2025 Category Awards

Animal Sciences

Senior Division

• First Place: Utilizing Ants to Mitigate MSW Landfill-Derived Methane Production through Novel Aerobic Digester System for Anthropogenic Food Waste Decomposition
• Second Place: Leptin Neutralizing Antibodies: A Novel and Safe Approach to Obesity Treatment, Liver Fibrosis Reversal, and Metabolic Disorder Mitigation in Mus musculus
• Third Place: Honeyball

Junior Division

• First Place: Classifying species of North Texas mosquitoes using computer vision
• Second Place: The Effect of Sunscreen on Daphnia’s Heart Rate
• Third Place: Heartbeat of a Horse

Behavioral and Social Sciences

Senior Division

• First Place: Enhancing Autism Therapeutics: The Influence of Acute Cannabidiol Treatment and the Estrous Cycle on Social Behavior and Hormone Changes in Adult Male and Female Mice

• Second Place: AutiScan: Development of a Predictive Computational Model for Assessing Probabilities of Neurobehavioral Symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorders Based on MRI-Derived Structural Metrics, with a Focus on Cerebellum Volume and Phenotypic Correlations in ASD

• Third Place: Implementation of the AM141 strain C. elegans model of Huntington’s Disease to introduce antioxidants and disaccharides in order to analyze the preventability and reduction of glutamine-40 accumulation through the observation of mobility and essential life processes.

Junior Division

• First Place: MINDFUL: Measuring Individual Neurodiversity with Dimensionality and Five-factor Understanding of Labels

• Second Place: Detection and Analysis of Hand Tremors Using Gyroscopic and Accelerometric Data for Early Parkinson’s Disease Indication
• Third Place: Anonymity, A Missing Family Tree, A Study of People Facing This Reality

Biochemistry

Senior Division

• First Place: One Blood Drop to New Hope: A Novel Test Method to Improve Fertility Assessment

• Second Place: Medicine in the Nanosphere: Evaluating the Toxicity of Red Gold, Blue Gold, and Silver Nanoparticles with and without the addition of Sodium Thiosulfate on Daphnia magna and Baker Yeast, with the Development of a Transdermal Microneedle Patch for Nanoparticle Administration

• Third Place: Targeting Cellular Senescence: In Silico Chemoinformatics Screening of Bioactive Compounds for Inducing Senolysis to Advance Geriatric Therapies

Junior Division

• First Place: Reducing Risk of Cancer Through Antioxidants

• Second Place: Living Lightbulbs

• Third Place: Finding the Best Skin Moisturizer Without Propylene Glycol

Biomedical and Health Sciences

Senior Division

• First Place: Paving the Path to the Impossible: Regenerating Neurons using Prostaglandin E2 regulation as a therapeutic strategy

• Second Place: Optimizing Liver Transplant Success: A Data-Driven Approach Incorporating MELD for Accurate Survival Prediction and Equitable Organ Allocation

• Third Place: Targeting pMHC: A Novel Tripartite In-Silico Approach for Liposome-Aided Ultralong Antibody Therapy in Colorectal Cancer Variants

Junior Division

• First Place: Enhancing Breast Cancer Image Analysis with a Customized High Accuracy Machine Learning Model

• Second Place: Guardians of the Flare: Biomedical Insights into UV Protection and Skin Cancer Prevention

• Third Place: TERTing the Tide: Repurposing FDA-Approved Therapeutics for Cancer Treatment

Biomedical Engineering

Senior Division

• First Place: NeuroFlex: A Cost-Effective, Non-Invasive EEG-Controlled Bionic Prosthesis for Transfemoral Amputees

• Second Place: A Novel Stem Cell Bioreactor Design Utilizing Mechanical Stretching and Extracellular Matrix Mimicry

• Third Place: Wearable, High Sensitivity Bio-Transistor for the Detection of Lactate in Sweat (Year II)

Junior Division

• First Place: Development of a home-based, stage-specific diagnostic kit for the detection of protein biomarkers to enhance diagnostic capabilities and improve treatment precision for Cancer

• Second Place: Investigating Genetic Mutations In Glioblastoma Multiforme: Understanding Tumor Progression And Identifying Targets For Effective Therapies

• Third Place: VNS Seizure Prevention Tech (Vagus Nerve Stimulation)

Cellular and Molecular Biology

Senior Division

• First Place: Assembling Multifunctional Drug Capsules from Safe and Accessible Materials for Selective Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis: Synergizing Fluorescent and Iron-Based Magnetic Therapy.

