Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)
Website: http://www.povertyactionlab.org/
Contact: Rachel Glennerster < rglenner@mit.edu>
Description: The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab serves as a focal point for development and poverty research based on randomized trials. The objective is to improve the effectiveness of poverty programs by providing policy makers with clear scientific results that help shape successful policies to combat poverty. The Lab works with NGOs, international organizations, and others to evaluate programs and disseminate the results of high quality research. We work on issues as diverse as boosting girls' attendance at school, improving the output of farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, racial bias in employment in the US, and the role of women political leaders in India.
Participation: There are a number of opportunities for economic graduate students and recently matriculated undergraduates to work with J-PAL. Opportunities (aimed at those with bachelors degrees) are posted at http://povertyactionlab.org/getinvolved/?type=3. A few UROP opportunities are available for students who have taken course 14.74 Foundations of Development Policy.
AIDG Inc.
Website: http://www.aidg.org
Contact: Peter Haas <phaas@aidg.org>,
Ben Lee <blee@aidg.org>
Description: The AIDG incubates appropriate technology manufacturing facilities in developing countries. These facilities market goods to rural villages and NGOs. We provide hands on experience in developing country manufacturing settings for students as well as experimental design placement and testing in rural communities. We also offer design internships in the Boston area.
Participation: All MIT students, faculty and alumni.
AID-MIT
Contact: Ramya Rajagopalan < aid-boston-exec@mit.edu>
Description: Association for India's Development (AID) strives to empower rural communities by funding people-centered initiatives targeted at improving health, education and general welfare. Sustainability, local acceptance and community involvement are central aims of AID-supported initiatives. AID MIT is a student chapter dedicated to raising awareness about social issues, such as poverty, illiteracy, and inadequate healthcare, which are of importance to India and other developing countries. We collaborate with other AID chapters to raise funds for development projects in India. We also host visits by volunteers from NGO's who are working at the grassroots in India, so that the MIT community can learn from their experiences in the field. As well, we run an annual seminar series focusing on the interface between technology and development, and featuring guest speakers who are researchers in medicine, science and engineering. The seminar series highlights ways in which technology is or could be applied to improving the welfare of peoples in developing countries.
Participation: Any member of the MIT community or the Cambridge/Boston area
Amnesty International
Website: http://web.mit.edu/amnesty
Contact: Shankar Mukherji Giovanni Talei-Franzesi < mitai-exec@mit.edu>
Description: Amnesty International is a non-governmental, non-partisan organization working for the protection of human rights. As one of the largest human rights organizations in the world (over 1 million members in 45 countries), Amnesty International uses its broad international membership to publicize cases of human rights abuse and try to bring international pressure to bear on the governments in question, thereby aiding the development of a system of political and human rights around the world.
Participation: Chapter meetings are open to all participants.
Boston Network for International Development
Website: http://www.bnid.org
Contact: Tammie Warmus < info@bnid.org>
Description: The Boston Network for International Development (BNID) was founded in 2004 in order to serve as a point of connection between individuals and organizations in the Boston area - profit and nonprofit, academic and nonacademic, informational and activist. At present, BNID's efforts are concentrated on three initiatives: 1) A website and email list to serve as a clearing-house for events, resources, and opportunities related to international development. 2) A network of student groups engaged in international development issues at colleges and universities in the Boston area. 3) An annual forum focused on study, career, and internship opportunities in international development. In the future, we envision further activities, all intended to enhance connections and coordination among groups and individuals in the Boston area. We hope you will join us. Please drop us an email if you would like to get involved, and please join our network.
Participation: Anyone who is interested can join the network and take advantage of our web resources. We welcome suggestions for ways to better serve the students of Boston.
