What Makes a Good Project

Shifts in Alaska Salmon Run Timing

A salmon run is the yearly migration of adult salmon from the ocean up a river to spawn. Run timing can change as water temperatures change. A University of Alaska study at Auke Creek near Juneau found that pink salmon there have been migrating earlier over time as the water has warmed.

Question: Over the last 20 years, has the midpoint date of Alaska salmon runs (the day half of the season's fish have passed) moved earlier or later?

Why it stands out: It separates when salmon arrive from how many arrive. It builds a timing map that fishers and managers can use.

Learn more: Southeast Alaska pink salmon adapting to climate change, warming water (Anchorage Daily News)
Builds on: adfg.alaska.gov

Snow Fleas: Springtail Activity and Snow Temperature

'Snow fleas' are not fleas. They are springtails, tiny six-legged animals that live on the forest floor and escape danger by flipping into the air with a forked, spring-loaded tail. Most people only notice them in spring, when they look like pepper sprinkled on melting snow, and scientists are still not sure exactly how they reach the snow surface.

Question: At what snow-surface temperatures are springtails (snow fleas) most common, and is the pattern different on sunny and shaded snow?

Why it stands out: Most people walk past the black specks on spring snow. You will map when and where they show up in your own neighborhood.

Before you start: Adult supervision. Make a winter field safety plan. Choose sites near home, away from roads and thin ice. Keep away from moose.

Learn more: Springtails: a Sign of the Season (Alaska Science Forum, UAF Geophysical Institute)
Builds on: akentsoc.org

Ant Trail Width and Head-On Collisions

Many ants travel along trails between their nest and food sources. Traffic scientists study ant trails because ants rarely form traffic jams: as trails get more crowded, ants spread out across the trail and adjust their speed. This project tests whether narrow sections of a trail, like a lane closure on a highway, cause more collisions.

Question: Do ants collide head-on more often on narrow sections of their own trails than on wide sections?

Why it stands out: It brings highway traffic science to an ant trail. Nothing in the ants' world gets changed.

Learn more: How Ants Go Marching and Never Cause Traffic Jams (Inside Science, American Institute of Physics)

Does Smoke Water Speed Fireweed Seed Germination?

Fireweed is a tall plant with pink flowers that is common across Alaska and is one of the first plants to grow back after wildfires. Seeds of some plants sprout better after contact with chemicals from smoke, and liquid 'smoke water' can be bought to test this. Germination is when a seed starts to sprout.

Question: Does store-bought smoke water change how quickly fireweed seeds germinate?

Why it stands out: An Alaska plant that returns quickly after fires may respond to smoke very differently than a garden seed.

Before you start: Adult supervision: purchased smoke-water handling, label directions, and sealed disposal of any moldy dish; no making fire or smoke

Learn more: Fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium) species review (USDA Forest Service Fire Effects Information System)

Cold Pool Size and the Snow Crab Collapse

Snow crab in the eastern Bering Sea live on the sea floor in water just above freezing. The 'cold pool' is a band of ultra-chilled bottom water that forms after winters with sea ice. A marine heat wave kept sea ice from forming for two winters (2018–2019), billions of snow crab disappeared, and in 2022 Alaska canceled the snow crab harvest for the first time.

Question: Could the size of the Bering Sea cold pool (bottom water colder than 2 °C) have warned scientists before snow crab numbers crashed?

Why it stands out: You test a warning sign for a crash that wiped out about 90% of Bering Sea snow crab. You use the same data NOAA scientists use.

Learn more: Alaska crab fishery collapse seen as warning about Bering Sea transformation (Alaska Beacon)
Builds on: alaskasnewssource.com

Does First Frost Predict Birch Leaf Color Change?

In fall, leaves change from green to yellow or brown and then drop; the GLOBE program calls this green-down. Its timing can shift earlier or later from year to year depending on the weather. Students in GLOBE record leaf color on their own trees, creating records scientists can study.

Question: Does the date of the first fall frost help predict when birch leaves change color in Interior Alaska?

Why it stands out: Student leaf records test whether a familiar frost explanation beats the calendar.

Learn more: A Call for Daily Observations of Fall Color (NASA GLOBE Observer)
Builds on: akentsoc.org

Does Splitting Long Days Affect Radish Growth?

In summer, much of Alaska gets 18 or more hours of daylight. A photoperiod is the number of hours of light a plant gets each day, and growers sometimes break up the dark period with night-interruption lighting because plants respond to the pattern of light and dark, not just the total. Radishes grow fast, so they make a quick test crop.

Question: Does splitting 18 hours of daily light into two blocks change radish growth when the total light stays the same?

Why it stands out: Both groups of plants get the same total light, but one group gets a break in the middle.

Before you start: Adult supervision: grow-light electrical safety and water containment

Learn more: Photoperiodic Lighting (Ohio Controlled Environment Agriculture Center, Ohio State University)

Lettuce Growth per Kilowatt-Hour Under Different Photoperiods

A photoperiod is the number of hours of light a plant gets each day. Under grow lights, longer days usually mean more growth but also more electricity. Alaska winter days are short, so indoor growers rely on LED lights; one study of indoor lettuce found that growth per kilowatt-hour was highest at a middle photoperiod, not the longest one.

Question: Which daily light schedule (photoperiod) grows the most lettuce per kilowatt-hour of lamp electricity?

Why it stands out: The longest growing day has to earn its extra electricity.

Before you start: Adult supervision: grow-light electrical safety and water kept away from plugs

Learn more: Optimal daily light integral for indoor hydroponic lettuce (Scientific Reports, via NIH PubMed Central)

A Homemade Clinostat With Proper Controls

Gravitropism is the way roots grow down and shoots grow up in response to gravity. A clinostat is a slowly turning device that keeps changing the direction of gravity for a plant, and scientists use it to imitate some effects of spaceflight. It does not remove gravity, so it is only a partial model of weightlessness.

Question: Does a homemade slow clinostat change root bending more than a control that spins but keeps gravity pointing the same way?

Why it stands out: A vertical-axis spinning control tests whether roots react to gravity changing direction or just to being spun.

Before you start: Adult supervision: dilute bleach, guarded motors, closed seed containers, and sealed disposal of anything contaminated; no growing microbes

Learn more: Magnets mimic gravity's guiding hand for plants growing in space (Science News Explores)
Builds on: societyforscience.org

Detecting Plant Water Stress from Leaf Angles

When plants run short of water, their leaves can roll, droop, or change angle before obvious wilting. Leaf angle changes are a useful sign of how plants respond to drought. Scientists now use time-lapse photos and image-analysis software to measure leaf angles automatically and spot water stress early.

Question: Does a leaf-angle warning detect mild water stress sooner than a leaf-color warning?

Why it stands out: Your program has to spot a thirsty plant before it droops, without flagging healthy plants.

Before you start: Adult supervision: grow lights, water near electronics, and plant disposal

Learn more: All the angles: Automated image processing could aid crop evals (University of Nebraska–Lincoln)
Builds on: societyforscience.org

Do Pea Roots Grow Toward Water Sounds?

In a 2017 study, scientist Monica Gagliano's team reported that pea roots grew toward the sound of running water. The plants seemed to avoid a recording of running water, and they ignored the sound when the soil was already moist. How plants might sense sound is unknown, so these results need more testing.

Question: Do pea roots grow toward recorded water sounds more often than toward a different sound of the same loudness?

Why it stands out: A surprising water-sound claim has to beat both silence and another sound.

Before you start: Adult supervision: chamber construction, low-voltage speakers, and water kept away from electronics

Learn more: Hydrophonics (Northern Woodlands magazine)

Tardigrade Freeze-Thaw Survival in Different Moss Habitats

Tardigrades, or water bears, are microscopic animals, most smaller than a pencil dot, that live in the thin film of water on moss. When their moss dries out or freezes, they protect their cells and go into a deep, nearly lifeless sleep, then wake up when conditions improve. They die if they stay dry or frozen too long, so habitats that freeze and dry often may favor tougher tardigrades.

Question: Do tardigrades (water bears) from roof moss survive repeated freezing and thawing better than ones from tree-bark or rock moss?

Why it stands out: Water bears are famous for surviving almost anything. You test whether harsher homes make tougher water bears.

Before you start: Adult supervision. Make a collection safety plan. Use only moss you can reach from the ground. Never climb onto roofs or use ladders.

Learn more: All About Tardigrades (Ask A Biologist, Arizona State University)
Builds on: akentsoc.org

Which Conifer Needles Capture the Most Fog?

Fog is made of tiny water droplets floating in the air. When fog drifts through trees, droplets hit needles and leaves, join together, and drip to the ground; this is called fog drip. In some foggy forests, fog drip can be as heavy as light rain.

Question: Which conifer branch shape catches the most fog droplets for its size?

Why it stands out: The winning needles have to stay ahead after you account for branch size.

Before you start: Adult supervision: permitted branch clipping, clean humidifier use, contained mist, and electronics kept dry

Learn more: Fog drip (Glossary of Meteorology, American Meteorological Society)
Builds on: snexplores.org

Worm Grunting: Which Vibrations Bring Earthworms Up?

