Associate member program

Executive summary

The MIT Energy Initiative — MITEI — was formally launched by President Susan Hockfield in November 2006 to mobilize the capabilities and experience of the Institute to "foster new research in science and technology to increase energy supplies ... bringing scientists, engineers and social scientists together to envision the best energy policies for the future." MITEI is now a broad, Institute-wide initiative designed both to transform the global energy system to meet the needs of the future and to help build a bridge to that future by improving today's energy systems.

MITEI's Associate Member Program will contribute to a critical link in the energy innovation chain — the pairing of MIT's world-class research teams with innovators in industry who will be responsible for moving many of the products of this collaboration into the energy marketplace. Most importantly, it will provide key focus, research opportunities and critical funding for the next generation of energy technologists.

The merging of industry's "real-world" experience, vision and focused energy requirements with the creativity and research capabilities of MITEI's interdisciplinary team of scientists, engineers, economists, architects and planners, management and innovation experts, and social scientists will provide a powerful transformative tool to help meet the energy "grand challenges" of the 21st century.

Program Description

MITEI Program Structure

MITEI is designed to help address critical energy issues at the local, national and global scale through focused programs of:

Research Focus Areas

 

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Program Highlights

Associate Member Core Program (AMCP)

Sixty percent of an Associate Member's contribution will support a Named Energy Research Fellow at MIT.

Associate Member "Check-Off" Program (COP)

Twenty five percent of an Associate Member's contribution (minimum contribution of $10,000 per selection) will be directed towards a menu of activities selected by the Member, including:

Student Programs

  • Named Undergraduate Research Opportunities Project Student
    To conduct energy research in a faculty member's lab over the summer (fixed at $5000/student)
  • MITEI Education Program
    Helps coordinate MIT-wide energy educational initiatives
  • MITEI Campus Energy Management
    Program to apply new sustainable living innovations on the MIT campus
  • MIT Energy Club
    450+ member student-led energy community, organizers of the annual MIT Energy Conference and Energy Salon Series

Research Programs/Centers/Laboratories

  • Alliance for Global Sustainability
  • Building Technology Program
  • Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems
  • Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research
  • Center for Global Change Science
  • Center for Materials Science and Engineering
  • Center for Ocean Engineering
  • Earth Resources Laboratory
  • Earth System Initiative
  • Industrial Performance Center
  • Joint Program for the Science and Policy of Global Change
  • Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems
  • Laboratory for Energy and the Environment
  • Sloan Automotive Laboratory

MITEI Director's Outreach Fund

  • Discretionary fund for MITEI Director to seed a range of research, education, campus energy management and outreach activities

In addition, MITEI Associate Members will

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