Kentucky Junior Academy of Science

2020 Annual Meeting
Saturday April 18
This was our first ever virtual Junior Academy meeting.  We are still thankful to our host institution, Kentucky State University!

See 2020 award winners  at the bottom of this page.

Here's the Photo album from our virtual event

Registration is open to any Middle or High School student doing science research of their own in Kentucky. The registration fee is $5. The registration deadline was March 28.
Participants present their research as a 12 minute talk with slides and should be ready to answer questions for 3 minutes. If you have presented your research as a science fair poster, follow our guidelines to prepare a talk to share the same information you have on your poster.
Group photo!

2020 SCHEDULE for virtual program

8:30               Judges Orientation

9:00 am       Students log in 

9:30 am       Student Presentations  (session assignments are posted in the online program)

11:30            Lunch break.  HS finalists  who will be presenting in the afternoon will be posted over the lunch break. No middle school students present in the afternoon.

12:30             Finalists session

Election of officers in 2020 will be conducted via online voting

See 2020 award winners at the bottom of this page.

About the Kentucky Junior Academy of Science (KJAS)
The Junior Academy was begun  in the 1930s to foster an interest in science for high school students in Kentucky.  KJAS eventually expanded to include middle school students. The Junior Academy holds its scientific meeting each April.
Preliminary oral presentations (10 minutes) are conducted during the morning sessions.  The winners of the high school morning sessions make presentations in the afternoon finalist sessions.  Six overall winners are selected and these students are invited to represent Kentucky at the American Junior Academies of Sciences (AJAS) meeting held in February the following year.
The AJAS convention meets in conjugation with NAAS, the National Association of Academies of Science, and AAAS, the American Association for the Advancement of Science. As the worlds largest general science organization and publisher of Science, AAAS has more than 138,000 members and 275 affiliated societies.
The Kentucky Junior Academy of Science is open to ANY middle or high school science student in the state of Kentucky. It offers middle- and high- school student scientists an opportunity to present their research project in the format of a 10 minute presentation with slides. This presentation may be based on research done and presented in a poster format for a science fair.
Students wishing to participate must submit an abstract and a research paper up to 10 pages.
Students present in the following categories:
  • Behavioral & Social Science
  • Biological Topics
  • Botany & Zoology
  • Chemistry
  • Computer Science & Mathematics
  • Earth & Space Science
  • Engineering
  • Environmental Science
  • Microbiology
  • Physics
Presentations are evaluated based on this rubric:  Junior Academy Score sheet
Awards are given in each category, and three overall winning projects are chosen from Life Sciences and Physical Sciences.  The Kentucky Academy of Science provides financial support for these students to participate in the American Junior Academy of Science meeting the following February, as follows: Two first place winning projects receive up to $1000.00 per project; Two Second and two third place winning projects receive up to $750 per project.  Funding will also be available for up to 2 chaperones (no more than one per school), up to a limit of $500/person. (In the case of team projects the amount is to be shared among team members).
2019 Kentucky Junior Academy of Science winners are eligible to be Kentuckys delegates to the American Junior Academy of Science meeting in Phoenix in February 2020.

2020 Award Winners
Grand Prize Winners

Physical Sciences 1st:Varun Chandrashekhar
Life Sciences 1st:Romith Paily
Physical Sciences 2nd:Shreyas Kar
Life Sciences 2nd:Brian Schwartz
Physical Sciences 3rd: Shirlin Kingston
Life Sciences 3rd:Diksha Satish
All grand prize winners will receive financial support from KAS to attend the American Junior Academy of Science meeting in Seattle in February 2020, as Kentucky delegates.

Category Winners
High School Biological Topics 1
1st: Romith Paily
2nd: Aakash Vadhanam
3rd: Robi Bolli

High School Biological Topics 2
1st: Diksha Satish
2nd: Khushi Pola
3rd: Shaun Liu
High School Chemistry & Physics
1st: Shirlin Kingston
2nd: Viyathma Hapaurachi
3rd:Sushruth Muthuluru

High School Computer Science and Engineering 1
1st: Shreyas Kar
2nd: Sai Jeyaprakash
3rd: Smrithi Balasubramanian
High School Computer Science and Engineering 2
1st: Varun Chandrashekhar
2nd: Nimish Mathur
3rd: Amy Suo
High School Botany and Environmental Science
1st: Brian Schwartz
2nd: Kiera Fehr
3rd: Spandana Pavuluri
Middle School Group 1
1st: Claire Midland
2nd:Chloe Nunn
3rd: Thomas Galla
Middle School Group 2
1st: Mary Shae Ballantine
2nd: Shreyas Ghare
3rd: Shraman Kar


Kentucky Junior Academy of Science officers 2020
President -
Vice President -
Secretary -
Junior Academy director Melony Stambaugh
Co-chair Bruce Griffis, Kentucky State University
 
Kentucky Junior Academy of Science
More Information