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Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence

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AAAI ISEF Awards

AAAI established special awards in 1999 at the annual International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) to recognize outstanding achievement in the area of intelligent computation and robotics. AAAI presented three awards in 1999 for the best projects in the area of computer science with an artificial intelligence component. Finalists in other areas with significant computer science components were also eligible. The number of awards was expanded in subsequent years, and has ranged between 5 and 15. The current award amounts are $1,500 (first place), $1,000 (second place), and $500 (third place). In addition, up to five honorable mentions are awarded. All winners receive a certificate. Winners and their schools also receive a one-year membership in the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, including an online subscription AI Magazine.

Further information is located at student.societyforscience.org/isef.

Past Recipients

2024

  • First Prize: Junxiang Cai (National Junior College, Singapore)
  • First Prize: Aidan Ong (Hwa Chong Institution, Singapore)
  • Second Prize: Xiangzhou Sun (Webb School of California, USA)
  • Third Prize: Anna Mohanty (Washington-Lee High School, Virginia, USA)
  • Honorable Mention:
    • Sunwoo (Ria) An (Loomis Chaffee School, Connecticut, USA)
    • Kate Choi (The Potomac School, Virginia, USA)
    • Nok Him Isaac Lau (Kao Yip Middle School, Macao, China)
    • Hiu Yan Lin (Kao Yip Middle School, Macao, China)
    • Tin Potikanond (The Prince Royal’s College, Chiang Mai, Thailand)
    • Lenny Thomas (The Prince Royal’s College, Chiang Mai, Thailand)
    • Tanyada Thongbai (The Prince Royal’s College, Chiang Mai, Thailand)
    • Ethan Yan (Groton School, Massachusetts, USA)

2023

  • First Prize: Ella Lan (The Harker School, California, USA)
  • Second Prize: Sarang Goel (Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science, Texas, USA)
  • Third Prize: Arielsie Li (Philips Academy, Massachusetts, USA)
  • Honorable Mention:
    • Radostin Cholakov (High School of Mathematics, Bulgaria)
    • Arvind Seshan (Fox Chapel Area High School, Pennsylvania, USA)
    • Daniel Cermann, Albert Dehne, and Richard Ueltzen (Albert-Schweitzer-Gymnasium, Erfurt, Thuringen, Germany)
    • Yu Xi Ong and Miridhini Rajaram (Raffles Institution, Singapore)
    • Arjun Malpani and Siddharth D’costa (Sunset High School, Oregon, USA)

2022

  • First Prize: Ryan Park (Millburn High School, New Jersey, USA)
  • Second Prize: Neel Redkar (Dougherty Valley High School, California, USA)
  • Third Prize: Sam Rogers (Proserpine State High School, Australia)
  • Honorable Mention:
    • Nathan Elias (Liberal Arts and Science Academy, Texas, USA)
    • Ryo Muramatsu (Tokyo Tech High School of Science and Technology, Tokyo, Japan)
    • Eugene Choi, Irfan Nafi, and Raffu Khondaker (Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Virginia, USA)
    • Andy Phung (Independence High School, California, USA)
    • Ligia Keiko Carvalho (Colegio Tecnico de Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil)

2021

  • First Prize: Michelle Hua (Cranbrook Kingswood School, Michigan, USA)
  • Second Prize: Leo Wylonis (Conestoga High School, Pennsylvania, USA)
  • Third Prize: Gasser Galal and Mostafa Abdelmohymen (Elnasr Boys’ School, Alexandria, Egypt)
  • Honorable Mention:
    • Victor Kolev (Sofia High School of Mathematics, Sofia, Bulgaria)
    • Nikhil Iyer (Edgewood Junior Senior High School, Merritt Island, Florida, USA)
    • I-Ning Tsai (Taipei Municipal Zhongshan Girls High School, Taipei City, Chinese Taipei)
    • Robert Strauss (Los Alamos High School, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA)
    • Daniel Shen (William G. Enloe High School, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA)

2019

  • First Prize: Kevin Meng (Plano West Senior High School, Texas, USA)
  • Second Prize: Pranav Senthilvel and Shreshth Srivastava (duPont Manual High School, Kentucky, USA)
  • Third Prize: Anish Singhani (Monte Vista High School, California, USA)
  • Honorable Mention:
    • Rhythm Garg (Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science, Texas, USA)
    • Yufeng Sun (The Experimental High School Attached to Beijing Normal University, China)
    • Gabrielle Liu (Ravenwood High School, Tennessee, USA)
    • Hyogi Kim (Ewha Womans University High School), Dongyeong Kim (Korea Digital Media High School), and Minseo Eun (Gwangyang Jecheol High School), South Korea
    • Neil Deshmukh (Moravian Academy, Pennsylvania, USA)

