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Financial Support
Students may find support for their studies in the Department either from personal sources, outside fellowship programs (such government fellowships, sponsorship by a private company or from abroad for international students), special programs (such as LFM), or from the Department. Support from the Department can take three forms: a research assistantship (RA), a teaching assistantship (TA), or a Departmental fellowship. The Department strives to offer financial aid for the first academic year to all regular first year graduate students who are citizens or permanent residents of the United States. Support for succeeding years is generally available but not guaranteed.
Students who are admitted with an outside fellowship, or with a statement that they can support their studies by their own or family means, are excluded from support from the Department for the period stated in the letter of admission, but usually for at least one academic year. Students entering with fellowship awards which are less than the pre-generals research assistantships are eligible for partial awards, which bring them up to the RA level.
Persons holding graduate student staff appointments, as research or teaching assistants must be regular full-time students registered for an advanced degree. Exceptions may be made on an individual basis for persons whose responsibilities for child rearing preclude full-time study. Such individuals may hold fractional appointments.
The Department uses great care in the admissions process to match the number of admitted students to the total number of expected assistantships and fellowships. Thus, it is hoped that all students who are admitted will be able to find some form of support, either from an outside fellowship, a sponsoring company, a research assistantship, a teaching assistantship or an MIT-administered fellowship; however, the Department cannot guarantee that support will be available.
Research Assistants
A research assistant works closely with a faculty supervisor and with other graduate students on a sponsored research project. An attractive feature of the research assistantship is that the work performed by the student may be recognized as thesis research. Students seeking research assistantships must take the initiative in contacting faculty with whom they would like to work. Research assistantships are negotiated on an individual basis between the student and faculty member. The Department does not make these arrangements. Applicants are advised not to contact faculty about research assistantships until after they have been admitted.
A research assistant is an employee of the Institute and is required to devote full time to the research project, at the very minimum during normal working hours, with the exception of the time spent in scheduled lecture or laboratory classes for which the student is registered. Specific details concerning work hours and duties and the scheduling of vacations should be arranged with the faculty supervisor.
Research assistants may register for a maximum of 39 non-thesis credit units of course work. The research assistant observes Institute holidays and is entitled to a vacation of two weeks per calendar year. The vacation is normally taken during academic recess periods.
The salary of a research assistant is payable on the last working day of each
month. For doctoral candidates an increase in salary will follow successful completion of both the written
and oral portions of the General Examination and the Thesis
Proposal Presentation. There will be Federal and State taxes
withheld, and a full tuition award and health insurance award
for the term will be credited to the student's account. Claiming
one deduction, take-home pay is then estimated to be between
80% and 90% of these amounts.
In most cases research assistants are encouraged to continue their research programs through the summer. However, in some instances, it may be beneficial for the assistant to accept summer employment outside the Institute, and in rare instances it may be appropriate for the assistant to transfer to the staff of the Institute or Draper Laboratory. In these latter cases, the summer work must be unrelated to the assistant's thesis research and approval for the transfer must be obtained from the Department Head (through the Departmental Committee on Graduate Students) and from the Dean of Engineering. The appropriate form is the "Thesis Release Form".
Teaching Assistants
Teaching assistantships are provided from the general MIT
teaching funds and are administered by the Department Head
through the Teaching Assignments Committee. The Department
may choose to guarantee certain domestic applicants financial
support through a teaching assistantship for all or part of
their first two semesters. However, this offer is not extended
to all students, and incoming students should refer to their
letter of admission to determine if such support is guaranteed
upon admission. Teaching assistants are appointed by the Department.
If you wish to hold a teaching assistantship for the following
academic semester, you should request to do so by writing
to the Graduate Admissions Committee, c/o the Department Academic Office (Room 6-107), no later than August 1 for
the fall semester, and no later than November 15 for the spring
semester. Later requests are less likely to be approved. The
number of teaching assistantships is limited.
