Craig R. Barrett Award for Innovation

A business leader and innovator, former Intel CEO, Craig R. Barrett believes in the power of innovation to advance STEM. He served on the Society for Science’s Board of Trustees for 12 years and oversaw Intel as the title sponsor of ISEF from 1997 to 2005, when he retired as CEO of Intel.

Presented by the Society, the $10,000 Craig R. Barrett Award for Innovation will be given to the finalist who best demonstrates an innovation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. The award recognizes that research and innovation are dependent on the integration of STEM disciplines, as well as the impact they collectively have on our everyday lives. The award will be used by the winner to cover post-secondary educational expenses.

About Craig R. Barrett

Craig R. Barrett served as chairman of the board of Intel Corporation until 2009, where he also served as CEO from 1998 to 2005. Prior to joining Intel, Barrett was on the Stanford faculty in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Intel became title sponsor of the Intel Science Talent Search and the Intel Science & Engineering Fair, under Barrett’s leadership.

Learn more about the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair and about the awards presented at ISEF.

Winners of the Craig R. Barrett Award for Innovation

2024

Ingrid Chan, German Swiss International School (Hong Kong), China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Ingrid Wai Hin Chan, 17, of Hong Kong, China received the Craig R. Barrett Award for Innovation of $10,000 for her research on using a multi-sensory therapy for dementia patients. Her mixed therapy app would allow patients to practice physical and cognitive skills through a personalized, immersive environment using virtual reality headsets. Ingrid conducted an eight-week study with six people living with dementia and found that the cognitive function of patients who used her prototype improved in several areas. She believes her app could serve as a viable option for dementia patients with limited access to in-person professional therapy.

Video

TMED005 — MMRTD: Multi-Sensory Mixed Reality Therapy for Dementia

2023

Yuyang Wang, Shanghai Pinghe Bilingual School, China

Yuyang Wang, 16, of Shanghai, China, received $10,000 for his development of an inchworm-style stick-climbing robot. This type of robot conventionally has grabbers that allow it to climb over and under obstructions like a caterpillar does, but he added skateboard-like wheels, which allow it to perform better than existing inchworm-style robots when the angle is less than 22°. The hybrid wheel/grabber assembly is novel, and he believes his robot will work well for tasks that are potentially dangerous to humans, such as inspecting damaged high-voltage lines.

Video

ETSD015 — Exploring Stick-Climbing and Grabber-Wheel Hybridization: The Development of an Inchworm Robot with Integrated Skateboard Mechanism

2022

Amon Schumann, Robert-Havemann-Gymnasium, Germany

Amon Schumann, 17, of Berlin, Germany, received $10,000 for developing balloon-borne, light-weight solar-powered instruments that transmit aerial images, telemetry and climate data to a website he created. His device can stay aloft for several weeks circumnavigating the Earth at a consistent altitude and greatly reduces instrumentation costs.

Video

ETSD005 — Around the World in Eighty Days: Small Radiosondes on a Great Mission

2021

Arya Tschand, High Technology High School, NJ, United States of America

Arya Tschand, 17, of Marlboro, New Jersey received $10,000 for his development of an artificial intelligence model that inter-communicates to collect and analyze environmental data to give each crop its unique ideal irrigation volume. With accessible, affordable, and efficient technology, Arya believes that developing nations can leverage this solution to save trillions of gallons of water yearly.

Video

ENMC072 — Implementation of Novel Semi-Supervised Machine Learning Model into Autonomous Irrigation Network Optimized for Power Self-Sufficiency

2019

Shriya Reddy, Northville High School, MI, United States of America

Shriya Reddy, 15, of Northville, Michigan, received the new Craig R. Barrett Award for Innovation, funded through Society for Science, for her novel, noninvasive approach for rapidly diagnosing melanoma lesions.

BMED046 — A Novel, Noninvasive Approach to Melanoma Diagnosis Using Optical Coherence Tomography and Bioconjugated Gold Nanoparticles