The 2026 Dallas Regional Science and Engineer Fair took place on February 28 at the Automotive Building in Fair Park in Dallas. DRSEF holds an annual science fair for 6 – 8 grades (Junior Division) and 9 – 12 grades (Senior Division) students from public, charter, private and home schools in Texas Education Agency Region 10.1,085 regional projects represented by more than 1,400 students competed across both junior and senior divisions.
To be eligible, students began by entering the science fair at their local campus. The top campus and district winners advanced to this regional fair. Regional winners in first & second places advance to the Texas Science and Engineering Fair (TXSEF) at Texas A&M University in College Station, TX, on March 27-28, 2026. Winning TXSEF projects advance to additional state and international competitions.
Plano ISD advanced a total of 294 projects (represented by 331 students) from our campus fairs to the regional fair.
10 first place awards (45%)
7 second place awards (32%)
5 third place awards (23%)
17 fourth place and honorable mention awards
4 special awards for 4 projects (38%)
Grand Prize, Physical Science – Madhav Anand (Schimelpfenig Middle School)
Grand Prize Runner-Up, Life Science – Megan Lien (Murphy Middle School)
8 first place awards (36%)
10 second place awards (45%)
9 third place awards (41%)
15 fourth place and honorable mention awards
8 special awards for 5 projects (38%%)
Grand Prize, Physical Science – Pardhiva Penna (Plano East Senior High)
All first and second place finishers in both the junior and senior divisions advance to the Texas Science and Engineering Fair (TXSEF), which will be held in College Station, TX on March 27-28, 2026. If a first or second place finisher cannot attend, then the third place finisher from that category will be advanced. Plano students make up 55% of the Dallas Regional participants advancing to TXSEF.
Junior division: 17 projects represented by 21 students from 6 campuses
Senior division: 18 projects represented by 21 students from 4 campuses
Additionally, 4 Plano regional projects from the senior division are eligible to advance straight to the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), which will be held in Phoenix, AZ, on May 9-15, 2026:
Arya Gurumukhi – Plano East Senior High
Pardhiva Penna – Plano East Senior High
Aarini Sen – Plano West Senior High
Vijay Shivnani – Plano West Senior High
Junior-Division Category Awards
*All 1st and 2nd place finishers are nominated to apply to the 2025 Thermo Fisher Junior Innovators Challenge
Grand Prize
Physical Science: Madhav Anand, Schimelpfenig Middle School, Physics and Astronomy Unraveling the Science of Spin – A Detailed Exploration on the Magnus Effect
Life Science Runner-Up: Megan Lien, Murphy Middle School, Biomedical Engineering Redesigning the Casing of an Epinephrine Auto-Injector to Increase Accessibility
Animal Sciences
Rachael Du and Ira Sen, Rice Middle School, first place
Kurumi Shinagawa, Rice Middle School, second place
Taryn Carlson, Haggard Middle School, third place
Behavioral and Social Sciences
Rachel Dagdag, Schimelpfenig Middle School, honorable mention
Devin Samuel, Murphy Middle School, honorable mention
Biochemistry
Jackson Vincer, Murphy Middle School, honorable mention
Biomedical and Health Sciences
Jason Amazigo, Otto Middle School, first place
Andrea Leng, Robinson Middle School, fourth place
Amber Kimble, Schimelpfenig Middle School, honorable mention
Biomedical Engineering
Megan Lien, Murphy Middle School, first place
Terri Lv, Rice Middle School, second place
Sashwath Selvakumar, Rice Middle School, fourth place
Chemistry
Margaret Noll and Catherine Trimmell, Otto Middle School, first place
Jane Pan, Rice Middle School, second place
Ryan Arnold, Frankford Middle School, honorable mention
Earth & Environmental Sciences
Aadya Kumar, Renner Middle School, honorable mention
Embedded Systems
Mokshagna Teja Polavarapu, Robinson Middle School, third place
Energy: Sustainable Materials & Design
Shravanthi Chidambaram, Rice Middle School, second place
Aarav Chokshi and Om Narayanan, Schimelpfenig Middle School, third place
Engineering Technology: Statics & Dynamics
Sara Alkhazraji and Pranawi Anumukonda, Bowman Middle School, first place
Environmental Engineering
Malini Reddy, Rice Middle School, third place
Ritisha Bhat, Rice Middle School, honorable mention
Materials Science
Kyla Shorney, Schimelpfenig Middle School, honorable mention
Mathematics
Anjali Ipe, Rice Middle School, first place
Tyler Frizzell, Haggard Middle School, third place
Physics & Astronomy
Madhav Anand, Schimelpfenig Middle School, first place
Akshat Saruparia, Otto Middle School, second place
Jade Chen, Schimelpfenig Middle School, honorable mention
Elinore Nutter, Murphy Middle School, honorable mention
