A judge walks through rows of elementary school-aged projects at the first day of judging for the 2015 Southern Arizona Research, Science and Engineering Foundation fair on Tuesday, March 10, 2015, at the Tucson Convention Center.

 Mike Christy / Arizona Daily Star

A major Tucson science fair that draws thousands of K-12 students from Southern Arizona is making changes to its event this weekend due to concerns about the coronavirus, including canceling its popular Future Innovators Night.

The Southern Arizona Research, Science and Engineering Foundation, known as SARSEF, holds its yearly fair at the Tucson Convention Center, exhibiting science projects from the top 15% of students who competed at the district and school level in the region.

A record number of students are participating this year, with 7,500 students displaying 2,225 projects. Of those, 69% of students attend Title 1 schools, which have high numbers of students from low-income families.

Students typically have the chance to interview with scientists to get feedback from experts in their field and practice talking about their research.

SARSEF canceled the middle school interviews, which were optional, and made the in-person high school interviews optional.

Phone or video chats will be scheduled Thursday, March 12, for high school students who opt out of the in-person interview. SARSEF will soon release more details on scheduling interviews at sarsef.org.

The interview process factors into the students’ overall project scores at the high school level, but not the middle school level.

The interviews are also important for practice because top students will go on to compete in the International Science and Engineering Fair.

At the international fair, scheduled for Anaheim, California, in May, students get to meet with top scientists, said Liz Baker-Bowman, SARSEF’s CEO.

It’s unclear whether the international event will make changes or cancellations due to concerns about COVID-19.

Students are welcome to set up their own projects at the convention center on Wednesday, but for schools that are concerned, SARSEF recommends sending one representative to set up all the school’s projects.

Further, the award ceremony, which typically has thousands of attendees, will be streamed on YouTube this year.

Families and schools can host watch parties if they choose, Baker-Bowman said.

Awards can be picked up or delivered to schools after the ceremony. Details on where to watch the ceremony will be available soon at sarsef.org.

Baker-Bowman said the nonprofit has received positive feedback from schools about the precautions.

Students at one school, Innovation Academy, are going to raise funds to help the nonprofit recoup some of its losses.

SARSEF is not getting a refund for the TCC space it is no longer using, it is rescheduling a donor event, and the science fair won’t reach as many community members this year, which could result in a loss of revenue for an organization that relies on donors.

The student council at Innovation Academy, the Amphitheater school district’s K-5 STEM school, is going to donate what it raises during a month of “Make a Change Mondays,” the group’s weekly school fundraiser, said Principal Michael McConnell.

The student group usually collects about $200 in donations over a month.

Innovation students have participated in the science fair since the school opened in 2017, and McConnell said it’s been a great experience for elementary school students to enter projects and see examples of what they could do in middle and high school.

The school is going to hold its own award ceremony following SARSEF’s to give the students a chance to “essentially have their name up in lights,” McConnell said.

“The kids put all this time and energy into it, so understandably, the kids were kind of saddened,” he said. “But SARSEF is making the best of an unfortunate situation.”

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Contact reporter Danyelle Khmara at dkhmara@tucson.com or 573-4223. On Twitter: @DanyelleKhmara