Teaching assistants may register for a maximum of 27 units of academic credit per academic semester, including thesis credit. A teaching assistant is an employee of the Institute and is expected to devote full time to teaching and research with the exception of time spent in scheduled lecture or laboratory classes for which the student is registered. The teaching assistant observes Institute holidays and is entitled to a vacation of two weeks per calendar year. The vacation is normally taken during academic recess periods.
Teaching assistants receive a monthly salary from which Federal and State taxes are withheld,
and a full tuition award and health insurance award for the
term will be credited to the student's account. Claiming one
deduction, take-home pay is then estimated at between 80%
and 90% of this amount. This salary is somewhat larger than
that of a research assistant because teaching duties will
not allow the student to advance at quite as fast a pace as
either a research assistant or fellowship holder.
Teaching assistants may receive academic credit for their participation in a teaching program, depending on the nature of the involvement. The teaching assistant may register for 12 units per academic semester of "Teaching Materials Science and Engineering" (Subjects 3.691 - 3.699), in addition to the 27 units mentioned above. For such participation in teaching, a maximum credit of 12 units (Graduate G-level) towards the Master's degree or 24 units toward the Engineer's degree requirements may be allowed. All new teaching assistants are required to attend the TA workshop sponsored by the Dean of the Graduate Student Office. In addition, teaching assistants may be required to serve as aides at commencement and assist in teaching activities in January.
Fellowships
Fellowships are provided by a number of sources, both within MIT and outside MIT. The Department has a limited number of graduate fellowships, most of which are offered to first year graduate students and restricted to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or citizens of certain other countries. One does not apply for a Departmental Fellowship; rather, it is an honor conferred by the Department. Students are encouraged to apply for fellowships outside MIT, for which our students have an enviable record of success.
Departmental fellowship awards carry, in most cases, a stipend
plus a tuition
award and health insurance award for the period of the appointment.
Post-Generals doctoral candidates who have completed their
thesis proposal presentation will have their stipend increased. Where the amount of the supporting grant
is inadequate to cover the stipend,
the student may seek a supplement appointment for the fellowship
to that level from his/her advisor if research funds are available.
U.S. students are also eligible for a range of outside fellowships
sponsored by various governmental (NSF, NDSEG) and private
(SRC, Whitaker, Lucent etc.) organizations. In some cases
the student applies directly to the fellowship agency. In
other cases, the Department may nominate the student. NSF
and NDSEG applications are available in the Graduate Student
Office (Room 3-138).
Singapore-MIT Alliance Graduate Fellowships
The Department participates in an education and research
collaboration with the National University of Singapore and
the Nanyang Technological University. Participants in this
program earn a Master's of Engineering degree in Materials
Science and Engineering from MIT and either a Master's or
a Ph.D. degree from the National University of Singapore in
Advanced Materials for Micro- and Nano-Systems. Fellowship
recipients receive full tuition, stipend and travel support.
To learn more about the SMA collaboration, please see the
Singapore-MIT Alliance website;
further fellowship and application information
is also available.
Other Sources of Financial Aid
For further information concerning financial assistance, refer to Chapter IV in the Courses and Academic Programs issue of the MIT Bulletin or the Graduate Student Office (Room 3-138).
Outside Employment
Normally the assigned duties, together with the allowed classroom registration, will command the full-time attention of the graduate student staff member, As a result, students holding these appointments normally are not allowed to accept outside employment. In those very rare cases when it is appropriate for the student to seek limited employment beyond the appointment, explicit permission must be obtained from both the project supervisor and the Chair of the Departmental Committee on Graduate Students.
Note to International Graduate Students
Please refer to the International Students Office website regarding information on On-Campus/Off-Campus eligibility for MIT F-1 and J-1 students.
F-1 and J-1 students with full RA or full TA positions cover the 20 hours per week of work allowed by INS while school is in session. No other on-campus or off-campus job can be held at the same time if a student has a RA or TA.
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