This year graduate student life grants underwent a transition to focus more broadly on the graduate student experience incorporating broader categories of events. Also students are now able to four times per year July, October, January, and April (note July grant cycle was not held for 2020).
See brief description of the funded grants below. For more information, contact gradexperience@mit.edu.
RAINBOW DANCE
Through music, movement, and storytelling, Rainbow dance provides a symbolic journey into the world of Nature and relationship, encouraging the growth of an empowered and self-nurturing child.
VIRTUAL MUSIC TIME FOR KIDS
A virtual music instruction to promote education and bonding for children and their parents.
COMMUNITY BUILDING THROUGH ICE CREAM SOCIALS
The CMS Graduate Student Ice Cream Social will help connect CMS master’s students across class years through bi-monthly ice cream social hours.
SYNERGY II: COMMUNICATING OCEAN SCIENCE THROUGH ART
Synergy II is designed to unite ocean scientists (e.g. doctoral students from the MIT-WHOI joint program) with artists (from Art League Rhode Island) in finding a common language to communicate oceanographic life and activity through artistic expression.
CAREER PANEL AND WORKSHOPS FOR WATER SECTOR
Connecting graduate students with industry/ NGO professionals and academics to offer perspectives on potential career paths within the water sector.
WRITING TOGETHER ONLINE
Training and mentoring graduate students to facilitate writing groups for grad students to build a community of academic writers with the MIT writing center.
FORCE OF NATURE
Developing and publishing raps on Youtube which introduce and explain topics in Earth Science (and hopefully beyond).
FIND YOUR NEXT ADVENTURE
Find Your Next Adventure is a chat series that features weekly hour-long fireside conversations between graduate students and successful female professionals from all career trajectories.
JOURNEY TO A PH.D.: A CONVERSATION WITH DR. MALIKA GRAYSON
Womxn in MechE, gwaMIT Mentoring, and Black Graduate Student’s Association host Dr. Malika Grayson, author of Black Girl’s Guide to the PhD., to discuss her experiences obtaining her PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Cornell and how she leveraged strong mentoring relationships to tackle academic and personal challenges.
VIRTUAL PAINT NIGHT
Paint night for graduate students to relieve pressure and to develop their artistic creativity.
HOME COOKING AROUND THE WORLD (PLANT BASED VERSION)
Student-lead virtual home cooking session with plant based recipes from different regions across the world.
DRAWING CLASSES FOR GRAD STUDENTS
Online drawing classes for graduate students in computer science to counter the isolation and stress they are experiencing in these difficult times.
BLACK ART COLLECTIVE
The Black Art Collective is a forum and an opportunity for students of color to create community and share common experience through art, as well as an opportunity to share their talents with the broader MIT community through the finale showcase event.
CONNECTING MINDS TALK SERIES
A monthly talk series for junior researchers in brain and cognitive science at MIT and other institutions to present their research, provide feedback on others’ work, and foster collaboration in a student-only space.
OUTDOOR YOGA & MEDITATION SESSION
Outdoor yoga and meditation to create a grounding and relaxing environment for small groups of students.
GLASS SHARDS WOMXN SCIENTISTS SPEAKER SERIES
The Glass Shards speaker series invites womxn scientists in the field of biology to discuss career journeys and professional development with womxn biology graduate students.
FACULTY PANEL DISCUSSION
Panel discussion where MIT Professors discuss how to address the challenges faced by graduate students, especially women, and those from minority and LGBTQ communities.
OUTDOOR ACRO YOGA CLASSES
Teaching acroyoga to grad students to create a sense of community and grounding.
VIRTUAL MARTIAL ARTS FOR KIDS
Eight week online Martial Arts course for kids!
ONLINE ART CLASS
Virtual art class for the Children of MIT community members, with a great focus on graduate students.
MUSIC TIME FOR KIDS
A virtual music education class for children of grad students and other in the MIT community.
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING MAKER COMMUNITY QUILT
Developing a sense of community and shared experience with individual square made using different fabrication techniques.
STUDENT TAUGHT HAND THROWN CERAMICS WORKSHOP
Teaching students how to hand thrown ceramics to build community and creativity.
COOKING CLUB
We are organizing a summer cooking club for graduate students to socialize and have fun together.
