Two Ferris High School seniors, Anders Thogerson and Teddy Osborne, won a second-place category award in Earth and Environmental Science at Regeneron ISEF, the International Science and Engineering Fair.
Anders and Teddy received a $2,400 prize, which they’ll share, for their project, “The chemical and structural effects of simulated wildfire smoke on Triticum aestivum, Brassica oleracea var italica, and Oryza sativa: A multimodal microscopy and germination matrix analysis.”
“Wildfire smoke increasingly impacts agricultural land, specifically in the Pacific Northwest, yet the effects of seed exposure to smoke remain poorly understood. This study investigated the effects on plant growth triggered by seed exposure to wildfire smoke and explored potential mechanisms involved,” the students wrote in their project summary.
ISEF is the world’s largest pre-college STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) competition. A few 2026 ISEF stats:
1,727 students from 67 countries
1,383 projects
365 affiliated fairs
Earning a category award at ISEF is very prestigious. Only one other student from eastern Washington had previously earned a ISEF category award: Anna Armstrong, also a Ferris student, earned fourth place in Environmental Engineering in 2022.
Congratulations, Anders and Teddy!