Caribbean Club
Website: http://web.mit.edu/caribbean/www/
Contact: Pierre Bhoorasingh, Vice-President JodieMarie Fernandes, Treasurer Kwame Hall, Secretary Keron Lezama, Social Chair Timothy McIntosh, Social Chair Legena Henry, Graduate Liaison Lesley-Ann Giddings, Graduate Liaison Dennis Ramdass, Webmaster
< caribbean-exec@mit.edu>
Description: On Saturday October 7th, 2006, the MIT Caribbean Club will be hosting the 1st MIT Caribbean Students' Conference. The theme for this year's conference will be "Technology and Society in the Caribbean," approaching issues in the Caribbean's socio-economic framework in the solutions-based setting of MIT. The purpose of the 1st MIT Caribbean Students' Conference for several reasons: 1. To recognize the effectiveness of technology and creativity in development. 2. To generate new, creative, instrumental ideas for approaching old socio-economic issues. 3. To encourage an active thinking process among emergent Caribbean leaders. 4. To empower (the humanitarian development paradigm).
Participation: Any one can participate in the 1st MIT Caribbean Students' Conference.
Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Water and Sanitation in Developing Countries Projects
Website: http://web.mit.edu/watsan,
http://cee.mit.edu/index.pl?id=3684
Contact: Susan Murcott < murcott@mit.edu>,
Eric Adams < eeadams@mit.edu>
Description: Since 1998, the Civil & Environmental Engineering Department's Master of Engineering program has engaged graduate students in multi-disciplinary teams (with students from Sloan GLab, Urban Studies and Planning and other departments) to work on water and sanitation projects in developing countries, including sites in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Throughout the academic year, students work in teams with local partners to assess water quality, design treatment systems, emphasizing appropriate and sustainable development concepts. Teams travel to field sites during IAP to gather data and implement best solutions. The students' Masters thesis is usually derived from their group project work.
Participation: Most participants are enrolled in the department's 9-month Master of Engineering Program, but graduate students from other departments and some undergraduate UROPs and have also participated in multi-disciplinary teams
Children of Guayaquil
Website: http://www.EcuadorOrphans.org
Contact: Nicki Lehrer < nicki@mit.edu>
Description: Last year, I spent 5 powerful months living and working in the poorest regions of Ecuador. During my travels around the country, I was profoundly touched by the number of street children-- with no shoes, no clothing, no food, and no education. Because of these experiences, I started a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of the Ecuadorian street children I came in contact with while in their midst. "Children of Guayaquil, Inc." was incorporated into the state of Maryland as a non-profit organization on December 5, 2005. Since then, we have gained support throughout the United States and Ecuador in our quest to provide basic human needs and educational opportunities for these children. Our first project in the town of Pascuales is already well on its way to becoming a reality and is scheduled for inauguration in February of 2007. I believe that the most important gift that you can give to a child is education. Our goal is to provide opportunities for these children to learn, grow, and study in an encouraging, supportive, and safe environment. And in the future, our goal is to provide scholarships which will allow them to continue their studies at universities throughout Ecuador and internationally. Our vision is large, but this challenge addresses one of the greatest needs in developing countries. I am confident that we will reach our goals and I am excited about the opportunities that we will be able to offer these kids.
Participation: anyone!
D-Lab
Website: http://web.mit.edu/d-lab
Contact: Amy Smith < d-lab-staff@mit.edu>
Description: D-lab is a series of courses and field trips that focus on international development, appropriate technologies, and sustainable solutions for communities in developing countries. In the fall, students learn about international development and appropriate technology through case studies, guest speakers and hands-on laboratory experiences. During IAP, students work in the field with community partners in developing countries to implement projects and identify further technical challenges on which to collaborate. In the spring semester students can take a spring design seminar (SP.722) or a seminar on project implementation (SP.723) to develop solutions to the problems identified during the IAP field trip. Students can return to their host communities over the summer to test their designs and get feedback to refine their solutions. They can also continue working on the projects the following fall in a product development seminar (SP.724) or through independent UROPs.
Participation: Students who register and take the class or international student groups that would like to host a field site.
Design for Change
Website: http://web.mit.edu/dfc/www
Contact: Sunita Darbe, Megan Roberts < dfc@mit.edu>
Description: Design for Change (DfC) at MIT aims to enable students and faculty to use their skills to serve developing communities worldwide. We exchange ideas and information through a weekly discussion group about innovative technologies in the developing world and through an e-newsletter with information on international development related events and opportunities available at MIT and in the surrounding communities. We provide support for student design projects, from idea conception to project implementation, and also set up summer internships in development work abroad for interested MIT community members.
