Projects

Students use Beaver Works for collaborative projects and individual research in areas as diverse as energy systems, autonomy and robotics, cyber security, and biotechnology. The examples below show a few student projects performed at Beaver Works, but we can assist you with any type of project you can imagine.

  • Capstone Projects – One-year development projects executed in conjunction with a two-semester courses, in which students work together to carry an idea from initial design all the way to prototype fabrication and testing.
  • Research Projects – Cutting-edge research projects in which participants from campus and Lincoln Laboratory explicitly leverage the strengths of both institutions to efficiently solve critical problems.
  • Individual Research – Guided research for individual development in a focused research area; examples include Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programs (UROP) at both Lincoln Laboratory, and MIT, some Research Assistantship (RA) opportunities, and internships. Additional opportunities are available through the EECS SuperUROP program. Beaver Works space is available for use by Lincoln Laboratory UROP students.
Two students wearing life jackets stand on a dock holding a small underwater vehicle on the Charles River in Boston, with the city skyline in the background.

Robotics

Autonomous Vehicles

Students learn the theoretical and practical aspects of autonomous underwater vehicle design. After writing autonomy code, students build a full working vehicle for deployment, followed by autonomy mission simulations in the Charles River.
an intern dressed in a "bunny suit" leans against a machine in the microelectronics laboratory.

Microelectronics

Improving Fabrication Processes

Interns research a variety of different methods to increase efficiency in Lincoln Laboratory's Microelectronics Laboratory and Microsystems Prototyping Foundry.
Beaver Cube

Power Systems

Beaver Cube

With the assistance of the MIT Small Satellite Center, students develop small CubeSats that can test technologies and perform real science missions in space.

A student sits at a work table adjusting wires on two particle boards screwed together. Each board holds student-built flat box-shaped radar systems that work together and can be pointed at objects to evaluate thickness, erosion, structural flaws, and weather patterns.

Decision Support

Small Phased Array Radar System

Students learn the basics of radar and build a low-cost short-range phased array system that can see through walls.

Several solar panels are set up on the ground and on top of a sandbag-covered shelter at a military outpost. A trailer is positioned nearby, and a group of soldiers is gathered to the right side of the image. American flags are visible in the background.

Power Systems

Mobile Tactical Power

Students develop novel energy technologies and learn how to build a micro power grid that can be used in regions with unreliable power.

A group of seven people standing together in front of a presentation slide titled “H₂ Bike” with images of a bicycle by a waterfront. They are posing with a black bicycle equipped with technical components on display in front of them.

Transportation

H2 Bike

Students design a prototype hydrogen-powered e-bike that uses an aluminum fuel and water reaction to produce hydrogen on-demand.

A team of 7 students is shown on stage after making a presentation about their creation: a buoyant engine that uses reversible hydrogen fuel cell to adjust buoyancy. The engine (named CALIPSO, for Chemical Aluminum Inflation Producing Submersible Oscillator) is shown on stage with the introductory slide of their presentation shown in the background.

Bioengineering

Underwater Engine

Students build a demonstration testbed that uses a aluminum fuel and water reaction to create a buoyancy engine for underwater exploration.

A group of eight people standing together in front of a presentation slide titled “Non-Invasive Miniature Bioreactor for Laboratory Engineering (NIMBLE).” They are smiling and posing with a small scientific device, while the slide behind them shows project details and images of laboratory equipment.

Bioengineering

BioReactor

Students develop innovative solutions to test bioreactions in small batches under controllable conditions.

At Beaver Works Center, MIT students work on the droplet-dispensing manifold, a project which focused on developing simple high-throughput tools with integrated environmental control systems.

Bioengineering

B.E.A.V.E.R

Students develop an integrated environmental control system and high-throughput technique to culture extremophile bacteria in order to bioprospect more efficiently.