51 New and Cutting-Edge Science and Engineering Projects in 2024!

By Amy Cowen on January 2, 2025 8:00 AM

A summary look at the exciting range of cutting-edge science and engineering projects added to our STEM project library in 2024!

Connect 4 AI, automated pill dispenser with arduino, and planetary lander with microbit, part of 51 new science and engineering projects in exciting and cutting-edge areas added in 2024

Our team of scientists and engineers worked hard all year long to develop engaging and accessible materials to support hands-on K-12 STEM exploration in a broad range of interest areas.

Projects added to our library of student science and engineering projects in 2024 appear in the following areas:

Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Computer Science
Biotechnology and Materials Science
Electricity and Electronics and Physical Computing with Arduino and micro:bit
Energy and Environmental Science
Food Science
Health and Human Biology
Human Behavior and Sociology
Microbiology
Physics
Plant Biology
Robotics
Space Exploration

Other new STEM Resources

Thematic STEM Collections
Lessons and Educator Resources

Student Science and Engineering Projects Added in 2024

Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Computer Science

Can You Create an Unbeatable Tic-Tac-Toe AI Player?: fine-tune an AI tic-tac-toe player that uses the powerful Minimax algorithm for decision-making.
Can You Create a Strategic Connect 4 AI Opponent?: use the Minimax algorithm with alpha-beta pruning to refine the programming for an AI player.
AI Hyperrealism: Do AI Faces Look More Real Than Human Faces?: experiment with AI-generated images and how they are perceived by viewers.
Create a Facial Recognition System with Machine Learning: use a Siamese neural network to create a facial recognition system.
Classify Animals with Machine Learning: explore a machine learning decision tree to classify different animals based on multiple characteristics.
Predicting Future Water Quality with Machine Learning: use a random forest model to predict levels of dissolved oxygen in a specific body of water.
Predicting Thyroid Cancer Recurrence with Machine Learning: use a random forest model to predict whether a patient's thyroid cancer will recur.
Use Machine Learning to Identify Lyme Disease-Transmitting Ticks: use image data to train a convolutional neural network to identify species of ticks.
Predict Air Quality with Machine Learning: use data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) site to see how effective a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) machine learning model is for predicting air quality index (AQI) one week, four weeks, and one year into the future.
Make a Color Detector App to Help Colorblind People: use App Inventor to make a color detector app to help colorblind people identify colors in this human biology project.

Biotechnology & Materials Science

Build Your Own Microfluidic Device: design and build a model microfluidic device to test how different designs affect the flow of food dye through microchannels.

Electricity and Electronics and Physical Computing with Arduino and micro:bit

Design Your Own Smart LED Lighting System: design a customized smart LED lighting system that changes colors in response to input from one or more sensors.
How Much Current Does It Take To Blow Up An LED?: measure how much current it takes to burn out an LED.

Physical Computing with Arduino

Build a Magnetic Pet Door: design and build an automatic pet door activated by a magnetic collar tag.
Make an Automatic Pill Dispenser: build and customize an automatic pill dispenser to help an individual remember to take medicine on a programmed schedule.
Build an Automatic Dog (or Cat) Treat Dispenser: build and customize an automatic treat dispenser for a dog or other pet.
Build an Obstacle-Detecting Walking Stick for Blind People: design and build an electronic cane, a form of assistive technology, that emits a beeping noise when the user approaches an obstacle.
Build Obstacle-Detecting Glasses for Visually Impaired People: design and build obstacle-detecting glasses that use an ultrasonic distance sensor and a buzzer.
Make an Automatic Braille Display to Help Blind People: use solenoids to build a prototype refreshable braille display.
Make an Automatic Evaporative Cooling System: build and test a model automatic evaporative cooling system with a fan and temperature sensor.

Physical Computing with micro:bit

Make an Adaptive Switch*: use a microcontroller (like micro:bit or Arduino) to design and build adaptive switches that can improve accessibility and make it easier for people to interact with certain devices.
Make a Medical Alert Fall Detector: program a medical alert fall detector device to automatically sound an alarm to alert others when someone falls.
Make a Communication Aid To Help People Show Their Feelings: program a communication aid to show emotions or messages.
Click a Button Without Your Hands: Design a Puff Switch: design and build a puff switch that enables control of a simple electronic output by blowing into a straw.

