13 Fall STEM Research Programs for Middle School Students
- Stephen Turban
- 2 hours ago
- 9 min read
If you’re a middle school student interested in STEM and want to learn in a more hands-on way, a fall STEM program can help you get started. These programs let you try out experiments, simple projects, and problem-solving activities that go beyond regular classroom work.
What are fall research programs like? What will I do as a participant?
Fall research programs come in many setups. Some are weekend sessions, some run after school, and many are online. You might study a topic with a mentor, build something small, write code, or work through a guided project. Because fall programs are short and focused on one theme, they are easier to manage during the school year.
Why should I participate in a fall research program as a high school student?
Taking part in a fall STEM program also gives you early experience that can help when you transition to high school. The skills you build now make it easier to take on bigger projects or apply to competitive summer research opportunities later.
With that, here are 13 fall STEM research programs for middle school students!
13 Fall STEM Research Programs for Middle School Students
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies depending on program type. Financial aid is available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective
Dates: Multiple eight-week sessions throughout the year
Application deadline: Rolling deadlines for each cohort
Eligibility: Students in grades 6–8
Lumiere’s Junior Explorer Program is an eight-week program for middle school students to develop personalized research projects. You’ll work 1-on-1 with a Ph.D.-level mentor to hone in on a field of your choosing; STEM options include Math, Physics, Neuroscience, Engineering, and more. You’ll begin the program with a deep dive into your discipline, focusing on four specialized topics in the field. You’ll then design and execute a research project under the guidance of your mentor, where you’ll analyze data, engage with current innovations in the field, and write a research paper.
Location: University of North Carolina Charlotte, Charlotte, NC
Cost: $125
Acceptance rate/cohort size: 50 students
Dates: Fall sessions typically September-November (4-5 Saturdays + 2 virtual Thursdays)
Application Deadline: October 27 – January 9
Eligibility: Grades 6-8 | Students must have a GPA of at least 2.5 with a minimum grade of C in STEM courses
UNC Charlotte’s Engineering Math Academy brings middle school students to campus for a series of STEM instruction and research during the fall. During each session, you’ll study two STEM concepts, each under the guidance of an instructor specializing in the field; topics include structural engineering, physics of motion, logic, and more. You’ll also connect your skills to Science Olympiad challenges and participate in friendly competitions with other NC middle school program students. You’ll conduct mini research projects in each session, with past options including building and evaluating the effectiveness of water filtration systems, calculating the kinetic energy of self-designed catapults, and determining optimal trajectories for rocket launches.
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies by program
Acceptance rate/cohort size: N/A
Dates: Multiple 10-week cohorts offered throughout the year
Application Deadline: Varies by the cohort
Eligibility: Grades 6-8
The AI Trailblazers program by Veritas AI is a virtual program that teaches middle school students the fundamentals of artificial intelligence and machine learning research. Over 25 hours, you will learn the basics of Python as well as topics like data analysis, regression, image classification, neural networks, and AI ethics. You will learn through lectures and group sessions with a 5:1 student-to-mentor ratio. Previous student research projects have included building a machine-learning model to classify music genres and creating a machine-learning algorithm to provide a custom list of educational resources based on selected specifications.
Location: New York University, New York, New York
Cost: $200; financial aid available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: N/A
Dates: October 18 - May 2 (School year session)
Application Deadline: Not specified
Eligibility: Grades 7-12 (NYC residents); requires a transcript, an essay on STEM interest, and meeting state-determined income criteria
NYU’s STEP program is a great opportunity for NYC residents with limited financial resources to gain educational enrichment and research experience in STEM through a multi-year program. You’ll study under NYU faculty and students, attending courses and workshops across science, healthcare, engineering, and English; the middle school curriculum focuses on algebra and geometry, academic writing, and specialized scientific topics. You’ll be guided to explore career paths in STEM fields and plan for your future course of study in college. To build hands-on skills, you’ll complete research projects and attend interactive workshops while receiving mentorship from program facilitators. You’ll remain involved with programming throughout high school, including advanced research opportunities, test prep counseling, and college application guidance.
