National STEM Festival 2026.

Missed it? Here's the recap.

Watch the 2026 recap

Four days. The nation's best young innovators.

Student innovators meet corporate leaders and industry experts — hands-on demos, executive roundtables, and all-ages community programming.

Four students. Four breakthroughs.

From cancer detection to space biology to clean water — these are the ideas you'll see in person at the Festival.

Colorado

Anirudh

Mirai: the water-powered sensor that could change the world.

Minnesota

Evan

A low-cost platform to fine-tune brain stimulation therapy.

Connecticut

Lula

A smarter way to fight pancreatic cancer.

Kansas

Savannah

What happens to the female body in space?

Hands-on experiences that bring STEM to life.

Try the gear, run the experiments, meet the people building what comes next.

Anatomage

The Digital Cadaver

A fully interactive 3D digital cadaver — explore every system of the human body at medical-grade accuracy. No scalpel required.

MilliporeSigma

The Curiosity Cube™

Step inside a traveling science lab to run hands-on synthetic biology experiments, led by working MilliporeSigma scientists.

Project MFG

The Future of Making, On Wheels

A traveling lab of the real machines shaping advanced manufacturing. Try the equipment and meet the careers behind it.

NASA

NASA STELLA in Your Palm

An open-source, low-cost handheld that puts NASA's remote-sensing satellite science — the tools powering space habitats — into your hand.

The people shaping the conversation.

The scientists, communicators, and innovators on stage and in the room.

Forrest Valkai

Biologist & Science Communicator

Megan Wilkerson, Ph.D.

Chief Scientist — Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE)

Dr. Owais Durrani

Emergency Medicine Physician & Medical Analyst

Dr. Tracy Fanara

Coastal Modeling Portfolio Manager, NOAA · Creator, "Inspector Planet"