12 Research Programs for High School Students in Virginia
Participating in a research program while still in high school gives you the chance to work on real projects in active research environments, well before you get the opportunity to encounter this kind of experience in college. The best programs will pair you with scientists, engineers, or faculty members, offering skill development in areas such as data analysis, laboratory techniques, field research, and scientific writing. They can also connect you with professional networks that can translate into co-authored publications, competition placements, or strong mentorship relationships. Several prestigious institutions, including federal research laboratories, major universities, and national scientific organizations, run research programs specifically designed for high school students.
Why should you attend a program in Virginia?
Virginia has a strong concentration of research institutions running dedicated programs for high school students. You can work in nuclear and accelerator physics at the Department of Energy's Jefferson Lab, conduct computational research at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Research Campus, dig alongside professional archaeologists at Colonial Williamsburg, or pursue NASA-affiliated research at Langley Research Center and Wallops Flight Facility through the Virginia Space Grant Consortium. Whether your interests lie in biomedical engineering, conservation ecology, advanced lung disease research, mathematics, earth science, or public history, you can find programs here that place you inside working research teams. As a resident of Virginia, you can choose from commuter and remote programs or residential experiences across the state. Several of these programs are also open to applicants from anywhere in the country.
Here are 12 research programs for high school students in Virginia worth your consideration.
If you’re looking for summer programs in Virginia, check out our blog here.
Key takeaways
These 12 programs span biomedical research, nuclear physics, computational biology, aerospace science, conservation ecology, archaeology, AI, and earth science, so students with a wide range of research interests can find a relevant opportunity in Virginia or online.
Several programs are free or offer stipends, including JSA/Jefferson Lab Summer Honors (free with stipend), Janelia Research Campus Internship (free with stipend), VCU MSIP (free), Summer Residential Governor's School (free), VASTS (free), Colonial Williamsburg PAI (free), and NASA SEES (free), making research experiences accessible without financial barriers.
Many programs are highly selective with small cohorts, including Inova Lung Disease Internship (2 to 5 students), Janelia Research Campus Internship (Loudoun County residents only), Jefferson Lab Summer Honors, and VCU MSIP, so students should apply early and prepare strong applications.
Programs vary significantly in format, from one-week field experiences, such as Colonial Williamsburg PAI and Smithsonian Field Conservation Ecology, to semester-long and summer combined programs, such as VASTS (November through July), so students can choose based on their availability and depth of interest.
Application deadlines for several programs fall unusually early, including Inova Lung Disease Internship (November 1 to December 31), Janelia Research Campus (December 2 to January 14), Summer Residential Governor's School (December 12), and VASTS (October 26), so students should begin researching options well before the school year begins.
1. George Mason University’s Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship Program (ASSIP)
Location: George Mason University, Fairfax, Manassas, or Woodbridge, VA + Virtual
Cost: $1,299 + $25 nonrefundable application fee; Financial aid offered
Acceptance Rate: Highly selective
Dates: June 18 – August 12
Application Deadline: December 8 – February 15
Eligibility: High school students (16+) for the in-person experience; High school students (15+) for the remote experience
As a part of ASSIP, you'll work one-on-one with a GMU faculty researcher on an original, hypothesis-driven project over eight weeks. Research areas span more than 40 disciplines, including molecular medicine, atmospheric science, cybersecurity, neuroscience, machine learning, coastal hydrology, forensic science, and drug discovery, among others. Depending on the mentor, your internship may be remote, hybrid, or in-person at one of GMU's campuses. You'll develop scientific writing skills throughout and present a research poster at a final symposium shared with the broader Mason research community. Past interns have been listed as co-authors on peer-reviewed publications and have had their work presented at national conferences.
