SERC Scholars Program

Lady Justice

Join a community of undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty to help advance the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing cross-cutting initiative on Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing.

What do SERC Scholars do?

  • Collaborate in multidisciplinary teams with members from across computing, data sciences, humanities, arts, and social sciences, led by a SERC postdoc.
  • Develop and pilot new SERC course materials in collaboration with postdocs and faculty.
  • Engage with external partners to advance AI in the public interest.
  • Conduct research in a new, exciting cross-disciplinary area.

Who is eligible to apply?

This opportunity is open to students across the MIT community who are excited to advance our broad mission to incorporate humanities, social science, social responsibility, and policy/civic perspectives into MIT’s teaching, research, and implementation of computing. SERC Scholars are hourly funded positions with selective and limited yearly enrollment.

International students

Student visa regulations limit international students pursuing on-campus employment to a maximum of 20 hours per week during the Fall and Spring terms (as well as during IAP and Summer if your academic program has required coursework during those traditional vacation periods). It will be important to determine before applying if you will be eligible to pursue the additional on-campus employment hours based on your current on-campus employment commitments so that you are within the maximum hour limits allowed by regulation.

NOTE: Students that are receiving a Full (100%) Research Assistantship, Teaching Assistantship, or Fellowship with a service requirement are considered with those awards to be working on-campus at the maximum 20 hours per week as outlined above, and therefore are not eligible to accept any additional on-campus employment.

If you have any questions, please contact the International Student’s Office.

What additional activities will SERC Scholars participate in?

  • Regular lunches and talks with the SERC Scholars community.
  • Meet-and-greets with pioneering leaders from academia, industry, and the public sectors.
  • SERC seminars that occur twice a semester.

Projects

SERC Scholars will have the opportunity to work on 1 of 5 projects, such as misinformation, surveillance, climate justice, trolling, and design justice. Undergraduates will be required to participate in one of these projects. Graduate students will have the option to join a project or work with faculty action groups.

Each project will meet weekly for approximately one hour. SERC Scholars are required to attend these meetings.

Apply to be a SERC Scholar

Undergraduates

  • This is a funded position for 2–4 hours per week during the 2023–2024 academic year, or 8–10 hours per week for a term.
  • Compensation is $15.50 per hour.

How to apply

  • Fill out the SERC Scholar application and upload your resume and cover letter, which should be combined into one document.
  • Provide a resume that includes relevant coursework and experience.
  • Provide a cover letter that includes:
    • Why you’re interested in this experience
    • What you hope you can gain
    • What you hope to contribute
    • Which activities and opportunities you’re most interested in engaging with
  • Rank project participation preference and explain in 100 words or less why you want to work in your preferred project(s).
    • Undergraduates MUST choose a post doc group*
      *Please note that you are not guaranteed to work with your first choice
Apply Now

Applications are due on September 14, 2023.

Graduate students

  • This a funded position for 6–10 hours per week for 1 or 2 terms (Fall, Spring), with an option for IAP during the 2023–2024 academic year.
  • Compensation is $25 per hour.

How to apply

  • Fill out the SERC Scholar application and upload your resume and cover letter, which should be combined into one document.
  • Provide a resume that includes relevant coursework and experience.
  • Provide a cover letter that includes:
    • Why you’re interested in this experience
    • What you hope you can gain
    • What you hope to contribute
    • Which activities and opportunities you’re most interested in engaging with
  • Rank project participation preference and explain in 100 words or less why you want to work in your preferred project(s). You can either work for a Faculty Action Group or a post doc group.
Apply Now

Applications are due on September 14, 2023.

We are grateful to the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation for providing funding to launch this program.