Activities
North Carolina Science and Engineering Fair
The North Carolina Science Fair Foundation (NCSFF) supports the North Carolina Science & Engineering Fair (NCSEF) through fundraising and outreach to inspire innovation and excellence in student research.
Thousands of students across North Carolina participate in local school and district fairs leading up to the 9 regional fairs across the state. Regional winners move on to the culminating state-wide event with selected projects attending the International Science and Engineering Fair.
Teacher Workshops
Ongoing workshops, both face-to-face and virtually, provide support for teachers to better enable them to inspire students to conduct independent research and organizing a local science & engineering fair. Specific topics covered during the workshops include
- How to foster and guide scientific and engineering research in the classroom.
- How to initiate, manage, and evaluate student science and engineering research projects.
- How to plan a school or district science & engineering fair.
Virtual Student Mentorship Program
Through the support of the Biogen Foundation, the NCSFF has been able to launch a virtual mentorship program to support safe, student-led research during the COVID-19 pandemic. Navigating the pandemic with safety in mind has had the unintended consequence of reducing student access to professional scientists and engineers to serve as research mentors. In light of this arising need, the NCSFF has launched its first ever virtual mentorship program which matches student researchers with professionals to provide guidance for their research.
The virtual format of this program has allowed us to expand our reach beyond the typical matching opportunities. Students anywhere in North Carolina can now be matched with mentors from any location in the world, allowing us to better match passion driven research with experts in the field.
To volunteer as a mentor or learn more about the program contact Theresa Gibson
North Carolina Collaborative for Advancing Student-Led Research
Let’s engage more students in student-led, STEM research in North Carolina. Four organizations are collaboratively growing resources and awareness to support the development of science and engineering practices essential in STEM careers, along with critical thinking and communication skills used across all disciplines. How? By
- Raising student and teacher awareness,
- Increasing their research knowledge and skills,
- Optimizing resources and networks, and
- Celebrating successes across the collaborative.
The North Carolina Science Fair Foundation is a proud partner in the Collaborative. Our partners in this Collaborative are the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM), the North Carolina Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education Center (NC SMT Center), and the University of North Carolina- Charlotte Center for STEM Education.
Teacher Office Hours
Personalized, responsive support, is provided during the year for educators. These sessions create a space for teachers supporting students in scientific inquiry and engineering design to have a conversation about how to offer this support as the school environment operates in a face-to-face, hybrid, or online setting.
Follow us on social media where office hours are announced.
