MIT Edgerton Center

Lions and camels and beavers, oh my! 🦁🐪🦫

The K-12 Maker Lab’s mission is simple: get more kids Making - and that starts with teachers building their own Maker skills to bring back to the classroom. Last week, the team had a blast partnering with the and to lead teacher workshops (like the “2D into 3D” session pictured here) and mentor educators through an all-day build challenge.

Want to explore geometric nets, interlocking shapes, and cardboard prototyping on your own? Find resources at k12maker.mit.edu/tutorials

📸 Photos by Marvelin Higginbottom

What a morning in Strobe Alley ❤️ We were delighted to welcome so many graduates, families, and friends to the Edgerton Graduation Brunch, sharing celebratory waffles and a special ceremony honoring the incredible accomplishments of our students. Congratulations to all of our graduates!

And a special congratulations to the legendary Ed Moriarty, celebrating his 50th MIT reunion this year (complete with the iconic red jacket). Of course we had to have Professor Vandiver present him with a certificate of his own 🎓✨

Introducing Project Zephyrus: the latest student-designed rocket from 🚀 In their April test, it hit Mach 1.2 and 14,800 ft! The team used this launch to test advanced systems like active roll stabilization, airbrakes, and antenna tracking. Now they’re ready to tackle their next goal: a 100k+ ft launch in June. Good luck as you reach for new heights!

Meet MIT Spokes, a team of 7 students preparing to bike 4,000 miles across the country this summer and teach STEM along the way! mission is to expand access to STEM education and empower the leaders of tomorrow by hosting free Learning Festivals throughout the United States. They teach these workshops to schools, libraries, and summer camps, establishing strong connections between MIT and many different communities along the way.

Follow to keep up as they prepare for the journey and set off in June. Learn more about the team by visiting mitspokes.com and become part of the action (without riding your bike 4,000 miles) by supporting their crowdfund: crowdfund.mit.edu/story/Spokes-S26

The team from left to right in the first photo:
Carmen McCay ‘29, Course 10B (Chemical-Biological Engineering)
Angelica (Nunu) Zhuang ‘26, Course 4 (Architecture)
Drew Dowdy ‘29, Course 16 (Aerospace Engineering)
Tatiana Vassiliev ‘26, Course 6-2 (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) and Course 15-3 (Finance)
Aarushi Mehrotra ‘26, Course 20 (Biological Engineering) and Course 6-3 (Computer Science and Engineering)
Caroline Huang ‘29, Course 11-6 (Urban Science and Planning with Computer Science)
Nathan Mustafa ‘25 ‘26, Course 6-3 (Computer Science and Engineering) and Course 18 (Mathematics)

🏎️ Race cars 🤖 Battle bots ☀️ Solar vehicles 🚀 Rockets… Just another Tuesday at the Edgerton Center! Our Annual Clubs & Teams Showcase brought together 18 student teams who are engineering the future one extraordinary project at a time.

Read all about Lobby 13’s transformation into a spectacle of student innovation at edgerton.mit.edu/news/edgerton-center-clubs-teams-showcase-dazzles-delights

📸 Photos by Lien Nguyen

What does collaboration look like? According to the students at Bayan Gardens School, it looks like this! Discover how one week of hands-on learning with Edgerton Center mentors transformed the way students approach science, engineering, and working together at edgerton.mit.edu/news/cultivating-curiosity-through-collaboration

🎈 POP! 🎉 Harold “Doc” Edgerton would’ve been 123 this week, so we’re celebrating with one of his iconic innovations: high-speed balloon pop photography! These precisely-timed pics capture not only a balloon mid-pop, but also a beautiful snapshot of human expression.

Thanks to Chris Mayer, Dr. Jim Bales, and the School of Architecture + Planning for these fabulous photos from a recent event held at the MIT Media Lab 📸

This Independent Activities Period, the Edgerton Center collaborated with MIT-Ukraine Program and MIT Lincoln Laboratory Beaver Works, with support from Mission Innovation X, MathWorks, and MIT.nano to lead Build for Ukraine 2.0. During this four-week hackathon, students, researchers, and collaborators across seven time zones came together to tackle urgent technical challenges facing Ukraine as the full-scale war enters its fourth year. Find the full story at MIT News: https://news.mit.edu/2026/mit-hackathon-tackles-real-world-challenges-ukraine-0327

Did you catch in the MIT Daily last week? Congratulations to the Combat Robotics Club for their first competition of the semester! 🤖💥