2017 Winners
MEET THE 2017 WINNERS
The Samueli Foundation Prize:
$25,000
- Winner:
- Faris Irwin Wald, 15, Santa Fe, NM
- Project:
- The Correlation Between Solar Coronal Hole Occurrences and the Formation of Tropical and Extra-Tropical Cyclones
Faris Wald, 15, Santa Fe, NM, won the $25,000 Prize, for his overall mastery of science and engineering as well as for his project, which found a correlation between coronal holes and cyclones. Faris has always been curious about the strength of the sun’s power and its effect on our planet, which prompted him to analyze data related to sunspot and coronal hole events. The prize is a gift of Dr. Henry Samueli, co-founder of Broadcom Corporation and Chair of the Broadcom Foundation and his wife, Dr. Susan Samueli, President of the Samueli Foundation.

Marconi/Samueli Award for Innovation:
$10,000
- Winner:
- Meghna Behari, 14, Sewickley, PA
- Project:
- Aquabot: An Integrated Modular Platform for Testing and Monitoring Surface Water Quality
Meghna Behari, 14, Sewickley, PA, won the $10,000 Marconi/Samueli Award for Innovation, an honor made possible by Samueli’s generous donation of his 2012 Marconi Society Prize Award. Finding that current water testing methods are inefficient, Meghna developed the “Aquabot,” an automated testing device that can wirelessly collect and transmit data on water quality.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Award for Health Advancement
$20,000
- Winner:
- Emily Tianshi, 14, San Diego, CA
- Project:
- Microscopic Study of Torrey Pine Needles for Moisture Condensation
Emily Tianshi, 14, San Diego, CA, won the $20,000 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Award for Health Advancement, which recognizes the student whose work and performance shows the most promise in health-related fields. A Californian, Emily is concerned about the draught and its effects on our population as well as the environment. Emily’s project examines Torrey Pine needles – a tree that grows in an area of California that has been having a long draught, but still gets enough water to survive. Emily hopes that by learning more about the pine needles, future technology could mimic the Torrey Pines’ moisture-harvesting mechanism, helping people cope better with droughts.

Lemelson Award for Invention:
$7,500
- Winner:
- Helen Lyons, 14, New York, NY
- Project:
- Using Flotation Systems to Harness Wave Power Using Electromagnetism
Helen Lyons, 14, New York, NY, won the $7,500 Lemelson Award for Invention, awarded by The Lemelson Foundation to a young inventor creating promising solutions to real-world problems. Through her project, Helen investigated a renewable energy technology, specifically generating electricity using Faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction.

STEM WINNERS
Each of these finalists (first and second-place award winners) were selected for demonstrated skills and promise in each of the disciplines represented by STEM. First-place winners are awarded $3,500 and second-place winners receive $2,500, in each case to support the finalist’s choice of STEM summer camp experiences offered around the country. Each STEM winner also wins an iPad®.
Science Award


Technology Award


Engineering Award


Mathematics Award


Rising Stars Award

Team Award

The Broadcom MASTERS Team Award was awarded to the Green Team for demonstrating their ability to work together, solve problems through shared decision-making, communication and scientific and engineering collaboration. Each received an iPod nano®.
Green Team members: Andrew Chiang, Arjun Moorthy, Zoe Gotthold, Regan Williams, Mithra Karamchedu
Scott A. McGregor Leadership Award
The Scott A. McGregor Leadership Award is presented to the finalist who is elected by his or her peers to represent them as their Broadcom MASTERS Class Speaker.
Arjun Moorthy was presented with the Scott A. McGregor Leadership Award for his talent, enthusiasm, collegiality and generosity of a leader.
This award honors former Broadcom President and Chief Executive Officer and founding Chairman of the Broadcom Foundation Scott McGregor, who enthusiastically championed the Broadcom MASTERS and is passionate advocate for science fair competition and project-based learning as essential to development of 21st century skills.

2017 COMPETITION FINALISTS
Broadcom Foundation and Society for Science & the Public present the 30 middle school finalists who competed in the seventh annual Broadcom MASTERS® competition. The 15 girls and 15 boys were selected by a panel of distinguished scientists and engineers from 2,499 applicants from 37 states, Puerto Rico and the Department of Defense overseas. The finalists won an all-expense paid trip to Washington DC and competed for cash and experiential prizes.
2017 Finalist PDF
Winners were announced in October 2017.