Career Fair Profits Finance GSC Fund
By May K. TseNews Editor
The Graduate Student Council has recently launched a Travel Grant program which awards up to $250 per recipient to help pay for the costs of attending technical or professional conferences.
The student must be presenting a paper or poster at a technical or
professional conference, and should not also have funding from other
sources, such as their department, unless the funds are already exhausted,
said Eugene Bae G, The Travel Grant, which totals $7,000, was funded by some of the
proceeds from last year's GSCCareer Fair. Bae pointed out key reasons behind the motivation for starting the
travel fund at the Institute. "First, an exit survey conducted last year by
the GSCrevealed that students in some academic programs were often unable
to present their work at technical or professional conferences due to
insufficient travel funds." "The goal of the travel grant supports our overall efforts to enhance
graduate student development, both academically and professionally,"Bae
said. "Our hope is that with this program, we can make an immediate impact on
those students that would otherwise not be able to participate, while at
the same time building a case for greater research and travel support in
those departments where a deficiency may exist,"Bae said. The program is divided into two funding cycles:fall/winter and
spring/summer. The deadline for the fall/winter funding cycle is October
15. "We have received several applications already, and we anticipate more
to come," Bae said. The fund was created for many reasons. When Bae and Geoffrey J. Coram G,
GSCpresident, attended the National Associate of Graduate-Professional
Students conference last year, they were first introduced to the idea. "We noticed that a lot of other schools already had travel grant
programs. It was more predominant in schools with liberal arts programs
where funding isn't as large; here, research grants usually do pay for it
but in some departments funding isn't always available,"Coram said. Money made through the Career Fair also helped to fund a new Externship
Program for graduate students, which highlights a Networking Trip to
Washington D.C., scheduled for the last week of the upcoming Independent
Activities Period, Coram said. "We were brainstorming ideas that could help improve career
opportunities for graduate students interested in the Œnon-traditional'
career avenues, i.e. social science, teaching, political science,
economics, policy and planning, international trade,"said Wijesinghe S.
Hettithanthrige G, one of the organizers of the trip. The goal of the trip is to match up students with MITalumni who they can
shadow on the job, and who can act as hosts for a week's stay. "We are
targeting the program for 15 students, but can extend it if there is more
interest,"Hettithanthrige said. The GSCwill pay for the transportation costs of busing the students, as
well as possibly providing a stipend to cover miscellaneous costs. "The Externship program is not a career placement service. We are merely
helping students get some exposure in the career paths they are interested
in. Students will not be paid during the externship either,"Hettithanthrige
said. The GSC Career Fair, which helped to fund both of these programs, was
also honored Wednesday by the National Association of Graduate Professional
Students for "Excellence in Employment Concerns." The GSC Grocery Shuttle
was also honored for excellence in Student Support Services. Eva Moy G was awarded the NAGPSPresident's Award "for outstanding
service to graduate and professional students in their community, state or
nation."Program serves community need
Idea started last year
Externship program also started
Council, officers win top honors
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