12 Summer Research Programs for High School Students in San Diego
Looking to make your summer both fun and meaningful? Consider participating in a summer research program. These opportunities let you step out of the classroom and work on research projects, develop practical skills, and interact with experienced mentors. Many of them also connect you to industry professionals or college faculty, helping you build valuable networks at an early stage.
San Diego has some great summer research programs, courses, and internships designed for high school students to get an early start in their academic careers. From science and engineering to medicine and business, you can contribute to complex projects and guided research that gives you a preview of college-level learning. Here is our selection of the top 12 summer research opportunities for high school students in San Diego.
1. Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program (SEAP) by the Department of Navy
Location: Varies based on lab locations
Stipend: Paid, exact amount not disclosed
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective
Program Dates: June – August
Application Deadline: February 14
Eligibility: High school students eligible to work in the United States who are at least 16 years of age by July 1
The Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program (SEAP), organized by the Department of the Navy, lets you spend the summer at a naval research laboratory in San Diego. In this summer research program for high school students in San Diego, you’ll work alongside scientists and engineers on ongoing projects in areas such as engineering, computer science, and physical sciences. You’ll be paired with a mentor who guides your day-to-day tasks and helps you see how your work contributes to the team’s research goals. Your activities may include assisting with experiments, collecting and analyzing data, documenting procedures, and participating in team meetings. The lab setting gives you a close look at how research groups plan projects, use instrumentation, and follow lab safety and documentation standards. Since SEAP focuses on applied research in a federal laboratory, you’ll also learn how technical teams collaborate to solve real-world problems.
2. Ladder Internship Program
Cost: Varies depending on program type. Full financial aid available.
Location: Remote! You can work from anywhere in the world.
Application Deadline: Deadlines vary depending on the cohort. Spring (January), Summer (May), Fall (September), and Winter (November).
Program Dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year, including Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.
Eligibility: Students who can work for 10-20 hours/week for 8-12 weeks. Open to high school students, undergraduates, and gap year students!
Ladder Internships is a selective start-up internship program for ambitious high school students! In the program, you work with a high-growth start-up on an internship. Start-ups that offer internships range across a variety of industries, from tech/deep tech and AI/ML to health tech, marketing, journalism, consulting, and more. Ladder’s start-ups are high-growth companies on average, raising over a million dollars. Interns work closely with their manager at the startup on real-world projects and present their work to the company. The virtual internship is usually 8 weeks long.
3. Scripps Research Translational Institute Internship
Location: University of California, San Diego in La Jolla, California
Stipend: $6,000
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly competitive, cohort size not publicly disclosed
Program Dates: June 24 - August 9
Application Deadline: January 24
Eligibility: U.S. citizens or permanent residents who are currently enrolled as first, second, or third-year undergraduate students and will be at least 18 years old by the start of the internship
The Scripps Research Translational Institute Student Research Internship is a ten-week summer program in La Jolla that introduces you to translational science and personalized medicine. You will work under the guidance of a mentor while developing your own research project in areas such as genomics, bioinformatics, or digital health. Alongside your project, you’ll participate in weekly seminars, journal clubs, and discussions with faculty that broaden your understanding of current research practices. Your activities might include analyzing data, reviewing scientific literature, or contributing to ongoing studies at the institute. The program is designed to teach you the research process from forming a question to interpreting results. At the end of the internship, you’ll present your work at a poster symposium, gaining experience in sharing your findings in a professional research setting.
4. Lumiere Research Scholar Program
Location: Remote , you can participate in this program from anywhere in the world!
Cost: Varies depending on program type. Full financial aid available.
Application Deadline: Varying deadlines based on cohort.
Program Dates: Varies by cohort: summer, fall, winter, or spring. Options range from 12 weeks to 1 year.
Eligibility: You must be currently enrolled in high school and demonstrate a high level of academic achievement.
The Lumiere Research Scholar Program is a rigorous research program tailored for high school students. The program offers extensive 1-on-1 research opportunities for high school students across a broad range of subject areas that you can explore as a high schooler. The program pairs high school students with Ph.D. mentors to work 1-on-1 on an independent research project. At the end of the 12-week program, you’ll have developed an independent research paper! You can choose research topics from subjects such as psychology, physics, economics, data science, computer science, engineering, chemistry, international relations, and more. You can find more details about the application here, and check out students’ reviews of the program here and here.
5. J. Craig Venter Institute’s High School Internship
Location: J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla, CA
Cost/Stipend: $17/hour
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Not publicly disclosed
Program Dates: May - August
Application Deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: High school students aged 16 and above
The J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) runs science education programs that introduce students, teachers, and researchers to genomic science. As a high school student, you can apply for internships where you’ll gain experience in the lab and work on bioinformatics projects. You’ll also have opportunities to present your research to JCVI scientists, and in some cases, interns have even had their work published in scientific journals. JCVI also operates DiscoverGenomics!, a mobile lab that brings genomics activities to schools, science fairs, and community events.
6. OPTIMUS Outreach Program
Location: UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center (in-person)
Cost/Stipend: Stipend provided
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Not specified
Program Dates: June 16–August 8
Application Deadline: Not specified
Eligibility: High school students in grades 10–11 from select San Diego schools
As part of the OPTIMUS Outreach Program, you will spend time at UC San Diego’s Moores Cancer Center, where you will take part in ongoing cancer research alongside medical and graduate students. Your schedule will include working in laboratories, shadowing doctors in clinical settings, and attending sessions that introduce you to medicine, oncology, and research practices. The program places you in an academic medical environment, allowing you to see how scientific work connects to patient care. You will also interact with mentors who guide you through research projects and share their experiences in medicine. By balancing lab work, clinical exposure, and structured learning, the program offers a close look at how cancer research and healthcare come together in practice.
