Council In the News Index

MIT Holding Open House for 150th Fete (Boston Herald)
Brainiacs on display

By Renee Nadeau Algarin  |   Saturday, April 30, 2011

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is celebrating its 150th birthday by inviting members of the community — particularly the younger generation — to explore the campus at an event today that also kicks off the Cambridge Science Festival.

Organizers of the “Under the Dome” bash expect to attract up to 20,000 science and tech fans to see hundreds of exhibits and demos, said David Mindell, a professor of engineering and history.

“It’s something that MIT used to do on a biennial basis from the 1920s to the late 1970s,” Mindell said. “We thought this might be a good time to revive the tradition ... to throw open the doors and invite everyone in.”

Exhibits are split up by subject and spread across the Cambridge campus. While some may be interested in seeing a flying car or electric Porsche, others may want to build their own mini-helicopter or take part in waterbottle rocket competitions. Mindell said another highlight will be blimp races — a competition among aerospace engineering students using radio-controlled blimps of their own design, hosted by professor Jeff Hoffman, a former astronaut.

Attendees will also be able to play Energy Jeopardy, check out glass blowing demonstrations (long pants and closed-toe shoes required) and make bamboo crayons, which the school is developing for community partners in Ghana and India.

“Another really exciting thing is just for people to see the labs,” Mindell said. “It’s not something that you have a chance to walk around in on a daily basis.”

MIT hopes to reach children and teens, especially junior high and high school students, and further institute and national goals of getting the K-12 set interested in science.

“When (MIT) was founded, it was really a radical idea to combine hands-on learning with classroom learning,” Mindell said, pointing to the school’s motto, Mens et Manus, Latin for “mind and hand,” as embodying the school’s unconventional philosophy. “That’s an incredibly consistent theme throughout the history of the place, as well as intellectual courage to not necessarily focus on what’s important under a certain discipline, but do things that are exciting and risky.”

That spirit has served the Bay State well as one industry expert went as far as to say the Massachusetts economy rests on the shoulders of MIT.

“From my perspective, MIT is the anchor of our state’s economy A quarter of all sales done in Massachusetts come from companies lead or founded by MIT alumni,” said James D. Rooney, vice president of the Massachusetts High Technology Council. “On a global scale, from helping to develop radar to the World Wide Web, MIT has literally helped us to navigate the modern world.”

The MIT open house is from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. today. For more information, visit http://mit150.mit.edu/open-house.