Hi! I have heard about high school students reaching out to professors at their local universities in hopes of helping them do research over the summer. I am interested in helping a professor do research over the summer, in particular for mathematics or another STEM subject, but I’m not sure how to execute this.
Is it best to email individual professors whose studies interest you? Is it acceptable to email the university’s research centers/institutes, for example UC Berkeley’s “Center for Cosmological Physics” or “Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science”? If the latter, should you email the director of the research center and how should you write this email?
I know high school students often do this, but it feels so strange reaching out since I have no real experience in any field.
Please help! 
B
As a HS student you will likely have to reach out to a professor at a local college. It would be much harder to do somewhere that you don’t have your own housing. Keep in mind you will not get paid. I would email professors directly. You never know. Someone might take a chance on you. But, you have to be able to prove that it’s worth their time to work with you. A resume of some type would be useful and a recommendation of a teacher in a STEM subject wouldn’t hurt either. There are some colleges with summer programs specifically for HS students. You might check the Summer Program forum for information on those. Most have fees to participate.