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Overview

MIT’s Work of the Future initiative envisions an economy where dramatic advances in automation and computation go hand in hand with improved opportunities and economic security for workers. It is based at the Industrial Performance Center (IPC), which is dedicated to the study of innovation, productivity, and competitiveness in the US and around the world. For the 2023-2024 academic year, we are recruiting our first class of Work of the Future Fellows. Current MIT graduate students with an interest in conducting applied research on the impact of generative AI and factory automation on the quality of work are eligible to apply.

Fellowship Application

Program Goals

  1. Grow the community of MIT scholars exploring the relationship between technology and work.
  2. Create opportunities for graduate students, particularly in science and engineering, to engage in applied work with companies and organizations that share their research interests.
  3. Generate new knowledge about how technologies affect work in the real world to inform research, training, and practice.

Fellowship Areas

Work of the Future Fellows will each be connected with an organization deploying new technologies to conduct a case study that builds on their research interests. Fellows will also join a community of scholars studying these topics and receive advising from faculty across MIT. The Fellowship can support 25%, 50%, or a full graduate student stipend.

Fellows will be matched with applied research projects in two areas:

  1. Factory Automation: MIT’s Automation Clinic works with manufacturing firms to study their challenges and success in deploying new automation technologies on the factory floor. The Clinic brings students and scholars to visit factories, conduct interviews with manufacturing leaders, and conduct case studies on successful deployments of automation. Fellows engaged in the Clinic will be paired with a manufacturer to study their deployment of a particular technology on the factory floor. Fellows will be expected to visit the factory, interview leaders and shop floor workers, and analyze how the technology was deployed — as well as the impact it has had on workers and the firm. The final deliverable will be a short case study for a practitioner audience on what other companies can learn from the factory’s experience with automation.
  2. Generative AI: Beginning in fall 2023, MIT is convening a working group on Generative AI and the Work of the Future. The purpose of the group is to study how early deployments of generative AI are affecting workers’ jobs and companies’ demand for skills. Work of the Future Fellows interested in Generative AI will be matched with one or several companies within the working group to study how they are using generative AI, how jobs within the firm are changing, and how workers are adapting. Work of the Future Fellows will also be invited to quarterly “knowledge sharing” meetings with AI leads from companies in the working group where they will provide updates on their research. The final deliverable for the Fellow will be a short case study analyzing what practitioners can learn from the generative AI use cases at the company they study — as well as the strategies for workers to adapt to the new technological environment.

Application Summary

Applications due September 11, 2023 at 5pm ET and will be considered on a rolling basis. Applicants must have approval from their PI or academic advisor. Please contact workofthefuture@mit.edu with any questions.

Fellowship Application