Design Competition

The MIT Second Summer Program began in 1979 as a result of an initiative by Gregory Smith, a member of the MIT Corporation, Professor Wesley Harris of the Aeronautics Department, and Paul Gray, then the Chancellor of the Institute. The Institute saw in this program a way to acquaint minority students early with the professional style of the engineer, and so to motivate them and give them a context for career planning. The students saw an opportunity to get an interesting well-paid summer job with a potential future. The corporations found it a useful way to recruit capable minority professional staff.

The engineering design workshop was part of the first of the Second Summer sessions, but its nature has gradually changed until, today, the design experience has become its key feature. The workshop, which is approximately 10 days long, is held during the January Independent Activities Period (IAP). It is required of SSP applicants but is open to any interested students. Participants are divided into teams of four to six members, each of which is required to design and build a device which meets some loosely stated functional requirements. To do the job, the students have access to mechanical and electronic workshops and $175 cash for materials or library searches. During the first week, much of the time is spent at lectures, but beginning on the fourth or fifth day, the groups are free to organize their time as they see fit. However, every morning each group must make a brief oral progress report to all the workshop members. In the early part of the design period, these reports elicit considerable, occasionally sharp discussion; as time goes on, the team spokespersons are increasingly reluctant to let the competition in on "their" design. On the ninth day, each team hands in a report which contains the engineering and cost analysis of their device. On the last day of the program, each gives a public demonstration of their prototype or a working model of it, and the members of the team with the best design are awarded a major prize.

Application