Competitions for Students

Previous contests

• February 2020: I Heart Technology/Research Challenge

  K-2nd Grade Students: I ♡ Technology Challenge

  Winners:

  1^st: Jayden H., TN

  2^nd: Natalie S., TN

  3^rd: Mauricio Z., MD

  The Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) is hosting a student challenge just for students in Kindergarten through 2nd grade! Do you love using technology? What is your favorite thing to do with technology? Write a short story telling us about your favorite technology and draw a picture of you with the technology! You may use the template provided to write and draw your story. THREE Prizes will be awarded!

  7-12th Grade Students: I ♡ VR Research Challenge

  Winners:

  1^st: Alli B., TN (video)

  2^nd: Rey S., Guam

  3^rd: Brandon B., TN

  Do you think virtual reality would spice up your classes? It’s your turn to convince us! The Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) wants your thoughts! Tell us why and how virtual reality should (or could) be used in the classroom! You can use any medium you would like including, but not limited to, infographic, commercial, animation, video, brochure, PowerPoint, persuasive paper, etc. Make your stance and you could be one of THREE winners to receive your own Oculus Go Headset! (Note: due to the manufacturer’s health & safety warnings, no submissions from students under 13 years old will be accepted.)

  Prizes:

  THREE winners will receive an Oculus Go Headset!

• December 2019: Sounds of STEM Challenge

  

  CALLING ALL STUDENTS!!

  How many times have you been riding in the car humming, singing, or even dancing along to your favorite tune? Music is a force that moves and connects us all, but how is music connected to STEM? The Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) wants you to answer this question. We are asking that you create a music video of a self-written song that addresses at least one concept in STEM. This can be a remix to your favorite song, or you can make your own beats to groove to. 

  3^rd-5^th Grade Winners:

  • Ethan B., Knoxville, TN  video |  song lyrics/sources
  • Bethany D., Wilson, NC  video
  • McKenzie D., Oak Ridge, TN  video |  song lyrics/sources

  6^th-8^th Grade Winners:

  • Colby V., Knoxville, TN  video |  song lyrics/sources
  • Lydia B., Knoxville, TN  video |  song lyrics/sources
  • Adeshina T., Wilmington, DE  video

  9^th-12^th Grade Winners:

  • Gabrielle D., Conyers, GA  video 
  • Courtney M., Conyers, GA  song lyrics/sources
  • Ryan R., Knoxville, TN  video |  song lyrics/sources

  If you have any questions, please contact: STEMEd@orau.org

• November 2019: Got Bots? Engineering Design Challenge

  How many times have you come across a problem in your life that could be solved with the help of a robot? What about a problem in society? Do you think you can design a robot that can solve a real-world problem? Well, now is your chance! ORISE wanted to know how you would design a robot that could solve a problem that is important to you. 

  Winners:

  In the k-2 division:

  1. Scarlett T. from TN
  2. Shannon M. from TN
  3. Alice G. from TN

  In the elementary school division:

  1. Pradyumna L. from TN
  2. Baker L. from KY (Baker's gif)
  3. David O. from MD

  In the middle school division:

  1. Anna H. from TN
  2. Adithya S. from TN
  3. Tabitha O. from MD

  In the high school division:

  1. Joseph R. from FL
  2. Aidan M. from MD
  3. Elissa L. from IL
• May 2019: K-2nd grade: At night bats… Student Challenge

  Review or No Review Student Challenge

  ORISE hosted a student challenge just for students in grades K-2! Have you ever wondered what animals do while the rest of the world is sleeping? We asked students to write a story and draw a picture telling us what you think bats do at night! 

  Winners:

  1^st Place: Maya M., NJ

  2^nd Place (tie): Natalie S., TN

  2^nd Place (tie): Anandi L., MD

  If you have any questions, please contact: STEMEd@orau.org

• May 2019: 3rd-12th grades: Review or No Review Student Challenge

  Review or No Review Student Challenge

  How do you review for a test? With a game, of course! ORISE asked students to use their favorite coding software (such as Scratch, hopscotch, swift, or others) to create a review game to prepare for an end of the year test in any subject area. 

  Winners:

  3-5^th grades:

  • Alexander A., MD
  • Rebecca V., MI

  6-8^th grades:

  • Jensen C., IL
  • Clara S., TN
  • Tabitha O., MD

  9-12^th grades:

  • Adam B., TN

   If you have any questions, please contact: STEMEd@orau.org

• April 2019: I’m the Teacher Now Student Challenge

  Did you know that one of the best ways to learn something is to teach it to someone else? The Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) wants you to try it out! We are asking that you create a 1-2 minute original presentation that creatively explains or demonstrates a scientific concept of your choice to a student younger than you. SIX prizes will be awarded—two for the K-5^th grade category, two for the 6-8^th category, and two for the 9-12^th grade category.

