Explore all KHeystone projects
in alphabetical order, by project name
Accessible research education in Kenya: KEMRI and Sci-MI
Short description: Bridging educational gaps in the STEM research workforce within Kenya through global mentorship and community-based research
Description: Now in its third year, the Kenya Medical Research Institute has partnered with us and the Science Mentorship Institute (founded by scholar Ally Kim) to provide accessible scientific research exposure to a population that often lacks a portable entry point to STEM research careers. Our partner site is located in a rural region -- the Kilifi County -- and we partner with them to provide supportive near-peer mentorship and project-based education. Students develop projects that address important challenges arising in their direct communities and learn new research methodologies and skills. We are in the midst of developing a quality assessment paper to assess the effectiveness of this collaborative educational model to include Kenyan researcher, educator, and student voices.
Category: Education and Academia, NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy, Science, Technology and Engineering
Keywords: science education, mentorship, community-driven research, Kenya, empowerment
Skillset needs: We would love to speak with scholars who may be familiar with our partner site location (Kilifi or Nairobi, Kenya) and/or interested in expanding this program to other regions within sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.
Contact: Ally Kim
Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy in Pregnancy
Short description: Advancing maternal health equity by studying vaccine hesitancy in pregnancy and enhancing medical student training in vaccine counseling and support.
Description: This project pilots a model to improve medical student education around vaccine and medication hesitancy, focusing on the unique concerns of pregnant patients in today’s political climate. By integrating patient perspectives with student training, it aims to train future physicians to serve as trusted counselors. We aim to measurably improve pregnant patients’ confidence and perceptions around vaccination.
Category: Healthcare and Life Sciences
Keywords: pregnancy, maternal-fetal health, vaccine hesitancy, medical education
Skillset needs: I'm in the early ideation phase, and I would love to partner/combine with other Kheystone Projects doing similar work. I would also love to be connected to mentors in education, healthcare, and policy who could provide insight on how to pilot a program in LPCH.
Contact: Isha Sanghvi
AfterAid
Short description: Partner with social enterprises in the Global South whose funding was cut to help them transition from aid-dependent models to sustainable, locally-backed operations.
Description: Global aid is declining, forcing many social enterprises to scale back or shut down when external funding is cut. AfterAid works hands-on with a small cohort of organizations to diversify revenue streams, build local customer bases, and develop sustainable business models that don't rely on international donors. Our goal is to help proven social enterprises survive this transition and create a blueprint for thriving in a post-aid world.
Category: NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy
Keywords: Social Enterprise, Sustainability, International Development
Skillset needs: Looking for teammates from any background (tech, policy, health, education, engineering, or beyond) who want to reimagine development. Whether you have experience in the Global South or are simply curious, I'd love to have people who can contribute skills like business strategy, partnership development, or sector specific knowledge. Most importantly, folks who bring energy, connections (and maybe have an enterprise in mind!), and creative thinking about sustainability and impact.
Contact: Elena Sapelyuk
AI Education in South East Asia
Short description: An education NGO that mentors and empowers the brighest minds in ASEAN countries with AI-tools
Description: Pilot project will be with 3 ASEAN countries and their flagship universities. Goal is to equip the nation's best young minds with AI tools and to help the emerging region leapfrog into localized AI projects that would be practical and useful for their particular communities. For continuity and heightened impact, the plan could involve working with the participants for them to become AI Ambassadors in their communities. This can also be transformed to a wider 'AI Education in Emerging Markets' initiative.
Category: Art, Media, and Communications, Education and Academia, Government, Law, and Public Policy, NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy, Science, Technology and Engineering
Keywords: AI Education, Emerging Markets, South East Asia, Mentorship
Skillset needs: Would love someone to bounce ideas with, especially someone with strong Marketing or PR Expertise and passion in education/technology.
Contact: Kyle Kua
AI in Latin America Initiative
Short description: documenting and mapping the passing of AI regulation in Brazil
Description: Conducting interviews and an ethnographic studies with members of congress, staffers and AI bill Taskforce members on the process of passing the upcoming regulation and the likely outcome of some measures on the business environment due to compliance requirements.
Category: Education and Academia
Keywords: AI regulation, Brazil, policy-making
Skillset needs: Research, writing, conducting interviewing, coding (the social science type!)
Contact: Thay Graciano
Asylum Collaborative @ Stanford
Short description: The Asylum Collaborative at Stanford is a student-faculty run group whose goal is to provide comprehensive medical and psychological evaluations to asylum-seekers across the Bay Area.
Description: The Asylum Collaborative was founded at Stanford Medical School to provide free forensic psychological and medical evaluations for asylum seekers in the United States. Our organization consists of six committees that address different aspects of the evaluation process: Advocacy, Community Outreach, Community Resources, Operations, Training, and Quality Improvement. Current projects include partnering with Stanford Law School's Immigrant Rights Clinic for a training workshop, expanding support through faculty recruitment and outreach, and developing a website to centralize resources for asylum seekers in the Bay Area.
Category: Healthcare and Life Sciences, NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy
Keywords: refugee, asylum, health, human rights
Skillset needs: No prior skillset is required; anyone interested in refugee/asylee health, human rights, community support, or health equity is encouraged to join! Optionally, any experience with website design would be greatly appreciated.
Contact: Hadi Juratli
Backcurrent Innovation
Short description: A global innovation initiative identifying frugal medical technologies developed in low-resource settings and adapting them for use in U.S. healthcare.
Description: Backcurrent Innovations seeks to reverse the direction of global innovation by sourcing frugal, high-impact healthcare technologies from developing nations and adapting them for use in U.S. clinical settings. The project challenges a system that often rewards over-engineering and price signaling over practicality, demonstrating that simplicity and cost-efficiency can lower expenses for patients and institutions without compromising safety or outcomes.
Category: Healthcare and Life Sciences, NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy
Keywords: Frugal Innovation, Healthcare, MedTech
Skillset needs: I’m in the early ideation and pilot design phase and would love to collaborate with students from engineering, medicine, public policy, or business who are passionate about global health equity, frugal innovation, and healthcare reform.
Contact: Neil Upreti
Bridging care: equipping frontline providers with specialist kno
Short description: Equipping generalist clinicians and community health workers with context-specific knowledge and skills for delivering essential specialist care in low-resource settings.
Description: This project addresses the shortage of specialist medical and surgical providers in low- and middle-income countries by supporting safe, effective task-sharing. In partnership with Mobiklinic Uganda, it will develop and pilot a mobile-based educational program that equips non-specialist clinicians and community health workers with context-specific guidance for essential specialist care. Initial work will focus on urology and lymphedema topics, with potential to expand into other disciplines as the model is refined and scaled.
Category: Healthcare and Life Sciences
Keywords: tasksharing, rural, frontline, essential care
Skillset needs: We welcome collaborators from all disciplines, medical or non-medical! We would especially value involvement from anyone with experience working with industry or philanthropic partners in Eastern Africa.
