Maine State Science Fair
An exciting opportunity for Maine high school students to pursue their interest in science and present results of their projects to fellow students.
An exciting opportunity for Maine high school students to pursue their interest in science and present results of their projects to fellow students.
Bring It! to the 2021 Maine State Science Fair
The Maine State Science Fair (MSSF) is an exciting opportunity for Maine high school students to pursue their interest in science and engineering and present results of their projects to fellow students and expert STEM professionals.
The 2021 Maine State Science Fair will take place Saturday, April 3, 2021. The event will be held either online or partially in-person at The University of Maine. A final decision, based on current guidance from Maine CDC, will be made in January 2021.
Whether online or partially in-person, the Maine State Science Fair will present an interactive program where students can present and be rewarded for their creative STEM projects.
MSSF is open to all students from all public, private, parochial and home schools (Grades 9-12) throughout Maine and is organized by The Jackson Laboratory and the Reach Center, a program of the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance.
Student registration deadline is January 15, 2021.
Download results from the 2021 MSSF, including scholarships, category awards, special awards, and the Maine ISEF Finalists.
Your topic should be something that interests you and causes you to ask questions or stimulates your curiosity. You could use science or engineering to solve a problem in your school or community. Ask questions about the topic. Do you know the answers? Does someone else know the answers? The possibilities are endless!
What is already known about this topic? What questions are other people asking? What has yet to be discovered? Utilize background research resources in your school, library, online, or ask the experts.
Ask your essential question and form your hypothesis. Boil your ideas down to a single question or problem. Write a hypothesis or begin to sketch out a design solution.
Students should register their project on Scienteer, a web-based science fair project submission and review system. Your teacher will provide you a registration link that is specific to students at your school. If your teacher does not have the registration link, ask your teacher if they have completed the School Registration form.
Submit the required forms, online, using Scienteer. Scienteer works by asking students to answer a questionnaire about their project. Scienteer then determines which forms are needed based on the student’s answers. Students then fill in a series of web forms, which will automatically populate the official Maine State Science Fair forms.
If your project involves human participants, vertebrate animals, potentially hazardous biological agents or hazardous chemicals, activities, or devices, you must submit additional information and detailed plans regarding personal safety, justification and safe use of vertebrate animals, and protection of human subjects, among other topics.
If you haven't created your Scienteer account, ask your teacher for the school-specific registration link.
Projects NOT involving hazardous materials, hazardous biological agents, human subjects, or vertebrate animals may begin at any time — prior review by the Maine State Science Fair Scientific Review Committee is not required. However, if your project DOES involve hazardous materials, hazardous biological agents, human subjects, or vertebrate animals it is subject to prior review by the Scientific Review Committee. You will be electronically notified that you may proceed.
Begin experimentation. Record all data in your Data Notebook.
Once you have completed your experiment and recorded all data, submit the abstract form through Scienteer.
Create your display. See Display Rules for what is fair game and what is not allowed.
Travel to the Maine State Science Fair, set up your display and compete!
Email any questions to sciencefair@jax.org
Michael McKernan
Director, Maine State Science Fair
Program Director, STEM and Undergraduate Education
The Jackson Laboratory
207-288-6806
Stefany Burrell
STEM Education Specialist, The Reach Center
Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance
207-626-3230 ext 122
The Maine State Science Fair is a cooperative program of The Jackson Laboratory and The Reach Center, a program of the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance.
The 2021 Maine State Science Fair is made possible by the financial support of our generous sponsors.
Press Release
March 23, 2016
Bangor High School students take second, third places
Mary Butler, a sophomore at Bangor High School, is the grand prize winner of the 2013 Maine State Science Fair at The Jackson Laboratory.
Press Release
March 16, 2016
Maine State Science Fair takes place Saturday, March 19 at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
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