Summer Institute in Materials
   Science and Material Culture
               [SIMSMC]

 Dates of Summer Session:
     June 6-17, 2005

 ** Date Application Due:
     April 15, 2005

** NEW DATE

With support from the National Science Foundation, MIT has initiated a Summer Institute in Materials Science and Material Culture [SIMSMC]. Fifteen faculty members from liberal arts colleges around the country, representing fields from art history to physics, participate in two-week Summer Institute sessions held at MIT. The job of the Summer Institute is to encourage and assist faculty at liberal arts colleges in introducing materials science and engineering to their undergraduate curricula. We will demonstrate the effectiveness of archaeological science as a vehicle for accomplishing this goal. Please review our web site to learn more about this innovative educational experiment and how you can participate.

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At the first opportunity I plan to approach my dean to expound on the superb experience I had at MIT, and to urge him to inform our departments of history, art history, and chemistry about the opportunity. I will offer to present the experience at one of our upcoming "Faculty Forums."

Interacting with colleagues from a range of fields (and with a range of interests) was by far one of the highlights of SIMSMC. These interactions encouraged me to think beyond the usual walls of any one department and opened my eyes to the opportunities possible through cross-departmental and cross-institutional collaboration. I have gained a number of new friends with different expertise, any one of whom I could contact with questions about curricular or research issues - and I look forward to collaborations either with them or with faculty in similar disciplines in my geographical area.

comments by June 2002 SIMSMC participants