DOE: Discover Ocean Engineering

Discover Ocean Engineering is a unique opportunity to explore one of the most dynamic and close-knit majors at MIT. Ocean Engineers work in a wide range of fields which include underwater vehicle design, theoretical hydrodynamics, and the oil industry. DOE attempts to give you a closer look at all of these options through field trips, lab tours, lunches with pioneers in the field, and of course building your very own sea perch underwater robot.

The People

As an entirely student-run program, DOE gives incoming freshmen a chance to learn about life at MIT from the people who know it best. DOE events are planned and supervised by upperclassmen who are graduates of the program and active in the Ocean Engineering department. The environment is casual and pirate jokes are encouraged. Each student is assigned a mentor to supervise them during the four days of DOE, but often students rely on their mentors for advice andsupport long after DUE ends. Additionally, lunches, lab tours, and enve a Charles River boat cruise give students the opportunity to meet the professors and graduate students who will teach, advise and encourage them for the rest of their undergraduate career.

The History

Although maritime engineering has been a prt of MIT since the beginning. the Ocean Engineering curriculum has been updated and reframed within the Mechanical Engineering Department. Students take approximately 50% of their classes in the regular ME curriuculum and 50% as smaller more narrowly focused project classes. Highlights include 2.017 in which students work in teams to design a control system for an entire autonomous land-sea-air robotic system. DOE has been an important part of the OE program for nearly 10 years. It is through DOE that many OE graduates discover their interest in Ocean Engineering.

DOE Specifics

• Dates: Tuesday, August 25 through Saturday, August 29.
  
  
• Place: Freshmen will be housed in their assigned dormitory. DOE activities will occur in one of our laboratories. There will be field trips to Woods Hole, MA and Mystic, CT.
  
  
• Available Spaces: 30
  
  
• Cost: No Charge. The Department of Mechanical Engineering and Center for Ocean Engineering will be covering all costs.
  

What Will We Do?

• Tuesday, August 25: This year DOE will begin with a department BBQ at the MIT Sailing Pavilion. Professors, upperclassmen, and students will eat and sail to their heart's content in the most scenic portion of the Charles River.
  
  
• Wednesday, August 26: Today will begin with breakfast and building! Students will break into pairs to build their very own underwater vehicle. Upperclassmen mentors will assist students as they lean the skills they need to make their Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV). Lunch will take place on sunny Killian Court and will feature research talks by professors and graduate students. After lunch, building will recommence until it is time to return tot he water for a dinner cruise in Boston Harbor.
  
  
• Thursday, August 27: Students will finalize their robots and start to design their own special features with the help of the DOE mentors. Once again, lunch will be served on Killian Court while information on Ocean Engineering is presented by the directors of the OE program. After lunch, students will head to the pool to test and if they would like, swim with their robots at the Alumni Pool. Later on that night, students will accompany mentors to different Boston nd Cambridge restaaurants to give them a chance to taste the local cuisine and ask their mentors questions about life at MIT.
  
  
• Friday, August 28: Students will have the opportunity to visit the Mystic Aquarium and Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut. The Mystic Aquarium is one of the most prestigious aquariums on the east coast. It features exhibits of both sea animals and the science behind the exploration of the sea. Mystic Seaport is a historic maritime village with restored sailing ships, shops, and buildings which allow its visitors to experience the history of sailing.
  
• Saturday, August 29: The program finishes with a trip to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. WHOI is arguably the most prestigious ocean research institution in the world and works very closely with the faculty and students involved with Ocean Engineering at MIT. At Woods Hole, students wil tour labs and then deploy their robots in an actual ocean environment. Students will retrieve video of their underwater adventures which they will receive later on in the tern at a specially planned reunion.