The Solar Spring Break team, left to right. Front row: MIT undergraduates Allison Shepard and Angela Cai. Second row: Nick Gomez of GRID; undergraduates Tahina Felisca, Gabrielle Ballard, and Rayna Higuchi; team leaders Rachel Kurchin, a graduate student in materials science and engineering and 2016–2017 Total-MIT Energy Fellow, and Aisling O’Grady of the MIT Energy Initiative; Darean Nguyen of GRID. Back row: undergraduates Juan Ferrua, Adedoyin Olateru-Olagbegi, Hilary Vogelbaum, and Gabriel Madonna; Jose Cardenas and David Calhoun of GRID Alternatives.
MIT undergraduates learn under the sun during MITEI’s Solar Spring Break
Seth Cauman
Research areas
During the week of March 27, 2017, nine MIT undergraduates chose to forgo a more traditional spring break experience, instead volunteering their time through Solar Spring Break, a new program offered by the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) in partnership with GRID Alternatives, a nonprofit whose mission is to provide renewable energy access to all communities nationwide. Accompanied by two MITEI representatives, the students spent the week in Los Angeles, California, installing solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on the home of a low-income family in the Leimert Park neighborhood.
The week’s programming included solar installation training, a tour of the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator, networking opportunities, a workshop on solar design, and a complete solar PV system installation. Students also had the opportunity to meet the homeowner and hear firsthand about the impact of their work—an experience that provided valuable insight into some of the social aspects of today’s energy challenge.
