IOP Offers New Research Grants

Today marks the first of two application deadlines for a new program available through the Institute of Politics (IOP) that will allow students to earn up to $1,200 working for a professor for a semester.

The new Research Assistant Program is a project started by the IOP Student Advisory Committee (SAC) this year with extra money from the IOP’s general funds.

Four students will have the opportunity to work for high-profile government professors. Another two slots will be filled by applicants who choose with which professor they will work.

IBM Professor of Business and Government Roger B. Porter said his research assistant will help him with his newest research on American presidential politics.

Elaine Kamarck, lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School, will focus on 21st Century government and homeland defense.

“I decided to participate in this program because it is a chance to work with Harvard undergraduates who are interested in politics and government,” Kamarck said.

Kenan Professor of Government Harvey C. Mansfield Jr. ’53 and Dillon Professor of Government Graham T. Allison will also take on students as research assistants.

SAC Vice President Heather A. Woodruff ’03 emphasized the IOP’s effort to avoid giving preferential treatment to any political persuasion.

Of the four professors who have agreed to participate in the program, Porter and Mansfield tend toward the conservative side while Kamarck and Allison are liberals.

“The even political split among professors’ is representative of our desire to be non-partisan,” Woodruff said.

The IOP expects a competitive applicant pool from which a selection committee will choose six students to participate in new program.

Though applications to work with Allison, Kamarck, Mansfield and Porter are due today, students who wish to compete for the two remaining internships have until March 4 to find a professor with whom to work and submit completed materials to the IOP.