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Includes frequently asked questions regarding affiliate programs as well as sample standard affiliate program agreements.
Research Policy Handbook
Overarching university policies on affiliate programs.
Industrial Affiliate Programs
Industrial affiliate programs are designed to facilitate the transfer of knowledge to society and the dialogue between academia and industry. Supported by corporate membership fees, these programs provide an avenue for industry to contribute to and sustain research and teaching in Stanford departments and programs of interest. Companies receive facilitated access to research programs and to participating faculty and students. Corporate members typically attend annual meetings, receive copies of reports and publications, and have opportunities to recruit students. Any interested company may join an affiliate program.
Here is a list of all affiliate programs across the university (Press Ctrl+F [Windows] or Command+F [Mac] to locate a particular word or phrase on the page). For more details about affiliate program guidelines, managing programs, and helpful information for companies interested in joining an affiliate program, visit the Industrial Affiliate Program website
| Program / Contact |
Description |
|---|---|
Advances in Biomedical Measurement Science (ABMS) Contact: Sara Lefort |
ABMS supports research to provide significant improvements in the accuracy and comparability of vital data used to make important research, regulatory, clinical, and manufacturing quality control decisions. The goals of the ABMS program are to greatly reduce the time for translation of new technology and new drugs into clinical practice, increase safety and efficacy of new pharmaceuticals, as well as greatly decrease the regulatory burden of introducing the next generation of innovative instruments, standardized reagents, protocols, and computational tools needed to improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs. |
| Aeronautics & Astronautics Contact: Carolyn Edwards |
The Aero/Astro Affiliates Program facilitates interaction between the department and industry members interested in guidance, control, and navigation systems (including GPS and robotics); composite materials and smart structures; fluid mechanics; aircraft and satellite design; and multidisciplinary design optimization. |
| Artificial Intelligence Contact: Steve Eglash |
AI is an integral part of many exciting business and consumer tools such as speech recognition, semantic search, recommendation systems, machine translation, and 3D sensing in consumer gaming. The AI Lab Affiliates Program brings all of these efforts together and provides a structure for industry to engage effectively. The affiliates program represents a new era of close engagement with a small number of major companies. It supports corporate interaction through organized retreats, an Advisory Board, and informal interactions. The goal is bidirectional transfer of knowledge and excitement. |
| Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) Contact: Denise Masumoto |
Corporate affiliates enter into continuing relationships with Shorenstein APARC and benefit from enhanced access to the Center's research on contemporary Asia. Through the visiting fellows component of the program, affiliates may send personnel to live, study and conduct relevant research on the Stanford University campus. |
| Basin and Petroleum System Modeling Contact: Allegra Hosford Scheirer |
The goal of the Basin and Petroleum System Modeling Affiliates Program is to become a recognized center of excellence for training and research in visualization and quantification of the geohistory of basins and petroleum systems. |
| Blume Center / Earthquake Engineering Affiliate Program Contact: Racquel Hagen |
The Blume Center, part of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has a strong commitment to serve the profession and the community in reducing earthquake risk. Through its activities, the Blume Center contributes to the understanding of earthquakes and their effects on structures. |
Center for the Advancement of Women’s Leadership Contact: Lori Mackenzie |
The Corporate Program of the Center for the Advancement of Women’s Leadership brings together leaders who are advancing women’s leadership in their organizations and provides leading edge research together with insights into how to address real-world challenges and opportunities. The program offers a highly participative and interactive learning community of engaged partners working together to move the needle forward on women’s leadership. This program is part of Stanford University's Industrial Affiliates network. |
| Center for Automotive Research at Stanford (CARS) Contact: Adele Tanaka |
The goal of CARS is to radically re-envision the automobile for unprecedented levels of safety, performance, sustainability, and enjoyment. Our mission is to discover, build, and deploy the critical ideas and innovations for the next generation of cars and drivers. |
