New report on Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability affiliates programs

A committee formed by Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability Dean Arun Majumdar and Vice Provost and Dean of Research David Studdert to review the activities of the school’s industrial affiliates programs has completed its work. The committee assessed these activities in light of rules and requirements for industrial affiliates programs in university policies. The review was conducted in response to students calling for the university to address engagement with fossil fuel companies. 

Industrial affiliates programs provide a mechanism through which groups of faculty and students can interact with groups of member companies and their representatives. Unlike sponsored research, which requires a specific statement of work and deliverables, industrial affiliates programs are flexible, independent, and more open ended. Member companies provide funding toward a broad field of interest and share real-world challenges that could be addressed through research. 

The Industrial Affiliates Review Committee (IARC) report concludes that the school’s programs largely adhere to university rules, supporting engagement of faculty members and students, and preserving academic freedom in research pursuits. At the same time, the report outlines several opportunities for improvement, including annual in-person meetings with directors to discuss the goals and nuances of program policies, and modification of the “unnecessarily complex” reporting process. 

“The corporate folks are not setting the direction for these programs,” said report committee member Brooke Groves-Anderson, director of University Corporate and Foundation Relations, who has worked with industrial affiliates programs across Stanford for the past two decades. “We heard from affiliates program directors that they’re doing the research they want to do, and as part of these programs they’re connecting with the companies that are interested in this space.” 

Insights

The IARC, established in February 2024, was tasked with two objectives: to assess the extent to which industrial affiliates programs within the school are conforming to university policies, and to recommend improvements in the governance of these programs. The committee members reviewed affiliates programs only within the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability – not those associated with other Stanford schools and institutes – and worked independently of the university-wide Committee on Funding for Energy Research and Education (CFERE) formed in 2023.

The IARC included Ann Arvin, professor emerita and former Vice Provost and Dean of Research, and Lynn Orr, professor emeritus and former Chester Naramore Dean of the School of Earth Sciences, in addition to Groves-Anderson.

Committee members interviewed the directors of the school’s 18 industrial affiliates programs; five of six graduate students who together wrote a letter to the editor in The Stanford Daily recommending criteria for assessing research funding through affiliates programs; the associate vice provost of the Office of Technology Licensing, who reports to the Vice Provost and Dean of Research; and staff members in the Industrial Contracts Office and Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. 

According to the report, most of the industrial affiliates programs largely adhered to university requirements. Areas for improvement include uniform compliance with a rule requiring programs to have at least two faculty engaging with multiple companies; in several programs, vacancies left only one faculty member engaging with member companies. Lack of clarity was also identified as an issue. For example, one industrial affiliates program website referred to its advisory board as a governing board, even though it didn’t function as an oversight or decision-making authority, Groves-Anderson said. 

“Given concerns about transparency and undue influence, careful delineation of the role of the advisory board that allows for suggestions, but not control, should be stated clearly on the IAP website,” the report reads.

The committee reported that program funds are most commonly used to provide support for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. Since funding for sponsored research projects typically does not last through completion of a PhD, industrial affiliates programs funds are often used to fill in gaps. However, most students within the programs “at times are unaware of the behind-the-scenes effort required to assemble the funding that supports them,” the report states. It continues, students “should be able to learn the sources of their support by request if they wish.”

“In view of the fact that there’s such interest in all of this now, it’s kind of a good time to review the whole operating process,” Orr said.

Improvements

Committee members also noted the need for better communication about affiliates meetings, which “should be announced so that Stanford community members are aware of them and are aware that they are open,” the report reads. They also found that although industrial affiliates programs are overseen by the Industrial Contracts Office in addition to their respective school or unit, “neither have staff for whom this is their sole responsibility.”

The report suggests the annual renewal process could be simplified by shifting from its web-based and fragmented data entry system to a more streamlined approach, thereby improving transparency and efficiency. 

“Dean Studdert and I requested the formation of this committee not only to promote transparency and ensure adherence to university guidelines, as essential as those factors are, but also because we knew this process would elicit insights to improve these programs and make them even more effective,” Majumdar said. “The committee succeeded in that endeavor, and I’m deeply grateful to the committee members and all those who participated in the review.”

Many program directors discussed the value of flexible program funding, which “allows them to do what is needed now rather than waiting for long periods of proposal review,” the report states. 

“Industrial affiliates programs provide unique and important opportunities for our faculty and students, particularly in terms of research collaboration and professional development for our students, and also play a key role in the school’s mission to create knowledge and foster solutions in collaboration with partners worldwide,” Majumdar said. 

“I applaud the committee’s careful review and recommendations for moving forward,” Studdert said. “Establishing best practices for research compliance and reducing unnecessary administrative burdens are top priorities in our research enterprise. This report is helpful on both fronts. It will also inform the university-wide review of industrial affiliates programs that is currently underway.”

Orr, who directed an industrial affiliates program for a decade starting in the mid-1980s, said funding from the program was a good way to support students, maintain lab equipment, and pursue early stage research that’s not yet ready for federal support.

“It can allow you to investigate an idea that might seem a little too crazy for a proposal – that flexibility has real value,” Orr said.

Next steps

The IARC report is the most recent outcome of a series of campus-wide conversations and activities relating to research funding by fossil fuel companies since Majumdar was named dean of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability in 2022.

In October 2023, after six graduate students published a letter in The Stanford Daily calling for the university to enforce existing policies for affiliates programs, Majumdar responded with a pledge to follow through and formed the IARC with Studdert.

Majumdar also committed to making all information about the school’s affiliates programs easily available on the school’s website. Since then, financial information for fiscal years 2022 (9/1/21-8/31/22) and 2023 (9/1/22-8/31/23), along with descriptions of projects funded by the programs in fiscal year 2022, have been posted. The school created a webpage that lists a selection of stories about research and scholars supported by industrial affiliates programs within the school.

Majumdar has followed up with the directors of each program that received feedback from the report and plans to resolve all outstanding issues by the end of fall quarter.

Following the CFERE report released in June, Studdert and Jennifer Widom, dean of the School of Engineering, commissioned a broader, campus-wide review that began work this summer. That effort is being led by Bruce Clemens, professor emeritus in the School of Engineering, and Maureen McNichols, the Marriner S. Eccles Professor of Accounting and Public and Private Management at the Graduate School of Business.