About
Our mission
Make research open to every student who earns a place in it, whether or not they can afford to work for free.
The short version
We raise money from companies and give it to students, so that taking a research position never depends on being able to work for free.
The problem we chose
Research is where a student learns how knowledge gets made. It is also where recommendation letters, graduate school offers, and first authorships come from. Most of these positions pay nothing. The lab offers a bench, a mentor, and a project. The student pays for the summer.
That is the hidden cost of lab experience: the privilege of working without pay. A student whose family covers the rent takes the position. A student who sends money home takes a job. Both earned the offer. One can accept it.
Researchers who study this say the same thing. Students from lower-income families often have to work to pay for college, so they cannot volunteer in a lab.1 Research positions are often unpaid and take hours outside class, which shuts out students with jobs.2
What we do about it
We do not run courses. We do not sell test prep. We do not spend on marketing. We do one thing: we raise money from companies and grant programs, and we give it to students who hold a research position and lack the money to take it.
The money pays for rent near the lab, a living stipend, textbooks and prep materials, and the journal fee when the work is ready to publish. We write the grants and the company proposals ourselves, so no student has to become a fundraiser to become a researcher.
What a funded student gets
Time and attention. A funded student can worry about the research and stop worrying about where they are going to stay.
Who we serve
High school and college students who hold an offer for a research position in the health sciences, the life sciences, or health economics, and who cannot take it without help.
Where we are
Why companies fund this
A company that hires scientists, analysts, and clinicians depends on the students who make it through the research pipeline. Our gift sizes are small and the use of funds is specific: one student, one position, one named cost. Read how the money moves and where it goes.
Ways to help
Fund a position
Pay a summer of rent and living costs for a student who holds an unpaid research position.
Fund a paper
Cover the journal fee that stands between finished student work and a published article.
Host or mentor a student
Labs can host a funded student. Scientists at partner companies can mentor one.
Sources
- Bangera G, Brownell SE. Course-based undergraduate research experiences can make scientific research more inclusive. CBE Life Sciences Education. 2014;13(4):602-606. doi.org
- Von der Mehden BM, Pennino EM, Fajardo HL, Ishikawa C, McDonald KK. Building authentic science experiences. CBE Life Sciences Education. 2023;22(4):ar46. doi.org
Sources checked September 21, 2026. See every source we cite.
For companies and foundations
Fund a student researcher
Your gift pays for rent, a stipend, books, or a journal fee. It goes to a student who has the position and lacks the money to take it.