2. Veritas AI’s AI Fellowship
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies; Full financial aid available
Acceptance Rate: Selective
Dates: Multiple cohorts in a year
Application Deadline: Varies by cohort
Eligibility: High school students who have completed the AI Scholars program or have some experience with AI or Python
If you’re passionate about AI, Veritas AI offers a suitable environment to explore your interests. The program combines collaborative learning, project development, and 1-on-1 mentorship. In the AI Fellowship program, you will learn about core AI concepts and pursue independent AI research projects focused on the use of AI. You will work on research projects over 15 weeks under the guidance of a mentor. A highlight of this program is the support of its in-house publication team to help you publish your work in high school research journals. You can find a few examples of previous projects here, and read about a student’s experience in the program here.
3. JSA/Jefferson Lab High School Summer Honors Program
Location: Jefferson Lab, Newport News, VA
Cost/Stipend: Free; Stipend offered
Acceptance Rate: Highly selective
Dates: June 22 – July 31
Application Deadline: April 30
Eligibility: Students (16+) attending a high school within 60 miles of Jefferson Lab with a minimum 3.5 GPA
During the JSA/Jefferson Lab High School Summer Honors Program, you will be paired with a dedicated professional mentor and placed in real scientific or technical positions across Jefferson Lab's research departments. Your work will be department-driven and will include accelerator physics, experimental nuclear physics, free-electron laser projects, computer programming, and engineering challenges that support the lab's actual research mission. You will be given a project that contributes directly to your mentor's departmental work, and you will complete a research paper and presentation poster on your findings. The summer closes with a poster session where you present your projects to Jefferson Lab scientists and staff.
4. Lumiere Research Scholar Program
Location: Virtual
Cost: Varies; Full financial aid available
Acceptance Rate: Selective
Dates: Multiple cohorts in a year
Application Deadline: Varies by cohort
Eligibility: High school students who demonstrate a high level of academic achievement
The Lumiere Research Scholar Program is a rigorous research program that offers extensive 1-on-1 research opportunities across a broad range of subject areas. The program pairs you with a Ph.D. mentor to work 1-on-1 on an independent research project. You can choose research topics from subjects such as data science, engineering, chemistry, psychology, physics, computer science, international relations, and more. By the end of the program, you will have developed an independent research paper! You can find more details about the program application here. Check out students’ reviews of the program here and here.
5. VCU Medical Science Internship Program (MSIP)
Location: Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
Cost: Free
Acceptance Rate: Highly selective
Dates: June 15 – July 24
Application Deadline: February 12
Eligibility: High school students residing in the Greater Richmond area, preferably rising juniors and seniors
MSIP places Greater Richmond-area high school students in active research labs at the VCU School of Medicine for six weeks, matched to a faculty mentor based on research interests. Lab work spans areas including microbiology, immunology, molecular genetics, pharmacology, and biomedical engineering. As a participant, you will be expected to generate real data rather than shadow researchers from a distance. Alongside lab work, you’ll get the chance to attend weekly seminars hosted by health professionals, receiving exposure to how research intersects with clinical practice. The program concludes with poster and slideshow presentations delivered to the VCU academic community.
6. Inova Advanced Lung Disease and Transplant Summer Student Research Internship
Location: Inova, Fairfax, VA
Cost: Free
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Extremely selective; 2-5 students accepted per summer
Dates: Minimum 6 weeks in the summer
Application Deadline: November 1 – December 31
Eligibility: High school seniors (16+)
In this unpaid internship, you’ll be working directly with Inova's research staff and a physician mentor on a project in pulmonology or lung transplantation science, committing a minimum of 15-20 hours per week for at least six weeks. Beyond bench or data work, there are research and clinical educational conferences, observation sessions for patient procedures, and the opportunity to shadow physicians during the workday. This gives you the chance to experience a clinical dimension not common in purely lab-based programs. The program accepts two to five students per summer through a formal application and interview process, keeping the cohort small enough for meaningful mentorship. You will close the summer with a PowerPoint presentation on your research project.