Participation: Anyone interested
Design for Demining (SP.776)
Website: http://web.mit.edu/demining
Contact:Andrew Heafitz < heafitz@mit.edu>
Description: Design for Demining SP.776 is a spring semester class where the students and staff here at MIT apply our engineering and invention skills to develop technologies to help solve the landmine problem. Thousands of our tools are already in use around the world! This is a hard problem, and we go in-depth to solve it. We give you the information you need to apply your skills. The class includes a field trip to an Army base for demining training, and real deminers come from around the world to consult and speak to the class. Are you up to the challenge?
Participation: Graduate and Undergraduate students
Emergence BioEnergy
Contact: Iqbal Quadir < quadir@mit.edu>,
Firas Ahmad < firas_ahmad@ksg05.harvard.edu>
Description: Emergence BioEnergy (EB) is a Cambridge, MA based company that seeks to establish a distributed energy program in Bangladesh that provides electricity, heat and other services to rural areas. The energy source is methane gas extracted from cow manure, a resource widely available in the country. EB is currently utilizing a Stirling engine, designed by New Hampshire based DEKA Research, to generate electricity and heat, which will be used for drying food products. The goal of EB is to develop a franchise of mini-power plants that can be owned and operated by rural Bangladeshis, leading to increased opportunity and poverty alleviation.
Participation: EB is interested in working with students, faculty and experts in addressing some technical issues related to the project, and in particular the Stirling engine.
Expediting Access to Standard Education
Website: http://web.mit.edu/ease/www
Contact: Irina M. Azu < irinaa@mit.edu>,
Sadik Antwi Boampong < sadik@mit.edu>
Description: MIT Expediting Access to Standard Education (MIT EASE) works hand in hand with EASE Ghana to ensure that under-priviledged children in some rural parts of Ghana, get basic education. This is done by providing the school fees and other facilities that are required to go to school are all taken care of. This is done through fund raising activities that bring Ghanaian culture to the MIT community so as to bridge the gap not just academically but socially as well.
Participation: Anyone who is interested in promoting development for under-developed nations.
First-Step Coral
Contact: Gerardo la O' < gjlao@mit.edu>,
Martin Lorilla < mlorilla@mit.edu>,
Emzo de los Santos < emzodls@mit.edu>
Description: Coral reefs in the Philippines have the highest marine biodiversity in the world and this rich resource provides ~60% of animal-protein consumed. The country, however, also has ~90% of reefs highly threatened by human activities earning the Philippines a number-one rank in the world s top-10 hotspots for coral reefs. First-Step Coral harnesses vastly untapped renewable energy in the Philippines to grow Biorock assisted coral reefs to enhance reef growth rates, improve resistance to climatic bleaching and importantly increase fish populations.
FloodSafe Honduras
Website: http://web.mit.edu/lem/honduras/
Contact: FloodSafe Executive Council < floodsafe-exec@mit.edu>
Description: FloodSafe Honduras is a group of MIT students and affiliates working within Honduras to solve community problems using engineering and science skills. We work with a partner organization called the Centro T cnico San Alonso Rodriguez. Through their advice and community suggestions, we design and implement projects requiring technical solutions. Current projects include developing an automated flood early warning system the Sistema de Alerta Temprana, or SAT and a series of infrastructure projects in a rural farming community including wind-powered water pumps and biogas generation.
Participation: Anyone
Global System for Sustainable Development (GSSD)
Website: http://gssd.mit.edu
Contact: Prof. Nazli Choucri < nchoucri@mit.edu>,
Christi Electris < electris@mit.edu>,
Dinsha Mistree < dmistree@mit.edu>,
Behram Mistree < bmistree@mit.edu>
Description: Description: The Global System for Sustainable Development (GSSD) is an adaptive and evolving, multi-lingual and multi-national, distributed and quality-controlled, global knowledge system dedicated to sustainable development based on knowledge networking principles and practices. Designed to help identify and develop innovative best-practices, enabling technologies, as well as new institutional, financial and regulatory mechanisms, the GSSD domain spans over the complex dimensions of the sustainability challenges - at all levels and all parts of the world. A set of knowledge management, search, and navigation functionalities allow users to customize their own site inputs into the system and/or to tailor specific retrieval queries over the GSSD knowledge base. Please see http://gssd.mit.edu to learn more about research taking place at the GSSD Lab or email gssd@mit.edu.
