Society of Teen Scientists launched in November 2025. The organization is new, but the expertise behind it is not.
Dr. Samsonau has spent over a decade in research education: training 100+ students at NYU, building and directing research labs at one of the top US high schools, and publishing peer-reviewed work on research methodology. Our advisors each bring decades of experience from institutions like Thomas Jefferson High School and Princeton Plasma Physics Lab.
We built SoTS to bring this methodology beyond a single school or university program.
Early members get to influence how SoTS develops and participate in a unique organization that aims to achieve something never attempted before.
And if we're honest, this is how science works. You form a hypothesis, evaluate the evidence, and if it has a high chance of success, you go for it. There's never 100% certainty. That's not a bug. That's what makes it exciting.
Real scientific research always requires someone willing to take a path no one has taken before. That's the mindset we cultivate here.
Ready for this mindset? If yes, join us.
We post examples of potential research problems on our Instagram every week: fascinating, unanswered, meaningful, and feasible for high school, middle school, and homeschool students without access to professional research laboratories.
Following @teenscientists gives you a steady stream of research inspiration. Each post is designed to spark curiosity and show what kinds of questions are worth investigating.
Whether you're looking for a science fair topic, exploring what research is about, or just curious about the world — our Instagram is a great place to start.
Real Research means working on authentic questions: unsolved, doable with available resources, and worth solving.
Not exercises with known answers. Not projects designed just to teach a concept. Not questions no one actually cares about.
We push for rigor and curiosity. We help students find questions that fascinate them AND matter beyond the classroom. Students formulate their own questions, design approaches, collect and analyze data, and present findings. The answers are unknown and may not exist. There's no guarantee of success.
The result might confirm a hypothesis, disprove it, or open new questions. That's how science actually works.
We have built a research process specifically designed for middle school, high school, and homeschool students.
Research shows authentic research experience builds:
These skills transfer everywhere: college, career, life. They're also the skills AI can't replace. See what skills you'll develop →
And when a hypothesis isn't confirmed? Your progress is still tracked by your Research Profile — capturing questions pursued, skills built, and lessons learned. Real science values rigorous work, not just positive results.
SoTS is a research organization, not a tutoring company. We don't help students with homework, test prep, or catching up on school material.
That said, some students searching for a physics tutor may actually want something tutoring doesn't provide: genuine depth. If you took physics and felt it moved too fast or stayed too shallow, and you want to actually understand what's going on rather than just get through the next test, Deep Physics might be what you're looking for.
Deep Physics offers weekly problem-solving sessions that build lasting intuition. Hard problems that don't yield easily. No answer keys, no shortcuts. The kind of productive struggle that develops real understanding. This isn't available anywhere else.
Students who develop this foundation will find AP Physics or competition problems more approachable, but that's a side effect, not the goal. The goal is learning to think through hard problems, which is also the foundation for research.
Deep Physics meets Monday evenings in Princeton at the same location as Research Club. It's an open program (no membership evaluation required). If you're exploring whether SoTS is right for you, it's a good way to experience our approach.
Similar, with an important difference. We're not tied to official definitions or district requirements.
Deep Physics follows the renowned physics-mathematics school tradition — a methodology with deep historical roots, systematized in the 1960s, that produced Nobel laureates, Fields Medalists, and researchers who now work worldwide. Genuine depth. Serious problems. Peers who want to think hard.
Open to talented students ready for real challenge in physics.
Yes. Deep Mathematics is our weekly program for talented middle and high school students. Students learn to prove, derive, and reason from first principles — the way mathematicians actually think. Weekly sessions in Princeton, NJ.
We provide publication pathways, not guaranteed papers.
Programs that guarantee publications often steer students toward safe, formulaic projects where the goal becomes producing a paper, not doing real science. We take a different approach.
At SoTS, we teach research methodology: how to ask good questions, design approaches, collect and analyze data, handle failure, and communicate findings. Some projects lead to publication. Some lead to negative results that are just as valuable for your development. Some open new questions worth pursuing further.
We offer two publication venues: Proceedings of SoTS (peer-reviewed research journal) and World of Teen Science (popular science writing). Members can submit their work, and it goes through real editorial review. The work has to earn it.
What you build along the way is a Research Profile that documents genuine capability — regardless of whether a particular project reaches publication.
We do this indirectly, in our own way.
Science fairs are often structured around adult research norms: poster presentations, polished deliverables, confirmed hypotheses. Many also require registering a project plan before you even begin your research. Traditional prep programs focus on optimizing for those criteria — coaching poster layout, rehearsing presentations, choosing "safe" projects with guaranteed results.
