The Big Ten Academic Alliance established in 1958, is a consortium of research universities that collaborate on a wide range of academic and administrative initiatives to advance their academic missions, generate unique opportunities for students and faculty, and serve the common good by sharing expertise, leveraging campus resources, and collaborating on innovative programs. The goal of the program is to identify current students from Big Ten Academic Alliance universities who have been admitted into doctoral candidacy and satisfied all requirements except completion of dissertation. These doctoral candidates find appropriate advisers at the Smithsonian to conduct research and scholarship that will further the development of their respective theses. Big Ten Academic Alliance applic