MITACS Student Council meeting

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MITACS Student Council meeting

• Saturday May 14, 2005
• University of Calgary

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Outline

• Students in MITACS
• MITACS resources for students
• Student Advisory Committee
• Past Achievements to Date
• Present Current Initiatives
• Future

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Students in MITACS
"The highest priority for MITACS and its
defining aspect is the recruiting, training,
and eventual placement of graduate students."

• Approximately 80 of MITACS spending goes towards
  supporting students.
• Currently includes about 400 MSc, PhD and PDF
  students.

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Students in MITACS

• MITACS Canadian students boast an 82 employment
  placement rate upon completion of their studies.

• Canada has witnessed an unprecedented increase in
  graduate mathematics and computer science
  enrolments since the creation of MITACS.

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MITACS resources for students
"By creating new opportunities for young people
allowing them to develop their mathematical
skills in relevant fields, MITACS keeps many
students in Canada through its world-class
research activity."
"MITACS expands the reach of network research
outside of major urban centres, which helps to
ensure that opportunities are available to
potential students."
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The Mobility Fund

• 500 for a paper presentation for out-of-town
  travel.
• 1000 for participation in a MITACS event.
• 5000 to spend up to four months visiting a
  MITACS node outside of the home university.

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Internship Program

• Expanding in B.C. and Atlantic Canada up to 150
  interns per year!
• Expanding nationally in two years.
• The MITACS internships program is unique in
  Canada.

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Internship Program

• Internship projects are 4 months in duration with
  opportunities for a second Internship.
• An Internship involves a research project related
  to a graduate students Masters or PhD thesis. 
• Each internship project receives 15,000 in
  funding.

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Student Awards Program

• The Student Awards Program recognizes outstanding
  achievements of MITACS students and post-doctoral
  fellows.
• Each award consists of a certificate and a
  monetary prize of 1,000.

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Student Advisory Committee
The SAC serves as a voice for the students within
MITACS by

• organizing student orientated events
• advising the Scientific Director on student
  affairs
• collecting ideas from the students about things
  they would like to see within MITACS.

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Student Advisory Committee
There is representation from across Canada

• British Columbia
• Western Canada
• Ontario
• Quebec
• Atlantic Canada

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Past Achievements

• 1. Student Notes Newsletter
• 6 issues of the SAC Newsletter so far
• Most recent issue published May 2005

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Past Achievements

• 2. Student Sessions at MITACS conferences
• The SAC has successfully organized Short Courses
  at the 4th Annual Conference and the 2003 Quebec
  Interchange.
• The SAC has successfully organized a Student
  Feedback Session in Ottawa.
• Students were given the opportunity to present
  their research in a lecture hall environment to
  their peers at the Quebec Interchange.
• Social events are organized by the SAC to
  encourage an informal environment to network with
  fellow students.

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Past Achievements

• 3. SAC section of the MITACS website
• Provides information about
• Available resources for MITACS students (Mobility
  Program, Internships, Career Information and Job
  Postings).
• Upcoming events at the local, regional and
  national levels.
• Provides electronic versions of current and past
  newsletters.
• Enables communication with the SAC.

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Past Achievements

• 4. National contact list
• SAC members have compiled a nation-wide email
  list of contacts.
• Events and other MITACS related announcements are
  sent to these contacts for distribution within
  their universities.

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Past Achievements

• 5. Networking with other student groups
• CMS has a student representative, Adriana Dawes,
  sitting on the student committee.
• This increases the exposure of MITACS and
  provides opportunities to cross promote each
  associations events and news.

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Current Initiatives
1. Student activities at CMS-MITACS Joint
Conference 2007 May 30 - June 3 in Winnipeg

• Two soft skill sessions
• Managing time and stress
• Best employment strategies
• Registrations available at www.mitacs.ca/AC07

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Current Initiatives

• 2. Student Notes Newsletter
• Student Notes is a bilingual newsletter published
  quarterly by the Student Advisory Committee.
• A printed version of Student Notes is also
  distributed to all MITACS universities.

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Current Initiatives

• Student Notes includes
• announcements
• reviews of current and past events
• student and industry interviews
• job postings
• brain teasers
• book reviews 
• other items of interest to students

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Current Initiatives

• 3. Student Council
• To promote communication of MITACS events and
  information to students in the mathematical
  sciences.
• Currently 17 universities represented out of 36
  universities involved with MITACS.

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Current Initiatives

• Student Council Responsibilities
• Act as a contact and information source about
  MITACS events and programs.
• Organize MITACS information sessions for
  students.
• Provide input and suggestions for student
  sessions at MITACS conferences and Interchanges.
• Act as a liaison to the Student Advisory
  Committee.

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Current Initiatives

• 4. SAC Seminar Series and Sponsorship
• Seminars
• Help to organize short seminars in mathematics or
  in computer science throughout Canada
• Funds are available for up to 400 per seminar,
  10 seminars a year.

• To promote mathematics at the undergraduate
• and graduate levels.

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Current Initiatives

• Sponsorship
• Join existing conferences and offer a sponsorship
  in exchange for some visibility.
• When an opportunity presents itself and money is
  available.

• Cyber security expert Peiter Mudge Zatko at
  the University of Alberta.

• Sponsors of the 2005 Canadian Undergraduate
  Mathematics Conference.

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Current Initiatives

• 5. Potential extension of mobility fund
• Extend the actual Mobility Fund program to accept
  proposals for visits outside of MITACS nodes.
• International travelling allowed.
• Funding should be awarded according to the needs
  of the proposed travel and to the other sources
  of funding of the trainee.

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Current Initiatives
6. Promotion of mathematics

• Stimulate interest in mathematics for high school
  students.
• Presentation But whats math good for?

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Current Initiatives

• 7. Networking
• Create a dynamic student community.
• Looking for partnerships with other student
  mathematics organizations (like CMS).
• Keeping in touch with the Alumni

• "MITACS student for life"

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Future

• How could we promote mathematics at the
  undergraduate and graduate levels?
• How could we improve our support to student
  research?
• How could we facilitate student collaboration
  between universities?
• How could we create relations with the industry?
• How could we help students find employment in
  academia or in industry?