The Benefits of Academic Sponsorship
MSRI's academic sponsors provide an interface between MSRI and the mathematical community. The Academic Sponsors participate in MSRI
governance and take part (at Institute expense) in a general meeting with the other sponsors and trustees each year for this purpose.
MSRI helps support visits by members to sponsoring institutions. Sponsors are offered some financial
backing of conferences at sponsoring institutions. Perhaps most important: each Academic Sponsor can send 2-3 graduate students to MSRI
summer programs each year at the Institute's expense.
MSRI was founded in 1982 by a consortium of nine West Coast institutions, which constituted the original group of Academic Sponsors.
As the level of activity and success of MSRI has grown, so has the group of Academic Sponsors. In keeping with its role as a national and
international institute and its mission as a center for the mathematical community, MSRI encourages sponsorship of academic institutions
involved in mathematical research throughout North America and the world. Today there are 91 Academic Sponsors coming from around the US
and from abroad. Here is a list of current MSRI Academic Sponsors.
We are continually working with the Committee of Academic
Sponsors to explore new ways that MSRI can serve the community, and we expect this to evolve accordingly in the future.
Committee of Academic Sponsors
This committee consists of a representative from each Sponsoring Institution. The committee meets at MSRI each March; travel
expenses and per diem are provided by MSRI. The rate for travel reimbursement is up to $550 for participants from
US universities, and up to $700 for participants from foreign sponsoring institutions. The Sponsors hear reports on
the Institute’s current scientific programs and provide advice to MSRI on future plans and initiatives. There are often
discussions of issues facing the broader mathematical community as well. This meeting is held just before the annual
meeting of the MSRI Board of Trustees and the Sponsors join with the Trustees for a banquet and socializing.
Summer Graduate Workshops
Every summer MSRI organizes several summer graduate workshops (usually two weeks each), most of which are held at MSRI. Attending one of
these workshops can be a very motivating and exciting experience for a student: participants have often said that it was the first experience
where they felt like real mathematicians, interacting with other students and mathematicians in their field. Each sponsoring institution is
invited to send two students (in total) to participate in these workshops, and can send a third if the group includes a woman or a member of an
under-represented minority. MSRI covers the travel and local expenses of all the students. The rate for travel reimbursement is up to
$550 for students from US universities, and up to $700 for students from foreign sponsoring institutions.
The procedure is as follows: MSRI’s deputy director informs the Sponsor's Representative and the Director of Graduate Studies of the available
Summer Graduate Workshops for the following year. The Director of Graduate Studies submits nominations of students for particular workshops. If the
chosen program is already full, the Sponsoring Institution may make additional nominations to other workshops until its quota of two or three
accepted participants is reached.
Visits by MSRI Members
Academic Sponsors are encouraged to invite MSRI members to visit and give a colloquium or seminar talk at the Sponsors’ institutions. MSRI
provides partial support for the member’s visit (at present, up to $250).
Access to Streaming Video Archive
In October 1997, MSRI made public its streaming-video archive. As
of Spring 2001, there were over 2,000 lectures available, making this the largest mathematical video archive in the world. Lecture notes or
transparencies are available separately, making it possible to follow the lectures in detail and the user can pause or skip backwards or forwards.
Users can download the lectures to form a local library of selected lectures for convenient viewing, for example with a class or seminar.
Our goal is to implement practical methods of Internet communication in order to make the mathematical activities of MSRI nationally and
internationally available, and to help our sponsors, other mathematics departments and national centers profit from our experience to do the
same. Each week, new streaming-video lectures are made available from this library and from current events at the Institute. Further information
about the MSRI streaming-video archive is available at MSRI's web site.
Additional Benefits
From time to time, MSRI holds events that are of general interest to the mathematical community. Academic Sponsors are invited to send
representatives, funded by MSRI. Academic Sponsors receive free subscriptions to the MSRI Book Series.
Becoming an Academic Sponsor
The exchange of ideas resulting from sponsorship benefits the Academic Sponsors, benefits MSRI, and benefits the entire mathematical community.
In principle an Academic Sponsor is an academic department in the mathematical sciences; however, it may be any organization with interest in
research in the mathematical sciences. For the academic year 2008-09, the cost of Academic Sponsorship is $4120 USD/year. This fee is modest compared to the benefits of sponsorship and compared to our annual operating budget. However, the fund
generated by sponsors' fees is critical in preserving ownership of MSRI by the mathematical community and in helping MSRI to maintain
flexibility, stability, and independence.
Academic Sponsors are elected by MSRI’s Steering Committee. Interested organizations should send a letter (email will do) to the Director at
MSRI. Upon acceptance by SAC, the organization becomes an academic sponsor and will be invoiced for that year’s dues. Further questions and
inquiries are welcome, and we will be happy to send additional material on current and forthcoming programs.
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