10 Best Computer Science Research Programs for High School Students
If you’re interested in doing research in computer science, we have compiled a list of the 10 best computer science research programs for high school students.
Why should you do computer science research in high school?
To college admission officers, research demonstrates initiative, motivation, passion, and dedication. But outside of that, research in computer science offers the unique opportunity to deepen your understanding of the field by exploring subdomains like artificial intelligence, data science, cybersecurity, and more. From learning new skill sets to exploring developing trends, the intellectual challenge that CS research poses can spike your abilities, and help you build the foundation to further pursue your interest.
How we selected these programs
To select and and rank the following programs, we used these criteria:
1. Technical Rigor and Reputation: This criterion looked at the reputation of not only the quality of education, the intellectual challenge offered, and the credibility of the program host, but also the student testimonies and the selectivity of the program. This criterion also ranked the programs that had more technical rigor higher.
2. Resources and Depth of Learning: In addition to technical rigor, we also looked at the resources and opportunities that could be available. At University organized programs, will participants get to work with faculty? Are the programs mentored? Is there more than just a research component?
3. Accessibility: Lastly, we looked at how accessible these research programs were. We looked at elements like whether or not it was virtual, how open the application was, and how wallet-friendly the program was.
With that, here’s a list of the 10 best computer science research programs for high school students!
1. Lumiere Research Scholar Programs - Computer Science Track
Founded by Harvard and Oxford PhDs, Lumiere is a selective research program for high school students, where students work one-to-one with a PhD mentor to develop an independent research paper. While it offers programs across an array of disciplines, research areas in computer science span data science, generative AI, robotics, game development, cryptography, computer networks, human computer interaction, ethics in computer science and so much more!
Due to its one-to-one nature, you can expect to not only learn the most recent developments of various tech industries but also expand your technological skillset, regardless of what level it is at. If you’re interested in doing interdisciplinary research, this would be a good option!
Cost: Lumiere Individual Research Program – $2,600, Lumiere Premium Research and Publication Program – $4,800, Lumiere Research Fellowship – $8,400
Location: Virtual
Application Deadline: Rolling, Cohort based. Applications for the Fall Cohort are open now.
Program Dates: Rolling, Cohort based.
Program Selectivity: Moderately selective (acceptance rate of around 24%)
Eligibility: High School Students
You can find the application form here.
2. Carnegie Mellon's Pre-College Computer Science and AI Scholars Program
These 4-week program are structured as a combination of classroom instruction, hands-on research projects, faculty lectures, and industry engagement with leading tech companies around the country. Those who complete the Computer Science Scholars program and demonstrate a desire to continue may be invited to return as rising seniors to CMU’s AI Scholars program the following summer.
Apart from getting introduced to the various ongoing research projects through faculty, In the CS Scholars track, you can expect to learn algorithmic components (variables, functions, conditionals, and loops), basic data structures (lists and dictionaries), and problem-solving techniques in Python (algorithmic thinking, top-down design, testing, and debugging). You will also have to take a math course to strengthen your computational skills.
The AI Scholars track also introduces its students to ongoing research projects, and you will be expected complete a project that you can demonstrate has an applied use for the betterment of humanity.
This program is suitable for anyone who wants to combine structured learning with a mentored research project, mostly geared towards solving a problem for the betterment of humanity. This can be a great kickstarter for a passion project that you can scale to show your ability to use tech for good.
Pro tip: We would also recommend aiming for this program if you are targeting CMU as a potential option for college. A great outcome for a high performing student in this program can be potentially receiving a recommendation letter from a mentor, who may very well be a professor or graduate student at CMU or an industry leader.
Cost: None
Location: Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
Application Deadline: TBA for 2024, likely early March (based on the previous year’s schedule)
Program Dates: TBA for 2024, likely to be from July 1st through 28th (based on the previous year’s schedule)
Program Selectivity: Moderately Selective
Eligibility: Applicants must be sophomores in High School for the Computer Science Scholars Track, Seniors for the AI Scholars track
3. DSI Summer Lab @ the University of Chicago
The Data Science Institute Summer Lab program is an immersive 10-week paid summer research program at the University of Chicago. High school and undergraduate students are paired with a data science mentor in various domains, including computer science, data science, social science, climate and energy policy, public policy, materials science, and biomedical research.
