Blueprinting Brilliance: An Institute for Secondary and Undergraduate Student Research
Welcome to Throop Research Academy. Our Dean, Dr. Alex Tobias established the Academy to provide high quality research project mentoring for high school and college students. Dr. Tobias has long believed that research is an important part of any education. The curriculum of most schools today is dominated by facts and concepts with very little reference to how that knowledge was acquired. The scientific method can only be truly appreciated when it has been practiced. Our motto, “Iuventus scientiam creans” is Latin for “Youth creating knowledge.” We are an online Academy headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
What makes Throop Special
Our Academy provides premiere research experiences at affordable prices through its people and programs. Dean Tobias serves as every student’s primary mentor. With a PhD in Chemical Engineering and Biology from Caltech that contributed to the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and 20 years of subsequent research experience in industry and government, Dean Tobias expertly assists every student with research topic selection, carrying out their project, scientific writing, figures and tables, presenting, and answering questions about their research. Most Throop researchers work on STEM projects, but some students’ research is centered in the humanities.
Student Programs
Throop Research Fellows are high school students performing original research projects with the intention of presenting their work at science fairs, STEM competitions, conferences, and/or peer-reviewed journals that feature high school student research.
Throop Collegiate Research Fellows are undergraduate students or recent high school graduates performing original research projects with the intention of presenting their work at conferences, and/or peer-reviewed journals that feature undergraduate student research.
Throop Scholars are high school students seeking to explore a research topic, learn to read primary literature, and present their their work as a mini-review paper, blog, or podcast. This program is especially attractive to students interested in science or technology journalism.
Significance of the Name
“Throop Research Academy” pays tribute to Throop University, the original name of what became the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, California. By honoring this now obscure piece of American science and technology history, we evoke the memory and ethos of a fledgling institute preparing to change the world through its devotion to learning by doing.