2018

  • First Prize: Nikita Zozoulenko (Katedralskolan, Linköping, Sweden)
  • Second Prize: Matthew Dong and Pratham Soni (Troy High School, Michigan, USA)
  • Third Prize: Han Qi (Tianjin Nankai High School, China)
  • Honorable Mention:
    • Alice Martynova (Los Gatos High School, California, USA)
    • Kavya Kopparapu (Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, Virginia, USA)
    • David Lyons (Hawken School, Gates Mills, Ohio, USA)
    • Savitha Srinivasan (Interlake High School, Bellevue, Washington, USA)
    • Mihir Patel (Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, Virginia, USA)

2017

  • First Prize: Erin Smith (Shawnee Mission West High School, Kansas)
  • Second Prize: Anushka Nair (Lake Oswego High School, Oregon)
  • Third Prize: Michael Lee (Manhasset High School, New York)
  • Honorable Mention:
    • Prathik Naidu (Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Virginia)
    • Manan Shah (The Harker School, California)
    • Thao Chi Nguyen and Trang Ngan Tran (Tran Phu Gifted High School, Vietnam)
    • Luiz da Silva Borges (Campus Aquidauana – Instituto Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul (IFMS), Brazil)
    • Justin Zhang, Kavya Kopparapu, and Neeyanth Kopparapu (Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Virginia)

2016

  • First Prize: Simone Braunstein (Dalton School, New York)
  • Second Prize: Steven Elliott (The Home Educator’s Outsourcing High School, Texas)
  • Third Prize: Ryan Gross (Spring Mills High School, West Virginia)
  • Honorable Mention:
    • Joshua Gruenstein and Michael Truell (Horace Mann School, New York)
    • Vidur Prasad (Dayton Regional STEM School, Ohio)
    • Myrijam Stoetzer and Paul Foltin (Franz-Haniel-Gymnasium, Germany)
    • Eshika Saxena (Interlake High School, Washington)
    • David Gardner (Eleanor Roosevelt High School, Maryland)

2015

  • First Place: Chin Yeoh (Chengdu International School, China)
  • Second Place: Konrad Neal Urban and Suvir Prakash Mirchandani (Fox Chapel Area High School, Pennsylvania)
  • Third Place: Mihir Garimella (Fox Chapel Area High School, Pennsylvania)
  • Honorable Mention:
    • Phillip Kuznetsov, William Hebgen Guss, and Patrick Bo Chen (West High School, Utah)
    • Neal Vinay Agarwal (Chantilly High School, Virgina)
    • Elliot Gorokhovsky (Fairview High School, Colorado)
    • Vanessa Wang (American High School, California)
    • Martin Rolf Henning Lindblom (Lugnetgymnasiet, Sweden)

2014

  • First Place: Parth Chopra (Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Virginia)
  • Second Place: William Hang (Scripps Ranch High School, California)
  • Third Place: Nathan Han (Boston Latin School, Massachusetts)
  • Honorable Mention:
    • Anand Srinivasan (Roswell High School, Georgia)
    • Ariel Benjamin Kanevsky (Ossining High School, New York)
    • Cassidy Laidlaw (Barrington High School, Rhode Island)
    • Anna Dmitrievna Kustareva and Maxim Alexeevich Sokolov (Municipal Budget Educational Institution “Lyceum No.165,” Russian Federation)
    • Brandon Kinard (Mililani High School, Hawaii)

2008

  • First Award
    • Colby Anne Wilkason (Warner Robins High School, Warner Robins, Georgia)
      Application of Real Time Neural Networks for Use with Data Gloves
    • Thomas Ben Thompson (Huron High School, Ann Arbor, Michigan)
      So Many Data — So Few Labels: The Effects of Autoencoders on Unlabeled Data for Pattern Recognition
  • Second Award
    • Dmitry O. Kislyuk (California High School, San Ramon, California)
      Modeling Evolution: Exploring Computational Biology and Biomodeling
    • Dorian Naim Rahamim (Orange High School, Pepper Pike, Ohio)
      Distributed Intelligence
    • David C. Liu (Lynbrook High School, San Jose, California)
      Content-Based Image Retrieval
    • Tobias Jacob Williams (Highland Secondary School, Dundas, Ontario, Canada)
      Computer ANTimation
    • Ken Miura (Shizuoka-Prefectural Hamamatsu-Kita High School, Sizuoka, Japan), Mami Inoue (Shizuoka-Prefectural Hamamatsu Kita High-School, Shizuoka, Japan), Mayu Suzuki (Shizuoka-Prefectural Hamamatsu Kita High-School, Shizuoka, Japan)
      The Design and Implementation of Practical Algorithms for Automatic Composite Photographs
    • Canin Quinn Christell (Christell Home School, Springfield, Missouri)
      Intelligent Task Coordination with Multiple Robots (EE)

