15 Free STEM Summer Programs for Middle School Students
If you're a middle school student with an interest in science, technology, engineering, or math, a summer STEM program can be one of the best ways to spend your break. These programs go beyond classroom learning; you get to work on real projects, use professional tools, and sometimes even collaborate with researchers and industry experts. The connections you build with mentors and peers in these spaces can stay with you well beyond the summer.
What are the benefits of a STEM program?
STEM summer programs give middle school students a chance to get hands-on with subjects that are often hard to explore in a traditional school setting. Depending on the program, you might be building robots, writing code, running science experiments, analyzing data, or working on engineering challenges, all under the guidance of professionals who do this work for a living. Many of these opportunities are offered by universities, research institutions, and well-known organizations, meaning you're learning in environments designed for serious inquiry.
We’ve put together this list of 15 free STEM summer programs for middle school students.
If you’re looking for online AI summer programs, check out our blog here.
1. dynaMIT
Location: MIT Campus, Cambridge, MA
Cost: Free
Dates: August 17 – 21 (rising 6th/7th graders) | August 24 – 28 (rising 8th/9th graders)
Application Deadline: Typically, March
Eligibility: Rising 6th–9th graders; students from low-income families in the Massachusetts area are especially encouraged to apply
dynaMIT is a week-long STEM program designed and run entirely by MIT undergraduate students. Every week, a new group of middle school students engages in practical science and engineering activities, experiments, and team challenges, guided by MIT students who act as both instructors and mentors during the program. The program is split by grade level, so you'll be learning alongside peers at a similar stage. dynaMIT's mission is to make STEM accessible to those who might not otherwise have access to enrichment programs like this. The entire experience takes place on MIT's campus, giving you a real look at college life in a world-class science and engineering environment.
2. Veritas AI Trailblazers
Location: Virtual
Cost: Full financial aid available
Dates: Two formats available; 25 hours over 2 weeks (weekday sessions during the summer) or 25 hours over 10 weeks (weekend sessions)
Application Deadline: Rolling deadlines. You can apply to the program here.
Eligibility: Students in grades 6–8
AI Trailblazers is a virtual program that introduces middle school students to artificial intelligence and machine learning through hands-on coding and applied projects. Across the program, you'll work through Python programming, data analysis, neural networks, and image classification, with each topic grounded in real-world applications spanning healthcare and gaming, sports analytics, political science, and crime detection. Projects range from building video games and voice assistants to classifying medical images and predicting sports outcomes. The program also covers AI ethics alongside the technical content, and wraps up with a small-group project where you apply what you've learned to an AI application of your choice. Lectures and collaborative activities run throughout, and you’ll also join an AI community connecting you with peers who share an interest in the field.
3. NYU Science of Smart Cities (SoSC)
Location: Andries Hudde Magnet School of STEAM, Brooklyn, NY
Cost: Free
Dates: July 6 – 31
Application Deadline: May 15
Eligibility: Current 6th and 7th graders who are NYC residents
Science of Smart Cities introduces you to engineering, computer science, and technology through the lens of how cities actually work. Over four weeks, you'll explore how STEM concepts are applied to real urban challenges, such as energy, urban infrastructure, transportation, and wireless communications, through hands-on activities, demonstrations, and experiments. Working in teams, you'll use electronics and circuitry, coding, microcontrollers, sensors, and other hardware to design and build your own project. The program wraps up with a final project presentation, in which each team demonstrates its solution to a real-world challenge. Guest lectures and field trips are also part of the experience.
4. Lumiere Junior Explorers Program
Location: Virtual
Cost: Full financial aid available
Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year, including summer
Application Deadline: Rolling deadlines by cohort
Eligibility: Students in grades 6–8
The Lumiere Junior Explorers Program is a one-on-one research mentorship program that pairs you with university mentors to develop and complete an original STEM research project. You’ll start with a broad introduction to your chosen field, which includes Physics and Astrophysics, AI and Data, Biology, Medicine and Public Health, and Environmental Studies, before narrowing into a specialized topic that forms the basis of your project. The entire experience is built around independent inquiry, with your mentor guiding you through the research process from start to finish. Mentors come from institutions including Harvard, MIT, Columbia, and Oxford, and the program is designed to build the research and critical-thinking skills that carry into high school and beyond.
