LWSD students perform well at state science and engineering fair, some move onto international competition

Several Lake Washington School District (LWSD) students came home with an award after the 2026 Washington State Science and Engineering Fair (WSSEF). The annual fair took place March 27-28 in Bremerton, Washington. The WSSEF works to create enthusiasm in science and technology while encouraging project-based inquiry. The WSSEF is also a chance for students to compete for college scholarships, awards and other exciting prizes.

Some participants from Nikola Tesla STEM High School, Lake Washington High School and Redmond High School had an especially successful weekend at the WSSEF. Six LWSD students from those three schools scored well enough to advance to the Regeneron International Science & Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Phoenix, Arizona, May 9-15.

The following students qualified for the ISEF. This is in addition to three other LWSD students who qualified for the ISEF during the regional competition in Mountlake Terrace on March 7. Washington state is sending 25 students to the ISEF, nine of those students are from LWSD schools. The qualifying students’ name, school, grade level, any other awards they won as well as their project name are listed below:

• Aashrith Pisupati, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, Sigma Xi Award, Olympic College - Excellence in STEM Awards, Ohio Wesleyen University - Outstanding Achievement in Science Scholarship, 1st Place (SPINO: A Physics-Informed Fourier Neural Operator Surrogate for Accelerating Schrödinger–Poisson Simulation of Nanoscale Gate-All-Around Transistors)
• Samanyu Ezhilarasan, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place (A Multi-Stage Computational Pipeline for Designing Therapeutic Peptides Against Alpha-Synuclein Aggregation)
• Omkar Phadnis, Redmond High School, Junior, Medicine and Health Award in Grades 9 - 12, 1st Place (Unified Transcriptomic Melanoma Reference Map Reveals Predictive Molecular Signatures for Patient Prognosis)
• Vedika Devarajan, Redmond High School, Freshman, 1st Place (BananaBaby: Musa spp. Anisotropic and Parallel Venation Biomimetic Neonatal Incubator Liner Preventing Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) in Developing Countries)
• Rishi Srinivasan, Redmond High School, Junior, Dharmon Ghanbari Excellence in the Chemical Sciences Award, Ohio Wesleyen University - Outstanding Achievement in Science Scholarship, 1st Place (SolarEye: Novel Solar Energy Harvesting Retinal Molecule Derivative and Rhodopsin Inspired Protein Scaffold Biomaterial Designed by Utilizing a Large-Language-Model and Computational Tools)
• Lahari Nellore, Lake Washington High School, Junior, 1st Place (Design of Host-Mimic Peptides to Disrupt Bacterial Quorum Sensing in Lung Infections)

Below is a list of all the students who finished in the top three for their project at the competition (the information provided to LWSD to create this list was incomplete and did not include project names or the category they competed in):

• Dhanvanth Sundhar, Rush Elementary First Grade, 2nd Place
• Aarya Penagamuri, Blackwell Elementary, First Grade, 2nd Place
• Dharsha Reddy Kamasani, Blackwell Elementary, First Grade, 2nd Place
• Sasha Karthik, Carson Elementary, Second Grade, 2nd Place
• Naksh Baldota, Carson Elementary, First Grade, Central Valley Garden Club, 3rd Place
• Guruguhan Ramachandran, McAuliffe Elementary, Fourth Grade, Margaret I Lugg Young Explorer Award, 1st Place
• Aahish Jain, McAuliffe Elementary, Sixth Grade, Margaret I Lugg Young Explorer Award, 1st Place
• Reyansh Sharma, McAuliffe Elementary, Fourth Grade, 1st Place
• Parnika Singal, McAuliffe Elementary, Fifth Grade, 1st Place
• Poorvika Singal, McAuliffe Elementary, Fifth Grade, 1st Place
• Aarav Shah, Eastlake High School, Freshman, 1st Place
• Akshara Srinivas, Eastlake High School, Sophomore, Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association PNW Chapter Excellence in Technology Award, Office of Naval Research - Naval Science Award Senior Division, GENIUS Olympiad - International Project Fair on the Environment, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Scholarship, Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture at Washington State University Scholarship, 1st Place
• Arnav Vishwakarma, Eastlake High School, Junior, Olympic College - Excellence in STEM Awards, 1st Place
• Krishna Arun, Eastlake High School, Junior, Yale Science and Engineering Association Award for Most Outstanding Exhibit in the Physical Sciences, 1st Place
