Department of Mathematics at MIT | Department Headquarters : Basic Orientation

MIT Mathematics Department Headquarters is located at Building 2, Room 236, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139. Our phone number is 617-253-4381. Our fax number in 617-253-4358.

Buildings and rooms are numbered at MIT in the form of Building # - Room #. The Math Department is in Building 2, and Room 236 is the Headquarters office. The area code for the Boston area is (617), and nearly all MIT telephone numbers begin as 253- or 258-. The last 5 digits of the number are considered extensions and can be dialed in the form 3-4381 or 8-5852, etc., on any phone inside MIT. MIT phones require a 9 before dialing outside.

Faculty Administration

Mike Sipser is the Head of the department. Tomasz Mrowka is the Chair of the Pure Mathematics Committee and Alar Toomre the Chair of the Applied Mathematics Committee. Dennis Porche is the Assistant to the Department Head.

Photographs

The headquarters staff will take a photograph of you that will be posted on a bulletin board outside of Headquarters.

Photographic ID

Once your appointment form has been processed through the Human Resources Office, you will be assigned an MIT ID number and can obtain your MIT Photo ID Card. The MIT Card Office is located in the basement of Building W20. If the Headquarters office does not know of your visit and as a result your appointment form is submitted upon your arrival, it may take a week to two weeks before Human Resources will have issued you an ID number. If that is the case, you may wish to call the Card Office at 3-3475 before going there, to be sure you are in their computer system, as they cannot process the card for you (or even take your photograph) before an ID number has been assigned to you.

Your ID card will serve a number of functions. It will be your library card, and its magnetic strip will open passageway doors throughout the Institute after these are locked at 6:00pm on weekdays (and locked on weekends).

Library

If your MIT ID Card has not yet been issued, the Department can give you a letter to present to the MIT library before you check out any materials. This letter will set up your library account. It will also serve as a temporary ID card until your photo ID is processed.

Benefits

All new members must show document for adequate health insurance, or a sign a waiver form. If you have a 50% or more time appointment, and you are not being paid in any form by MIT, you may be eligible for the Affiliate Health Insurance program. If you are being paid by MIT, you may be eligible for the regular MIT health plan. You should discuss your health insurance concerns with Camille.

Parking

Parking is very limited at MIT and unfortunately cannot be regularly provided for Visitors. If there is a need, we may purchase day-passes at $10.00 each. Please see Camille if you need to purchase a day-pass.

Computer Access

The department maintains a Red Hat Linux network. Generally, each faculty member or graduate student will have a Linux workstation available for use in his or her office or a nearby computer room. The computer rooms are 2-366, 2-386, 2-268, 2-168. There are a number of mathematics programs available including: Matlab, Mathematica, Maple, and SPlus. We also offer many text formatting platforms such as: AMS, LaTeX, and Plain TeX. Camille can arrange to have an account opened for you. You can test whether an account has been opened for you by simply logging into any workstation with your chosen login ID. Your first password will be assigned to you, which you can then change. The command to change your password is "passwd".

All e-mail addresses in the math department follow the format: loginID@math.mit.edu. You can e-mail anyone within the department by mailing directly to the person's login ID. This is indicated in brackets on the one-page directory sheet; it can also be obtained by the "finger" command referencing the person's last name.

For additional Math Department computing facilities information, please visit: http://www-math.mit.edu/computer_help. We have many resources available there including a new user's guide and a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).

Any hardware problems or general questions can be directed to David Blum by email: help@math.mit.edu. You may also reach him in his office or by phone:
Room 2-235, x3-4995.

Payroll

If arrangements have been made to pay you, your check will come at the end of the month and can be obtained from the Payroll office, NE49-3131. Should you wish to have your future checks electronically deposited to a local bank, you may obtain a direct deposit form online.

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