Contact: Hannah Thomas
California Racial Justice Act Research Collaborative
Short description: A social science research collaborative supporting advocacy under the California Racial Justice Act (Cal. Penal § 745) through student-led, evidence-based resources.
Description: The California Racial Justice Act Research Collaborative (CRJARC) produces research-backed resources to support advocacy efforts under the California Racial Justice Act (Cal. Penal § 745). The student-led collaborative promotes access to justice by developing free, evidence-based materials grounded in peer-reviewed social science research for defendants who have experienced discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin in the California criminal legal system.
Category: Education and Academia, Government, Law, and Public Policy, NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy
Keywords: social science, legal advocacy, law, linguistics, sociology
Skillset needs: I'd love to involve law students and graduate students with a background in social science!
Contact: Tilly Brooks
Campus Crossfire
Short description: A university debate and media initiative reviving civil discourse through live, student-led debates on the most important and divisive issues of our time.
Description: Campus Crossfire is a civic media and dialogue initiative that brings structured, Oxford-style debates and filmed discussions to university campuses, starting at Stanford. The project aims to model what honest, patriotic, and solution-oriented discourse can look like in an era of polarization. Through collaboration with students, faculty, and national media partners, Campus Crossfire will make debate exciting again—and help rebuild the culture of open dialogue in higher education.
Category: Art, Media, and Communications, Education and Academia, Government, Law, and Public Policy, NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy
Keywords: dialogue, debate, media, education, civic renewal
Skillset needs: We’re seeking teammates with skills in media production, event management, marketing and communications, and digital storytelling—as well as those with experience in organizing, moderating, or competing in debates. Students who have led campus debate teams, Model UNs, or similar forums would be especially valuable.
Campus Crossfire is designed to become a monthly, ideally weekly, year-long debate and media series at Stanford, featuring both student and guest speakers. We’re looking for creative, mission-driven partners excited to help make Stanford the national model for civil discourse in higher education.
Contact: Joe Nail
CareCompass: Providing Navigation through Public Benefits
Short description: Providing navigation for obtaining housing and social benefits, for unhoused and other socially at-risk individuals in the community
Description: Stable housing is the primary health determinant for unhoused individuals, yet they face complex barriers to securing housing and other essential benefits; re-entry into homelessness is also common without long-term support. Currently, case managers provide guidance but are capacity-limited, increasing wait-times. We aim to address this by developing a SMS- and web-based assistant to determine benefit eligibility, write applications, and provide guidance while living independently, usable both by those applying for benefits and case managers.
Category: Government, Law, and Public Policy, NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy
Keywords: Housing, Case Management, Public Benefits
Skillset needs: Working with unhoused and other socially at-risk populations, Understanding public benefit systems and application processes (for housing vouchers, SNAP, health insurance, ID applications, and others), Communicating with local organizations working on homelessness, Organizing community-based projects, Establishing IRB protocols, Experience in backend engineering (specifically integrating machine learning algorithms into mobile communication systems)
Contact: Aravind Krishnan
Central Dogma Pie
Short description: Central Dogma Pie is creating a global educational series that explores how everything works. Making complex ideas from science, technology, history, and culture easy, engaging, and accessible to everyone.
Description: We are developing an educational program that explores how everything works: from the inner workings of nature and technology to the systems that shape culture, history, and everyday life. Our video series transforms complex ideas into engaging, easy-to-understand lessons available in multiple languages, reaching learners of all ages and backgrounds. By connecting curiosity with real-world understanding, we aim to inspire lifelong learning and help audiences see the world as an interconnected, fascinating place where knowledge has no boundaries.
Category: Education and Academia, Science, Technology and Engineering
Keywords: education, equity, international, interdisciplinary, multimedia learning
Skillset needs: The program is seeking passionate animators to bring our videos to life, writers with expertise in distilling complex topics (science, technology, history, art, etc.) into clear, engaging explanations, and individuals to help us build connections with middle and high schools in diverse regions.
Contact: Lingyi Zhang
D.Sole Foundation: Diabetic Footcare for Underserved Communities
Short description: A nonprofit initiative providing diabetes education and diabetic foot care solutions to low-income communities, conducting research and developing accessible interventions to prevent foot deformities, ulcers, and amputations.
Description: This nonprofit organization addresses the diabetic foot care crisis in underserved, low-income communities where amputations are disproportionately high. We conduct research into accessible foot care solutions, give policy advice on diabetic foot care, provide community-based diabetes education, and develop interventions for preventing foot deformities and ulcers. Our mission is to bridge the healthcare gap by creating sustainable, affordable solutions that prevent life-altering amputations and improve the quality of life for vulnerable diabetic populations.
Category: Healthcare and Life Sciences, NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy
Keywords: diabetes, foot care, health equity, amputation prevention, underserved communities
Skillset needs: Seeking team members passionate about health equity with backgrounds in: healthcare/public health for program development, research experience for diabetic foot care studies, nonprofit management, community outreach coordinators for building partnerships with low-income communities, and connections to Stanford Medicine or public health programs.
Contact: Saisri Akondi
Dear Friend Project: (Re)Connecting Chronically Ill Children
Short description: Reimagining the childhood experience for chronically ill children
Description: Chronically ill children often grow up tethered to machines that physically sustain them but distanced from the friendships that define childhood. The Dear Friend Project aims to help these children rediscover the joy of being a kid through exchanging heartfelt letters with peers from the community that remind them they are more than their illness. We hope to close the loop by periodically facilitating physical spaces where these children can connect beyond pen and paper.
Category: Healthcare and Life Sciences, NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy
Keywords: Children, Healthcare, Friendship, Storytelling
Skillset needs: Working with pediatric patients, Communicating with hospital administrators, Communicating with elementary/middle/high schools in the community, Organizing community-based projects, Establishing IRB protocols
Contact: Sean Lee
Dialekt
Short description: Overcoming immigrant occupational mismatch through free personal and group tutoring.
Description: Dialekt is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping adult immigrants achieve their professional goals. We provide free personalized support through individual and group sessions, covering topics like ESL, GED, the U.S. citizenship exam, tech literacy, professional development (resume building, interview prep, etc.) and more. Through our Stanford branch, over 50 volunteers have had the opportunity to form long-term relationships with over 30 people from across the world, expanding their worldview while making a distinct positive impact with every session.
Category: Education and Academia, NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy
Keywords: immigration, education, professional development
Skillset needs: We are seeking volunteers with a passion for immigrant education and a desire to build long-term, meaningful relationships with our clients. We are also seeking leadership support to expand our services to other areas in the Bay and to establish additional chapters across the country.
