Research Leadership Program
Build and lead your own research team. Gain real leadership skills.
For high school students · Online, biweekly · Two semesters
Why Research Leadership Matters
There are two kinds of research experience. Doing research means you ask the questions, run the experiments, and analyze the data yourself. Leading research means you create the environment where a whole team can do that work effectively.
Leading a research group requires a rare combination of skills: planning, project management, people skills, clear communication, making decisions with incomplete information, and the resourcefulness to find what your team needs. Most students never get to develop these capabilities in high school. In this program, you will.
You will build and lead a research team within the SoTS Club Network, either starting a new club or taking leadership of an existing one.
What You Will Learn and Do
Build Your Research Team
- Recruit members with complementary skills (data analysis, experimental design, simulations, communications)
- Create onboarding processes and accountability structures that work
Define Research Direction
- Work with your team to choose a meaningful research focus
- Identify specific, answerable research questions to pursue
Guide Individual Projects
- Help team members develop their projects and set realistic milestones
- Allocate resources effectively and know when to pivot direction
Run Effective Operations
- Facilitate productive meetings and constructive critique sessions
- Establish a strong feedback culture and maintain quality standards
- Manage different commitment levels and navigate team dynamics
Secure Resources
- Identify funding sources: school budgets, grants, competition prizes
- Build partnerships with universities, labs, and expert mentors
Plan for the Future
- Target competitions and conferences for your team's work
- Plan for leadership transition to sustain your group beyond your tenure
How the Program Works
This is an intensive, hands-on experience. Over two semesters, you will:
- Meet biweekly with a SoTS mentor over Zoom
- Work in a small cohort of up to five student leaders
- Bring real challenges from your group, and we will solve them together
- Teams of 2-3 leaders from the same club are welcome to enroll as a leadership team
This is not a lecture series. Every session addresses the actual situations your research group faces. You will receive the SoTS Research Leadership Certificate upon completing both semesters.
Who Should Apply
This program is for high school students ready to step into a leadership role. You do not need prior leadership experience. You need the commitment to build and lead a research group.
What we expect from you
- Commit to leading the same research group for both semesters of the program
- Have a SoTS club to lead, or be ready to start one (we provide guidance on recruiting members)
- Do the work between sessions: lead real team members, solve real problems, put what you learn into practice
- Bring your actual challenges to our sessions so we can tackle them together
Enrollment and Tuition
Tuition
- $3,500per semester
- Length
- Two semesters, both required for certification
- Format
- Online, biweekly sessions over Zoom
- Cohort
- Up to five participants
- Teams
- Two or three leaders from the same club may enroll together
We send the invoice once you enroll.