & Gershom Arokia Raj
2nd Place Award
EEG Phase Diffusion
By Vivaan Daxini
3rd Place Award
Shoreline Buffer Contest
By Sophia Sani Kim
IEEE Sponsored Awards
Ist Place Award
VisionRipe: AI-Powered Ripeness Detection for Fruits & Vegetables
By Aditya Kishore and Gershom Arokia Raj
2nd Place Award
Intelligent Interview Pro
By Jaidev Kaleeswaran
3rd Place Award
Feel Safe: Using Emotionally Intelligent Prompts to Prevent Suicide
By Tanishka Ramkumar
Honorable Mentions
Microglial Transcriptomics Reveal Drivers -Autism Severity
By Aadhithya Ramesh
SU(3) Weight Diagrams and Gell-Mann–Okubo Mass Relations for Tetraquark and Pentaquark Multiplets
By Varun Rajkumar