• Second Place: Magnesium Transporter Protein 1 Is An Obligatory Component Of Endoplasmic Reticulum Mg2+ Uptake: A Computational and In Vitro Analysis of Its Role in Divalent Mg2+ cation Homeostasis

• Third Place: Mitochondrial Chaperones, A Novel Therapeutic Target in Cancer Therapy: Utilization of mtHsp70/GRP75 Inhibition to Enhance Anti-tumor Effects of Chemotherapy in Neuroblastoma

Junior Division

• First Place: Healing Eczema: Unveiling the Cellular Power of Natural Ingredients

• Second Place: Using Inducer (IPTG) to Boost L-Asparaginase Production for Anti-Tumor Treatment and Acrylamide Mitigation

• Third Place: Cellular Contrasts: The Impact of Smoking on Our Body’s Building Blocks

Chemistry

Senior Division

• First Place: Translation Between the Opacity of Photochromic Dye and UV Index

• Second Place: Cyclometalated Platinum Complexes for Phosphorescent Organic Light-Emitting Diodes

• Third Place: Devising Metal-Organic Framework Technology for Scalable Direct Air Capture of CO₂

Junior Division

• First Place: Computational Simulations of Antibody Binding to VAPB Receptors for Targeted Therapy in Medulloblastoma

• Second Place: From Trash to Treasure: Exploring Pectin Extraction from Watermelon Rindst

• Third Place: Polarization is Not Vexation: The Effect of Chiral Solutions on Polarized Light

Computational Biology and Bioinformatics

Senior Division

• First Place: HMM & Structural Docking In Silico Framework for Identifying & Inhibiting CCN3 Protein Pathway Mutations for Osteosarcoma

• Second Place: Modulating Tau Pathology: Identifying a Novel Inhibitor for the Suv39h1 Protein Using a Multi-Omic, Attention-Based Neural Network Approach to Treat Alzheimer’s Disease

• Third Place: SARCOMA-Net:Personalized Sarcoma Therapies through Spatial-Transcriptomic Biomarker Analysis and Variational Autoencoder Drug Generation

Junior Division

• First Place: Tandem Repeat Analysis and Visualization Atlas (TRAVA)

• Second Place: Computational Simulations of RNA-Based Aptamers Targeting Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR)+ Cells in Glioblastoma

• Third Place: AI-Mediated Computational Modeling of FK506-Binding Protein 12 (FKBP12)-Enhanced CAR T-Cell Therapy for Targeted Glioblastoma Treatment

Earth and Environmental Sciences

Senior Division

• First Place: Acoustic Filtration II: Scaling an Ultrasonic Microplastic Filtration Device and Exploring the Physical Phenomenon of Acoustic Blocking

• Second Place: Cost-Effective, Mobile Rover-AI System Engineered to Evaluate Impacts of Microclimatic Interactions on Pediatric Asthma

• Third Place: A Novel Evaluation of Natural Sunscreen Compounds as Eco-Sustainable Alternatives to Reduce Anthropogenic Impacts on Aquatic Systems

Junior Division

• First Place: The Ground Truth: A Novel Approach for Landslide Prediction with a Deep Learning Framework

• Second Place: Bio-Concrete: Using Living Bacteria to Create Self-Healing Concrete and perform Carbon sequestration

• Third Place: The Use of Natural Materials to Remove Microplastics from Water

Embedded Systems

Senior Division

• First Place: Giving Robot Hands a Feeling

• Second Place: SubArc: An Inexpensive, High Resolution, Open Source, Absolute Magnetic Rotary Encoder

• Third Place: ImpairiLink: a novel and revolutionary attentiveness aid system utilizing haptics and machine learning for the visually impaired.

