Category Descriptions

PROJECT CATEGORY DESCRIPTIONS — 2024

Jr & Sr   ANIMAL BIOLOGY:
Stud­ies of evo­lu­tion­ary ori­gins, genet­ics, growth, mor­phol­o­gy, stud­ies of ani­mals in their nat­ur­al habi­tat (or repro­duc­tions of it).

Jr & Sr   ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY:
Stud­ies of major ani­mal organ sys­tem func­tions involv­ing genet­ics, immunol­o­gy, neu­ro­bi­ol­o­gy, pathol­o­gy, repro­duc­tion, or sen­so­ry biol­o­gy in mammals.

Sr only   BEHAVIORAL/SOCIAL SCIENCES:
Stud­ies of behav­ior, con­di­tioned respons­es, learned respons­es, learn­ing, psy­chi­a­try, or psy­chol­o­gy in humans and oth­er ani­mals, includ­ing the effects of chem­i­cal or phys­i­cal stress on men­tal process­es, anthro­pol­o­gy and archae­ol­o­gy; stud­ies or sur­veys of atti­tudes, behav­iors, or val­ues of a soci­ety or groups with­in a soci­ety (e.g., anthro­pol­o­gy, archae­ol­o­gy, or sociology)

Jr only    BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES – NON-HUMAN:
Stud­ies of behav­ior, con­di­tioned respons­es, learned respons­es, learn­ing, psy­chi­a­try, or psy­chol­o­gy in non-humans, includ­ing the effects of chem­i­cal or phys­i­cal stress on men­tal processes.

Jr only    BEHAVIORAL/SOCIAL SCIENCES – HUMAN:
Stud­ies of behav­ior, con­di­tioned respons­es, learned respons­es, learn­ing, psy­chi­a­try, or psy­chol­o­gy in humans, includ­ing stud­ies or sur­veys of atti­tudes, behav­iors, or val­ues of a soci­ety or groups with­in a soci­ety (e.g., anthro­pol­o­gy, archae­ol­o­gy, or soci­ol­o­gy), and the effects of chem­i­cal or phys­i­cal stress on men­tal processes.

Jr & Sr   BIOCHEMISTRY & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY:
Mol­e­c­u­lar biol­o­gy, mol­e­c­u­lar genet­ics, enzymes, pho­to­syn­the­sis, blood chem­istry, pro­tein chem­istry, food chem­istry, hormones.

Sr only   CHEMISTRY:
Phys­i­cal chem­istry, organ­ic chem­istry (oth­er than bio­chem­istry), inor­gan­ic chem­istry, mate­ri­als, plas­tics, fuels, pes­ti­cides, met­al­lur­gy, soil chemistry.

Jr only    CHEMISTRY-APPLIED:
Mea­sures and com­par­isons of mate­ri­als dura­bil­i­ty, flam­ma­bil­i­ty, effec­tive­ness for intend­ed use, and prod­uct test­ing for real world applications.

Jr only    CHEMISTRY-GENERAL:
Phys­i­cal chem­istry, organ­ic chem­istry (oth­er than bio­chem­istry), inor­gan­ic chem­istry, mate­ri­als, plas­tics, fuels, pes­ti­cides, met­al­lur­gy, soil chem­istry. This implies knowl­edge of the chem­i­cal struc­ture of the mate­ri­als being tested.

Jr & Sr   EARTH/SPACE SCIENCES:
Geol­o­gy, geo­physics, phys­i­cal oceanog­ra­phy, mete­o­rol­o­gy, atmos­pher­ic physics, seis­mol­o­gy, petro­le­um geol­o­gy, geog­ra­phy, spele­ol­o­gy, min­er­al­o­gy, topog­ra­phy, solar physics, astro­physics, orbital mechan­ics, obser­va­tion­al astron­o­my and astro­nom­i­cal surveys.

Jr & Sr   ECOLOGY:
Inter­ac­tion of abi­ot­ic and biot­ic ele­ments with­in any envi­ron­men­tal inves­ti­ga­tion (habi­tats, food webs, oxy­gen, car­bon & nitro­gen cycles, bio­geog­ra­phy, bio­mes), pol­lu­tion sources (air, land, water), impact stud­ies, resource access, envi­ron­men­tal alter­ation (caused by heat, light, irri­ga­tion, ero­sion, etc.).

