The\u00a0Texas Science and Engineering Fair (TXSEF) is an annual state science competition for students in grades 6-12. To advance to the TXSEF competition, students must have placed at their district and regional fairs.\u00a0This year\u2019s competition was held in College Station, TX, on March 27\u201328, 2026. Students were judged on their document submissions (a 2 minute overview video, digital board and presentation of physical boards) as well as their in-person interviews.<\/p>\n
With more than 20,000 students in Texas starting the science fair process on their campuses, approximately 1,300 participated in this year’s event, competing in\u00a022 categories in the life and physical sciences across Junior and Senior divisions. 18 Plano ISD students earned 22 awards\u00a0and distinctions at the competition, including the Best in the State of Texas award in Physical Science – Senior Division. Seven Plano ISD Senior Division students placed first, second\u00a0or third in their category and have earned the opportunity to attend the Governor\u2019s Science and Technology Champions Academy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Top Senior Division projects advance to compete in the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). Two Plano ISD students qualified to advance to ISEF. They will join the four Plano ISD ISEF qualifiers from the Dallas Regional Science and Engineering Fair to compete at ISEF in Phoenix, AZ, from May 11-16, 2026.<\/p>\n
Senior Division, Physical Science<\/p>\n
\tAna Spiride, Plano East Senior High School, Engineering Technology: Statics and Dynamics, HandTalk: A Translation System for American Sign Language<\/p>\n
Junior Division<\/p>\n
\tJames Roe, Otto Middle School,\u00a0 Environmental Engineering,\u00a0A Breath of Fresh Air: Do houseplants reduce carbon dioxide in homes? — Science Toy Magic<\/p>\n
Senior Division<\/p>\n
\tAnanya Nagendra, Plano East Senior High School, Animal Sciences,\u00a0ANTatomy: Utilizing Ants to Mitigate MSW Landfill-Generated Methane Production through Novel Aerobic Digester System for Anthropogenic Food Waste Decomposition\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\tExxonMobil Award | $500
\n\t\tScience Toy Magic<\/p>\n
\tAna Spiride, Plano East Senior High School, Engineering Technology: Statics and Dynamics, HandTalk: A Translation System for American Sign Language<\/p>\n
\tJessica Zhang, Plano West Senior High School, Environmental Engineering,\u00a0A Physical Approach to a Chemistry Problem: A Novel Mechanochemistry Treatment for Plastic Degradation and Upcycling (Year II) — Science Toy Magic<\/p>\n
Junior Division<\/p>\n
Plano ISD Junior Division made up\u00a0 approximately 2.9% of the competition and took 13.6% of the category awards<\/p>\n
First Place<\/p>\n
\tIshaan Kothari, Rice Middle School, Robotics and Intelligent Machines,\u00a0PillDetect: A Convolutional Neural Network to Accurately Predict and Classify Pills<\/p>\n
Second Place<\/p>\n
\tMadhav Anand, Schimelpfenig Middle School, Physics and Astronomy, Unraveling the Science of Spin – A Detailed Exploration on the Magnus Effect
\n\tRachael Du and Ira Sen, Rice Middle School, Animal Sciences,\u00a0Planarian Regeneration and Cannibalism: A novel study on the cannibalistic tendencies of terrestrial planarians and how it affects the organism in terms of growth and neurotoxins
\n\tMia Gao and Lillian Ye, Rice Middle School, Software Design, Exercise Vision: Real-Time Computer-Vision Coaching for Community-Dwelling Older Adults
\n\tAnjali Ipe, Rice Middle School, Mathematics, Game Theory of Most Successful Payoff Matrices to the Prisoner\u2019s Dilemma
\n\tJane Pan, Rice Middle School, Chemistry, The Effects of Viscosity-Influencing Agents on the Emulsion in Sunscreen<\/p>\n
Third Place<\/p>\n
\tTerri Lv, Rice Middle School, Biomedical Engineering, Visualizing Neuron Network in Mice Intestine with Optical Clearing
