If you would like to join the Academic Initiative as a member (student, mentor, or professor) or as a volunteer, or if you would like to intern at the SENSF-RC for the summer or receive a grant to help cover the costs of a laboratory project, you’ll need to fill out an application.

Applying for Membership

If you’re a student – high school, undergraduate, graduate, or medical – and you’d like to be part of the SENS Foundation Academic Initiative, then you should register on our website, then fill out a Membership Application. This application can be found using the link in the sidebar to the left. If you’re a faculty member (or full-time fellow) at a university and you’d like to be part of the Initiative, please contact us directly rather than filling out an application.

When students are accepted for membership, they begin as members of our Research branch and receive access to all of our forums, as well as to the services provided by our volunteer committees. Accepted students can also receive Initiative funding, and will have a chance to be one of the SENS Foundation Research Center's summer interns. Finally, members have the opportunity to enter the Outreach branch to complete outreach projects. Once our coursework has been completed and made accessible, all of our students will be added to the Education branch, and that is where new members will begin.

Member Eligibility Requirements

In order to join the Academic Initiative as a student member, you will need to meet the following requirements. If you would like to be an exception, please contact us.

• Applicants must be enrolled at a government-accredited educational establishment.
• Applicants must be in good academic standing, maintaining a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA.
• The student must have an interest in the SENS research platform/rejuvenation biotechnologies.
• International applicants should have general competency in the English language.

To join the Academic Initiative as a student, then, there are two steps: first, register on our website; then, fill out the Membership Application.

Applying as a Volunteer

Our volunteers often aren't actively involved in academia, but they help support our students and the Academic Initiative itself by filling various functions. Our volunteers fill these functions through their service on our numerous committees. We can always use people with skills in many different fields, from Information Technology to marketing. To apply as a volunteer, simply register on this website and then fill out a Volunteer Application using the navigation on the left. If you’d like more information, you can contact us.

Applying for a Materials Grant

Funding student laboratory projects is one of the core functions of the SENS Foundation Academic Initiative. If you’d like to apply for a grant that can be used to cover the cost of lab materials, you should fill out a Grant Application, which can be accessed using the sidebar to the left. In order to apply, you’ll need a project proposal, a budget projection, and a faculty mentor at your university who can help guide you on your project. Note that while you don’t need to be a member of the Academic Initiative to apply for a grant, you’ll need to be a member to collect one; thus, you should be sure that you meet our membership eligibility requirements before applying. If you’d like more information about our grants and other forms of student funding, you can read more here. You can find a sample grant proposal in our downloads section.

Applying for a Summer Internship

Beginning in 2012, the Academic Initiative is operating a summer internship program. Simply fill out our Summer Internship Application if you would like to be considered for one of the intern positions. Each intern will work full-time on research at the SENSF-RC in Mountain View, California, and will receive a monthly stipend. Interns will be responsible for their own housing and transportation; however, interns who are not local to the San Francisco Bay Area will receive a credit to help cover their round-trip airfare. You do not need to be a member of the Academic Initiative to apply for an internship.