**Volunteers do NOT need previous teaching experience or specific knowledge of the U.S. citizenship exam or GED exam! All required training is provided by Dialekt. Volunteers also do NOT need to speak languages other than English (though this is an excellent plus!).**
Contact: Sophia Pribus
Digital Justice in the Grey Zone: Rethinking Accountability
Short description: Strengthening accountability through digital documentation in conflict zones
Description: This project uses open-source data to support independent investigative mechanisms examining atrocities in northern Afghanistan. Through satellite imagery, social media verification, and digital mapping, it documents patterns of targeted violence in areas where on-the-ground monitoring is limited. The project seeks to strengthen the evidentiary foundation for future accountability efforts and to demonstrate how digital methodologies can expand access to justice in contexts where traditional oversight has collapsed.
Category: Government, Law, and Public Policy
Keywords: digital evidence, human rights, mass atrocity, Afghanistan, accountability
Skillset needs: I'm only seeking mentors.
Contact: Frishta Qaderi
Driving Healthcare Legislation in a Polarized Era
Short description: Advising electoral candidates and elected officials on health policy issues to create legislation that improves health equity and access.
Description: The Social Equity Action Lab is a policy think-tank and forum of students passionate about addressing systemic healthcare problems through legislation and policy making. Currently, we are advising two gubernatorial candidates on their health policy platforms, with a focus on executive orders and legislation that improves affordability, maternal and child health, and access to care in rural America. We seek to scale and offer this model of health policy advising nationwide to all elected officials, including mayors, representatives, senators, and governors.
Category: Government, Law, and Public Policy, Healthcare and Life Sciences
Keywords: policy, legislation, healthcare, equity
Skillset needs: Would love to recruit scholars and mentors across a range of domains, including business, policy, government, law, and medicine! Ensuring our policy is economically and politically feasible, and improves health in a measurable manner, is important as we scale our policymaking approach across the country.
Additionally, recruiting scholars and mentors who have connections to legislators and elected officials such that we can advise policy in more states!
Contact: Bhav Jain
EconStats.org
Short description: Making economic data more accessible with a graphical interface (and experimental LLM plug in)
Description: This project proposes creating a graphical interface (located at EconStats.org) that enables users to build visualizations using every dataset from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Economic data is invaluable for understanding the economy. And the most important statistics are free! They are a public good. And yet, there is too much know-how, too many paywalls or specialized costly tools, and no free option that allows full access to the vast array of important labor market, inflation, and output data.
We propose filling that vacuum. And we hope to experiment with a LLM wrapper that allows users to construct graphs with plain language questions like: “how are women doing in the economy in 2025?”
Category: Government, Law, and Public Policy, NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy
Keywords: Economics, Data accessibility, coding
Skillset needs: We are recruiting software developers and data scientists. I am building a team of one computer science undergrad, one friend from outside of Stanford who has a data/CS background, and am recruiting additional data scientists and computer programmers.
Contact: Josh Waldman
Empowering Futures: Improving Reproductive and Neonatal Health
Short description: A collaborative of scholars working to identify interventions to improve health outcomes in maternal, reproductive, and neonatal health – starting with analysis and interventions at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and then scaling to local and international communities.
Description: We are hoping to build a learning community that can share insights and ideas while identifying projects in maternal, reproductive, and neonatal health to drive better health outcomes for parents and children – ideally this will include gathering data and testing initiatives at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, publishing our findings, and sharing outside of the Stanford community. Everyone is welcome to join and pitch new outcomes or interventions to investigate!
Some current projects we are working on include (1) increasing lactation service access for families that have a primary language other than English and (2) improving patient flow and staffing for the NICU and intermediate care nursery. We are ideating about others, including: (3) identifying the impact of early/delayed inductions on maternal and infant outcomes and (4) capturing the potential impact of reduced mifepristone access.
Category: Healthcare and Life Sciences
Keywords: Maternal and child health, health access, reproductive care
Skillset needs: We invite anyone working on maternal, child, or reproductive health or with interest and skills in data analysis, machine learning, interviewing, and community engaged research to join our group. We also are launching a project focused on hospital access among individuals that have a primary language other than English, so please bring your language skills. Truly all skills are valuable!
Contact: Debbie Ho
Faith-Aligned Digital Lending for Financial Inclusion in Uganda
Short description: Designing and testing faith-aligned digital lending tools to expand affordable finance for Ugandan micro-entrepreneurs.
Description: Faith-Aligned Digital Lending for Financial Inclusion in Uganda builds and tests a culturally compliant micro-credit model for Muslim and other values-aligned entrepreneurs. Over the next year we’ll conduct 80+ interviews across five districts, co-design a low-cost no-code prototype to track loans and repayments, and formalize partnerships with mosques and civic groups. Our goal is a scalable “faith-aligned” product line ready to integrate into an asset-based digital lending platform.
Category: Education and Academia, NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy
Keywords: financial inclusion, faith-aligned innovation, community empowerment, gender equity
Skillset needs: I am working with one other Stanford classmate on this project.
We are seeking 1–2 collaborators; a no-code/mobile prototyper (Glide/Airtable, offline-first) and a UX researcher experienced with low-literacy, multilingual interfaces. Plus/home-run skills: Islamic-finance or Ugandan microfinance regulatory expertise, and an M&E/data analyst for impact measurement; Luganda/Acholi/Arabic and community organizing a bonus.
Contact: Ashraf Sabkha
FliSci’s Family Forward Fund
Short description: Establishing a comprehensive loan forgiveness fund to alleviate student and familial debt burdens in higher education, specifically targeting the disproportionate impact of educational debt on First-Generation and/or Low-Income (FLI) individuals.
Description: Our proposal outlines the establishment of a loan forgiveness fund designed to provide comprehensive debt erasure for both student educational debt and associated family-incurred educational debt. This initiative challenges the atomistic perception of students in financial aid discourse, acknowledging the profound familial entanglement in higher education financing.
Category: Education and Academia, NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy
Keywords: education, access, social impact
Skillset needs: In collaboration with FLiSci, an educational nonprofit founded by Knight-Hennessy Scholar Gabriel Reyes that supports First-Generation/Low-Income (FLI) students pursuing science careers, we (Emerson Johnson and I) are initiating the grant writing and philanthropy phase of our project.
Contact: Jocelyn Ricard
Intelligence Collective
Short description: A moonshot research initiative to build an artificial society capable of bootstrapping its own legal system, legislation, mathematics, and science.
Description: Intelligence Collective is an ambitious research project exploring how an artificial society could autonomously generate its own systems of knowledge and governance, from fundamental mathematics to complex legal structures. Along the way, we will publish intermediate findings as high-quality research papers, and host a reading group to cultivate interdisciplinary collaboration and discourse.
Category: Government, Law, and Public Policy, Science, Technology and Engineering
Keywords: AI, Artificial Society, Legislation, Law, Mathematics, Science
Skillset needs: We welcome exceptional engineers, as well as researchers and practitioners with expertise in legislation, law, mathematics, and the sciences.
