Rules and Guidelines

New Rules and Guidelines for the 2010 NYCSEF Competition are now available for download:

NYCSEF 2010 Rules and Guidelines [PDF file]

For students conducting summer research, we have broken out those guidelines that detailed research involving humans, vertebrate animals, potential hazardous biological agents or potentially hazardous chemicals, activities or devices in order to facilitate local IRB and SRC reviews. If you have any questions regarding safety or whether your proposed project meets eligibility requirements for 2010 NYCSEF competition, please contact us before you begin experimentation.

Rules about research involving:

Human Subjects (pg 13-16) [PDF]

Vertebrate Animals (pg 17-20) [PDF]

Potentially Hazardous Biological Agents (pg 21-24) [PDF]

Hazardous Chemicals, Activities or Devices (pg 25-27) [PDF]

The following rules and guidelines were developed to ensure the safety and well-being of pre-college students involved in research and promote the practice of safe and ethical experimentation. These rules and guidelines are derived from the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair and follow federal regulations governing research.

NOTE: Some of the rules and regulations that govern competition for the 2010 NYCSEF events differ from those used for Intel ISEF. Questions about the NYCSEF rules and guidelines should be forwarded to NYCSEF staff.

IMPORTANT – Changes & Modifications for 2009-2010

The following are the major changes and modifications to the rules and guidelines for the 2010 NYCSEF. It is recommended that students and associated adults review the appropriate rules and guidelines as it relates to the specific research project.

• For ALL PROJECTS – Complete application materials (including two copies of the research paper) must be received by December 18, 2009. The research paper* on file may be revised or replaced with a new document showing subsequent data collection and updated analyses and findings until January 22 (5 PM).
• For projects involving Human Subjects – All projects involving Human Subjects must obtain prior IRB Approval using the new Human Subjects Form (4) and if needed, active informed consent (see pgs 36 – 37 of the application forms and the sample consent form). Additionally, all non-NYCSEF IRB approval forms must address the questions on Human Subjects Form (4) with requisite signatures at the time of review for each project (no pre-signed, pro-forma, or post-experimentation approvals will be accepted).  See page 14.
• For projects involving Potentially Hazardous Biological Agents – Research projects involving the use of unknown microorganisms from the environment (e.g. soil, household surfaces, skin etc) in permanently sealed containers can be treated as a Biological Safety Level 1 (BSL-1). The opening of the container (for any reason), reclassifies the project as BSL-2 requiring appropriate laboratory facilities (see pgs 21 – 24).
• For ongoing projects with design/set-up or data collection start dates prior to 01/01/09 – Research projects spanning over 12 months may be classified as a continuation project. Only experimental data and analysis collected from 01/01/09 may be used in competition at NYCSEF 2010 (see pgs 8 – 9).

Have a question about NYCSEF Rules and Guidelines? You may be able to find the answer on our FAQs page.