For the summer before my Sophomore year, I decided to go to a summer camp! The camp I applied to is called “Fundamentals of Engineering at MIT” and it is offered through Summer Springboard. The camp lasted two weeks in which I was able to take an engineering class at MIT from Monday through Friday. Each day we covered a new unit, which included solid mechanics, civil engineering, pneumatic power, design and manufacturing, electronics, Arduino Microcontroller, and DC motors and servos. The classes were structured to have a warmup/introduction exercise and a lecture. In some classes I was also able to tour labs and facilities at MIT! My professors were Dr. Ali Talebinejad and Dr. Daniel Frey. Both professors were amazing – very engaging, approachable, and both were ready to answer any questions during classes and activities!

Hands-on Activities

Throughout my lectures, I was also able to participate in hands-on activities. I have included three pictures from these activities above. The first picture on the left shows a bridge that I was able to build during the civil engineering unit. In this unit we learned about trusses and bridges. The second image depicts two soda bottles connected to a pressure regulator and air pump. This was part of the pneumatic power unit where we learned about the gas laws and pressure in relationship to volume and temperature. The last picture shows an Arduino board. I learned how to connect the Arduino board to its integrated development environment (IDE) and was able to run a program that controls an LED light system!

To prepare us for the camp, our professors requested that we complete the MATLAB Onramp course. This included the MATLAB programming environment, language, and data manipulations. This was very valuable as it allowed us to jump right into using MATLAB for various topics and engineering tasks throughout the course. The picture above shows an example were we used MATLAB to simulate the effect of forces on joints and trusses.

Lab Tours

Throughout the camp, I was also able to tour various labs at MIT! The two pictures on the left were taken in the Biomimetic Robotics Laboratory. Engineers in this lab work on building robots that mimic animals and biological movements. Two examples of these robots are a cheetah robot and a robot mimicking humans. The next image was taken in the Pappalardo Lab. This lab is used by MIT students to get hands-on engineering experience. I was able to take a tour and see many of the projects and machines in the lab! Lastly, I was also able to tour some of the Biological Engineering labs at MIT. There, I got to learn about different ways scientists are trying to create prosthetics using soft and replicating materials.

MIT Facility Tours

I also got the opportunity to tour MIT’s Cogeneration Plant, wind tunnel, and campus! The cogeneration plant uses natural gas to create both electrical and thermal energy. The process starts when a gas turbine and generator converts natural gas into electrical energy. This process creates hot exhaust gases which are then sent through a heat recovery unit to create thermal energy. Both heating (from steam and hot water) and cooling (through chillers powered by steam turbines) is accomplished for use on campus. The first two pictures show part of the plant’s water recovery system. The system works by electrically charging water vapor from the plant, which then collect on a mesh of wires and fall onto a collecting pan for reuse in the plant. By charging the water vapor, more particles are drawn toward the wire mesh, allowing for more water particles to be captured and reused.

The last image on the right shows a fire hydrant connected to a water fountain which I saw while touring MIT’s campus. This water fountain embodies a quote by former MIT President Jerome Wiesner who stated that “getting an education at MIT is like taking a drink from a fire hose”!

I had an amazing experience throughout this summer camp! It was very interesting to get a glimpse of what students and researchers at MIT work on and to get a deeper understanding of engineering!