Committee on Academics, Research, & Careers (ARC)


Mission

The GSC’s committee on Academics, Research, and Careers (ARC) spearheads initiatives and events aimed at improving professional and academic life at MIT. The committee includes a number of subcommittees, such as alumni relations, advising, professional development, and VISTA. ARC is also responsible for pursuing academic and career-related advocacy issues for the GSC.

Gain valuable experience by getting involved in one of the following projects on ARC! ARC’s current projects and advocacy items are listed below, but we are always interested in exploring new ideas and advocating for an improved academic and professional experience for all graduate students.

Subcommittees

Advising

The Advising Subcommittee works with MIT’s academic departments and administrative offices to enhance the research advising experience for grad students. While working with the advising initiative, you will interact with graduate department chairs and administrators, as well as collect information from graduate students and student councils through surveys or forums.

Alumni Relations

The Alumni Relations Subcommittee is to bridge the gap between grad alumni and grad students. To that end, the Subcommittee works with the Alumni Association to host a variety of networking events and talks to bring together alumni and students.

Professional Development

The Professional Development Subcommittee works to assist graduate students in preparing for their professional careers after graduate school by helping them develop skills and build their networks. To this end, this Subcommittee hosts a professional development speaker series, networking events, and interfaces with MIT’s Career Advising and Professional Development office.

VISTA (Visiting Student Association)

MIT VISTA – Visiting Student Association has an objective that all visiting students make the most of their stay. They want everybody to connect with their fellow visitors as well as regular MIT students, who are interested in getting involved in an international community. And to make that process as efficient as possible, MIT VISTA not only helps the visiting students with their paperwork and a plethora of advice – coming from experiences of former visiting students – but they also organize countless social events, trips, and outings and offer lots of opportunities for people to network or find new friends.

VISTA is dedicated to supporting international students visiting MIT with particular emphasis on organizing events, lobbying for their interests, and creating a hospitable community for them during their time abroad. We strive to create a family where events are made for visiting students by visiting students.

Contact Vista at vista-board@mit.edu and on our website vista.mit.edu.

Grants

The Grants Subcommittee manages the Conference Grant, Professional Development Grant, and GSC Institute Awards which includes receiving applications, answering applicant’s questions, and running the grading process. Members of this committee are appointed by the General Council on the recommendation of the ARC Committee Chair.

Projects and Programs

Here’s what our committee is doing right now:

Academic Career Series: career panel series for academic jobs, finding a postdoc, and exploring non-conventional PhD career opportunities

Professional Development Skills Workshop: workshops for career skills including communication, leadership, conflict management, improv and networking

Dissertation Boot Camp: ten days of quiet time thesis writing, coffee and breakfast, and workshops and mentors on wellness, writing, etc.

Conference Grant: ARC manages the GSC conference grant which provides funds to graduate students to cover the cost of conference expenses that are not currently fully funded by the student’s advisor, department or other funding sources

Professional Development Exploration Grant: ARC offers funding to students to explore a professional development opportunity in an area outside their academic or research focus

GSC Institute Awards: ARC awards four Institute Awards on behalf of the GSC which are presented at the Institute Awards Convocation. These awards are the Graduate Teaching Awards, Frank E. Perkins Award for Excellence in Graduate Advising, Edward L. Horton Fellowship Award, and the Irwin Sizer Award for Most Significant Improvement.

How to get involved

If you would like to get involved or just to find out more about ARC, please feel free to contact the ARC committee chairs at gsc-arc@mit.edu or attend the next committee meeting (check the GSC anno newsletter to be always updated)!  Meetings generally take place the third Thursday of each month, starting at 6:00 pm.

We are always looking for diversity of all kinds on our committee so that we can best serve the needs of all graduate students across MIT–regardless of department of study, school, gender, age, race, etc. Maintaining diversity of thought within ARC is critical to our success as a representative body for MIT graduate students.