Introduction 

This Privacy Statement explains how MITES handles and uses the personal information that we  collect as part of your application to and  participation in MITES Programs or events, or if you reach out to us for more information regarding our programs or subscribe to our newsletter.

What personal information we collect 

We may collect information that identifies you or that can be used to contact or distinguish you as an individual (“Personal Information”). If you do not provide Personal information, we may not be able to consider your application to our program or support your participation.

We will only collect Personal information for one or more of our legitimate purposes, or as required by law. We collect the following types of Personal Information:

a)    Personal Information that we collect directly from you:

We collect Personal Information directly from you when you register with our application website, subscribe to our newsletter, complete online forms, submit enrollment forms upon participation in our programs or otherwise provide information directly to us. 

b)    Other Information that we collect when you register for and submit an application:

Our application platform also collects information about your use of the application, such as website login times, date of email receipt, or latest time you updated your application. For more information about data use for our application platform, please refer to the Open Water website.

c)     Sensitive Personal information:

We generally avoid collecting sensitive personal information, such as health data (“Sensitive Personal Information”), however if accepted to our programs, you may be asked to submit enrollment forms that include health information or requests for accommodations in order to support your participation in the program. The application also requests some information such as household income or citizenship status in order to support the admissions and selection process to MITES programs.

d)     Your likeness and voice:

If participating in MITES virtual or in-person events, MITES also may collect your image, likeness and/or voice through event photography/videography or recording of virtual meetings or webinars. You will be notified of this recording in advance.

How we use your personal information

By providing your Personal Information, you agree that, where it is permitted by law, we may use your Personal Information:

·      To communicate with you, including by mail, phone, email, and SMS text messaging;

·      To notify you of important updates or information related to your application to or enrollment in our programs;

·      To notify you of updates and provide you with information, newsletters, tips, resources, or other helpful information;

·      To seek your feedback on our programs, events or application

·      To monitor our regulatory compliance

·      To respond to your inquiries and requests;

·      To consider your application for employment or admission to our programs;

·      For our own administrative purposes, such as to perform data analysis;

·      For other purposes detailed on this site

If you have concerns about any of these purposes or how we communicate with you, please contact us at mites@mit.edu. We will always respect a request by you to stop processing your personal information (subject to our legal obligations). 

How your information is stored and secured 

MIT uses risk-assessed administrative, technical, and physical security measures to protect your personal information. We retain personal data in MITES Google Drive account and on the MITES server, which is hosted in the cloud and has multiple layers of protection, including file encryption. Application data is also stored in our application platform. For more information about data use for our application platform, please refer to the Open Water website.

How long we keep your information 

Your application data will be kept and secured  by us until or unless you make a request to delete the data. Your personal data, as collected in enrollment forms, will be stored for three years. 

Additional Information 

We may change this Privacy Statement from time to time. If we make any significant changes in the way we treat your personal information, we will make this clear on our MIT websites or by contacting you directly. 

The controller for your personal information is MIT.