The Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge (DCYSC) is an annual science and engineering research and exhibit competition for students in grade 5 through 8 created in 1999. Competitors must qualify for DCYSC by entering an International Science and Engineering (ISEF) affiliated science fair and being judged worthy to advance to DCYSC. After being nominated for DCYSC the research presentations are evaluated by DCYSC judges who select 40 finalists to compete in the finals. The finals are held each October in Washington DC and are comprised of two parts, research presentations in the National Academy of Science as in the qualifying rounds and demonstration of teamwork problem solving skills, by completing science phenomena related tasks. The grand prize is a $20,000 scholarship.

Neela Thangada
Neela Thangada won first place and a $20,000 scholarship in the finals. Neela's science fair project was entitled Effects of Various Nutrient Concentrations on the Cloning of the Eye of Solanum tuberosum at Multiple Stages. Her skills of leadership, teamwork, scientific problem solving, critical thinking, and oral and written communication skills earned her the distinguished title of "America's Top Young Scientist of the Year."

About her project
Inspired by a biology textbook's idea of a potato cloning experiment, Neela set out to explore plant cloning. She wanted to determine how different nutrient concentrations affected the multiple stages of growth in a potato. Neela removed 60 shoot tips growing from potatoes. After sterilizing the tips, she excised the bottom two segments, the meristem and primordial. She placed each in a test tube of half-strength or full-strength nutrient solution and incubated them. During her first trial, all the samples became contaminated. Neela persevered and redid the entire experiment, finding that the potato clones did indeed grow better in the full-strength solution.

Nilesh Tripuraneni
Nilesh Tripuraneni won second place at the finals and a $10,000 scholarship. His project was called Solar Production of Hydrogen from Seawater via Electrolysis.

About his project
Nilesh had heard about hydrogen-powered cars but understood that producing hydrogen requires fossil fuels. He sought to find a more environmentally friendly approach through solar hydrogen production. Nilesh built a solar-powered device that ran an electric current through a beaker full of saltwater. The result was electrolysis, by which water is split into hydrogen and oxygen. By clever manipulation of various gas laws, Nilesh measured the temperature, pressure, and volume of the hydrogen gas produced. He found that seawater produced almost as much hydrogen as solutions containing sulfuric acid or sodium hydroxide.

Mary Lou Hedberg
Mary Lou Hedberg won third prize, a $5,000 scholarship in the finals. Her project was entitled Paddle Perfection? Seeking New Designs with Flume Testing.

About her project
While kayaking, Mary Lou was mesmerized by the swirling patterns her paddle made. She wondered whether the swirls represented lost energy, and, if so, whether paddles could be made to be more efficient. Mary Lou built a flume made of PVC tubing, a whirlpool pump, and a butterfly valve to control the flow. She made model paddles from plastic spoons that she softened and reshaped, and then built a device to measure horizontal and vertical forces on each paddle. After testing four blade shapes and three shaft angles – taking more than 300 measurements – she concluded that a spoon-shaped blade with a bent shaft delivered the most force. She has filed a provisional patent application for the design.

There were over 150 semi-finalists from all 50 states. California had 25 of them.

Since 2003 the themes for DCYSC have followed scientific curiosities and built activities around them.

In 2003, the activities were based on the 100 year anniversary of the first flight of the Wright Brothers, December 17, 1903.

In 2004, the activities were based on the 100 year anniversary of Einstein's Theory of Relativity.

In 2005, inspired by the events of Hurricane Katrina, the activities were about understanding natural disasters.