Location: Remote
Cost: Varies
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: Fall session begins September 8
Application deadline: August 12
Eligibility: Students in grades 7–11 | Requires above-grade-level performance determined by CTY assessment criteria
For mathematically-talented students with a dual interest in athletics, JHU’s Sports Statistics program provides a unique opportunity to complete statistical research with a sports orientation. You’ll study alongside other advanced middle school students and high schoolers, learning data analysis skills through examining statistics from sports like basketball and soccer. You’ll study statistical research techniques in quantitative analysis, developing research questions, reviewing and summarizing data, and more. You’ll work with classmates to complete research-focused assignments, brainstorm problem-solving approaches, and practice communicating results. You’ll finish by designing and executing a research project on sports statistics tailored to your interests, which you’ll present to your peers at the end of the program.
Location: University of Maryland, Baltimore, Baltimore, MD
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not provided
Dates: Typically September for fall
Application Deadline: September 22 for Fall
Eligibility: Grades 6-10 | Students must be residents of West Baltimore, interested in STEM, and committed to long-term involvement in the program | Middle schoolers must attend Franklin Square Elementary and Middle School, Green Street Academy, or Southwest Baltimore Charter School; participants can attend any West Baltimore high school
UMB’s CURE Scholars Program provides a multi-year academic training and research program for West Baltimore middle school students interested in pursuing a STEM career. You’ll study three core areas during After-School and Saturday Academy sessions: Food Science, Anatomy, and Coding/Robotics. Each topic includes research projects and hands-on assignments, including studying the impact of a disease on specific body systems, connections between nutrition and cancer, and programming a robot. Your work will extend over the summer for a more intensive camp program, where you’ll work with scientists and professors in fields like Genomics and Dentistry.
Location: Virtual
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: 12 students/cohort
Dates: Summer: July 7 – 25 | Fall: August 27 – December 10 (1x/week)
Application deadline: March 20
Eligibility: Low-income students in grades 6 and 7 in the U.S.; typically, accepted students’ family income is below $90,000/year (on average, $55,000/year)
The Stanford Middle School Scholars program hosts economically disadvantaged middle schoolers for a high school preparation program focused on both academic and personal development. You will enroll in one of three or four courses; at least one STEM option is offered each year, currently Real-Life Applications to Mathematics. While not a traditional research program, your coursework will require intensive research and statistical modeling assignments across financial and market analysis, applying modular arithmetic to Public Key Encryption, and more. You’ll supplement your coursework with weekly sessions throughout the fall, focusing on academic writing, educational and career planning, and high school applications.
Location: Northwestern University Center for Talent Development, Evanston, IL
Cost: $395 (financial aid available)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; based on assessment exam performance
Dates: 6-week programs offered in the Fall, Spring, and Summer
Application Deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: Grades 5-6, able to commute to campus weekly; requires “Emerald” qualification (equivalent to 90th percentile or above on national achievement test)
Northwestern offers a research-based course for young middle school students interested in engineering and design for extreme environments. You’ll study topics from deep-sea exploration vehicles to outer space satellites, learning how engineering concepts are applied to build products that can withstand vacuums, high pressure, and extreme temperatures. You’ll meet weekly to learn with a small group of students through lectures, group discussions, and activities. You’ll develop a research project of your own, studying how to adapt engineering principles to harsh environments and designing a prototype to withstand an extreme environment of your choosing.
