The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair is the largest pre-college scientific research event in the world, and is owned and administered by the Society for Science & the Public a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Washington, DC. Each May, more than 1500 students from 65 nations are flown in to compete in the fair for scholarships, tuition grants, internships, scientific field trips and the grand prize: one of three $50,000 college scholarships. All prizes together amount to over $4,000,000. Two awards ceremonies are held including: Special Awards Organization Presentation (which now includes the Government Awards Presentations) and the Grand Awards Ceremony. The International Science and Engineering Fair was founded in 1950 by Science Service (now the Society for Science & the Public) and has been sponsored by the Intel Corporation since 1997. The competition is frequented by some of the brightest young minds in the country, and because of this technological and scientific breakthroughs are often the result of the experiments submitted.