7. Janelia Research Campus Loudoun County Resident Summer Internship
Location: HHMI’s Janelia Research Campus, Ashburn, VA
Cost/Stipend: Free; Stipend offered
Acceptance Rate: Highly selective
Dates: June 22 – August 7
Application Deadline: December 2 – January 14 (independent applicants); Loudoun County Public School students need to apply through their local high school by January 21
Eligibility: High school students (16+) residing in Loudoun County
The Janelia Research Campus Loudoun County Resident Summer Internship lets you work full-time for seven weeks inside an active Janelia Research Campus lab, conducting primarily computational research on questions in biology and data science. Past projects have included training machine learning algorithms on neural imaging data, annotating and reconstructing neural circuits, developing computer vision tools, analyzing animal behavior, and building web-based research interfaces. You'll attend research seminars by Janelia scientists and participate in journal clubs alongside the campus's broader research community. All students give a final presentation of their project to lab leadership and program administration at the end of the summer. The program has produced publishable research from high school students, including work that contributed to a peer-reviewed paper on neurotransmitter prediction.
8. Colonial Williamsburg Public Archaeology Institute (PAI)
Location: Colonial Williamsburg, Williamsburg, VA
Cost: Free
Acceptance Rate: Highly selective
Dates: June 22 – 26 (rising freshmen and sophomores); July 13 – 17 (rising juniors and seniors)
Application Deadline: March 31
Eligibility: Students entering grades 9-12
This free program lets you work alongside Colonial Williamsburg's professional archaeological crew at the active Custis Square excavation site, formerly the home and garden of John Custis IV. About eight hours of classroom instruction run alongside the fieldwork, covering the documentary and archaeological history of the site and the broader history of Williamsburg's Public Hospital. In the field, you’ll get to excavate, map, record site data, and identify artifacts, including architectural materials, ceramics, and faunal remains, learning to connect physical evidence with historical documentation. The program concludes with students leading a tour of the site based on their own research and observations, placing them in the role of interpreting the past for a public audience.
9. Summer Residential Governor's School
Location: Multiple host campuses across Virginia
Cost: Free; Some special program fees may apply
Acceptance Rate: Highly selective
Dates: 4-week residential sessions across June and July
Application Deadline: December 12
Eligibility: Current 10th-11th graders (16+) in Virginia who rank in the top 10% of their class and have scored in the 90th percentile on standardized tests; Must be U.S. citizens
The Summer Residential Governor's School, run by the Virginia Department of Education, offers five distinct research-intensive tracks, each hosted at a different Virginia university. The Mathematics, Science, and Technology program at the University of Lynchburg covers advanced coursework in anatomy, astronomy, physics, hydrology, and computer programming. The Medicine and Health Sciences track at Radford University's Roanoke campus focuses on biomedical and clinical topics. At Virginia Tech, the Agriculture track draws on field experiences and industry partnerships to explore biological systems engineering, food science, animal science, and plant science. The Engineering Mentorship at Jefferson Lab places you directly on real lab projects alongside working scientists, while the Marine Science Mentorship at VIMS embeds you in active research teams studying the Chesapeake Bay through field sampling, laboratory analysis, and coastal ecology. All tracks combine supervised research with rigorous academic programming in a residential setting.
10. Virginia Aerospace Science and Technology Scholars (VASTS)
Location: Virtual + Residential academy at NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA
Cost: Free
Acceptance Rate: Highly selective
Dates: Online course: November – April + 7-day summer academy at NASA Langley Research Center
Application Deadline: August 15 – October 26
Eligibility: Virginia high school juniors and seniors with a minimum 2.7 GPA; U.S. citizenship is typically required to be able to visit NASA facilities
VASTS runs as a semester-long online course from November through April, built around seven modules that challenge you to analyze real aerospace engineering problems, propose upgrades to the International Space Station, and develop technical writing skills through discussion forums with NASA scientists. Top-performing scholars are selected to attend a seven-day residential academy at NASA Langley Research Center, where teams work alongside NASA engineers and technologists to design a complete human mission to Mars. The summer academy blends hands-on simulations, coding challenges, field trips to Langley research facilities, and a capstone mission design presentation.
11. Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation’s Introduction to Field Conservation Ecology
Location: Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation, Front Royal, VA
Cost: $2,400
Acceptance Rate: Selective
Dates: June 14 – 20
Application Deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors
This one-week residential course takes place on the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute campus, a working research facility in Front Royal, where you will learn through a combination of classroom instruction, field work, and outdoor research alongside SMSC faculty and conservation practitioners. The curriculum introduces major ecological concepts, including diversity, succession, species interactions, and population dynamics, all framed within conservation science contexts. You’ll get to define your own ecological research question, collect preliminary field data, and present your findings through a poster and final presentation at the end of the week.
12. NASA STEM Enhancement in Earth Science (SEES) Summer Intern Program
Location: Virtual (optional on-site component at UT Austin Center for Space Research, Austin, TX)
Cost: Free (virtual)
Acceptance Rate: Selective
Dates: Online modules and project work: May 15 – July 3; Virtual symposium: July 20 – 21
Application Deadline: February 22
Eligibility: Current high school sophomores and juniors (16+) who are U.S. citizens
SEES is a nationally competitive NASA-affiliated internship that runs across two phases: a virtual research phase from June through early July, and an optional two-week on-site component at the UT Austin Center for Space Research. You will be placed on a project team and work beside NASA scientists, engineers, and industry experts on mission-aligned research. Research areas include astronaut photography analysis, planetary geology, interferometric synthetic aperture radar, GRACE satellite gravity data, aerospace engineering design, microgravity experimentation, and human spaceflight research. The virtual phase involves distance learning modules in earth and space science and Python, followed by team-based project work with professional mentors. All interns, whether on-site or fully virtual, present their findings at a Virtual Science Symposium attended by NASA experts, scientists, and guests.
Frequently asked questions
1. What research programs are available for high school students in Virginia?
Options include federal and laboratory research programs, such as Jefferson Lab Summer Honors, Janelia Research Campus Internship, and NASA SEES, biomedical research programs, such as VCU MSIP and Inova Lung Disease Internship, earth and environmental science programs, such as VASTS and Smithsonian Field Conservation Ecology, humanities research programs, such as Colonial Williamsburg PAI, state-sponsored academic programs, such as Summer Residential Governor's School, and virtual research programs, such as Lumiere and Veritas AI.
2. Are there free research programs for high school students in Virginia?
Yes, JSA/Jefferson Lab Summer Honors, Janelia Research Campus Internship (with stipend), VCU MSIP, Summer Residential Governor's School, VASTS, Colonial Williamsburg PAI, Inova Lung Disease Internship, and NASA SEES are all free, while programs, such as Lumiere and Veritas AI, offer full financial aid for eligible students.
3. Which Virginia research programs are best for students interested in biomedical science?
VCU MSIP places students in active research labs across microbiology, immunology, and biomedical engineering, Inova Lung Disease Internship provides direct clinical and research exposure in pulmonology, and GMU ASSIP offers placements across molecular medicine, neuroscience, and drug discovery.
4. Which Virginia research programs have led to publications or formal research outputs?
Janelia Research Campus has produced publishable research from high school interns, including contributions to peer-reviewed papers, GMU ASSIP alumni have been listed as co-authors on peer-reviewed publications, and Lumiere and Veritas AI both support students in producing and publishing independent research papers.
5. Which programs are open to students outside Virginia?
Lumiere Research Scholar Program and Veritas AI are fully virtual and open to students anywhere in the world, NASA SEES is open to U.S. high school students nationally, GMU ASSIP offers a remote track open to students outside Virginia, and Smithsonian Field Conservation Ecology accepts applications from rising juniors and seniors regardless of state.
6. When should I apply to research programs for high school students in Virginia?
VASTS opens applications in August and closes October 26, Inova Lung Disease Internship closes December 31, Janelia Research Campus closes January 14, and Summer Residential Governor's School closes December 12, making these among the earliest deadlines, while Jefferson Lab Summer Honors (April 30) and Colonial Williamsburg PAI (March 31) fall later in the spring.