About

The UT Dallas Computer Science K-12 Outreach offers high school students three distinct tracks of summer research and intensive coursework — a CS Lab Internship, Research Workshops, and an 8-Week Deep-Dive AI Workshop — running June 8 through July 31, 2026, on UT Dallas's campus in Richardson, Texas. The program is run by the Department of Computer Science and is among the few university-based programs in the country that places high school students into genuine faculty research labs rather than simulated research environments. The program is open to students nationally, but no housing is provided — students outside the Dallas area must arrange their own accommodations independently.

The CS Lab Internship is the most competitive and most substantive track. Students are placed in active UT Dallas CS research labs and expected to work 20 to 40 hours per week in person, multiple days per week, for the full eight weeks. Work varies by lab and may include reading research papers, running simulations, building software with specific functionality, or contributing to ongoing faculty projects. Capacity in each lab is extremely limited and selection is highly competitive, managed independently by each faculty lab. The primary source is explicit: "Do not be disappointed if you don't get selected. We don't mean to discourage you, rather we want you to be realistic about the chances." The fee is $1,500, with discounts available for low-income families. Students must be at least 15 years old by June 9 to participate in person. The program website lists the current available research options; students should review these before applying to confirm genuine background preparation in the relevant area.

The Research Workshops run as informal graduate-level courses meeting at least twice per week, either in-person ($1,000) or virtually ($900). Each workshop targets a specific research area and aims to conclude with a final project or research paper, though students are supported rather than required to complete these deliverables. Workshop topics vary by year and are listed at the program's research options page. In-person attendance is limited to students 15 and older; younger students may attend virtually. All sessions are recorded to accommodate scheduling conflicts.

The 8-Week Deep-Dive AI Workshop is the most intensive single offering: full days Monday through Friday, 9:30am to 4pm, for all eight weeks, limited to in-person students aged 15 and up. The curriculum covers the full applied AI/ML stack — from Python foundations and data science through machine learning models, neural networks, computer vision, sequence models, transformers, and generative AI, concluding with a capstone project in a student-chosen domain (sports, healthcare, finance, social media, or climate). Instruction is provided by UT Dallas CS doctoral and graduate students, with faculty lead Dr. Anurag Nagar teaching at least one session per week. The fee is $2,000, with a 50% discount available for low-income Texas families. The program notes this is "very reasonable for an 8-week intense program" — and for what it delivers, it is.

The program is right for a specific student: one who already has coding experience, is genuinely curious about computer science research, can tolerate ambiguity and independent work, and either lives in the Dallas area or can arrange to be there. It is explicitly not for students who want structured instruction or close guidance. What it offers in exchange is direct access to a university research environment, real research questions, and — for lab interns — the experience of contributing to actual faculty projects alongside doctoral students and researchers at a major R1 institution.