The MIT Global Seed Funds (GSF) program helps MIT faculty and principal investigators create new connections by supporting early-stage collaborations with researchers at peer institutions around the world. Administered by the Center for International Studies (CIS), the GSF program has awarded nearly $22 million to more than 1,000 faculty research projects since its inception in 2008.

It was a strong year for Asia seed funds with $400,000 awarded to 13 projects across Greater China, India, and Japan. Below are highlights of the Asia 2023-2024 awarded projects:

MIT Greater China Fund for Innovation:

1. Flow-induced structures in liquid crystals

MIT: Professor Irmgard Bischofberger, Mechanical Engineering

Collaborator: Professor Rui Zhang, Physics, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology 

2. Understanding crustal weathering at the eve of Earth’s great oxidation

MIT: Dr. Gareth Izon, Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences

Collaborator: Professor Aiguo Dong, Institute of Earth Science, China University of Geosciences, Beijing

3. Artificial intelligence assisted synthesis and characterization of two-dimensional materials

MIT: Professor Jing Kong, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Collaborators: Dr. Kung-Hsuan Lin, Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica; Dr. Ang-yu Lu, Principal Engineering, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company

MIT-IIT Kanpur Seed Fund (India)

1. Integrating geochemistry and engineering for mineralization carbon capture

MIT: Professor Rohit Karnik, Mechanical Engineering

Collaborator: Associate Professor Indra Sen, Earth Science, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

2. Playing for climate: Nudging players towards pro-environmental behavior

MIT: Professor Eric Klopfer, Comparative Media Studies

Collaborator: Assistant Professor Koumudi Patil, Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

3. Repurposing coal fired power plants in India: Exploring the best socio-technical interventions

MIT: Robert Stoner, Director, Tata Center for Technology & Design, MIT Energy Initiative

Collaborator: Professor Pradip Swarnakar, Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

4. Sustainability in maritime logistics

MIT: Professor Alan Edelman, Mathematics

Collaborator: Associate Professor Vijaya Dixit, Indian Institute of Management Ranchi

5. University-industry engagement: what can IIT Bombay learn from MIT?

MIT: Professor Jason Jackson, Urban Studies & Planning

Collaborator: Associate Professor Anush Kapadia, Sociology, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay 

Hayashi-ULVAC MISTI Seed Fund (Japan)

1. A bespoke comprehensive language learning interaction partner

MIT: Dr. Takako Aikawa, Global Studies & Languages

Collaborators: Associate Professor Ryan Lege, English Language; Senior Lecturer Euan Bonner, Kanda University of International Studies

2. Accelerating the US-Japan Event Horizon Explorer Mission Development

MIT: Dr. Kazunori Akiyama, Research Scientist, Physics

Collaborators: Professor Hidetoshi Sano, Gifu University Faculty of Engineering; Assistant Professor Kotaro Niinuma, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Science and Technology for Innovation; Assistant Professor Aya Higuchi, Division of Science, School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Denki University

3. Cell mechanosensing through matrix nonlinear elasticity in 3D

MIT: Professor Ming Guo, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Collaborator: Professor Toru Yagi, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Mechanical Engineering

4. Monitoring technologies and data science for environmental resilience

MIT: Professor Haruko Wainwright, Nuclear Engineering

Collaborator: Professor Yuichi Onda, Tsukuba University, Integrative Environmental Sciences

5. Unraveling the complex magnetic records of seafloor hydrothermal systems

MIT: Professor Ben Weiss, Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences

Collaborators: Professor Shun Chiyonob, Earth Resources Science, Akita University; Professor Ryohei Takahashi, Earth Resources Science, Akita University

Recent seed fund project

David Dai (Physics, ’25) traveled to Taiwan in January as part of MIT Professor Liang Fu’s research collaboration with Dr. Hsin Lin at Academia Sinica on the project “Nonreciprocal topological materials.” In addition to meeting with professors and researchers to discuss the development of machine learning models for predicting novel materials, David presented his condensed matter theory research to scientists and students at Academia Sinica.