Contact: Batu El
Interdisciplinary approaches to drug discovery
Short description: Interdisciplinary approaches to drug discovery and pharmaceutical research for mental health
Description: Drug discovery and pharmaceutical research has historically come at the expense of harm to local communities and environmental systems. What would it look like to design a drug development and therapeutics research pipeline where environmental sustainability and respect for indigenous and local community needs and sovereignty are core values? This project will challenges norms of extractive research in the development mental health therapeutics. We will draw from interdisciplinary approaches across the humanities and STEM fields to envision new, respectful, ways to find and create medicines.
Category: NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy, Science, Technology and Engineering
Keywords: Interdisciplinary collaboration, Drug discovery, Mental health, Sustainability, Socio-ecological systems
Skillset needs: Seeking 1-2 other team members.
Contact: Marina Luccioni
Judicial Literacy on Water: Law, Science, and Justice
Short description: Building judicial capacity to engage with water-related disputes by integrating science, ethics, and law across local, national, and global contexts.
Description: This project seeks to enhance U.S. judicial capacity on water issues by developing training materials and dialogues that connect law, science, and ethics. It introduces judges to the hydrological and ecological principles underlying water governance, explores the emergence of more-than-human rights, and examines interstate and transboundary disputes shaped by climate change. By situating U.S. adjudication within global water challenges, the project fosters more informed and equitable judicial decision-making.
Category: Education and Academia, Government, Law, and Public Policy, Sustainability, Energy and Environmental Science
Keywords: transboundary water, environmental law, judicial education, accountability, governance
Skillset needs: I’m seeking collaborators and mentors with experience in judicial education, environmental science, and curriculum design, as well as those interested in the intersections of law, ethics, and climate justice.
Contact: Frishta Qaderi
Life and Career Design for High School Students
Short description: A design thinking program that empowers high school students to discover career paths through self-reflection and hands-on exploration, moving beyond simplistic career matching tests to uncover who they truly are and what they want to contribute to the world.
Description: This program helps high school students answer the infamous "what do you want to be when you grow up" question by giving students structured time and tools to explore their values, interests, and aspirations before making life decisions like attending college or selecting a major. Using the Stanford Life Design Lab's design thinking methodology, workshops will be adapted for high school students for the first time ever to allow students engage in empathy work (understanding themselves), ideation (exploring possibilities), and prototyping (testing career interests through real-world experiences). The result is a generation of young adults who enter college and careers with genuine self-awareness and intentional direction, rather than defaulting to paths that leave them unfulfilled years later.
Category: Education and Academia
Keywords: Self-discovery, Design thinking, Career exploration, Life Design
Skillset needs: I'm looking for additional members to form a facilitation team. Ideally, team members have facilitation experience and enjoy working with students, but all are welcome to join. We'll put together a facilitation training prior to going into schools where everyone will get to practice working with the material.
Contact: Dara Drake
MedBridge: Building Physician–Scientists in the Americas
Short description: Connecting Stanford graduate and medical students with Latin American medical students to build a cross-border mentorship network in research and academic development.
Description: Many Latin American medical students lack access to research mentors, limiting their development as clinician–scientists. MedBridge connects them with Stanford graduate students — including MDs, PhDs, and master’s students — who have research experience and can offer guidance through the U.S. postgraduate mentorship model. The project aims to pilot a structured mentorship program, provide training resources, and develop a scalable framework to strengthen regional research capacity.
Category: Education and Academia, Healthcare and Life Sciences, NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy
Keywords: mentorship, medical education, Latin America, research, global health
Skillset needs: I’m seeking team members with experience in biomedical research (any type), global health, education design, or cross-cultural program development. Mentors with research experience — particularly graduate students in MD, PhD, or master’s programs — are especially encouraged to join. Diverse perspectives from scholars interested in Latin America and academic mentorship are welcome.
Contact: William Rojas Carabali
Mentorship for first-gen, low-income college students in LatAm
Short description: A free, personalized mentorship program preparing first-generation, low-income college students from Latin American universities for academic and professional applications, such as internships and graduate study.
Description: This pro-bono online program supports first-generation, low-income students at Latin American universities who often lack inherited academic knowledge, professional networks, and cultural capital for career advancement. Mentors provide personalized one-on-one guidance in preparing academic or professional applications, supporting students to pursue scholarships, internships, job opportunities, or graduate study. Building on a two-year pilot with academic mobility across five countries, the initiative bridges gaps typically confined to paid programs, advancing educational equity and opportunity.
Category: Education and Academia, NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy
Keywords: first-generation low-income students, mentorship, educational equity, Latin America, application support
Skillset needs: 1. Experienced Mentors (Highest Priority: 1–2 team members)
-Prior mentoring experience or familiarity with Latin American higher-education contexts is highly desired.
-Able to provide one-on-one guidance on student profiling, personal statements/CVs, and application strategy.
-Language requirement: Spanish required; Portuguese and French welcomed.
2. Fundraising & Partnerships (NGO/Nonprofit: 1 member)
-Grant writing, donor relations, and partnership development to secure funds for mentee mobility and program scale.
3. Platform Development or Support (1 member)
-Manage, develop, or support online platforms for mentorship, webinars, and document sharing.
-Provide assistance with digital tools used for mentoring (Zoom, Google Workspace, Slack, etc.).
Contact: Thalia Marycielo Leyton Reto
Mind Matters: Empowering Teachers for Youth Mental
Short description: To build emotionally supportive, stigma-free learning environments by empowering teachers in LMICs with practical, culturally grounded tools to support student mental health.
Description: Mental Health is a critical but most underfunded public health issue in LMICs. For young people especially, depression is a leading cause of death across all countries and socioeconomic groups. Schools often serve as the first — and sometimes only — social spaces where children’s emotional well-being can be noticed and nurtured. Yet, in LMICs, teachers receive little or no training in mental health literacy, stigma reduction, or equitable classroom support. Many unintentionally reinforce harmful stereotypes around gender, mental illness, or “success,” which can affect students’ self-esteem and help-seeking behaviors. By starting with teachers, the everyday mediators of student experience, this project aims to shift school culture toward openness, empathy, and mental health awareness.
Category: Education and Academia, Healthcare and Life Sciences, NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy
Keywords: mental health, teacher empowerment, youth well-being
Skillset needs: We will likely need an interdisciplinary team that includes a psychology student to guide mental health literacy and intervention design, an education student to integrate well-being practices into curricula and teacher training, and media or design students to create engaging educational videos and learning tools. Overall, anyone interested in education or healthcare is welcome to join.
Contact: Assel Ibadulla
Nonvisual Communication
Short description: Learning and creating best practices in nonvisual communication
Description: While we often think we primarily use sight to experience the world, our other senses—like hearing and touch—play crucial roles in how we interact and communicate. Nonvisual mediums are strong communication tools that harness these senses.
