Academics, Research, and Careers

The committee on Academics, Research, and Careers (ARC) spearheads initiatives and events aimed at improving professional and academic life at MIT. ARC is also responsible for pursuing academic and career-related advocacy issues for the GSC.

Subcommittees

Alumni Networking

The Alumni Networking 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.

Projects and Programs

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.

  • 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 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.