The Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) Program is a national competition promoting original research and experimentation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) at the high school level and publicly recognizes students for outstanding achievement.

Each year, 4,500 students participate in 49 regional symposia to qualify for the national symposium. JSHS awards $408,000 in undergraduate tuition scholarships annually to regional and national student finalists.

JSHS is one of the nation’s longest-running STEM competitions. It is a collaborative effort between the research arm of the Department of Defense (DoD) and nationwide academic research institutions and is administered by the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA).

Please email Margaret Wilch, Director of Research, at margaret@sarsef.org with any questions or for more information.

How it Works

Students attend Arizona JSHS as presenters or observers. The symposium is a two-day conference, with qualifying students presenting their research to a panel of judges and symposium attendees in a 12-minute presentation. Judges ask clarifying questions and score the students on presentation skills as well as the quality of their research. The top students from the preliminary round then proceed to the final round of presentations.

Five students are selected at Arizona JSHS to attend National JSHS. Arizona’s first and second-place winners present their research at the National JSHS Symposium to compete for top prizes. Third through fifth-place winners present at the symposium’s poster session.