Dr. Liu Huoo-Chin and the student competitors from Taiwan with Education Division staff in Los Angeles

The 76th Annual Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (Regeneron ISEF), organized by the Society for Science, was held between May 9 and May 15, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. Regeneron ISEF is the world’s largest international science competition for high school students in grades nine to twelve. More than 1,700 young researchers from more than 67 countries, regions, and territories took part. They all earned the right to compete at Regeneron ISEF 2026 and share their ideas with other young scientists by winning a top prize at a local, regional, state, or national science fair. 

Among the competitors was a group of 18 students from seven secondary schools in Taiwan: the Affiliated Senior High School of National Taiwan Normal University, National Hualien Senior High School, Taipei First Girls’ High School, Taipei Municipal Chien Kuo High School, Taipei Municipal Jingmei Girls High School, Taipei Municipal Long Men Junior High School, and Taipei Fuhsing Private School. They were led by Dr. Liu Huoo-Chin 劉火欽, Director General of the National Taiwan Science Education Center.

The 18 students presented 12 projects in 11 of the 21 competition categories: Animal Sciences, Behavioral and Social Sciences, Cellular and Molecular Biology, Biomedical Engineering, Chemistry, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Embedded Systems, Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design, Environmental Engineering, Mathematics,jo and Robotics and Intelligent Machines.

Despite the tough global competition, the solid research and creative thinking of four of the students from Taiwan led to their five awards. The number of awards distributed in each category is proportional to the number of projects entered in that category. 

Two students from Taiwan won Grand Awards: 

* Anita Huang from Taipei Fuhsing Private School received one of the four Third Awards in the Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design category for a project on A New Class of Thermoelectric Material – Electrical Power From Coconut-Fibers and Carbon Nanoparticles. 

* Lu Pin-Chun from Taipei Municipal Chien Kuo High School received one of the four Fourth Awards in the Mathematics category for a project on Projective Generalization of Foci and Isogonal Cubics Loci of Complete Quadrilaterals.

Two students from Taiwan won a total of three Special Awards:

* Lee Meng-Hsuan from Taipei First Girls High School received the American Chemical Society First Award for her project in the Chemistry category on Dual-Functional Vaccine Adjuvant for Amplifying Immunity.

* Lin Jia-Ying from Taipei First Girls High School received two special awards for her project in the Mathematics category on Digraphs From a New Josephus Transformation. This was one of five projects to receive a Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye TUBITAK First Award. 

* Lin Jia-Ying’s project also received an American Mathematical Society (AMS) Honorable Mention and a One-Year Membership to AMS.

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles immediately offered their congratulations and forwarded messages from President Lai Ching-te 賴清德 and Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim 蕭美琴, who both praised the students for their hard work and great results. Taiwan’s Minister of Education Dr. Cheng Ying-Yao 鄭英耀 also congratulated the students, saying that their exemplary achievements brought honor to Taiwan and reflected the quality of Taiwan’s education, and the strong focus it places on well-rounded STEM education.

A list of all the research project entries from each of the 67 countries, regions, and territories that took part in Regeneron ISEF 2026 can be found in the online Finalist Directory, and you can click on the link at the end of each project listing to see full details.