KITP

These are the core policies and are, with a few exceptions which wlll be enumerated in the relevant Addendum (see links in left column,) applicable to all programs. If you have not already done so, please read the Prologue before referring to these sections.

Program Budget
We have internally allocated funds sufficient for the needs of your program along the lines described in the following sections. These funds provide participants help with local living expenses and, in some cases, with travel expenses.  The budget also allows for expenses for seminar speakers, within limits. 

The KITP Deputy Director will work closely with you at each stage during the process of organizing your program. A coordinators’ data site will be established that will show all program applicants as well as those invited, our associated financial commitment, and their current status.

Some funding agencies have special grants that can be used to supplement the budgets for workshops or conferences. For example, various European agencies have provided substantial support for international collaborations and conferences, and, under certain circumstances, NASA, NIH, or the Departments of Energy or Defense have cooperated with us in sponsoring an activity. We have also occasionally been assisted by companies such as IBM or Raytheon and by private foundations such as the Burroughs-Wellcome Fund and the Clay Mathematics Institute. Please contact the Director or the Deputy Director if you know of such possibilities relevant to your program.

Advertising and Contacting Potential Participants
The Institute advertises its programs by sending posters to all PhD granting institutions in the United States, as well as to national laboratories, industrial laboratories and research centers abroad, inviting scientists to apply to participate. However, it is essential to go beyond this general announcement. You will need to bring your program to the attention of scientists who may have a particular interest in these activities, generally through an e-mailing of your own. The Deputy Director will assist you in the process.

We also encourage you to use our evolving web facilities. We wish to set up, as soon as possible, a program home page on the KITP server, where you can advertise the intent of the program and link to our online application page. You may find it helpful to look at the corresponding pages for current programs. Please send the Deputy Director a short description of your program for posting.

The KITP strongly encourages the participation of women and minorities in its programs. This is the responsibility of all coordinators, but please keep the coordinator responsible for ensuring diversity informed of your efforts. I would also like to point out that we will be expecting a brief report of these efforts and results before issuing the bulk of your invitations.

We strongly urge you to contact personally, at the earliest possible date, those individuals you hope to be key participants in your programs. If people inquire about visiting KITP, you can refer them to the “Visit info” tab on our web site.

Please note that graduate students may not apply unless they will complete their PhDs previous to the start of the program.

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Invitations and Financial Commitments
Formal invitations and financial commitments are made in writing by the Director only, upon the advice of the program coordinators. Commitments must not be made by the coordinators prior to the letter sent by the Director. In the past, misunderstandings have arisen in this regard, and no invitation will be issued unless the projected space and budget permit.

We urge you to have some commitments made to key individuals as soon as possible. They will help you anchor the program and attract other participants.

Length of Visits
Because we view the Institute as a place to do substantial research, major emphasis is placed on long-term visitors. We strongly encourage program participants to be in residence as long as possible, ideally for the full term of the program. Shorter stays should be given relatively low priority. 

Number of Participants
The Institute currently has office space for approximately 23 participants (including the organizers) per program in residence at any one time.   (When there are three programs running simultaneously, 23 is the maximum number that can be accommodated.) This assumes that each participant, organizers included, shares an office with one other visitor. You will have to plan your program accordingly. We generally have many more applicants for participation in our various activities than we can possibly accommodate. Thus, it is essential that you verify that space is available before recommending  invitations, even to people who require no financial support.  Concerning speakers, short-term visitors, and affiliates, see further below.  Your budget will usually support an average of 23 participants per week plus one experimentalist/observer each week.

Per Diem
For most visitors we provide reimbursement toward local expenses at a reimbursement rate dependant on the availability of lodging and seasonal factors. (IRS and University regulations require that reimbursements for meals not exceed $60/day and that lodging and all other expenses beyond $60/day be documented by original receipts.) Our present rate is $85 per day for individuals coming alone and often a bit higher for couples. For those coming with children, the amount depends on many factors, including the cost of their housing, the length of their stays, the ages of their children, etc. 

Travel Support
Our travel budget is very limited. We ask visitors if at all possible, to supply travel costs from their own resources. However, if that is impossible, the invitee can explain briefly why and apply for travel support using a short web-based application form.

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Travel & Housing Advice
Visitors to the KITP can find answers online to just about any question they may have concerning transportation, housing, and living in the Santa Barbara area. They should start from the “Visitor Info” page, the link for which is on the header of nearly every page on the KITP web site. Visitors coming for fewer than three workweeks need to make their own lodging arrangements directly, usually at a nearby motel, because their reservations must be guaranteed by credit card.

Our housing assistant, Monica Curry, helps confirmed participants (including affiliates) who are staying three workweeks or longer to find suitable housing. Participants must complete the online housing questionnaire well in advance of their visits as several factors, including length of stay and the presence of family members, affects availability.

