Competitions, summer programs, and other opportunities for students who want to take their research further — organized by field.
Dates, deadlines, and eligibility rules change year to year. Always confirm the current details on each program's own site before you apply.
The country's oldest and most prestigious research competition for high school seniors. Around 2,600 students submit independent research projects in science, math, or engineering each year; 300 are named Scholars, and 40 Finalists travel to Washington, D.C. to compete for a share of $3.1 million in awards.
The premier U.S. high school biology competition, run by the Center for Excellence in Education (CEE). About 12,000 students take two rounds of exams annually; the top 20 attend a residential National Finals training camp, and the top 4 represent the U.S. at the International Biology Olympiad.
A medtech nonprofit (based at El Camino Health) that incubates early-stage health-technology startups and runs education programs. Its most student-facing offerings are the Lefteroff Internship (aimed mainly at college/grad students) and the DxD HealthTech initiative, which extends mentorship and workshops down to the high school level.
A global synthetic biology competition where student teams, guided by an adult Principal Investigator, design, build, and test a biological system addressing a real-world problem, then present it at the Grand Jamboree.
An annual individual + team competition in the natural sciences (physics, chemistry, biology combined) for younger students, held in a different host country each year — the 2026 edition will be in Sofia, Bulgaria. Aims to challenge gifted young scientists and build international connections early on.
A youth-run nonprofit competition bringing neuroscience to teens through a competitive exam (with "Opens" and semifinal rounds), plus a research symposium and the INO-NEXUS essay contest. Over 1,000 participants across 24+ countries.
The top biotechnology research competition for high schoolers: students present original research in Global Healthcare, Sustainability, or Environment tracks, first at state/regional partner competitions (or the virtual "At-Large" track if your state has none), with top finishers advancing to the International finals (CURE Innovation Campus, NYC / BioFuture Conference).
The top international biology competition for high schoolers, bringing together the winners of ~70+ countries' National Biology Olympiads for an intensive multi-day exam event.
MIT's annual programming contest: teams write autonomous AI code to command a virtual robot army, applying pathfinding, distributed algorithms, and game theory. Competitions run throughout January for a pool of $20,000+ in prizes.
The Air & Space Forces Association's national youth cyber education program, centered on the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition, where K-12 teams compete to secure simulated networks.
Meta's annual global algorithmic programming competition (formerly Facebook Hacker Cup), running since 2011. It typically opens with an optional practice round, then moves through Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, and an onsite/virtual Final Round, with competitors solving timed algorithmic problems in the language of their choice. The 2025 edition drew tens of thousands of entrants and paid out a $20,000 top prize (with $10K/$5K/$3K/$1K for 2nd–5th place); recent years have also run a separate AI track.
A free, gamified cybersecurity learning platform (CTF-style challenges: reverse engineering, cryptography, exploitation) for middle/high school/college students.
The premier US competitive programming track for high schoolers — free online training modules plus four contests/year across Bronze/Silver/Gold/Platinum divisions. Top scorers get invited to a training camp, from which the USA's IOI team (and EGOI team, for top female competitors) is selected.
An international high school physics competition: a 40-question, 45-minute multiple-choice team exam based on typical high school physics coursework, with Division I (1st-year physics) and Division II (2nd-year) categories, scored regionally.
The pathway to the International Physics Olympiad: starts with the F=ma exam (multiple-choice mechanics), narrows to ~400 students for the USAPhO exam, then ~20 for a training camp, with the final team of 5 representing the US at IPhO.
The most prestigious international physics competition for secondary students — 5 team members (+2 leaders) per country compete in a 9–10 day theoretical/experimental event.
ACS's flagship chemistry competition, sponsored since 1984, with a four-tier funnel: Local exam → National exam (~1,000+ students) → two-week Study Camp for the top 20 → International Chemistry Olympiad (top 4 represent the US).
A UK-based advanced chemistry challenge (co-hosted by Cambridge's Chemistry Department and St Catharine's College) — a 90-minute written paper that goes well beyond A-Level syllabus, often used as a stepping stone to the UK Chemistry Olympiad. Top performers are invited to a residential camp at Cambridge.
The 58th IChO, hosted in Tashkent, Uzbekistan — the pinnacle of the chemistry olympiad pathway, with 5-hour theoretical and 5-hour practical exams for 90+ countries' top chemistry students.
A UC Berkeley student-run math competition featuring original, hand-crafted problems across Power, Individual, and Guts rounds. With 4,000+ annual participants, it's the largest student-run math competition in the world, and it's offered both in person and online.