Participation: Anyone
IAESTE
Website: http://iaesteunitedstates.org
Contact: Zheng Gong < zhengg@mit.edu>,
Julia Fong < jcfong47@mit.edu>
Description: IAESTE is the International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience, a global organization with more than 80 member countries, dedicated to providing international internships in technical and scientific disciplines, IAESTE has matched nearly 300,00 student interns with more than 100,000 employers. We are IAESTE's local chapter at MIT. It's a voluntary, student-run group, dedicated to providing MIT students the opportunities to have internships abroad, as well as providing services to the foreign students who have internships in Boston area.
Participation: Everyone
IDEAS Competition
Website: http://web.mit.edu/ideas
Contact: Alison Hynd < ideas-admin@mit.edu>
Description: The IDEAS Competition encourages teams to develop and implement projects that make a positive change in the world. Entries are judged by a panel of experts who focus on the innovation, feasibility, and community impact of the projects. Every year, at least six teams win IDEAS awards of up to $7500 to develop and implement their projects. The IDEAS staff work with teams throughout the year to help them refine their ideas and applications. Development grants are available to assist teams during the application process.
Participation: The Competition is open to everyone, but at least one third of a team must be full-time MIT students.
Impact Career Expo
Website: http://web.mit.edu/impact
Contact: Megan Roberts, Gwen Johnson < cfair@mit.edu>
Description: Impact was created to meet the needs of the many students who are interested in pursuing socially responsible careers. These students want to leverage their education in engineering, science, and the humanities to make a positive impact on society. International development is one of the many sectors featured at the fair.
Participation: Anyone with the enthusiasm and initiative to make the event a success.
International Development Group (Department of Urban Studies and Planning)
Website: http://web.mit.edu/dusp/idg/
Contact: Diane Davis < dedavis@mit.edu>,
Jean Farewell < jeanmf@mit.edu>
Description: The International Development faculty, in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, conduct research and help with planning practice in low-income countries around the world that are striving for social, political, and economic development. The faculty cover issues from allocating resources regionally and sectorally, to examining urban, regional, and national socioeconomic impacts of major public and/or private investments, to solving the problems of squatter housing, to addressing issues of un- and under-employment, municipal finance, metropolitan sprawl, and social disparities at a variety of scales. IDG faculty and students believe that effective planners operating in today's world must acquire an institutional and integrated view of economic, physical, political, and social factors.
Participation: Students from all departments are encouraged to take IDG courses and participate in IDG activities. To facilitate exchange among faculty and students, IDG and the Special Program for Urban and Regional Studies (SPURS) sponsor a weekly luncheon seminar series on Mondays from 12:15pm-2:00pm in 7-338 at which noted development experts, scholars, and practitioners share ideas with students, Fellows, and faculty. For more information about the seminar, please contact Nimfa de Leon at nvdeleon@mit.edu
International Development Initiative (IDI)
Website: http://web.mit.edu/idi
Contact: J. Kim Vandiver, Sally Susnowitz, Amy Smith,
Stephanie Dalquist < idi-admin@mit.edu>
Description: The MIT International Development Initiative (IDI) is a joint program of the Edgerton Center and the Public Service Center, created to expand opportunities at MIT for work in international development, particularly for students. Our programs enable us to provide tangible assistance to developing regions in defining community needs and finding appropriate design solutions, implementing and disseminating technologies, and capacity-building and maintaining relationships with community partners. Current opportunities available through IDI include D-Lab, the IDEAS Competition, International Fellowships, International Development Grants, and U2U.
