On March 25, 2024, we held the 8th annual Stanford FAST Symposium at Stanford!

Students and mentors posing in an auditorium

This year, FAST had 53 mentors and 67 high school students work on a total of 39 projects, spanning the disciplines of biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, and data science. Some project examples include testing the effectiveness of different sunscreen brands, to investigating the viability of fruit bacteria for making cheese, to assessing the effect of urea on plant growth, to building a particle accelerator to explore quantum behavior! At the poster session, the students got a chance to present their work.

Students mingling at a poster session Student smiling in front of a poster about mold

Student smiling in front of a poster about robots and holding a demo Two students smiling in front of a poster about color perception

Students mingling at a poster session Three students and mentor smiling in front of a poster about video games

Two students smiling in front of a poster about fruit scents Student explaining a poster about quantum physics

Student explaining a poster about soccer performance Students mingling and presenting at a poster session

Students mingling and presenting at a poster session Students mingling and presenting at a poster session

Students mingling and presenting at a poster session Students mingling and presenting at a poster session

Student explaining a poster about tardigrades Student explaining a poster about E.coli

Student explaining a poster about wind tunnels Student explaining a poster about a robot

Several Stanford faculty members also shared their research and career journeys! We are very thankful for their time and openness to share their knowledge and advice with students!

Students sitting in a lecture hall watching a research presentation Students sitting in a lecture hall watching a research presentation

Students sitting in an auditorium watching a research presentation Students sitting in a classroom watching a research presentation

Students sitting in a classroom watching a research presentation

top left to bottom center: Fang Liu (Chemisry), Michaela Burke Stevens (Chemical Engineering), Rodolfo Dirzo (Biology), Tobias Gerstenberg (Psychology), and Lauren Goins (Biology)

The students explored Stanford on a campus-wide scavenger hunt and various lab tours!

Students posing on Stanford campus Students posing on Stanford campus

Students posing on Stanford campus Students posing on Stanford campus

Several FAST students gave talks about their research projects!

Student presenting research in an auditorium Student presenting research in an auditorium Student presenting research in an auditorium

left to right: Noreen Vu, Melanie Nguyen, and David Daniel & Jesus Rangel

We are so proud of all our students for their amazing work and incredibly thankful to all of the FAST mentors and teachers who made this year possible!

Students posing in the shape of the letters 'F', 'A', 'S', and 'T' on Stanford campus