We teach research methodology. The goal is learning to think like a scientist. Fairs are one possible venue to share your work, not the purpose of doing it.
Our students, if they choose to participate, may arrive at competitions with original research they truly own. They can explain their work clearly because they actually understand it. They can answer tough questions because they genuinely wrestled with the problem.
What we offer is the foundation to do research worth presenting. Where you take it is up to you.
We offer short courses in Applied Statistics with R and Applied Machine Learning with Python as part of our Research Skills program. These are 4-week courses that teach practical tools professional scientists use every day.
The focus is on applying these methods to real research, not abstract theory. Students learn to analyze their own data, find patterns, build models, and interpret results. All courses integrate GenAI as a knowledge partner, teaching students to use it effectively for understanding concepts, writing code, and solving problems.
These courses work well on their own or as preparation for summer research programs, science fairs, or SoTS Labs.
Every Research Skills course integrates GenAI as a knowledge partner. We teach students to use AI tools effectively for understanding concepts, writing code, interpreting results, and solving problems they couldn't tackle alone.
This isn't a standalone "prompt engineering" course. It's learning to work with AI the way scientists actually do: as a collaborator that accelerates your thinking without replacing it.
Our AI Research Mentor is a purpose-built research guidance system, exclusively for SoTS members. It's designed to elevate student thinking, not do the work for them.
Indirectly, yes. We don't write essays or strategize applications, and we're not college consultants. What we do is give you genuine research experience worth writing about.
Your Research Profile documents questions you pursued, skills you built, and what you learned, including from projects that didn't work out. Colleges increasingly value demonstrated initiative, and a profile showing authentic research development tells that story clearly.
Students who do real research can talk about their work with depth. That comes through in essays, interviews, and wherever else it matters.
Our bigger goal goes beyond applications. Students who arrive at college already knowing how to do research — how to ask good questions, design approaches, handle failure — use those four years far more deeply. Readiness for advanced coursework, the ability to go deep once you're there, and research skills that transfer to any career. That's what we're preparing you for.
SoTS offers year-round programs where middle and high school students work on original research: Research Labs with weekly meetings in person in Princeton, NJ, weekly Research Club in Princeton, Deep Physics problem-solving sessions, and Research Skills courses (Applied Statistics with R, Applied Machine Learning with Python).
Yes! Our Spring Physics Camp is a one-week, in-person program in Princeton, NJ focused on optics. 6 hours per day, Monday through Friday. Choose from 4 weeks to align with your school's spring break.
We also offer a Summer Physics Camp with three independent weeks covering mechanics, electricity & magnetism, and thermodynamics. Enroll in any combination of weeks.
Both programs offer genuine intellectual challenge and real depth: serious problem-solving, not lectures. Available in English and Russian. Led by Dr. Sergey Samsonau, PhD in Physics.
Beyond camps, SoTS offers year-round programs: Research Labs with ongoing mentorship, weekly Research Club in Princeton, Deep Physics, and Research Skills courses.
Learn about the Spring Camp, the Summer Camp, or explore membership for year-round access.
Research Labs are in-person only, currently offered in Princeton, NJ.
And if there's no lab near you, you can start a research club in your area. Build your own community and bring real research to where you are. Two tracks: SoTS Club Network ($150/year, with access to club leaders discussion group) and the Research Leadership Program (structured development with certification).
The outcome is capability and mindset. Publications and awards are things you might get. Capability and mindset are something you become.
Students who develop real research skills can talk about their work with depth and confidence. That shows up in college interviews, coursework, careers, and anywhere else clear thinking matters.
Readiness for advanced coursework at whatever college you end up at. The ability to go deep once you're there. Research skills that transfer to any career. Some students skip college and go straight to work — these skills matter there too.
SoTS is built on a principle: give talented minds resources and freedom to think freely. Is there evidence this works?
The Institute for Advanced Study, founded in Princeton in 1930, is the strongest evidence for professional scientists. Free the best minds from teaching loads, grant applications, and committees. Let them think. The result: breakthrough contributions from Einstein, von Neumann, Gödel, Wigderson (the only person to win both the Abel Prize and the Turing Award), dozens of Nobel Laureates and Fields Medalists.
The strongest evidence for teenagers comes from the Soviet physics-mathematics schools designed by scientists like Kolmogorov and Kapitsa in the 1960s: a separate track where talented students combined theory, problem-solving, and real research. That tradition produced generations of Nobel laureates, Fields Medalists, and the scientists and engineers behind much of modern technology. Adaptation to American soil has demonstrated excellence at PRISMS and NYU.
SoTS provides teenagers a path similar to that once offered to professional scientists.