Participant selection process: Students are nominated by their PI department heads. The program is generally appropriate for students who have completed a full year of genuine graduate courses and who have an interest in the general area of the summer program, but who typically have not narrowed their studies to a specific research topic.

Propose a program: PI faculty members are invited to submit proposals by May 15 one year prior to the proposed program.Proposals should be 3-6 pages in length and should include:

• Title, location, and dates
• List of organizers
• Detailed description of the program
• Proposed list of speakers
• Budget, including other approved sources of funding

Funding: Up to $75,000 is available from the IMA. Expenses that can be charged to the IMA include: room and board for the students and the speakers, travel expenses for all participants, honoraria for the speakers, social events, and stipends for TAs when applicable.

Program selection process: Proposals are discussed in the PI departments prior to the PI meeting, typically held in early June; representatives vote on proposals at the PI meeting. Selection criteria for programs:

• Scientific merit
• Interest to the PIs
• Involvement of PI faculty in the organization
• Alignment with IMA's mission
• Development of human resources, including a commitment to diversity

Please send proposals by e-mail to the IMA's deputy director.

An IMA Participating Institution (PI) Graduate Student Summer Program is planned and carried out as a collaboration between the IMA and the PI hosting the event. The IMA provides the funding, publicity, and logistical assistance, while most of the organization and scientific direction is provided by the PI.

At the PI, one faculty member and one staff member should manage the program and be in regular communication with the IMA staff contact.

The typical program is three or four weeks long, with one senior speaker per week. The choice of topics and quality of speakers are key to the success of the program and should be made carefully and with plenty of lead time. Usually weekdays have been divided between lectures in the morning and less formal sessions in the afternoon. In addition to the academic program, there is usually at least one planned social event each week. We recommend a social event, such as a picnic, pizza party, ball game, etc., every Monday to foster interaction between the students and the week's speaker.

About a year before the program, the PI organizers should settle on the title, topic, and dates for the program, and recruit the main speakers. The IMA will issue formal invitations to the speakers once they have been recruited.

A program typically attracts approximately 20-50 students. The number of attendees should be definite several months prior to the program's start date. The most important arrangements to make are for room and board. Typically, students stay in a furnished dormitory room and eat via a meal plan. These arrangements should be made about 10 months in advance with the details and costs communicated to the IMA. Besides the room and board, the PI should plan for the social events, food and drink for breaks during the program, and student access to the library, computers, and recreational facilities, etc. A few months before the program, PI organizers should obtain titles and abstracts from the lecturers and gather travel and local information to be communicated to the students.

The IMA informs students of funding and travel arrangements. The IMA pays for the local expenses of up to two students per PI (their travel expenses can be paid from IMA PI accounts). The IMA pays for travel and local expenses of speakers and pays an honorarium of $1,500 per speaker (up to four speakers). The IMA can assist foreign students and speakers with visa matters.

The IMA will prepare folders for the students with name tags, reimbursement forms, and literature, leaving room for additional materials to be added by the PI organizers.

The IMA will collect feedback about the program from the participants.

Acknowledgement
Please acknowledge the IMA’s support in your promotional materials (printed or posted on the web):
"This conference is supported by the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) through its Participating Institution (PI) Program. PI members may use IMA/PI funds to support personnel’s travel to this conference."