All who are planning to graduate in September:

• Should already be registered for 12 units of thesis credit, under ESD.ThG
  Should have completed all course work by the end of this semester, including completing any Incompletes and resolving any registration errors or problems.
• Should check the accuracy of their approved TPP Program Form (and Dual Degree Petition courses, if applicable). These will be audited by TPP and the Registrar before graduation is approved.
• Should be working on a thesis topic and with a thesis supervisor(s) already approved by Joel Clark and Frank Field.
• Should check whether their supervisor has heard about the TPP Best Thesis Award, if they feel that their thesis should be considered for nomination by their supervisor.

Moreover, you

• Should register for a September degree on WebSIS by the beginning of June.  This does NOT roll over from June automatically.
• Should Register for 6 units of thesis credit, under ESD.ThG in the summer.  Summer tuition for students working on research or thesis is not charged to the student or research account.
• Summer theses are due by Friday, August 10, but please keep in close communication with Sydney about your plans, as TPP staff will be taking vacation time in the summer.
• September grads will be allowed to participate in the 2008 Commencement activities (by not the June 2007 Commencement).

All who are planning to graduate in June:

• Should already be registered for 12 units of thesis credit, under ESD.ThG
  Should have completed all course work by the end of this semester, including completing any Incompletes and resolving any registration errors or problems.
• Should check the accuracy of their approved TPP Program Form (and Dual Degree Petition courses, if applicable). These will be audited by TPP and the Registrar before graduation is approved.
• Should be working on a thesis topic and with a thesis supervisor(s) already approved by Joel Clark and Frank Field.
• Should check whether their supervisor has heard about the TPP Best Thesis Award, if they feel that their thesis should be considered for nomination by their supervisor.

Moreover, you

• Should already have registered for a June degree on WebSIS
  Should already have submitted a thesis title by April 9 (which may still be amended later, if necessary)
• Should provide a draft of their theses to Sydney for a format check by Monday May 7. Please see attached samples of the TPP thesis title page and abstract format and check MIT’s Thesis Specifications at http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/thesis-specs/ Sydney will happily review these two pages, whenever you would like.
• Spring semester theses are due on Friday, May 11. TPP students should submit their completed thesis copies, signed by themselves and their supervisor(s) to Sydney by that date. A one-week extension may also be discussed by May 11.
• International students should let Sydney know about OPT letters as soon as possible.
• If you decide to remove your name from the June degree list, please send Sydney and Marti Ward (mward “at” mit.edu) an email by May 11 and make sure to follow the instructions, below, for September grads.
• If you are participating in Commencement 2007, please follow instructions regarding regalia rental,
• Dual degree students will receive two separate diplomas, but will need to choose one group with which to ‘walk’ at Commencement. It is not possible to cross the stage twice!

Dear June and September Graduates,

You are invited to join us at the TPP Thesis-Signing Party on Tuesday afternoon, May 15!  Even if your thesis is not complete by that time, please join us to celebrate all graduating students.  This is our final group photo opportunity and we also take photos of Dava signing your theses.

We will also have a party following Commencement on Friday, June 8, and hope that you and your loved ones will join us then.

This June, the sixth Annual Meeting of the Technology and Policy Graduate Consortium will be held.  The Consortium (which includes programs at MIT, Carnegie Mellon, George Mason, the Technical University at Delft, Netherlands, Instituto Superior Technico in Lisbon, Portugal, Harbin Institute of Technology in China, Simon Fraser University in Canada, and Cambridge University, UK) was established to provide an opportunity for students pursuing graduate degrees in areas of technology and policy to present their research and discuss areas of common concern and interest.  Over the past six years, it has been a valuable forum for faculty and students to exchange information and share experiences.  Previous Consortium meetings have been hosted by Delft University, George Mason, Cambridge University, IST in Lisbon, and by MIT TPP.

We are hoping to have at least 4 TPP/TMP/PoET students represent MIT at this year’s meeting, which will be hosted by the Engineering and Public Policy Program at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh from June 24-26th .  Participating students will present their research at the meeting, either as an oral or poster presentation.  The students will also be responsible, collectively, for preparing a summary report on the meeting.

TPP will nominate students to the EPP faculty, who are responsible for this year’s agenda.  Nominated students will be chosen to participate based on their stated interest and the research they would present.  Students selected for posters will be asked to submit their draft posters to us for review before finalizing them.  Students selected for oral presentations will be expected to do one or two practice presentations for review before the meeting.

Students should ask their advisors about financial support to travel to this conference and present their research.  PoET Fellows can use their travel funds for this.  TPP has some funding available for students whose research supervisors are not able to support their travel.  Students sponsored by TPP to attend the doctoral consortium will have their reasonable travel expenses covered.  Details will be provided to the students chosen to participate.

If you are interested in participating in the consortium meeting on June 25-27, please forward to us (Renee, Dava, Frank) a brief proposal for participation.  Please follow these directions carefully.  You must include:

1. a brief (1-2 paragraph) statement outlining a) your reasons for wanting to attend; b) what you expect to get out of the meeting; and c) your willingness to help prepare a summary report of the conference.   Please note your expected graduation date and your preference to present orally or to do a poster.  (Generally posters are more appropriate for students at an earlier stage of their research.)
2. an abstract (2-3 paragraphs) of the research you would present at the meeting.
3. a statement that you either have travel funding or are requesting travel funding from TPP.  If you are requesting TPP funding, please explain why your advisor can’t support your travel.  If you have any special circumstances (e.g. traveling from somewhere other than Boston, a free place to stay in Pittsburgh), please note them.

IMPORTANT DETAILS:

• Proposals are due by Friday, April 20th.  We will let students know if they are selected within a few weeks of then.
• Emailing instructions:  Please put “Graduate Consortium proposal” as the subject line of your email.  Please name your abstract  “lastname abstract.doc” and make sure your name and abstract title are in the document itself!  Please put your statement for (1) and (3) above in the body of the email.