(For related projects, see new projects in Space Exploration and Robotics)

Energy and Environmental Science

Design a Mini Solar Tracker System: design, build, and test a mini solar tracking system using a micro:bit to control a servo motor based on the voltage created by the solar panel.
Build and Test a Sun-Tracking Solar Panel: design and build a solar panel system that moves in response to the position of the Sun and evaluate its performance in this renewable energy project.
Can Beeswax Wraps Replace Plastic Wraps?: make and compare beeswax wraps to plastic wraps as a more environmentally-friendly alternative to food storage capabilities in this materials science and green chemistry project.

Food Science

Is Plant-Based Milk as Protein-Packed as Dairy Milk?: compare the amount of protein in plant-based milk to dairy milk.
Can Beeswax Wraps Replace Plastic Wraps?: make and compare beeswax wraps to plastic wraps as a more environmentally-friendly alternative to food storage capabilities in this materials science and green chemistry project.

Health and Human Biology

The Taylor Swift Challenge: measure the effect of talking and singing while running on speed, heart rate, and/or breathing rate.
Astronaut Stress Management Training for Space Flight: explore how breathing techniques, like cyclic breathing, can be used for stress-management during pre-launch space flight training.
Do Stress Management Techniques Work for Different Types of Stressors?*: experiment to see how effective different breathing techniques are as interventions for different physical (e.g., intense exercise, extreme temperatures reduced sleep) and psychological (e.g., time constraints, social isolation, excess media consumption, peer pressure) stressors.
Sleep Tracking: The Brain and Circadian Rhythm's Role in Sleep: explore the body's circadian rhythm by tracking sleep patterns and the daily choices and activities that influence an individual's sleep.

Human Behavior and Sociology

Can You Influence the Compromise Effect of Decision Making?: investigate the behavioral neuroscience of how we make decisions and test how price and social pressure can influence the decision-making process.
Racial and Gender Bias in AI-Generated Images: determine if AI image generation tools over- or under-represent certain genders or races when generating pictures of people in different occupations.

Microbiology

What Sugar And Tea Does a Kombucha Biofilm Prefer?: experiment to see how changing the tea or sugar substrates used by a SCOBY biofilm impacts the fermentation process of the kombucha solution.

Physics

Rubber Band Car Challenge: build a rubber band-powered car that goes as far as possible. (This was the 2024 Science Buddies Engineering Challenge project.)
Simulate Microchip Clean Room Contamination with Crayon Leaf Rubbings: simulate dust contamination in a clean room by adding dirt or sand to crayon leaf rubbings. (This project is part of our Exploring Semiconductors resource.
What's the Best Exposure Time for Sun Print Paper?: experiment to find the exposure time that gives the best results for sun print paper. (Students can correlate this process with semiconductor technology and the process of making microchips.)
MrBeast "Protect the Prize" Challenge: design and build a device to protect a "prize" from a series of household hazards.

Plant Biology and Agricultural Technology

Can Every Part of a Plant Regrow?: investigate how well different plants regrow over time after being damaged.
Upcycle Paper Products into Plantable Seed Paper: upcycle paper products to make seed paper and test its impact as a fertilizer on plant growth.
Monitor Plant Health with a Color Sensor: use Arduino to build a color sensor circuit to detect different color leaves in this plant biology and agricultural technology project.

Robotics

Clean Up The Water with a Trash-Skimming Robot*: design, build, and test a trash-skimming robot.
What's the Best Way to Disable a Drone?* devise and test methods that can disable a drone.
Build a Color-Detecting Rover* experiment with designing and building a model Mars rover with a sensor that can detect and react to different colors.

Space Exploration

How Does the Number of Parachutes Affect Terminal Velocity?: determine how the number of parachutes affects the terminal velocity of a falling model crew capsule.
Make a Model Rocket Land Vertically: investigate the relationship between a rocket's stability, its center of mass (COM), and its center of pressure (COP) and then modify a model rocket so it can land vertically.
Build a Model Planetary Lander with micro:bit: design a model spacecraft lander that uses an ultrasonic sensor to measure the distance to the ground.
Build a Model Planetary Lander with Arduino: design and build a model planetary lander with deployable landing gear.
Make a Spacecraft Motion Simulator!: learn about the relationship between degrees of freedom and how many independent motions an object can make in different directions. Then build a spacecraft motion simulator and use it to simulate maneuvers like landing or docking.
How Do You Protect Spacecraft from Space Debris?: build a model Whipple shield and test how its ability to absorb impact changes with the speed of space debris.