• Devarsh Aswin, Eastlake High School, Sophomore, 1st Place 
• Katelyn Denq, Eastlake High School, Freshman, 1st Place
• Aaratrika Paul, Eastlake High School, Freshman, 1st Place
• Anika Prakash, Eastlake High School, Sophomore, Plant Sciences Achievement Award Grades 9 - 12, Washington State University - College of Arts and Sciences Scholarship, 1st Place
• Sanjay Srinivasan, Eastlake High School, Sophomore, Ohio Wesleyen University - Outstanding Achievement in Science Scholarship, 1st Place
• Saanvi Agarwal, Eastlake High School, Sophomore, 1st Place
• Liam Gershony, Eastlake High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Sarvani Sriramula, Eastlake High School, Freshman, 1st Place
• Rishikesh Alladi, Eastlake High School, Sophomore, 1st Place
• Savitur Ramasubramanian, Eastlake High School, Sophomore, 1st Place
• Srishti Boral, Eastlake High School, Senior, 1st Place
• Akshara Guddeti, Eastlake High School, Sophomore, Sigma Xi Award, 1st Place
• Keshav Mohan, Eastlake High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Kavya Sharma, Eastlake High School, Sophomore, Bonneville Power Administration Achievement Award, 1st Place
• Aaryan Sood, Eastlake High School, Junior, US Metric Association Award, 1st Place
• Advait Wahi, Eastlake High School, Freshman, 1st Place
• Nicolette Yang, Eastlake High School, Sophomore, 1st Place
• Akhil Yenamandra, Eastlake High School, Freshman, 1st Place
• Shashank Narayanan, Eastlake High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Nidhi Dodiya, Eastlake High School, Junior, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics PNW Award of Excellence, 2nd Place
• Neel Tiku, Eastlake High School, Sophomore, 2nd Place
• Aahi Agrawal, Eastlake High School, Sophomore, 2nd Place
• Panache Dhall, Eastlake High School, Sophomore, 2nd Place
• Rasika Iyer, Eastlake High School, Freshman, 2nd Place
• Adit Rohit, Eastlake High School, Freshman, 2nd Place
• Parth Shakya, Eastlake High School, Sophomore, 2nd Place
• Kashvi Takrani, Eastlake High School, Freshman, 2nd Place
• Eric Xue, Eastlake High School, Freshman, 2nd Place
• Ananya Akurathi, Eastlake High School, Junior, 3rd Place
• Aadya Garg, Eastlake High School, Sophomore, 1st Place
• Ameer Mohammad, Eastlake High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Anushka Dasgupta, Eastlake High School, Sophomore, 2nd Place
• Quang Doan, Eastlake High School, Senior, 2nd Place
• Antara Jagadish, Eastlake High School, Freshman, 2nd Place
• Anieska Raula, Eastlake High School, Sophomore, 2nd Place
• Diya Karthik, Evergreen Middle, Eighth Grade, Lemelson Foundation Early Inventor Prize Grade 6 - 8,Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge (JIC), 1st Place
• Ryan Lee, Evergreen Middle, Eighth Grade, 1st Place
• Xiao Mao, Evergreen Middle, Eighth Grade, 1st Place
• Karandeep Rathee, Evergreen Middle, Sixth Grade, 1st Place
• Varchasv Gupta, Evergreen Middle, Seventh Grade, 2nd Place
• Ansh Pandey, Evergreen Middle, Seventh Grade, 2nd Place
• Poojitha Pendyala, Evergreen Middle, Seventh Grade, 2nd Place
• Rithesh Rajagopal, Evergreen Middle, Eighth Grade, 2nd Place
• Saanvi Samal, Helen Keller Elementary, Fourth Grade, Margaret I Lugg Young Explorer Award, Future Scientist and Engineer Encouragement Award, 2nd Place
• Abha Acharya, Helen Keller Elementary, Fourth Grade, Margaret I Lugg Young Explorer Award, Future Scientist and Engineer Encouragement Award, 2nd Place
• Manveer Singh, Inglewood Middle, Seventh Grade, Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge (JIC), 1st Place
• Tanishqa Erattu, Inglewood Middle, Seventh Grade, 1st Place
• Abhimanyu Arvindh, Inglewood Middle, Seventh Grade, 2nd Place
• Nishka Baldota, Inglewood Middle, Seventh Grade, 3rd Place
• Rama Panchapagesan, International Community School, Seventh Grade, Central Valley Garden Club, 1st Place
• Bhavya Kottapalli, Juanita High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Maria Tarapova, Kamiakin Middle, Eighth Grade, Graphic Design Award in Grades 1 - 8, Animal Sciences Research Award for Grade 7-8, Conservation College and Wolf Camp Award, 1st Place
• Arnav Acharya, Kamiakin Middle, Eighth Grade, 2nd Place
• Sreehari Thachoth, Lake Washington High School, Sophomore, 1st Place
• Avanita Tanawade, Lake Washington High School, Sophomore, 3rd Place
• Riddhima Das, Lake Washington High School, Sophomore, Olympic College - Excellence in STEM Awards, Ohio Wesleyen University - Outstanding Achievement in Science Scholarship, 1st Place
