ENVIT Student Group
Statement of Purpose

The founders of the ENVIT student group recognized a need on the MIT campus for a 
student organization to foster the use of information technology (IT) in the 
undergraduate and graduate environmental and earth science curriculum. As members 
of the MIT community, we feel that a contribution can be made in transfering 
technological advances in the IT field into the classroom setting. In particular, 
we are interested in how technology can help students learn hands-on field data 
collection, a common task for professional earth scientists and environmental 
engineers.

As part of this ongoing student effort within the Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory of 
the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, ENVIT is soliciting official 
ASA recognition for our group. This recognition is important to setting up our 
student-run operations more efficiently, including having an electronic mailing list 
and a group website on an Athena locker. In addition, ASA recognition will allow us 
to administer the group finances through MIT.

The ENVIT Student Group intends to hold at least monthly meetings with all our 
members and faculty advisors. More frequent meetings will be scheduled for the 
officers who are in charge of the planning and execution of the group projects. The 
first project to be worked on by the ENVIT group is the development of software to 
be used in field data collection during environmental field studies. This effort 
will involve product development, as well as running workshops to instruct others 
in the methods and use of the technology. An IAP field study is planned for testing 
of the product with a group of undergraduate students, our intended audience. These 
activities will be funded through a grant from the Microsoft I-campus project during 
the first year. 

The ENVIT Student Group has begun to organize and plan various activities during the 
summer and for the next Academic Year. We have secured administrative support from 
the Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory, the Department of Civil and Environmental 
Engineering and the Center for Environmental Initiatives. As a student-run 
organization, our goal is to introduce innovative technologies to the undergraduate 
environmental curriculum through hands-on product development and application to 
real-world field settings.