2007

  • David C. Liu (15, Lynbrook High School, San Jose, California)
    Acoustic Music Similarity Analysis
  • Lucia Mocz (16, Mililani High School, Mililani, Hawaii)
    Robot Vision: A Mutual Entropy-based Algorithm Through Scene Recognition from Image Sequences for Terrestrial and Planetary Exploration
  • Bryan Nathan Landman (18, Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School, Miami, Florida)
    A Java-based Genetic Algorithm Stock Screening Program for Maximizing Return on Investment: Show Me the Money
  • Quinton Bernard Smith (17, La Cueva High School, Albuquerque, New Mexico), Tyrus LaVelle Sanders (16, West Mesa High School, Albuquerque, New Mexico), Christian Stephen Hammond (17, Rio Rancho High School, Rio Rancho, New Mexico)
    Factors, Forces and Forecasting Stock Market Modeling and Simulation
  • David Christopher Evans (15, Albion Middle School, Sandy, Utah)
    Artificial Intelligence Insulin Delivery System

2006

  • Liu Liu (19, Shanghai Datong High School, Shanghai, China)
    Facool: Convenient Internet Face Retrieval System
  • Nat Piyapramote (17, Sarasit Phithayalai School, Banpong, Ratchaburi, Thailand)
    Statistical-based Adaptive Binarization for Document Imaging
  • Caroline Elizabeth Pietsch (17, Ossining High School, Ossining, New York)
    A Novel Approach to the Automatic Recognition of Emotions in Natural Speech
  • Elsa Star Culler (16, Lincoln Park High School, Chicago, Illinois)
    Tough or Diabolical? An Analysis of Sudoku Difficulty Level
  • Justin Moore Solomon (18, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, Virginia)
    Three-Dimensional Face Recognition from Video: Facial Surface Reconstruction and Analysis Using Tensor Algebra and Differential Geometry
  • Alan Garrett Pierce (16, School of Science and Technology, Beaverton, Oregon), Nathaniel John Broussard (17, School of Science and Technology, Beaverton, Oregon)
    Combining Touch Screen and Scanner Input for Handwriting Recognition
  • Hung-Ju Chen (18, National Hsinchu Girls, Hsinchu City, Taiwan, Chinese Taipei), Min Ju Yang (17, National Hsinchu Girls, Hsinchu City, Taiwan, Chinese Taipei)
    Leaf! What Are You?
  • Andrew David Gamalski (17, Hamilton High School, Chandler, Arizona), Vinayak Muralidhar, 16, Corona del Sol High School, Tempe, Arizona)
    A New Algorithm to Minimize Factory Inefficiency Through Penalty Reduction
  • Joseph Anthony Crivello (18, University School of Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
    Acoustic Localization, Detection, and Identification
  • Lucia Mocz (15, Mililani High School, Mililani, Hawaii)
    Computer-aided Identification of Cancer from Photomicrographs by Entropy Analysis

2005

  • Marek Blahus (Uherske Hradiste, Czech Republic)
    Novel Investigations for N-Gram-Based Automatic Identification of Written Language
  • Holly Kristine Zelnio (Dayton, Ohio)
    Handwritten Number Recognition: Ants Versus Templates
  • Yuetian Xu (New York, New York)
    A Practical Implementation of Gradient-Based Convolutional Neural Networks in Handwriting Recognition
  • Brenden Manker Lake (Encinitas, California)
    Age of Acquisition in Facial Identification: A Connectionist Approach
  • Kimberly Elise Reinhold (Hilo, Hawaii)
    Artificial Cognition and Memory: Tissue Image Analysis for Tumor Diagnosis
  • Yang Ge (Beijing, China)
    Dynamic Balance Function and Surface Adaptation for General Humanoid Robot Platform
  • George Francis Hotz (Hackensack, New Jersey)
    The Googler
  • Donald Stuart Eng (Jacksonville, Florida)
    Factors Affecting Cooperative Robotic Behavior, Year Three
  • Nina Maria Huffman (McLean, Virginia)
    Iris Recognition for Individual Identification
  • Adam Shabti Charles, Yuriy Novodvorskiy, and David Dengyu Wang (New York, New York)
    Electricity Load Forecasting Using the Support Vector Machine