Worm grunting is a way to collect fishing bait: people rub a piece of iron across a wooden stake driven into the ground, and the vibrations make earthworms crawl out. A Vanderbilt University scientist studied why it works. The leading idea is that the vibrations sound like a burrowing mole, a worm predator, so the worms flee to the surface.

Question: Which vibration brings the most earthworms to the surface: a steady tone at one frequency, or a tapping pattern like rain?

Why it stands out: It tests the science behind 'worm grunting,' a real way people collect bait. It pits two ideas against each other: worms fleeing a digging mole, or worms coming up for rain.

Learn more: Grunting for worms (Science News Explores)

Wood Strength of Beetle-Killed Spruce Over Time

Spruce beetles are native bark beetles that have killed large areas of spruce in Southcentral Alaska. Dead trees are often salvaged for lumber or firewood, but wood can weaken over time as it dries, cracks, and decays. Testing the wood shows whether long-dead trees are still useful.

Question: Does the time since a spruce was killed by beetles relate to its wood's bending strength and dent resistance?

Why it stands out: Local salvaged wood gets measured tree by tree instead of judged by how it looks.

Before you start: Adult supervision: documented wood that was already cut down, saw cutting, guarded breaking loads, and land access; no cutting down trees or going near standing dead trees

Learn more: Spruce Beetle Outbreaks and Climate Change in Alaska (USDA Climate Hubs)
Builds on: knom.org

Preventing Soil Liquefaction Under Model Buildings

Soil liquefaction happens when strong earthquake shaking makes loose, water-soaked sand or silt lose strength and act like a liquid. Liquefied ground can no longer hold up weight, so buildings on it can sink or tilt. It needs three things together: loose sandy soil, groundwater filling the spaces between grains, and strong shaking.

Question: Shaking can make wet sand lose its strength and act like a liquid; this is called liquefaction. Which fix best keeps a model building from sinking: compacting the sand, gravel drains, or a geotextile (fabric) layer?

Why it stands out: You take a 2026 Nome ASEF winner's liquefaction experiment from the problem to possible fixes. Alaska's 1964 earthquake is the hook.

Learn more: Liquefaction of Soil During Earthquakes, Geology.com
Builds on: knom.org

Depth Hoar: What Grows Weak Snow Layers?

Depth hoar is a layer of large, loosely bonded snow crystals at the bottom of the snowpack. It forms when the ground stays relatively warm under a shallow, cold snowpack, creating a strong temperature gradient (a big temperature difference over a short distance). Because the crystals bond poorly, depth hoar is a weak layer involved in many dangerous avalanches.

Question: Depth hoar is the layer of large, sugary snow crystals at the bottom of the snowpack. Are these crystals larger in open fields or under spruce trees? How does their size relate to the temperature gradient (the temperature difference from the bottom to the top of the snow)?

Why it stands out: You study the weak snow layer behind many Alaska avalanches with a hand lens and a winter of patience.

Before you start: Adult supervision: make a winter field safety plan; use low, flat sites away from avalanche terrain, thin ice, and roads, and keep away from moose

Learn more: Depth Hoar / Basal Facets, Avalanche Encyclopedia, Avalanche.org
Builds on: communitysnowobs.org

Does Patchy Ground Cover Speed Permafrost Thaw?

Permafrost is ground that stays frozen for at least two years in a row. Above it is the active layer, which thaws each summer and refreezes each winter. In Alaska, plants and moss insulate permafrost from summer heat, so when cover is removed by fires, trails, or roads, the ground warms and thaws deeper.

Question: Picture frozen ground with the same total amount of insulation, but with bare gaps. Does it thaw deeper than ground under one continuous layer?

Why it stands out: You test whether a few bare gaps, like trails or burn scars on tundra, matter more than the average cover. The model fits in your hands.

Learn more: Permafrost Landscapes, Denali National Park, National Park Service

Does Salt Make Glacial Flour Settle Faster?

Glacial flour (also called rock flour) is very fine rock powder made when glaciers grind over bedrock. It is so fine that it stays suspended in water, which makes glacier-fed rivers and lakes look milky. This project tests whether salt, like the salt a river meets at the ocean, makes the particles clump together and settle faster.

Question: Glacial flour is the fine rock powder that makes glacier rivers look milky. Does salt make it settle faster, and how much salt does it take?

Why it stands out: You explain the sharp line where milky glacier water meets the ocean, using particle chemistry you can see in a tube.

Before you start: Adult supervision: if you collect silt near a glacial river, follow the ISEF Field Work Safety Plan

Learn more: Glacial Till and Glacial Flour, National Park Service

Does the Magnitude Cutoff Change Aftershock Decay?

Aftershocks are smaller earthquakes that follow a large earthquake, and their rate decreases over time. Omori's law is a formula that describes how fast that rate falls. Right after a big quake, some small aftershocks can be missed, so this project tests whether the smallest size you choose to count changes the result.

Question: Does the minimum magnitude you choose to count (the magnitude cutoff) change how fast Alaska aftershocks seem to decrease?

Why it stands out: You check whether a famous earthquake law changes depending on which quakes you choose to count.

Learn more: Aftershock Forecast Overview, U.S. Geological Survey
Builds on: earthquake.alaska.edu

Where Should Straw Mulch Go After Wildfire?

After a wildfire burns off plants and leaf litter, bare soil on hillsides washes away easily in rain; this is soil erosion. Crews often spread straw mulch to cover the ground, and research by the U.S. Forest Service found that the percentage of ground covered is the main control on erosion after fire. Testing where to place a limited amount of mulch can help protect soil and streams.

Question: On a bare hillside after a wildfire, does where you place straw mulch matter more than how much you use?

Why it stands out: You build on a Broadcom MASTERS project about erosion after wildfires. You turn 'where should the straw go?' into a tested rule.

Learn more: Post-Fire Soil Erosion and How to Manage It, Joint Fire Science Program brief
Builds on: snexplores.org

How Sensitive Is a Homemade Seismometer?

A seismometer is an instrument that detects ground shaking from earthquakes. Inside, a weight hangs on a spring and tends to stay still while the ground and the instrument's frame move, and electronics measure the difference. Low-cost seismometers built from small computers can detect earthquakes too, but they cannot sense the smallest or farthest ones.

Question: How large and how close does an Alaska earthquake need to be for a homemade seismometer (a shaking detector) to detect it?

Why it stands out: You build on a past Alaska fair seismometer project. You end up with a real curve showing the smallest earthquakes your town's sensor can catch.

Learn more: Seismometers, seismographs, seismograms: how do they work? U.S. Geological Survey
Builds on: adn.com

Sampling Bias in Volunteer Snow Depth Data

Community Snow Observations is a citizen-science project in which backcountry skiers and other volunteers measure snow depth and share the data with scientists. Volunteers can only measure where they travel, so some places are measured much more than others; this is called sampling bias. Sampling bias can make an area's average snow depth come out wrong.

Question: If snow depths are measured mostly near trails and roads, how far off does the area's average snow depth become?

Why it stands out: You show which places a citizen-science snow map leaves out, and how much that matters.

Learn more: About Us, Community Snow Observations

Does Silicone Putty Flow Like Glacier Ice?

Glaciers move partly by sliding on their beds and partly by slowly deforming inside, because ice under pressure behaves like a very thick, plastic material. The push that drives this flow, called driving stress, depends on the ice's thickness and the slope of its surface. This project uses silicone putty as a model to compare with the power-law rule scientists use for ice flow.

Question: Does a silicone-putty model glacier flow faster on steeper slopes the same way real glacier ice does?

Why it stands out: You get a hands-on test of the physics inside glacier models. You also show where a putty model works and where it breaks.

Learn more: Deformation and sliding, AntarcticGlaciers.org

Can Winter Weather Predict Spruce Beetle Damage?

Spruce beetles are small bark beetles, native to Alaska, that tunnel under the bark of spruce trees and can kill them. A large outbreak has killed spruce across Southcentral Alaska in recent years, and warmer conditions help the beetles grow faster and attack more trees. Each summer, the U.S. Forest Service maps new tree damage from small airplanes in an aerial detection survey.

Question: Does winter temperature help predict next year's spruce beetle damage on aerial survey maps better than last year's damage pattern alone?

Why it stands out: A weather-based warning has to beat the simple guess that new damage appears next to old damage.

Learn more: Spruce Beetle Outbreaks and Climate Change in Alaska (USDA Climate Hubs)
Builds on: fs.usda.gov

Do Road Culverts Change Stream Insects?

A culvert is a pipe that carries a stream under a road. Poorly designed or poorly maintained culverts can block fish from moving up and down a stream, and Alaska has a program to find and fix them. Stream insects such as mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies (benthic macroinvertebrates) are often used to judge stream health, so they can show whether a culvert changes the stream.

Question: Do stream insect communities change more across a culvert than across nearby stretches of stream with no culvert?

Why it stands out: A reference stretch tests whether the culvert effect is just normal change along a stream.

