Standing Out at Regeneron ISEF
The Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (Regeneron ISEF) is the world's largest international pre-collegiate science fair. Judged by about 1,000 industry professionals with a Ph.D. or equivalent experience, Regeneron ISEF is well-known as the most prestigious science fair high school students can compete in. Earning a spot among the top 100 competitors will make you stand out to even the most competitive colleges and research groups. Read on to learn more about how to earn your spot among the ISEF alums.
What is Regeneron ISEF?
Regeneron ISEF is held in the United States, with the specific location changing from year to year. Each May, roughly 1,800 high school students come together to present to expert judges and compete for awards of up to $75,000. Over 600 awards are given out each year, with most ranging from $500 to $3,000. The Regeneron ISEF Special Awards program offers other awards worth almost $4 million in the form of scholarships, internships, lab equipment, and scientific field trips. These are provided annually by educational, corporate, and government sponsors.
The Regeneron ISEF is, at its core, a science fair where students can present their research to judges and compete for awards. But, unlike your average science fair, Regeneron ISEF is highly competitive, and students will spend months (up to a year) preparing their projects. In fact, participation in Regeneron ISEF is by invitation only. There is no way to apply to Regeneron ISEF, represent yourself, or earn a nomination. Instead, students earn their spot among the ISEF alums by making a splash at smaller competitions.
How to Compete in Regeneron ISEF
The first step to earning your invitation to Regeneron ISEF is participating in a local/school science fair. If you do well in that, you can advance to larger regional science fairs until you reach an ISEF-affiliated science fair. These exist in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and more than 75 countries, regions, and territories. If you are not sure how to advance to your regional ISEF-affiliated fair, reach out to the fair contact person for more information.
ISEF-affiliated fairs will have a predetermined number of projects that can advance to ISEF. You will use the same project for all fairs – you don’t need a new project for ISEF specifically.
There are a few Regeneron ISEF rules for eligibility that you will need to adhere to:
Be in grades 9-12 (or your international equivalent, usually students 14-18 years of age)
Have not yet reached age 20
The project should be in English
The project should not include more than 12 months of continuous research
There may be up to three team members for team projects, and all must meet these eligibility requirements
Formatting Your Regeneron ISEF Project
Your project presentation should include the following information:
Formal Project Title and Abstract
Introduction – explain your research question, provide a brief review of relevant literature, and your prior research if the project is an extension of an earlier project
Methods (Science, Engineering) – describe your methodology and procedures, what you did, how you collected your data, your variables, and your control group
Framework (Computer Science, Mathematics) – introduce concepts and notations needed for your research questions, methods and results, defining relevant terms
Results – your findings, including figures, tables, and relevant statistical analysis, any rigorous proofs you might have
Discussion – your interpretation of the results, compared against theories or expected results, and discussion about possible errors, are your results novel
Conclusions – what do the results mean in your research area, how do they address your research question, whether the project turned out as you expected, what applications do you see for your work
References/Acknowledgements – limited to your most important references, and a short statement acknowledging those who have supported your work
Making a Splash at Regeneron ISEF
Previous winning projects all have two things in common: they are, at least partly, novel, and they are useful. To be novel, your results should be at least somewhat new to the field. While many high school science fair projects have been repeated time and time again, the Regeneron ISEF is looking for more from its competitors. You may invent something or find a hole in current research where your project can shed some light.
To be useful, you want your project to offer some value to your local community, the scientific community, or society at large. This should be something that has value in the real world, so you will need to emphasize the “so what?” or the “big picture” that your research is addressing. While you may do research for its own sake, and you will still be looked upon favorably by the judges, top prizes always go to projects with some extrinsic value. Review some of the winning Regeneron ISEF projects to get a feel for what projects tend to do well with judges.
Finally, you will need to invest a significant amount of time into your project, between a few months and a year. Top projects are not finished quickly – you will need to meet with a mentor repeatedly, conduct a literature review, complete your research project, analyze your results, write your report, attend multiple levels of science fairs, and prepare for ISEF specifically. This is why Regeneron ISEF is seen as so competitive and prestigious. But this means that you will need to approach your research project with strong planning and time management.
If you are interested in competing in the Regeneron ISEF, consider applying to the 1:1 Mentorship Program at InspiritAI! Our mentors – hailing from the world's top research institutions and tech companies – will walk you through an entire research project from start to end. Whether you are a coding novice or a virtuoso, our individualized mentorship program will help you develop an exceptional research project with novel and well-defined results and can help you craft your science fair submission. For more information, do not hesitate to contact InspiritAI with questions.