2004

  • Craig Andrew Wilson (Austin, Texas)
    Neural Networks and Speciation Genetic Algorithms
  • Laura Anne Wong (Ewing, New Jersey)
    Fault-Tolerant Behavior-Based Robots
  • Jordan Strong Wilson (Midlothian, Virginia)
    Evaluating the Ability of a Genetic Algorithm to Find an Optimal Investment Portfolio
  • Benjamin Alan Frison (Carlisle, Pennsylvania)
    A New Approach to the Identification of Computer Viruses Using Artificial Neural Networks
  • Kimberly Elise Reinhold (Hilo, Hawaii)
    Artificial Visual Perception: An Integrated Approach to Neuroadaptive Modeling
  • Elena Leah Glassman (Doylestown, Pennsylvania)
    Brain-Computer Interface for the Muscularly Disabled
  • Sung-Jin Hong (Daejon, South Korea)
    E-Canister: A Reliable Anti-spamming Server Based on Voting and Learning
  • Yen Tung Yeh (Avondale, Arizona), Christina Grace Kwong (Phoenix, Arizona), Dean Wong Thongkham (Mesa, Arizona)
    Resource Allocation by Integration of Dispatching Heuristics with Genetic Algorithms
  • Zachary Michael Walchuk (Mankato, Minnesota)
    Development and Comparison of Biologically Based Robots

2003

  • Brian Andrew Camley (Colorado Springs, Colorado)
    The Telltale Heart of Darkness — Differentiating Between Authors: Beyond Naive Bayesian Classification
  • Michael Jason Diedrich (Rochester, Minnesota)
    Nice Guys Dominate: A Computer Simulation Studying the Effect of Dominant-Recessive Genetics on a Population
  • Donald Eng (Jacksonville, Florida)
    Factors Affecting Cooperative Robotic Behavior
  • Elena Leah Glassman (Doylestown, Pennsylvania)
    Brain-Computer Interface for the Muscularly Disabled
  • Jerry Ji Guo (Greer, South Carolina)
    Implementation of Bayesian Statistical Spam-filtering Algorithm
  • Katherine Harvard (Great Neck, New York)
    Modeling the Ecological Success of Decision Rules Using Variants of the Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma
  • Tonislav Ivanov (New York, New York)
    TensorFaces: A Multilinear Model for Computerized Face Recognition and Image Processing
  • Dmitry Kashlev (Bronx, New York)
    Data Mining Network Traffic With Neural Networks
  • Nhan Duy Nguyen (Greenville, South Carolina)
    Training Neural Networks With Genetic Alogrithms
  • Brian Edward Pinkham (Ashburn, Virginia)
    Robots to the Rescue: The Effect of Sensor Type on the Detection of Life Signs
  • Fransisco Selles de Almeida Junior (Sao Paulo, Brasil), Nei Alcantara Junior (Sao Paulo, Brasil)
    The Fish Robot
  • Adam Charles Vogel (St Charles, Missouri)
    Applying Genetic Algorithms to Dynamic Traitor Tracing

2002

  • Jessie Cheng (Armonk, New York)
    Comparison of Traditional and ASR-Mediated Literacy
  • Robert Kang Xing Jin (Silver Spring, Maryland)
    Automated Detection of Boundaries in Microstructure Images
  • Pascal Tom Getreuer (Colorado Springs, Colorado)
    Like a Mouse to Cheese
  • Yilin Nie (Chappaqua, New York)
    Using Hidden Dynamic Models to Predict Pitch in English and Mandarin
  • Yindong Yu (Shanghai, China)
    Computer Recognition of Emotion in Speech
  • Youngki Park (Jinju, Kyongsangnam-do, South Korea)
    Finding Solutions to the Problem that Is Indicated for Last Twenty Years in IDA*
  • Jennifer Pei-Kay Gee (Frederick, Maryland)
    Prediction of HIV Treatment Responses Using Neural Networks
  • Kimberly Elise Reinhold (Hilo, Hawaii)
    Artificial Neural Networks: Mechanisms of Pattern Recognition and Learning
  • Grant A. Elliott (Riviera Beach, Florida)
    Autonomous Structural Engineering Through Genetic Algorithms
  • Ulyana N. Horodyskyj (Parma, Ohio)
    Evolution in Motion: Orbital Optimization Using Genetic Algorithms
  • Joshua Brent Miller (Melbourne, Florida)
    Cooperative Autonomous Robotics Utilizing Ant Pheromone Behavior
  • Colin Patrick O’Flynn (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada)
    Autonomous Hovercraft: Power of Neural Nets
  • Elena Leah Glassman (Doylestown, Pennsylvania)
    Speech Imitation Through Analysis, Synthesis and Optimization
  • Andrew Robert Pariser and Joseph Jailer-Coley (Port Washington, New York)
    Creating More Efficient Multi-Robot Systems Using Peer-to-Peer Networking in Search and Retrieve Problems
  • Chun-Chen Yeh (Chineses Taipei)
    Winning Strategies for Games Played with Chips

