CIS sponsors several interdisciplinary working groups. Working groups enable the MIT scholarly community to tackle research issues that are not confined to a single department or discipline. Several groups are structured to link the efforts of social science professionals with those of engineers and natural scientists on problems of academic and policy significance. They also encourage collaboration between graduate students and faculty members. Most working groups are open to any MIT faculty member or student who wishes to participate; some draw participants from outside the MIT community. If you are interested in participating in one of the groups listed below, please contact the working group coordinator to see whether the group is open to additional members.

Several working groups will close at the end of the academic year and we expect new ones to open up from time to time. The following CIS working groups are still active (coordinator names and email addresses are listed in each case):

To apply for a working group grant:

Interdisciplinary working groups in international affairs at MIT may apply to CIS for a small grant to cover the costs of working group refreshments and modest honoraria for an occasional outside speaker (up to $1,500 per academic year). Working groups may be initiated by graduate students, but must have a faculty chair, and preference will be given to those groups in which faculty and graduate students are working together on scholarly problems of common interest and meeting on a regular basis.

Proposals should include:

• a statement of purposes and proposed activities of the working group;
• a list of members and their departmental affiliations; and
• a budget.

Please send proposals to the CIS Executive Director, John Tirman. Requests will be considered as they are received.

To receive a reimbursement after a meeting a Request for Payment form should be filled out and sent to Casey Johnson-Houlihan (E40-445), together with all the receipts. Note: Tax will not be reimbursed. In order to minimize CIS administrative costs, a SINGLE request should be submitted after each meeting.

For payment of an honorarium for a visiting speaker, you must submit the honorarium request with the speaker's name, address, Social Security Number, Citizenship (if not a US citizen) and Visa type (if not a US citizen). MIT will send the speaker the check following the event. Note: If the speaker is not a US citizen, taxes are taken out in advance.

We would also like to receive a brief written report within one month of your final working group meeting, assessing what was achieved by the working group and listing papers presented, etc. We are especially keen to hear about any additional activities stimulated by the working group. The funds for the working groups have been provided as "seed" money - we are eager to demonstrate that they have, on occasions, led to follow-on activities.

Last modified 9/1/09