GMAF
The Global MIT At-Risk Fellows (GMAF) Program is designed to enhance the educational and research experiences of Ukrainian university faculty and researchers by introducing them to MIT campus methods and strategies in their areas of specialty. This pilot program focuses on Ukrainian scholars with current or recent affiliations at Ukrainian universities or the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. The applicants may currently be residing in Ukraine (with eligibility to leave the country) or be living outside the country since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Fellowship
Fellows selected by the GMAF faculty committee will spend a semester at MIT. Each fellow will be paired with an MIT faculty advisor in their field and have an opportunity observe research work and classes taught by their advisor or another MIT faculty member. Fellows will also be invited to attend lab meetings and on-campus programming that may be of interest to them in their area of specialty and beyond. MIT covers expenses associated with the GMAF fellowship, including travel, visas, health insurance, and instructional materials, in addition to providing a general living stipend.
GMAF welcomes applications from all qualified faculty and researchers who are:
- Holders of academic or research appointments (or had been prior to February 2022) at a Ukrainian university or the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences
- Interested in and committed to bringing their scholarship to bear on Ukraine’s current challenges
- Holders of a PhD (or equivalent degree) in a field that is also represented at MIT
- Ukrainian citizens
GMAF will give priority to applicants from the following fields, which are relevant for Ukraine’s pressing needs and have strong representation within MIT:
- Economic development
- Housing and urban planning
- Energy, advanced materials, and infrastructure (especially nuclear and sustainable forms of energy)
- Computer science (especially in the areas of digital transformation, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence)
- Prosthetics engineering
- Logistics
Application is not limited to these fields, and scholars from other fields are also welcome to apply, so long as their fields are represented at MIT.
All applications must be written by the candidates themselves. No applications from ChatGPT or other artificial machine learning source will be acceptable. Semi-finalists will also be requested to upload a 1-minute video explaining their research and teaching interests. At the final stage, the GMAF faculty committee will hold half-hour interviews with the finalist candidates.
The application process for AY2024-2025 will be announced in spring 2024.
News
We are excited to welcome the first three of our Global MIT At-Risk Fellows on campus, Liudmyla Huliaieva, Dmytro Chumachenko, and Kateryna Lopatiuk. They will spend the spring 2024 semester on the MIT campus, collaborating with MIT scholars, attending and giving lectures, completing research and absorbing the MIT campus life.
Liudmyla Huliaieva is an economist, whose research and activism focuses on the economic adaptation and survival of Ukrainian women migrants in times of war. Her research aims at Ukraine’s policy development geared towards both the internally displaced women in Ukraine and those returning to Ukraine from other countries. Huliaieva also seeks to influence policy development in countries with significant Ukrainian forced migrant populations to encourage programs for women’s economic empowerment and financial independence through education, entrepreneurship development, and financial literacy.
Dmytro Chumachenko is a multidisciplinary scientist working at the intersection of computer science and public health. While his research mainly focuses on mathematical simulation of the spread of infectious diseases, it also includes decision-making support for public health professionals, the reallocation of health care resources, and the optimal placement of health care institutions. He is included in Stanford University’s World’s Top 2% Scientists list. Chumachenko teaches artificial intelligence systems and methods focusing on healthcare at the National Aerospace University Kharkiv Aviation Institute, in addition to heading the subcommittee on Education and Science within the Expert Committee on Artificial Intelligence Development at the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.
Kateryna Lopatiuk is an urban researcher, who has a long-standing goal of fostering an ecosystem conducive to transitioning Ukraine to a circular economy in a range of fields, especially in the context of the post-war reconstruction. Her current research focuses on developing and promoting sustainable approaches to the reconstruction of cities and infrastructure damaged or destroyed as a result of the Russian Federation’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine. A key component of Lopatiuk's work includes identifying the potential for using secondary materials during reconstruction and assessing their value on different levels, while also preserving the unique local architectural features in different Ukrainian regions.
