April 8 - 12, 2026
Greater Kansas City Science & Engineering Fair
75th Annual
Greater Kansas City Science & Engineering Fair
Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s Science & Engineering Fair and congratulations to all of the award winners.
2026 GKCSEF Photos by HilaryFullerImages
Thank you to our sponsors!
Grand Award Sponsors: Black & Veatch, BlueScope, Broadcom Foundation, Catalent, DeBruce Foundation, NSCKC managed by Honeywell, Kiewit.
Awards Ceremony Sponsors – Bayer, Ford Motor Company, Panasonic Energy.
You can view the 75th GKCSEF Program Book here
Congratulations to our Grand Award Winners:
Winner: Gopikaashri Chidambaranathan
School: Washburn Rural High School; Topeka, KS
Project Title: In Silico Modeling of Bispecific Dual-Affinity Re-Targeting (DART) Molecules Targeting PD-1 and LAG-3 for Solid Tumor and Hematologic Cancers Immunotherapy
Winner: Emma Rogers
School: Basehor-Linwood High School; Basehor, KS
Project Title: Analyzing the Effects of Sublethal Glyphosate as a Potential Stressor on Two Crayfish Species
Winner: Stavan Majumdar
School: Blue Valley Northwest; Overland Park, KS
Project Title: Convergence of Phenotypic and Neurological Subtype Classification of ASD
Winner: Sumayya Mohamed
School: Islamic School of Greater Kansas City; Kansas City, MO
Project Title: SpectroAge: A Novel Attention-Based Neural Network for High-Precision Stellar Age Prediction Using Asteroseismic Spectra
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2026 Schedule
Wednesday, April 8th, 2026 |
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| 8:00 am – 3:00 pm | PROJECT SET UP Students may set up exhibits at Union Station in Grand Hall and Grand Plaza. All projects must be set up by 3:00 pm. |
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| 10:00 am – 3:00 pm | FUN ZONE OPEN | |
| 4:00 – 10:00 pm | ACADEMIC JUDGING The Fair is closed to the public. |
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| 7:00 – 8:00 pm | STUDENT INTERVIEWSStudents should be at their projects to interview with academic judges.JUNIOR LEVEL INTERVIEWS (optional) SENIOR LEVEL INTERVIEWS (required) |
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Thursday, April 9th, 2026 |
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| 7:00 am –12:00 pm | SPECIAL AWARD JUDGINGThe Fair is closed to the public. | |
| 12:00 am – 4:00 pm | FUN ZONE OPEN | |
| 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm* | PUBLIC VIEWING and SCHOOL FIELD TRIP EXPERIENCESThe Fair is free and open to the public. Science Fair booth closes at 4 pm, Fair is still open for public viewing!*Subject to change | |
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Friday, April 10th, 2026 |
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| 9:00 am – 5:00 pm | PUBLIC VIEWING and SCHOOL FIELD TRIP EXPERIENCES The Fair is free and open to the public. |
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| 10:00 am – 4:00 pm | FUN ZONE OPEN | |
Saturday, April 11th, 2026 |
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| 10:00 am – 5:00 pm* | PUBLIC VIEWING and SCHOOL FIELD TRIP EXPERIENCES The Fair is free and open to the public. |
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| 10:00 am – 4:00 pm | FUN ZONE OPEN | |
| 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm | PROJECT PICK UP PROJECTS CAN NOT BE PICKED UP PRIOR TO 4 PM |
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Sunday, April 12th, 2026 |
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| 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm | THE CHARLES N. KIMBALL AWARDS CEREMONY Grand Plaza
Awards valued at $20,000+ Students receiving top academic or special awards: Blue Rosettes and White Ribbons, are invited to attend. Parents, teachers, relatives and friends are invited to attend as well. |
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Special thanks to these supporters
For more information on Fair Sponsorship please email Director of Development, Lynette Darby at [email protected]
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| Bionexus KC | Campbell Family Foundation | Evergy | Kansas City University | Terracon | Greater Kansas City Council, Navy League of the US |
Eurofins Viracor |
| Labconco | HNTB | Regnier Family Foundation | Shook, Hardy & Bacon | Marie Miller Family | Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers | |
About | Schedule | Forms & Registration | T-Shirt Design Contest |Educator Support | Charles N. Kimball Awards Ceremony | Awards | Sponsors | History of the Fair
Union Station Kansas City is dedicated to science education, a celebration of community and preservation of history. We are proud to host the 75th Greater KC Science & Engineering Fair and want to thank all the students, teachers, parents, mentors and volunteers who help make it a success!
