Two days at Goddard
The final of the 2008 challenge was held on 5 and 6 October at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, near Washington, D.C. Ten student finalists and five teachers were set a series of challenges there, and the announcement that followed named Melissa Rey of Chesterfield, Missouri, as the grand prize winner.
The announcement was a double one: Discovery Education and 3M used it to name both America's Top Young Scientist and a top science teacher for the year. Pairing the two awards is unusual among student science competitions, most of which recognise only the student, and it reflects a programme built around classrooms rather than around individual laboratory work.
A two-minute video
The entry format was the distinguishing feature of the competition that year. Competitors could use any technology available to them to make two-minute videos demonstrating their understanding of scientific concepts. There was no requirement for laboratory access, expensive equipment or a research mentor, which put a rural school and a well-funded one closer to parity than most science competitions manage.
The 2008 theme was the science of space, and the topics set for entrants included the Doppler effect and magnetic fields. Those are subjects usually examined on paper; asking a middle-school student to explain them on camera, in two minutes, tests whether the understanding is real rather than memorised.
The prize
Rey's award was $50,000 in United States savings bonds, stated in the announcement as a cash value of $25,000. Savings bonds were a common form for student prizes of the period: the face value is what gets reported, and the amount actually handed over at the time is smaller.
The title that came with it, America's Top Young Scientist, has outlasted the format. The competition continues under the 3M name, and its later winners are listed year by year with their inventions, one student to a year.
The rest of the ten
The release names two of the other finalists. Shyamal Buch was first runner-up and Peter Ku second runner-up in the 2008 field. The remaining finalists are not identified in the text read for this page, and the five teachers who took part are not named there either, including the winner of the teaching award announced alongside Rey's.
Ten finalists in a national competition is a small number, and it is the figure that gives the result its scale. The announcement does not say how many students entered in total, so the odds behind that shortlist cannot be stated here.
What is documented — and what is not
The firm facts are the ones the announcement carries: Melissa Rey of Chesterfield, Missouri, grand prize winner of the 2008 Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge, $50,000 in savings bonds with a $25,000 cash value, decided at Goddard Space Flight Center on 5 and 6 October 2008, in a final of ten students and five teachers, with Shyamal Buch and Peter Ku as runners-up.
The striking omission is the work itself. The announcement does not describe the video Rey made, the concept she explained or how the judges scored it. Nor does it give her age, her grade, her school or a photograph, and it records nothing about what she did afterwards. The research record compiled for this page notes 2008 as the first year the competition ran under the 3M name; the announcement read here does not state that, so it is carried as unconfirmed.
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melissa Rey | United States | Grand prize, 2008 Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge | — |
| Sara Volz | United States | First place, Intel Science Talent Search 2013 | — |
| Jonah Kallenbach | United States | Second place, Intel Science Talent Search 2013 | — |
| Victor Cai | United States | Second place, 2022 Regeneron Science Talent Search | — |
| Amber K Luo | United States | Third place, 2022 Regeneron Science Talent Search | — |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Grand prize winner of the 2008 Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge, of Chesterfield, Missouri
- $50,000 in US savings bonds, stated cash value $25,000
- Final held 5–6 October 2008 at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center with ten students and five teachers
- Shyamal Buch first runner-up, Peter Ku second runner-up
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- The announcement does not describe Rey's video or the concept she explained
- No age, grade, school or photograph in the source
- The claim that 2008 was the first year under the 3M name is unconfirmed here
- Nothing is recorded about her after October 2008
Questions people ask about Melissa Rey
What did Melissa Rey win?
The grand prize of the 2008 Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge, the title of America's Top Young Scientist, and $50,000 in United States savings bonds with a stated cash value of $25,000.
What was her winning project?
The announcement read for this page does not describe it. The competition's format that year was a two-minute video explaining a scientific concept, but Rey's subject is not named in the source.
Where was the 2008 final held?
At NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center near Washington, D.C., on 5 and 6 October 2008, with ten student finalists and five teachers.
How old is Melissa Rey?
No source in this record gives an age or a date of birth.
Where is Melissa Rey from?
Chesterfield, Missouri, according to the 2008 announcement.
Who else reached the 2008 final?
Shyamal Buch was first runner-up and Peter Ku second runner-up. The other seven finalists are not named in the text read here.
Where is Melissa Rey now?
Not documented. No source in this record reports anything about her after October 2008.
Is Melissa Rey on Wikipedia?
The research record lists no Wikipedia article for her, and no source used here points to one.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Rey’s story?
Where was the 2008 Young Scientist Challenge final held?
What did entrants have to submit that year?
What was the stated cash value of the grand prize?
Sources
- Discovery Education and 3M Announce America's Top Young Scientist and Top Science Teacher — SpaceNews, 2008-10-07
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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