SoTS Club Network

There is a large number of middle school, high school, and homeschool students interested in doing real research - joining an existing project, starting a new one, or just learning what research is about. Right now, these students have limited resources. SoTS was established to address that.

You can form a club to build a local SoTS research community at your school, with focused attention on research activities. This may stay within your school or grow beyond, becoming a center for high school research in your area - attracting collaborations with local university researchers and serving as a talent pipeline for their lab internships, summer programs, and research opportunities.

• Address real research problems across any field
• Build research projects and science fair portfolios
• Work on artistic angle for science
• Develop presentation and peer feedback skills
• Explore what research is - see what others work on, ask questions, find direction
• Get feedback on ideas - test project concepts, talk through problems, get unstuck
• Connect with peers who care about science and discovery

Depends on your club - composition, interests, goals. Some members may already be working on projects with science teachers, local mentors, online mentors, or using the AI Research Mentor. Others are exploring what research is, what benefits it has for careers and college applications - or driven by curiosity to understand how nature works.

Your members may prepare for science fairs like ISEF, Regeneron STS, or regional competitions. Prepare to compete in physics tournaments like IYPT or USAYPT, or for international awards like Stockholm Water Prize. Work on independent research projects or collaborate on joint investigations across fields - biology, chemistry, physics, computer science, environmental science, engineering, psychology, and more. Some may connect with university labs or local research institutions. Others share findings and practice presenting to peers.

The club leaders discussion group, managed by SoTS team, gives you support from SoTS leadership and other club leaders to help you come up with activities, formats, and ideas that work for your specific community.

We start with curiosity - but we know college admissions is on many minds. Here's an interesting perspective: you can feed your curiosity and get better chances at college admissions. How about that?

Research experience has long been a strong differentiator in selective admissions. With AI now able to write essays, colleges are shifting toward evaluating what applicants have actually done - original projects, leadership, and demonstrated initiative matter more than ever.

And it's not just essays. AI achieved gold-medal level at the 2025 International Math Olympiad (OpenAI, Google DeepMind). The skills these competitions test - solving known problem types under time pressure - are increasingly AI-replicable. Original research - asking new questions, collecting real data, defending findings - remains beyond AI capability. You can count on colleges adjusting their admission practices to reflect that.

• Ecosystem for leadership support - club leaders discussion group, SoTS team access, peer collaboration
• Leadership training program - structured path for founders to develop skills
• AI Mentor platform - designed to guide real research, not circumvent thinking, enabling students to address real questions

• Official SoTS affiliation and recognition
• Training materials and ongoing support from SoTS
• Club leader access to managed discussion group - share what works, solve problems together
• Connection to SoTS ecosystem for members

Access SoTS resources: AI Mentor, journal, magazine, conference, club leaders discussion group (some services require additional fees).

Club registration is $150/year.

Students who start clubs get:

• Research Leadership Certification (optional program)
• Documented leadership for college applications
• Letter of recommendation potential for leaders who build thriving clubs