This project will explore best practices in nonvisual communication by visiting tactile exhibitions, interviewing experts, and creating our own nonvisual media like immersive art and virtual reality. In doing so, we may also start the discussion on how to make the Knight-Hennessy community more inclusive for current and future blind and low-vision scholars.
Category: Education and Academia, Science, Technology and Engineering
Keywords: accessibility, communication, storytelling journalism
Skillset needs: Anyone welcome
Contact: Saehui Hwang
Ojos del Mar
Short description: Ojos del mar is a citizen science platform that engages Costa Rican communities in co-analyzing imagery with marine science researchers to train machine learning models and promote public participation in ocean science.
Description: Video footage from animal-borne cameras offers a powerful window into the underwater world, yet much of it remains unseen by the public and time-intensive for scientists to analyze. Our project will create a citizen science platform where local community members can help label footage from animal-mounted cameras and camera traps in Costa Rica. This effort will engage the public in ocean science and provide educational opportunities for local students while generating training data to develop machine learning models that efficiently process key imagery for marine research and conservation.
Category: Education and Academia, Healthcare and Life Sciences, NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy, Science, Technology and Engineering, Sustainability, Energy and Environmental Science
Keywords: citizen science, ocean conservation, machine learning, education
Skillset needs: Some skillsets that would be helpful are PR, web development, communications, education, oceans/engineering background - but excited to work with anyone interested!
Contact: Daviana Berkowitz-Sklar
Patients in Artificial Intelligence Research (PAIR)
Short description: Exploring ethical and experiential dimensions of AI-driven research involving human patients.
Description: This project examines the evolving role of artificial intelligence in medical research involving human participants. Through interviews and discussions with patients, caregivers, clinicians, and researchers, we aim to understand ethical challenges, informed consent processes, and participant experiences. Our goal is to develop actionable recommendations that ensure future AI research in healthcare remains human-centered, transparent, and ethically grounded.
Category: Government, Law, and Public Policy, Healthcare and Life Sciences
Keywords: AI ethics, informed consent, patient experience, healthcare
Skillset needs: Graduate students with interest and expertise in human ethics and legal frameworks for research.
Contact: Anson Zhou
PhyStory
Short description: Reconstructing the human story of physics through interactive timelines and animations that help educators teach not just what we know, but how we came to know it
Description: Dark Matter. Black Holes. Quantum Entanglement. A physicist can tell you what these mysteries mean, but rarely how we came to know what they mean. That missing “how” – containing the blind alleys and serendipitous highways — can help educators show physics not as intimidating facts but as ideas shaped by curiosity and discovery. PhyStory makes the history of physics interactive—mining real historical archives to build timelines and animations that trace how discoveries unfolded. Unlike traditional resources, it lets teachers and students explore the actual experiments, debates, and turning points behind major theories, transforming physics from static knowledge into a story they can navigate and experience.
Category: Education and Academia, Science, Technology and Engineering
Keywords: physics, science communication, storytelling, history of science, interactive learning
Skillset needs: Looking for collaborators with video production, animation, or AI-assisted content creation skills, as well as writers interested in storytelling and science communication. You don’t have to be a physicist—just curious about how ideas are discovered and how to bring them to life for learners and the public.
Contact: Barkotel Zemenu
Preventing the Next Pandemic through Disease Transmission Modeling
Short description: In this project, we will work to prevent the next pandemic by developing a cutting-edge disease surveillance tool and implementing it at public health authorities around the world.
Description: In disease outbreaks, it is often difficult to determine who transmits an infectious pathogen to whom. Reconstructed disease transmission networks are essential to epidemic response, as they can help quantify vaccine efficacy, identify settings with high risk of exposure (e.g. hospitals), and predict future variants of concern. The rise of pathogen genome sequencing in recent years, however, has made it possible to infer transmission events with a high degree of fidelity. In this project, we will forge partnerships with public health agencies to incorporate JUNIPER, a proprietary software package for transmission analysis, into outbreak response protocols in the US and around the world. This work will help policymakers, researchers, and citizens alike develop data-driven pandemic response plans, helping fortify our world against future catastrophes.
Category: Healthcare and Life Sciences, Science, Technology and Engineering
Keywords: pandemics, public health, technology, health policy
Skillset needs: Combination of engineers, bioinformaticians, and health policy experts
Contact: Ivan Specht
Project ALMA (Awareness, Learning, Mental Health, Action)
Short description: Empowering immigrant youths with after-school mental health skill-building and resource sharing
Description: North Fair Oaks and Redwood City are local hubs of vibrant immigrant identities. However, many undocumented families live in constant fear, and limited resources lead to toxic living conditions - cramming up to five families in one housing unit. Current local and national events have heightened fears and uncertainties in this community.
I am developing Project ALMA -- meaning "soul" -- to provide accessible skill-building and safe resources for mental health among high-risk youths in these communities, jointly through the Schweitzer Fellowship and Levantar, a community site.
Category: Healthcare and Life Sciences, NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy
Keywords: Mental health, immigration, health access, social-emotional learning
Skillset needs: Would love any new students passionate about immigration and/or mental health and/or Spanish proficiency to help with the following aspects:
Curriculum development:
- Identify and learn about existing resources (I have them!) for evidence-based mental health education activities
- Based on need-based themes, piece together context-appropriate and fun activities for this young population
- Identify icebreakers and fun games for bonding
- Artistic/creative activities are helpful, background in these topics are also a plus
In-person education:
- Show up to help run activities!
- trauma-informed training for team members
Evaluation:
- Identify brief, quick, and meaningful questions to ask pre- and/or post-activity (low-key, no surveys due to context limitations)
- analyze data or synthesize qualitative information
Continuity:
- Build infrastructure for continuing service over the long term (minimize the “in and out” rifts that academic partnerships cause)
- e.g. start a club, apply for funding (SPIF?), etc
Contact: Ally Kim
Project Lembas
Short description: Improving the VA disability claims process—building a user-friendly, AI-native solution that democratizes expert guidance and ensures veterans get the benefits they've earned.
Description: The VA disability claims process forces veterans to choose between nebulous self-service options that lead to errors, incomplete claims, delays, and eventually expensive consultants for follow-up attempts. This project aims to build a modernized application that guides veterans through the entire claims journey via agentic interactions, automatically discovering claimable conditions, gathering evidence, populating complex VA forms, and connecting to expert human help all while educating and supporting the veteran every step of the way. The result is a transparent, easy-to-navigate alternative that gets veterans the benefits they've earned while creating a standardized intake process that reduces rework costs, speeds decisions, boosts VSO throughput, and relieves the VA’s backlog problem.
Category: Government, Law, and Public Policy, Healthcare and Life Sciences, NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy
Keywords: veterans, healthcare, disability, AI, government
Skillset needs: I am working with one other grad student who's mostly handling the BD (networking within VA and VSO orgs) and customer acquisition. I am handling the tech and am in the process of building an MVP--I'm seeking full-stack, conversational agent, and database experience to assist me. Also, anyone with experience in obtaining government contracts would be a plus!