Participation: Open to MIT students and others in the MIT community
MEET (Middle East Education through Technology)
Website: http://meet.csail.mit.edu
Contact: Anat Binur < info@meet.csail.mit.edu>
Description: MEET is an innovative educational initiative started in 2003 which aims to create a common professional language between Israeli and Palestinian young leaders. Working together with students and faculty at MIT, MEET has created a three year computer science and business program for Palestinian and Israeli high school students. The program, which takes place in Jerusalem, consists of intense summer sessions taught by instructors from MIT and year long projects led by local high tech professionals. The program enables its participants to acquire advanced technological and leadership tools while empowering them to create positive social change within their own communities.
Participation: Open to MIT students and others in the MIT community
MIT Africa Internet Technology Initiatives
Website: http://web.mit.edu/mit-africa/www
Contact: Bryant Harrison < mit-aiti-exec@mit.edu>
Description: MIT-AITI is a program based around students helping other students. We teach an intense six week curriculum of Java, entrepreneurship, and more to high school and university students across Africa. Our goal is to expose students to the rapidly growing field of information technology and its applications. MIT-AITI has worked in Kenya, Ghana, Ethiopia, and Zambia in the past and provides MIT students a rigorous yet fun way to spend a summer and help out others a continent away. We are always looking for enthusiastic students to participate in the wide range of AITI activities throughout the year!
Participation: All MIT Undergraduate and Graduate students
MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition
Website: http://mit100k.org
Contact: Jeannette Sue < jsue@mit.edu>
Description: The MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition is a leading business plan competition. It was founded in 1990 to encourage students and researchers in the MIT community to act on their talent, ideas and energy to produce tomorrow's leading
firms. Entirely student-managed, the Competition has produced hundreds of successful ventures that have created value and employment.
Participation: Anyone, as long as one member of your team is a full-time MIT student.
MIT Careers Office
Website: http://web.mit.edu/career/www
Contact: < mitco@mit.edu>
Description: Students may use the Careers Office services to help with many aspects of their transition to International Development. Our staff can help students to clarify their career values and goals, explore options, develop networking skills, and ultimately to develop and implement a job search strategy related to their goals. Along the way students may want advice on such things as creating a resume, preparing for interviews, and utilizing their contacts in their area of interest. Come visit us in 12-170 or read our website for more information.
Participation: At the Fair only, Hannah Bernstein, and one of our graduate interns, TBD. (Need only 1 chair as my scooter has a place for me to sit).
MIT Center for International Studies
Website: http://web.mit.edu/cis/
Contact: Amy Tarr < atarr@Mit.edu>
Description: The Center for International Studies has for more than 50 years
conducted research and presented public programs relating to global
development, human rights, security and migration issues. Our
programs include MISTI (the MIT International Science and Technology
Initiatives), which offers talks and other events having to to with
international education, and which organizes internships abroad for
MIT students; The Inter-University Committee on International
Migration, which presents public seminars on migration- and refugee-
related topics; Jerusalem 2050, an interdisciplinary urban planning
and politics project aimed an envisioning what a shared Jerusalem
might look like in the year 2050; a working group on Local
Perspectives on Global Justice; and the CIS Starr Forums, a public
event series whose topics are relevant to those interested in
development issues.
Participation: All are welcome
MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI)
Website: http://web.mit.edu/misti
Contact: Patricia Gercik, Bernd Widdig
Description: Work and study abroad with the MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI). MISTI was established in 1994 to give MIT students a "hands on" experience in another country. Today we have 8 country programs including China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain and Forums in Africa and Singapore. MISTI educates prospective interns in the language and culture of the host country before placing them in positions that will use their background and talents.
Participation: Undergraduate, graduate and PhD candidates
MIT Learning International Networks Consortium (LINC)
Website: http://cee.mit.edu/index.pl
Contact: Professor Richard C. Larson < rclarson@mit.edu>,
Liz Murray < emurray@mit.edu>
Description: MIT LINC is an international community of individuals and organizations that focuses on higher education in emerging countries. By leveraging innovative e-learning technologies, LINC seeks to help these countries increase access to quality university education for a larger percentage of their student populations. The annual LINC conferences are intended to support the innovative efforts of participants and to send them back to their home countries with new ideas and a supportive group of colleagues from around the world. LINC is working with a group of e-learning leaders from the Greater Middle East to design and develop a joint program to educate high school science and math teachers in the respective countries there.
