The 68th Annual Orange County Science & Engineering Fair: March 8-18, 2023

Schedule

• Mon. August 1, 2022 at 8:00 am PST: Project Registration opens – Required for ALL projects! Register Here
• Wed. February 1, 2023 at 11:59 pm PST: Project Registration closes – Required for ALL projects. No exceptions.
• Sat. February 25, 2023 11:59 pm PST: Project Submittal Deadline– Presentation slide deck, Log book, Video Submittal deadline. No exceptions. Project submittal will be allowed only for students who have completed their project registration on or before the deadline Wed. February 1, 2023 at 11:59 pm PST.
• Wed. March 8, 2023: Project Judging for Board Awards (Zoom)
• Sun. March 19, 2022: Open House & Awards Assembly – Chapman University (In-Person) Awards ceremony will be from 3 – 5:30 PM in Chapman’s Memorial Hall

 •    We will be selecting high school and middle school winners for the California State Science fair as always!
 •    For High school students – there will be a research conference opportunity in May’23 at Chapman University. Please note – We are not sending OCSEF delegates to ISEF in 2023

 •    For middle school students – there will be an opportunity to be selected Thermo Fisher Junior Innovators Challenge (formerly known as the Broadcom MASTERS)

OCSEF 2023 will follow a two-step process:

Step 1: Project Registration
Step 2: Project Submittal

Projects registered on or before Feb 1, 2023 at 11:59 pm PST and approved by the OCSEF SRC team will be allowed to move to the project submittal step. OCSEF SRC team will review every project registered in our 2023 competition. They will send an approval or ask for more information based on the project description provided. Please note that the SRC must approve your project in order to be able to move to step 2 which is project submittal. 

OCSEF does not have an appeal process. All judges’ decisions are final. 

Important:

• DO NOT SUBMIT DUPLICATE PROJECTS
• Students who submit duplicate projects will be disqualified 
• OCSEF 2023 Applications and SurveyMonkey account name MUST BE in the STUDENT’S name. This includes emails as well. Students who do not comply with this instruction will be disqualified
• Submit your application with your personal email address (Do not use school email address). Some district firewalls prevent email delivery from non-school district organizations.

Use this link to begin the multi-step process: https://ocsef.smapply.io/prog/OCSEF_2023/

Project Registration

All projects require project registration. OCSEF is using SurveyMonkey Apply for our 2023 registration software. The first step,  Project Registration should be completed before the deadline, Fri. Feb. 1, 2023  by all Orange County students planning to enter a project in our 2023 Fair.

Registration: https://ocsef.smapply.io/prog/OCSEF_2023/

Projects involving (1) humane treatment of live vertebrate animals, (2) hazards control (i.e. projects involving microbiology, vertebrate animal tissue, hazardous chemicals and hazardous equipment), (3) human subjects and/or (4) regulated research (at a lab facility) must follow proper state/federal safety regulations and submit a proposal, along with appropriate Certification Form(s), for additional review prior to the start of any research. After completing Project Registration, if the student answers “yes” to any/all of the 4 questions posed, the registration system will move students to the Pre-Approval Questionnaire which will require completion of appropriate certification forms.

https://ocsef.smapply.io/prog/OCSEF_2023/

Please contact src.ocsef@gmail.com or src@ocsef.org for any additional questions.

Project Submittal

Once a student completes the Project Registration (with appropriate certification forms, if required), the SRC team will review projects and will move students to PROJECT SUBMITTAL for the Virtual OCSEF competition if all the documents and accurate project description are provided. https://ocsef.smapply.io/prog/OCSEF_2023/

• Project Registration opens Aug. 1, 2022  11:59 pm PST
• Project Registration closes Feb 1, 2023 11:59 pm PST
• Application Status can be found at  https://ocsef.smapply.io/prog/OCSEF_2023/

After project registration, OCSEF SRC will send a project approval to the student applicant. Once the project is approved, the following project components must be uploaded to the OCSEF for project submittal by Sat, Feb 25, 2023 11:59 pm PST: https://ocsef.smapply.io/prog/OCSEF_2023/

• Maximum 3 min video about your project
• Slide Deck using the OCSEF format.
• Pictures of key pages from the log book
• Student and parent consent

• Instructions for Slide Deck Presentation
• Use a pre-designed digital backboard Google Slide Deck Template presentation.  You need to comply with all criteria and formatting clearly outlined in the first two slides of the template. Once the slide deck presentation is completed, save the file as a PDF and upload it when you register your project online. The use of a standard presentation format assures equity in judging. 
• New SLIDE deck for Science and Engineering Projects:
  Science Slide Deck
  Engineering Slide Deck