Plant Sciences
Arnav Shah, Murphy Middle School, first place
James Roe, Otto Middle School, second place
Beatrice Whittenburg, Renner Middle School, honorable mention
Robotics & Intelligent Machines
Ishaan Kothari, Rice Middle School, first place
Princy Sanghani, Robinson Middle School, second place
Dang Tuan Pham, Bowman Middle School, honorable mention
Ahana Mathur and Pranjal Singh, Rice Middle School, honorable mention
Systems Design
Mia Gao and Lillian Ye, Rice Middle School, first place
Xinshuo Zhou, Rice Middle School, honorable mention
Junior-Division Special Awards
Joseph Chapman, Rice Middle School
McKinney Amateur Radio Club, Inc. | Certificate and Amateur Radio License Exam Voucher
Rachael Du and Ira Sen, Rice Middle School
North Texas Chapter of the Texas Master Naturalist (NTMN) | NTMN Junior Division
Dang Tuan Pham, Bowman Middle School
Texas Instruments | Best Electronics or Computing Project, Junior Division, 3rd Place
Mokshagna Teja Polavarapu, Robinson Middle School
Texas Instruments | Best Electronics or Computing Project, Junior Division, 2nd Place
Senior-Division Category Awards
* Indicates advancing to the International Science and Engineering Fair
Grand Prizes
* Physical Science: Pardhiva Penna, Plano East Senior High School, title: Chemical Synthesis and Functional Assessment of L-Citrulline Ethyl Ester for Nitric Oxide Release
Animal Sciences
Ananya Nagendra, Plano East Senior High, second place
Ruby Chen, Jasper High School, third place
Behavioral & Social Sciences
Mason Lien, Plano East Senior High School, honorable mention
Biochemistry
Amaan Kuniyil, Plano East Senior High, honorable mention
Biomedical Engineering
Neel Paravasthu, Plano Senior High School, fourth place
Cellular and Molecular Biology
Alice Cheremukhina, Plano East Senior High, second place
Chloe Ni, Jasper High School, third place
Chemistry
*Pardhiva Penna, Plano East Senior High, first place
Anushka Manikandan, Plano East Senior High School, third place
Computational Biology & Bioinformatics
Shreyas Kolan, Jasper High School, third place
Vaani Chellamuthu, Plano East Senior High School, honorable mention
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Violet Whittenburg, Shepton High School, honorable mention
Embedded Systems
Trisha Desai, Plano West Senior High, honorable mention
Energy: Sustainable Materials & Design
*Arya Gurumukhi, Plano East Senior High, first place
Akul Menasinahal, Plano East Senior High School, third place
Engineering Technology: Statics & Dynamics
Ryan Xu, Plano West Senior High, first place
Ana Spiride, Plano East Senior High, second place
Environmental Engineering
Jessica Zhang, Plano West Senior High, first place
Raman Chakravarty and Raghunand Dayanandan, Jasper High School, second place
Krish Anand, Ryan Chen, and Supraj Gonur, Jasper High School, third place,
Materials Science
Mosami Mansingka, Jasper High, second place
Aika Saadiq, Plano Senior High, third place
Mathematics
Goutham Ronanki, Plano West Senior High, second place
Annika Ghuman, Plano West Senior High, honorable mention
Microbiology
*Vijay Shivnani, Plano West Senior High, first place
Abhiram Jetty, Plano East Senior High, second place
Mohammad Khanooni and Leyang Zeng, Clark High School, third place
Saadia Syed, Plano East Senior High, honorable mention
Physics & Astronomy
*Aarini Sen, Plano West Senior High, first place
Vedant Sundar, Plano East Senior High, third place
Plant Sciences
Sarana Siva, Jasper High, first place
Robotics and Intelligent Machines
Dhroov Bharatia, Plano Senior High, first place
Aarav Bansal and Neel Tipnis, Plano West Senior High, second place
Software Design
Keshav Anand, Plano East Senior High, second place
Ryan Nam, Jasper High School, honorable mention
Technology Enhances the Arts
Akul Kolhatkar and Neel Marripalapu, Plano West Senior High, second place
Syed Husain, Plano West Senior High, honorable mention
Translational Medical Science
Vaisshnavi Sri Navaneethakrishnan, Plano East Senior High, honorable mention
Ishaan Khera, Plano West Senior High, honorable mention
Senior-Division Special Awards
Sean Kim, Plano West Senior High
American Statistical Association | Senior 1st Place
Ananya Nagendra, Plano East Senior High
North Texas Chapter of the Texas Master Naturalist (NTMN) | NTMN Senior Division
Ana Spiride, Plano East Senior High
Qorvo | Young Innovators Awards, 1st Place
Vedant Sundar, Plano East Senior High
Qorvo | Young Innovators Awards, 2nd Place
Ryan Xu, Plano West Senior High
Qorvo | Young Innovators Awards, 3rd Place
Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) | Best Engineering Project
Terracon, Inc.| Terracon Environmental & Engineering Excellence Award, Senior Div. 1st Place
U.S. Metric Association | Best Use of SI Units, 1st Place