NAISEF History

The NAISEF Story

The annual National American Indian Science & Engineering Fair, sponsored by AISES and other organizations, is a learning venture for American Indian students. It fosters a love of learning as well as communication, professionalism, and enthusiasm.  Additionally, students may receive prestigious academic and financial awards and recognition.  This undertaking is an educational activity that allows students to teach themselves, to take from the established information what they need to discover something new, and to identify and choose the tools that they need to conduct and conclude their project.  When a student completes a science fair project year after year, through junior and senior high school, the science project produces mature, self-confident, skilled and competitive young leaders who have career goals and the preparation to attain them.

How did this activity come to be?  In 1982 with a grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE), the science fair initiative on American Indian reservations was launched.  The Fair began with 14 schools and through the years has impacted over 5,000 students, teachers, schools and communities.  In the years following this initiative, the National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the U.S. Geological Survey supported teacher development to strengthen elementary and secondary teaching of science, thereby increasing participation in the local fairs and assisting in the development of state level American Indian science fairs.

In 1988, the National American Indian Science and Engineering Fair (NAISEF) was established through an AISES partnership with three established American Indian science fair initiatives in North Dakota, Wisconsin and New Mexico.  The NAISEF provides an important opportunity for students to do hands-on science; apply their knowledge of math and science; conduct research and collect data; and interact with professional role models in science, mathematics, and engineering.  Since 1992, over 4,000 American Indian elementary, middle and high schools students representing numerous tribes and states have attended the NAISEF.  The Fair takes place annually in early March; the current site is Albuquerque, New Mexico.   Students in grades 5-12 participate.  NAISEF Grand Award Winners are automatically entered in the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).  Each year NAISEF winners have placed in one or more of ISEF categories.