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Auburn University and the I-Stem Connectory at AU hosted the 2025 Alabama Science and Engineering Fair on Saturday, April 5. The event occurred at Auburn’s Academic Classroom and Laboratory Complex from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and was coordinated by the College of Sciences and Mathematics Outreach Office.
Various academic organizations and businesses were featured in a number of displays, information tables and interactive activities. ASEF junior and senior high school science competitions were also held at the event.
ASEF is an official yearly event held in Alabama as an affiliate fair of the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair. Regeneron ISEF is the largest international pre-college science competition and sees millions of students globally compete annually. ASEF serves as Alabama’s qualifying event and is hosted by Auburn University, welcoming elementary through high school students from the state.
At this year’s ASEF, winners of preliminary science fairs from four regions across Alabama competed in either the Senior Division (grades 9-12) or Junior Division (grades 6-8). Judging for both divisions took place in multiple rounds before the STEM Expo, with projects opened to public viewing afterward. Winners of the rounds were announced later in the day at the close of the event.
From 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., the atrium of the ACLC hosted the 2025 STEM Expo at ASEF. At this event, numerous organizations from academia, industry and business were present with displays, information tables and interactive activities. The event serves to highlight the wide varieties of STEM programs and careers present in Alabama to students in grade school. Attendees also had the opportunity to hear numerous individuals working in the STEM field speak about their career fields on the first floor of the ACLC.
Displays at the expo included interactive events for grade students, such as optic and Van de Gaaff demonstrations, pipette art, a plasma ball and tesla coil stand, paper making and flower exploration with microscopes. Multiple tables from Auburn University and the University of Alabama were available for students to learn about potential collegiate programs and opportunities. Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama were also present at the event, as was the Auburn Museum of Natural History.
A number of companies were also present, and held various demonstrations for students. Companies present included Quanthub, a data literacy platform, and Aptar CSP Technologies, a material technology company.
Madison Pipkin, a project manager at Aptar CSP, spoke about the company and their polymer display at the expo.
“We are a material science company headquartered in Alabama, and I like to say that we put chemistry in polymers,” Pipkin said. “They absorb moisture, oxygen and any other volatile organic compounds. We incorporate chemistry into polymers, which help protect our customer’s products[…] We incorporate these into different products, like nasal sprays and diabetes test strips. That’s kind of who we are, in a nutshell!”
Also at the event were members of Auburn’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Dianna Forbes, a chemistry and biochemistry professor and researcher, spoke about her involvement at the event.
“This is my second time doing the expo, and they’re always really great. It’s wonderful seeing the turnout this year, students talking to more students and seeing who’s interested in chemistry,” Forbes said. “From the STEM expo, it ranges a lot from what you can get out of it. There’s tables with really cool demos where you can get interactions with hands on science and engineering; we’re giving out information, talking about what we do and what student’s futures can be in chemistry. Hopefully, students will get some information and some fun out of it.”
After the expo concluded, the Auburn Science Film Festival was held on the lower floor of the ACLC for the final event of ASEF. Here, students from grade school and collegiate levels were encouraged to submit short films highlighting science-related topics prior to the event. At the festival, selected films were shown, including educational films, research videos, and experiment explanations. Winning films from the festival would receive cash prizes and certificates.
ASEF competition judging results were announced at the close of the event, following the festival. Winning projects can be found here.
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