(This article originally appeared on the MIT News Office website, May 7,
2008)
Several MIT faculty and students were recently delighted to learn that
Design Squad, the PBS series created to attract boys and girls in their
'tweens and teens to consider engineering as a profession, was named a
winner of the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award.
From hosting the show to advising behind the scenes, members of the MIT
community have played an important role in developing and implementing this
popular series.
It began in 2002, with Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and
Engineering Systems Daniel Frey, who served as the show's first adviser. In
collaboration with series producers at WGBH-TV Boston, he created Design
Squad's curriculum. Later, under Frey's guidance, MIT students (including
Design Squad host Nate Ball '05, SM '07) participated in the show as part of
the university's Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program.
Frey, who holds dual appointment with Mechanical Engineering and MIT's
Engineering Systems Division, played a central role in developing the design
challenges during the program's piloting phase and first season--he and the
students conceptualized the challenges, tested their feasibility and
formulated kits of materials.
Frey notes that the National Science Foundation Career Development Award
received during that time facilitated his thinking about experimentation,
the development of a systems perspective through teamwork and the importance
of engineering systems to the future of the engineering profession.
"Design Squad helps young people go beyond the stereotype of engineering
being staid and analytic and demonstrates ways that it can be both creative
and socially engaging. A hope is that it will encourage more young people to
enter engineering," he explains.
David Wallace, Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Associate Professor of
Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Systems, has been involved with
creating the series' design challenges for two competing teams of aspiring
teenage engineers. During filming he oversees engineering preparation for
the challenges and is the technical adviser on set, mentoring the teams and
helping with troubleshooting. During postproduction reviews rough cuts of
each episode for content. He also helps to identify educational
opportunities and crafts explanations of engineering concepts that are
accurate and meaningful, yet still kid-friendly. He develops the animation
storyboards and provides technical advice to the animation team.
Because he is passionate about design and education, holding an
undergraduate degree in industrial design and undergraduate and advanced
degrees in mechanical engineering, Wallace says he jumped at the opportunity
to work on the series. "It is a chance to reach a wide audience and
hopefully help to inspire the next generation of technical innovators," he
says.
Other members of the MIT community involved in Design Squad include
Pappalardo Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering Woodie Flowers,
MechEng graduate students Ben Powers, Helen Tsai and Mika Tomczak, and
several UROP students. The oldest honor in electronic media, the Peabody
Award recognizes distinguished achievement and meritorious public service by
media organizations and professionals.
"What distinguishes WGBH's children's programming is that our format is
curriculum-based, developed with leading educators from across the U.S.
MIT's own Dave Wallace, Dan Frey and Woodie Flowers are perfect examples of
this," says Maria Wolsky, Design Squad's executive producer.