  Winners K-5^th

  1^st Place: Lydia D. from NC
  2^nd Place: Bethany D. from NC

  Winners 6^th-8^th

  1^st Place: Myley N. from TN
  2^nd Place: Vineeta S. from TN

  Winners 9^th-12^th

  1^st Place: Anna M. from KS
  2^nd Place: Miranda D. from FL

• February 2019: I Heart Drones Research Challenge

  

  While drones can take really interesting photos and are fun to learn to maneuver through the air, did you know that drones have become very common in the workplace? Real Estate agents use them to take photos of property, Amazon is planning to deliver packages with drones, and the NFL uses them to capture video to analyze. So, how are drones being used in the STEM workforce? Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) asked students to create a 1-2 minute presentation that discusses at least 3 uses of drones in STEM field.  

  Winners 6^th-8^th Grade Winners:

  1^st Place: Sophie L., TN
  2^nd Place: Libby S., VA
  3^rd Place: Kaylee M., TN

  Winners 9^th-12^th Grade Winners:

  1^st Place: Nitin S., NY
  2^nd Place: Kaylie G., TN
  3^rd Place: Alyssa V., TN

• November 2018: All I Want for Christmas is a 3D Printer Design Challenge

  How many times have you come across a problem in your life that could be solved with creating a solution that could be 3D printed? What about a problem in society? Do you think you can design a 3D model that can solve a real-world problem? In November of 2018, the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) wanted to know how students would design a 3D model that can solve a problem that is important to them

  Winners Grades 6-8:

  1^st Place: Jensie C., Illinois, Locker Anti-Jam
  2^nd Place: Samuel J., Colorado, Ventus
  3^rd Place: Maclean S., Tennessee, Use it! Don’t Lose it!

  Winners Grades 9-12:

  1^st Place: Kimberly S., Tennessee, Gas Nozzle Lock for School Chemistry Labs
  2^nd Place: Alexandra S, Tennessee, Toe Positioner
  3^rd Place: William C, Tennessee, Water Bottle Cup Holder

• July 2018: Machine Madness 

  Contest is now closed. Winners will be announced soon!

  Rising Kindergarten through 6th grade students!

  Do you think you can design a machine? We want to know how you would design a machine that solves a problem important to you! Tell us your important problem and explain the engineering design process of creating your machine, and you could win a prize! TEN prizes will be awarded to students—five for the K-3rd grade category and five for the 4th–6th grade category.

  Prizes for the top five K–3rd grade winners:  Code-and-Go Mouse

  Prizes for the top five 4th-6th grade winners: Sphero

  Examples of existing machines:

  • Electric Motor
  • Scissors
  • Wheelbarrow
  • Lawn mower
  • Typewriter
• June 2018: Energy Harvesting

  Harvesting renewable energy is an emerging field with many potential future career opportunities. ORISE wants students to get a small introduction to this field by designing an instrument or device that harvests ambient energy and transforms it into usable energy! Use the engineering design process to guide your creation beginning with identifying a problem and ending with a novel instrument that harvests and transforms energy! 

  Winners:

  7^th-9^th grade winner:
  Jake from TN with The Solarnator

  10th-12 grade winner:
  Kaitlyn Daniels with Chargeable Charms!

   

• April 2018: ORISE Science Poetry Contest

  

  Science has long inspired art. Did you know that Leonardo da Vinci studied human anatomy extensively before he painted the Mona Lisa?  Did you know that Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein was inspired and written during a dreary, cold summer in 1815, when one of the strongest volcanic eruptions – Mount Tambora -- spewed ejecta that blocked out the sun and cooled the atmosphere? Today, countless artists are motivated by innovative technology, limitless natural phenomena, and new scientific discoveries!

  April is National Poetry Month, and to honor STEAM’s (STEM + Art) long history, ORISE is sponsoring a  science-poetry competition for all current high school students, university students, and all ORISE participants, including post-associate’s, post-bachelor’s, post-master’s, and postdoctoral levels! 

  Winners:

  High School student

  1st	Jeanette, 17	How I Feel About Space
  2nd	Ivy, 16	Two Voices of STEAM
  3rd	Elissa, 9	The World of Genetics
  Honorable Mention	Rocco, 16	Singing
  Honorable Mention	Matthew, 16	The Fly on the Wall
  Honorable Mention	Joanna, 18	The Conscious Mind

  University student

  1st	Kaila Noland	Vacationing as a Crab
  2nd	Ashley Humphrey	Science is a Verb
  3rd	Kathleen Gillespie	Biome, Sweet Biome

  ORISE Participant

  1st	Michaela Cashman	The Ocean Blues
  2nd	David Sapiro	The Rusty Bells
  3rd	Eric Popczun	Chlorine's Ode
  Honorable Mention	Hannah C. Gunderman	The Black Dog
  Honorable Mention	Kate Jones	What Does an Earthworm Taste Like?
  Honorable Mention	Brandon McAdams	No One is Allowed to Enter but Her

