Judging Guidelines

The F. Thomson Leighton and Bonnie Berger Family Prize for STEM Excellence is to be given to the finalist who best demonstrates excellence in applying advanced mathematics and technology to solve significant global challenges.

Guided by the spirit of their collective innovations, this award will consider projects at the convergence of:

• Theoretical mathematics and Algorithm Design
• Practical computer science and Distributed Computing
• Computational Biology and Large-Scale Data Analysis
• Cloud Computing, Cybersecurity and Content Delivery

The recipient of this award joins a prestigious cohort of Grand Award winners, embodying the same drive for discovery that led Dr. Leighton and Dr. Berger from the halls of MIT to the forefront of global technology and science.

Like the other top ISEF awards, the judging for the F. Thomson Leighton and Bonnie Berger Family Prize for STEM Excellence will be incorporated into the Grand Awards process and given at the Grand Awards Ceremony.

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

Tom Leighton: Bridging Theory and Global Infrastructure

Science Talent Search – 1974
International Science and Engineering Fair – 1972, 1973

As a preeminent authority on algorithms for network applications and cybersecurity, Tom Leighton’s career has been defined by solving “unsolvable” problems. A Professor of Applied Mathematics and a member of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), his research led to a revolutionary solution for web congestion through applied mathematics and distributed computing.

In 1998, he co-founded Akamai Technologies, where he currently serves as CEO and a member of the Board of Directors. His work has earned him over 50 patents and some of the highest honors in the field, including the IEEE John von Neumann Medal, the Marconi Prize, and Induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Dr. Leighton’s commitment to the next generation of scientists is deeply personal; he is an alumnus of both the Science Talent Search (1974) and the International Science and Engineering Fair (1972, 1973), and he previously served on the Society for Science Board of Trustees. He received his B.S.E. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Princeton (1978), and his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from MIT (1981). He joined the MIT Mathematics faculty in 1982 and became Professor in 1989.

Bonnie Berger: Defining the Future of Computational Biology

Bonnie Berger, the Simons Professor of Mathematics at MIT, is a pioneer who helped define the field of computational molecular biology. As head of the Computation and Biology group at MIT’s Computer Science and AI Lab (CSAIL), her recent work focuses on designing the sophisticated algorithms required to extract life-changing biological insights from massive, automated datasets.

Dr. Berger’s contributions have been recognized by the world’s most prestigious scientific bodies. She is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Association for Computing Machinery. Her leadership extends to the Executive Editorial Board of the Journal of Computational Biology and affiliations with the Broad Institute and Harvard Medical School.

Through her research, she has demonstrated that the rigors of mathematics are the key to unlocking the complexities of human health and genomic science.