This is the second half of our guide to the 22 Regeneron ISEF categories - the engineering, mathematical and applied fields. Part I covered the life and environmental sciences.
The second eleven categories
- Engineering Technology: Statics and Dynamics (ETSD) - motion and structure: aerospace, civil, mechanical and naval engineering, computational mechanics, control theory, ground vehicle systems and industrial processing.
- Environmental Engineering (ENEV) - engineering against environmental problems: bioremediation, land reclamation, pollution control, recycling and waste management, water resources.
- Materials Science (MATS) - materials chosen for their properties: biomaterials, ceramics and glasses, composites, computation and theory, electronic/optical/magnetic materials, nanomaterials and polymers.
- Mathematics (MATH) - deductive study of number, structure and space: algebra, analysis, combinatorics/graph theory/game theory, geometry and topology, number theory, probability and statistics.
- Microbiology (MCRO) - bacteria, viruses, fungi and simple eukaryotes, plus antimicrobials and antibiotics: applied microbiology, bacteriology, environmental microbiology, microbial genetics and virology.
- Physics and Astronomy (PHYS) - matter, energy and the universe beyond Earth: atomic/molecular/optical physics, astronomy and cosmology, biophysics, condensed matter, mechanics, nuclear and particle physics, theoretical and quantum physics.
- Plant Sciences (PLNT) - plants in every aspect: agriculture and agronomy, ecology, genetics and breeding, growth and development, pathology, physiology, systematics and evolution.
- Robotics and Intelligent Machines (ROBO) - machines that reduce dependence on people: biomechanics, cognitive systems, control theory, machine learning and robot kinematics.
- Systems Software (SOFT) - software and information processes at the applied level: algorithms, cybersecurity, databases, human-machine interfaces, languages and operating systems, mobile apps and online learning.
- Translational Medical Science (TMED) - carrying laboratory research into treatment and clinical results back into research: disease detection, prevention, treatment, drug identification and testing, pre-clinical studies.
- Technology Enhances the Arts (TECA) - technology built to serve art: display technology, human information exchange, music and image processing, gaming and 3D modelling.
Choosing between neighbouring categories
Many strong projects sit on a boundary - a machine-learning study of protein folding could argue for CBIO, SOFT or ROBO. The tie-breaker is what the project actually demonstrates: a new algorithm belongs with software or robotics, a biological finding made with computation belongs with computational biology. Read the subcategory lists above as the judges will: they describe the expertise in the room.
The route into the finals runs through affiliated fairs, and category choice is made at entry - our ISEF page sets out the qualification path and the free project pack.