Ignite Off! Competition

Hosted by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, the annual Ignite Off! competition showcases the talents of interns from participating federal agencies and offices as they share their research through Ignite Talks. Each competitor has five minutes to present their project, using 20 picture-centric slides that automatically advance every 15 seconds. Through ORISE Learn, contestants have access to an ORISE professional development course that teaches the process for developing an Ignite talk.


2024 Ignite Off! Competition

Read the news feature

Past Ignite Off! Competitions:

USDA-ARS fellow wins 2023 ORISE Ignite Off! competition

Amanda Fanelli de Souza, an ORISE postdoctoral fellow in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Research Participation Program, was named the winner of the 2023 Ignite Off! competition. Read more about the 2023 winner and finalists.

Watch the video recording of the 2023 Ignite Off Final National Viewing Event.

First all-ORISE Ignite Off Competition names ORNL intern as its winner

Amish Mishra, an ORISE participant in the National Science Foundation's Mathematical Sciences Graduate Internship (NSF-MSGI) Program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), won the 2022 Ignite Off! competition. Read more about the 2022 winner and finalists.

Watch the video recording of the 2022 Ignite Off Final National Viewing Event.

2021 Ignite Off! Competition Winner

Janet Teng, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

View 2021 finalists’ and other Ignite Off! presentations

Kristyn Johnson, National Energy Technology Laboratory

Other 2020 Ignite Off! finalists:

  • Enakshi Saha | ANL – Bayesian Latent-Variable Modeling of COVID-19 Infection Rate
  • Abdullah Kuziez | ANL – Accelerators for Carbon Ion Therapy
  • Trevor McQueen | ORNL – Capturing Molecular Actions via Vitrification
  • Tanner Stelmach | NETL – Chemical Looping Gasification (CLG)
  • Jacob Sumner | ORNL – Protein Shape Reconstruction with Neutron Scattering and Computational Tools

View 2020 finalists’ and other Ignite Off! presentations

Kaylee Cunningham, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Other 2019 Ignite Off! finalists:

  • Benjamin Aronson | ANL – The Future of Metal Manufacturing
  • Taylor Dennis | ORNL – The Search for Mirror Neutrons
  • Carol Lin | ANL – Investigation of the Tribological Effects on the Surface Interaction of Wind Turbine Bearings
  • Tayler Sundermann | ORNL – Robotic Laser Titanium Wire Big Area Additive Manufacturing
  • Nadia Zaragoza | ANL – Materials Science and Nuclear Fuels

View 2019 finalists’ and other Ignite Off! presentations