Before you start: Adult supervision: land access permission, road and water hazards, gloves, and a field safety plan; no deep wading or handling fish

Learn more: Fish Passage Improvement Program, Alaska Department of Fish and Game
Builds on: akentsoc.org

Humidity Correction for Low-Cost Smoke Sensors

Low-cost air sensors, such as PurpleAir, measure fine particle pollution from wildfire smoke and cost far less than official air monitors. In Alaska, they can give smoke information to rural communities that have no official monitor. Their readings need to be checked against official monitors and corrected, and this project tests whether adding humidity to that correction makes them more accurate.

Question: Does correcting for humidity make low-cost particle sensors more accurate during Alaska wildfire smoke?

Why it stands out: The correction has to work on smoke events it has never seen.

Learn more: UAF project seeks to provide air quality data for rural, remote Alaska areas, Alaska Public Media

Rainwater Catchment and First-Flush Diverters

Rainwater catchment means collecting rain from a roof for household use, which some Alaska homes rely on. The first rain off a roof washes away pollen and other buildup. A first-flush diverter sends that first, dirtiest water away so cleaner water reaches the storage tank, but every gallon diverted is water the household loses.

Question: Which first-flush diverter size makes stored roof rainwater the least cloudy while wasting the least water?

Why it stands out: Your design has to balance cleaner-looking water against the water a household loses.

Before you start: Adult supervision: ground-level collection, gloves, care with unknown water, and a field safety plan; no climbing and no drinking

Learn more: Rainwater Catchment Systems, Your Northern Home (Cold Climate Housing Research Center)
Builds on: adn.com

Are Alaska Harbors Warm Enough for Green Crabs?

The European green crab is an invasive species: a crab from another part of the world that can spread quickly and harm local shellfish and shoreline habitats. It was first found in Alaska in July 2022 at the Annette Islands Reserve in southern Southeast Alaska, and it is a banned species in the state. Its larvae drift on ocean currents, so scientists watch which nearby waters could support it.

Question: Which Alaska harbors have recorded water temperatures inside the published ranges where European green crabs can survive and reproduce?

Why it stands out: Your map separates measured water temperature from the much harder question of whether crabs will actually invade.

Learn more: European Green Crab species profile (Alaska Department of Fish and Game)
Builds on: thecordovatimes.com

Invasive Plant Hotspots or Just More Observers?

An invasive plant is a non-native plant that spreads on its own and crowds out native species. In Alaska, sightings of non-native plants are stored in the AKEPIC database, run by the University of Alaska Anchorage. Because people mostly report plants where they go looking, maps of reports can show where observers are, not only where plants are; scientists call this sampling bias.

Question: Do the hotspots on maps of Alaska invasive-plant reports change when you account for how hard people were looking (sampling effort)?

Why it stands out: You ask whether a hotspot comes from the invader or from the people looking for it.

Learn more: Alaska Exotic Plants Information Clearinghouse (AKEPIC), Alaska Center for Conservation Science, UAA
Builds on: accs.uaa.alaska.edu

Filtering Laundry Microfibers Without Slowing Drainage

Microfibers are tiny threads that break off clothing in the wash. Fibers from synthetic fabrics like polyester and nylon are a kind of microplastic pollution. Washing machines usually have no filter to catch them, so many go down the drain to wastewater plants, and some reach rivers and the ocean; add-on filters can catch many of them.

Question: Which washable mesh filter traps the most model laundry fibers without slowing water drainage too much?

Why it stands out: The best filter has to catch small fibers without making the sink back up.

Before you start: Adult supervision: handling wet fibers, cutting tools, and catching all test water; no dry dust and nothing poured down the drain

Learn more: Microplastic Fibers (Ocean Conservancy)

Temperature Error in Indicator-Dye pH Tests

pH measures how acidic water is. The pH scale is logarithmic, so a change of one pH unit means a tenfold change in acidity, and even small changes in ocean pH matter. Scientists tracking ocean acidification need precise measurements, so it is important to know whether a cheap test, which uses an indicator dye that changes color with pH, stays accurate in cold water.

Question: A cheap indicator-dye color test can measure pH (how acidic water is). Does cold seawater make it read wrong by enough to hide real changes from ocean acidification?

Why it stands out: You check the measuring tool before anyone trusts a cheap trend in coastal water chemistry. Most projects skip this step.

Before you start: Adult supervision: you will use indicator dyes and buffer chemicals; wear goggles

Learn more: A primer on pH (NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory)
Builds on: aoan.aoos.org

Correcting Lighting Errors in Phone Color Tests

Many low-cost chemical tests use paper strips that change color, and people often read them with a phone camera. Light sources such as warm bulbs, LEDs, and daylight have different color temperatures, so a camera can record the same strip as different colors. Photographers fix this with white balance, often by including a neutral gray or white reference in the photo.

Question: Different room lights can throw off a paper color test read with a phone camera. Can a printed color reference strip placed next to the test correct those errors?

Why it stands out: You fix the main reason cheap color tests fail in real kitchens and classrooms: the lighting.

Learn more: Understanding White Balance (Cambridge in Colour)

Coffee-Ring Patterns to Identify Water Sources

When a drop of liquid with tiny particles in it dries, the particles collect at the edge and leave a ring; this is called the coffee-ring effect. It happens because the drop's edge gets stuck in place and water evaporates fastest there, so liquid flows outward and carries particles with it. Different dissolved minerals may leave different ring and crystal patterns, which a computer might learn to tell apart.

Question: Can the coffee-ring pattern left by a dried water drop tell well water, city tap water, rain catchment, and glacial river water apart?

Why it stands out: It builds on a Broadcom MASTERS coffee-ring winner. It asks whether a phone could be a cheap first screen for rural Alaska water (not a safety test).

Before you start: Adult supervision for sampling near rivers. Follow the ISEF Field Work Safety Plan.

Learn more: Why do coffee stains dry to leave a ring? (The Naked Scientists)
Builds on: snexplores.org

Crushed Shells as an Ocean Acidification Buffer

The ocean absorbs carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air, which lowers seawater's pH and makes it more acidic; this is called ocean acidification. It also leaves less carbonate in the water, which animals like oysters and clams need to build their calcium carbonate shells. This project tests whether waste shells from seafood processing can buffer seawater, meaning help keep its pH from dropping.

Question: Can crushed crab, clam, and oyster shells, which seafood processors throw away, keep seawater from becoming more acidic when CO2 is added?

Why it stands out: It turns a waste product of Alaska fisheries into a test of a possible local fix.

Learn more: What is Ocean Acidification? (NOAA National Ocean Service)
Builds on: aoan.aoos.org

Grit and Salt Mixtures for Breaking Ice Bonds

Road crews spread salt because it lowers the freezing point of water and keeps ice from bonding to pavement. Grit, such as sand or small gravel, does not melt ice but gives tires and boots traction. Salt moves with meltwater into nearby streams and groundwater, so finding ways to use less of it helps protect water.

Question: Does mixing gravel grit with salt reduce the amount of salt needed to break ice free from pavement?

Why it stands out: You look for a salt-saving recipe that matters for Alaska roads, cars, and nearby streams.

Before you start: Adult supervision: freezer work with heavy pavers

Learn more: How salt works and overview of deicing chemicals (Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Stormwater Manual)

Comparing De-Icers at Alaska Winter Temperatures

De-icers work by lowering the freezing point of water, so ice melts into brine (salty water) even below 0 °C, and by keeping ice from bonding to pavement. Each chemical has a lowest practical working temperature: dry rock salt (sodium chloride) is too slow below about 15 °F (−9 °C), while calcium chloride keeps working down to about −20 °F (−29 °C). Knowing these limits helps people choose a de-icer that works in an Alaska winter.

Question: How much ice do rock salt, calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, and potassium acetate melt at -5, -15, and -25 °C, and which melts the most per dollar?

Why it stands out: It tests store-bag claims against real Alaska winter temperatures. It tells your family which bag to buy.

Before you start: Adult supervision. Some de-icers irritate skin and eyes, so wear gloves and goggles.

Learn more: How salt works and overview of deicing chemicals (Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Stormwater Manual)

Glow Stick Reaction Rate and Temperature

A glow stick makes light by chemiluminescence. Bending it breaks a glass tube of hydrogen peroxide so it mixes with another chemical, and the energy from their reaction makes a dye glow. Like many reactions, it runs faster when warm and slower when cold, which is why a glow stick kept in the freezer lasts longer.

Question: How does temperature change the rate of a glow stick's light-producing reaction, and can that predict how long one stays bright on a -20 °C night?

Why it stands out: It pulls a college-level chemistry result out of a dollar-store toy. Then it checks the prediction on a real Alaska winter night.

Before you start: Adult supervision for hot water baths. Never cut glow sticks open.

Learn more: The chemistry of glow stick colours (Compound Interest)

Scratch Width and Rust Creep Under Paint

Paint protects steel by forming a barrier between the metal and the environment. When paint is scratched, the bare steel rusts, and because rust takes up much more space than steel, it lifts the paint next to the scratch. This lets corrosion (rusting) keep spreading under the paint, a problem called undercutting or rust creep.

