Established by the state of Illinois in 1985 to develop talent and leadership in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) has become an internationally recognized educational learning laboratory that inspires, challenges, and nurtures talented students. Our advanced, residential, college preparatory program prepares 650 talented Illinois students in grades 10, 11, and 12 to become scholars, researchers, and entrepreneurs. Toward this end, we find that about 80% of our graduates obtain STEM bachelor's degrees.

IMSA has a long history of supporting, nurturing, and promoting high school student participation in research through our academic curriculum and the Student Inquiry and Research (SIR) program. In 2008, we completed our 22nd year as a math and science academy; for 20 of these years we have had a student research program that now numbers approximately 3,300 cumulative student participants. The SIR program supports student research not only in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields (about 75% of participants), but also in the fine arts fields (