<p>I'm just wondering, for those of you that do ISEF, and Semeins, where you go to come up with ideas, or start researching? I'd like to try the ISEF this year, but have no idea of how to start, or where to look for.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>The majority of the people that do ISEF/Seimens/ITS have hookups at university labs. If you are interested in doing research, look at the professors' pages at a large university near you and see what kind of research they do. Find one that you are interested in and send them an email. Some won't respond since you're a high schooler, but a couple will. The key is not to "use" the labs to get you a high placing at one of these competitions but actually have interest in the subject so that it fits the rest of your application (eg - if you are a math person, doing biology research wouldn't look right).</p>
<p>Hope that Helps!</p>
<p>I've already e-mailed all the professors I could find nearby that do research in what I'm interested in, but they either didn't replied or stopped talking to me. And since I'd want to do something with Computer Science, how hard would it be to try it on my own?</p>
<p>And if you have a mentor, where does the idea for the project come from, you, or your mentor?</p>
<p>You need mentor for the following:
a) To kick you hard in the nuts whenever you are off the real research.
I always have problem with overromanticising and setting too big goals without reality check.
b) To help you with lab equipment, in case if you need some and he wants to give you some to use.
c) To make your research known. That is, coauthor on the paper and get it going. You can't publish in journals if you aren't affiliated with an institution.</p>
<p>All the other things you will do yourself.</p>
<p>If your parents are willing to pay for housing and whatnot (some are) try finding a professor at a well-known institution (MIT, Caltech, etc.), some professors there are very nice and willing to take on high school students. The quality of your advisor determines, to a large extent, where you will publish and how interesting your work will be.</p>
<p>Hey, a paper in Nature is well worth a few thousand dollars in rent. Also, at a higher-level institution you're less likely to meet evil grad students that try and plagiarize your work (not to say they don't exist).</p>
<p>Oh yeah, and since you obviously can program, why not try asking some experimental professor (in biology, for instance) if you can simulate something for him to verify his experimental results? It's a good way of becoming an "authority" in the lab and not having to be some grad student's peon (since all the grad students are experimentalists).</p>
<p>I live near Georgia Tech. I'm still in the process of it, but with two friends, we sent out about thirty emails to basically any chemistry prof at GT we could. Three wrote back, one followed through, so far. He's talking to his grad students about working with us, and we'll see how it pans out.</p>
<p>..</p>
<p>idk what to do either</p>
<p>Oh, and as to finding professor. I assume you have a very good knowledge of the field already and don't expect professor to feed you everything.</p>
<p>Just choose professors whose research seems most interesting to you and adapt your own ideas (which will come from reading publications) to their research and publications. Then spam profs with your own ideas, yet leave a clue that you're open to anything they would suggest.</p>
<p>shravas, i'm pretty sure Ohio University labs will take on the occasional high school student in addition to their undergrad research programs.</p>