| Center for Design Research (CDR) Contact: Anneliese Tunison |
CDR’s mission is to support engineering design. Field studies of professional product development teams and laboratory studies of advanced graduate student teams lead to innovations in design process management and supporting collaboration technology. New design and prototyping tools are applied to problems in bio-inspired robotics, human-computer interaction and dynamic vehicle systems. |
| Center for Integrated Facility Engineering (CIFE) Contact: Teddie Guenzer |
The mission of CIFE is to be the world's premier academic research center for Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) for capital facility projects. VDC is the use of multi-disciplinary performance models of design-construction projects, including the Product (i.e., facilities), Work Processes, and Organization of the design-construction-operation team to support business objectives. |
| Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) Contact: Neil Penick |
The CISAC Affiliates Program provides opportunities for industry and national laboratory leaders to participate in substantive discussions on international security and U.S. defense policies. Affiliate members attend Center events, receive Center publications, and may receive briefings from Center scholars and visitors. |
| Center on Longevity Corporate Affiliates program Contact: Margaret Dyer-Chamberlain |
The mission of the Stanford Center on Longevity is to redesign long life. The Center studies the nature and development of the human life span, looking for innovative ways to use science and technology to solve the problems of people over 50 by improving the well-being of people of all ages. |
| Center for Magnetic Nanotechnology (CMN) (formerly CRISM) Contact: Nuvia Pacheco |
The mission of the Center is to stimulate research at Stanford in the area of magnetic nanotechnology, magnetic sensing, and information storage materials. The center also operates the Nanomagnetics Facility and the Magnetics Forum (annual reviews, workshops, short courses, and conferences on magnetics-based technologies including nanotechnology and information storage). |
| Computer Forum Contact: Connie Chan |
The Stanford Computer Forum provides a mechanism for developing interaction with industrial researchers and their academic counterparts, promoting the exchange of the most advanced technological ideas in fields of computer science and electrical engineering. |
| Energy Modeling Forum (EMF) Contacts: Hillard Huntington and Pam McCroskey |
EMF seeks to improve the use and usefulness of energy and environmental analysis to the public and private sectors by organizing comparative tests of available models and complementary analyses. Current studies focus on global climate change and international natural gas markets and trade. |
Engineering Research Center (ERC) Affiliates Program Contact: Christian Nilsen |
In conjunction with the research activities under the ReNUWIt Program, Stanford has created this ERC Affiliates Program to facilitate the implementation of the ReNUWIt Program. The Engineering Research Center, “ERC” is a unique resource for its affiliate members, providing a collaborative environment whereby the educational and research expertise of all affiliate members can be leveraged to develop better understanding of urban water management to provide reliable and energy-efficient water supplies in ways that embrace the importance of engineered solutions tailored to local needs, the integration of natural systems into urban water infrastructure, and social and economic factors that stimulate industrial innovation. |
|
Contact: Ashby Monk |
The Global Projects Center is an interdisciplinary research center at Stanford University, and seeks to facilitate understanding of the financing, development, and governance of critical infrastructure worldwide. The program conducts interdisciplinary research, facilitate engagement among academic and industry leaders, and educate future leaders within the infrastructure finance and development space. |
| ICME Education Affiliate Program Contact: Margot Gerritsen |
The ICME Education Affiliate Program aims to create long-term relationships with members to engage in dialog and thought leadership around areas such as algorithms and optimization, machine learning, data science, computational finance, geoscience, computational medicine and imaging. |
| Industry Affiliate Program for Teaching Design Thinking Contact: Kristin Burns |
In this program, student teams and/or individuals are involved in the synthesis of design solutions to problems that are supplied by industry. An important part of the affiliate's role is to ensure that faculty and students are aware of industrial conditions and needs, keeping them current on present development and future plans via a constant exchange of theory and methodology. |
| The Internet of Things Research Program Contact: Steve Eglash |