• Isabella Guan, Lake Washington High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Riana Sujit, Lake Washington High School, Junior, American Psychological Association - Achievement in Research in Psychological Science Award, 1st Place
• Zara Tareen, Lake Washington High School, Junior, 2nd Place
• Varshith Avula, Lake Washington High School, Freshman, 2nd Place
• Shubhansh Sharma, Lake Washington High School, Freshman, 2nd Place
• Pratham Balaji, Lake Washington High School, Junior, 2nd Place
• Neha Dhariwal, Lake Washington High School, Sophomore, 3rd Place
• Nikhil Thakre, Laura Ingalls Wilder Elementary (Woodinville), Fifth Grade, 2nd Place
• Shivaansh Srinivasan, Margaret Mead Elementary, Third Grade, 2nd Place
• Krishna Kumar-Vemulapalli, Mark Twain Elementary, Fifth Grade, 1st Place
• Savithri Kumar-Vemulapalli, Mark Twain Elementary, Third Grade, 1st Place
• Navneeth Badhri, Redmond High School, Sophomore, 1st Place
• Mahee Chandrasekhar, Redmond High School, Junior, Ohio Wesleyen University - Outstanding Achievement in Science Scholarship, 1st Place
• Mihika Darbha, Redmond High School, Freshman, 1st Place
• Svara Naik, Redmond High School, Freshman, Ohio Wesleyen University - Outstanding Achievement in Science Scholarship, 1st Place
• Avyank Niraj, Redmond High School, Junior, Ohio Wesleyen University - Outstanding Achievement in Science Scholarship, 1st Place
• Lavanya Sharma, Redmond High School, Junior, Animal Sciences Research Award, 1st Place
• Riddhi Tikoo, Redmond High School, Sophomore, 1st Place
• Advait Badrish, Redmond High School, Sophomore, 1st Place
• Anika Iyer, Redmond High School, Junior, Universal Quality Control Award for Excellence in Physical Sciences and Engineering, 1st Place
• Dhruv Mehrotra, Redmond High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Hannah Mulat, Redmond High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Adithya Parthasarathy, Redmond High School, Freshman, Museum of Flight 'Sights of Flight' Award, 1st Place
• Arushi Prashil, Redmond High School, Sophomore, 1st Place
• Anshul Raghav, Redmond High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Niharika Vutukuri, Redmond High School, Freshman, 1st Place
• Milla Kostova, Redmond High School, Sophomore, 2nd Place
• Aarya Kulkarni, Redmond High School, Sophomore, 2nd Place
• Saket Lingamallu, Redmond High School, Junior, 2nd Place
• Sujay Pari, Redmond High School, Junior, 2nd Place
• Akshith Sama, Redmond High School, Junior, 2nd Place
• William Ma, Redmond High School, Junior, 2nd Place
• Jaehoon Bae, Redmond High School, Junior, 2nd Place
• Shreya Thakre, Redmond High School, Freshman, 2nd Place
• Noor Afzal, Redmond High School, Junior, 2nd Place
• Sharav Dhar, Redmond High School, Junior, Museum of Flight 'Sights of Flight' Award, Navy League of the US Bremerton-Olympic Peninsula Council STEM Award Senior Division, 3rd Place
• Katie Phan, Redmond High School, Junior, 3rd Place
• Siddhanth Senthilkumar, Redmond High School, Freshman, 3rd Place
• Sarah Samanta, Redmond High School, Junior, 3rd Place
• Riya Kulkarni, Redmond High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Inesh Mamidipaka, Redmond High School, Sophomore, 1st Place
• Akhil Pasumarthy, Redmond High School, Junior, Navy League of the US Bremerton-Olympic Peninsula Council STEM Award Senior Division, 1st Place
• Diya Ramkumar, Redmond High School, Freshman, 1st Place
• Advay Samnerkar, Redmond High School, Sophomore, 1st Place
• Elijah Diwakar, Redmond High School, Freshman, 2nd Place
• Arnav Jha, Redmond High School, Junior, 2nd Place
• Prerna Juturi, Redmond High School, Sophomore, 2nd Place
• Arnav Agarwal, Redmond Middle School, Sixth Grade, Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge (JIC), 1st Place
• Kyra Sharma, Redmond Middle School, Seventh Grade, Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge (JIC), 1st Place
• Adithya Vikram, Redmond Middle School, Eighth Grade, Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge (JIC), 1st Place
• Akshara Kulkarni, Redmond Middle School, Sixth Grade, 1st Place
• Deepika Venkatraman, Redmond Middle School, Sixth Grade, 1st Place
• Aditya Karri, Redmond Middle School, Seventh Grade, 2nd Place
• Darsh Mehrotra, Redmond Middle School, Eighth Grade, 2nd Place
• Rehaan Dhrolia, Redmond Middle School, Seventh Grade, 3rd Place
• Shaurya Patil, Rosa Parks Elementary, First Grade, 1st Place
• Ishaan Arun, Rosa Parks Elementary, First Grade, 1st Place
