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Summer Institute 2000
Application Instructions and Eligibility Requirements

Contents

Application Deadline

All application materials must be postmarked before Friday, March 31, 2000 and received in Miami no later than Monday, April 10, 2000. Applications arriving after that date, or incomplete applications (i.e., missing some components) will not be considered. It is the responsibility of applicants to ensure that applications (including reference forms) are complete, and that they are mailed and arrive before the listed dates.

Application Steps

1. Read eligibility requirements and decide if they apply to you.

2. Download electronic Application Form and application checklist. Various electronic formats are available. If you have problems downloading the form through the WWW, a hard copy can be requested via e-mail (gpodesta@rsmas.miami.edu) or FAX (1.305.361.4622). Please include a mailing address or fax number where the form should be sent.

3. Compile one original and four copies of all application materials described below (except item g, the Academic/Professional reference Form):

    (a) Completed Application Form. Please fill in ALL the information requested in the form.

    (b) A brief, specific description (one page maximum) of your current research, academic, or professional activities. You should describe any multidisciplinary or multinational activities or collaborations in which you have been, or are involved. If applicable, participation in IAI-sponsored activities should be described (please list project title, project PI, applicant's contributions).

    (c) A short Statement of Interest (2 pages maximum) explaining why you wish to participate in the Summer Institute, how you expect to benefit from participation, and how you expect to apply the knowledge gained during the Institute.

    (d) Official University transcripts for the highest degree you completed, showing a list of courses taken, and grades for each course. Applicants with completed graduate degrees should send only transcripts from their graduate school. If you are currently in graduate school (i.e., you have not completed a graduate degree) you should send (a) a complete transcript for your undergraduate degree and (b) an official University certificate showing graduate courses completed to date (with grades). NOTE: For senior applicants, this requirement may be waived (contact Institute organizers before the application deadline to request the waiver). See note below on translation of transcripts.

    (e) A recent Curriculum Vitae (3-4 pages maximum), including list of publications, or a description of any policy or management activities in which you have been directly involved.

    (f) If you are not a native English speaker, proof of English language skills is required. This may include any Diplomas or Certificates of proficiency in the English language, or scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). A degree from a University in an English-speaking country will also be acceptable proof.

    (g) A completed Academic/Professional Reference Form, filled out by a person who can comment on your academic/professional abilities. The Form can be (a) mailed directly to the Summer Institute Science Coordinator (address is listed in the Form) or (b) included with the application materials in a sealed envelope. The Academic/Professional Reference Form is included with the Application Form to be retrieved electronically. Only one copy of the Reference Form is necessary.

Do transcripts and other documents need to be translated into English? School transcripts and proof of English proficiency DO NOT need to be translated into English if they are in one of the other three IAI official languages (Portuguese, French, or Spanish). If your documents are in any language other than the four official IAI languages, then documents need to be translated into English. All other documentation (including Statement of Interest and Description of Current Academic/Professional Activities) must be written in English.

4. Include original and four (4) copies of the Application Form and all supporting documentation (except the Academic/Professional Reference Form), and include all copies as part of your application. You may wish to retain an extra copy of all the material for your records, or to be able to duplicate all material quickly if the original application is lost in the mail.

5. Go through the checklist provided with the Application Form and make sure you have all the necessary materials. Incomplete applications will not be considered!

6. Mail the application material to:

    Dr. Guillermo Podestá
    IAI/UM Summer Institute
    University of Miami RSMAS/MPO
    Miami FL 33149-1098, USA

We strongly encourage applicants to mail the application package via a courier service (e.g., DHL, Federal Express) or an express mail service. If you use a courier service, please make sure to write down (a) the airbill number (a number which uniquely identifies your package and allows you to track it), and (b) the date when you sent the package. Some of the courier services allow you to track your package via the WWW.

IMPORTANT: Please note that for your application to be considered, ALL MATERIALS MUST BE POSTMARKED BEFORE MARCH 31, 2000 AND RECEIVED IN MIAMI NO LATER THAN APRIL 10, 2000. It is the responsibility of applicants to ensure that the complete set of application materials (including Reference Forms) are mailed and received in Miami before these dates.

7. OPTIONAL STEP: AFTER mailing the application materials, please fill out the electronic registration form. This step will allow us to know that you have mailed the application package, and to contact you if it does not arrive within a reasonable time. Before you fill out the electronic registration, please have ready (a) the date when you mailed the application package, and (b) the airbill number for the package if it was sent via a courier. Although the electronic registration step is optional, applicants are strongly encouraged to complete it, so we can track the flow of applications and alert applicants of packages which have not been received.

If you have questions regarding any aspect of the application process, please contact Guillermo Podestá, Science Coordinator of the Summer Institute via e-mail (gpodesta@rsmas.miami.edu), telephone (1.305.361.4142) or FAX (1.305.361.4622). Also, try to read the Frequently Asked Questions page to see if your question has been asked (and, hopefully, answered) previously.