The Internet of Things Research Program is a cross-disciplinary research effort between computer science and electrical engineering faculty at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and the University of Michigan. The research effort focuses on three key questions: 1) Analytics: how will we integrate these enormous streams of physical world instrumentation with all of our existing data 2) Security: how can pervasive sensing and analytics systems preserve and protect user security 3) Hardware and software systems: what hardware and software systems will make developing new intelligent and secure Internet of Things applications as easy as a modern web application. |
| Initiative for Nanoscale Materials and Processes (INMP) Contact: Yoshio Nishi |
The INMP research initiative is focused on metal gate / high k dielectrics / high mobility channel MOSFETs research for the ITRS 32nm and beyond. Both theoretical and experimental study for such devices with aspects of device physics, material science, and innovative new processes have been explored. |
| Management Science and Engineering (MS&E) Contact: Lorrie Papadakis |
The MS&E Industry Affiliates Program directly connects corporations with our department’s vast resources: renowned faculty, cutting-edge research centers and a thriving student community. It is a partnership with industry designed to assist organizations in meeting their challenges while expanding educational and employment opportunities for our students. |
| Media X Contact: Martha Russell |
The Media X research network sponsors Stanford faculty and researchers studying basic issues about the design and use of interactive technologies. The multidisciplinary projects that result are influencing the next generation of commerce, learning and entertainment. |
| MobiSocial Contact: Darlene Hadding |
The mission of MobiSocial is to create disruptive mobile and social computing technology that serves consumers' interests and benefits the economy in the long term. The program's current focus is to let everyone interact socially with each other, without having to join the same proprietary social network. The success of the project lies in making it fun for the users and easy for software developers. |
| National Performance of Dams Program (NPDP) Contact: Martin W. McCann Jr. |
The NPDP is a cooperative effort of engineers and dam safety professionals in the U.S. to create an information resource on dams and their performance. The objectives of the NPDP are to retrieve, archive, and disseminate information on the performance of dams. |
| Nonvolatile Memory Technology Research Initiative (NMTRI) Contact: Yoshio Nishi |
This initiative for nonvolatile memory research aims at dealing with challenges of increasing needs for embedded memory with high density and low cost with power minimization. NMTRI does this by looking into technical feasibility at the device level, circuit/system level as well as develop a fundamental understanding for a variety of new nonvolatile memory phenomena, materials and processes. |
Open Networking Research Center (ONRC) |
ONRC's mission is to help realize the potential of software-defined networking (SDN) - the new paradigm of networking. |
| Pervasive Parallelism Laboratory (PPL) Contact: Darlene Hadding |
The PPL pools the efforts of many leading Stanford computer scientists and electrical engineers with support from industry partners. The center will research and develop a top-to-bottom parallel computing system, stretching from fundamental hardware to new user-friendly programming languages that will allow developers to exploit parallelism automatically. |
| Smart Fields Consortium (SFC) Contact: Thuy Nguyen |
The real-time monitoring, model updating and optimal control of oil and gas fields is known in the industry by various names, including Smart Fields, i-fields, e-fields, closed-loop reservoir management, etc. Such a system could be implemented in existing fields or in new fields that are developed by using optimization techniques to determine the location, number and type of wells. |
| Space, Telecommunications, and Radioscience (STAR Lab) Contact: ShaoLan Min |
STAR Lab is a research group within the Department of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. Research areas in the STAR Lab include electromagnetics and remote sensing, communications, and signal processing. |
| Social Algorithms Lab (SOAL) Contact: Ramesh Johari |
The Social Algorithms Lab (SOAL@Stanford) brings together a group of researchers in the Department of Management Science and Engineering Stanford University, working on problems at the interface of social and economic sciences on one hand, and computational science and algorithms on the other. |
| Stanford Center for Carbon Storage (SCCS) (formerly SUPRI-C) Contact: Thuy Nguyen |
The research of the Stanford Center for Carbon Storage focuses on the accurate and efficient prediction of compositional and thermal subsurface flow processes and on improving our understanding of their flow physics. We have expertise in physical and mathematical modeling, lab experimentation, and computer simulation and numerical analysis. |
