Special awards

AWARDS

Category Awards

For Elementary, junior and senior division, USEF gives Amazon Gift Cards and trophies to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th as well as Scientific Merit medals to winning projects in each of the competition categories.

Special Awards

The following special awards will be presented this year:

Air & Waste Management Association Award- Project must address environmental engineering, science, or management.
Airavata Bioengineering Award- Project demonstrates innovation in medical or healthcare solutions with limited resources.
Association for Women Geoscientists Student Award for Geoscience Excellence- The project must be by a student who identifies as a woman or non-binary, and have a strong geoscience component.
American Psychological Association Award-Project demonstrates strong research in psychological science.
Broadcom Coding with Commitment- Project involves coding or computational thinking to solve a meaningful problem.
FRIENDS of Great Salt Lake Special Award- Project is relevant to the Great Salt Lake ecosystem.
Hogle Zoo Conservation Impact Award- Project addresses conservation or environmental impact.
Lemelson Early Inventor Prize- Project presents a novel invention or improvement solving a real-world problem.
Mission Math Award- Project makes strong and effective use of mathematics.
Natural History Museum of Utah Science Discovery Award- Project demonstrates strong scientific inquiry or discovery.
NASA Earth System Science Award- Project demonstrates understanding of Earth system science and interconnected spheres.
NOAA Award- Project advances understanding of climate, weather, oceans, or water systems.
OrthIQ Medical Innovations Award- Project focuses on medical or athletic innovation, especially musculoskeletal health.
Red Butte Garden & Arboretum Excellence in Plant Science- Project demonstrates excellence in plant science or botany.
Regeneron Biomedical Science Award- Project demonstrates excellence in biomedical science research.
Ricoh Sustainable Development Award- Project addresses sustainability through social or environmental innovation.
Society for In Vitro Biology Award- Project involves plant or animal in vitro biology or tissue culture.
Stockholm Junior Water Prize- Project focuses on water science or water-related issues.
T.D. Williamson – Energy & Environmental Science Award- Project demonstrates focus on energy and/or environmental science.
T.D. Williamson – Outstanding Young Scientist Award- Project demonstrates exceptional promise as a young scientist.
The Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy- project demonstrates strong potential to help policymakers better understand climate change impacts or possible solutions.
U.S. Air Force – Elementary Division Award- Project demonstrates strong STEM thinking and future scientific leadership
USEF Student Advisory Board- This project can be used globally, specifically for International issues. The student may not need to state a global issue in their presentation, but SAB members can ask how it could be used. Elementary and Junior division only.
Yale Science & Engineering Association Award- Project demonstrates outstanding STEM achievement at the high school level.

American Meteorological Society: Awarded to the best project in the senior division dealing with atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences.
American Psychological Association: Awarded to the student whose project represents outstanding research in psychology in the Behavioral & Social Science Category or other category as long as the project is psychology related.
American Society of Civil Engineers: Awarded to student projects that demonstrate significant knowledge, research, and application of the challenges faced by civil engineering.
ASM Materials Education Foundation: Awarded to the most outstanding exhibit in materials science and engineering. The winning project will need to use materials-related concepts, demonstrate some aspect of the materials paradigm, be clear in presentation, and demonstrate a clear understanding of the scientific method.
Association for Women Geoscientists: Awarded to female students whose projects exemplify high standards of innovation and scientific excellence in the geosciences.
Association for Women Geoscientists Salt Lake Chapter: Any projects that are in the Earth & Planetary Science, Environmental Management, Energy & Transportation, Environmental Sciences categories, for which at least one of the participants is a female.
ASU Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives: The initiatives encourage and celebrate inventors, social entrepreneurs, innovative designers and creative thinkers who develop solutions to sustainability challenges.
Broadcom MASTERS: A certificate and invitation to enter Broadcom MASTERS national competition will be awarded to projects displaying mastery of S.T.E.M. principles.
Director's Choice Award: Awarded to a project that demonstrates student excellency in research and/or innovation.
GENIUS Olympiad: Awarded to a project which explores environmental science and/or engineering.
Great Basin Chapter of Air and Waste Management Association: Awarded to a promising student who is working on environmental engineering, science, and/or management.
Intel Excellence in Computer Science: A certificate and cash prize will be awarded to 1st place in Computer Science.
Mission Math Utah: Awarded to a project which demonstrates best use of math.
MU Alpha Theta: Awarded to the project demonstrating the most challenging, original, thorough, and creative investigation of a problem involving mathematics accessible to a high school student.
NASA Earth System: Given to the project that exemplifies the use of earth and planetary systems in their project.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: Awarded to a project whose research emphasizes NOAA's mission: to understand and predict changes in Earth's environment and to conserve and manage coastal and marine resources to meet our Nation's economic, social, and environmental needs.
Ricoh Americas Corporation: Awarded to an individual or team whose principles and technical innovations offer the greatest potential for increasing our ability to grow environmentally friendly and socially responsible businesses.
Salt Lake Public Utilities: This award recognizes students who show a comprehension of the principles related to water treatment or the treatment and re-use of waste water.
Society for In Vitro Biology: Awarded to the most outstanding 11th grade student exhibiting in the areas of plant or animal in vitro biology or tissue culture.
STEM Action Center: Awarded to extraordinary projects in Chemistry, Energy: Chemical and Physical, and Plant Science.
Stockholm Junior Water Prize: Awarded to the best projects relating to or dealing with water treatment, management, protection or quality. Opportunity to advance tot the National Water Environment Federation Competition.
Student Advisory Board Choice Award: Awarded by the USEF Student Advisory Board.
T.D. Williamson: Top Z scores in Environmental Science for Elementary and Secondary.
The Leonardo: Awarded to the project that best combines science, technology, and art.
U.S. Air Force: Awarded to students whose projects demonstrate excellent scientific thought and process skills.
U.S. Metric Association: Awarded to the project that involves quantitative measures and which best uses the SI metric system for those measures.
U.S. Navy: Awarded to students whose projects demonstrate excellent scientific thought and process skills.
U.S. Marine Corps: Awarded to students whose projects demonstrate excellent scientific thought and process skills.
Utah Dept. of Transportation: Awarded to the projects that best demonstrate innovation in transportation.
Yale Science and Engineering Association: Awarded to the most outstanding 11th grade student exhibiting in the areas of computer science, engineering, physics, or chemistry.