Membership

The corporate affiliate program of the Natural Gas Initiative (NGI) engages leading companies and institutions in the work of the outstanding team of faculty and researchers from across Stanford University.

We bring together a wide range of Stanford faculty and researchers interested in examining the dynamic, multifaceted questions raised by the tremendous opportunities associated with increased production and use of natural gas. 

The NGI Industrial Affiliate Program offers companies and institutions three levels of membership:

• Sustaining Member ($250,000 per year)
• Corporate Member ($100,000 per year)
• Basic Member ($35,000 per year, available to non-Fortune 500 companies)

Members receive the following benefits, depending on their level of membership (NGI reserves the right to make exceptions to Board Members' participation to ensure diverse perspectives and input).

• Access to informed research from inception to outcome (including opportunities to explore new research directions, share research problems of interest, and discuss possibilities for new applications of existing technologies to natural gas issues)
• Participation in NGI research conferences, workshops, symposia, and other events (includes participation in high-visibility NGI events)
• Meetings with professors who enable in-depth investigations of specific topics (meetings with Stanford faculty and researchers will be facilitated in areas of mutual interest)
• Opportunities to engage with complementary programs at Stanford in energy and the environment (including information about public Stanford events related to natural gas issues, like thesis presentations and Stanford seminars, and introductions to other research programs and industrial affiliates programs of interest at Stanford)
• Opportunities to engage in student recruitment and diversity initiatives at the school level
• Serving on the governance board of the Natural Gas Initiative to help establish research priorities and recommend projects for seed funding; Sustaining Members are permanent members of the NGI Governing Board and the remaining board seats are drawn on a rotating basis from the Corporate Members to ensure representation of diverse viewpoints
• Research-in-Progress Program: Teams of advanced Ph.D. students and Stanford faculty will visit affiliated partner company sites to give technical presentations and interact with industrial colleagues on the research being carried out under the Natural Gas Initiative. The site presentations and all information, data, and results arising from such visitation interactions will be shared with all members and the public
• Industrial Visiting Scholar Program: Short-term residencies at Stanford for industrial researchers will promote in-depth interaction between academic researchers and professionals in the field, in accordance with Stanford’s Visiting Scholar policies. The latest visitor restrictions bulletin is available at: Visiting Scholars | DoResearch. The site presentations and all information, data, and results arising from such visitation interactions will be shared with all members and the public.
• Fellow/Mentor/Advisor Program: This program will help forge stronger connections between Stanford graduate students and faculty advisors and outstanding researchers from industrial partner companies

All NGI Memberships are subject to Stanford University Policies for Industry Affiliates Programs. Companies may provide additional funding to be used to support a particular area of research identified on our website. The director of the Affiliate Program will determine how the additional funding will be used in the program’s research. All research results funded by our affiliates fees are shared with all program members and the public.

The Stanford University Natural Gas Initiative is a collaboration between the Doerr School of Sustainability and the Precourt Institute for Energy. The terms and conditions that govern research at Stanford are described in the Research Policy Handbook.