Junior Division

• First Place: Foundation Tilt Prevention System: Protecting Structural Integrity Against Moisture Fluctuations While Optimizing Water Usage

• Second Place: Beyond the punch: Conceptualizing the StrikeSense into karate sparring

• Third Place: A Novel AI Approach for Detection of Microplastics

Energy: Sustainable Materials & Design

Senior Division

• First Place: Enhancing Efficiency in Quantum Dot Solar Cells through Quantum Computational Simulations for Sustainable Energy and Environmental Health

• Second Place: Testing Parts of a Thermoelectric Generation Device to Optimize Voltage and Current Output by using Temperature Gradients

• Third Place: “The Bionic Leaf”: Developing a Novel Self-Healing, Bi-Functional Nickel Oxide Catalyst to Use with the Bacterium Ralstonia eutropha for Sustainable Ethanol Production

Junior Division

• First Place: Micro’fat’ories: Increasing microalgal biomass and lipids for biofuel production

• Second Place: The Impact of Water Type, Alkalinity, and Current Input on Green Hydrogen Production Efficiency in Water Electrolysis

• Third Place: Factors Affecting Fuel Cell Energy Efficiency

Engineering Technology: Statics and Dynamics

Senior Division

• First Place: HandTalk: A Two-Way Translation System for American Sign Language

• Second Place: Automated Surgical System Integrating an Intelligent Soft Robotics Surface and a Smart Robotic Arm

• Third Place: SmartPanel: An ML-Assisted Active Control System for Reducing Solar Array Vibrations of Satellites

Junior Division

• First Place: Flying High

• Second Place: Solar Tracking Panel

• Third Place: How nozzle geometries effect propulsion efficiencies.

Environmental Engineering

Senior Division

• First Place: CyanoHUB: A Data-Driven Harmful Algal Bloom Prediction & Control System Utilizing Nanobubble Technology

• Second Place: Catalyzing Plastic Degradation: A Novel Mechanochemistry Treatment for Sustainable Plastic Waste Management

• Third Place: Developing an ecofriendly, cost effective, commercial grade Bio-SIP(Biological Grade structural insulated panel ) for hurricane proof home

Junior Division

• First Place: Sticking to a Greener World: Finding a Suitable Replacement for Plastic Lollipop Sticks

• Second Place: Building a Carbon-Free Future: Exploring Optimal Conditions For Carbon Capture

• Third Place: The MNP Smart Bin

Materials Science

Senior Division

• First Place: Anticorrosive Strategies for Cu-Al Wire-Bonded Devices in Extreme Automotive Applications

• Second Place: PLA-Chitosan Composites as Sustainable Alternatives for Menstrual Pads

• Third Place: Quantum Dots-modulated Associative Learning and Artificial Intelligence

Junior Division

• First Place: Development and Characterization of Hydrogel Systems for Encapsulation and Controlled Release of Model Compounds

• Second Place: Eco-Starch: Innovative Solutions for Oil Spill Cleanup

• Third Place: Creating Environmentally Friendly Biodegradable Plastics Using Potato Peels

Mathematics

Senior Division

• First Place: A Novel Optimizer Equation to Predict KI67 Scores from Breast Cancer WSIs with CNN

• Second Place: Utilizing Wavelet Transform and Fourier Transform to Detect Cardiac Arrest Through Electrocardiogram Analysis

• Third Place: Quantum-Resilient Polynomial Matrix and Modular Transformations for Cryptographic Resilience

Junior Division

• First Place: Beyond the Curve: A Novel Mathematical Formula for Measuring Volume Under a 3D Parabolic Arch for Sustainable Agricultural Water Consumption.

• Second Place: Q-safe: Mitigating Quantum Threats with Lattice-Based Cryptography

• Third Place: Detecting breast cancers using machine learning approaches

Microbiology

Senior Division

• First Place: Paracoccus for Bioremediation: Optimizing Formate Dehydrogenase in Paracoccus denitrificans for Development of a Non-toxic Bioremediation Strategy for Toxic C1 Compounds in Water

• Second Place: Unraveling Infant Allergy Risk: Solid Food Introduction Timing, Selection, and Gut Microbiome Axis

• Third Place: Investigating the Correlation between the Concentration of Calcium Chloride involved in Gene Insertion and its Effect on Transformation Efficiency

Junior Division

• First Place: The Effects of Glyphosate on Microbial Health
• Second Place: Effects of Different Natural Antibiotics on Bacteria Inhibition
• Third Place: Comparing the Effectiveness of a Prescription Antibiotic with Natural Antibiotics and Using Cocktail Therapy to Eradicate Escherichia coli

Physics and Astronomy

Senior Division

• First Place: The Power of a Star in a Jar: Using Nuclear Fusion for Medical Radioisotope Production.