In the program, you operate as a research assistant, and at the end of the program you will participate in a conference where you present your findings. Some projects may connect high school students to the program’s social impact track. Integrating these learnings through computer science extracurriculars could give your applications a boost. Check out this list of computer science extracurriculars for high school students!
Cost: No cost, stipend of $5,625 provided
Location: University of Chicago (Chicago, Illinois)
Application Deadline: TBA
Program Dates: TBA
Program Selectivity: Highly Selective (acceptance rate of around 10%)
Eligibility: High school and undergraduate students
4. The Anson L.Clark Scholars Program | Texas Tech University
The Anson L. Clark Scholars Program is a highly selective, intensive, 7-week research program for 12 qualified juniors and seniors in high school. The program enables participants to reside on campus and offers a stipend at the end of the program for the research project report. Students work with faculty for their research and also avail of weekly seminars, discussions, and field trips. In terms of the technical knowledge and details you’ll learn – it highly depends on what research project you’ll work on. That being said, the CS field of this program covers various programming languages, data structures and algorithms, computer architecture, software engineering, operating systems, and more.
Here is some more information on how transformative this program is for participants and some advice on getting in directly from the Dean! Here’s some more information on the Anson L. Clark program if you are interested.
Cost: No cost, stipend of $750 provided
Location: Texas Tech University (Lubbock, Texas)
Application Deadline: TBA
Program Dates: TBA for 2024, probably between June 18th and August 3rd (based on previous year’s schedules)
Program Selectivity: Highly Selective (acceptance rate of around 12%)
Eligibility: At least 17 years of age, can participate either the summer before or the summer after Senior year of high school.
5. Research Experience | UCSB Summer Sessions
In this six week intensive program, students are paired with a mentor (either graduate student, post doc, or faculty) to take part in a specific research project. Some general skills you might pick up from this program include presenting at a formal university symposium and describing your research in a formal paper.
As a bonus, you can also earn university credits. CS research varies in topic choice year to year, but has included topics ranging from developing an open-source pH sensor to Monitor Ocean Acidification, to the creation of a Low-Rank Neural Network for Multimodal Sentiment Analysis. You can find rosters of different years’ research projects here. This is a great choice if you’re looking for a mentored research experience in CS!
Cost: $75 application fee + $250 enrollment deposit.
If you’re commuting, the tuition and program fees is $4,700
If you’re residing on-campus, you’ll have to pay $4,700 + $6,599 as Housing and Meal fees
A limited number of scholarships awarded to California Residents.
Location: University of California, Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara, CA)
Application Deadline: TBA for 2024
Program Dates: Likely from June 20th through 24th, based on previous year’s schedule.
Program Selectivity: Highly Selective (acceptance rate ranging between 10 to 15%)
Eligibility: High School Sophomores and Juniors
6. Applied Research Innovations in Science and Engineering (ARISE)
The NYU Tandon School of Engineering’s Applied Research Innovations in Science and Engineering is a seven week intensive 7 week research program. 5 weeks are spent researching and participating in NYU Faculty Labs (as a mentored experience) and the other two weeks are for workshops. At the end of the program, students present their findings to NYU Faculty and Graduate Students, other academic experts, their peers and their families and friends at a colloquium.
ARISE offers a focus on Computer Science and Engineering, amidst other disciplines, and past opportunities have included working on incorporating ethical norms into all aspects of the data science lifecycle, and conducting research at the intersection of privacy, security, and machine learning.