Question: Does a wider scratch in paint let corrosion (rust) spread farther underneath it?

Why it stands out: A controlled scratch is a tougher, more real-life test than comparing perfect coats. It echoes a Kotzebue-inspired Alaska fair project on corrosion (rusting).

Before you start: Adult supervision: sharp metal and paint fumes

Learn more: Paint: protective coatings for steel (American Galvanizers Association)
Builds on: adn.com

Alginate Encapsulation to Protect Berry Pigments From Light

Crowberries and wild blueberries get their dark color from anthocyanins, natural pigments whose color and stability depend on pH, light, and temperature. Food scientists try to protect fragile molecules by encapsulation, which means wrapping them in a protective coating. Alginate is a gel made from seaweed that forms beads when dripped into a calcium solution.

Question: Does a thin alginate (seaweed gel) coating slow how fast light fades the anthocyanin pigment in crowberry or wild blueberry juice?

Why it stands out: It uses an Alaska berry to test a trick food scientists use to protect fragile molecules.

Before you start: Adult supervision. Use a field safety plan for berry picking in bear country, or use frozen berries. Use food-grade sodium alginate, calcium chloride, and sodium citrate.

Learn more: Anthocyanidins and anthocyanins: colored pigments as food, pharmaceutical ingredients, and the potential health benefits (Food & Nutrition Research, via NIH PubMed Central)

Cold Acclimation and Freeze Damage in Kale

Many plants can survive freezing only after a period of cool weather first, a process called cold hardening or cold acclimation. Shorter days and cooler temperatures signal plants to get ready, and during hardening plants remove extra water from their cells so ice is less likely to form inside them. Cold-tolerant plants also make chemical changes in their cells that help them survive Alaska winters.

Question: Do kale leaves that are cold-hardened for two weeks near freezing have less cell damage after freezing than leaves grown warm?

Why it stands out: It measures cold hardening, the trick that lets plants survive northern winters, with a cheap conductivity meter. You can test garden kale after Alaska's first fall frosts.

Before you start: Adult supervision for boiling leaf discs and handling hot containers. Keep water away from electrical equipment.

Learn more: Factors Affecting Cold Hardiness Development (UAF Cooperative Extension Service)

Day Length and Mitosis in Onion Root Tips

Mitosis is the process in which one cell divides into two, and it happens most in growing tissue such as the tips of roots. The mitotic index tells how actively a group of cells is dividing: count the cells in mitosis under a microscope and divide by the total number of cells. Comparing mitotic indexes shows whether a change, like constant light, speeds up or slows down cell division.

Question: Does 24-hour light, like an Alaska June, change the mitotic index (share of dividing cells) in onion root tips compared with a 12-hour day?

Why it stands out: It asks a classic microscope question in a way only an Alaska student would think of. It also checks whether midnight sun scrambles a plant's daily clock.

Before you start: Adult supervision for the stain and dilute hydrochloric acid. Wear goggles and gloves.

Learn more: Mitotic Index (MHCC Biology 112, Open Oregon Educational Resources)

Day Length and Stomatal Density in Radish Leaves

Stomata are tiny pores on the surface of a leaf that let gases move between the inside of the leaf and the air. Scientists count them by painting clear nail polish on a leaf, peeling it off, and looking at the print under a microscope. This project tests whether long Alaska summer days change how many stomata a leaf makes.

Question: Do radish leaves grown under 20-hour days, like an Alaska summer, make more stomata (tiny leaf pores) than leaves grown under 12-hour days, even with the same total light per day?

Why it stands out: It separates day length from total light. Most light-and-plant projects mix these two up.

Before you start: Adult supervision. Use nail polish in a well-aired area away from flames and heaters.

Learn more: Stomata Printing: Microscope Investigation (California Academy of Sciences)

Detecting Invasive European Green Crab With eDNA

The European green crab is an invasive species: it arrived from Europe and harms local sea life by eating young salmon and king crab, destroying eelgrass, and outcompeting native species. All animals shed cells into the water, and this environmental DNA (eDNA) can be filtered from a seawater sample and tested to show a species is nearby. NOAA and partners, including the Metlakatla Indian Community, use eDNA and traps together to watch for green crab in Southeast Alaska.

Question: Can environmental DNA (eDNA) in seawater detect invasive European green crab at sites where traps catch them, and stay negative where traps don't?

Why it stands out: It follows a Juneau student's ISEF-winning eDNA (environmental DNA) path into one of Alaska's newest invasive species problems.

Before you start: Mentor and lab required: use an agency or university qPCR lab. Before starting, get site permissions and SRC review (the fair's Scientific Review Committee) of sampling, extraction chemicals, and test methods. Follow lab rules for protective gear. Shoreline sampling needs adult supervision and a field safety plan.

Learn more: Using eDNA to Monitor Alaskan Waters for Invasive European Green Crabs (NOAA Fisheries)
Builds on: fisheries.noaa.gov

Bead Size and Immobilized Enzyme Reaction Rate

Enzymes are proteins that speed up chemical reactions; amylase, for example, breaks starch into sugar. Chemists can trap an enzyme inside gel beads, called immobilization, so the enzyme can be filtered back out of the mixture. For the enzyme to work, the starch has to diffuse (spread) into the bead, and this project tests whether that slows the reaction.

Question: Do larger alginate gel beads slow how fast a trapped (immobilized) enzyme breaks down starch, because starch diffuses into them too slowly?

Why it stands out: It shows whether the slowdown comes from the enzyme or from the traffic jam getting into the bead. Engineers face the same problem in enzyme reactors.

Before you start: Adult supervision. Dilute iodine stains and irritates skin, so wear goggles and gloves.

Learn more: Immobilization of Lactase Enzyme on Alginate Beads – A Quick Test (ChemEd X)

Does Water Temperature Predict Shellfish Toxin Levels?

Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) is a dangerous illness caused by saxitoxin, a toxin made by certain algae during harmful algal blooms. Clams and mussels filter these algae from seawater and store the toxin, and cooking or freezing does not remove it. Alaska has among the highest PSP rates in the nation, and shellfish that people harvest themselves are not tested.

Question: Does recent water temperature help predict shellfish toxin (saxitoxin) readings at an Alaska monitoring site?

Why it stands out: The warning has to hold up in a new season and with the gaps between real samples.

Learn more: Alaska has among the nation's highest rates of paralytic shellfish poisoning (Anchorage Daily News)
Builds on: ahab.aoos.org

Cold-Induced Sweetening in Stored Potatoes

When potatoes are stored too cold, some of their starch turns into sugar, a change called cold-induced sweetening. The extra sugar makes the potatoes taste sweet and makes fries brown or darken before they are cooked through inside. Potato experts warn that potatoes stored below about 40 °F (4 °C) often make dark fries.

Question: Does storing potatoes at root-cellar temperatures turn their starch into sugar (cold-induced sweetening), and does that make them brown faster when cooked?

Why it stands out: It shows cold sweetening, a plant's survival trick. You see it in the same potatoes Alaska families keep in cellars all winter.

Before you start: Adult supervision for hot oil or the oven when frying.

Learn more: Never Store Potatoes On Ice (Ask Dr. Potato, Idaho Potato Commission)

Light and Freezing Stability of Anthocyanin Plant Pigments

Anthocyanins are water-soluble pigments that give many flowers, berries, and vegetables like red cabbage their red, purple, and blue colors. Their color depends on pH (how acidic something is): red in acid and bluer as pH rises. Light, temperature, and pH all affect how long the color lasts, which matters for anyone hoping to use them as natural dyes.

Question: Do anthocyanin pigments from fireweed flowers, crowberries, or red cabbage keep their color longest under light and repeated freezing and thawing?

Why it stands out: It tests whether the flower that colors Alaska roadsides every July could be a long-lasting natural dye.

Before you start: Adult supervision. Make a plant-collection safety plan. Pick away from busy roads, and avoid wildlife.

Learn more: Anthocyanidins and anthocyanins: colored pigments as food, pharmaceutical ingredients, and the potential health benefits (Food & Nutrition Research, via NIH PubMed Central)

Yeast Fermentation of Birch Sap and Syrup

Yeast are tiny fungi that ferment sugar, turning it into carbon dioxide gas and alcohol. In Alaska, people tap birch trees in spring and boil the sap down into birch syrup. Birch sap sugar is mostly glucose and fructose, while maple sap is mostly sucrose (table sugar), so yeast may not use them at the same rate.

Question: Does baker's yeast produce gas at different rates in birch products and sugar water that start with the same refractometer (Brix) reading?

Why it stands out: An Alaska forest product goes up against table sugar and maple syrup, using the same yeast and a carefully matched starting sugar level.

