A Murphy Middle School alumna in Murphy earned a spot among the top 300 young scientists in the country for a project aimed at making epinephrine auto-injectors easier to use.

Megan Lien, an eighth grader who attended Murphy Middle during the 2025-26 school year, was named to the Top 300 in the 2026 Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge. Her project, "Redesigning the Casing of the Epinephrine Auto-Injector to Increase Accessibility," stood out in a field of 1,997 applicants from 34 states, Puerto Rico and Guam, according to Plano ISD.

Lien now attends Renner Middle School in Plano.

She qualified for the competition by placing in the top 10% at a Society for Science-affiliated science fair. The specific fair where she earned her spot has not been publicly identified.

The Junior Innovators Challenge is the nation's premier middle school STEM competition, run by Society for Science and sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific. It reaches about 60,000 students each year through affiliated fairs. California, Texas and Florida produced the most Top 300 honorees this year, and 64% of the 300 attend public school.

All 300 honorees receive a $125 award. On Wednesday, Sept. 16, a panel of scientists, engineers and educators will narrow the field to 30 finalists. Those 30 will travel to Washington, D.C., to present their research and compete as teams in STEM challenges for more than $100,000 in prizes, including a $25,000 grand prize.

"I am incredibly proud of this year's Top 300 Junior Innovators," Maya Ajmera, president and CEO of Society for Science, said in a Sept. 2 announcement. "Their curiosity, creativity and determination to tackle some of our most pressing challenges … show what's possible when young people are empowered to pursue their ideas."

Plano ISD celebrated Lien's selection on its social media accounts on Thursday, Sept. 10, calling it an incredible achievement. Murphy Middle, which serves about 901 students in grades six through eight, is one of the district's middle schools in Murphy.

The Sept. 16 finalist announcement will determine whether Lien heads to the nation's capital.