In May 2009, more than 1,500 of the world's most promising scientists and innovators gathered to compete in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. Representing more than 50 countries, territories and regions, each of these students earned top honors at local and regional competitions before being selected as finalists at the 2009 competition. NCIIA made 11 special awards of $1,000 each to teams selected by a panel of reviewers. The winning projects reflected the different technology interests of various countries:

Gone with the Windmills: An Analysis of the Effectiveness of an Oscillating Wind Energy Generator
Ryan Cherian Alexander
R.C. Clark High School, USA

A Styrofoam-Decomposing Bacterium from Mealworms
I-Ching Tseng
National Taichung Girl's Senior High School, Taiwan

A Novel Method for Measuring Sonoluminescent Spectra
Lyric Elizabeth Gillett
Cornerstone High Homeschool, USA

Designing and Characterizing Zinc Oxide Nanotube Based Hybrid Solar Cell
Enes Guney & Ahmet Rasit Yildirim
Private Beyliduzu Faith Science High School, Turkey

Harvesting the Heart's Energy Using Piezoelectric Materials: A Comparison of Right Atrial, Right Ventricular, and Left Ventricular Pacing Sites
Christopher Ryan Ho, Alexander Scott Ditter, & Atmananda Mitra Persuad
Champlin Park High School, USA

Using wasted Heat Energy of a Car with Thermoelectric Modules
Thomas Keith Houser
De La Salle High School, USA

Degradation of Antibiotics in Waste Water
Jan Justra
Gymnasium Brno - Reckovice, Czech Republic

Analysis of Nanofiber-based Scaffolds
Abigail Rose Lewis
Rockdale Magnet School for Science and Technology,  USA

Bioelectromagnetics
Alexis Omar Lopez
Celebration High school, USA

Natural Escherichia Coli 0157:H7 Inhibitors: A Future Innovation in Food Safety
Abbey Elaine Thiel
Isabel High School, USA

Neural Network Modeling: An Innovative Time and Cost Efficient Approach for Anti-Cancer Drug Development
Monica Roy Chowdhury
Blue Valley High School, USA