Before you start: Adult supervision: pasteurized ingredients, baker's yeast only, pressure-free gas collection, Form 3, and no drinking or eating the mixtures

Learn more: Birch Sap Sugaring Off (Alaska Science Forum, UAF Geophysical Institute)

AI Image Generators and Alaska Stereotypes

AI image generators make pictures from text prompts after learning from huge collections of images. Researchers have found that these tools often exaggerate stereotypes, for example showing people in some jobs as almost always one race or gender. Seeing biased images can strengthen people's own stereotypes, so it matters how AI pictures real places like Alaska.

Question: When asked for everyday Alaska scenes, do AI image generators show stereotypes such as igloos, dog sleds, and fur parkas?

Why it stands out: It adds an Alaska twist to a national-winning study of AI bias. Nobody has to be surveyed.

Learn more: AI image generators tend to exaggerate stereotypes (Science News Explores)
Builds on: societyforscience.org

Tracing Alaska's '95% of Food Is Imported' Claim

People often say that Alaska imports 95% of its food. Alaska Public Media found the number traces back to a rough estimate from 1977 and has not been checked or updated since, even though it is still widely repeated. Counting and coding how a claim appears across many documents is a research method called content analysis.

Question: How often do news stories and official reports repeat the claim that Alaska imports 95% of its food, and how often do they say where the number came from?

Why it stands out: Alaska Public Media traced the famous number to a rough 1970s estimate that 'lacks units.' You map how a shaky statistic spread.

Before you start: none (an optional phase 2 survey would need IRB approval, a review board that checks studies with people)

Learn more: That figure you've heard on how much food Alaska imports? It's not real (Alaska Public Media)

Modeling Food Sharing in Subsistence Communities

In rural Alaska, many families harvest fish, game, and plants for food, a way of life called subsistence. Extended families often work together to harvest and process food and then share it widely within and between communities. An agent-based model is a computer simulation in which each 'agent' (here, a household) follows simple rules, so you can see how the whole group does over time.

Question: In an agent-based computer model of households that hunt and fish, how variable do yearly harvests have to be before sharing food leads to better survival than keeping it?

Why it stands out: It takes a 2025 ISEF-winning game-theory idea and asks a survival question. That question matters anywhere a bad fishing year is real.

Learn more: The Harvest and Use of Wild Resources by Communities Within or Near Northern Alaska Parklands (National Park Service)
Builds on: societyforscience.org

Seasonal Affective Disorder in Google Search Trends

Many people feel down when days get shorter in fall and winter and feel better when longer daylight returns in spring. When these mood changes are serious, doctors call it seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a type of depression that usually starts in late fall or early winter. Light therapy and vitamin D are treatments for this winter pattern of SAD.

Question: As days get shorter, do Alaskans search for 'tired,' 'light therapy lamp,' and 'vitamin D' more than people in Florida do, a possible sign of winter seasonal affective disorder?

Why it stands out: It studies winter blues across a whole state. You don't have to survey a single person.

Learn more: Seasonal Affective Disorder (National Institute of Mental Health)

Showing Uncertainty on Glacier Flood Risk Maps

In Juneau, a lake called Suicide Basin forms beside Mendenhall Glacier, held back by the glacier's ice. When the water suddenly breaks out, it causes a glacial outburst flood down the Mendenhall River, which has happened almost every year since 2011. Scientists say the size of each flood is hard to predict, so flood maps have to deal with uncertainty.

Question: Do people read a flood-risk map more accurately when it shows a shaded zone of uncertainty instead of one sharp flood line?

Why it stands out: It tests whether being honest about uncertainty makes a map more useful. That is a real question for a town that has flooded from a glacier lake nearly every year since 2011.

Before you start: Needs IRB approval.

Learn more: New study highlights findings and predictions for Juneau glacial outburst flood (U.S. Geological Survey)

Snow-Covered Sidewalks and Pedestrians in the Street

When plows clear roads, they often leave a ridge of snow along the edge of the sidewalk, and many sidewalks are not shoveled. Then pedestrians may walk in the road, where they face both icy pavement and passing cars. This is a winter safety problem in snowy towns, including in Alaska.

Question: After Alaska snowstorms, how many pedestrians walk in the street instead of on the sidewalk, and does it depend on how well the sidewalk is cleared?

Why it stands out: It counts how many people end up walking in the road after storms. Every Alaska town faces this winter safety question.

Before you start: Adult supervision. Make a winter roadside field safety plan. Watch from a safe public spot away from traffic, snowplows, and ice.

Learn more: Ice, snow and slippery sidewalks: For many seniors, winter is 'hip season' (archived pedestrian safety site, UNT Libraries government documents)

Gender Pronouns in AI Chatbot Job Stories

AI chatbots run on large language models, which learn to write by studying huge amounts of text written by people. A UNESCO study found that these models often show gender bias, for example describing women in home and family roles far more often than men. Counting pronouns in AI-written stories is one simple way to measure this kind of bias.

Question: When an AI chatbot writes a short life story for a fictional geologist, nurse, or bush pilot, does the job change whether it uses he, she, or they?

Why it stands out: It takes a national-winning project on AI image bias and applies it to text. Anyone can repeat your test.

Learn more: Generative AI: UNESCO study reveals alarming evidence of regressive gender stereotypes (UNESCO)
Builds on: societyforscience.org

Mapping Pressure Under Seat Cushions with DIY Sensors

Sitting or lying in one position for a long time can squeeze skin against bone and cut off blood flow, causing pressure sores (also called pressure ulcers or bedsores). People who use wheelchairs are at higher risk, so seat cushions are designed to spread out weight and lower the highest pressure points. A pressure-mapping mat shows where those high-pressure spots are.

Question: Can a low-cost pressure-mapping mat show which spacing of cut foam channels lowers the peak pressure under a model seat?

Why it stands out: The pressure map shows whether a cushion spreads force out or just moves the high-pressure spot.

Before you start: Adult supervision: secured loads, cutting tools, and low-voltage wiring

Learn more: Pressure Sores (MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine)
Builds on: societyforscience.org

Insulated Pouches to Keep Vials From Freezing

Some medicines, such as insulin, must not freeze, and insulin that has been frozen should not be used. In an Alaska winter, a person waiting outside at a bus stop can face temperatures far below freezing. Insulation slows heat loss, so a well-designed pouch can delay how fast a vial cools to 0 °C.

Question: Which reusable insulated pouch keeps a vial of water from reaching freezing the longest during a simulated Alaska bus-stop wait?

Why it stands out: The closure has to protect the vial just as well as the insulation does.

Before you start: Adult supervision: freezer handling, sealed plastic vials, and temperature loggers

Learn more: Insulin and syringes: storage and safety (MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine)

Water-Saving Handwashing Designs Tested on Model Hands

In 2020, about 1,700 homes in roughly 31 Alaska Native communities had no running water or sewer, so families haul water and store it in drums. Handwashing helps prevent disease, but every liter counts when water must be carried. Low-water designs, such as a tippy-tap (a hanging water jug tipped by a foot pedal), aim to rinse hands well with less water.

Question: Can a pulsed-flow nozzle remove the same amount of washable gel from a model hand while using less water?

Why it stands out: A rural Alaska water-budget problem becomes a repeatable test with no human testers.

Before you start: Adult supervision: tool use, keeping water contained, and protected pump wiring

Learn more: In rural Alaska, access to water is preventive medicine (Anchorage Daily News, sponsored by ANTHC)

Pedestrian Countdown Signals and Late Crossings

Pedestrian countdown signals show how many seconds are left to cross the street. A Federal Highway Administration study of more than 300 intersections in Charlotte and Philadelphia found that pedestrian crashes fell about 9% after countdown signals were installed. Engineers still want to know how the timers change people's crossing choices.

Question: At crosswalks with countdown timers, do more people start crossing late, after the flashing 'Don't Walk' hand begins, than at crosswalks without timers?

Why it stands out: It gives a city traffic engineer local data on late crossing starts at intersections with and without countdown timers.

Before you start: Adult supervision. Make a roadside field safety plan and watch from well back from traffic. Public observation only: no talking to people and no records that identify anyone. Grades 6–8 need teacher sign-off.

Learn more: Safety Evaluation of Pedestrian Countdown Signals (Federal Highway Administration)

Comparing Filters for DIY Box-Fan Air Cleaners

Wildfire smoke contains very small particles that are harmful to breathe, and Alaska summers often bring smoky days. A do-it-yourself (DIY) air cleaner made from a box fan and an air filter is a low-cost way to reduce smoke indoors. Filters are rated by MERV (Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value), and the EPA recommends MERV 13 filters to catch the very small particles in smoke.

Question: Which filter rating on a box-fan air cleaner removes test particles fastest for each dollar and each watt of electricity?

Why it stands out: The cheapest filter has to show how much clean air each dollar buys.

Before you start: Mentor/lab: sealed particle chamber, contained mist, drying checks, safe fan loading, and supervised disposal

Learn more: Research on DIY Air Cleaners to Reduce Wildfire Smoke Indoors (U.S. EPA)
Builds on: alaskapublic.org

Designing a Dispenser Gate That Releases One Bead

Many machines must release exactly one small object at a time, such as automatic pill dispensers and parts feeders in factories. The part that controls the release is often called a gate or escapement. Common failures are jams, double drops (two objects at once), and missed drops.