Jr & Sr   ENGINEERING APPLICATIONS:
Project in which a poten­tial­ly use­ful prod­uct is cre­at­ed (e.g., strength­en­ing con­crete, satel­lite recep­tion improve­ment, solu­tion to traf­fic jams, bion­ic heart/respiration monitors).

Jr & Sr   ENGINEERING RESEARCH:
Engi­neer­ing analy­sis, tests of devices and their oper­a­tions, oth­er than prod­uct comparisons.

Jr & Sr   ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT:
Con­ser­va­tion of nat­ur­al resources and usage modal­i­ties (crop rota­tion, use of renew­able ener­gy sources, ter­race farm­ing, recy­cling, clear cut­ting, etc.), envi­ron­men­tal pro­tec­tions (emis­sions con­trol, sewage and sol­id waste dis­pos­al, etc.)

Jr only    MATERIALS SCIENCE:
Stud­ies of mate­ri­als char­ac­ter­is­tics and their sta­t­ic phys­i­cal prop­er­ties. Includes mea­sure­ments and com­par­isons of mate­ri­als dura­bil­i­ty, flam­ma­bil­i­ty, and insu­la­tion prop­er­ties (ther­mal, elec­tri­cal, acoustic, opti­cal, elec­tro­mag­net­ic, etc.).

Jr & Sr   MATHEMATICS & COMPUTER SCIENCES:
Cal­cu­lus, geom­e­try, abstract alge­bra, num­ber the­o­ry, sta­tis­tics, com­plex analy­sis, prob­a­bil­i­ty, topol­o­gy, log­ic, oper­a­tions research, and oth­er top­ics in pure and applied math­e­mat­ics, com­put­er pro­grams, lan­guages, new devel­op­ments in soft­ware or hard­ware, infor­ma­tion sys­tems, com­put­er sys­tems orga­ni­za­tion, com­put­er method­olo­gies, and data (includ­ing struc­tures, encryp­tion, cod­ing, and infor­ma­tion the­o­ry) 

Jr & Sr   MICROBIOLOGY:
Stud­ies of prokary­otes, pro­tists (exclud­ing algae), and fun­gi (mycol­o­gy), includ­ing genet­ics, growth and repro­duc­tion, and response to chem­i­cal, and phys­i­cal stress. Includes bacteriology.

Jr & Sr   PHARMACOLOGY:
Effect of any drug or chem­i­cal on any liv­ing ani­mal, espe­cial­ly though not exclu­sive­ly, humans. Stud­ies should be at the cel­lu­lar or organ­ism level.

Sr only   PHYSICS:
Exper­i­men­tal or the­o­ret­i­cal stud­ies of the phys­i­cal prop­er­ties of mat­ter in all forms, Com­put­er sim­u­la­tions of phys­i­cal sys­tems are appro­pri­ate in this category.

Jr only    PHYSICS – AERODYNAMICS/HYDRODYNAMICS:
Stud­ies of aero­dy­nam­ics and propul­sion of air, land, water, and space vehi­cles; aero/hydrodynamics of struc­tures and nat­ur­al objects. Stud­ies of the basic physics of flu­id flow.

Jr only    PHYSICS – ELECTRICITY & MAGNETISM:
Exper­i­men­tal or the­o­ret­i­cal stud­ies with elec­tri­cal cir­cuits, elec­tro-optics, elec­tro­mag­net­ic appli­ca­tions, anten­nas and prop­a­ga­tion, and pow­er production.

Jr only    PHYSICS – GENERAL:
Exper­i­men­tal or the­o­ret­i­cal stud­ies of the phys­i­cal prop­er­ties of mat­ter and ener­gy in all forms (with the excep­tion of flu­ids, elec­tric­i­ty, and mag­net­ism); com­put­er sim­u­la­tions of phys­i­cal sys­tems are appro­pri­ate in this category.

Jr & Sr   PLANT BIOLOGY & PHYSIOLOGY
Agri­cul­ture, agron­o­my, hor­ti­cul­ture, forestry, plant tax­on­o­my, plant genet­ics, hydro­pon­ics, and phy­col­o­gy (algae); stud­ies of major plant organ sys­tem func­tions involv­ing genet­ics, immunol­o­gy, pathol­o­gy, and reproduction.

Jr only    PRODUCT SCIENCE:
Com­par­i­son and test­ing of nat­ur­al and man-made prod­ucts regard­ing effec­tive­ness for their intend­ed use in con­sumer-ori­ent­ed applications.