Graduate Education

PoET is a 2004 grant recipient of the National Science Foundation Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) Program. NSF created this multidisciplinary graduate training program "to enable the development of innovative, research-based, graduate education and training activities that will produce a diverse group of new scientists and engineers well-prepared for a broad spectrum of career opportunities.”

The goal of the MIT IGERT program on emerging technologies is to educate graduate students in the assessment, understanding, and remediation of uncertainties associated with emerging technologies. Although IGERT students pursue different doctoral degrees, the core intellectual goal of the IGERT Program is to educate students to approach problems from a social science, history, and engineered systems perspective. The program addresses the societal implications of emerging technologies and how individuals and institutions can shape technologies by responding to anticipated policy or societal implications. The curriculum and multidisciplinary research panels emphasize integrative approaches to the study of engineered systems and public policy.

IGERT Traineeship recipients are selected from graduate students pursuing a PhD in:

• The Technology, Management and Policy track within the Engineering Systems Division (ESD) PhD,
• the graduate program in the History and Social Study of Science and Technology (HSSST) within the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, or
• the Department of Political Science, also within the school of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences.

PoET student, Jon Lindsay

If you would like to receive more information about the IGERT graduate program, please take a moment to enter your personal information using the online inquiry form. To apply for participation in our graduate program, you must first apply for admission to the graduate school, for study in TPP, STS, or the Political Science Department. As part of your Ph.D. application process, you should indicate that you are interested in participating in the Program on Emerging Technologies and want to be considered for the IGERT Traineeship. PoET faculty and staff will then work with you and your prospective department to coordinate your application to the program. The inquiry form here provides some indications to the department that you are interested in a particular program and allows you to obtain more information on the program before applying. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply.