Funding, Grants & Awards

Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Contest Finalists Named

• By Michael Hart
• 02/27/15

Fifteen schools from across the United States are finalists in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest, a national competition designed to increase interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects that attracted more than 3,100 entries.

The 15 finalists were chosen for their use of STEM skills to address specific issues affecting their communities. The topics selected ranged from finding ways to address water pollution and mosquito-borne illnesses to urban food deserts.

"We are blown away by the level of care, creativity and smarts these students have shown through their projects," said Ann Woo, director of corporate citizenship for Samsung Electronics North America. "We congratulate these students and their teachers on what they've achieved."

The public can view the 15 finalist projects at Samsung.com, where they can vote on their favorites beginning at midnight March 2 and continuing through March 25. Then, the finalists will present their projects to a live panel of judges March 18 at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York.

Finally, the judges' opinions and the public vote will be used to determine five national grand prize winners.

The grand prize winners, 15 finalists and 51 state competition winners will receive prizes of technology worth approximately $2 million presented by a consortium of companies and nonprofits led by Samsung. At the same time, three special awards will be given to projects that are pioneering in their use of math, environmental innovation and civic engagement.

Also, every single teacher of a student team that entered will receive a professional development class from PBS TeacherLine.

Interested teachers can also download lesson plans of participating teachers in previous Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contests, dating back to the competition's inauguration in 2010, at Samsung.com.