Adult/Parent/Teacher Registration

Adult registration deadline is important! We cannot accept a student’s registration unless s/he is listed on an adult sponsor’s form. Be sure to print and use the Adult Checklist so your student(s) will complete the process correctly and on time.

Welcome to the Dr. Nelson Ying Tri Region Science and Engineering Fair (Ying TRSEF), essential shepherds of students through the science fair process!

FYI:

** You can find Housing information at this LINK.

** Adult chaperone must have medical authorizations for EVERY STUDENT whom they have brought. These forms are available for free from any pharmacy in your area.

** Science Fest Schedule DOC

** OCC provides this list of Nearby Communities of Faith PDF

** OCC Directions and Map LINK

You do not conduct the experiments or do any part of the projects or displays yourself ever, unless safety requires! You are guides and supporters – signers of paperwork and checkers of safety issues, drivers, sometimes photographers, proofreaders at most.

1. Verify student eligibility and status.

TRSEF students must be in grades 5-12, and go to school in one of these counties:

  • Allegany
  • Broome
  • Cattaraugus
  • Chautauqua
  • Chemung
  • Clinton
  • Delaware
  • Erie
  • Essex
  • Franklin
  • Genesee
  • Herkimer
  • Jefferson
  • Lewis
  • Niagara
  • Orange
  • Orleans
  • Otsego
  • Rockland
  • Schuyler
  • Steuben
  • St. Lawrence
  • Sullivan
  • Tioga
  • Tompkins
  • Ulster
  • Wyoming

Students may participate as:

  • Poster Presenters: Produce poster about science, technology, engineering or mathematics (no experiment or engineering design).
  • Research Students: Conduct an experiment or complete an engineering project (Junior Level grades 5-8; Senior Level grades 9-12). All Research Students must complete and get signatures on safety-related paperwork. In order to make certain that students have followed appropriate (safe and ethical) procedures, a number of forms must be completed at the Senior Level. Any projects that require pre-approval and do not have it will not be allowed to enter the Ying TRSEF. Double checking students’ paperwork is one of the Sponsor’s most important roles.
  • Ying Scholar Competitors Using their Senior Level Research projects, high school students can also compete for scholarships in the Ying Scholar Competition. The STUDENT prepares the submission; you review and certify it.

2. Adult sponsors must register before their students can!

Once you review this page, you must register, so you can list the student(s) you’re sponsoring. Until the TRSEF has an adult’s authorization, we cannot accept the registration of a minor.

3. Double check project safety and required paperwork.

Review the Student Registration page in detail!

Poster Presenters (Junior and Senior Levels)

  1. Online adult sponsor’s registration (link below)
  2. Online student registration
  3. JuniorAndPoster_Adult Checklist2010 with necessary adult signatures
  4. Registration Fee: $15/student (check made out to “Ying TRSEF”)

Junior Level Project Safety & Paperwork

  1. Online adult sponsor’s registration (link below)
  2. Online student registration
  3. JuniorAndPoster_Adult Checklist2010 to identify potential safety issues for students and experimental subjects
  4. Registration Fee: $15/student (check made out to “Ying TRSEF”)

If a Junior Level project involves any of the following, a Scientific Review Committee or Institutional Review Board must approve the Project Plan before any experiment begins. Check the SRC Info page because you can create one at your school or in your organization quite readily. Additional forms are required if the experiment involves:

  • Human subjects, including surveys
  • Non-human vertebrate animals
  • Pathogens, controlled substances, recombinant DNA
  • Human and/or animal tissue
  • Hazardous substances

If the issues listed above are relevant, these additional forms will be required: Project Plan (experimental procedure), Surveys (if applicable), Written parental permission of any human subjects under age 18.

Senior Level Project Safety & Paperwork

  1. Online adult sponsor’s registration (link below)
  2. Online student registration
  3. SRC paperwork as required by International Science and Engineering Fair
  4. Senior Level Waiver and Media Release DOC
  5. Registration Fee: $15/student (check made out to “TRSEF”)

Student projects must have a research plan and a set of procedures before they begin experimenting. Professionals around the world rely upon such paperwork to guarantee ethical research standards, and researcher and subject safety in laboratories and industry sites. Our Senior Level students are preparing for the real world, so here it is. For the student, this is personally important because any projects that require pre-approval and do not have it from an SRC or IRB at some level will not be allowed to enter the TRSEF.

Send students to the international fair’s online rules wizard which walks them through selecting only the appropriate forms. Complete directions are there. Your job is to make sure the correct required paperwork is completed and sign your name. Students submit completed forms to the school’s Scientific Review Committee (SRC), or the sponsoring company’s or college’s Institutional Review Board (IRB). Don’t have those? Then they will have to submit directly to the TRSEF SRC/IRB by January 11. We prefer that completed paperwork be emailed to the TRSEF (simply scanned as a high-resolution jpg), but if that is impossible, we can take faxes at (315) 435-3613, Attn: B. Alcock.

Overview

All Senior Level Research Students must submit the following ISEF forms. (Remember, send them to the Wizard):

  • Registration Form
  • Form 1: Checklist for Adult Sponsor/Safety Assessment Form
  • Form 1A: Student Checklist/Research Plan
  • Form 1B: Approval Form

Additional Paperwork requiring advance approval for some Senior Level Students:

  • Human Subjects-Form 2 or Form 4
  • Non-human Vertebrate Animals-Form 2 PLUS Form 5A or Form 5B
  • Pathogens, Controlled Substances, Recombinant DNA-Forms 2, 3, 6A
  • Human and/or Animal Tissue-Form 2 PLUS Form 6A or Form 6B
  • Work in an Industrial/Institutional Setting-Form 1C
  • Continuing Project-Form 7

As mentioned earlier, each participating high school or sponsoring organization is encouraged to establish its own Scientific Review Committee (SRC) if it is sending students to the TRSEF from its own fair or research course. Forming an SRC is not complicated – click on the link for easy guidelines. Once a student has SRC or IRB approval, any changes to the research plan require approval as well. Do this immediately, not after the fact. Either the school SRC or IRB sponsoring institution must sign off on the forms before experimentation can begin. Again, if those are not available, you submit to the TRSEF SRC by January 11th and wait until notified of project approval. Contact the TRSEF immediately concerning already completed projects. Sponsors, please feel free to contact us if you have questions concerning this process.

Good news: Certain areas of human research are exempt from review. Research of subjects under age 18 does not require additional paperwork for the following:

  • Research is conducted in established settings 1. involving normal education practices and 2. research on individual or group behavior where the researcher does not manipulate behavior and the research does not involve stress to the subjects.
  • Research involving observation of legal public behavior.
  • Research involving the collection or study of existing publicly available data.

Project Categories

All projects must fall into one of the ISEF categories. Review with your student(s) what category each project is in before they complete the registration form.

Tips for Teachers & Parents

You do play an important role in the science fair process. As you guide and support a student’s project, you show that scientific experiments and problem solving are an important part of everyday life. While you may assist your young scientist or engineer, remember that a student’s project is his/her own and the student should do as much of the work as possible. In the end, a project should be something of which the student is proud for doing him or herself!

One last reminder: In preparing a science fair project, students go through several steps. You may help your students to plan ahead and set deadlines for each step, but you are not the drill sergeant with constant reminders and nags. Feel free to walk your student through the process of making projects more manageable and less frustrating by breaking the process down into smaller steps.

Invitation to accompanying adults If you would like to take one of the NASA Professional Development Workshops for educators and professional engineers, volunteer to help our Local Committee any time Saturday or Sunday, or serve as a judge, please know how welcome you would be!

All set? Register now!