MITES

MITES, or Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science, is a six-week summer program for rising high school seniors held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Its purpose is to expose students from minority or otherwise disadvantaged backgrounds to the fields of science and engineering so as foster an interest in these subject matters and prepare students for the pressures of college life.

History

MITES was founded in 1974 as the MITE (Minority Introduction to Engineering) Program with the purpose of increasing the number of people from underrepresented backgrounds in the engineering profession. It started out as a two-week intensive program, and later evolved into what is now a six-week program for 60-80 students from the fifty states and Puerto Rico.

The current Head of the MITES program is Dr. Dedric Carter.

Curriculum

Students take four core classes all six weeks from the following choices:
* Biology/Biochemistry/Chemistry
* Calculus I/Calculus II
* Physics I/Physics II/Physics III
* Humanities

Also, they take one of three electives:
* Genomics - Students research DNA and genetic diseases at the Broad Center, where one third of the human genome was sequenced.
* Engineering Design - Students team up to build robots for specific tasks and compete against each other at the end of the program.
* Digital Design - Students learn computer skills applicable to designing web pages and working toward a final project.

All classes are taught by professors who are assisted by the resident TAs who help run the program.

Life at MITES

MITES students live at Simmons Hall, on Vassar Street. Simmons Hall is an undergrad dorm designed in an unconventional style which resembles a giant Lego. They enjoy full use of the facilities at MIT, such as the huge gym (Z Center), the student center, the libraries, and the athletic facilities. Also, students get to know the cities of Boston and Cambridge.

The students also participate in myriad activities such as a Fourth of July barbecue, a trip to Martha's Vineyard, a tour of Boston, a tour of the MIT Museum, one-day labs in fields of vanguard research, dinners with the Director of Admissions at MIT, a talent show, college fairs, a Dining Cruise, and many speaker's luncheons with people such as the new Dean of Science at MIT and Eric Lander.