• Meera Kamalanath, Rose Hill Middle, Sixth Grade, Robert M. Lugg M.D. - Exceptional Merit Award for Medicine and Health Sciences, Citadel Securities Innovation Award - Grades 6 - 8, Proficiency in Mathematics Award for Grades 1 - 8, Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge (JIC), 1st Place
• Guru Harshith Reddy Avula, Rose Hill Middle, Sixth Grade, 1st Place
• Zakary Tran, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, Ohio Wesleyen University - Outstanding Achievement in Science Scholarship, 1st Place
• Diya Balaji, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Raehan Baliga, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Tiffany Chi, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Arav Dhawan, Tesla STEM High School, Freshman, GENIUS Olympiad - International Project Fair on the Environment, 1st Place
• Ananiah Gashaw, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, St. Michaels Medical Center Biomedical Engineering and Health Science Award, 1st Place
• Sia Gupta, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Tanisha Karthikeyan, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Gregory Lee, Tesla STEM High School, Sophomore, 1st Place
• Shivank Mohanty, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, Office of Naval Research - Naval Science Award Senior Division, 1st Place
• Ananya Narayanan, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Anastasiya Netchaeva, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, American Psychological Association - Achievement in Research in Psychological Science Award, 1st Place
• Lauren Ouyang, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Saathvik Voora, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, Ohio Wesleyen University - Outstanding Achievement in Science Scholarship, 1st Place
• Adhrith Vutukuri, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, Ohio Wesleyen University - Outstanding Achievement in Science Scholarship, 1st Place
• Sidharth Bildikar, Tesla STEM High School, Freshman, 1st Place
• Raghav Iyer, Tesla STEM High School, Sophomore, 1st Place
• Anvie Sana, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, Ohio Wesleyen University - Outstanding Achievement in Science Scholarship, 1st Place
• Shreya Santhosh, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, Regeneron Biomedical Science Award, Ohio Wesleyen University - Outstanding Achievement in Science Scholarship, 1st Place
• Anisha Upasani, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, Medicine and Health Award in Grades 9 - 12, Henrietta Lacks Award, 1st Place
• Khushie Verma, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture at Washington State University Scholarship, 1st Place
• Max Xie, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, NOAA - Taking the Pulse of the Planet Award, 1st Place
• Richa Badi, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, Society for in Vitro Biology Outstanding Achievement for Ability and Creativity Award, 1st Place
• Aarush Kasliwal, Tesla STEM High School, Sophomore, 1st Place
• Arthur Chen, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place
• JD Kim, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Leo Yang, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Novyanna Bajracharya, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Jai Bindlish, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Nethaniah Gashaw, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Gaurav Godse, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, American Chemical Society - Puget Sound Section Award, 1st Place
• Shaurya Gupta, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Lynn Ha, Tesla STEM High School, Sophomore, 1st Place
• Joliz Karukayil, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, Norman E. Borlaug Excellence in Sustainability Award, GENIUS Olympiad - International Project Fair on the Environment, 1st Place
• Saketh Madiraju, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Sachintan Mohanty, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Akchara Mukunthu Deepak Babu, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Suvan Pal, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, US Metric Association Award, US Air Force Award, 1st Place
• Anindita Purkayastha, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, Armed Forces Communications And Electronics Association PNW Chapter Excellence in Technology Award, 1st Place
• Arka Samatham, Tesla STEM High School, Sophomore, 1st Place
• Arush Yadavilli, Tesla STEM High School, Sophomore, 1st Place
