Industry Affiliates

The goal of the Allen School's Industry Affiliates Program is to stimulate mutually beneficial interactions between the Allen School community and the tech community: technical exchange, collaboration, career opportunities for our students, feedback on the effectiveness of our education programs, etc.

The program offers many benefits to member companies. There is the opportunity to stay apprised of the leading edge of computing research and education, learning about and providing feedback on the latest advances and long-term directions of our field. Contacts with prospective employees can be established easily; most of our students provide resumes to a central repository established for the purpose of sharing with our affiliates. Additional events and seminars can be arranged with faculty and students.

The advantages to the University are also substantial. We can learn about current problems in the industry. Students become acquainted with industry needs. The co-op program and summer internships with local and national companies provide students with an important complementary element to their education. The result of the interaction is greater excellence in both the research and teaching missions of the school.

At a more general level, the Affiliates Program is an example of a constructive relationship between industry and the Allen School -- a relationship that stimulates advances in both segments of our society.

How to Join

Membership in the Industry Affiliates Program requires an annual qualifying contribution to the Allen School. In contrast to many other industry affiliates programs and research consortia, this contribution simply covers the expenses of running the program (e.g., the costs involved in putting on the research symposium and recruiting fairs):

• $250 for individual entrepreneurs or startups with 10 or fewer employees
• $500/year for startups and companies of fewer than 50 employees
• $2,500/year for those with between 50 and 150 employees
• $5,000/year for those with between 150 and 1000 employees
• $10,000/year for larger companies

Contributions may be made via ACH/wire transfer, credit card or check, along with this Contribution Form. Please contact affiliates @ cs.washington.edu for more details.

The benefits of the program to member companies include:

• Attendance at an annual Industry Affiliates Program meeting that features research overviews by faculty, in-depth research presentations and demonstrations by students on current work, and working sessions on common technical areas with both faculty and students
• Participation in twice-yearly Allen School recruiting fairs
• Access to online resumes submitted by graduating students at all degree levels, as well as ability to post open positions on CSE's jobs board
• Seminars by faculty members at the affiliate company's site (upon request)
• Announcements of interesting seminars and presentations
• Contact with technical and administrative representatives of other affiliate companies
• Many opportunities for informal interactions

The annual meeting is an opportunity for the Allen School and our industry affiliates to come together and discuss topics and issues of mutual interest. All the faculty attend, as well as most of our students, and we ask for at least one to three representatives from each member company to attend. The meeting features the following:

• Research overviews by faculty and updates on recent developments and research results within the school
• Small focused sessions organized by research areas where students, faculty, and affiliates can interact in a workshop setting and discuss research areas in depth
• Demonstrations of software and hardware systems developed by our research projects
• One-on-one meetings with individual faculty and students to create and/or continue collaborations
• Discussion of the educational mission of the school and the continuous changes and improvements made to the curriculum
• Interaction with other affiliate members
• Opportunities to interview and discuss employment opportunities with our undergraduate and graduate students for both permanent and co-op/internship positions