Contact: Luke Allard
Rethinking Digital Life
Short description: How can technology invite a deeper sense of presence in everyday life?
Description: Modern technologies are increasingly pulling our attention away from our immediate surroundings and into the digital world. From the endless scroll of social media feeds to immersive virtual experiences, these platforms often fragment our attention and pose growing risks to mental health and emotional well-being.
In this project, we aim to design, build, and share prototypes that explore how technology can support presence, connection, and well-being in everyday, real-world interactions. By drawing on expertise in engineering, arts, and human-centered design, we seek to raise awareness of how technology can be reimagined to foster more mindful and meaningful interactions.
Category: Art, Media, and Communications, Healthcare and Life Sciences, Science, Technology and Engineering
Keywords: emerging technology, well-being
Skillset needs: I am interested in exploring art installations as a medium to raise awareness of digital wellbeing and to engage audiences with new kinds of technologies that invite a deeper sense of presence in everyday life.
Contact: Yujie Tao
Ridha: Responsive Innovation for Durable Health Access
Short description: Designing medical devices and policy solutions for healthcare in resource-constrained settings.
Description: Ridha aims to leverage an interdisciplinary medical, engineering, and policy-driven approach to improve accessibility to medical supplies and innovation in former conflict zones, particularly in Syria. Our goal is to apply the use of low-cost medical technologies, innovations in clinical practices, and advocacy for an international framework for humanitarian healthcare.
Category: Healthcare and Life Sciences, NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy
Keywords: Healthcare, international policy, global health design
Skillset needs: Our next step is implementing a plan to test a low-cost automated microscopy device in Syria for the detection of vector-borne illnesses, and I'm seeking team members who have experience or insight in deploying new diagnostic technologies and community-engaged research.
Contact: Hadi Juratli
Rising Girls Initiative in Kilifi, Kenya - Us4HerxAGAxStanford
Short description: Addressing the lack of women's health education and menstrual & contraceptive product access for teenage girls in Kilifi, Kenya
Description: A lack of consistent access to menstrual products and women's health education contributes to significant school dropout and teenage pregnancy rates for young women in Kenya. This project is a collaboration between the Us4Her Foundation, the Arloste Ganze Foundation, and Stanford - together, we will bring women's health education, mentorship, and menstrual & contraceptive product resources to 200+ teenage girls in Kilifi, Kenya. Short-term, we are seeking to raise funds for menstrual products for all the girls in the program; long-term, we plan to instate a mentorship and sexual health education program led by Stanford students.
Category: Healthcare and Life Sciences, NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy
Keywords: women's health, education, menstrual/contraceptive resources
Skillset needs: I'm seeking people with interest in women's health and menstrual & contraceptive product access:
- to help fundraise for the initial period product drive
- to help develop a long-term mentorship program for the students in Kilifi
- to help develop a women's health education curriculum for our collaborating schools
Contact: Sophia Pribus
Run With It
Short description: initiative that empowers low-income students in East Palo Alto to “run with their dreams” by expanding access to running, mentorship, and health-focused opportunities that close the local gap in sports participation, wellbeing, and educational equity.
Description: project designed to close the opportunity gap for low-income youth in East Palo Alto by providing free access to running, mentorship, and community-based wellness programs. In a district where over 90% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch and face significant barriers to sports participation, the program offers an inclusive space to build confidence, health, and leadership through movement. By empowering students to literally and figuratively “run with their dreams,” Run With It transforms running into a vehicle for equity, inspiration, and long-term growth.
Category: NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy
Keywords: Fitness, Opportunity, Community Development
Skillset needs: I'm in early ideation phase and would love wide variety! The more the merrier
Contact: Alma Cooper
RxReport: A journalism hub for health care providers.
Short description: Training health care providers to become scientific journalists: 1) to root medical communication in facts and lived experience and 2) to give stake to frontline workers in health policy, equity, and structural change.
Description: Scientific journalism is facing major challenges with reporter job cuts and the spread of misinformation (Priyadarshini 2025, Stelter 2025). Simultaneously, 1 in 2 physicians report feeling burnt out, with a leading reason being feeling powerless and disempowered in creating substantial change in the health care system (AMA 2025; Physicians Foundation 2025). To bridge the gap in scientific journalism and health care provider involvement in social change, we present RxReport: an initiative rooted in civic medicine and storytelling.
Category: Art, Media, and Communications, Healthcare and Life Sciences, NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy
Keywords: journalism, civic medicine, public health, health equity, advocacy, health policy
Skillset needs: We are two medical students looking to expand our focus to other disciplines that can support the growth of our scientific journalism initiative. We are looking for students across interdisciplinary areas, including: 1) health policy, 2) journalism, 3) data science, and 4) website development/ communications.
For our next steps, we envision:
- Forming an Advisory Board of health care providers with expertise in journalism.
- Hosting journalism workshops for the broader scientific community.
- Conducting mixed methods research on the needs of health care providers that can be addressed through journalistic outputs.
- Creating and disseminating resources to facilitate training in scientific journalism.
Contact: Siwaar Abouhala
School for a Village
Short description: Partnering with secondary schools around the world to bridge the gap in science and technology education through need-specific support.
Description: School for a Village (S4V), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to bridging the gap in science and technology education for secondary schools through a need-specific approach, with current operations in India and Kenya. Our projects include entrepreneurship bootcamps, technical training, peer mentoring programs, technology/resource provision, formal education research, and more - all in partnership with community schools, including many in rural and prison settings. Our work is 100% volunteer-driven, with team members based around the world.
Category: NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy, Science, Technology and Engineering
Keywords: education, science and technology, prison schools, rural schools
Skillset needs: We would love to work with anyone interested/experienced in nonprofit strategy, program development, qualitative research, program evaluation, and more.
Contact: Anjali Gupta
SepSense: Improving Prediction of Sepsis in Community Settings
Short description: Improving outcomes of severe infection and sepsis in low-resource community settings
Description: Sepsis, the uncontrolled response to infection, is among the most prevalent mortality drivers, causing 1 in 5 of all deaths worldwide. Intervening early significantly improves survival, motivating the development of electronic health record (EHR)-based sepsis prediction algorithms. However, these are ineffective for the 80% of cases classified as community-acquired, beginning outside the hospital. SepSense aims to develop a predictive algorithm to accurately assess patients’ likelihood of developing sepsis from community-acquired infections and recommend interventions.
Category: Healthcare and Life Sciences, Science, Technology and Engineering
Keywords: Infectious disease, Healthcare, Computation, Global health
Skillset needs: Collaborating with patients, physicians, and administrators in the intensive care unit and infectious disease hospital settings and outpatient clinics, Partnering with hospital systems abroad and working on global health, Backend engineering (specifically developing machine learning algorithms and electronic health record integration), Establishing IRB protocols
Contact: Aravind Krishnan
SHTEM Summer Program (Science and Humanities)
Short description: Building an in-person research pipeline at Stanford that connects high school and community college students with faculty mentors across science, technology, humanities, and engineering.