Location: Remote
Cost: Varies
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: Fall session begins September 8
Application deadline: August 12
Eligibility: Students in grades 5–6 | Requires above-grade-level performance determined by CTY assessment criteria
Middle schoolers in the 6th grade looking for exposure to above-grade-level STEM education and research experience can consider JHU’s Roving Robots program. Over the course of 12 weeks, you’ll complete work across math, robotics, and computer science through a combination of live online sessions and independent activities. You’ll learn about former robotics missions to Mars and developments in space-focused engineering geared towards data collection on a foreign planet. You’ll develop mathematics, engineering, and programming skills in topics like functional decomposition, abstraction, and flow control to learn design processes for an optimized space robot. To gain research experience, you’ll construct and program a robot capable of performing tasks on Mars’ surface, developing features including autonomous maneuvering and retrieving objects.
Location: Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
Cost/Stipend: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective (up to 50 students)
Dates: October - March
Application Deadline: Typically in September
Eligibility: Grades 7-8 | Must be attending James P. Timilty Middle School in Roxbury, MA
The MGH Science Fair Mentoring Program hosts economically disadvantaged students interested in scientific research for a four-month program, where you’ll develop your project from start to finish under the guidance of an MGH staff mentor. After developing a compelling research question, you’ll be guided to design and execute experiments, collect data, and analyze your outcomes during bi-weekly sessions at MGH. You’ll also receive training on delivering oral research presentations in advance of your science fair competition. Strong 8th-grade participants may be invited to return for a paid summer internship before beginning high school. While this program is limited to Timilty Middle School students, MGH additionally offers Senior STEM Clubs for Boston-area middle school students, providing training in hands-on science and technology education and research skills.
Location: Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
Cost/Stipend: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: N/A
Dates: Clubs start for the year in August/September
Application Deadline: N/A
Eligibility: Middle school clubs are open to grades 6-8; SMILE hosts clubs for grades 4-12
Oregon State University supports STEM-focused “Growing Into Problem Solvers” clubs for middle school students through its SMILE program, with a focus on increasing participation among rural students. In these club meetings, you work on problem-solving activities that start with identifying a community issue, breaking it into smaller parts, and creating STEM-based solutions with your group. The sessions include a range of educational topics such as solar eclipses, biodiversity, and related science concepts. You complete small research projects like making biodegradable plastics, building model habitats for macroinvertebrates, or creating a research poster on bioenergy.
Location: CCNY, New York, NY
Cost/Stipend: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: N/A
Dates: September 13 - December 20 (sessions meet ~3 times/week)
Application Deadline: August 30
Eligibility: Separate middle school (Grades 6-8) and high school (Grades 9-12) programs are offered
CCNY’s STEM Institute provides free fall STEM research opportunities for NYC middle schoolers through after-school and Saturday sessions. You’ll have the opportunity to focus on 3D Modeling or Architecture, where you’ll develop skills in math, engineering, and physics through hands-on work, group discussions, and class lessons. In the Architecture track, you’ll study the history and theory of architecture, and design your own buildings utilizing quantitative and creative skills. In 3D modeling, you’ll learn skills in STEM topics like programming and robotics. You’ll also receive test prep tutoring for the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test, preparing you for acceptance into NYC’s competitive public high schools like Stuyvesant and Bronx High School of Science.
Location: Georgia Tech
Cost: $60 (Savannah) or $70 (Atlanta) per session
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Sign-up based
Dates: September 27, October 18, November 15, December 6 | October and December dates are only offered for the Atlanta program
Application Deadline: Rolling sign-ups
Eligibility: Grades 6-12 (Atlanta) | Grades 1-8 (Savannah)
Georgia Tech’s Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC) offers a series of 2-4 Saturday programs in STEM for middle school students in Georgia, with opportunities to complete mini-research projects over the course of the day. You’ll complete activities like building robots, learning to program, or crafting circuits with stained glass, as well as lab experiments in CEISMC facilities. As a series of one-day programs, you can participate in as many or as few sessions as you’re interested in. These sessions are a flexible opportunity for you to pursue activity-based learning that you can apply to future long-term research projects.
Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a Ph.D. student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program in which students work one-on-one with a mentor to develop an independent research paper.
Image Source - Georgia Tech logo