Jan 11, 2011 14:38 GMT  ·  By

Google is one of the geekiest places to work and is a company that has never been afraid of tackling hard scientific problems. It's not much of a surprise then that it is now starting a program for young students to showcase their most interesting projects, the Google Science Fair.

The program will give students from around the world to enter a global competition and have the chance to win some quite interesting prizes including an expedition to the Galapagos with the National Geographic team and a trip at CERN or Google.

"To help make today’s young scientists the rock stars of tomorrow, in partnership with CERN, The LEGO Group, National Geographic and Scientific American, we’re introducing the first global online science competition: the Google Science Fair," Google's Cristin Frodella and Samantha Peter announced.

"It’s open to students around the world who are between the ages of 13-18. All you need is access to a computer, the Internet and a web browser," they explained.

The goal is to give everyone a chance to have their ideas heard and seen. There are some limitations, but for the most part any student can register a project. The project itself can be from a variety of fields, from computer science to physics to "food science."

"To enter, register online and create your project as a Google Site. Registration is open through April 4, 2011," Google explained.

"The semi-finalist projects will be posted on our online gallery, where we’ll encourage the public to vote for a 'people’s choice' winner," it added.

15 finalists will be chosen from the last batch and will then compete in a live event at Google's headquarters in California. A grand-prize winner will be chosen by the jury and there will be winners in each category.

The grand-prize winners will get a chance to join one of the National Geographic Expeditions for a 10 day-trip. Google will also provide a $50,000 scholarship for the winners' higher education. A trip to either CERN, Google, the LEGO Group or Scientific American will also be included along with other prizes.