Description: SHTEM is a selective summer program at Stanford that provides high school and community college students with early, hands-on exposure to research and innovation. By pairing students with faculty, graduate students, and postdocs, the program democratizes access to world-class research while emphasizing interdisciplinary exploration. Our goal is to transition the program from virtual to its first ever in-person session this summer as well as grow the program’s reach, ensure sustainability, and cultivate the next generation of diverse innovators and scholars.
Category: Education and Academia, NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy, Science, Technology and Engineering
Keywords: education, research, mentorship, STEM, access
Skillset needs: We are in early growth planning and welcome a diverse range of expertise: from education program design, outreach, and nonprofit sustainability, to fundraising, marketing, and curriculum development. We’re especially interested in people with experience in communications and scaling educational programs.
Contact: Rahul Penumaka
Stanford Healthcare Design Challenge
Short description: A for-students, by-students global healthcare competition with one goal: ensuring that the best ideas and most promising solutions for the world’s trickiest healthcare problems are given a real chance to make an impact on the world.
Description: In this global competition, we help students innovate solutions for complex healthcare challenges by democratizing healthcare innovation knowledge via our open-learning series, providing access to enthusiastic and knowledgeable mentors, and incorporating industry input through a competition judging panel composed of key stakeholders. Winning teams receive stipends for customer discovery and go-to-market strategies, an advisory board of senior mentors, access to perks from industry partners, and most importantly, support to turn their ideas into reality.
Category: Education and Academia, Healthcare and Life Sciences, Science, Technology and Engineering
Keywords: Healthcare innovation, case competition, health entrepreneurship, student-oriented, Stanford healthcare Design Challenge
Skillset needs: We are looking for enthusiastic members who either have experience in healthcare entrepreneurship or are interested in learning more about healthcare entrepreneurship! Will provide the opportunity to strengthen your network in the healthcare innovation space and you can also contribute your knowledge, experience, and/or network to our organization.
Also looking for people with experience establishing strategic partnerships with potential financial sponsors/non-financial partner organizations to help us expand our prize pool, industry perks, and other offerings to participants and winners of the Challenge.
Contact: Kritika Singh
Stanford Housing Equity Project
Short description: The Stanford Housing Equity Project exists to connect the resources and personpower of universities to community partners in the Bay Area, empowering them to develop programs that advance housing and health equity for individuals experiencing homelessness – including by providing navigation for obtaining housing and social benefits, for unhoused and other socially at-risk individuals in the community.
Description: Stable housing is the primary health determinant for unhoused individuals, yet they face complex barriers to securing housing and other essential benefits. SHEP exists to connect the resources and person-power of universities to Bay Area community partners, empowering them to develop programs that advance housing and health equity for individuals experiencing homelessness. SHEP members are undertaking a range of initiatives, including: Eye 4 Equity, S-HOP, Recovery Incentives Project, UEO Direct Service, MED 219, and Health EDU.
Category: Government, Law, and Public Policy, Healthcare and Life Sciences, NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy
Keywords: Housing, Case Management, Public Benefits
Skillset needs: Working with unhoused and other socially at-risk populations, Understanding public benefit systems and application processes (for housing vouchers, SNAP, health insurance, ID applications, and others), Communicating with local organizations working on homelessness, Organizing community-based projects, Establishing IRB protocols, Experience in backend engineering (specifically integrating machine learning algorithms into mobile communication systems)
Contact: Aravind Krishnan
Stanford Medicine Outreach Program: Increasing Resource Capacity
Short description: Increasing efficiency of resource access/connection for those experiencing homelessness served by Stanford Medicine Outreach Program
Description: Stanford Medicine Outreach Program is a student-led organization of MD, PA, graduate, and undergraduate students providing pop-up clinics (i.e., flu vaccinations, harm reduction materials, care kits) to individuals experiencing homelessness in the Bay Area (nearly 2,000 clients served). The proposed project will develop a resource database that generates personalized lists of local services and educational materials that will be printed onsite for each client on an as needed basis. This database will help clients navigate an often-inaccessible system of resources.
Category: Healthcare and Life Sciences, NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy
Keywords: resource access, homelessness, education material development
Skillset needs: In need of an individual with computer science or web-based engineering background to assist with interface.
In need of students with a diverse range of backgrounds (e.g., legal, social work, etc.) who are willing to compile local resources and verify eligibility criteria. No prior experience with work serving the unhoused needed! Those who are able to translate materials into Spanish (or review translated materials for accuracy) would be greatly appreciated.
Participants in this project are encouraged to join outreach events to observe workflows and clientele needs, potentially revealing future areas of expansion with our interdisciplinary colleagues/team members expertise!
Contact: Meg Quint
The Campus Survivors Project
Short description: Working to reform campus and state policies to better support survivors of sexual violence.
Description: This project aims to bring together advocates and shared expertise to design, implement, and advocate for better support systems for survivors of sexual violence on college campuses in California, including Stanford University. This project will utilize the visionary, courageous, and collaborative leaders in the Knight-Hennessy community to tackle an incredibly complex and often overlooked issue.
Category: Education and Academia, Government, Law, and Public Policy, NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy
Keywords: education, campus sexual violence, advocacy, policy, law
Skillset needs: I am looking for anyone who is interested! There are several law students interested in the pro bono project. I am interested especially those who have a trauma-informed background, experience in the prevention space, people with experience in policy design and higher education research, and communications including video-making and advocacy campaigns.
Contact: David Millman
The Digital Scalpel: Artificial Intelligence & Surgery
Short description: An interdisciplinary working group focused on assessing the capabilities and limitations of AI technologies in surgery, studying those currently in use and contributing to future AI innovations.
Description: AI has the potential to enhance all stages of surgical care, from clinical reasoning and surgical planning to intra- and post-operative strategy. Tools like OpenEvidence have been adopted by hundreds of thousands of physicians. We will explore the impact, expected and unexpected, of AI technologies in advancing surgical care and potentially creating more equitable access to the best treatments. We aim to identify areas for future growth where we can contribute through novel initiatives.
Category: Healthcare and Life Sciences, Science, Technology and Engineering
Keywords: surgery, artificial intelligence, healthcare
Skillset needs: I'm looking for people who are passionate about AI and surgery coming from a variety of backgrounds, such as CS, medicine, law, policy, and engineering. Open to mentors and partnerships.
Contact: Umar Siddiqi
The Flip!
Short description: A debate show with a twist (or rather, a flip!)
Description: a debate show that challenges speakers to argue their opponents' views before presenting their own. This format aims to foster empathy, critical thinking, and deeper understanding of complex issues. By tracking audience opinion shifts throughout the process, the show demonstrates how exposure to diverse perspectives can influence public sentiment on controversial topics.
