FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC)
A robotics competition for middle and high schoolers who build smaller-scale robots to compete in a new game released each September, emphasizing engineering design and teamwork.
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Botball
An autonomous robotics competition where middle and high school teams design, build, and program fully autonomous robots — no remote controls allowed — using standardized kits and real programming languages.
VEX V5 Robotics Competition
The largest and fastest-growing middle/high school robotics program globally, where student teams build robots for a new annual engineering challenge and compete in tournaments up through a World Championship.
American Rocketry Challenge (formerly TARC)
The world's largest student rocketry contest, where teams design, build, and launch a rocket to hit precise altitude and duration targets carrying an egg payload, competing for over $100,000 in prizes.
Conrad Challenge
A global STEM innovation and entrepreneurship competition where student teams design original solutions in categories like Aerospace & Aviation or Energy & Environment, culminating in an Innovation Summit at Space Center Houston.
USIYPT (US Invitational Young Physicists Tournament)
A national "physics fight" tournament where student teams spend months investigating open-ended physics research problems, then defend their findings against rival teams before a panel of judges.
Caltech IQIM K-12 Programs
Caltech's Institute for Quantum Information and Matter runs on-campus quantum science outreach for K-12 students, including hands-on demonstrations, quantum gaming, and classroom visits from physics researchers.