Scholarships
One of IowaBio’s core purposes since its formation has been to foster Iowa’s vibrant talent pipeline through Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). Iowa’s STEM students are a critical component to fuel our IowaBio member companies with a skilled workforce. Through our support of STEM education, IowaBio creates meaningful partnerships in order to support students, teachers, schools, colleges, and universities through scholarships, stipends, programming and competitions that encourage and enrich STEM education.
IowaBio's efforts are guided by its STEM Committee, which is comprised of various IowaBio members committed to advancing STEM initiatives across the state. Membership of this committee is updated yearly. To request to be added to the IowaBio STEM Committee, please email info@iowabio.org.
Since its founding, IowaBio has supported nearly 250 students across the state with over $200,000.00 in scholarship support.
If you have won an award and need to claim your scholarship, please click the button below.
State Science and Technology Fair of Iowa (SSTFI)
The State Science and Technology Fair of Iowa (SSTFI) is open to any student (grades 6-12) residing in or attending school (public, private, parochial and home school) in the state of Iowa. At this time there is no qualifier fair (local, conference, district or regional) required for participation! The mission of the SSTFI is to promote the importance of science and scientific investigation among young people and to encourage them to develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of the world around them. Through participation in the SSTFI, students develop curiosity and deepen their skills of scientific inquiry, problem solving and communication.
The 2025 State Science Technology Fair of Iowa will be held March 27 & 28, 2025, at the Hilton Coliseum, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. To learn more and register, please visit www.sstfi.org.
Each year, IowaBio awards the Future Biotech Leaders Scholarship to juniors and seniors in high school for exhibiting the best use of biotechnology. Awardees attending an in-state institution of higher learning are awarded a $2,000 scholarship while those attending an out-of-state institution are awarded a $1,000 scholarship. Since 2000, IowaBio has given over 100 scholarships to Iowa students who presented at SSTFI. To apply for the Future Biotech Leaders Scholarship and learn more about the application requirements, click the button below.
BioGENEius Challenge
- The Global Healthcare Challenge in medical biotechnology
- The Global Sustainability Challenge in agricultural biotechnology
- The Global Environment Challenge in industrial and environmental biotechnology
The Iowa BioGENEius Challenge is coordinated by the Iowa Biotechnology Association (IowaBio). Local Iowa students in grades 9 through 12 can compete in the Iowa BioGENEius Challenge, which is held in conjunction with the annual State Science and Technology Fair of Iowa (SSTFI) in Ames.
To be considered for the Iowa BioGENEius Challenge, interested participants must register to participate in SSTFI. A panel of judges from IowaBio member companies will select a winner from SSTFI to represent Iowa as the BioGENEius Challenge winner at the International Challenge. IowaBio may also invite student/s to apply for a Future Biotech Leaders Scholarship after the SSTFI, based on their SSTFI performance. The 2025 State Science Technology Fair of Iowa will be held March 27 & 28, at the Hilton Coliseum, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.
The winner of the Iowa BioGENEius Challenge will receive a travel stipend from IowaBio to compete against other regional winners at the International BioGENEius Challenge, which will be held at the BIO International Convention in Boston, MA. For more information about the International BioGENEius Challenge, please visit this website.