The western site is at San Jose State University, San Jose, California. The eastern site is at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The summer school is limited to 12 students at each site. Candidates must be undergraduate chemistry or physics majors or in related fields who will enter their junior or senior year in the fall following the summer school. The eight-week research appointments provide teachers nationwide with a live research experience.
Teachers spend four days each week working in a laboratory in a laboratory with a mentor.
On Fridays, they participate in activities designed to promote the transfer of their research experiences to the classroom. Students are placed with a scientist, engineer, or technical specialist in a field of interest. Hence, summer appointments of ten weeks are offered to approximately eight students who apply from the BNL's DOE High School Honors Research Program of the previous year. BNL has several programs that offer full-time research appointments to undergraduate students at the junior or senior level. Summer appointments of ten weeks are offered to approximately 60 students.