MIT Volunteer Opportunities

For all opportunities, please contact:
Amanda Gruhl 617-253-1053 MIT Edgerton Center 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 4-405 Cambridge, MA 02139

Edgerton Center Volunteers Needed

First time volunteer? Maybe you should start at your alma mater! The MIT Edgerton Center has several great K-12 programs that could use volunteers, and we’re willing to show you the ropes and give you plenty of support.

The Saturday Thing:

On Saturdays, a collection of high school and middle school students from around the Boston area come together to spend time in constructive play. It is an informal, multidisciplinary, multi-age group of people who love to spend time designing and building innovative projects. Participants share ideas in a creative environment, stretch their imagination, and implement their ideas in constructive ways. Older students contribute to the educational experience by mentoring younger students. Some of the projects students have worked on are a liquid light display, stained glass, a tree that returns the favor to passing dogs, and a LED-enhanced briefcase you’d never bring to Logan Airport.

Edgerton Center Outreach Program:

The Edgerton Center Outreach Program works with school groups, home-schoolers, summer programs and many other groups in the greater Boston area and beyond. We offer exciting, three-hour, hands-on science and engineering activities suited to a range of grade levels, all free of cost. A description of each activity is available on-line. The Edgerton Center Outreach Program is looking for volunteers to assist with mentoring and teaching of our science outreach activities. These activities include: working with 4th-8th grade students from Cambridge and many other school districts, home-schooled students and MIT sponsored groups working on hands-on projects.

MIT Museum

The MIT Museum Programs Department works with MIT alumni to serve the 100,000 middle school and high school students, families, and individuals who visit the MIT Museum annually. Alumni are involved in supporting workshops for school groups, large-scale events on science and technology, and serving visitors to the museum galleries as docents. Working with the MIT Club of Boston and other alumni organizations, the MIT Museum Programs Department trains alumni to work directly with the public to communicate the history and importance of this place through personal narrative and historical information.

MIT Haystack Observatory

MIT Haystack Observatory’s outreach program is centered around a desire to excite students and young people about science by introducing them to scientific concepts and theories using Haystack’s research disciplines – i.e., radio astronomy, atmospheric science, geodesy, and the technologies needed to study these fields. The goal is to build bridges to schools, educators, and students within our local area, and to engage them in a relationship that will benefit and enrich the scientific education of young people. This is accomplished through tours of the site, visits to schools by Haystack scientists, Open House events and lectures at local venues, and outreach to local teachers through the Research Experiences for Teachers program and teacher workshops. As part of this effort, the following materials have been created that are freely available for use:

Science Units and Lessons – http://haystack.mit.edu/edu/pcr/resources/lessonplans.html

Space Weather FX vodcast series – http://haystack.mit.edu/swfx

Solar Storms to Radio Waves – http://www.haystack.mit.edu/edu/poa/museum/index.html

Very Small Radio Telescope – http://www.haystack.mit.edu/edu/undergrad/VSRT/index.html

MIT Sea Grant College Program

MIT Sea Grant is one of 32 programs across the country that makes up the National Sea Grant College Program network. The mission of the MIT Sea Grant College Program is to lead the development of technology and the pursuit of scientific investigation addressing important problems surrounding human use of and impact on coastal waters and oceans. Through research, education and outreach, we are committed to the sustainable development of those resources.

The Sea Perch program (seaperch.mit.edu) works with teachers and students around the globe on how to build remotely operated vehicles, explore the ocean and monitor water quality with sensors. Volunteers are needed to pair up with classrooms to assist them with building, fieldwork and connecting to local resources.

Lemelson-MIT Program

From medical breakthroughs to technological advances to product and process improvements, invention is at the heart of a great society. The Lemelson-MIT Program is dedicated to honoring the acclaimed and unsung heroes who have helped improve our lives through invention. We inspire and encourage great inventors through various outreach programs such as Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams, a non-competitive, team-based national grants initiative for high school students. This year, 16 teams of high school students, teachers, and mentors will be given the opportunity to develop their STEM and problem-solving skills as they embark on an inventive journey. Each InvenTeam will receive up to $10,000 in grant funding to invent a practical solution to a real-world problem of their choosing. This year, the InvenTeams proposed inventions include an alternative energy refrigerator for northern climates, freeze protection system for citrus crops and a sensing guide cane for the visually impaired. We need volunteers to recruit and mentor InvenTeams, so please contact us if you’re interested in getting involved!