MITES (MIT Introduction to Technology, Engineering, and Science) Fund (2744907)

MIT’s Introduction to Technology, Engineering, and Science’s (MITES’s) mission is to create a more equitable future for STEM fields by diversifying the science and engineering community and empowering pre-college students to develop the skills and confidence needed to pursue STEM careers. Launched in 1975 at MIT’s School of Engineering (SoE), MITES is committed to creating pathways to STEM careers that are accessible to all. MIT’s SoE established MITES to address the significantly low numbers of under-represented racial and ethnic minority students pursuing advanced technical degrees.
For almost 50 years, we’ve offered highly motivated diverse students—5,000 plus—opportunities to pursue their passion for STEM at MIT. We emphasize the development of skills such as creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, communication, and collaboration that are key for success in the 21st century workforce. This year, our applicant pool increased 56% to roughly 4,200 applications for 1 of the ~400 coveted spots in our below 3 programs:
MITES Saturdays: A multi-year STEM academy enrichment and career exploration program for 7th-12th graders in Boston, Cambridge, and Lawrence public middle/high schools.
MITES Semester: A 6-month hybrid STEM education program for talented rising high school seniors, from Boston and across the US that runs June—December.
MITES Summer: A 6-week residential and academic enrichment program for talented rising high school seniors, from Boston and across the US, who are interested in pursuing careers in science and engineering.
MITES requests support for our Accessing STEM Careers programming to support our scholars’ trajectories to successful STEM degrees and careers. MITES targets students from underrepresented and underserved backgrounds, with “underrepresented” defined as African American/Black, Hispanic/Latino, and Native American backgrounds, and “underserved” as low-income students who qualify for free/reduced lunch or students from families with household incomes under $50,000/year.
By 2060, underrepresented minorities (URM’s) will represent 46% of the U.S. population . For STEM fields professions to have a proportional number of URM’s, the number of URM’s earning undergraduate STEM degrees needs to double. Those earning STEM doctoral degrees needs to quadruple. Meeting this goal is critical: As technological and social changes continue to alter the STEM landscape, the STEM industry needs a diverse workforce whose passion, innovation, and empathy they can tap, to successfully address the field’s challenges.
MITES programming is critical to ensuring a diverse pool of aspiring young talented scientists to help solve the challenges. Our programs address educational disparities and lack of STEM professional preparedness, by providing high achieving, underserved students with free and innovative STEM educational programming at MIT. Through MITES, students are exposed to real world science and engineering challenges and able to access MIT’s tools and resources as they solve them. In addition to providing a transformational STEM learning experience, and an enduring peer community, MITES programs provide critical scaffolding and supports, especially in the face of post-pandemic learning loss.

Our programs bolster and prepare students to apply to/attend the most competitive colleges nationwide by offering in-depth advice and coaching on the financial aid, scholarship and college application processes. Participants are also eligible to participate in our alumni networking program, MITES-Connect, which supports MITES alumni through college and beyond by offering resume critiques, job search Q&A, and mock job interviews with near-peer mentors. MITES-Connect also provides career opportunities with our corporate sponsors including Boeing, Microsoft, and Lockheed Martin.

Funding will support our efforts to help 325 MITES scholars achieve the long-term goal of increased access to a successful STEM career. MITES programming offers engaging STEM curricula that strengthens students’ higher-level math, science, and technological skills, as well as extensive college and job readiness supports. Our programs provide challenging learning environments with high expectations and ongoing access to near-peer mentors. Curricula include emphasis on advancing better healthcare. Classes include genomics, biological engineering, and neuroscience.

Our staff is comprised of cutting-edge scientists, including our alumni. We are uniquely positioned to implement stellar hands-on, engaging, culturally responsive curricula. In addition, our programs include critical comprehensive life skills training including self-advocacy, time and stress management, organization, and goal setting.
Our program model is unique because fostering community between participants and their instructors, and between fellow students is a key component. Alumni regularly cite the MITES community as critical to their successful journeys pursuing STEM education and careers. The community is so strong that alumni keep in touch for years.

Our alumni graduate with increased STEM skills and highly developed critical social skills including increased self-confidence, ability to self-advocate, and expanded capacities to navigate the college application process. In addition to our students’ post-program surveys and assessments, we use the Partnership in Education and Resilience (PEAR) Institute tools, which allow us to assess STEM-related attitudes of our scholars. We will continue using the PEAR tools, which allow us to evaluate STEM engagement, STEM career knowledge, STEM identity, intrinsic motivation required by science-related activities, and how much scholars enjoy learning about science and critical 21st-learning century skills.

We also utilize the National Student Clearinghouse Database and MIT’s Institutional Research Department to track enrollment data for success metrics including graduating students’ college enrollment, choice of major, and the time required to obtain a degree.
Our overall objective is to offer and evaluate programs that build participants’:
• Technical skills/STEM aptitudes.
• Confidence in academic skills sets and abilities to make STEM career choices.
• Understanding of the barriers and benefits of pursuing a STEM college degree.
•Ability to navigate the college applications process for selective colleges, including academic preparedness, increased understanding of the financial aid process, and guidance on how to transition from high school to college.
•Access to career networking and job preparedness opportunities.

Using the evaluation tools outlined above, we have tracked the following program outcomes for MITES scholars:
• 93% of MITES graduates attend two and/or four-year colleges;
• 90% of MITES graduates attend “highly”, “most”, and “very” competitive colleges, according to Barron’s Selectivity Index
•89% of MITES alumni obtain college degrees in six years or less
•86% of alumni will obtain degrees in STEM fields compared to the national average of 18%
•1 in 5 program participants attend MIT