Los Alamos freshman wins third at global science fair

Linus Plohr brought home a third-place finish from one of the biggest stages in high school science, earning $1,200 in the Behavioral and Social Science category at the 2026 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix. The Los Alamos High School freshman competed against more than 1,700 finalists from about 60 countries, regions and territories during the fair’s 76th year, placing him among the top students at a competition that distributed more than $7 million in awards and prizes.

Plohr’s project, “Collective Intelligence,” was listed as BEHA057 on the category page for Behavioral and Social Sciences. In earlier local competition, he won Life Science Best of Show in the senior division at the Los Alamos County Science Fair for “Collective Intelligence: Driving Lessons from Ants,” a title that showed the project had already stood out before it moved through the regional and state pipeline.

That pipeline has become part of Los Alamos’ identity. Los Alamos Public Schools sent 22 students to the 2026 New Mexico State Science & Engineering Fair, and the Los Alamos County Science Fair drew more than 122 projects, with 52 students qualifying for the Northeastern New Mexico Regional Science Fair. Plohr advanced from that local track to state and then to Phoenix, where he joined the field of finalists at Society for Science’s global competition for ninth- through 12th-grade students.

The Plohr family had more than one student in the mix. Tate Plohr, Linus’s older brother, qualified for ISEF from the state fair and received a third-place Grand Award at the 2026 New Mexico State Science & Engineering Fair in Socorro. The brothers’ results underscore how Los Alamos schools, families and science-fair mentors continue to feed a system that can carry students from county-level judging to international competition.

For Los Alamos County, that matters well beyond one award. A freshman finishing third on a world stage reflects the depth of the local academic culture and the strength of the science path running through Los Alamos High School and the district. It also reinforces what residents already know: when the county invests in strong schools, student research and the adults who support both, those efforts can turn into results visible far beyond New Mexico.