MIT Women's Initiative Visit January 2018

MIT Women’s Initiative Visit

On Monday, January 29, 2018, Ms. Jennifer Switzer, a senior undergraduate Computer Science and Electrical Engineering major at MIT, visited Douglas Middle School as part of the MIT Women’s Initiative Program.


Ms. Switzer in Paris

During Ms. Switzer’s visit, she guided the 6th, 7th and 8th grade girls through a fermentation experiment using various sweeteners and yeast. As the girls carried out the experiment, she spoke to them about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) careers and steps they should take if they are interested in pursuing one. She suggested some resources for students to investigate further in various fields:

  • Computer science: MIT App Inventor, Scratch, Codecademy

  • Electronics and mechanics: Littlebits, Electronics Hub

  • Biology, physics and chemistry: Education.com, Science Buddies

  • Math: Project Euler, Math is Fun

  • Pretty much anything: Instructables, Khan Academy, edX, MIT OCW