Broadcom Foundation and Society for Science today announced that Akilan Sankaran, 14, from Albuquerque, New Mexico, won the coveted $25,000 Samueli Foundation Prize, the top award in the Broadcom MASTERS®, the nation’s premier science and engineering competition for middle school students. Akilan is the first student with a math project in the competition’s 11-year history to take home the Samueli Foundation Prize.

This year, the Broadcom MASTERS middle school competition is being held virtually. Despite continued obstacles brought on by the pandemic, the top 30 finalists are meeting challenges head-on and are excited to participate in finals week. Each of the Broadcom MASTERS 2021 finalists received laptops, webcams, backdrops and lighting kits to ensure they all have the technology they need throughout the competition. The finalists also received swag boxes, complete with competition t-shirts, sunglasses, facemasks and more. With guidance from Society staff, the nation’s top 30 middle school scientists and engineers are gearing up for finals week.

Two Texas middle school students were inspired to find a way to harness methane gas released from compost and turn it into energy.