Participation: Students, staff, faculty
MIT OpenCourseWare
Website: http://ocw.mit.edu
Contact: Farnaz Haghseta < farnaz@mit.edu>
Description: A fundamental part of MIT OCW s mission is to extend the reach and impact of MIT OCW materials throughout the world. Much of MIT OCW s efforts have focused on developing regions of the world, where MIT OCW materials are largely underutilized due to limited Internet connectivity. Outreach activities include the "MIT OCW in a Box" program, support of various localization efforts, and awareness-building partnerships with various IGOs/NGOs.
Participation: The MIT OCW materials are freely available to anyone at http://ocw.mit.edu.
The MIT Program in Developmental Entrepeneurship
Website: http://web.mit.edu/de
Contact: Mary Heckbert Alex (Sandy), Pentland Iqbal Quadir < de-www@mit.edu>
Description: The MIT Program in Developmental Entrepreneurship (DE) focuses on design
and implementation of commercially sustainable products and services for low-income communities
around the world. MIT's commitment to technology, entrepreneurship, and global diversity provides
a uniquely qualified environment to develop innovative products, services and organizations that
improve the lives of people in low-income communities. DE helps students invent new technologies
and organizations, increases their understanding of the challenges faced by low income communities,
connects them to other resources at MIT and elsewhere that may help them design and implement
sustainable enterprises, and conducts research that may be useful to entrepreneurs and enterprises.
DE strives to provide scholarships for young entrepreneurs focused on low-income communities,
providing travel and project funds to develop their ideas, along with a supportive network to help
them grow and nurture their dreams. The Program in DE in conjunction with the Entrepreneurship
Center at the Sloan School of Management, the Media Lab and the MIT Design Lab 1) offers
instruction in development-oriented entrepreneurship, 2) works with all of the other
development-oriented programs at MIT, 3) builds the Developmental Entrepreneurship Network (DEN)
in partnership with the MIT Alumni Association, and 4) supports the new MIT $100k Competition in
Entrepreneurship for Development.
MIT Public Service Center
Website: http://web.mit.edu/mitpsc
Contact: Sally Susnowitz < susnowit@mit.edu>,
Alison Hynd < hynd@mit.edu>, < psc@mit.edu>
Description: The PSC offers planning and financial assistance for students interested in all types of public service work, including international development work. Through Public Service Fellowships and grants, service learning, and the MIT IDEAS Competition, the PSC supports innovative, effective, and collaborative services to communities worldwide. In partnership with the Edgerton Center, the PSC also co-sponsors the MIT International Development Initiative to increase the capacity of MIT students to assist people in developing regions around the globe.
Participation: Undergraduate and graduate continuing students can use all PSC resources. Grants and planning assistance are available to all MIT community members for projects that involve MIT students in public service. Faculty and alumni are also welcome as project advisors and class mentors.
Oxfam America
Website: http://www.oxfamamerica.org
Contact: Clara Herrero; Sarah Zipkin < cherrero@oxfamamerica.org>
Description: Oxfam America is an international relief and development organization. Founded in 1970, we have been providing lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and social injustice in the US and around the world for more than 35 years. Oxfam America works in over 26 countries to change the world one community at a time by helping poor people use their own knowledge and power to transform their lives. We are part of Oxfam International, a confederation of 13 Oxfam organizations, which expands our collective reach to more than 120 countries. Together, we make a global impact.
Participation: All are welcome.
Philippine Emerging Startups Open (PESO)
Website: http://web.mit.edu/peso
Contact: Gerardo la O' < gjlao@mit.edu>,
Chester Yu < cyu@mit.edu>
Description: The objective of this project is to establish the PESO (Philippine Emerging Startups Open) Challenge, a business plan competition in the Philippines to promote world class, innovation-fueled entrepreneurship that will contribute to Philippine economic development. The project takes inspiration from the MIT $50K Business Plan Competition. PESO is intended to be a vehicle to not only provide monetary incentives for new Philippine-based startups, but also to transfer knowledge and expertise from MIT, and to promote closer collaboration between the academic, professional, industrial and financial communities in the Philippines. In the long run we envision that this competition would become an annual event and lead to the establishment of many Philippine startups some of which would grow into thriving enterprises that would create jobs, improve the quality of life for Filipinos, and make a significant positive impact on the national and international economy.