Students in grades 3-12 from public, private, parochial, charter and home schools in 15 counties in and around the KC metro area are eligible to participate in the GKCSEF. The Fair is filled with exemplary projects developed by talented students, some of whom win a piece of the nearly $20,000 in awards and honors.
| Kansas | Missouri |
| Johnson, Wyandotte, Leavenworth, Douglas, Franklin | Jackson, Bates, Cass, Clay, Platte, Henry, Johnson, Lafayette, Pettis, Benton |
Annually, top senior-level projects that meet the stringent requirements for entering the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) win the prestigious GRAND AWARD. This year, Grand Award winners and their teachers receive an all-expense-paid trip to the 2026 Regeneron International Science & Engineering Fair in Phoenix, Arizona from May 10 – 15, 2026. Every year, tens of millions of students participate in science fairs around the globe but only about 1,800 of them earn the right to compete for nearly $8 million awards and honors bestowed each May at ISEF. Some of our very own science fair participants have gone on to win amazing awards at ISEF and you can, too!
For More Information About ISEF
A message to students: Thank you all for another inspiring Science & Engineering Fair! We know how much time it takes to plan, execute, and present a project for the Fair, and we applaud your dedication to contributing to the success of the 75th Greater Kansas City Science & Engineering Fair. The Fair has showcased thousands of student projects over the past 75 years, and many of those students have continued their studies and gone on to pursue a career in a STEM field.
A message to parents, teachers and mentors: Thank you for motivating your students, for guiding their curiosities, and for promoting critical thinking. Thank you for encouraging your children to ask questions, to push themselves, and to not give up in the face of failure-or an unexpected result…after all, that is part of the beauty of doing science. Your guidance and support is an integral part of the accomplishments of their projects, the success of this Fair, and most importantly the shaping of who the students will become.
Contact Emily Meyer for Sponsorship or Special Award information at [email protected]
2026 GKCSEF T-shirt Design Contest!
Students of all ages are invited to participate in the GKCSEF T-Shirt Design Contest, even if you are not participating in the Science Fair! First place winning design will be featured on all Fair t-shirts as well as the front page of the Fair Program Book. First place winner and their teacher will both receive an Amazon gift card! The 2nd place winning student also receives a gift card, and their design is featured on the inner cover of the Program Book and on the Fair Scavenger Hunt! Please click below for contest rules, examples of past winners, and submit when you are ready!
Click Here to See Past Winners
Pre-order your t-shirt for pick-up at the Fair! Pick-ups begin Wednesday, April 8th during public hours. The deadline for online t-shirt order is Friday, April 3rd. T-shirts are also available for in-person purchase during Fair public hours.
Click Here to Purchase This Year’s Shirt
A big CONGRATULATIONS to the winner of the 2026 GKCSEF T-shirt Design Contest: Lucy Hare, 10th grade, Liberty High School! Teacher – Andi Morris.
This design will go on all Fair t-shirts and will be the front cover of our Fair Program Book! She will receive a $100 amazon gift card, a t-shirt, and a Fair swag bag, while her teacher will receive a $50 gift card, t-shirt, and swag bag!
Also a big Congratulations to our runner-up, Tess Garbos, 5th grade, The Barstow School! Teacher – Karen Collins.
Our runner-up design receives a $50 gift card (their teacher $25) and Fair swag bag, and her design goes on our Fair Scavenger Hunt and on the inside cover of the Program Book.
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who participated in the contest and to the teachers who had their classes enter. We had our highest number of submissions ever with 134 submissions. You made our jobs hard, in the best way, and we highly encourage you to submit again next year!
Volunteer at the Fair!
Be a Judge!
The 75th Greater Kansas City Science & Engineering Fair, to be held in-person at historic Union Station from Wednesday, April 8th – Sunday, April 12th, 2026. The commitment for judging at the GKCSEF is approximately 4 hours on the evening of Wednesday, April 8th from about 5-9pm.