A selective Stanford summer program for advanced math students, offering intensive study in topics like abstract algebra, number theory, or algebraic topology through lectures, guided research, and group problem-solving — online and residential tracks available.
A 6-week intensive summer math immersion for pre-college students, centered on number theory, designed to build deep mathematical thinking rather than competition speed. Runs at two sites (Otterbein University, OH and Rose-Hulman, IN).
A large student-run math competition at Stanford (2,000+ participants in 2025), open to high schoolers in-person and via an SMT Online version for middle/high schoolers worldwide.
The MAA's flagship K–12 math competition family — AMC 8 (grade ≤8), AMC 10 (grade ≤10), and AMC 12 (grade ≤12) — the entry point toward AIME, USAMO, and the IMO pathway. 300,000+ students annually.
One of the most prestigious student-run high school math competitions in the world, drawing ~1,000 students per tournament, organized entirely by Harvard/MIT students.
A large, entirely student-run high school math competition hosted by the Princeton Math Club (running since 2006), featuring individual and team rounds plus a distinctive team "Power Round."
The world's largest student rocket competition. Teams design, build, and launch model rockets to hit precise altitude and flight-duration targets, competing for the National Championship and a spot representing the U.S. at the International Rocketry Challenge.
Global student robotics competition (running since 2004) with four categories — RoboMission, RoboSports, Future Innovators, Future Engineers — across four age divisions. Teams design and program their own robots for a themed challenge; the 2026 theme is "Robots Meet Culture." A related MIT/NASA programming competition, Zero Robotics, is also worth a look.
Samsung's annual STEM competition for U.S. public schools (grades 6–12). Students pitch a STEM project addressing a community problem; winning schools can receive up to $100,000 in prizes plus mentorship from Samsung employees.
A global Arduino electronics competition run by IEEE's Solid-State Circuits Society. Teams of up to 3 build a themed gadget (this cycle's theme: "Smart Solutions to Daily Challenges") and submit a demo video for cash prizes; free starter kits and tutorials are available for beginners.
University of Michigan's flagship student-run hackathon — 24 hours of building software/hardware projects in Ann Arbor, drawing 1,000+ builders. High schoolers are welcome (minors just fill out extra forms).
A global science-video competition: make an engaging video explaining a concept in life sciences, physics, or math. Winner gets a $250,000 college scholarship, $50,000 for their teacher, and $100,000 for their school's science lab.
A six-week hands-on research program at Stony Brook University pairing academically strong high schoolers with faculty mentors in science, math, or engineering labs.
A free, highly selective summer program at MIT: one week of intensive STEM coursework followed by a five-week research internship with expert mentors, capped by written and oral presentations. Run by CEE.
An MIT Lincoln Laboratory–affiliated summer program with rigorous courses in autonomous vehicles, robotics, AI, and similar fields, culminating in an in-person capstone at MIT.
A 24-year-old NASA workforce-development program where high schoolers design and build real hardware/products actually used by NASA and ISS astronauts, working directly with NASA engineers. Tracks include hardware, software/robotics, biomedical science, culinary, and video/media.
An MIT TechX–run initiative where high schoolers submit a written proposal for an original STEM research or engineering project; finalists get $1,000 in funding, mentorship, and a funded trip to MIT to develop the idea.
A hands-on summer research program at Stony Brook's Garcia Center, placing students in real polymer-science/materials labs alongside researchers.
A unique physics competition where teams of high schoolers propose an original experiment to run on a real particle-accelerator beamline; winning teams travel to CERN (Geneva), DESY (Hamburg), or ELSA (Bonn) to actually carry it out.
Not a competition — a free educational nonprofit that translates real scientific research papers into kid/teen-friendly articles (organized by subject, reading level, and NGSS standard), plus lesson plans, podcasts, and an interactive learning platform (SJK Interactive). Great as a reading/research resource, but there's no deadline or entry process to speak of.
A prestigious research competition (founded by Fields Medalist Shing-Tung Yau) across six fields — math, physics, chemistry, biology, computer science, and economic/financial modeling — judged by an international academic panel, with a China mainland division and separate Overseas Divisions for Asia and North America.
A different category — not a STEM/research competition, but a college-access nonprofit matching high-achieving students from low-income backgrounds with full four-year scholarships at 55+ top colleges (via the National College Match) or junior-year prep support (College Prep Scholars Program).
Also a different category — this is a startup accelerator, not a student program. Anyone (including students) with a company idea can apply; YC invests in and mentors early-stage startups over a 3-month batch in San Francisco, culminating in Demo Day.