  See an example of a science-themed poem written by ORISE Science Education Project Manager Art Stewart

  General Relativity

   

  A hundred years
  the theory has passed hard tests and still we find
  new applications. Mass,
  energy, and curved spacetime
  collectively validate
  gravitational radiation, black holes, and cos-
  mology; neutrinos and photons,
  spewing from a supernova
  in the Large Magellanic Cloud, arrive
  here at Earth, our little home,
  within hours of each other, showing
  they move at different rates, in line
  with differences in mass, and light

  and neutrinos take the curved path
  of space-time, making
  the speed of light seem slow
  as it flows
  curvaceously across the galaxy from stars
  differing in age. My head

  spins now under the whirl of planets and
  neutron stars; my pulse
  picks up. What a delight

  to know these things have worked
  like this
  for hundreds of thousands of years:
  we stared

  back then up at night from
  sparking fire at cave-lip, astounded

  by pinprick bits of starry light that fell.

  • Read about the Judges Panel for ORISE Poetry Contest

    Linda Parsons

    Linda Parsons is a poet, playwright and an editor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. She is the reviews editor at Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, former poetry editor of Now & Then magazine, and has contributed to The Georgia Review, Iowa Review, Prairie Schooner, Southern Poetry Review, The Chattahoochee Review, Shenandoah, and Ted Kooser’s syndicated column, American Life in Poetry, among other journals and anthologies. Her fourth poetry collection is This Shaky Earth, and her newest endeavor is writing for The Hammer Ensemble, the social justice wing of Flying Anvil Theatre .

    Connie Jordan Green

    Connie Jordan Green lives on a farm in Loudon County, Tenn., where, when she isn't gardening, she writes in a small attic study. She is the author of two award-winning novels for young people, The War at Home and Emmy; two poetry chapbooks, Slow Children Playing and Regret Comes to Tea; two poetry collections, Household Inventory, winner of the Brick Road Poetry Press 2013 Award, and most recently, Darwin’s Breath from Iris Press. Green is included in Listen Here: Women Writing in Appalachia (University Press of Kentucky). Her poetry has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies.

    Jennifer Gresham

    Jennifer Gresham spent 16 years as an officer in the U.S. Air Force before becoming a high-performance coach and business strategist. She is the former assistant chief scientist of the Human Performance Wing for the Air Force Research Laboratory, where she helped lead a research portfolio spanning the fields of biology, psychology and technology. She is the author of the poetry collection, Diary of a Cell, from Steel Toe Books, and the award-winning blog Everyday Bright. Her poems have been featured in numerous journals, magazines, and radio shows. She currently lives in Seattle, Wash., with her family and two cheeky cats.

    Arthur Stewart

    Arthur Stewart is an ORISE science education program manager with more than 25 years of research experience in aquatic ecology and ecotoxicology. He also explores science creatively by writing, and has authored six books of science-inspired poetry, including Circle, Turtle, Ashes (2010), The Ghost in the Word (2013), and Elements of Chance (2017).  His poems have been published in both scientific venues and in over a dozen literary journals and magazines. In 2013, he was inducted into the East Tennessee Hall of Fame for poetry. 

• February 2018: Robots: Engineering Design Challenge

  

  In February, ORISE asked students to follow the engineering design process to design a robot that solves a real-world problem. Congratulations to our grand-prize, runner-up, and judge’s choice winners!

  Grand prize winners

  Kayden from MD: RoboCare: Customized Healthcare at Your Service

  Adithya from TX: The HYDRObot

  Runners-up

  Kyle from TN: The Easy Opener

  DeWayne from TN: Robotic Seeing Eye Dog

  Grace from TN: BinkyBot

  Christina from TN: Robots: Unsanitary Water in LDCs

  Ayush from TX: FRNDBot (not posted)

  Cody from TN: The MailBot

  Gregory from TN: Personal Health Care Robot

  Jalen from TN: I <3 Robots

  Hannah, Andrew, and Ethan from TN: Gas-Bot

  Judge’s choice

  Kashvi from KS: I <3 Robot: Dog & Drone

  Allie from TN: Reducing Unnecessary Shelter Deaths

• November 2017: All I want for Christmas is a Drone!

  In our November contest, students were encouraged to get creative for a chance to win a Flip Flop stunt drone! Participants in the contest entered by describing a science topic and used technology to present their ideas.

  Congratulations to our grand-prize and runner-up winners!

  John from Tennessee: Drone Laws

  Daniel from Maryland: Airfoil Technology

  Evelyn from Maryland: Drones and GPS

  Gabe from Tennessee: Drone Project

  Kayden from Maryland: Vessel Watch

  Jacob from Kansas: How Drones Move

  Omar from Tennessee: Aerodynamics of a Flying Drone

  William from Kansas: Gyroscopes in Drones

  Calvin from Tennessee: Parts of a Drone and How it Works