5. NYU CACTUS
Location: NYU Tandon School of Engineering, Brooklyn, NY
Cost: Fully funded
Dates: 15-week program (Saturdays)
Application Deadline: Not specified
Eligibility: Students currently in grades 6–8 who are NYC residents
CACTUS is a 15-week NYU Tandon program that immerses middle school students in STEM through practical, project-based learning. Participants will build and program robots, use CAD (computer-aided design) software, and develop their own Arduino projects. The program emphasizes hands-on experience, with each project expanding your technical skills and problem-solving capabilities. It concludes with a final project expo where students showcase their work.
6. NYU Sounds of New York City (SONYC)
Location: Andries Hudde Magnet School of STEAM, Brooklyn, NY
Cost: Free
Dates: July 6 – 31
Application Deadline: May 15
Eligibility: Current 6th and 7th graders who are NYC residents
SONYC takes an angle on STEM you probably haven't explored in school before: noise pollution. Over four weeks, you'll study sound waves and how urban noise affects public health, sample sounds in real communities, and build actual devices that make and monitor sound. The technical side covers electronics, coding, and hardware, all in service of understanding a real environmental issue affecting millions of city residents. You'll also participate in improv-based communication training, which builds the presentation and public speaking skills you'll need when you showcase your smart city technology at the end-of-program expo.
7. Physics Inside Out (PIO)
Location: Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
Cost: Free
Dates: June 8 – 12
Application Deadline: April 15
Eligibility: Current 7th and 8th-grade students; selected based on a written response about interest and motivation, and a science teacher recommendation
Physics Inside Out is a week-long program on Purdue's West Lafayette campus where each day is structured around a morning and afternoon topic, both involving real lab work. Areas like nanotechnology, astrophysics, lasers, thermodynamics, and the physics of everyday objects are covered. You might spend one session doing mechanical exfoliation of graphite to make graphene in a research lab, and another learning how atomic force microscopes map nanoscale surfaces. Purdue faculty and graduate researchers lead each session and share their stories, including how they found their way into science and what their careers look like. The week also includes a visit to the France Cordova Recreational Center, where physics concepts like friction, gravity, and rotational motion are demonstrated through climbing.
8. USC Northrop Grumman Summer Engineering Camp
Location: USC Main Campus, Los Angeles, CA
Cost: Free
Dates: July 13 – 24
Application Deadline: May 4
Eligibility: Currently enrolled in grades 5–7; minimum B average in science and math; priority given to MESA students, Mission Science students, and students from schools affiliated with the K-12 STEM Center, though all students are considered
The Northrop Grumman Summer Engineering Camp at USC gives you two full weeks of hands-on engineering across five disciplines: aerospace, civil, electrical, environmental, and mechanical engineering. Depending on the day, you might be building rockets, constructing circuits, designing bridges, or assembling robots. Computer science also plays a role, where you'll learn coding and app development alongside engineering tasks. The camp accepts 32 students annually, making it a highly selective program.
9. BEAM Summer Away
Location: Multiple sites in New York and Southern California
Cost: Free
Dates: 3-week residential program
Application Deadline: Not specified
Eligibility: Rising 7th graders from underserved backgrounds who would not otherwise have access to advanced math opportunities
BEAM Summer Away is a three-week residential math program where you can choose your own classes in subjects such as number theory, combinatorics, graph theory, circuit design, and problem-solving. Faculty include university professors and K-12 teachers from across the country, and the student-instructor dynamic here is notably informal. Beyond the classroom, the program includes guest speakers from the mathematics and STEM fields, field trips such as hiking or visiting an amusement park, and activities ranging from soccer and dance to origami and Ultimate Frisbee. The program wraps up with a closing ceremony where students and families learn about what comes next, including support through 8th grade, high school selection, algebra, and opportunities such as visits to Jane Street and Google's NYC offices, college days, and career days.
10. NYU College and Career Lab (CCL)
Location: New York University, New York, NY
Cost: Free
Dates: July 6 – 31
Application Deadline: March 31
Eligibility: Students currently enrolled in 7th or 8th grade at a New York City public school; students of all backgrounds who meet eligibility requirements are considered; first-generation college-going students, economically disadvantaged students, and students of color are especially encouraged to apply
The NYU College and Career Lab is a free program that starts in the summer after 7th or 8th grade and follows you through high school. The first summer is the Exploratory Stage, where you take college-style lectures and intensive workshops led by NYU faculty across a range of fields. On the STEM side, you'll attend classes with professors from NYU's Tandon School of Engineering covering civil engineering, computer science, and artificial intelligence ethics. You'll also spend a week participating in the Brain and Spine Scholars program, engaging in hands-on activities related to neuroscience and pre-med skills. During health sciences week, you'll meet faculty and professionals from NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the Rory Meyers College of Nursing, and the College of Dentistry.