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Eligibility Requirements

  • Applicants must have academic and/or professional background in disciplines relevant to the Institute's theme. Minimum academic qualifications include a 4-year university degree in a relevant discipline. Fields of study appropriate for Institute applicants include, but are not limited to: geography, ecology, agronomy, hydrology and water resources, biogeochemistry, soil science, statistics, resource economics, environmental policy, sociology, environmental legislation, population studies, and political science.
  • Applicants must be affiliated with a research, educational, or resource management institution, governmental or not, in an IAI Ratified Member Country. At this time, the IAI Ratified Member Countries include: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, The United States of America, Uruguay and Venezuela. Applicants may be temporarily in another institution (for example, as graduate students), but they must have a permanent affiliation with their home institution and be committed to return to it within a reasonable time.
  • Preference will be given to applicants in the early stages of their careers (within 8 years of graduation). Nevertheless, mid-career scientists and advanced graduate students also are encouraged to apply. Preferably, applicants must be actively involved in scientific research or in management positions involving use of scientific information. Applicants involved in activities related to the Institute's theme, particularly as part of ongoing or proposed IAI-sponsored projects, have a better opportunity of being selected. Applicants with purely administrative posts are unlikely to be selected.
  • Applicants must have sufficient command of English (the language in which most Institute activities will be conducted) not only to understand lectures and assigned reading material, but also to participate actively in discussions and group activities.
  • If selected, participants who are not citizens or legal residents of the United States must fulfill conditions necessary to enter the United States (in most cases, a US visa will be needed).
  • Selected participants must commit to exclusive dedication to the Summer Institute activities during the three-week period between July 16 and August 4, 2000.

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Selection Criteria

The selection of candidates will be conducted with the participation of representatives from the two organizing institutions (IAI and the University of Miami) and the two Institute Leaders. Institute participants will be selected on the basis of the following criteria:

  • Academic and/or professional record
  • Demonstrated motivation, interest, and qualification to pursue multidisciplinary research
  • Conceptual clarity of the application essay (Statement of Interest)
  • Relevance of the Institute's theme to the applicant's current research or professional activities
  • Participation in ongoing or planned IAI-sponsored research
  • Reference forms

Geographic distribution and gender balance between participants will be additional considerations for selection of participants.

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 Financial Support

Applicants selected for Institute participation will receive round-trip airfare between the airport closest to their home institution and Miami. Housing will be provided for participants at the University of Miami (UM) in Coral Gables, Florida, for the period July 15 to August 5, 2000. Alternate or longer accommodations cannot be supported. Participants will receive a stipend to cover meal expenses (except when meals are provided as part of Institute's activities). Daily travel will be provided between Coral Gables and UM’s Rosenstiel School, where Institute activities will take place. The Institute will cover health insurance costs. Participants or their home institutions must cover all othe

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Notification of Selection Results

Once the selection process is completed, all applicants will be notified of the results by the Summer Institute organizers, regardless of the outcome (i.e., whether a participant has been selected or not). It is expected that the selection process will end about the end of April 2000. The end of the selection process will be announced through the Summer Institute's WWW site. Notification of results will be done initially via e-mail (participants without access to e-mail will be notified by fax) and subsequently by regular mail.

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Getting Electronic Versions of Application Forms

Electronic versions of the Institute Application Form can be downloaded via the WWW in various formats. The available formats, file names and sizes are listed below. To download the form, click on the icon of the format you prefer.

Please note that the document you are downloading includes (a) the required Academic/Professional Reference Form, and (b) a checklist to confirm that you have assembled all the required application materials (the checklist does not need to be mailed with the application package) .

If you experience any difficulties in downloading a version of the Application Form via the WWW, please e-mail to gpodesta@rsmas.miami.edu or send a fax to 1.305.361.4622, and we will send you a Form via e-mail or FAX (please give us an e-mail address or FAX number).

Click Icon to Download

  File Format  File Name and Size
Microsoft Word 6.0/95
(uncompressed)		 AppForm.doc (448K)
Microsoft Word 6.0/95
(Zip archive)		 AppForm.zip (144K)
Portable Document Format
(PDF)		 AppForm.pdf (84K)
  PostScript AppForm.ps (328K)

  To read a PDF file you need Acrobat Reader. If you do not have this software, you can download it for free from Adobe's WWW site.

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Filling Out Electronic Registration Form (Optional)

An electronic application form can be filled out via the WWW by following the link below. This step is optional, but applicants are strongly encouraged to follow it. We will keep track of mailed applications via the electronic registration. If a mailed application package is not received within a reasonable time after the date when it was mailed (this information should be included by aplicants in the electronic registration), the applicant will be contacted. During the 1999 application process, some application packages were lost in the mail, but Institute organizers and applicants were not aware these applications were missing because the electronic form was never filled.

A few important points to remember when filling out the electronic registration:

  • Do this step AFTER you have mailed the application package. In this way, you can list the date of shipment, how the package was sent (e.g., via courier or registered/certified mail), and any additional information (e.g., airbill number). Have this information ready before you fill out the electronic registration form.
  • When filling out the form, please do not use any special characters (tildes or accents). These symbols are not correctly interpreted by the scripts that read the forms. For example, do not write "São Paulo" but "Sao Paulo"; do not write "Perú" but "Peru".
  • Please do not translate the name of your institution into English. For example, do not write "University of Asunción" but "Universidad de Asunción".
  • To enter phone and fax numbers, please do not use the "+" or "-"symbols (again, these symbols may be misinterpreted by the processing scripts). We suggest that the country and city codes be separated from the number using periods (for example, "54.11.48239741").
  • In all the instructions above, examples are enclosed in quotes (e.g., "example"). When you fill in the electronic registration form, you do not need to surround the text with quotes.
  • Please verify all your entries before hitting the "Submit" button. If you want to start from the beginning, please press "Clear Form".

[ FILL OUT ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION FORM ]

Frequently Asked Questions

If you have any questions about the application process, you may want to read the Frequently Asked Questions page about applying for participation in the Summer Institute. This page incliudes actual questions asked by applicants.

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											Thursday, November 16, 2000 at 11:45 AM
											




































										





































































										




































											Contact: 
											





































































											Guillermo Podestá (gpodesta@rsmas.miami.edu),

													


































Summer Institute Science Coordinator

													


































Telephone:+1.305.361.4142