Steinfeld and Williams awarded MISTI Global Seed Fund grants

Professor Edward Steinfeld

Professor Edward Steinfeld

Photo: Stuart Darsch

Professors Edward Steinfeld and Cindy Williams are amongst 46 faculty and research scientists from across the Institute who have been awarded of MISTI Global Seed Fund grants. Steinfeld was awarded a Reater China Fund for Innovation for his study entitled Non-Democratic Accountability: Experiments with Citizen Contacting in China. Williams was awarded and MIT-France Seed Fund grant for her proposal Who Will Serve? Recruiting and Retention in Contemporary All-Volunteer Forces. Her project will explore recent trends in the all-volunteer militaries of Europe and North America and develop policy recommendations or consideration by civilian and leaders. It will engage graduate and undergraduate students from MIT and two French institutions.

The MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI) established the Global Seed Funds with funding from the Office of the Provost to enhance the internationalization of MIT research and education. The program is composed of a general pool for projects in any country and country-specific funds for Brazil, China, France, India, Italy, Japan and Spain. MISTI will soon launch new funds for Chile and Germany.

Teams will use the grant money to jump-start international research projects and collaboration with faculty and student counterparts abroad. Funds will be used to cover international travel, meeting and workshop costs. MISTI will provide cultural preparation for participating students before their departure.