NREL's education programs promote science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) using clean energy technologies to capture student interest.

High school students are invited to participate in a virtual NREL Summit. Summits will be held on a rotating basis, by topic, throughout the school year, and the interactive virtual component will last 3 hours.

Before arriving, classes will receive a problem NREL researchers are working to solve as well as a plain-language summary of research happening at NREL around the problem. Students will then conduct their own background research on the topic and come to the summit prepared to propose and discuss their research solutions.

The summit will bring together classes from several schools in a collaborative environment. Students will hear additional details about the topic from NREL scientists and engineers and will be able to ask related questions during a panel discussion. Students will then break into small groups to brainstorm possible solutions to the problem, propose follow-up experiments and research, and design prototypes, as appropriate. Students will have the opportunity to present their ideas to the experts, receive feedback, and discuss ways to improve their project designs.

Teachers can register their classes for a summit, which are offered on the fourth Thursday of each month.