MIT-Korea’s 10th year teaching STEM to North Korea escapees

Every IAP since 2015, the MIT-Korea Program has organized and trained a team of four MIT students to teach hands-on STEM workshops at Yeomyung School, an alternative high school in Seoul, South Korea, for escapees and their children from North Korea. Partnering with the school’s principal and science teacher, the MIT team teaches a two-week workshop for five hours each day on engineering, chemistry, biology, and computer science. The goal of the program is to support and train the school’s teachers through the MIT’s mens et manus approach and to increase the students’ passion and commitment to their own education. Watch this video to learn more about the experience. 

Team leader and MIT student Vivian Tan (Management, ’25) said, “The MIT-Korea program offers an experience that cannot be found elsewhere. It allows [MIT] students the opportunity to briefly touch the lives of intelligent and passionate Korean high schoolers who simply do not have the means to explore the extent of what they’re capable of. In a span of three short weeks, we must leave the comfortable MIT bubble and are pushed to work efficiently as a team, become self-reliant in a foreign country, and adapt to unpredictable obstacles.”

MIT-South Asia pilots Global Teaching Lab in Bhutan! 

For the first time, Bhutan is participating in the International Math Olympiad (IMO). To help prepare the 31 Bhutanese high school students who will be competing this summer, MIT-South Asia sent three math majors to Bhutan during IAP this January. Benjamin Kang ’24, Holden Mui ’25, and Mark Saengrungkongka ’26 brought their passion and dedication to this tiny nation tucked away in the Himalayas. The MIT-South Asia program manager also visited Bhutan to explore the possibilities of summer internships in the country. As a result, we have four Bhutanese institutions eager to host students this summer.

Global Teaching Labs launched in Singapore

MISTI Singapore sent two pilot Global Teaching Lab student teams to Singapore in January: one to Dover Court International School, the other to NUS High School of Mathematics and Science. Learn more about the STEAM projects at Dover Court School here.

MISTI Global Classroom

MIT Global Languages offers 21G.S04 and 21G.S05 Special Subject: IAP Chinese Abroad (9 credits) over IAP at National Sun Yat-sen University in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Nineteen MIT students participated in the daily language classes. The students also explored the diversity of Taiwanese culture, history, and industry. Language instruction was conducted by MIT senior lecturer in Chinese, Dr. Haohsiang Liao, and Lecturer Tong Chen. Program prerequisites are Chinese III Regular or Chinese II Streamlined.

Learn more about Global Classrooms here.

PhD students receive CIS summer research grants

The Center for International Studies’ Summer Research Grant provides funding for research projects to PhD candidates whose work focuses on international studies. Research on a broad range of issues are considered and students from all MIT departments are eligible to apply. 2024 Asia grant winners include students whose dissertation research will take them to India, Japan, and Vietnam this summer:  

1. The decoupling myth: Redirection of China-U.S. trade through Vietnam

Casper Keysers, Political Science

My research focuses on the dynamics of international trade, and geopolitics, including examining China-U.S. trade diversion through Vietnam.

2. Buy or build? How states source military might

Samuel Leiter, Political Science

Building on past research on defense procurement decisions, my dissertation project develops a typology of military platform sourcing strategies, a theory to explain variation, and tests it using case studies focused on Japan, experimental methods, and statistical analysis.

3. Politics of the family firm: Evidence from India

Sukrit Puri, Political Science

My dissertation seeks to examine business and politics in India in general, with a particular focus on the role of family businesses as unique political actors. 



Learn more about the CIS Summer Research Grants here.

MISTI-China student workshop collaborations with the MIT Hong Kong Innovation Node

Since 2015, the MIT Hong Kong Innovation Node and the MISTI-China program have partnered in cultivating the innovation capabilities of MIT students through annual two-week workshops in areas of product prototyping (MEMSI), fintech (MEFTI), and urban design (UrbanTech).

MISTI Excellence Awards

Kinan Martin to receive 2024 Suzanne Berger Future Global Leaders Award

Over the course of his undergraduate education, Kinan Martin (EECS M.eng, ’24) applied his expertise in foreign languages and AI computer science skills in two MISTI internships and two Global Teaching Labs experiences. His global experiences spanned South America (Chile), East Asia (Taiwan), Eurasia (Kazakhstan), and the Middle East (Jordan). Kinan quickly adapted to local conditions and excelled in his technical work while effortlessly performing the role of an MIT global “diplomat” in each of these regions.