ISEF: International Science and Engineering (Un)Fair

This post was written as an assignemnt for AP Lang in my junior year of high school. This is not to intended to nor does it endorse targeting any individual.

The Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) is the world’s premier science fair. Every year thousands of high-caliber student researchers from around the world gather in one city to present their findings for the chance at monetary prizes from the fair’s judges and sponsors and to attain the honor that comes with attending an event of such stature.

Just earlier this month, the 2024 ISEF competition was held in Los Angeles, California, hosting around 1,800 students. Those students spent the week presenting their research, defending their conclusions, and making connections at the Los Angeles Convention Center, all with the goal of winning a prize, a few of which include a monetary award as high as $75,000.

Krish Pai was one of the lucky few. After winning $5,000 by placing first in the environmental engineering division for finding microbes that consume plastic, he went on to win one of the two Regeneron Young Scientist Awards and another $50,000. But that’s where things began to go wrong for 17-year-old Pai.

Hardly a week after the results were announced, a 35-page open letter to the Society for Science, Regeneron, and ISEF affiliates was published online. Although it keeps Pai anonymous, the letter directly mentions his project and introduces damning evidence against his scientific conduct. It cites publicly available data from Pai’s project and develops a case of plagiarism and fraud. Perhaps the most concerning offense is a falsified image that is directly taken from a European university’s lab and was mirrored to pass as his own. The letter highlights how this image is captioned to fit Pai’s project and is otherwise entirely irrelevant to Pai’s project. Also supported by massive amounts of direct proof are more flaws, including inconsistencies in data, fabricated or falsified information, stolen details, image manipulation, scientific inaccuracy, and false claims of novelty.

The issue that must be addressed now has implications broader than Pai’s situation. Given the circumstances, if Pai were to get away with his misconduct it raises fundamental questions on the toleration of cheating in these science fairs. If dishonesty is rewarded the same as integrity, what does that say about the Society for Science’s policies? Given that the judges didn’t recognize the flaws of this project, going on to unintentionally endorse dishonest behavior would leave more of a stain on the reputation of a high-level science fair. The Society for Science must compel Pai to take accountability for his actions.

And as of May 24th, the Society for Science did exactly that, releasing a statement on Pai’s withdrawal of his project and forfeiture of any awards due to allegations following their investigation of him. Unfortunately, they are unable to award the Young Scientists Award to another student, since no runner-ups were identified.

So…what now? What are the punishments for a teenager cheating in a science fair? The internet has, perhaps in bad taste, taken some of its anger out upon Pai who is being cyberbullied and harassed. The authors of the original open letter discouraged such behavior, instead encouraging people to be understanding because “humans can make mistakes” and accountability is a better outcome than cancellation. Similar research integrity issues have been revealed at significantly higher levels than this, and often if not always lead to the resignation of the accused from their post. Pai’s actions and response so far are parallel to those higher-level controversies. And just like those scientists who made the same errors as him, whether or not he likes it, this incident will follow Pai around for the rest of his life. Fraud on this scale, unlike cheating on a test, could affect his college applications and even his employment a decade into the future.

Be that as it may, it is important to bear in mind that Pai was able to elude the several checks that are designed to keep students from engaging in misconduct. Pai was able to manipulate their research without being detected by his school, the qualifying fair, or the ISEF judges/organizers. The news of his wrongdoing should be a call for more uncompromising and extensive measures to prevent its recurrence. The scientific achievements of science fairs have no value if not for the guaranteed integrity of the fairs and the reliability of judges, organizers, and, most importantly, students.