What is a Science Fair?

As a high school student, science fairs are the perfect opportunity to get involved with research and different projects that can show your interests.A science fair is an event where students can research a topic of their choice and show it to a panel of judges, peers, teachers, and the general public. Often, this research is presented in the form of scientific projects, experiments, or reports. 

A science fair allows you to apply the scientific method or the engineering design process in real-life situations. It is also a great opportunity for those interested in other fields to merge their interests with science and engage in interdisciplinary projects! If you’re someone who is interested in computer science and technology, entering a science fair with a tech project could be a great starting point.

What are the elements of a good science project?

It first begins with a journey of discovery, driven by curiosity!

1. Identifying a problem: Through identifying a problem, you can start proposing a relevant hypothesis or raising a relevant question!

2. Conducting thorough background research and covering multiple aspects of the problem statement / research question.

3. Solid experiment design: The conclusions you will draw will only be as good as your experiment set up and data collection mechanism. You will be judged on how well you follow scientific methods of experiment design.

4. Data collection, documentation and analysis: using the right analytical and statistical tools will be important, so be sure to figure out your skill sets and bridge any gaps.

5. Presenting findings: This would mean presentations, focusing on communications, and thinking through potential questions.

Last, but certainly not the least, understand and think through any ethical questions in your experiment.

Why should you participate in science fairs?

One of the main benefits of participating in a science fair is highlighting your ability to apply your theoretical knowledge to practical problems and projects - a skill college admission officers highly value! Science fairs are also an opportunity to network with peers and professionals in your field. These connections can show your commitment to your chosen field and are excellent references for letters of recommendation and future job prospects!

It is important to note that projects you work on will likely require you to have basic programming skills. This would mean a foundational understanding of programming concepts like variables, loops, conditional statements, functions, and at least one programming language.  

However, there are some great tech projects that are great for you if you are looking to get started! 

1. AI-enhanced Recipe Developer

This is a beginner-friendly topic where your bot can suggest recipes based on available ingredients! You could include a health analysis where the bot can analyze the nutritional count, macronutrients, and more. You could also add a feature where your bot can suggest ingredients from different sites that complement the recipes you choose to do. 

If you want to challenge yourself, add an ingredient substitution feature where your bot recommends different ingredients based on your allergens or preference! An existing app that does recipe development is Yummly; however, you have to pay to unlock all of the features. 

Skill Level: Beginner

Prior Knowledge Required: Knowledge of basic programming skills (e.g., Python, JavaScript) 

Limitations: You might only cover some possible recipes or ingredients (e.g., Being unaware of regional recipes and ingredients). 

2. AI Athlete Performance Tracker

This is another project for beginners where you can develop a basic mobile app that allows athletes to input their training statistics. This could include their workout routines, daily timings, and vitals. Over time, the app could analyze this data and give athletes insights into their performance. Moreover, it can provide suggestions for areas the athlete needs to improve. 

There are a lot of Athlete Performance Trackers, such as Sports Performance Tracking and STAT Sports. You can create a virtual coach to provide real-time feedback during workouts to make your project unique. An alternate option is to predict any injuries based on the athlete's physical condition!

Skill Level: Beginner

Prior Knowledge Required: Knowledge of basic programming skills (e.g., Python, Web development) 

Limitations: The accuracy of the data is based on the inputs given by athletes, which can be manipulated. 

3. Virtual Reality Museum Tour

If you enjoy visiting museums, you should consider developing a virtual reality application where users can get an interactive museum tour. You could add details about the exhibits and objects, even given virtual brochures for information. 

To stand out, you could add interactive features such as a historical reenactment or allow users to compare each exhibition to other museums worldwide. If you are interested in history, this project is perfect for you! 

Skill Level: Basic

Prior Knowledge Required: Knowledge of programming languages such as Unity, C#, or similar languages.

Limitations: You will have to integrate your app with VR hardware. 

4. AI-Driven Personalized Fashion Stylist

If you are interested in fashion, you could merge your interest in fashion and coding by developing a personalized fashion stylist! For this project, you could have users fill out a quiz for their style and then recommend daily outfits based on what is in their closets and most appropriate for the weather. Another element you could add is recommending pieces someone can purchase based on style! 

Skill Level: Beginner

Prior Knowledge Required: Knowledge of basic programming languages (Python, web development experience would also help)

Limitations: The recommendations might not suit everyone’s taste, i.e., it will be a longer-term project to have the app give perfect suggestions. 

5. Plant Disease Tracker

A disease tracker is helpful for farmers and casual gardeners as they can upload pictures of plants to detect any diseases. Your program can use image-based detection to identify any defect in the plant and suggest treatment accordingly. You can also add a community chat feature where more experienced farmers can give their advice!

