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The island as a campus
The students are working on projects for the Maria Mitchell Association, Nantucket Housing, the Nantucket Historical Association and Nantucket Wind, a town committee, and are bunking in the primitive dormitories at the Maria Mitchell Association. Andrew Labrecque from Hudson, Mass., Brendan White from Bethany, Conn. and Rob Matrow from Monson, Mass. are three students in the program who are working on an iPed tour of downtown for the Nantucket Historical Association. "It's an electronic walking tour of historical sites that people can use with their cell phone or iPod," said Labrecque. The students are taking part in an Interactive Qualifying Program at Worcester Polytechnic which marries engineering and society. "Successful engineers need to communicate as well," said Labrecque of the project's goal to get engineers to step outside their cubicles and interact with society and the people who will be using their technology. This is the first trip to Nantucket for the students and most seemed to be impressed with the natural and quiet beauty of the island. A recent trip to the Stop and Shop at 10 p.m. made many of the students happy that there was at least one store open on island after 6 p.m. "We all rode our bikes there. It was quite the field trip," remarked one student. Many of the students are connecting with the island's natural history as well as its place in American history. "There is a wide range of history on the island," said Matrow. "If not for the walking tour we took earlier, I would not know the history behind many of the buildings. There is a lot of rich history and we are enthralled with everything here." White, who is in a five year program at Worcester studying fire technology, was very interested in the history of the Great Fire. "It's quite impressive," he said. The students will be surveying residents and visitors about some of the elements they look for in a walking tour, create an electronic walking tour and then evaluate it. Over at the Maria Mitchell Association this past Friday, Molly Congdon from Weathersfield, Mass., Victoria Valencia from Boston, Mass. and Alex Tutone from San Diego, Cal. returned from an afternoon of mushrooming in the state forest with mushroom expert Larry Millman. The students are working on a project to update Maria Mitchell's Natural Science Museum and are taking advantage of the tours that the Maria Mitchell Association has to offer. "We're trying to update the exhibits and bring natural science to a new age of people," said Valencia. "It seems wherever you go, whether it is the Eco Terranium in Worcester or the Museum of Natural Science in Boston, there are the same ideas of how to display animals." This Saturday, Nov. 8, MMA's Natural Science museum will be open from noon until 4p.m. and admission is free. The Worcester Polytechnic students will be at the museum to observe and to talk with the public about the exhibits. After taking surveys, the young engineers will build prototypes of new exhibitions and test them with school children as their focus group. Janet Schulte, executive director of the Maria Mitchell Association, is thrilled the students are taking time to evaluate and update some of the exhibits. "They are talking about adding bird sounds in the bird room and using technology to show the effects of storms on the island,' said Schulte, giving some examples of the changes visitors might see at the museum. "It's an effort to link the museum with the MMA field experience." Two other project groups - one working on affordable housing and the other working on wind energy - were not available as of press time. I |
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