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MIT Alumni Wanted as Mentors for Mission 2010: New Orleans
"Solving Complex Problems" is a new MIT subject (12.000) designed to provide freshmen the opportunity to work as part of a team to design a viable solution to a complex problem that requires an interdisciplinary approach. For students participating in the Fall 2006 offering, the mission ("Mission 2010") is:

the reconstruction of New Orleans and the management of the Mississippi River and the Gulf coast.

About Mission 2010
An important aspect of this educational experience is the involvement of a cadre of alumni mentors who serve as coaches and information resources for the student design teams. We are soliciting MIT alumni volunteers for this important experiment in MIT undergraduate education sponsored in part by Alex and Britt d'Arbeloff Fund for Excellence in MIT Education.

All alumni are encouraged to be part of this challenging subject as mentors (see application below). We are interested in alumni of all backgrounds and professions. Although mentors who live and work in the Boston area would have an extraordinary opportunity to work closely with students in an informal way, we also encourage alumni who live away from the area to participate as well. In the past, "long-distance" mentors have communicated frequenty with the teams they work with through e-mail and on-line discussion forums. Another way to see the progress of the work by students is through their websites. Participating students will develop a content-rich web site describing their design and will present their design formally to a panel of experts in early December. This presentation will be webcast live so that all long-distance mentors can share in the experience.

Duties and responsibilities:
  • Each mentor will be assigned to a group of students (five to ten students in each group) in the second week of class in the Fall 2006. Most of the contact between you and students will be by . Some mentors who are local to the Boston area may wish to arrange to attend one or more team meetings with the group they are mentoring. Please let us know if that is possible for you. Our classes meet Monday, Wednesday and Friday 3 - 4 pm. At your request, we can also sponsor you for an MIT email address (you may choose to see if your old email is available or create new yourlogin@mit.edu for one semester).
  • Each group of students you will mentor will be responsible for the development and weekly maintenance of their web sites. Some mentors may wish to review the contents of their group's site each week and provide feedback to the team through email.
  • I hope that all mentors will serve as information resources. Students could either call or email you (your preference) with questions as the semester progresses. If you can, please fill out an application below or send us a paragraph describing your area of expertise, which will be given to students on the course website early in the semester. We will encourage the students assigned to you to make the initial contact with you.
  • All mentors will be invited to the final formal presentation of the mission plan in early December 2006. Those who cannot attend will have access to the presentation by live webcast.
Interested parties should fill out an application below by August 5, 2006 or contact Professor Sam Bowring by email or subject Administrator, Maria Shkolnik '97 with a short description of the educational, vocational, or recreational experience that they might contribute to the effort.

A copy of your application will be automatically sent to you. You will also be contacted by us within two weeks of your application with further details.

Mentor Application for MIT subject 12.000 - Mission 2010: New Orleans.

Apply Online Here


       

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If you have any problems, please email Maria Shkolnik. If you have any questions about your role as a mentor or need clarification about it, feel free to contact Prof. Sam Bowring.