Three Beaverton School District students earned spots among the nation's top 300 young scientists in the 2026 Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge.

Lasya Singaraju and Shanran Lee, both now ninth graders at Westview High School, and Vivasvan Kuruveri, a seventh grader at Stoller Middle School, made the cut.

Society for Science, which runs the competition, selected the 300 honorees from nearly 2,000 applicants across 47 states and five territories.

Each student tackled a different real-world problem. Singaraju's project, "Nature's Cleanse," explored turning kitchen scraps into a tool for safer water. Kuruveri built a photoresistor-based circuit to detect fruit ripeness.

Lee developed a cost-effective method for detecting nanoplastics.

The competition is described by Society for Science as the nation's premier STEM contest for middle school students. It reaches about 60,000 students each year through a network of local science fairs.

To qualify, students must place in the top 10 percent of a Society-affiliated fair.

The district announced the recognition on Tuesday, Sept. 8, calling the selection a remarkable achievement reflecting the students' curiosity and dedication. The Top 300 cohort this year represents 34 states, Puerto Rico and Guam, and 64 percent attend public schools.

All three students have already secured a $125 award, a ribbon, a one-year subscription to Science News Explores magazine and a subscription to Wolfram|Alpha Notebook Edition.

The bigger prize is still ahead.

"I am incredibly proud of this year's Top 300 Junior Innovators," Maya Ajmera, president and CEO of Society for Science, said in a Sept. 2 statement. "Their curiosity, creativity and determination to tackle some of our most pressing challenges … show what's possible when young people are empowered to pursue their ideas."

On Wednesday, Sept. 16, organizers will narrow the field to 30 finalists who will compete for more than $100,000 in awards. The top prize is the $25,000 Thermo Fisher Scientific ASCEND Award. Other finalist awards include $10,000 prizes from Broadcom, Citadel, DoW STEM and the Lemelson Foundation. Each finalist also receives $500 and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C.