11. UC Berkeley Girls in Engineering Summer Camp
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Hall, Pacific School of Religion Campus, Berkeley, CA
Cost: Scholarships available
Dates: Check website for latest updates
Application Deadline: April 28
Eligibility: Students living in the San Francisco Bay Area who will be entering 6th, 7th, or 8th grade in fall; open to students of all gender identities
Girls in Engineering's week-long summer camp at UC Berkeley puts you directly into the world of engineering through daily hands-on activities across multiple locations on campus. Over the course of the week, you’ll wire up a paper circuit with an LED, build an origami robot using a pager motor and coin cell battery, design a protective coating for medication, program a micro:bit, or design and test a water filter. The program also covers design thinking, including the creation of accessible controllers for users with disabilities, and dedicates time to communication, leadership, and team building. Sessions are guided by Berkeley faculty, staff, and current students, so you're getting mentorship from people actively working in engineering. The camp serves 48 participants per summer, keeping it small and hands-on throughout.
12. Columbia University S-PREP
Location: Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY
Cost: Free
Dates: Summer session: throughout July | Academic Year session: October – May
Application Deadline: Not specified
Eligibility: Students in grades 7–12 interested in medicine or related STEM fields
S-PREP is a program at Columbia University that runs across both summer and the academic year, designed for students interested in medicine, science, or health-related careers. During the summer session, you take enrichment courses in subjects such as anatomy, biochemistry, chemistry, organic chemistry, brain and cognitive science, physics, and statistics, as well as PSAT preparation. Beyond the classroom, the program offers college-preparation and career-development workshops, academic counseling, field trips, and college tours. One of the more distinctive aspects of S-PREP is what it can lead to: admitted students become eligible to apply for two research programs at Columbia. The first is BRAINYAC (Brain Research Apprenticeships In New York At Columbia), where you’ll learn neuroscience concepts and lab skills before being placed in a mentored research experience in a CUIMC neuroscience lab. The second is the YES in THE HEIGHTS program at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, an 8–12 week summer internship that includes hands-on scientific training, an individual development plan, and a scientific abstract or oral presentation.
13. Dinah Whipple STEAM Academy (DWSA)
Location: University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH
Cost: Free
Dates: July 20 – 24
Application Deadline: March 31
Eligibility: Students entering grades 5–12; the Junior Innovators track is for students entering grades 5–7, and the Tech Trailblazers track is for students entering grades 8–12
The Dinah Whipple STEAM Academy is a week-long program at the University of New Hampshire that combines science and engineering with an exploration of Black history and Black contributions to STEM. You’ll work with professional engineers and peer mentors and choose from project tracks based on their grade level. Throughout the week, all tracks incorporate discussions of the Black experience, African empires, and prominent Black figures in American history, alongside engineering and science work.
14. Oklahoma STEM Summer Academies
Location: Various college campuses across Oklahoma
Cost: Free
Dates: May through July
Application Deadline: Varies by academy
Eligibility: Rising 8th–12th-grade students in Oklahoma; specific academies have their own grade range requirements
The Oklahoma STEM Summer Academies are a statewide initiative sponsored by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, offering multiple free academies across 12 colleges and universities throughout the state. Each academy is hosted on a college campus, giving you a real taste of campus life while you explore STEM fields through hands-on activities, lab work, and field trips. Both residential and commuter options are available, depending on the program. Several academies are open this summer, including Molecules of Nature, The WORLD of STEM, Camp Biomed: A Glowing Overview, Get Green for Blue, Robotics for Young Scientists and Engineers, DroneXperience, and CHAMPS – Careers in Health and Medical Professions, among others.
15. National Summer Transportation Institute (NSTI)
Location: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, MN
Cost: Free
Dates: July 13 – 24
Application Deadline: Check website for latest updates
Eligibility: Students entering grades 7–9 with a cumulative GPA of at least 2.0 on a 4.0 scale who have completed or are qualified to enroll in pre-algebra
The National Summer Transportation Institute at the University of Minnesota is a two-week day camp that introduces participants to various aspects of transportation through interactive activities, expert lectures, and practical field trips. During this period, attendees will understand how different components of the transportation system — such as cars, trucks, planes, and boats — collaborate. They will also have the opportunity to design and construct a model bridge as part of the hands-on lab experience. Field trips take you behind the scenes at places like airports, transit facilities, construction sites, and maintenance facilities around the Twin Cities. The camp also includes a tour of the University of Minnesota campus, giving you a feel for college life alongside the STEM learning.
Image source - NYU Logo