\n\tMargaret Noll and Catherine Trimmell, Otto Middle School, Chemistry, Baked to Perfection: Making Everyday Bread Healthier, More Natural, and More Delicious
\n\tKurumi Shinagawa, Rice Middle School, Animal Sciences, Light Response of Tardigrades<\/p>\n
Senior Division<\/p>\n
Plano ISD Senior Division made up approximately 3.1% of the competition and took 10.6% of the category awards<\/p>\n
First Place*<\/p>\n
\tAarav Bansal and Neel Tipnis, Plano West Senior High School, Robotics and Intelligent Machines,\u00a0SmartCane
\n\t*Ananya Nagendra, Plano East Senior High School,\u00a0ANTatomy: Utilizing Ants to Mitigate MSW Landfill-Generated Methane Production through Novel Aerobic Digester System for Anthropogenic Food Waste Decomposition
\n\t*Ana Spiride, Plano East Senior High School,\u00a0HandTalk: A Translation System for American Sign Language<\/p>\n
*ISEF 2026 qualifiers<\/p>\n
Second Place*<\/p>\n
\tVijay Shivnani, Plano West Senior High School, Microbiology,\u00a0Characterizing Chlamydial Cytotoxins as Inflammatory Modulators: C. muridarum and C. trachomatis Putative Glycosyltransferase Activity and NF-kappa B Regulation<\/p>\n
Third Place*<\/p>\n
\tNeel Marripalapu and Akul Kolhatkar, Plano West Senior High School, Technology Enhances the Arts,\u00a0Generative Topological Symphonies: AI-Composed Music Through Higher-Dimensional Geometry
\n\tAarini Sen, Plano West Senior High School, Physics and Astronomy, OptiSkew: A Biophysical Approach for Self-Assessment of Eye Refractive Disorders (Year 2)
\n\tAbhiram Jetty, Plano East Senior High School, Microbiology,\u00a0Quorum Interdiction: a novel approach to prevent Antimicrobial resistance in the Staphylococcus Aureus and Candida Albicans complex, using secondary plant compounds as Quorum-Sensing Inhibitors<\/p>\n
*All first through third place senior division winners qualify for the Texas\u00a0Governor\u2019s Science and Technology Academy<\/p>\n
ISEF Qualifiers<\/p>\n
\tPenna Pardhiva, Plano East Senior High School, Synthesis and Chemical Stability of L-Citrulline Ethyl Ester across Alkaline Conditions, qualified from the Dallas Regional Science and Engineering Fair
\n\tArya Gurumukhi, Plano East Senior High School, The Bionic Leaf: Developing a Novel Self-Healing, Bi-Functional Manganese Oxide Catalyst to Use with the Bacterium Ralstonia eutropha for Sustainable Ethanol Production, qualified from the Dallas Regional Science and Engineering Fair
\n\tAarini Sen, Plano West Senior High School, OptiSkew: A Biophysical Approach for Self-Assessment of Eye Refractive Disorders (Year 2), qualified from the Dallas Regional Science and Engineering Fair
\n\tVijay Shivnani, Plano West Senior High School,\u00a0Characterizing Chlamydial Cytotoxins as Inflammatory Modulators: C. muridarum and C. trachomatis Putative Glycosyltransferase Activity and NF-kappa B Regulation, qualified from the Dallas Regional Science and Engineering Fair
\n\tAnanya Nagendra, Plano East Senior High School, Utilizing Ants to Mitigate MSW Landfill-Derived Methane Production through Novel Aerobic Digester System for Anthropogenic Food Waste Decomposition, qualified from the Dallas Regional Science and Engineering Fair
\n\tAna Spiride, Plano East Senior High School, HandTalk: A Two-Way Translation System for American Sign Language, qualified from the Texas Science and Engineering Fair<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The\u00a0Texas Science and Engineering Fair (TXSEF) is an annual state science competition for students in grades 6-12. To…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[160,162,2610,161,2609],"class_list":{"0":"post-241904","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-plano","8":"tag-plano","9":"tag-plano-headlines","10":"tag-plano-independent-school-district","11":"tag-plano-news","12":"tag-posts-details-default-board-post-page"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}