Question: Which dispenser gate design releases exactly one bead at a time across different bead sizes?

Why it stands out: A dispenser that works 99 times out of 100 still has a failure worth finding.

Before you start: Adult supervision: cutting tools, moving gates, and small-part containment

Do Cold Fingers Affect Pulse Oximeter Accuracy?

A pulse oximeter is a small device, usually clipped on a fingertip, that shines light through the skin to estimate blood oxygen level (SpO2) and pulse rate. The FDA says the readings are estimates and can be affected by poor circulation, skin temperature, skin pigmentation, nail polish, and other factors. The FDA advises making sure your hand is warm before taking a reading.

Question: Do low-cost pulse oximeters disagree more with a higher-quality reference oximeter when fingers are slightly cool?

Why it stands out: A missing reading may matter as much as a wrong one.

Before you start: Needs IRB approval; mentor/lab: a health professional reviews the plan, no making anyone colder on purpose, and no health feedback to any person

Learn more: Pulse Oximeter Basics (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)

Does Freezing Weaken Zinc's Rust Protection?

Steel rusts (corrodes) faster in wet, salty conditions. Connecting zinc to steel protects it through cathodic protection: the zinc corrodes first and is used up in place of the steel, so zinc is called a sacrificial anode. This project tests whether Alaska's freeze-thaw cycles change how well that protection works.

Question: Zinc connected to steel can protect the steel from rusting. Does repeated freezing and thawing weaken that protection in salty, wet sand?

Why it stands out: This follow-up to a Kotzebue-inspired project asks whether zinc's rust protection survives winter freezing and thawing.

Before you start: Adult supervision: metal edges, freezer handling, and teacher-approved rust removal

Learn more: What is Cathodic Protection?, American Galvanizers Association
Builds on: adn.com

Cold Weather and Low-Cost Motion Sensors

A passive infrared (PIR) motion sensor detects changes in the infrared heat given off by warm objects. A microwave motion sensor sends out radio waves and senses the echoes from moving objects. Because PIR sensors detect heat differences, cold air could change how well they spot a warm target, which matters for ideas like moose-warning systems.

Question: How does cold weather change how far away low-cost motion sensors can detect a warm model target?

Why it stands out: You take a moose-warning idea and test what low-cost sensors can really detect.

Before you start: Adult supervision: limits on time in the cold, and a field safety plan that keeps you away from roads, water, and wildlife

Learn more: PIR Motion Sensor, Adafruit Learning System
Builds on: societyforscience.org

Insulating Foundations on Thawing Permafrost

Permafrost is ground that stays frozen year-round, and in many parts of Alaska it contains a lot of ice. Heat from a building can thaw the ground below, and as the ice melts the soil settles unevenly, cracking or tilting the building. Builders protect permafrost with insulation, gravel pads, and raised or adjustable foundations that keep the ground frozen.

Question: Can a ring of rigid foam insulation around a model footing (the base that supports a building) slow its settling as icy soil thaws?

Why it stands out: Simple, replaceable insulation takes on the thawing-permafrost problem behind Alaska foundation damage.

Before you start: Adult supervision: secured loads, freezer handling, and spill containment

Learn more: What do I need to be aware of when building on permafrost?, Your Northern Home (Cold Climate Housing Research Center)

Keeping Sensor Vents from Icing Shut

Outdoor weather sensors sit inside housings with vents that let air reach the sensor. In cold, humid air, frost can build up on vents and block airflow, so a humidity sensor responds slowly or gives wrong readings. The shape of the vent may change how quickly it ices up, which matters for instruments that run unattended through an Alaska winter.

Question: Which vent shape keeps a weather sensor housing working after frost forms?

Why it stands out: A tiny vent opening becomes a weak point you can measure in an Alaska winter instrument.

Before you start: Adult supervision: freezer handling, contained moisture, and low-voltage electronics

Best Plow Blade Angle for a Battery Robot

A snowplow blade can face straight ahead or be angled to push snow off to one side. Battery-powered robots and small electric plows have limited energy, so the blade angle that moves the most snow per unit of energy (watt-hour) matters. Measuring energy use directly lets you compare blade designs fairly.

Question: Which blade angle lets a small robot clear the most snow for the battery energy it uses?

Why it stands out: The plow has to earn its battery use by moving snow you can measure.

Before you start: Adult supervision: moving blades, time in the cold, and protected low-voltage wiring

Folded Cardboard Roof Strength When Damp

Folding a flat sheet into a pattern, as in origami, can make it much stiffer without adding material, because the shape (geometry) carries the load. Engineers study folded paper structures for uses like quick-to-build shelters and bridges. This project tests whether the fold that is strongest when dry is still the strongest after the cardboard gets damp.

Question: Which cardboard fold pattern stays strongest after it gets damp?

Why it stands out: The fold that is strongest when dry may lose its lead once it gets wet.

Before you start: Adult supervision: use stable supports, keep the loads contained, and keep hands clear of collapsing panels

Learn more: Paper Tubes Make Stiff Origami Structures, Georgia Tech
Builds on: societyforscience.org

Slip Detection for Gentle Robot Grippers

A robot gripper must squeeze hard enough to hold an object but not so hard that it crushes soft items. When an object starts to slip, it makes tiny vibrations that a sensor can pick up. Slip detection lets a robot tighten its grip only when needed, the way human fingertips do.

Question: Can an inexpensive vibration sensor help a robot gripper hold soft objects with less squeezing force?

Why it stands out: The robot must notice a slipping object before it squeezes harder.

Before you start: Adult supervision: pinch points, low-voltage wiring, and tools

Which Shoe Sole Grips Ice Best?

Ice is slippery because water molecules at its surface move easily, and how slippery it is depends on temperature. Researchers found that ice friction is lowest around -7 °C (19 °F) and rises at colder temperatures. Grip is measured with the coefficient of friction, the force needed to slide an object divided by its weight.

Question: Which shoe sole material grips ice best as the ice temperature changes?

Why it stands out: You measure winter grip without anyone stepping onto the test ice.

Before you start: Adult supervision: cold trays, sharp traction parts, and pulling loads that are held securely

Learn more: The slipperiness of ice explained, ScienceDaily (Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research)

Which Tendon Material Lasts in a Robot Hand?

Many robot hands move their fingers with tendons, strong cords pulled by motors in the forearm, much like the tendons in a human hand. Tendons can stretch slowly over many cycles (creep) and wear where they rub on pulleys. Then the fingers lose grip strength and position accuracy, so engineers test tendon materials for durability.

Question: A tendon-driven robot hand uses cords, like tendons, to pull its fingers. Which low-cost tendon material keeps the hand gripping well after 500 grip cycles?

Why it stands out: The winning hand must keep its grip after hundreds of repeats.

Before you start: Adult supervision: printer use, wiring, and moving fingers

Learn more: Tendon-Driven Humanoid Hands, Humanoid.guide
Builds on: societyforscience.org

Reducing Water Slosh When Hauling Water

In some rural Alaska communities, homes have no running water, and people haul water from a central source and store it in containers. When a container moves over bumps, the water sloshes and can spill out. A baffle is a divider placed inside a tank to break up the water's motion and reduce sloshing.

Question: Which removable divider (baffle) best reduces spills from a model water container on rough paths?

Why it stands out: A tabletop bump shows how much hauled water a simple insert could save.

Before you start: Adult supervision: a secured cart, contained water, and electronics kept dry

Learn more: In rural Alaska, access to water is preventive medicine, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (sponsored, Anchorage Daily News)

Designing a Storm Drain Guard That Resists Clogging

Storm drains carry rainwater off streets, and drain guards (grates) keep large debris out. Fallen leaves can clog the openings, so water backs up and floods streets and yards. The pattern of the openings may change how quickly a guard clogs.

Question: Which storm drain guard opening pattern lets the most water through before leaf litter blocks it?

Why it stands out: The winner has to keep draining when a new shape of leaf litter shows up.

Before you start: Adult supervision: cutting plastic, keeping water contained, and keeping pumps dry

Learn more: 'Only rain down the drain': keep storm drains clear of leaves, WHYY

Battery Storage in an Alaska Village Microgrid

Most rural Alaska villages are not connected to a large power grid. Each runs its own small grid, called a microgrid, usually powered by diesel generators, and the fuel is expensive to ship in by barge or plane. Adding solar panels and batteries can reduce diesel use, but each extra battery may save less than the one before.

Question: For a model of one Alaska village microgrid, at what point does adding more battery storage save too little diesel fuel to pay for itself?

Why it stands out: One graph shows the point where buying more battery storage stops paying for itself.

Learn more: What is a microgrid?, Alaska Center for Energy and Power, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Vertical Bifacial Solar Panels on Snowy Ground

Bifacial solar panels produce electricity from both their front and back sides, so they can use light reflected off the ground. Vertical panels facing east and west catch more morning and afternoon sun than panels tilted toward the south. Researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks have tested vertical bifacial panels in Fairbanks, where snow and low sun angles make solar power harder to predict.