7. Hutton Junior Fisheries Biology Program
Location: Mentor placements across the U.S., Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Canada
Cost/Stipend: Stipend provided
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Not specified
Program Dates: Eight weeks in summer (exact dates vary)
Application Deadline: January 19
Eligibility: High school juniors or seniors; at least 16 years old by the deadline
The Hutton Junior Fisheries Biology Program will pair you with a professional mentor in fisheries or aquatic sciences, and you'll spend your summer taking part in field and lab activities surrounding conservation work. Depending on your placement, you might do stream sampling, fish tagging, electrofishing, or assist with ecosystem restoration projects. Some interns work on public education initiatives, while others help with data analysis or laboratory studies that track fish growth and age. You will understand how fisheries research is conducted, with mentors guiding you through each step of the process. You are expected to complete full-time hours and submit regular reports that document your progress throughout the summer.
8. The San Diego Natural History Museum Youth Internship Program
Location: San Diego Natural History Museum, San Diego, CA
Cost: Unpaid
Program Dates: Typically four months per session; exact dates vary
Application Deadline: Not specified
Eligibility: High school students aged 16+; must be enrolled in a school internship program and have completed at least one general biology course
The San Diego Natural History Museum internships will introduce you to scientific and museum practices. As an intern, you’ll rotate through departments such as Entomology, Paleontology, and Botany, where you might organize specimens, support lab activities, and learn how collections are maintained and used for research. The museum also offers a Research Library and Archives apprenticeship, where you’ll work on cataloging, collection development, and organizing archival materials. Throughout the internship, you’ll collaborate with museum staff, contribute to projects, and prepare reports or presentations to share at the end of the program.
9. Summer Medical Academy (SMA) at Rady Children’s Hospital
Location: Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego
Cost: Free
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Not publicly published
Program Dates: June - July
Application Deadline: February 21st
Eligibility: High school students who are between 15 and 19 years old during the start of the program in June and have completed at least 9th grade
Through Rady Children’s Medical Academy, you’ll explore different areas of healthcare and medicine. You will follow a structured curriculum that combines lectures, skills clinics, activities, group projects, career panels, and discussions on healthcare and medicine. You will get practical experience by trying out suturing on pigs’ feet, applying soft casts, and exploring Eastern medicine practices such as acupuncture. You will also take part in discussions on important health topics, including prescription drug abuse, and present your findings through projects and public service announcements. Throughout the program, you will work closely with over 125 faculty members from Rady Children's Hospital San Diego, the UCSD School of Medicine, UCSD Skaggs School of Pharmacy, Illumina, and the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine.
10. UCSD’s Research Experience for High School Students (REHS)
Location: San Diego Supercomputer Center, University of California, San Diego
Cost: Not provided
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Approximately 45 students
Program Dates: June – August
Application Deadline: March
Eligibility: High school students
The UC San Diego Research Experience gives you the opportunity to work with a research mentor at the San Diego Supercomputer Center on cutting-edge research projects. You will join an ongoing research project, where you’ll help with tasks such as formulating hypotheses, conducting computational experiments, and analyzing results. Research projects cover exciting topics such as analyzing metabolic profiles for cancer diagnostics, studying molecular mechanisms of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, autism, and Parkinson’s, applying machine learning in computational chemistry, and modeling neurons with EEG data. You may also work on projects such as developing interactive Jupyter notebooks for the ICICLE project, managing high-performance computing benchmarks, or contributing to the Open Science Chain. If you’re interested in science communication, you can write for SDSC publications, create content for science gateways, or assist with social media and photography.
11. COSMOS | California State Summer School for Mathematics & Science
Location: UC campus (e.g., UC Davis or UC San Diego)
Cost: $5,256 (includes tuition, room, board, and materials)
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: About 160–200 students per campus
Program Dates: July – August
Application Deadline: February
Eligibility: California high school students completing grades 8–12; typical students have a GPA of 3.5 or above and demonstrate academic excellence
UC Davis COSMOS is a residential pre‑college program where you will participate in a structured STEM curriculum. You’ll be placed in any cluster connected with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Your work would involve areas such as engineering, biomedical sciences, computer science, ecology, marine science, materials science, mathematics, physics and astronomy, robotics, and game theory. Each week, you’ll attend lectures, lab sessions, and cluster-specific project work led by UC faculty and researchers. Outside of class, you’ll also take part in evening study groups, field trips, and the lecture series featuring talks by prominent scientists.
12. Stanford AIMI Summer Research Internship
Location: Virtual (Stanford University)
Cost/Stipend: $40 application fee; $850 participation fee; financial aid available
Acceptance Rate/Cohort Size: Around 25 students
Program Dates: June 16 - 27 | 9 am-1 pm PT (Online)
Application Deadline: February 28
Eligibility: High school students entering grades 9–12; U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or valid visa holders
In the two-week Stanford AIMI Summer Research Internship, you will explore how artificial intelligence is used in medicine and imaging through lectures, group projects, and mentorship from Stanford researchers. The internship combines technical instruction with opportunities to examine clinical questions, giving you a clear view of both the computational and medical sides of AI in healthcare. Your daily schedule will include project work in small teams, guided discussions with student leads, and mentoring activities that connect you directly with researchers. You will also get to participate in career talks by speakers from academia, industry, non-profits, and government on how AI is shaping their work. For students who want to continue beyond the two-week session, there may be opportunities to continue with an extended independent research project after the program.
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