Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University

Its purpose is to provide a forum for graduate students in government and other relevant departments to learn techniques in statistical methods and formal theory to supplement their research. The GMMC is organized around a schedule of talks, each designed to teach attending grad students about a specific technique, model, or problem in political methodology or formal modeling.  The intent is to extend the expertise of those students who specialize in either approach, and to provide a forum for non-specialists to learn techniques that may be relevant to their substantive research.  The talks should cover either common techniques useful in political science and not covered in Gov 200x, or new techniques that show promise for future political applications. Each talk should introduce the audience to an important technique or model, present the math underlying the concept, discuss its applications (current or potential) to political science, offer an evaluation of the technique's strengths and weaknesses, and finish with recommended references for further reading.  These talks are not about substantive research or presenting results, but about teaching new tools to those in attendance.We are currently soliciting presenters for the 2008-09 academic year. If you are interested in giving a talk, please e-mail  Brett Carter (blcarter@fas) or Oliver Bevan (bevan@fas) with preferred dates and short description of the proposed topic. In most cases, presentations should last about an hour, with Q & A both during and after the talk.(Information on previous sessions in this series)