SAVE
Website: http://web.mit.edu/save
Contact: Froylan E. Sifuentes < froy@mit.edu>
Description: From rising sea levels in Pacific Islands, to more and harsher droughts in Africa, from chemicals in the water systems, to pollution in the air and soil, our energy consumption and styles of living create a negative impact on the livelihood of other people. We work in creating awareness on how our ways of living affect the environment and others, and how we can help reduce that impact. We make reused-paper notebooks and organize Earth Day events, and run recycling, energy and paper-saving awareness campaigns.
Participation: Anyone from the MIT community: undergraduates, graduate students, faculty.
South Asian American Students
Website: http://web.mit.edu/saas/www
Contact: Jugal Shah Rishi Puram < jugals@mit.edu>,
< rispuram@mit.edu>
Description: MIT SAAS maintains an active participation with various international
development groups. SAAS plans large-scale events on campus that promote South Asian culture,
and the proceeds from many events go towards international development. For example, after
the Asian Tsunami, SAAS members organized a Tsunami Fundraising Relief Dinner, from which
thousands of dollars were donated to relief efforts. Also, SAAS partnered with ASHA for
Education for an Indian a capella concert to raise money for educational resources in South Asian
countries. SAAS looks forward to a successful year in raising awareness for international efforts.
Participation: All members for the MIT Community and non-MIT are welcome to participate in planning and attending SAAS's community service events.
Social IMPACT
Contact: Thierry Senechal < thierry@mit.edu>,
Pascal Marmier < pmarmier@mit.edu>,
Sinead O'Flanagan < sof@mit.edu>,
Chandrika Samarth < samarth@mit.edu>
Description: We are a group of Sloan Fellows from the Class of 2007. We have diverse backgrounds with a common interest in social issues, sustainable development, emerging technologies for development, and environmental conservation. Our agenda is to organize conferences and seminars in order to propagate the appreciation of social concerns amongst our Sloan cohorts. We are also interested in supporting one or two business ideas for the MIT 100K Competition (Development).
Special Interest Group in Urban Settlements (SIGUS)
Website: http://web.mit.edu/sigus
Contact: Reinhard Goethert < rgoethert@mit.edu>,
W. Victoria Lee < lizteeth@mit.edu>
Description: SIGUS explores methods for promoting affordable, equitable and efficient housing for low income communities, with focus in developing countries. It champions participatory technique through short workshops and courses, and undertakes research on innovative approaches in support of the low-income. It concentrates on the new professionalism emerging for designers, architects, and planners demanding a shift in practice and teaching. SIGUS has over 10 years of experience in Action-Learning workshops. It has lead programs in Peru, Ecuador, Poland, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, India, Bhutan, Syria, and Ethiopia; hosted by governments, development agencies, or NGOs, with local university counterparts.
Participation: Open to all.
Special Program for Urban and Regional Studies (SPURS)
Website: http://web.mit.edu/spurs/www/
Contact: Bish Sanyal < sanyal@mit.edu>,
Nimfa de Leon < nvdeleon@mit.edu>,
Tina Rosan < trosan@mit.edu>
Description: The Special Program for Urban and Regional Studies (SPURS) is a one-year program designed for mid-career professionals from developing countries. SPURS was founded in 1967 as part of MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP), which has a long-standing commitment to enabling qualified individuals to expand their expertise in the field of international development. The program is designed to allow individuals, often at a turning point in their professional careers, to spend a year at MIT broadening their perspectives and enhancing their policy-making and planning skills. SPURS Fellows have returned to their countries with new abilities for addressing complex national, regional and local development issues. Over its 39-year history, SPURS has hosted over 550 women and men from 90 countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Eastern and Central Europe.
