The Biology Department offers a 10-week summer sabbatical for faculty from minority-serving institutions (those with at least 20% underrepresented minority student enrollment) with limited research facilities, to conduct research in their area of interest at MIT. This mini-sabbatical is funded by an HHMI educational grant.

The primary goal of this summer mini-sabbatical is to provide the visiting faculty an environment where they can start a research project in the field of their choice, and which they could then continue at their home institution, or from which they could derive a new undergraduate teaching lab or lecture course. (See application details, below.)

The faculty will work in collaboration with an MIT faculty host on a research project that is of mutual interest to both. Another goal of this program is to develop and promote interactions between faculty and scientists at MIT and the science faculty at the host institution of the visiting faculty, through further scientific collaborations, on-site visits, and seminars.

The program provides a summer salary and travel allowance for the faculty. Funding is also provided for one or two students from the faculty’s host institution to work closely with the visiting faculty on the research project at MIT. The students will be included in the Biology Undergraduate Summer Research Program and will need to meet the academic requirements of the program (see more details here).
 
At the end of the mini-sabbatical, the visiting faculty and his/her students will present a poster of their summer research and provide a 5-page summary of their research. 

Eligibility:

Applicants must:

• Be a full-time employee of an accredited minority-serving institution in the US.
• Hold a tenure-track faculty appointment in a science department at their institution.
• Teach full time and be actively involved in mentoring undergraduate science majors in biological and biomedical related fields (including chemistry, biochemistry, biophysics, computer science).

Application process:

Interested applicants should contact Dr. Mandana Sassanfar by email (mandana [at] mit.edu) and provide the following:

• A completed application form (download form here)
• A cover letter
• A current CV
• A 2-5 page research proposal for the 10-week summer sabbatical
• A list of faculty at MIT who may be potential hosts
• A letter of support from your department chair or Dean.
• At least one recommendation letter from a senior colleague

Candidates will be invited to MIT to give a talk on their research proposal and to meet with potential host faculty between November and February.