A project you could take inspiration from is Prisha Bhat who won 1st Place in Agriculture and Food Security in the 2023 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). Her project explores how genetically-modified rice results in the breakdown of arsenic in natural environments. 

Skill Level: Beginner

Prior Knowledge Required: Knowledge of basic programming languages (Python, web development experience would also help). 

Limitations: The detection accuracy is highly dependent on the quality of the image. 

6. AI Health Assistant

You can use AI to create an app that can act as an assistant - making medical appointments, tracking users' vitals, recovering previous records, and tracking health data. If you are into health sciences, this is a good introduction tousing medical data to give viable medical advice!

A more advanced form of this project is Doctor.AI - an AI-powered bot that processes patient symptoms, identifies correct treatment, and acts as an assistant physician! A project in this topic was done by Lakshika Nanda Kumar Reddy who used Machine Learning to detect cataracts from front-view retinal images. Her project won 3rd place in the Global Health category of the  2023 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF)!

Skill Level: Intermediate

Prior Knowledge Required: Knowledge of basic programming languages (e.g., Python, JavaScript) 

Limitations: Cannot substitute medical advice and can only be used for tracking historical data compared to prescribing treatment. 

7. In-Time Communication Translator 

An  In-time communication translator would help overcome language boundaries in a foreign country! The key here would be to focus on the accuracy to make the program as valuable as possible.

To stand out, you could include special features such as real-time multilingual group chats (where people from different cultures can interact without a language barrier) or create a translator that adopts a native accent when translating! However, this will require a more advanced understanding of programming. 

Skill Level: Intermediate

Prior Knowledge Required: Programming languages such as Python/Javascript (Note. Knowledge of natural language processing will be very useful!) 

Limitations: The accuracy of the translations can fluctuate (E.g., It might not be able to detect everyday slang used). 

8. AI-Based Educational Platform 

If you want to create an app that students can use, you could develop an online tuition platform that helps students across all subjects. Choosing to create this will involve concepts such as sentiment analysis and named entity recognition, user-feedback analysis and more! 

Additionally, through collaborative and content-based filtering, you can also personalize their work based on their workloads and scores based on previous assignments. 

Some existing platforms use this model, such as Knowji, but you can tailor your app based on the requirements of your peers (e.g., Focusing on subjects where scores tend to drop as a whole)!

Skill Level: Intermediate

Prior Knowledge Required: Knowledge of basic programming languages (Python, web development experience would also help)

Limitations: It can only cover some subjects effectively, and tailoring the app is limited based on your added levels and materials. 

9. App to Assist the Elderly 

For another project that caters to the community, you could create an app to help the elderly in your area. It could give them basic tutorials on using technology, tracking their health, and sending signals if their vitals are dropping. 

This project combines existing apps such as Pill Reminder Pro or Senior Safety App (which allows caregivers to monitor the elderly from their phones). Another fun feature would be a chat where the elderly can communicate with younger people, ask for help, or have some company!  

Students like Kosha Upadhyay, Bellevue Senior High School, won third place in May 2022 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) with her project that cognitively profiles individuals and personalized therapy recommendation for dementia patients! 

Skill Level: Intermediate

Prior Knowledge Required: Knowledge of basic programming languages (e.g., Python, JavaScript) 

Limitations: To effectively monitor vitals, you might need to integrate your app with hardware (Note. This is a unique idea that can be integrated with smartwatches!) 

10. Mental Health Chatbot 

If you are interested in psychology, you could use AI to create a personalized mental health chatbot. The bot could adapt its answers based on the emotional state of the user and could suggest daily mindfulness exercises to practice. It could also recommend highly ranked specialists in different price ranges so any individual can get expert advice when required! 

An example of this project done on a larger scale is the Woebot app! Woebot uses Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to provide daily therapy sessions for anxiety and depression. Some student projects include Kosha Upadhyay, Bellevue Senior High School, who won

Note: If you want your app to be accurate, connect with Mental Health Professionals who can guide you with the right mindfulness exercises. They can also help identify when the bot needs to recommend professional treatment! 

Skill Level: Intermediate 

Prior Knowledge Required: Knowledge of basic programming languages (Python, web development experience would also help)

Limitations: Mental health is a sensitive topic, and your app cannot replace any treatment professionals give. You will need to be knowledgeable in psychology and research the proper resources to provide. 

If you’re looking to build unique projects in the field of AI/ML, consider applying to Veritas AI! 

Veritas AI was founded by Harvard graduate students, and through the programs, you get a chance to learn the fundamentals of AI and computer science while collaborating on real-world projects. You can also work 1-1 with mentors from universities like Harvard, Stanford, MIT, and more to create unique, personalized projects. In the past year, we had over 1000 students learn data science and AI with us. You can apply here!