The Washington State Science & Engineering Fair (WSSEF) joins with the five Regional Fairs to comprise the Washington International Science & Engineering “WISE Team” at the ISEF. The Regional Science & Engineering Fairs are Eastern Washington (EWRSEF) , Central Sound (CSRSEF), Mid-Columbia (MCSF), Discovery (DRSEF) and Southwest Washington (SWWSEF) .
CONGRATULATIONS!! Click on the year for full details and photos!
* Hint: Scroll down following the award lists for the previous year results.
WISE Team 2026 Results! Check it out for all the scoop and photos!
Grand Award Winner ISEF 2026. Anusha Arora, 15, Interlake High School, received the F. Thomson Leighton and Bonnie Berger Family Prize for STEM Excellence of $50,000 for her music therapy device. Photo courtesy of Gary Foss, WSSEF VP
Lakshmi Agarwal, Interlake High School, won the Regeneron Young Scientist Award, $75,000. She earned the prestigious prize for developing a specialized sponge designed to extract salmon-killing tire pollutants from water. These are the top three high school science projects in the world. Lakshmi is on the right. Photo courtesy of Gary Foss, WSSEF VP
| 10 ISEF 2026 Grand Champion Awards | ||||
| Grand Champion First Place ~ $6,000 | ||||
| Lakshmi Agarwal with $75,000 Regeneron Young Scientist Award | ||||
| Anusha Arora with $50,000 F. Thomson Leighton & Bonnie Berger Family Prize | ||||
| Grand Champion Second Place ~ $2,400 | ||||
| Prayrona Choudhury | ||||
| Teddy Osborne & Anders Thogerson | ||||
| Omkar Phadnis | ||||
| Grand Champion Third Place ~ $1,200 | ||||
| Vedika Davarajan | ||||
| Adhrith Vutukuri | ||||
| Grand Champion Fourth Place ~ $600 | ||||
| Aashrith Pisupati | ||||
| Hamsini Ramanathan | ||||
| Sanjay Srinivasan | ||||
| 4 ISEF 2026 Special Awards | ||||
| Non-Trivial Ventures Fellowship Scholarship | ||||
| Vedika Davarajan | ||||
| Non-Trivial Ventures Special Award | ||||
| Akshath (Sai) Motkuri | ||||
| YM American Academy ~ Second Place $1,000 | ||||
| Lakshmi Agrawal | ||||
| AAAI Membership for Himself & School Library | ||||
| Aarav Srivastava | ||||
|
ISEF 2025 Grand Champion Awards |
|
| Grand Champion First Place ~ $6,000 | |
| Lakshmi Agarwal | |
| Grand Champion Second Place ~ $2,400 | |
| Aditya Sengupta | |
| Srishti Boral | |
| Krishna Arun | |
| Grand Champion Third Place ~ $1,200 | |
| Anusha Arora | |
| Kireeti Kompella | |
| Sonali Santhosh | |
| Akshara Srinivas | |
| Sydney West | |
| Grand Champion Fourth Place ~ $600 | |
| Shanqui (David) Li | |
| 8 ISEF 2025 Special Awards | |
| IEEE Foundation President’s Award ~ $10,000 | |
| Sydney West | |
| Midjourney ~ $5,000 | |
| Shanqui (David) Li | |
| Association for Computing Machinery ~ $4,000 | |
| Krishna Arun | |
| Society Alumni Special Award ~ $1,500 | |
| Air Force Research Laboratory ~ First Place $750 | |
| US Patent & Trademark Office ~ Second Place $500 | |
| Aditya Sengupta | |
| National Taiwan Science Education Center | |
| Inclusive Trip to Taiwan International Science Fair | |
| Yuti Purohit | |
| Long Island University Presidential Scholarship | |
| Srishti Boral | |
Special Highlight from the 2018 ISEF: Dhruvik Parikh, 18, of Bothell, Washington, received the Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award of $50,000 for his development of less expensive yet more robust ion exchange membranes for use in large industrial-scale batteries for storing solar or wind-generated electricity for later distribution. His composite membrane has 10 times the proton conductivity of the industry’s standard membrane, while reducing production costs by about 30 percent. Dhruvik on the right:
More about the ISEF ~ Each year, more than 7 million high school students around the globe develop original research projects and present their work at local science competitions with the hope of making it to the International Science and Engineering Fair, the world’s largest pre-college science competition, a program of the Society for Science & the Public.
Approximately 1,800 winners of local, regional, state, and national competitions are invited to participate in this week-long celebration of science, technology, engineering, and math. At the event, these young innovators share ideas, showcase cutting-edge research, and compete for more than $5 million dollars in awards and scholarships.