• Pragyan Singh, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, Medicine and Health Award in Grades 9 - 12, St. Michaels Medical Center Biomedical Engineering and Health Science Award, 1st Place
• Rohan Viswanathan, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Yilin Zhang, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Vivaan Bansal, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Jeswanth Sri Sai Battula, Tesla STEM High School, Sophomore, 1st Place
• Chinmayi Buddhavarapu, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Varnika Elenthendral, Tesla STEM High School, Sophomore, 1st Place
• Zixuan Gao, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Brian Lee, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, Ricoh Sustainable Development Award, 1st Place
• Bryan Li, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Neel Nevrekar, Tesla STEM High School, Sophomore, 1st Place
• Bhargav Narayan, Tesla STEM High School, Sophomore, 1st Place
• Ryan Park, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Shreyom Paul, Tesla STEM High School, Freshman, 1st Place
• Karthik Nanduri, Tesla STEM High School, Sophomore, 1st Place
• Sid Sreekanth, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Michael Wang, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Arush Yadlapati, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Daniel Zhou, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 1st Place
• Andrew Ma, Tesla STEM High School, Sophomore, 1st Place
• Sethmi Ekanayake, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, Museum of Flight 'Sights of Flight' Award, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics PNW Award of Excellence, Navy League of the US Bremerton-Olympic Peninsula Council STEM Award Senior Division, Office of Naval Research - Naval Science Award Senior Division, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Scholarship, 1st Place
• Anoop Gupta, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 2nd Place
• Manas Mishra, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 2nd Place
• Hem Akarapu, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 2nd Place
• Vainavi Balija, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 2nd Place
• Mahathi Barrenkala, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 2nd Place
• Malhar Chaporkar, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 2nd Place
• Vihaan Fadnavis, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 2nd Place
• Anoushka Gharat, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 2nd Place
• Hannah Ha, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 2nd Place
• Preetika Kaur, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 2nd Place
• Diya Kowshik, Tesla STEM High School, Sophomore, 2nd Place
• Himay Marada, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 2nd Place
• Priyadarshini Mishra, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, US Metric Association Award, 2nd Place
• Ziyi Chen, Tesla STEM High School, Sophomore, 2nd Place
• Sahana Kaliyaperumal, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 2nd Place
• Shreya Raghavan, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, American Psychological Association - Achievement in Research in Psychological Science Award, 2nd Place
• Nethra Rajesh, Tesla STEM High School, Senior, 2nd Place
• George Sun, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 2nd Place
• Hadi Ali, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, 3rd Place
• Ananya Karthik Rabindranath, Tesla STEM High School, Sophomore, 3rd Place
• Helankrutha Murugesh, Tesla STEM High School, Sophomore, 3rd Place
• Daisha Janjani, Tesla STEM High School, Junior, Graphic Design Award Grades 9 - 12, 1st Place
• Atharv Naik, Timberline Middle, Eighth Grade, 1st Place
• Swaraj Bhagat, Timberline Middle, Eighth Grade, 1st Place
• Shruti Rajaraman, Timberline Middle, Eighth Grade, Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge (JIC), 1st Place
• Prithika Mohanty, Timberline Middle, Eighth Grade, Pacific Science Spirit of Discovery Award, 1st Place
• Shreya Dhar, Timberline Middle, Eighth Grade, Pacific Science Spirit of Discovery Award, 1st Place
• Ishita Jain, Timberline Middle, Seventh Grade, Future Scientist and Engineer Encouragement Award, 2nd Place
• Vihaan Kocherlakota, Timberline Middle, Eighth Grade, 2nd Place
• Satvik Nagoti, Timberline Middle, Eighth Grade, 2nd Place
• Rishik Molleti, Timberline Middle, Seventh Grade, 2nd Place
• Aditi Sriram, Timberline Middle, Eighth Grade, 2nd Place