Speakers
A speaker (usually experimenters) coming for visits of one workweek or less may be invited directly by the coordinators so long as the budget and space permits.  This exception to normal policies concerning invitations require that you do one of two things:

(1) If the speakers have not already done so, please ask them fill out the usual application form indicating in the comments that you have invited them to speak. (In order to be reimbursed, they must create an account and give us their contact information.)  To ensure that this invitation is not overlooked, you should ask the Deputy Director to arrange for a formal invitation and specify the terms agreed to concerning travel and per diem.  (KITP generally covers local expenses, but travel is negotiable.)

(2) If for some reason, this cannot be done, you may instead complete the online speaker form:

http://www.kitp.ucsb.edu/coordinators/programs/speaker .

[Please bookmark this URL, which is not public.]  The staff will then contact the person to ask them to create their KITP account and to issue a formal invitation.

Any subsequent changes should be e-mailed to speakers [at] kitp [dot] ucsb [dot] edu.

Speakers must remain as a program participant at least  24 hours beyond the time of their seminar.  If KITP will be reimbursing airfare in addition to local expenses, we expect the speaker to spend at least three workdays here as a program participant. 

The first such weekly visitor will not count against your weekly quota on the maximum number of participants.  You may not invite more than one speaker per week without first checking that there there is adequate space.  Consult with the Deputy Director about space limitations before issuing additional invitations.  If you do not, each speaker beyond the first may be counted against your participants quota.

As with regular participants, reimbursement for travel is negotiable but KITP typically provides at least partial travel support, up to amounts depending on the origin of travel.  (A rough schedule of airfare guidelines is linked from the speaker form.)

Short-term Visitors
Exceptions to the normal minimum stay of three workweeks can be granted for valid scientific reasons. Participants coming for more than one workweek but fewer than three workweeks are considered short-term visitors. (If they have not already done so, they must complete an application as usual.)  Their lodging arrangements are handled differently from regular participants. They do not qualify for help from our housing assistant in locating suitable accommodations, and they must make their own arrangements because their reservations must be guaranteed with a credit card.  Because of the availability of weekly rates at certain motels and at West Cottages, the daily cost of their lodging is less than for speakers and their per diem allowance is correspondingly less than for speakers (preceding section.) They may request travel assistance if needed, although, as a rule of thumb, if the amount requested exceeds their local expenses, it may not be fully granted.  The number of such short-term visitors must be included within the quota of 23 participants/workweek.

Affiliates

Except in biological physics, graduate students may not apply to attend programs (unless they will complete their PhD's by the time the program begins.)  However, long-term program participants frequently have responsibilities as mentors of students and supervisors of postdocs, so they either have to interrupt their visits to return home or else to bring those affiliated with them to KITP.  Of course, there are many advantages of the latter for both the participant and for the program, so we have created opportunities for such students/postdocs by creating desk space in larger rooms where affiliates can sit and work.   We have allotted five spaces per workweek per program for this purpose. (These five are in addition to the weekly quota for participants, since they are assigned desks in large rooms with other affiliates.)  

Unless KITP has a special grant specifically for this purpose, all expenses for affiliates must be paid from their own sources, usually by grants of the sponsoring program participants or their departments.  The policies concerning the length of their visits are the same as for program participants, as are the availablility of assistance finding economical housing.  

Affiliates must be nominated by their mentors, and participants (including coordinators and scientific advisors) will find a link to the affiliate nomination form in their Herald account after they have accepted their  invitations.  Affiliates are usually still in graduate school, since postdocs may apply directly to attend programs.  However, if a postdoc is not among the invited participants, they may be invited to attend as the affiliate of the more senior participant.

Since the primary purpose is to allow and encourage participants to make long-term visits, affiliates will not be considered for participants coming for fewer than four weeks. In case there are more affiliates than space will permit, preference will be given to those whose sponsors who are staying for the longest time.  The visit of an affiliate is restricted to coincide with some part of the sponsor’s stay at the KITP (unless arrangements are made for some reason for another participant to serve as "ersatz mentor.")  Benefits that the affiliate may realize from their visits, which may be subtantial, are secondary.  

For outstanding graduate students who can come for an extended stay, you should encourage their nominations as Graduate Fellows, for whom KITP does provide financial support.  (These fellowships are restricted to students studying at institutions in the U.S.)

Summary Report
At the conclusion of the program, you will be asked to prepare a short summary report, including a diversity chart, a sample of which is available online. It is due within about two months following the end of the program.

KITP Contact
Your primary contact at the KITP for policy matters related to organizing your program will be our Deputy Director, Martin Einhorn, whose e-mail address is meinhorn [at] kitp.ucsb.edu, (805) 893-6309. It is very important to maintain close contact to ensure that the program is planned most effectively.  For logistical or visa questions, you should contact the relevant program assistant.  (See link to relevant Addendum in left-column.) 

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