The STEM Research Experience is a selective seven-week summer program offered by CU Science Discovery at the University of Colorado Boulder and CU Anschutz Medical Campus, open to high school students aged 16 and older. Participants are paired with faculty and graduate student mentors who guide them through authentic scientific inquiry, including literature review, experimental design, data collection, and scientific communication. Students work 15 to 20 hours per week in real research labs, gaining the kind of hands-on experience typically reserved for college students. It is one of the most immersive and rigorous summer research opportunities available to high schoolers in the country.
Designing studies, testing hypotheses, and drawing evidence-based conclusions.
Running experiments safely and accurately using real scientific equipment and procedures.
Making sense of numbers and datasets to find patterns, test ideas, and support decisions.
Gathering and evaluating information systematically to answer a question.
Evaluating information carefully before drawing a conclusion or making a decision.
Breaking down a challenge and working through it methodically to a solution.
Students conduct hands-on research in STEM disciplines under faculty mentors, mirroring the core work of medical researchers.
Program offers bioengineering as a research option with mentorship in laboratory techniques and data analysis.
Chemistry is listed as a past research topic, with students engaging in the full scientific research process.
Ecology, evolutionary biology, and hydrology are offered research areas involving data collection and analysis.
Biophysics, computational biology, and engineering disciplines provide exposure to quantitative research methods.
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