Cost: No cost, stipend of $750 provided
Location: NYU (Brooklyn, New York)
Application Deadline: Based off previous years, March 3rd/ 5th
Program Dates: Based of previous year’s schedule, June 28th through August 11th
Program Selectivity: Moderate/Highly selective (acceptance rate of around 20%)
Eligibility: High school sophomores and juniors living in NYC
7. Computer Science and Informatics Summer Research Experience Program (CSIRE)
Computer Science and Informatics Summer Research Experience Program (CSIRE) is a summer program to provide opportunities for high school students to participate in research. The program is held jointly by the Department of Biomedical Informatics and the Department of Computer Science at Stony Brook University.
Each student will be working in a lab mentored by a faculty or a Ph.D. student on a research project. Students will also visit labs and attend seminars introducing cutting-edge research in both computer science and informatics. The students will present their work to their classmates during the middle and the end of the program. A programming background is required.
This is a great choice for you if you are interested in combining CS with healthcare and biology in general.
Here are some of the publications that have resulted from research conducted during the program.
Cost: $2,800 (financial aid available)
Location: Stony Brook University (Suffolk County, New York)
Application Deadline: TBA for 2024, Most likely in April 2024 (based on previous years)
Program Dates: June 26th/27th through August 5th/6th (based on previous years)
Program Selectivity: Moderately Selective (acceptance rate around 25%)
Eligibility: High school students
Veritas AI has a range of AI programs for high school students, starting from close-group, collaborative learning to customized project pathways with 1:1 mentorship. The programs have been designed and run by Harvard graduate students & alumni.
In the AI Fellowship program, students work with PhDs from top institutions to work on their own research projects. These research projects can be across fields that intersect with computer science or artificial intelligence. Students in the past have worked on projects in AI & finance, AI & medicine, creating softwares for educational resources, applications of computer science in gaming, and more. Examples of more interesting projects students have worked on can be found here.
Cost: $1,490 for the AI Scholars program (The 10-week boot camp), $4,200 for the AI Fellowship (12–15 weeks, 1-1 mentorship). Need-based financial aid is available.
Location: Virtual
Application Deadline: The program runs in cohorts, applications can be found here!
Program Dates: Rolling - Cohorts during spring, summer, fall, and winter
Program Selectivity: Open Enrollment for the AI Scholars Program, Moderately selective for the AI Fellowship
Eligibility: High school students.
The California State School for Mathematics and Science at UC Santa Cruz is an intensive 4 week residential research program. The program is structured to have both a learning component and a research component – students choose one cluster of courses, attend lectures, and develop and present their final research project to their peers in the symposium at the end of the program.
Clusters include Quantum Information Science and Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, and Video Game Design.
You can see the full list of Clusters here.
Cost: $4,770. Financial Aid available.
Location: UC Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz, CA)
Application Deadline: Online applications available early January through February every year. Dates for 2024 TBA.
Program Dates: July 9th through 5th, based on previous year’s schedule.
Program Selectivity: Moderately Selective (acceptance rate of around 22%)
Eligibility: Students in grades 8 through 12, California residents.
10. MIT Women's Technology Program
This is a 4-week summer academic and residential experience where 60 female high school students explore engineering through hands-on classes that are taught by female MIT graduate students. Something important to note is that although there’s some amount of research, this program entails a lot more learning and classes and is aimed at people with no prior experience. This focus is part of why we’ve ranked this program here. But if you’re looking for a quality education and kickstart into Computer Science, then this program could fit!
There is some amount of lab work and team-based research projects. Students focus on either Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) or Mechanical Engineering (ME). In the EECS program, you’ll be working with Python. You will be taught from scratch, but the course is fast-paced and you will be expected to have created a project by the end of it. You can find the curriculum here. Note that the EECS track is on hiatus for 2023, but we’ve included this here in case it comes back for next year.
This program is a great choice for ‘representation in tech’ and networking with leading female industry professionals.
Cost: None
Location: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
Application Deadline: TBA, Likely January 15th based on the previous year’s schedule.
Program Dates: TBA. Likely June through July 2024.
Program Selectivity: Highly Selective (acceptance rate of around 7%)
Eligibility: Juniors or Seniors in High School. Note that this program is women-focused.
If you’re interested, there are several other programs out there – like the Columbia University Science Honors Program – that you should consider.