May 2013 Newsletter
In This Issue

Mentoring students experiment with solar power

MITES alum wins scholarship marathon

Advisory board member awarded tenure
 
Applications
now available
 
 
 
July 1 - July 27, 2013
 
Open to current 7th and 8th grade boys who attend public school in Boston or Cambridge.
 
Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis, with priority going to those who apply earliest.
 
 
August 5 - August 16, 2013
 
Open to rising 7th, 8th and 9th graders who attend public school in Boston or Cambridge.
 
 Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis, with priority going to those who apply earliest.
 

Give to OEOP
 
Without the generous support of friends of the office like you, we wouldn't be able to offer our programs free of charge to our incredible students. 
 


Dear friends,   
 
Happy spring! 
 
As the snow melted away and green returned to campus, we celebrated another successful year of Saturday Engineering Enrichment and Discovery (SEED) Academy and the Middle School Mentoring Program. We were also thrilled to accept 270 students into our three national outreach programs -- Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science (MITES), Engineering Experience at MIT (E2@MIT), and MIT Online Science, Technology and Engineering Community (MOSTEC) -- and 90 students into our STEM Summer Institute for local middle school students. Furthermore, we were delighted to welcome back to campus about 80 of our alumni from the 2012 MITES, E2@MIT and MOSTEC programs during a reception that coincided with MIT's Campus Preview Weekend.

Amid all the great things coming from our programs, we were hit hard by the loss of MIT Police Officer Sean Collier, who lost his life protecting the MIT community in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings. All of us in the office were saddened and shocked by the news, and we send our deepest condolences to Sean's family and friends.

While we reflect about the tragic events in the Boston area, OEOP continues to push forward. We could not be more excited about finalizing plans to welcome hundreds of students to campus this summer. It's friends and supporters like you who empower us to persevere through difficult times and remember the importance of our work and the students we serve.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Shawna Young
Executive Director
Office of Engineering Outreach Programs
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

 

Mentoring program students experiment with solar power
 
Students in the OEOP Middle School Mentoring Program conducted a simulation to measure electrical output from solar panels.

In the April 6 session of the OEOP Middle School Mentoring Program, students from Boston, Cambridge and Lawrence worked with their MIT mentors to learn about solar power in an engaging, hands-on workshop. The session was a collaboration between the Mentoring Program and SolSolution, a Boston-based non-profit that produces solar power systems for schools. 
 
In the first half of the workshop, the students determined how much land area would need to be covered with solar panels to meet Massachusetts' Renewable Portfolio Standard goal. The activity walked students through a series of calculations that applied a number of mathematical skills, and the results gave them a better understanding of the efficiency of solar power.

In the second half of the workshop, students conducted a simulation in which they wired together circuits of solar panels and arranged them on model school roofs. The students measured the electrical output of the panels at different hours of the day and seasons of the year by adjusting the angle of the light source. The students ended the workshop with a discussion of the factors that affected the efficiency of the solar installations and how schools could use solar power to generate electricity throughout the year.

MITES alum wins scholarship marathon 

On March 19, MITES '12 alum Janaya Shelly won the 2013  College Greenlight Scholarship Marathon by applying to 26 scholarships in a 12-hour period. The marathon challenged dozens of students from across the country to apply to as many scholarships as possible, leveraging the help of an engaged online community. While many of Janaya's scholarship applications are still being processed, College Greenlight awarded her a $1,000 scholarship for her strong commitment to her education.
 
Since the scholarship marathon, Janaya accepted her admission to MIT. She has a deep interest in studying cancer, so she anticipates studying bioengineering or chemical engineering after her arrival on campus in September.

For now, she is excited to graduate high school before leaving her hometown of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania for Bar Harbor, Maine, where she will study lung cancer at the Jackson Laboratory through mid-August.

Advisory board member awarded tenure

The Executive Committee of the MIT Corporation awarded tenure to OEOP advisory board member Dr. Kristala L. Jones Prather on May 3. Prather has served on the OEOP advisory board since November 2009, and she will serve her new role in the MIT Department of Chemical Engineering.

Through the outreach arm of a Synberc grant, Prather was instrumental in the creation of SEED Academy's synthetic biology course, for which she serves as the co-faculty advisor. Nearly 120 high school students from Boston, Cambridge and Lawrence public schools have gained exposure to synthetic biology through the course.