• Second Place: OptiSkew: A Biophysical Approach for Self Diagnosis Eye Refractive Disorders

• Third Place: Searching for the Missing Mass: A Novel Utilization of Artificial Intelligence for Gravitational Microlensing Detection and Dark Matter Discoveries

Junior Division

• First Place: T CrB: Visualizing the Potential of Exoplanet Transit Data in Predicting Nova Event

• Second Place: The Sounds of Science: Water Cymatic Vibrations

• Third Place: AIM-BASE: AI integrated model to predict the Energy consumption of Extraterrestrial Colonies

Plant Sciences

Senior Division

• First Place: A Green Alliance: Evaluating the Synergistic Dynamics of PETase Expression and Plant-Microbe Interactions in Enhancing Microplastic Degradation Pathways in S. alterniflora

• Second Place: Examining the Synergistic Effects of Hydrotropism, Magnetotropism, and Simulated Microgravity on Allium fistulosum Morphology Using a Novel 3D Clinostat

• Third Place: Impact of Tire-Wear Microplastics and Associated Metal Toxicity on the Efficacy of Aerobic Respiration and Proliferation of Algae

Junior Division

• First Place: Impact of Phaseolus Vulgaris (Red Silk Bean) Seed Priming on Drought Tolerance

• Second Place: Which Farming Method has more Phytochemical content: Organic or Conventionally Grown?

• Third Place: Exploring Hydrogels for Sustainable Agriculture

Robotics and Intelligent Machines

Senior Division

• First Place: AutoMates: Automating With Self-Learning Intelligent Agents

• Second Place: Soft Robotics in Gastrointestinal Endoscopy: Engineering a Novel Hydraulic Colonoscope to Minimize Risks and Enhance Usability

• Third Place: NeuroSim – A Digital Twin-Enhanced Sim-to-Real Autonomous Neurosurgical Robot Using Deep Learning

Junior Division

• First Place: Smartphone-Integrated Retinal Imaging and Skin Analysis System Utilizing Neural Networks

• Second Place: Autonomous Car Electrical (A.C.E)

• Third Place: A novel approach to identifying Mosquito Breeding Grounds with Convolutional Neural Networks, to stop the spread of Vector-Borne Diseases.

Systems Software

Senior Division

• First Place: AssemblyComplete: 3D Combinatorial Construction with Deep Reinforcement Learning

• Second Place: Implementation and Evaluation of Quantum Key Distribution in Secure Messaging Systems

• Third Place: Unobstructing voice for the deaf: A real-time centered sign language recognition system

Junior Division

• First Place: The Blockchain Exploit Playground: Learning Real-World Blockchain Vulnerabilities through an Open-Source Educational Platform for a Secure Future

• Second Place: Face Recognition And Identification Algorithm For School Attendance

• Third Place: Nail Disease Detection using CNN

Translational Medical Sciences

Senior Division

• First Place: Neuroprotective Effects of Nutraceutical Supplementation for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy

• Second Place: A Novel Multi-Target Drug with Nanoparticle Precision for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer : Inhibitron-LC

• Third Place: An Inverse QSAR Approach to Designing MDM2 Inhibitors For Targeted Therapy of Soft-Tissue Cancers

Junior Division

• First Place: Nanocurc Gel for Smart Wound Biosensing and Healing

• Second Place: PROPHYLACTIC MOISTURIZING: A COST-EFFECTIVE THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT OF USING NATURAL OILS AS A TOPICAL EMOLLIENT FOR ATOPIC DERMATITIS TO RETAIN WATER CONTENT IN STRATUM CORNEUM

• Third Place: Can We Predict Immunotherapy Outcomes in Cancer Patients? Exploring Gene Signatures