Looking for a great opportunity to pay for your engineering education? Scholarships abound, one of which is the 2017 Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology – one of the largest science research competitions for high school students interested in studying the STEM fields in college or university.
The Siemens Competition is a program run by the Siemens Foundation, and administered by Discovery Education. Each year, this program invites high school students nationwide to submit their original research projects in math, science and technology for the opportunity to win college scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $100,000. Students can compete as individuals, or together as members of a team.
The 2017 enhanced national scholarship award structure will continue to award $100,000 and $50,000 awards to the 1stand 2nd placed teams and individuals – but starting this year, $25,000 awards will go to the four team and individual national finalists.
“The exceptionally high standards of the national finalist projects – often in different, incomparable scientific areas -- made it increasingly difficult to distinguish 3rd -6th place projects for our judges,” explained David Etzwiler, CEO of the Siemens Foundation. “Recognizing more finalists equally is a better reflection of the extraordinary quality of the finalist projects across different scientific disciplines, and the judges’ appreciation for them.”
For some examples of previous winning projects:
- Last year’s individual Grand Prize winner, Vineet Edupuganti, developed a biodegradable battery to power ingestible medical devices that can track and diagnose conditions that affect internal organs.
- The winning team of Adhya and Shriya Beesam developed a new approach to diagnose schizophrenia earlier in patients using both brain scans and psychiatric evaluations.
- The previous year’s individual winner utilized small plastic beads to remove sulfamethazine, a common contaminant, from drinking water in a way that was reusable and scalable, and the winning team utilized a loofah sponge to help clean up oil from oil spills and then turn it into electricity.
Regional competition rounds take place in November, and are held on-line in a secure, virtual environment. Participants present their projects via a secure cloud-based technology platform to a panel of judges who will be assembled at this year’s regional hosting universities: California Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Notre Dame and The University of Texas at Austin.
Winners of these Regional Finals will be invited to present their research in-person to nationally renowned scientists and mathematicians at the Siemens Competition National Finals in Washington, D.C. in December at The George Washington University.
The complete registration and submission instructions are available online. The deadline for entries is Tuesday, September 19, 2017 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.
Source: Siemens Foundation