Heather Won Tesoriero - The Class: A Life-Changing Teacher, His World-Changing Kids, and the Most Inventive Classroom in America

Each year, Andy Bramantes science research students compete in the following fairs/contests:

• Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology

  This contest was established in 1999 by the Siemens Foundation. Nearly two thousand students submit research papers. Five hundred semifinalists are named and compete live in six regional competitions, which culminate in a national competition every December. National finalists receive $25,000. A total of $500,000 in scholarship money is awarded, with the two top winners receiving $100,000 each. The final year of the competition was 2017.

• Google Science Fair

  Established in 2011, the Google Science Fair is a global fair where kids from all around the world submit their research online, as well as a short video explaining their work. Regional finalists are named, followed by finalists who are invited out to Googles Silicon Valley headquarters to compete for the Grand Prize of $50,000 in scholarship money. (Google didnt hold the fair in 2017 but is planning to bring it back in the fall of 2018.)

• Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS)

  Created in 1942 by the Society for Science and the Public, STS is for high school seniors only and is considered to be one of the most prestigious and toughest science and math competitions. From its founding until 1997, STS was sponsored by Westinghouse. From 1998 to 2016, Intel sponsored the competition. In 2017, biopharmaceutical company Regeneron took over sponsorship and increased the prize amounts. Entrants submit a lengthy, rigorous application similar to a college application. About eighteen hundred seniors apply; three hundred are named scholars, or semifinalists; forty are later named finalists. The top forty seniors are invited to Washington, D.C., for a five-day competition. Scholars receive $2,000, with an additional $2,000 going to each scholars school. The forty finalists receive a minimum of $25,000. At the event in Washington, the top ten winners receive prizes ranging from $40,000 to $250,000.

• Connecticut STEM Fair (CT STEM)

  Started in Westport, Connecticut, in 2001, this fair is for students in Fairfield County, Connecticut, and those at Amity Regional High School, located in Woodbridge, Connecticut. Roughly 250 students compete in the categories of health, physical, environmental, and behavioral science. They can compete with completed projects or proposals for yet-to-be-completed work. In addition to modest cash awards, CT STEM also awards scholarships to graduating seniors. As of 2017, three CT STEM winners were granted berths to attend Intel ISEF, the worlds largest science fair. Starting in 2018, the fair has also been granted four spots at the GENIUS Olympiad at the State University of New York at Oswego.

• Connecticut Science and Engineering Fair (CSEF)

  Founded in 1949, CSEF is the states oldest and only statewide science fair. More than six hundred students compete in the fair. There are major life sciences and physical sciences categories and ten special categories that cover everything from mathematics to biotechnology. The fair and its 106 sponsors give more than $200,000 in awards and scholarships, as well as seven Intel ISEF slots.

• Connecticut Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS)

  This competition is a collaborative effort with the research arm of the Department of Defense and is administered in cooperation with colleges and universities nationwide in an effort to promote scientific research. There are regional JSHS competitions held all over the United States and its territories. Winners advance to the national JSHS competition held each spring. CT-JSHS has been in existence for more than fifty years. Local competitors submit their research and a video discussing their work. Those who advance are selected to present posters of their work, or to deliver twelve-minute public presentations. Winners earn cash prizes ranging from $250 to $2,000. The top winner receives a four-year half-tuition scholarship to the University of Connecticut. The top five (first through fourth in orals and the first-place poster presenter) travel with all expenses paid to compete at the national JSHS competition, where winners receive $350 to $12,000.

• Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF)

  Intel ISEF is the worlds largest precollege science competition, with nearly 1,800 kids competing from more than seventy-five countries, regions, and territories. It began as the National Science Fair in 1950 in Philadelphia and went international in 1958. Competitors must win Intel berths at local or regional affiliated fairs in order to attend ISEF, where $4 million in prizes are awarded, including one top award of $75,000 followed by two awards of $50,000.

• International Sustainable World (Engineering Energy Environment) Project (ISWEEEP)