Question: Does a vertical bifacial (two-sided) solar panel gain more from snowy ground than the same panel tilted toward the south?

Why it stands out: The snow next to a panel may matter as much as the sun above it.

Before you start: Adult supervision: secure mounts at ground level, weather-rated wiring, and a winter field safety plan

Learn more: Study on solar PV model effectiveness prepares future in Alaska, UAF Alaska Center for Energy and Power

How Long Should a Block Heater Run?

An engine block heater is an electric heater that plugs into an outlet and keeps a car's engine, oil, and coolant warm on cold nights. A warmer engine starts more easily, wears less, and produces less pollution right after starting. In Anchorage, the city recommends plugging in for about two hours before driving when it is 20 °F or colder, often using a timer.

Question: On cold Alaska mornings, how much more does each extra hour of block heater use warm the engine?

Why it stands out: You find out whether the last hours of plugging in add much warmth at all.

Before you start: Adult supervision: parked vehicle, household (mains) electricity, heater used only as the maker approves, and care in the cold

Learn more: Should you get an engine heater?, Alaska Public Media
Builds on: adn.com

Keeping Batteries Warm in Cold Weather

Batteries deliver less energy in the cold because their internal resistance rises and their usable capacity drops. In an Alaska winter, this can make devices shut off early. Insulating a battery, or adding a small heat source like a chemical hand warmer, may keep it warm enough to deliver more energy.

Question: Can an insulated pouch with a hand warmer get more usable energy out of a battery in cold weather?

Why it stands out: You test a fix for cold batteries and measure how much extra energy it really gives.

Before you start: Adult supervision: follow battery ratings and temperature limits, protect wiring, and supervise hand-warmer use

Learn more: BU-502: Discharging at High and Low Temperatures, Battery University

Does Wet Moss Insulation Recover After Drying?

Insulation slows heat loss mostly by trapping air, and its resistance to heat flow is measured as R-value. Water conducts heat much better than air, so when water replaces the trapped air, wet insulation lets more heat escape. Natural materials such as moss have been used as insulation, and they can easily get damp.

Question: Does adding the same amount of water increase heat loss more in dried moss than in foam insulation?

Why it stands out: You pick up where a 2026 Nome winner stopped. Does natural insulation recover once it dries, or does the damage stay?

Before you start: Adult supervision: safe low-voltage heating, dry electrical connections, and careful material handling

Learn more: What Happens When Metal Building Insulation Becomes Wet?, National Insulation Association (Insulation Outlook)
Builds on: knom.org

A Reusable Interior Window Insert Seal

Windows lose heat in two main ways: through the glass (conduction) and through air leaks around the frame. An interior window insert, sometimes called an interior storm window, is a removable panel that presses into the window frame. Its edge seal blocks air leaks, so the seal has to keep working after the insert is taken out and put back many times.

Question: Which edge seal on a removable interior window insert keeps heat loss low after 20 removals?

Why it stands out: A reusable winter window insert has to survive being taken out and put back.

Before you start: Adult supervision: safe warm-water heat sources, cutting tools, and moisture near sensors

Learn more: Interior storm windows as a cost-effective window weatherization option, Center for Energy and Environment

Sliding Ballast for a Wave Energy Converter

A wave energy converter is a device that turns the up-and-down or rocking motion of ocean waves into electricity. Many designs work best when waves arrive at one particular period (the time between waves), but real waves vary. Moving weight, called ballast, inside the device might help it respond well to a wider range of wave periods.

Question: Can sliding ballast (movable weight) help a model wave energy converter produce power across more wave periods?

Why it stands out: The generator has to keep working when the waves stop arriving on a regular schedule.

Before you start: Adult supervision: contained water, moving parts, and low-voltage wiring

Builds on: snexplores.org

Building a Magnetometer to Detect Geomagnetic Storms

A magnetometer measures the strength and direction of Earth's magnetic field. During geomagnetic storms, caused by activity on the Sun, the field changes more than usual, and the changes are especially strong at high latitudes like Alaska. NOAA's planetary K-index (Kp) uses magnetometer readings from observatories around the world to score the disturbance from 0 to 9 every three hours.

Question: Can a homemade magnetometer tell real local geomagnetic disturbances apart from sensor drift?

Why it stands out: Your instrument has to prove it sees space weather, not just its own temperature changes.

Before you start: Adult supervision: weatherproof low-voltage wiring, site access, and a winter field safety plan

Learn more: Planetary K-index (NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center)

How Snow Cover Slows Ice Growth on Ponds

Lake and river ice grows thicker as cold air pulls heat out through the ice. Snow on top of the ice traps air and acts like a blanket, slowing that heat loss. A study of Alaska lakes and rivers found that snow is the main factor controlling how thick the ice gets by late winter.

Question: How much does a measured layer of snow slow ice growth in outdoor model ponds?

Why it stands out: The snow blanket on top of the ice becomes your variable in a safe model of Alaska winter lakes.

Before you start: Adult supervision: contained water, measurements from the tub edge, cold exposure, and a field safety plan

Learn more: Observation-derived ice growth curves for Alaskan lakes and rivers (The Cryosphere, 2020)
Builds on: knom.org

Testing Wall Thickness in Model Snow Shelters

Snow is a good insulator because it traps lots of air, and air conducts heat poorly, much like a down jacket. That is why people in cold places can use snow to build warmer shelters. How well a snow wall slows heat loss depends on its thickness and on the snow's density (how tightly packed it is).

Question: Do thicker walls slow heat loss in small model snow shelters that have the same inside size?

Why it stands out: An Alaska winter shelter question gets a fair test with 15 separately built shelters.

Before you start: Adult supervision: snow handling, warm-water filling, cold-exposure limits, and a field safety plan; no going inside shelters

Learn more: How snow insulates the ground (Alaska Science Forum, UAF Geophysical Institute)

Does Fresh Snow Absorb More Sound Than Packed?

Fresh, fluffy snow is full of tiny air pockets that trap sound waves, so it absorbs sound much like the foam panels in a recording studio. Hard, smooth surfaces such as pavement or ice reflect sound instead. As snow packs down, hardens, or melts, it loses much of its quieting effect.

Question: Does loose snow reduce sound levels more than packed snow on the same test ground?

Why it stands out: The hush after snowfall becomes a test that separates snow texture from changing weather.

Before you start: Adult supervision: icy plots, safe sound levels, and a winter field safety plan

Learn more: Why does everything get so quiet after a snowfall? (Montreal Science Centre)

How Speed and Depth Change a Boat's Wake

A boat moving across water leaves a V-shaped wake called a Kelvin wake, first explained mathematically by Lord Kelvin. In deep water, theory predicts that each arm of the V sits about 19.47 degrees from the boat's path, no matter how fast the boat goes. At higher speeds the most visible waves can form a narrower V, and the simple theory assumes deep water.

Question: How do towing speed and water depth change the wake angle you can see behind a model boat?

Why it stands out: A familiar V-shaped wake shows how a textbook angle and the angle in a photo can measure different things.

Before you start: Adult supervision: contained water, guarded towing parts, and secured overhead camera

Learn more: Kelvin wake pattern (Wikipedia)
Builds on: societyforscience.org

How a Small Added Mass Changes String Harmonics

A vibrating string fixed at both ends forms standing waves, and each pattern has its own frequency, called a harmonic. Each harmonic has nodes, points that barely move, and antinodes, points that move the most. Physics models predict that a small added weight shifts a harmonic most when it sits near that harmonic's antinodes and least when it sits at a node.

Question: How does moving one small added mass along a string change its first four vibration frequencies (harmonics)?

Why it stands out: A mass placed at a node can leave one harmonic almost unchanged while shifting another.

Before you start: Adult supervision: anchored low-tension string and small secured masses

Learn more: The first 7 harmonics of standing waves on a vibrating string (UNLV Physics)

Image Stacking Versus Long Exposures for Resolving Stars

Astrophotographers often take many short photos and combine them, called image stacking, instead of taking one long exposure. Random noise changes from frame to frame while the real signal stays the same, so stacking can make the signal stand out. Short exposures also blur less when the camera shakes, but every frame adds some of the camera's own noise.

Question: Can many short, aligned photos resolve two dim point lights better than one long exposure with the same total time?

Why it stands out: Two tabletop stars show when more photos help and when extra camera noise wins.

Before you start: Adult supervision: dim LEDs, secured camera rig, and low-voltage wiring

Learn more: ELI5: How Image Stacking Reduces Noise and Recovers Signal (PetaPixel)

Ranking Streetlight Blue Light with a DVD Spectrometer

A spectrometer splits light into its colors (wavelengths) so you can see which colors a lamp gives off. The closely spaced tracks on a DVD act as a diffraction grating, so a cardboard box and a DVD can make a simple classroom spectroscope. Different streetlights, such as sodium lamps and LEDs, give off different mixes of colors, including different amounts of blue light.

Question: Can a homemade DVD spectrometer rank local streetlights by how much blue light they give off?

Why it stands out: A cheap instrument has to measure its own bias before it can compare lights.

