Nine students from Fairfax County Public Schools received awards at the International Science and Engineering Fair held last week in Phoenix, Arizona, according to a May 18 announcement. Bennett Huang and Jason Pan of Langley High School won the European Union Contest for Young Scientists Award, one of the top ten honors at ISEF. This award allows them to travel to Germany to compete in the 2026 European Contest for Young Scientists.
Other category award winners included Huang and Pan, who also took first place in Environmental Engineering for their project on targeted pest control using an autonomous robotic spraying system. Julia Hatcher from Madison High School earned fourth place in Animal Sciences with her research on lead concentrations in vape e-liquid and its effects on C. elegans’ behavior and fertility.
Sarah Park from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology was awarded fourth place in Biomedical Engineering for her work on AI-powered origami millirobots used in targeted therapeutics. Jack Gao, also from Thomas Jefferson High School, received third place in Earth and Environmental Science for his tornado prediction project.
Benjamin Kwon and Utsav Das of Chantilly High School achieved third place in Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design with their study on energy harvesting efficiency across different wave conditions. Parham Yeganeh from Marshall High School took third place in Physics and Astronomy with a project about motion-induced quicksand effects, while Polina Anfilofyev of Marshall earned fourth place in Translational Medical Sciences for optimizing Alzheimer’s treatment using a modeling approach.
Anfilofyev also received an Outstanding Award from The Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications (COMAP), which includes a cash prize, membership, and contest entry opportunities. Fifteen Fairfax County Public Schools students qualified to attend ISEF after advancing through regional or state science fairs. More than 1,700 students worldwide competed at ISEF this year.