The demand for skills training and project-based learning throughout STEM education is growing. College and university programs are becoming increasingly aware of the fact that there is a gap in certain skill sets that are optimal for STEM programs. This includes both trade-related skills such as computer science, along with more general collegiate and workplace skills such as efficiency in skill set. IEEE Volunteer Joel Grimm has over 30 years of experience with electromagnetics and systems analysis and was inspired to find a way to address these gaps. Using resources from MIT and his employer Lincoln Laboratory, he launched the MIT Beaver Works Summer Institute. The program is now in its 6th year with over 760 students that have completed the program and continued on with STEM programs in college. 

“We created the Beaver Works Summer Institute (BWSI) to address a need using a project-based approach, and ended up creating a transformational experience for high school students,” Grimm stated in a recent interview, where he talked about his desire to bring collegiate level materials to high school students. “We also used researchers at Lincoln Laboratory to create courses in research areas that didn’t have textbooks. We teach by having the students ‘do’ like engineers: try, test, and repeat till succeeding.”

Grimm prides the program for having a large number of its alumni return as mentors.

“We see our alumni as skilled, competent and confident to tackle their future challenges,” Grimm commented. He was also excited about the program plans for the future which include the IEEE-BWSI Autonomous mini-RACECAR Challenge. This will be a virtual program for high school students over the course of 4 months with the hope of approximately 50 teams and mentors from universities and IEEE participating. 

“We help these students see for themselves what they are capable of, programming an autonomous car, creating a potentially life-saving application, or ‘just’ changing the world using the skills that they learn at BWSI,” said Grimm. He believes that “the approach of BWSI matches what happens in the real-world of science and engineering. BWSI is an opportunity for me to give back to younger students, helping them to learn how to succeed.” Grimm also continued to comment on the most rewarding part of running a program like this is watching students transform.

“We see that they feel they can do anything afterwards – because they can!”