THE MELODIES OF MATERIALS

If you've been following along since the beginning, you know that science fairs keep showing up in this blog. From local competitions to the 78th Georgia Science and Engineering Fair (Post 18), every step of this has felt like leveling up. But nothing could have fully prepared me for what it felt like to walk into the Phoenix Convention Center for Regeneron ISEF 2026. This is my best attempt to put that week into words.

​

Getting There

​

Phoenix in May is something else. The moment you step outside the airport, the desert heat hits you and you realize pretty quickly you're not in humid and wet Georgia weather anymore. Arriving at the convention center for the first time and seeing thousands of finalists from over 60 countries, all wearing their badges, all buzzing with that particular kind of nervous energy that only science kids understand. It was surreal in the best way possible.

​

The Pin Exchange: My Favorite Part of the Whole Week

​

The Student Pin Exchange on Saturday night was the highlight of the whole week for me, and it honestly wasn't close.

The idea is simple enough. Finalists bring pins representing their home state or country, and you trade them with people you meet throughout the evening. But what it actually becomes is this completely organic social event where you're talking to a finalist from Brazil one minute, someone from South Korea the next, and then a kid from rural Iowa who's been working on the same research question for three years. I came away with pins from probably a dozen different countries and, more importantly, conversations I genuinely won't forget.

​

There's something about that setting. No judging, no pressure, just people who all love science and ended up in the same room. It makes connecting with others feel almost effortless. I talked to finalists working on everything from agricultural water conservation to novel cancer biomarkers. It's a reminder that the curiosity driving all of us is more universal than it sometimes feels from inside your own little research bubble back home.

​

The Symposia

​

I know symposia can have a reputation for being the thing you skip to go explore the city, but some of the sessions this year were genuinely excellent.

The one I found most immediately useful was "Judging at Regeneron ISEF," hosted by the ISEF Judging Advisory Committee on Monday morning. Going in, I had real questions about the judging criteria, how Special Awards and Grand Awards judges approach projects differently, and what judging day actually looks like hour by hour. The session answered all of it in a direct, no-fluff way. Understanding the rubric from the judge's perspective rather than as a finalist trying to check boxes changed how I thought about my own presentation going into the week.

​

Equally useful was "Harnessing the Art of Presenting: How to Successfully Develop and Practice Science Research Presentations" by William Furiosi. The framing that stuck with me was the "presentation triangle." Your poster, your oral delivery, and your interaction with judges are three separate but deeply connected skills. He walked through each one with specific feedback on real poster examples and the whole room was taking notes. Given that the presentation is weighted at 35% of the overall ISEF judging score, this was not one to skip.

​

And then there was "Science Unscripted: An Ask Me Anything Session with Regeneron co-founder George D. Yancopoulos, M.D., Ph.D." I wasn't sure what to expect walking in. Maybe a polished keynote with a token Q&A tacked onto the end. What I got instead was one of the most compelling talks I've sat through. Yancopoulos talked about the early days of Regeneron, about failure, about what it actually felt like to bet everything on science the rest of the industry thought was too risky. The room was completely locked in. It's the kind of talk that makes you feel, in a very real way, like the work you're doing matters.

​

Judging: Intense, But I Loved Every Second

​

Judging day was tough. Being in the exhibit hall on Wednesday knowing that Grand Awards judges were moving through the aisles was a different kind of pressure than anything I'd experienced at the regional or state level. The questions were sharper, the follow-ups were more probing, and several judges had deep expertise in areas adjacent to my research that pushed me to genuinely think on my feet.

​

But I loved it. There's something clarifying about having to defend your work to people who are skeptical. It forces you to know your research deeply. Not just what you found, but why it matters and where it fits into the broader field. I came away from those conversations feeling like I understood my own project better than I did going in. Which sounds strange, but is completely true.

​

The Chemistry Session and Meeting Arthur Olson

​

One of the mandatory parts of ISEF is the Category Networking Session, where finalists from the same category get together for breakfast and structured conversation. For chemistry finalists, this ended up being one of the most memorable parts of the week, because it was where I got to meet and talk with Arthur Olson from The Scripps Research Institute.

​

Olson's work is fascinating, particularly around molecular visualization and how making the invisible tangible can fundamentally shift the way we think about science. Getting to have an actual back-and-forth with him rather than a five-second handshake at a poster was something I didn't fully appreciate at the moment but have been thinking about ever since. That kind of access to working scientists is genuinely rare, and ISEF creates it in a way I haven't seen anywhere else.

​

The STEM College and Career Fair

​

The Regeneron Way STEM College and Career Fair ran during the first couple of days, and I made a point of spending real time there. I had actual conversations with representatives from Stanford, MIT, Caltech, and a few other schools I've been thinking about seriously.

It felt nothing like a typical college fair. The reps knew they were talking to ISEF finalists and calibrated accordingly. The MIT and Caltech admissions panels (which also ran as dedicated symposia sessions) went deep on how to write about your research in college applications, how to frame a STEM portfolio, and what actually moves the needle. I left with a much clearer sense of how to tell my own story in an application context, which honestly was not something I expected to take away from a science fair.

​

The Friends I Made

​

I had so much more fun at ISEF than I expected. "The Real Treasure is the Friends You Make Along The Way." Somewhere between the pin exchange, the student mixer on Wednesday night, and the sheer amount of time you spend standing around with other finalists, a group of us naturally formed. We grabbed food together, complained about the Phoenix heat together, hyped each other up before judging, and celebrated after the Special Awards Ceremony. Having that group made the whole week so much better. Science is often a pretty solitary pursuit, and finding other people who are equally invested in it and equally weird about it is its own kind of reward.

​

What I'm Taking Away

​

In a single week, I talked to scientists, college admissions officers, finalists from six continents, and a co-founder of one of the most important biotech companies in the world. I learned more about my own research from three days of judging than from months of working alone. I learned more about where I want to go, academically and professionally, from a few days of talking to people who've already been there than from any career planning exercise I've done. 

​

And I was reminded, again and again, that the scientific community is genuinely welcoming to people who are curious and willing to put in the work. I’ve been dreaming of this day since the 7th grade, and I finally made it to the world’s largest pre-college STEM competition. However, one time isn’t enough, and I cannot wait to qualify again next year. And if I do, I'll be bringing way more pins.

​

So until dhin... stay upbeat, and stay tuned.

Coacervates, Cold Chains, and Curiosity: A Conversation with Dr. Sarah Perry