Before you start: Adult supervision: night work near roads with a field safety plan, sharp cut disc edges, and never opening fluorescent lamps

Learn more: A DVD Spectroscope: A Simple, High-Resolution Classroom Spectroscope (Journal of Chemical Education, hosted by NASA Langley)

Simplifying Wildfire Map Shapes for Slow Internet

Wildfire maps show each fire's edge, called a perimeter, as a shape made of many corner points (vertices). Line simplification is a computer method that removes some of those points so the file gets smaller and loads faster. Removing too many points makes the shape less accurate, which matters in rural Alaska towns with slow internet that need fire maps during fire season.

Question: How much can you simplify the fire perimeter shapes on an Alaska wildfire map before they become too inaccurate to be useful on a slow rural internet connection?

Why it stands out: You put a number on a real rural Alaska problem: how much map detail a slow connection can handle during a fire.

Learn more: Simplification guide, mapshaper documentation
Builds on: fire.ak.blm.gov

Testing Aurora Alerts: Kp Index and Cloud Cover

The aurora, or northern lights, glows when charged particles from space strike gases high in Earth's atmosphere. NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center uses the Kp index, a 0–9 scale of how disturbed Earth's magnetic field is, to decide when to issue geomagnetic storm alerts, and aurora watchers are among the people who rely on them. A high Kp still does not guarantee a sighting at your house, because clouds can block the sky.

Question: Aurora alerts use the Kp index (a 0–9 measure of geomagnetic activity). How often does a Kp alert correctly predict that you'll see the aurora from your house, and does adding cloud cover help?

Why it stands out: You build and honestly test an alert that Alaskans really check on winter nights.

Learn more: Planetary K-index (NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center)

Does an Image Classifier Learn Backgrounds Instead?

An image classifier is a computer program that learns to sort pictures into groups, such as 'mug' or 'shoe.' Sometimes it learns a shortcut instead of the object: if every mug photo was taken on the same table, it may learn the table. This problem, called shortcut learning, is a major reason AI that scores well in testing can fail in the real world.

Question: Does an image classifier (a program that sorts pictures into groups) really learn to recognize the objects? Or does it learn the backgrounds the objects were photographed on?

Why it stands out: With your own photo set, you show a big reason why AI that looks great in tests fails in the real world.

Learn more: Shortcuts: How Neural Networks Love to Cheat, The Gradient

Can Simple Models Beat Official Salmon Forecasts?

Before each fishing season, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) publishes a preseason forecast of how many salmon will return. For Bristol Bay sockeye, the forecast is built from age classes (how many years fish spent in fresh water and in the ocean) and past run sizes. Forecasting is hard: since 2014, every Bristol Bay sockeye return has been larger than the state's preseason forecast.

Question: Can a simple model predict salmon returns as well as ADF&G's official preseason forecasts for one well-recorded Alaska salmon run?

Why it stands out: Your model gets only the information the official forecasters had before each season.

Learn more: State biologists forecast the 2026 Bristol Bay sockeye run (Alaska Beacon)
Builds on: adfg.alaska.gov

Comparing Earthquake Size Patterns Across Alaska Regions

Small earthquakes happen much more often than large ones: each step down of one magnitude unit usually brings about 10 times as many quakes. On a graph of the logarithm of the count versus magnitude, this makes a nearly straight line, called the Gutenberg-Richter relationship, and its slope is called the b-value. Very small quakes are often missed, so scientists first find the magnitude of completeness, the smallest size a catalog records reliably.

Question: Does the b-value (the slope of the earthquake size pattern) differ between Alaska regions once you account for missed small quakes and the fitting method?

Why it stands out: Your fitting method has to pass a test with a known answer before it can explain Alaska earthquakes.

Learn more: How Often Do Earthquakes Occur? (SERC, Carleton College)
Builds on: earthquake.alaska.edu

Compressing Data from a Remote Weather Station

Data compression means storing or sending information in fewer bytes. Lossless compression lets you rebuild the original data exactly, while lossy methods throw some detail away. Remote Alaska weather stations often send data by satellite, which costs money and battery power for every byte, so smaller messages matter.

Question: Which data compression method sends the most weather information from a remote Alaska weather station for the fewest bytes?

Why it stands out: Remote stations pay for every byte sent by satellite, in money and battery. You find where the savings are.

Learn more: Time-Series Compression Algorithms, Explained, Tiger Data (Timescale) blog

Predicting Juneau Glacial Outburst Flood Peaks Early

Suicide Basin is a lake dammed by the Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau. Almost every year since 2011, it has suddenly drained under the glacier in a glacial outburst flood, raising Mendenhall Lake and the Mendenhall River. A July 2016 flood sent more than 16,000 cubic feet of water per second down the river and damaged homes, so an early estimate of a flood's peak helps people prepare.

Question: Can the first 12 hours of a Mendenhall Lake rise predict how high the lake will crest during a glacial outburst flood?

Why it stands out: Your model must predict a real Juneau flood using only what was known as the water rose.

Learn more: New study highlights findings and predictions for Juneau glacial outburst flood (USGS)

Detecting a Dripping Faucet by Sound

A leaky faucet wastes water one drop at a time, and small household leaks add up over a year. The EPA says a faucet dripping once per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons a year. Acoustic leak detection means using a microphone and a computer program to recognize the sound of a leak, even when other household noise is present.

Question: Can a $40 Raspberry Pi (a tiny computer) with a microphone detect a dripping faucet in a noisy house?

Why it stands out: You make a cheaper version of a Stockholm Junior Water Prize finalist's leak-sound idea. Then you prove it works in rooms it has never heard.

Learn more: Fix a Leak Week, U.S. EPA WaterSense
Builds on: news.cision.com

Measuring Water Turbidity With a Smartphone Camera

Turbidity is how cloudy water is. It is caused by tiny particles such as clay, silt, and algae, and it is measured by shining light into the water and recording how much the particles scatter it. High turbidity blocks sunlight in the water and can harm habitat for fish and other aquatic life.

Question: Turbidity is how cloudy water is. Can a phone photo of a marked tube measure it as accurately as a real turbidity meter?

Why it stands out: You bring a phone tool, in the style of the Stockholm Junior Water Prize, to a measurement almost every water project needs.

Before you start: Adult supervision: if you collect creek water, use the ISEF Field Work Safety Plan and take samples from a safe bank without wading

Learn more: Turbidity and Water (USGS Water Science School)
Builds on: newea.org

Forecasting Geomagnetic Storms with the Kp Index

Activity on the Sun can disturb Earth's magnetic field, and strong disturbances are called geomagnetic storms. NOAA rates the disturbance with the planetary K-index (Kp), a 0–9 score for each three-hour period, averaged from magnetometer readings at observatories around the world. A Kp of 5 or more counts as a geomagnetic storm.

Question: Does the current Kp value help predict whether the next three-hour period will have high Kp?

Why it stands out: The forecast has to give honest odds, including times when a storm dies down instead of continuing.

Learn more: Planetary K-index (NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center)

Machine Learning to Detect Volcanic Plumes on Webcams

A volcanic plume is a cloud of gas and ash that rises from an erupting or restless volcano. Airborne volcanic ash is a serious hazard to aircraft even hundreds of miles from an eruption, because it can reduce visibility, damage flight controls, and cause jet engines to fail. The Alaska Volcano Observatory, which helped write the linked fact sheet, watches Alaska's volcanoes with webcams, satellites, and other sensors.

Question: Can a computer program detect visible volcanic plumes (clouds of gas and ash) on Alaska Volcano Observatory webcams, and does letting it answer 'can't see' reduce false alarms?

Why it stands out: You teach a computer when to say 'I don't know.' That is a key skill for any warning tool.

Learn more: Airborne Volcanic Ash—A Global Threat to Aviation (U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2010-3116)
Builds on: avo.alaska.edu

Predicting Rapid Wildfire Growth in Alaska

Alaska wildfires often burn more than a million acres in a season. Fires start and spread in dry, warm, and windy weather with a spark, and lightning is a major cause: in late June 2025, over 80,000 lightning strikes set off 162 new fires in two weeks. Predicting which fires will grow fast helps fire managers decide where to send crews.

Question: Using past Alaska fire records and weather data, can a simple model predict which wildfires will double in size by the next day?

Why it stands out: You apply a national-winning wildfire AI idea to Alaska's own fire seasons, and you test it honestly.

Learn more: Alaska's million-acre wildfire season, typical in size, had some unusual features (Alaska Beacon)
Builds on: fire.ak.blm.gov

One Shared Lunch Line or Separate Lines?

Queueing theory is the math of waiting lines. With separate lines, one server can sit idle while another line backs up; a single shared line that feeds all servers avoids this. In practice the difference can be small and depends on details, so computer simulations are used to test real situations.

Question: Would one shared lunch line feeding all serving stations cut long waits compared with separate lines at the same stations?

Why it stands out: You check whether a faster average hides students stuck in very long waits.

Before you start: Needs IRB approval

Learn more: One Queue or Two (Allen Downey, Probably Overthinking It)