Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (“MIT” or the “Institute”) is a world-class educational institution which counts teaching, research, and community service among its primary purposes. MIT includes five schools, one college, and one joint program comprising a total of thirty-two (32) academic departments; and the Institute is devoted to the advancement of knowledge and education of students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship. MIT is dedicated to providing its students with an education that combines rigorous academic study and the excitement of discovery with the support and intellectual stimulation of a diverse campus community. Moreover, MIT solidly supports nonprofit organizations that address local challenges such as meeting the needs of underserved populations, youth development, and environmental sustainability.
Since its founding in 1861, MIT has strongly emphasized scientific and technological research; and MIT researchers have spawned a host of scientific advances, including the creation of modern food preservation processes, the first chemical synthesis of penicillin and vitamin A, the development of inertial guidance systems, modern technologies for artificial limbs, high-speed photography, and the magnetic core memory that made possible the development of digital computers. Deploying the “.mit” TLD as a unique way to identify MIT and its sub-units is intended to benefit the inner workings of MIT, but also to allow MIT to magnify its presence throughout the world. MIT believes that the “.mit” TLD will intimately connect its seven (7) schools, thirty-two (32) academic departments, and approximately one hundred forty-seven (147) administrative units. (Incidentally, for at least the first three (3) years of the MIT’s TLD program, MIT will permit only certain groups and persons, collectively defined as “eligible registrants” and described in the response to Question 18(b), to register “.mit” domains.) By enhancing the sense of familiarity and unity among eligible registrants (and members of the MIT community, as a whole), the “.mit” TLD will facilitate the Institute’s day-to-day operations, which represent the underpinnings of MIT’s educational and research programs. Ideally, the “.mit” TLD program will afford registrants a reliable and intriguing way to identify themselves as associated with MIT and cultivate their identity as part of the larger MIT community. MIT is confident that most eligible persons and groups will seize the opportunity to carve out a niche within the “.mit” TLD and that this type of response will increase the vibrancy and the cohesiveness of MIT.
Thus, the “.mit” TLD would contribute to the overall character and unique nature of MIT, which prides itself as an organization always willing to rapidly adopt, test, and refine newly-introduced technology and standards. Having pioneered many technological fields, MIT envisions implementing the “.mit” TLD as a unique challenge and a distinct honor. Thus, MIT eagerly anticipates: (i) the deployment of the “.mit” TLD, (ii) the process whereby MIT cultivates the “.mit” TLD-associated benefits, and (iii) the careful and continual analysis of how an educational institution can optimize its administration of a TLD.
Perhaps most importantly, however, by raising the visibility of and increasing accessibility to MIT researchers and laboratories, the “.mit” TLD will not only promote MIT’s connections with researchers at government agencies and other non-profit institutions, but also foster relationships with companies interested in supporting and⁄or contributing to MIT research. This type of increased interaction with other institutions’ researchers and potential sponsors could provide invaluable opportunities for MIT’s thirty-two (32) academic departments and fifty-seven (57) interdisciplinary centers and programs as well as the multitude of laboratories and approximately one thousand seven hundred thirty-eight (1,738) professors, lecturers, and instructors associated therewith. Also, the “.mit” TLD will raise awareness of, and hopefully engender increased interest in, MIT policy initiatives and public outreach efforts. Essentially, the “.mit” TLD will afford MIT a unique and powerful tool for marketing its services to prospective students, employees, collaborators, and research sponsors. Overall, by enhancing the efficiency of MIT’s operations and increasing MIT’s ability to attract interest in research efforts, the “.mit” TLD will enable MIT to more effectively serve the community by carrying out its mission of preserving, generating, and disseminating knowledge to bear on the world’s great challenges.
Finally, as a research and educational institution which has garnered a reputation for excellence, MIT often confronts problems associated with third parties’ attempts to portray themselves as affiliated with MIT. The “.mit” TLD will provide a reliable mechanism for members of the MIT community (as well as outside entities) to ascertain whether certain groups, laboratories, departments, offices, and⁄or persons are, in fact, associated with MIT. This aspect of the planned “.mit” TLD, though certainly not among the benefits most eagerly anticipated by MIT, will provide MIT with a potent tool for proactively protecting the “MIT” brand.
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