About

The Student Science Training Program (SSTP) at the University of Florida is a seven-week residential research program for rising high-school seniors interested in scientific or engineering careers. Operated by UF’s Center for Precollegiate Education and Training, SSTP places students into active research laboratories across disciplines such as biomedical science, chemistry, environmental engineering, computer science, mathematics, and medicine. Participants work alongside faculty, graduate students, and research staff and engage in laboratory workflows, data collection, and analytical problem-solving. The program also includes daily faculty lectures, an honors-style seminar focused on scientific inquiry, and structured professional-development workshops. SSTP is non-credit and fully residential.

SSTP does not publish a formal acceptance rate, but the program typically enrolls approximately 90 students from a national and international applicant pool. Applicants must be rising seniors and demonstrate strong academic performance, maturity, and readiness for immersive research. Required materials include transcripts, essays, and teacher recommendations. Prior experience in laboratory science is helpful but not required. Program tuition is approximately $5,500 and includes housing and all program activities (but not meals). Limited need-based financial aid is available.

Participants spend roughly 30 to 40 hours per week conducting research in their assigned labs under the guidance of UF faculty mentors. Projects vary widely depending on placement and may involve wet-lab experiments, computational analysis, environmental fieldwork, engineering design, or biomedical investigations. Students join group meetings, receive regular feedback from mentors, and gain experience with research methods, laboratory communication, and scientific reasoning. They also attend a daily research lecture series and enroll in an honors seminar that introduces the logic, ethics, and structure of scientific work. The program culminates in the production of a research abstract, formal paper, and poster-style presentation.

Residential life on the UF campus provides an academically focused but community-oriented environment. Students live in supervised dormitories, participate in evening study sessions, and join weekend field trips and social activities that build peer networks. The extended seven-week format allows sustained time in the laboratory and greater continuity with research teams than shorter summer programs.

SSTP’s strength lies in its authentic laboratory immersion, regular mentorship from faculty and graduate students, and the structure of its scientific seminar sequence. While it is not a selective multi-institution national research program on the scale of SIMR or Clark Scholars, SSTP is widely regarded as a credible and rigorous high-school research experience, particularly for students intending to pursue STEM fields in college.