About Stanford Sigma Xi

Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society, is the international honor society of science and engineering. One of the oldest and largest scientific organizations in the world (founded in 1886), Sigma Xi has a distinguished history of service to science and society for more than one hundred and twenty-five years. Scientists and engineers, whose research spans the disciplines of science and technology, comprise the membership of the Society. Sigma Xi chapters can be found at colleges and universities, government laboratories, and industry research centers around the world. More than 200 Nobel Prize winners have been members. Today, Sigma Xi has a total membership of nearly 60,000 scientists in over 500 chapters in the U.S., Canada and other countries, including Switzerland, Thailand, Lebanon, New Zealand and Australia. 

Stanford’s Sigma Xi chapter was established in the early 1900s, and it was a three-member commission of Stanford Sigma Xi members who oversaw reconstruction of the campus after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The chapter was continuously active for over a century until the 2010s, and was reactivated after a hiatus in 2022. 

Membership Eligibility and Benefits

Membership in Sigma Xi is open to researchers in all fields of science and engineering including the physical, earth, biological, and health sciences; mathematics and computer science; engineering and applied sciences; and social sciences including education, history, library science, economics, and others. Full details of eligible fields can be found on the society's home page, or may be confirmed by contacting the nomination committee of Stanford Sigma Xi.

Nominations are accepted for researchers at all levels from pre-college to postgraduate, and includes all current Stanford affiliates, prospective affiliates of wishing to learn more about the university and chapters, alumni and former employees of the university, and any researchers working professionally in the San Francisco Bay Area. Nomination does not require any specific education or degree and is not contingent on belonging to any other organization. Nomination to Associate Membership is available to any individual who has conducted independent investigations and written a report concerning their research. Nomination to Full Membership is available to individuals who have shown noteworthy achievement as an original investigator as evidenced by publication as the primary author of at least two different articles in referred journals, patents, or refereed monographs. Dissertations and theses may not be considered. For full details of the nomination process, please see our Nominations & Membership page.

Benefits of membership include a variety of professional development and networking tools including the Sigma Xi Career Center. Members have exclusive access to group travel expeditions in partnership with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Chemical Society, the Planetary Society, and others. Sigma Xi publishes the bimonthly magazine American Scientist, where members can feature their research before an audience of thousands of other scientists, and members receive discounted access to other publications including Nature, Annual Reviews, and all MIT Press books.

Sigma Xi also offers direct research funding through the Grants in Aid of Research Program, and hosts the annual International Forum on Research Excellence (iFoRE) conference, where members may present their research or on a broad selection of topics related to their profession and practice.