Lake Washington School District students shine at expanded 2026 Central Sound Regional Science and Engineering Fair

Lake Washington School District students, and one teacher, earned top honors at the 2026 Central Sound Regional Science and Engineering Fair (CSRSEF), with strong participation, a record number of projects and awards spanning nearly every scientific discipline. It took place at Mountlake Terrace High School on March 7.

This year’s fair more than doubled in size from last year, featuring 440 student researchers from across the region. LWSD students made up a significant portion of the participants, with 42 students from Eastlake High School, 11 from Juanita High School, 30 from Redmond High School, 80 from Tesla STEM High School and eight from Lake Washington High School.

In addition to increased participation, the 2026 fair offered a larger slate of awards, including both special awards sponsored by professional organizations and category awards presented by the fair itself. LWSD students earned recognition in both areas, highlighting the depth, creativity and rigor of their scientific research.

Advancing to the International Science and Engineering Fair
Following the regional competition, six students were selected to advance to the International Science and Engineering Fair May 9-15 in Phoenix, Arizona. Three of those students are from Lake Washington School District:

• Sanjay Srinivasan, Eastlake High School
  • Grand Champion with Distinction
• Adhrith Vutukuri, Tesla STEM High School
  • Grand Champion
• Anika Prakash, Eastlake High School
  • Grand Champion

Their selection represents the highest level of achievement at the Central Sound Regional Science and Engineering Fair and reflects Lake Washington School District’s continued commitment to excellence in science, research, and innovation.

Teacher of the Year Award
Each year, the CSRSEF gives an award to a teacher who is known for their creativity, dedication to students and efforts to help students understand the science or engineering process. It is also known as the Bruce Murdock Teacher of the Year Award. This year, that award was given to Lara Dean from Eastlake High School.

Special Awards from partner organizations
The following Lake Washington School District students received special awards sponsored by professional and scientific organizations.

• American Psychological Association Award
  • Saanvi Yalamanchili, Eastlake High School
• Naval Research Science and Technology Award
  • Adit Rohit, Eastlake High School
  • Avyank Niraj, Redmond High School
  • Leo Yang, Tesla STEM High School
  • Raghav Iyer, Tesla STEM High School
  • Anisha Upasani, Tesla STEM High School
  • Bhargav Narayan, Tesla STEM High School
  • Neel Nevrekar, Tesla STEM High School
  • Anoop Gupta, Tesla STEM High School
• Inspiring Excellence Award
  • Akshara Srinivas, Eastlake High School
  • Adithya Parthasarathy, Redmond High School
  • Himay Marada, Tesla STEM High School
  • Hannah Ha, Tesla STEM High School
• American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Award
  • Akshara Srinivas, Eastlake High School
• Association for Women Geoscientists Award
  • Chloe Seidel, Juanita High School
  • Tanisha Karthikeyan, Tesla STEM High School
• In Situ Therapeutic Solutions Award
  • Adya Soni, Juanita High School
• Museum of Flight Excellence Award
  • Svara Naik, Redmond High School
• United States Air Force Award
  • Daniel Zhou, Tesla STEM High School
  • Samanyu Ezhilarasan, Tesla STEM High School
• Regeneron Biomedical Science Award
  • Adhrith Vutukuri, Tesla STEM High School
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration Award
  • Michael Wang, Tesla STEM High School
  • Max Xie, Tesla STEM High School
• Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace Award
  • Khushie Verma, Tesla STEM High School
• Genius Olympiad Award
  • Arav Dhawan, Tesla STEM High School
  • Lauren Ouyang, Tesla STEM High School

Category Awards
Students also earned first place, second place, third place and honorable mention awards in the following fair categories:

Applied Physics, Mathematics and Engineering

• First Place
  • Sethmi Ekanayake, Tesla STEM High School
• Second Place
  • Dhruv Mehrotra, Redmond High School
• Third Place
  • Akshara Srinivas, Eastlake High School
  • Jai Bindlish, Tesla STEM High School
  • Aashrith Pisupati, Tesla STEM High School
  • Ryan Park, Tesla STEM High School
• Honorable Mention
  • Vihaan Fadnavis, Tesla STEM High School

Behavioral Science

• Third Place
  • Riana Sujit, Lake Washington High School
  • Diya Balaji, Tesla STEM High School
• Honorable Mention
  • Shreya Raghavan, Tesla STEM High School

Computational Biology

• First Place
  • Adhrith Vutukuri, Tesla STEM High School
• Second Place
  • Devarsh Aswin, Eastlake High School
  • Sid Sreekanth, Tesla STEM High School
• Honorable Mention
  • Pratham Balaji, Lake Washington High School

Chemistry, Materials and Energy

• First Place
  • Sanjay Srinivasan, Eastlake High School
• Second Place
  • Vedika Devarajan, Redmond High School
• Third Place
  • Akhil Yenamandra, Eastlake High School
  • Rishi Srinivasan, Redmond High School

Earth and Environmental Science

• First Place
  • Katie Phan, Redmond High School
  • Sarah Samanta, Redmond High School
• Third Place
  • Joliz Karukayil, Tesla STEM High School
  • Raehan Baliga, Tesla STEM High School
• Honorable Mention
  • Hannah Ha, Tesla STEM High School
  • Ananya Karthik Rabindranath, Tesla STEM High School
  • Helankrutha Murugesh, Tesla STEM High School

Biomedical Engineering

• Honorable Mention
  • Jaehoon Bae, Redmond High School
  • William Ma, Redmond High School
  • Akshith Sama, Redmond High School

Environmental Engineering

• Third Place
  • Neel Tiku, Eastlake High School
  • Tiffany Chi, Tesla STEM High School
• Honorable Mention
  • Brian Lee, Tesla STEM High School

Life Sciences

• First Place
  • Anika Prakash, Eastlake High School
  • Shreyom Paul, Tesla STEM High School
• Second Place
  • Zara Tareen, Lake Washington High School
  • Saathvik Voora, Tesla STEM High School
• Third Place
  • Akchara Mukunthu Deepak Babu, Tesla STEM High School
• Honorable Mention
  • Omkar Phadnis, Redmond High School
  • Saket Lingamallu, Redmond High School

Micro Molecular Biology

• Second Place
  • Arnav Vishwakarma, Eastlake High School
• Third Place
  • Akshara Guddeti, Eastlake High School
• Honorable Mention
  • Shria Gaddam, International Community School
  • Mahee Chandrasekhar, Redmond High School

Robotics and Intelligent Machines

• First Place
  • Suvan Pal, Tesla STEM High School
• Second Place
  • Krishna Arun, Eastlake High School
  • Sia Gupta, Tesla STEM High School
• Third Place
  • Navneeth Badhri, Redmond High School
  • Arush Yadlapati, Tesla STEM High School
• Honorable Mention
  • Rohan Viswanathan, Tesla STEM High School

Systems, Software and Technology

• Second Place
  • Sahana Kaliyaperumal, Tesla STEM High School
• Third Place
  • Anshul Raghav, Redmond High School
• Honorable Mention
  • Zixuan Gao, Tesla STEM High School
  • Anindita Purkayastha, Tesla STEM High School