<p>collegealum314, post #26, really answers the incentive question. The granting agencies are concerned about the “scientific pipeline” with good reason, and some individual investigators are, also. </p>
<p>The incentive is not very strong, though. So you may need to email quite a few people before finding one who will take you on, as a high school student. In my experience, the willingness to work with high school students is partly personality based and partly based on the type of research the person is doing–and whether any of it is accessible to a motivated high school student. Surprisingly often, there is something a high school student can do, although I agree with the last sentence of collegealum’s post #26, too.</p>