In November 2023, Jack Shannon Rhetoric (6th Year) student was crowed the National Winner of SciFest, booking his place as the only Irish representative at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Los Angeles this month accompanied by his teacher, Ms Nolan, Scifest STEM Teacher of Excellence 2023. Jack’s project took first place in the Environmental Engineering Category as the best in the world, putting him alongside 22 other grand finalists. Furthermore he was awarded the Regeneron ISEF nomination to the EU Contest for Young Scientists, which takes place in Poland.
“This was a great opportunity to showcase my skills and creativity on a global stage and I am over the moon to have won two awards.” – Jack Shannon
What is ISEF?
Founded in 1950, ISEF is an annual science fair in the United States. Each May, students compete in the fair for scholarships, tuition grants, internships, scientific field trips and the grand prizes, including one $75,000 and two $50,000 college scholarships. All prizes together amount to over $8,000,000.
This year’s Irish delegation was made up of Rhetoric student Jack Shannon, his teacher Ms Nolan, the CEO and Founder of Scifest, Mrs Sheila Porter and her husband, Chief Financial Officer, Mr George Porter.
“Having worked so hard on my project, I’m delighted to have been able to meet with other students and see their projects. I’m so thankful to my family, friends, teachers and everyone at SciFest, who have supported me on this journey.”
Jack’s Winning Project
To put it in context, each year some 7 million students participate in different regional, district, and state ISEF affiliated fairs. Some of the winners of these affiliated fairs, which exist in over 75 countries, get the chance to take part at the Regeneron ISEF as a finalist, and each of them is awarded the Regeneron ISEF Finalist Medal. This year, Jack was one of 1699 global finalists selected to compete for the grand prizes. What an amazing achievement!
Jack’s area for study – Global Carbon Sinks – Remote Sensing for Monitoring Peatland Restoration “A novel automated approach for mapping the rehabilitation of carbon sinks using satellite- based data of Irish raised bogs – A Case Study.” The appeal of the project was its application to remote areas, to monitor land inaccessible to humans in both a practical and inexpensive way making it relevant to a world audience. He presented his project to esteemed judges from Universities such as CALTECH, MIT, Los Alamos Laboratories and acclaimed people in the field of STEM. His project drew a lot of attention from the judges and a concentrated approach by Jack paid its dividend.
What’s Next for Jack?
Jack’s project took first place in the Environmental Engineering Category as the best in the world, putting him alongside 22 other grand finalists. Furthermore he was awarded the Regeneron ISEF nomination to the EUCYS, which takes place in Poland in September to be accompanied again by Ms Nolan. We wish Jack all the very best in EUCYS and huge congratulations on your achievements to date!
