Making STEM Events
Effortless
EdTech
2× Faster Event Setup
Team
Responsibilities
Year
Overview
The problem
As the platform grew, a core problem surfaced: collaboration between students, educators, and judges was breaking down. Communication was scattered across tools, resources were siloed, and there was no shared source of truth.
The design challenge was to unify these workflows without adding complexity — so the platform could actually support the learning it was built around.
I'd never been to a science fair as an adult... so I went to one.
I flew out to the Canada Wide Science Fair in Edmonton, walked the floor, and spent time with the people actually using ProjectBoard. Students scrambling to submit projects and teachers trying to hold everything together. Watching it happen in real time told me more than any survey ever could.
Understanding the existing users
Attending the CWSF in Edmonton revealed these patterns shaping the redesign.
Teachers had no centralized view to monitor submissions, track progress, and award projects across events.
Acting as both admin and judge was common, but the platform treated these as separate identities
Teachers had no way to bring in co-admins or delegate responsibilities natively.
Approach
Educators are already stretched thin — the last thing they need is a platform that makes them work to understand it. That became my north star: if something created friction, it didn't belong.
When I looked at other event management tools, a pattern kept showing up, they were built for people who already knew what they were doing. I wanted to flip that. Start people with a template, walk them through setup step by step, and make the right next action obvious at every point.
The process was messy in the best way. I'd ship something, watch where it broke down, and go back in. Every feedback round taught me something I wouldn't have caught on my own.
Solution
The research kept pointing to the same frustration: teachers were juggling too many tools just to run a single event. I designed a centralized dashboard so everything lives in one place: event creation, participant tracking, and judging. Role-switching lets teachers move between admin and judge views without logging out or losing their place.
Design Process
How might we give educators the tools to run science fairs themselves — without needing us in the room?
One moment at CWSF stuck with me.
Judging portal
Judging was one of the most manual parts of running a science fair. I built the portal directly into the admin panel so organizers never had to leave to manage it. Admins set up timelines, create registration forms, and write custom questionnaires for judges — then review and approve applications and notify them, all from one place.
The pairing happens automatically based on questionnaire responses, but admins can always adjust manually. Smart defaults with room for human judgment.
Learnings & Outcome
The platform is trusted by national STEM organizations including CWSF and ISEF.
Educators create and manage events 2x faster, with significantly less manual coordination.
Students have real-time visibility into their projects, events, and awards, keeping them engaged throughout the process.