Principal Investigator Eboney Hearn
Co-investigator Julian S Green
Project Website http://web.mit.edu/oeop/OEOP_Home.html
MIT’s Office of Engineering Outreach Programs (OEOP) in the School of Engineering (SOE) runs five core programs for middle and high school students. In 1975, the SOE launched the Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science (MITES) Program to address the low numbers of minority students pursuing advanced technical degrees. Since its inception, more than 1,600 students have participated in MITES, of which 32 percent have matriculated at MIT and over 80%have gone on to major in technical fields. In 2002, OEOP launched the Saturday Engineering Enrichment and Discovery (SEED) Academy as a companion program to MITES focused on exposing high school students from the Boston area to engineering fields.
The success of both the MITES Program and SEED Academy has led to development of OEOP activities to nurture the interest of middle school students in math and science. In 2004, the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Program was established to provide local students with enrichment activities through summer, mentoring, and parent programming. In 2007, the MIT Science of Baseball Program (MSBP) was launched to provide opportunities for local young males to increase their interest in math and science through the game of baseball. The Confronting Obstacles & Realizing Excellence (CORE) Program, founded in 2008, is OEOP's newest program for students who have an interest in science and engineering, but have some mathematical limitations. The premise for CORE is that all students can excel in math and scientific reasoning if they are provided with a fundamental core of mathematical knowledge.
These programs have affected the lives of thousands of students locally and nationally. Most importantly, they have led to an increase in the number of students who pursue careers in science and engineering.
OEOP Mission is:(*) To increase the number of students pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering, and math with emphasis on underserved populations.(*) To create a bridge between the world class resources of MIT and the communities we serve.(*) To empower students to become stewards of the sciences and engineering and ambassadors of change.