The mission of the MIT Washington Office is to represent the Institute in Washington as one of the nation's premier academic institutions. The office was established in August 1991 and functions as part of the MIT President's office.

This office maintains a continuous flow of information between MIT and the federal government. The staff of the Washington Office is involved in the gathering and disseminating of information to the MIT campus concerning government activities and actions. The staff also makes MIT's resources available to federal officials, facilitating the sharing of these resources with Congress, the Administration, associated federal agencies, and other national organizations.

The role of the Washington Office has also evolved over time to include a role in educating MIT's students in the science and technology policy-making process.

Careers of MIT graduates working in science and technology and related areas are increasingly determined by public policy and R&D decisions made in Washington. Given the challenge of future federal science support, it is important that our students have an understanding of and ability to be involved in science policy-making.

The office facilitates this process in a variety of ways, including holding classes for MIT students about the science and technology policy-making process both in Washington and at MIT; hosting a growing group of MIT interns, both undergraduate and graduate students, in our office, at science and other agencies and in Congress, during the summer; organizing a program of meetings with high level policy and R&D leaders in Washington for these MIT students, and hosting a group of MIT students in an annual visit to Washington to learn about science & technology policy advocacy, through participation in the annual Science-Engineering-Technology Congressional Visits Day.