2009 SAN MATEO COUNTY SCIENCE, MATH & TECHNOLOGY FAIR
February 1-6, 2009.

The San Francisco Bay Area and California State Science Fairs

Since the inception of our Fair, we have been able to send our top projects to regional and state fairs. The Fair serves as the qualifying event for the top science projects from San Mateo County public and private schools for the Bay Area and CA State Science Fairs. Guidelines, parent information and registration form.

San Francisco Bay Area Science Fair (SFBASF)
This Fair is one of the oldest regional fairs in California.  San Mateo County is one of eight Bay area counties that sends its top projects to this Fair.  SFBASF is usually held in mid-March at the SF County Fair Building, Golden Gate Park.  When the new California Academy of Sciences facility opens, this Fair will move back to this location where it was held for many years.

SFBASF accepts only individual (no pair or group) projects, grades 7 through 12.  Their project categories are:
• biological sciences    • behavioral sciences
• physical sciences    • mathematics
• environmental science    • engineering and computer applications

The two top high school projects automatically qualify to enter the Intel International Science Fair.  SFBASF provides financial support and assistance to send both students to the Intel Fair each year.

For general questions about the Bay Area Science Fair, contact:
Robert Fabini, Assistant Director (SFBASF), 
c/o El Cerrito High School,
450 Ashbury Ave., El  Cerrito, CA  94530;
phone: (510) 527–2898;
website:  http://home.pacbell.net/sfbasf/

California State Science Fair (CSSF)
The California State Science Fair is the final science fair of the academic year for students throughout the State of California in grades 6 - 12, serving California’s future scientists since 1952.

It is hosted by, and held at, the California Science Center (formerly, the California Museum of Science and Industry)  during the 3rd week of May – right AFTER the Intel International Fair.

This Fair has 19 different categories, including several that are age-specific for either juniors (grades 6–8) or seniors (grades 9–12).   They do accept pair but not group projects.

Determining which projects are sent to each Fair depends upon the number of allocations we receive for each Fair.   For SFBASF, all 1st place award winners automatically qualify; many 2nd place award winners also qualify.  For CSSF, all 1st place 6th grade projects automatically qualify, plus any 1st place pair projects.  The other qualifying projects are determined by reviewing both County Fair and SFBASF results for each project.  Projects that do well at the County Fair but fail to enter SFBASF generally are not considered for CSSF.