If you’re a researcher, educator, or student working with molecular modeling, minimizing costs while maximizing access to high-quality tools is likely a key concern. SAMSON, the integrative molecular design platform, offers a simple way for academic users to benefit from free or heavily discounted extensions through their academic status.
Let’s break down what the academic status is, how to obtain it, and why it could make a substantial difference for your projects and teaching tools.
What is the Academic Status in SAMSON?
Academic users can receive significant perks, including:
- Free access to certain SAMSON Extensions
- Discounts of up to 90% on many non-free extensions
If you’re teaching a course or running simulations in your lab, that can mean substantial savings—while still accessing professional-quality features.
How to Get Academic Status
The good news is the process is quite straightforward:
- Step 1: Register on SAMSON Connect using your institutional email address (e.g., ending in .edu, .ac, or other domain that clearly links to an academic institution).
- Step 2: Wait 1–2 business days. SAMSON processes these requests manually to ensure academic affiliation.
If you used an institutional address and still haven’t received academic status after that time, simply contact the SAMSON team for assistance.
What If You Don’t Have an Academic Email?
Maybe you’re a student at a non-standard institution or a researcher in a hospital or NGO. If you work in an academic setting but don’t have an academic email address, don’t worry. Just reach out to the SAMSON support team via email and explain your situation.
Important Note: Email Changes
If you’ve already registered but later changed your email address to an academic one, be aware that you will need to reinstall SAMSON using your new credentials for the academic status to apply properly. This ensures all your subscriptions and licenses are tied to the correct account.
Why It Matters
Running simulations and molecular visualizations shouldn’t be held back by licensing issues. The academic status program helps researchers move forward without being bottlenecked by software cost or reduced functionality. This is particularly relevant for graduate students, postdocs, and faculty members implementing computational tools into coursework.
For example, you could access free extensions for importing/exporting molecular data, visualizing complex interactions, or even running simulations, all from within a unified platform.
To summarize, if you’re working or studying in an academic context and using SAMSON, applying for academic status is a small action that can unlock major capabilities.
Learn more in the SAMSON Documentation FAQ.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.