Stanford Center for Induced and Triggered Seismicity (SCITS) |
The mission of the Stanford Center for Induced and Triggered Seismicity is to conduct fundamental research on the physical processes responsible for induced and triggered seismicity, to carry out intensive case studies and to develop a scientifically-based framework for seismic risk assessment. |
| Stanford Center for Image Systems Engineering (SCIEN) Contact: Joyce Farrell |
SCIEN involves faculty from five departments at Stanford University working on the mathematical, computational, and experimental aspects of imaging systems. The program addresses all stages of the digital image pipeline - including methods of acquiring, processing, analyzing, communicating, rendering, and displaying visual information. |
| Stanford Center for Position Navigation and Time (SCPNT) Contact: Sherann Ellsworth |
Research at the SCPNT is aimed at vastly extending and expanding the benefits of GPS in society. Researchers are exploring several techniques for supplementing the system’s reach, accuracy, and resistance to radio frequency interference to make possible diverse new applications. |
| Stanford Center for Reservoir Forecasting (SCRF) Contact: Thuy Nguyen |
The research focus of the SCRF is the general problem of reservoir characterization and performance, including forecasting, interpreting reservoir geology and geophysics, geostatistics, reservoir engineering, and simulation. |
| Stanford Center for Societal Networks (SCSN) Contact: Jennifer Kuo |
The Stanford Center for Societal Networks Affiliates Program conducts research to develop technological mechanisms for sensing, communicating, and analyzing data related to user behavior, and to develop appropriate economic incentive algorithms for modifying behavior. |
| Stanford Center for Sustainable Development and Global Competitiveness Contact: Duc Wong |
The Center for Sustainable Development and Global Competitiveness at Stanford engages in research and educational programs that integrate business development strategies with leadership practices that will ensure enterprise growth and success within a healthy and sustainable natural environment. |
Stanford Data Science Initiative (SDSI) Contact: Steve Eglash |
SDSI works closely with diverse industries including information technology, communications, social networks, finance, insurance, health care, semiconductors, retail, manufacturing, utilities, oil and gas, and transportation. Corporate membership fees provide unrestricted support for SDSI research and other activities where the emphasis is on two-way communication between researchers and companies. |
| Stanford Digital Learning Forum Contact: Todd Logan |
The Stanford Digital Learning Forum affiliates program was launched by the Vice Provost for Online Learning to engage companies and other organizations interested in the future of learning in a digital world. The program is designed to bring together program members with Stanford’s faculty, students and staff throughout the University, who are involved in online learning initiatives to facilitate strong relationships between academia and industry. |
| Stanford Earth Sciences Algorithms and Architectures Initiative (SESAAI) Contact: Thuy Nguyen |
SESAAI intends to (1) Evaluate modern High Performance Computing (HPC) architectures for reservoir-simulation and seismic-imaging algorithms, (2) Develop new algorithms that take advantage of modern HPC architectures, (3) Develop "data streaming" abstractions that facilitate efficient porting of reservoir-simulation and seismic-imaging codes to modern HPC architectures, and (4) Influence the future technological offering by Information Technology companies to better meet needs of reservoir-simulation and seismic-imaging algorithms. |
| Stanford Energy 3.0 Contact: Marjorie M. Alfs |
Stanford Energy 3.0 (formerly the Energy and Environment Affiliates Program) creates a connection between member industrial firms and Stanford University. The program supports advanced research, policy study, outreach, and education across a broad range of issues related to the world's energy future. |
| Stanford Experimental Data Center Lab (SEDCL) Contact: Jennifer Kuo |
The Stanford Experimental Data Center Lab Affiliates Program welcomes industry partners interested in developing and deploying networking, computing and storage technologies. Our group focuses on the architecture of future data center networks, scalable DRAM-based storage, massive server virtualization, and cloud computing. |
| Stanford Exploration Project (SEP) Contact: Diane Lau |
The Stanford Exploration Project's purpose is to improve the theory and practice of constructing 3-D and 4-D images of the earth from seismic echo soundings. Today our focus is on 3-D seismic applications such as velocity estimation, wavefield-continuation prestack migration, multidimensional image estimation, and 4-D (time-lapse) reservoir monitoring. |
The Stanford Natural Gas Initiative (NGI) Contact: Claudia Baroni |