2001

  • Kevin Scott Christopher (Engelwood, Colorado)
    Isomap and Neural Networks: Comparison of Frameworks for Dimensionality
  • Dominik Rabiej (Mattawan, Michigan)
    Greedy Random: A Novel Algorithm for Vehicle Routing Optimization
  • Scott Bender (Columbia, South Carolina)
    Comparison and Analysis of Pathfinding Algorithms
  • Rishi Mukhopadhyay (Bloomfield Hills, Michigan)
    Compression-based Author Recognition Algorithms
  • Yeong-jun Park (Busan, South Korea)
    i-Com: An Intelligent Image Processing System
  • Felix Schmaeschke (Leipzig, Germany)
    Comparison of Learning Algorithms for Autonomous Robots
  • Bernard Willers and Josef Vrba (Republic of South Africa)
    Artificial Neural Networks as Applied to an Intelligent Alarm System
  • Isaac Bowen and Henry Pate (Port Orange, Florida)
    Can an Unbeatable AI be Created for Connect Four?
  • Sarah Oman, Elizabeth Brown, and Thomas Widland (New Mexico)
    Cost Minimization through Flight Scheduling
  • Elizabeth Wood (Shaker Heights, Ohio)
    Autonomous Robot: Modeling the Behavior of a Falling Dog
  • Alexis Lussier Desbiens (Quebec, Canada)
    Rox-544 v.2: Walking Like an Insect
  • Edward Hinson and Victor Kostyuk (Little Rock, Arkansas)
    Compound Rules in an Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma

2000

  • Muhammed Abdul Ali (Mankato, Minnesota)
    Progressive Neural Networking
  • Jordan Lee Boyd-Grabner (Hot Springs, Arkansas)
    Semantic Poetry Creation Using Lexicographic and Natural Language Texts
  • Eser Kubali Chamoglu (New York, New York)
    Q-Bots — System for Developing Mobile Robot Software in Less Time for Less Cost
  • Alexander Grant Clark (Jackson, Mississippi)
    Formulation of a Document Content Specification System to Support the Development and Implementation of a Content Index Network
  • Alexis Lussier Desbiens (Plessisville, Quebec, Canada)
    ROX 544 — Walking Like an Insect
  • Alexander A. Gondarenko (Springfield, Virginia)
    Application of Advanced Genetic Algorithms for Optimization of Lens Design
  • Jason N. Harris Conroe (Texas)
    Developing Tactile Hand Sensors for Mechanical Hand
  • Ian Levi Nelson and Dagny Lauren Looper)
    Cellular Automata: Cyber Creepy Crawlies
  • Ryan Randall Patterson (Grand Junction, Colorado)
    Robotic Search Tool
  • Joseph E. Pechter and William H. Pechter (Vero Beach, Florida)
    Hybrid Text to Speech 2000
  • Joseph Simon Reisinger (The Woodsland, Texas)
    Intelligent Genetic Algorithm
  • Edmund M. Rogers (Estero, Florida)
    Complex Emergent Behavior in Multi Robot Systems
  • Hasuk Francis Song (La Jolla, California)
    Story Understanding Program in Prolog
  • Joel Lewis Stevens (Montgomery, Texas)
    DNA Computation of a Subset Sum
  • Leonardo F. Urbano (Ridgewood, New York)
    Taskable Simple Onboard Adaptive Robot Controllers in Real World Complex Environments

1999

  • First Place: Michael Smit (Senior, Eleanor Roosevelt High School, Greenbelt, Maryland) Development of a Genetic Algorithm
  • Second Place: Catherine Andrea Havasi (Senior, Franklin Regional Senior High School, Murrysville, Pennsylvania) System of Feedforward Neural Networks for the Improved Depixelization of Enlarged Bitmap Images
  • Third Place: Daniel Jonathan Haspel (Senior, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, Virginia) Optical Recognition of Musical Scores through Statistically-Governed Component Identification.