STEM Research Grants

STEM Research Grants provide support to middle and high school teachers engaging their students in authentic scientific research. Since 2017, $885,000 has been awarded to 407 teachers. Priority is given to schools that lack access to funding for research equipment.

Teachers can apply for up to $5,000 to purchase specialized equipment or $1,000 in preselected equipment to support many students in STEM research.

For the purposes of this grant, a research project is defined as an independent investigation by a student involving experimentation, engineering design, or invention. The grant is not intended to support whole class sets of materials for traditional classroom instruction. Independent research projects are frequently entered into science fairs and other competitions.

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2026 STEM Research Grant Recipients

Society for Science is proud to name 41 outstanding educators as recipients of its STEM Research Grants program, an initiative dedicated to expanding inquiry-driven science education in middle and high school classrooms nationwide. Receiving a total of $110,000 in research kits and funds, they are empowering students with the skills and experience needed to become tomorrow’s scientists, engineers and innovators.

Learn more about the recipients

View the Press Release

“The impact of this opportunity is truly invaluable. Many of this year’s participants have never spent this much time in the outdoors and certainly have not conducted research in the field. The hope is that this experience will encourage these students to pursue science in their remaining years of high school as well as potentially college and careers!”

Jeremy Jonas, Tucson High Magnet School, Tucson, AZ

“Students interested in microbiology will have the opportunity to learn how to stain and plate bacteria. Many students in the past have shown interest, but we never had equipment to support their research. Now we do!”

Carrie Cox, Chamberlain High School, Chamberlain, SD