Participation: In the past, SPURS Fellows have worked with MIT students on development projects in their home countries. SPURS Fellows are interested in meeting with MIT students to discuss opportunities for collaboration. Every Monday during the semester, the SPURS program hosts a lunch seminar from 12-2pm in room 7-338 about development issues that is open to the MIT community. For more information about the speakers' series, please e-mail Nimfa de Leon at nvdeleon@mit.edu.
Study Abroad and Distinguished Fellowships Office
Website: http://web.mit.edu/studyabroad
Contact: Kimberly Benard, Jennifer Cook, Nancy Crosby, Malgorzata Hedderick
< studyabroad@mit.edu>
Description: The Study Abroad and Distinguished Fellowships Office provides support to MIT undergraduates and graduates whether they are studying abroad for a summer, semester or year or are applying to a prestigious scholarship such as the Marshall, Rhodes or Fulbright. Currently located in 26-153, the office is staffed by Malgorzata Hedderick, Assistant Dean, Kimberly Benard, Program Advisor, Nancy Crosby, CME coordinator and Jennifer Cook, Program Assistant.
Participation: MIT community only
The Technology and Culture Forum at MIT
Website: http://web.mit.edu/tac
Contact: Amy McCreath < mccreath@mit.edu>,
Patricia Weinmann < weinmann@mit.edu>
Description: The Technology and Culture Forum at MIT sponsors lectures, symposia and meetings that address critical issues of our time. The programs explore the role of science and technology in promoting positive social, ecological, and economic change. In addition, the forum stimulates discussion about the ethical implications of scientific discovery and technological innovations.
Participation: A Steering Committee, comprised of students, faculty and alums, plans and coordinates events. All MIT students, faculty, staff and the public are invited to most events.
Western Hemisphere Project
Website: http://web.mit.edu/hemisphere
Contact: Kendra Johnson < kendraj@mit.edu>
Description: The MIT Western Hemisphere project is a group of students, faculty, and community members dedicated to exploring issues of politics, economics, cultures, and societies across the Americas. We organize events, film series, and forums to discuss issues of sustainable development, indigenous rights and culture, and recent developments in the Western Hemisphere. We also host a weekly radio show Spherio, from 4-5pm on the MIT radio station, WMBR 88.1FM, on which we feature different guests each week who share their experiences and perspective these same themes.
Participation: Anyone can be a member of Western Hemisphere Project: undergraduates, graduates, faculty, and non-MIT community members.
What's Up
Website: http://llk.media.mit.edu/projects.php?id=1859
Contact: Leo Burd < whatsup@mit.edu>
Description: What's Up is a telephone-based, neighborhood news system that makes
it easier for youth to collect, share, and analyze information about personally meaningful
places, people, and opportunities in their neighborhoods. By dialing a central number, youth
can send and receive personal messages, publish community announcements, create voicemail
groups, and find out what is happening in their communities. The What's Up system is
currently being tested with a youth organization in Lawrence,
MA (http://www.whatsuplawrence.org). We are planning to bring What's Up to communities
in different parts of the world starting next year. We expect that the appropriate use of
the What's Up system will help to increase awareness of and accessibility to important
local youth resources, provide youth with opportunities to express their opinions about
the places where they live and, with that, contribute to the development of communities
that are both friendlier and empowering for young people.
Wheelchair Design in Developing Countries
Contact: Amos Winter < awinter@mit.edu>
Description: The Wheelchair Design in Developing Countries class will give students the chance to better the lives of others by improving wheelchairs and tricycles made in developing countries. Lectures will focus on understanding local factors, such as operating environments, social stigmas against the disabled, and manufacturing constraints, then applying sound scientific/engineering knowledge to develop appropriate technical solutions. Multidisciplinary student teams will conduct term-long projects on topics such as hardware design, manufacturing optimization, biomechanics modeling, and business plan development. Engineering theory will further be connected to real-world implementation during guest lectures by MIT faculty, Third-World community partners, and US wheelchair organizations. Funded opportunities for summer travel to implement class projects into wheelchair workshops will be available.
Participation: MIT students (both undergraduate and graduate) from all academic disciplines are encouraged to participate.
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