An organization of technologists, designers, and thinkers passionate about maximizing the benefits of technology and mitigating its harms.
CS+Social Good grew out of the need for a unified and coordinated effort at Stanford to organize and connect students using technology to take action and collaborate on the worldβs most pressing problems.
Our mission is to empower members of our community to leverage technology for social good by inspiring action, facilitating collaboration, and forging pathways towards change.
We envision a world where technology is understood beyond the hype and applied thoughtfully as a tool that can help us solve some of our biggest problems.
CS+Social Good offers several courses through the CS Department that address a wide variety of topics in the tech for good space.
Student teams partner with nonprofits and social ventures to build impactful technical projects over 2 quarters.
A series of diverse speakers ranging from nonprofit founders to ethics researchers, with unique discussions in smaller groups.
Students learn about and apply cutting-edge artificial intelligence techniques to real-world social good space.
A 1-unit lab for the introductory CS sequence that applies concepts learned in class to topics in the tech for good space.
CS+Social Good also engages with our community in ways that go beyond the classroom.
Our team is creating tech for good, post-AP exam project curricula for high school AP CS classes across the country.
From quarterly mixers to speaker events, we create spaces for students passionate about technology and impact to connect.
In partnership with the Haas Center, we provide fellows stipends to work on social ventures all across the world.
We're in the process of creating a permanent space where students can work on multi-year projects that create sustainable impact.
Last spring, I was debating between the CS+Social Good Fellowship and a big tech company program. I have absolutely no regrets about taking the fellowship: I got to see the direct impact of my work and I got to know a group of incredible, inspiring people.
CS+Social Good was founded in 2015 by a team of students led by Lawrence Lin Murata. Our founding team includes Edward Wang, Gloria Chua, Katherine Liu, Manu Chopra, Neil Chaudhari, Ngoc Bui, Priya Ganesan, SunMi Lee, Vicki Niu, and Vinamrata Singal.
As of 2018, all of our founding members have graduated, but our work today continues to build off of their foundational vision. (We our alumni!)
CS+Social Good espouses a flat leadership structure. While our President, Vice President, and Financial Officer oversee the workings of the entire organization, our specific initiatives are run by separate subteams. Our executive board is composed of our President, Vice President, Financial Officer, and each of the subteam heads.
Each subteam is led by subteam head(s), and is composed of 3-5 subteam members, although our classes usually have a larger teaching staff. We encourage our members to start their own subteam if they have an idea for a new initiative that falls somewhere within the tech for good space.
There are a variety of ways to get involved in CS+Social Good. You can enroll in our classes (which may be application-based, depending on the class), attend our speaker and mixer events, sign up for our newsletter, and apply for one of our fellowships.
If you'd like to be part of our leadership team, we accept applications to join our team every fall.
Absolutely not! Tech affects everyone, and we need a diverse set of perspectives and skills to create effective, inclusive change.
More than any technical skill, the traits we care most about include empathy, humility, motivation, kindness, and a willingness to learn.
You don't have to be at Stanford to engage with CS+Social Good! We maintain an active Facebook group of over 2,000 members from all across the world.
In addition, anyone can sign up for our weekly newsletter via Stanford Mailman. Though most of the content is targeted towards Stanford students, we also feature readings and opportunities for the wider community.
If you'd like to start an organization like CS+Social Good at your own school, check out TechShift, a national alliance of tech for good organizations on college campuses! We're a proud TechShift member org, and they can help you with resources and mentorship to start your own tech for good organization.
To publicize an event or opportunity to our mailing list, please send an email with the relevant information to cs-for-social-good@lists.stanford.edu and we will put it in our next weekly newsletter. If the opportunity is time-sensitive, please forward it to us at least a week in advance.
If you would like to contact us for any other reason, please email cs4good@cs.stanford.edu. If you have specific questions about a particular subteam, please feel free to email the relevant board member (see Team section).
Feel free to drop us a line using this form. Whether it's an invitation to collaborate, feedback on our programs, or questions about our philosophy, we want to hear from you.