1. Academic Research

The Academic Research pathway is for students who want to work with an elite university faculty member (mentor) to investigate, analyze, and produce meaningful research in the form of a written academic report.

There are three Academic Research tracks:

Publication Track

This track is best for students who want to produce research with the goal of publication. Here, the student works with their mentor to develop a research question, conduct the appropriate research, analyze findings, and produce a polished research paper or other scholarly work. Upon completing their final draft, CMP’s Education Team helps the student identify the ideal academic journals to submit to with consideration for the content of their paper, and continues to support throughout the peer-editing process. Nearly all CMP students who aim to have their papers published end up having them published on one of several selective academic journals. This track is ideal for students who are already academically strong and want to demonstrate that they can operate at a level well beyond their normal high-school curriculum. 

Competition Track

This track is best for students who are motivated by academic competitions and want to produce research specifically for submission to a research competition. In this track, the student develops an original research project with the specific goal of submitting it to a competitive research program or science fair. The mentor helps the student develop the research question, methodology, experimentation or analysis, interpretation of results, and final research report/presentation in accordance with the expectations of the target competition. Once the mentorship has concluded, CMP’s Education Team guides the student through competition submission strategy, research/presentation review, competition preparation and final readiness and quality control.

Deeper Learning Track

This track is best for students who want to go substantially deeper into an academic subject without prioritizing publication or competition submission. This is the most learning-focused of the three research tracks. Most students on the deeper learning track produce an academic report as their final project outcome. Other common outcomes include write-ups or a presentation of applied learning. The mentor essentially becomes a guide into the subject at a much more advanced level. The deeper learning track provides significant value to students through growth in intellectual development, specialized knowledge, and preparation for more advanced work.

2. Hands-on Project

The Hands-on Project pathway is different from Academic Research because the emphasis is on building, creating, designing, experimenting, or doing rather than primarily producing scholarly research. In this pathway, the student works with their mentor to take an idea and turn it into a tangible project or product. Most commonly, students within the hands-on pathway build electronic devices, motor vehicles, aircraft or innovative materials. Our students have earned many patents for innovative designs crafted during their mentorships. Our students who possess a passion for computer science, data science, artificial intelligence and machine learning often build apps, websites, games or software which addresses an important community need or market demand.

Student journey

Idea → Expert guidance → Design/build → Iterate → Finished project

The mentor helps the student work through the real process of creating something: defining the problem, making decisions, overcoming obstacles, testing ideas, receiving feedback, and improving the result.

A Hands-on Project gives students the opportunity to demonstrate initiative, creativity, problem solving, and technical ability.