The world''s largest pre-college science competition closed in Phoenix this month with a teenager from Sapporo, Japan, taking home its biggest prize. Hikaru Kuribayashi, 17, won the $100,000 George D. Yancopoulos Innovator Award at the 2026 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) for a simulation program that helps scientists understand the complex folding behaviors of structures like origami and mechanical linkages.
Held at the Phoenix Convention Center from May 9 to May 15, Regeneron ISEF 2026 brought together more than 1,700 young scientists, engineers, and inventors from more than 67 countries, regions, and territories. Together, they competed for over $7 million in awards — the kind of prize pool that would turn heads in adult research, never mind a high school fair.
Kuribayashi''s winning project tackles a problem that sounds simple but is surprisingly deep: how do flat materials end up as three-dimensional shapes? Origami artists have been folding paper into birds, flowers, and intricate sculptures for centuries, but mathematicians and engineers have struggled to fully describe the underlying rules. The same problem applies to mechanical linkages — interconnected rigid bars used in everything from car suspension systems to deployable space structures.
His simulation uses a technique called Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling to explore the vast number of ways a structure can fold. By generating and testing many configurations, the program can identify stable folded states and the paths between them. The work has applications in robotics, materials science, and even biology, where folding plays a central role in how proteins acquire their function. The judges saw enough promise in the approach to award him the fair''s highest honor.
Two other students received Regeneron Young Scientist Awards of $75,000 each. Lakshmi Agrawal, 18, of Bellevue, Washington, was honored for inventing a nanocellulose hydrosponge that removes 6PPD-quinone — a pollutant linked to massive die-offs of coho salmon — from waterways. Nikola Veselinov, 17, of Sofia, Bulgaria, won for proving a new theorem about when certain equations can or cannot be solved using elementary mathematical functions.
"These students never fail to inspire me," said Maya Ajmera, President and CEO of Society for Science, which organizes the fair. "They come from different backgrounds, different disciplines, and different corners of the world, and they are taking on some of our most urgent challenges with rigor, imagination, and determination."
Regeneron ISEF has long been a launching pad for scientific talent. The competition''s alumni include Nobel laureates, founders of biotech and tech companies, and academic leaders in dozens of fields. Past first-place winners have gone on to build careers at NASA, MIT, Stanford, and major research institutes. For students like Kuribayashi, the prize money — designed to support their education and continued research — is just the start.
The 2026 finalists each earned the right to compete at ISEF by winning a top award at a local, regional, state, or national science fair, then being selected from 365 affiliate competitions worldwide. That selection process means every student in Phoenix had already cleared an enormous bar before stepping onto the convention floor.
George D. Yancopoulos, the pioneering drug researcher and Regeneron co-founder for whom the top award is named, said the fair is critical to building the next generation of scientists. "My own scientific journey began in high school, supported by great teachers, driven by a fearless youthful belief that I could cure my grandmother''s disease, and inspired by the excitement and challenge of science competitions," he said.
Top prizes at the 2026 event ranged from $10,000 to $100,000, with awards also recognizing excellence in environmental engineering, technology applied to the arts, materials science, and many other categories. The Society for Science said this year''s prize pool reflected the importance of investing early in the next generation of scientific leaders.
For Kuribayashi, the win caps months of late nights and code revisions. But it''s also the start of something — a six-figure springboard into university research, and a chance to apply origami math to problems no one has thought to fold yet.