That evening we will host our Judges Meeting and Dinner from 5-6pm, dinner provided, with judging and student interviews happening that night. More details will go out as we get closer to the Fair!
If you have any questions about the Fair or about judging, please email Emily Meyer, Fair Director at [email protected]
General Fair Volunteer
General Volunteers will help at the Fair booth throughout the week of the Fair. Volunteers may sing up for one or more time slots, and each shift will be 3 hours.
Be a Mentor!
Become a mentor today! Mentors can range in commitment from a simple phone call to full blown experimental help. Signing up does not automatically assign you to a student, but adds you to our ever-growing mentor list.
FORMS & REGISTRATION
Submit forms for prior approval to [email protected] by Friday, February 20th, 2026.
Fair categories subs and descriptions 2026
FORMS- GRADES 3-8
Rules Summary for Junior Division (grades 3-8)
- Form 1 – Human Tissue
- Form 2 – Human Participants
- Form 3 – Hazardous Materials
- Form 4 – Bacteria and Mold
- Form 5 – Vertebrate Animal
ISEF FORMS – GRADES 9-12
Rules Summary for Senior Division (Grades 9-12)
- Form 1 – Checklist for Adult Sponsor
- Form 1A – Student Checklist Research Plan Instructions
- Form 1B – Approval Form
- Form 1C – Regulated Research Institution
- Form 2 – Qualified Scientist
- Form 3 – RiskAssessment
- Form 4 – Human Participants
- Form 5A – Vertebrate Animal
- Form 5B – Vertebrate Animal
- Form 6A – Potentially Hazardous Biological Agents
- Form 6B – Human Vertebrate Animal Tissue
- Form 7 – Continuation
Register Here
Registration now takes place on MySciFair. Please click here to register!
SCORING GUIDES
These scoring guides are used by our distinguished judges to score projects. We follow a mastery level scoring, rather than a numbered system.
Educator Support
Campbell Family Educator Grant – For more information click here
AshGrove New Fair Teacher Grant – For more information contact Emily Meyer at [email protected]
Marie Miller Educator Award – For more information click here
GKCSEF Charles N. Kimball Awards Ceremony
Special Awards
Both national and local STEM organizations with a devoted interest in science education provide special awards for projects entered into the Fair. Each organization selects its own award criteria and provides judges to select the winning projects.
We would like to thank all of these organizations for their support and participation in the Fair.
Academic Awards
Every project in the Fair earns either a gold, silver, or bronze ribbon. The most outstanding projects in each division and category receive a blue rosette ribbon and will receive an Academic Award crystal award at the Awards Ceremony
Pioneers in Science
The Pioneers in Science Awards are given to the top 6 Senior Division projects across all categories. Winners will receive a plaque as their award.
Grand Awards
Grand Awards are presented to the top 4 Senior Division projects that meet the stringent requirements for entering the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair. Grand Award winners and their sponsoring teacher will receive an all-expense paid trip to compete at the 2026 Regeneron International Science & Engineering Fair in Phoenix, Arizona, May 10 – 15
Coming to the Awards Ceremony? Please refer to the following map for parking information!
Past Fair Seasons
Photo Gallery
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GKCSEF Awards Ceremony 2025
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GKCSEF Awards Ceremony 2024
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GKCSEF Awards Ceremony 2019
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GKCSEF Awards Ceremony 2018
AWARDS
Academic Awards: Each year over 250 scientists, engineers, physicians, educators, and other Kansas City professionals volunteer their time and expertise to judge the science projects at the fair. Every project earns a gold, silver or bronze ribbon. The most outstanding projects in each division and category receive a blue rosette ribbon and will receive an Academic Award crystal award at the awards ceremony.
Special Awards: Both national and local STEM organizations with a devoted interest in science education provide special awards for projects entered into the Fair. Each organization selects its own award criteria, and provides judges to select the winning projects.
Pioneers in Science The Pioneers in Science Awards are given to the top 7 Senior Division projects across all categories. Winners will receive a plaque as their award.
Grand Awards: GRAND AWARDS are presented to the top 4 Senior Division projects that meet the stringent requirements for entering the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair. Grand Award winners and their sponsoring teacher will receive an all- expense paid trip to compete at the 2026 Regeneron International Science & Engineering Fair held in Phoenix, Arizona, May 10 – 15, 2026