Program
The Advance Program
We buy research apparatus and give it to high schools outright. No cash changes hands, no match is required, and the school keeps the equipment.
Why invertebrates
Science fair rules require that student research on vertebrate animals be reviewed and approved before it begins, by a committee that includes a veterinarian or a qualified animal care provider. Most invertebrates fall outside that requirement. Cephalopods are the exception and are treated as vertebrates.
That makes flies and planaria the organisms a high school can most readily use for original behavior research. What is left is equipment, and a science department without a behavioral rig runs demonstrations instead of experiments.
That gap is what Advance fills.
What we fund
Behavioral apparatus suited to invertebrate work in a classroom, awarded as equipment rather than cash.
Drosophila Y Maze
Two-choice behavioral assay for fruit flies. The rig in our first award.
Planaria Y Maze
Two-choice assay for planaria, which also supports regeneration work.
If your course needs apparatus not listed here, describe it in your application. We would rather fund the experiment your students want to run.
Who can apply
- A secondary school in the United States with a science research course, magnet, or equivalent.
- A named lead educator who will run the equipment with students.
- An authorizing district official who can confirm the school will house and maintain it.
- Capacity to store and maintain the apparatus between school years.
What we ask in return
- Acknowledge the Advance Program as a project sponsor.
- Send one paragraph and a photo of the equipment in use, within six to twelve months.
- Follow standard laboratory safety and ethical protocols for animal behavior studies.
How to apply
- 01
Strategic impact statement
Describe the equipment gap in your program, how this award moves the course from demonstration toward discovery, and the competition or publication path your students are aiming at.
- 02
Institutional approval
A principal or CTE director signs to confirm the school can house and maintain the equipment.
- 03
Procurement alignment
We issue a pro-forma purchase order so the district can track the item in its inventory, even though the Foundation pays for it.
- 04
Tax documentation
A W-9 or your district's state tax-exemption certificate, so we can document the gift in kind. Public districts are government units and generally do not hold their own exemption letter, so either document works.
First award
A medical sciences magnet in New Jersey
The school runs an honors research course in which students design and conduct original inquiry-based experiments on live model organisms. The course is required in its medical sciences magnet program and is offered every year.
Its science program did not own enough Y-mazes for the projects students planned. Students shared rigs or reduced the number of trials, which cost them the repeated measurements a competitive project needs.
We awarded Drosophila Y-mazes for implementation in January 2026. Their impact report is due back to us this school year and will be published here.
Apply
Tell us about the course and what it is missing. We read every application.
Districts that need a signed paper record can email us and we will send the form. Both routes reach the same place.