MIT held their career fair in the Johnson Athletic Center. “Engineers” painted in MIT’s legendary “blood” red, is the apt team name for MIT’s sports teams. To dispel any myths about science students and athletics, we’d like to point out that we had never seen so many sports teams practicing in the gym at one time – swimming, water polo, hockey, etc., with so much energy. The school’s mascot is the beaver, engineer of the animal kingdom. If there’s anyone who doubts this little furry creature’s engineering prowess, just try camping near a beaver dam. Spent an entire night watching these guys take down tree after tree and move them around. The MIT class rings worn by some students and alumns are affectionately called “Brass Rats.”

According to MIT’s website, The Institute, which opened for students in 1865, marked a long effort by “William Barton Rogers, a distinguished natural scientist, to establish a new kind of independent educational institution relevant to an increasingly industrialized America. Rogers stressed the pragmatic and practicable. He believed that professional competence is best fostered by coupling teaching and research and by focusing attention on real-world problems.” What would William Barton Rogers think today of MIT students building automatic electronic drink pouring machines for parties and holding an annual conference for travelers from the future (on the assumption time travelers will know about the publicized conference because it’s in the “past” and travel back for it)?

Andrea, Victoria and Matt meeting grad and undergraduate students.

Candidates greeting Andrea. You will note that the candidate is beginning to form the Vulcan “Live Long and Prosper” hand greeting from Star Trek and Andrea, sensing the subtle message, is reciprocating. Yes, we understand you, and we know you understand us.

Matt and Andrea meeting more candidates. One engineer had the most amazing duct tape purse we’ve ever seen. Some students like to shop - MIT students like to make things. Just about everything under the sun. Actually, Professor Neil Gershenfeld, Director for the Center for Bits and Atoms, and author of FAB, whom our founder hosted for a panel on Innovation at the Edge at the Office of Naval Research’s Naval-Industry R&D Partnership Conference, teaches a highly popular course on how to make anything, which is open to students from any discipline and to artists, teachers, musicians, etc., from outside the university. A few years back one student made an alarm clock for chronic oversleepers that throws itself off your night table and continues to buzz so that you have to get out of bed to shut it off.

Saving more students on campus - with monastic dedication, zeal and a very very loud bell. You have to take the battle to the streets and reach the people where they walk, eat their lunch and ride their bikes. Bikes, bikes everywhere – like at Stanford, where you have a better chance of getting run over by a bike than a car. This 6 ft tall monk was highly effective – too effective, in fact. After dozens of students ran away from what appeared to them as a large cult devotee or the Grim Reaper, we made a spot decision to replace him with Mish, a charming and friendly MIT undergraduate engineer with a huge smile.

Mish came with incredible credentials, having experience with a bell ringing group on campus and possessing her own bell. That was a pretty big plus, because we didn’t’ have one with us. Also, Anne, Administrator of EE and CS Undergraduate and M.Eng. Programs, said Mish had more energy than a medium-size power plant, so we just had to meet her.

Getting people to think for themselves, every day.

Another one is enlightened by Mish. She loved to ring that bell every time she enlightened someone.

With an impossibly long line at the catering buffet, and only two people able to leave the booth, Etan and Matt had to “Think Outside the Cubicle,” and fast. Noting to the buffet servers that the tray tops were not being used, and promising to return them with big smiles, they used them as trays and brought back a feast for all.

The Career Fair. Note the gentleman standing in the suit in the right foreground catching peanuts in his mouth tossed by a buddy outside the frame of the picture. He was amazingly good, though I’m not sure if this is a talent that helps you land a job. No one seemed to be paying much attention.

Andrea and Matt meeting another two interesting candidates.

Mish trying to save another confused soul.

Matt, again pushing the merits of his favorite South Park episode. Please see the Cornell General Interest Career Fair for the start of Matt’s South Park crusade.

So you have a double PhD, but how many fingers am I holding up? Matt thinks it’s fair to do this while violently shaking your hand all over the place as fast as you can.

This is what’s so dangerous about stupid party tricks- they’re like viruses. Here’s Andrea picking up Matt’s trick. The candidate, by the way, guessed right.

Andrea meeting another candidate while Victoria takes a break by drawing a picture of one of MIT’s funky modernist buildings. It came out really good.

Now this is amazing. Jiayi, one of our former Research Associates from Dartmouth, seems to know someone in every university. Another of Jiayi’s friends stopped by our booth to have her picture taken so he'd remember her at his new Resident Advisor position for the Dartmouth Beijing Program this semester. Jiayi, you’re a networking animal.

Our swag haul (for a definition of swag, please see Yale Career Fair comments). We spent a good while debating the survival merits of these various items on a deserted island: 2 tee shirts, a cup with small circles in the bottom, 2 lexan bottles, a pack of cards, 3 pens, a wheel with ball bearings and 2 squishy flexible tubes. Matt argued the squishy flexible tubes could be used to make a slingshot, while Andrea pointed out you’d need the cards to keep busy. We are still trying to determine what you’re supposed to do with the squishy flexible tubes.