The new Stanford Natural Gas Initiative examines the dynamic, multifaceted questions raised by the tremendous growth in natural gas production by focusing the efforts of Stanford’s faculty, researchers, and students in six key areas: Resource Development, Environmental Impacts and Climate Change, Uses of Natural Gas, Global Markets and Finance, Policy and Regulatory Reform, and Geopolitical Impacts. |
| Stanford Photonics Research Center (SPRC) Contacts: Tom Baer and Sara Lefort |
SPRC's goal is to support photonics for the mutual, sustained benefit of both Stanford's teaching and research and SPRC's corporate members. SPRC aims to connect members to the fullest possible range of photonics activities across multiple departments at Stanford such as electrical engineering, applied physics, materials science and engineering, chemistry, and mechanical engineering. |
| Stanford Project on Deep-Water Depositional Systems (SPODDS) (aka G&ES) Contacts: Steve Graham and Donald Lowe |
SPODDS is a research program in the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences focused on the study of ancient and modern course-clastic deep-water deposits from around the world. Affiliate members of this institutional consortium include numerous international energy companies that seek greater understanding of deep-water deposits as reservoir systems for oil and gas. |
| Stanford Rock Physics and Borehole Geophysics Project (SRB) Contact: Jared Gregory |
The Stanford Rock Physics and Borehole Geophysics Project studies the properties of and processes in rocks as related to geophysical exploration, crustal studies, tectonic and borehole processes. It consists of two groups: The Rock Physics Laboratory and The Stress and Crustal Mechanics Group. |
|
Contact: Karin Sligar |
Previously known as the Center for Integrated Systems (CIS), SystemX emphasizes application-driven, system-oriented research. Its areas of interest include hardware and software at all levels of the system stack from materials and devices to systems and applications in electronics, networks, energy, mobility, bio-interfaces, sensors, and other real-world domains. SystemX Focus Areas, Ph.D. fellowships, and knowledge exchange programs draw on the unique strengths of the university and industry to enhance the productivity and competitiveness of both. |
| Statistics Industrial Affiliate Program Contact: Heather Lee Murthy |
The Statistics Department Industrial Affiliate Program was established to develop a practical relationship between the Department and University and the industrial community. Statisticians require data! More importantly, we need to be in touch with the real world, to make sure we are working on relevant problems. |
SUNCAT (SUstainable eNergy through CATalysis) Center for Interface Science and Catalysis Contact: Pooja Sadarangani |
SUNCAT (SUstainable eNergy through CATalysis) Center for Interface Science and Catalysis is a partnersip between SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and the Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University. The Center explores challenges associated with the atomic-scale design of catalysts for chemical transformations of interest for energy conversion and storage. |
| SUPRI-A (Stanford University Petroleum Research Institute): Thermal Oil Recovery Program Contact: Yolanda Williams |
The research of SUPRI-A is relevant to so-called unconventional resources that are hard to produce with conventional techniques. Unconventional resources of current interest to the group are heavy and viscous oils and fractured, heterogenous porous media containing hydrocarbons. |
| SUPRI-B (Stanford University Petroleum Research Institute): Reservoir Simulation Affiliates Contact: Thuy Nguyen |
The Reservoir Simulation Research program (SUPRI-B) is dedicated not only to the research and development of techniques that enhance the value of the reservoir simulation technology, but also to the education of future leaders in this field and the broader energy industry. The SUPRI-B program is integrated with the consortiums on Advanced Wells (SUPRI-HW) and Smart Fields. |
| SUPRI-D (Stanford University Petroleum Research Institute): Well Test Interpretation Affiliates Contact: Yolanda Williams |
Innovative well test interpretation techniques that can make use of the new measurements and new computer capabilities now available have already been shown to provide more results, more reliable results and less expensive tests. We aim to explore new ways to improve further on these successes, and to investigate novel approaches in the interpretation of oil, gas, geothermal and water well tests. |
| Thermal & Fluid Sciences (TFSA) Contact: Marlene Lomuljo-Bautista |
The Thermal & Fluid Sciences Affiliates Program is the industrial liaison program of the Thermosciences Group and Flow Physics and Computation Group of the Mechanical Engineering Department at Stanford. The program is administered at the faculty level and emphasizes person-to-person communications between the Stanford faculty and the industrial representatives. |