Argonne Exemplary Student Research Program

Using the world-class facilities at Argonne National Laboratory – including the Advanced Photon Source (APS), Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM), and Argonne Tandem Linear Accelerator (ATLAS) – high school students and their teachers work in teams with Argonne scientists to conduct research projects from start to finish. The Exemplary Student Research Program (ESRP) is a unique and life-changing experience for students and teachers alike.

The program lasts an entire school year beginning in summer, when teachers apply to form a research team at their school. After attending an introductory workshop, teachers are matched with a scientist mentor and charged with selecting their students. During the fall and spring, teams prepare a research proposal; design and set up an experiment; gather and analyze data; make conclusions; and create a final poster. In this program, school teams are considered to be part of the larger user community at Argonne: ESRP posters are presented annually to the Argonne scientific community in the spring.