The Tata Program combines technical and business education with immersion in the context of emerging India. Our intent is to develop professionals who will be equipped to apply their training in resource-constrained settings. Individuals and teams work together under faculty supervision and in close contact with entrepreneurial companies and NGOs tied to communities and markets.

Call for Fellowships

Applications due: June 30, 2013

The Tata Center for Technology and Design announces its call for applicants for its 2013 fellowship program. Launched in 2012, our mission is to create a new discipline, and a new breed of engineers and faculty, trained to overcome severe resource and cost constraints to create cost-effective new products and services delivered to underserved markets. 

The intent of this program is to provide students with a first-class technical education, and immerse them in the context of emerging India to direct their energies toward fostering enterprise and improving lives. However, our expectation is that Tata Center will develop professionals who will be equipped to apply their knowledge in virtually any resource constrained setting in a developing area.

Tata Fellows will partake in a curriculum that combines technology, design, and entrepreneurship.  Each student’s experience will culminate in a rigorous concept-to-market design project that explicitly responds to an identified need in India.

Project teams will work under faculty supervision, and in close contact with entrepreneurial companies and NGO’s tied to communities and markets.  Successful projects will provide a basis for compelling, highly affordable commercial products and services in fields related to healthcare, energy and water, food and agriculture, mobility, and buildings and infrastructure. 

To be considered, candidates must have strong technical backgrounds, and an interest in design, entrepreneurship and developing countries, and must be admitted to, or currently enrolled in eligible MIT departmental graduate level degree programs, including MS or M.Eng., Ph.D., MBA, LGO, SDM, TPP, etc.  Fellows will carry a full load of classes satisfying departmental degree requirements, and are required to take additional elective classes in design, technology and entrepreneurship. 

In addition, Fellows are expected to spend four or more weeks in the summer period, and at least two weeks between Fall and Spring semesters in India, invested in problem finding and design activities.  Fellowships cover travel and living expenses while abroad.

Highly qualified incoming Master’s candidates - preferably with identified faculty advisors from across the Institute - are encouraged to apply for a limited number of Tata Fellowships which will provide tuition plus stipend for a full year with a second year award subject to satisfactory progress in the first year. 

Multiyear Fellowships may also be awarded to exceptional Ph.D. students whose thesis research is aligned with the objectives and needs of the Centers.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis as they are received.

How to Apply

Applicants should carefully complete the online application form by 5:00PM EDT on June 30, 2013.

NOTE: On the online application you will be required to upload a CV, which may be accompanied by a letter of reference, and if applicable, a short description of a project you would like to have considered for funding, as a single PDF document.