Category: Art, Media, and Communications
Keywords: debate, education, empathy, knowledge
Skillset needs: TV production (including director, camera operators, editors, and sound engineers), content creation (researchers and writers), technology (developers for the voting system), talent management, marketing and PR, legal counsel, audience engagement, graphic design, and an executive producer to oversee the project and get debaters invited, interviewed and ready to debate!
Contact: Thay Graciano
the Stanford Explorer's Club (SEXC)
Short description: The Stanford Explorers Club (SEXC) inspires students to pursue exploration across land, sea, air, and space through speaker events, student discussions, and collaborative projects—all while making expeditions more accessible.
Description: The Stanford Explorers Club (SEXC) aims to build a vibrant community of students and faculty passionate about exploration across land, sea, air, and space. Through speaker events, student-led discussions, and hands-on collaboration, we connect aspiring explorers with real-world professionals and resources. Our goal is to make expeditions and exploration-based projects more accessible, inclusive, and achievable for all Stanford students, regardless of background or experience level.
Category: Art, Media, and Communications, Education and Academia, Healthcare and Life Sciences, Science, Technology and Engineering, Sustainability, Energy and Environmental Science
Keywords: Exploration, Innovation, Community, Empowerment, Education
Skillset needs: We’ve founded the organization and already have 63 members, but we’re in the early ideation and expansion phase and would love to bring on members with diverse backgrounds and expertise—especially those with experience in event planning, outreach, or technical fields related to exploration (engineering, environmental science, aerospace, oceanography, etc.). The more perspectives, the better!
Additionally, we’re seeking to develop an innovative exploration network that serves as a nexus for aspiring explorers in need of resources otherwise unavailable to them—connecting them with funding opportunities, mentorship from seasoned adventurers, access to shared and sustainable equipment, scientific documentation tools, storytelling platforms, and a safety communications system linking expedition teams worldwide.
For this, we’re seeking team members with experience in software development, data systems design, sustainability and logistics, storytelling or media production, and safety communications infrastructure.
Contact: Adrien Richez
Through Their Eyes: Pediatric Photography Project
Short description: Amplifying the voices of pediatric patients and parents by using photography and art to share their experiences with illness in galleries, publications, and workshops worldwide
Description: We partner with pediatric patients and their parents, giving them cameras and other supplies to help them document their unique experiences with health and illness. Together, we identify the images that hold the most meaning and explore the stories behind them. Over the past four years, our participants have captured hundreds of photos featured in galleries, publications, and conferences, we’ve led two international workshops, and we continue to expand this work’s reach and impact.
Category: Art, Media, and Communications, Healthcare and Life Sciences
Keywords: storytelling; medical humanities; patient empowerment; health; illness
Skillset needs: e welcome team members from all backgrounds—engineers, film and media students, policy students, medical trainees, and beyond. Our only requirement is excitement about giving patients and families a platform to share their stories through creative expression. Whether you’re interested in storytelling, design, research, or simply passionate about humanizing healthcare, there’s a place for you on our team!
Contact: Aaron Abai
Tribewell
Short description: Developing an AI-powered community search and management tool for Knight-Hennessy and beyond.
Description: Want to leverage your multi-disciplinary KH network but not sure how to best do so? Jasper and an external co-founder are building a community search and management tool, and are looking for more KH students to help build it out. This is in development as a for-profit venture.
Category: Science, Technology and Engineering
Keywords: startup, community, engineering
Skillset needs: We have an MVP web and iOS app built and are looking for additional engineering talent. We have a full-time full-stack engineer, so we mostly need supplemental help rather than a full-project lift. Give back to the KH community and join a startup with whatever adhoc effort you're willing to muster!
Contact: Jasper Burns
Upchaar: Therapeutics Development and Implementation Pipeline for Low-Resource Settings
Short description: A multidisciplinary initiative creating a streamlined pipeline from biomedical discovery to real-world deployment, ensuring that cost-effective, evidence-based therapeutics reach low-resource communities globally.
Description: Upchaar bridges the gap between biomedical innovation and healthcare accessibility in low-resource settings by developing, adapting, and implementing cost-effective therapeutic solutions. Through collaborations with researchers, clinicians, and policymakers, the project optimizes promising interventions for affordability, scalability, and sustainability. In parallel, Upchaar builds local capacity through education, training, and policy advocacy—ensuring that groundbreaking scientific advances translate into equitable healthcare impact on the ground.
Category: Education and Academia, Healthcare and Life Sciences, NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy, Science, Technology and Engineering
Keywords: global health, therapeutics, innovation pipeline, accessibility, healthcare equity
Skillset needs: We are seeking team members with expertise in biomedical engineering, public health, implementation science, education, and policy communication. Experience in design thinking, data visualization, or healthcare entrepreneurship would also be valuable as we scale Upchaar’s innovation-to-impact model. Enthusiastic learners from diverse disciplines are welcome, the more perspectives, the stronger the solutions!
Contact: Kritika Singh
ValAI: AI Agent for Consumers
Short description: To build ValAI: the next-gen Consumer AI app that serves as your all-in-one personal valet for tasks
Description: The world is moving towards reduced transaction friction and heightened decision fatigue. ValAI serves as the AI agent for consumers to use to reduce transaction time and eases decision-making by knowing & adapting to personal preferences while building an omni-connected API platform across consumer apps (Uber, DoorDash, Lyft, Amazon, Netflix, Venmo, etc.). Imagine just typing a prompt and ValAI will do the rest – i.e. buy and deliver your favorite specialty coffee via Uber Eats, message your friends and book a small-group dinner at a local Chinese restaurant, schedule your next haircut at a salon that does your preferred style well, and 1000s of other consumer workflows.
Category: Art, Media, and Communications, NGO/ Nonprofit, Social Impact, and Advocacy, Science, Technology and Engineering
Keywords: AI, Fin tech, Consumer tech, Agentic Payments, API Connections
Skillset needs: Would love someone to bounce ideas with, especially on a deeper more technical level.
But also seeking a partner to go on this deep & winding journey with me (preferably CS/AI/EE background).
Contact: Kyle Kua
Work(h) in progress: a short film about grad school life
Short description: A short (fictional) film about the many challenges graduate students face—and how they overcome these challenges
Description: A short film that captures the grad school grind with humor and heartbreak. From the “Stanford” emergency room to Green Library, we follow a grad student who’s just about had it. The film celebrates resilience, community, and the messy path to discovery—academically and personally.
Category: Art, Media, and Communications
Keywords: film, media, storytelling
Skillset needs: Any skillset is useful in a film production. We need: filmmakers, actors, creative writers, producers, makeup artists, set designers—anything you can think of. I have worked on set for documentary work, and it's a massive team effort every time.
Contact: Steven Truong