Guidelines

The Edgerton Center has shop space in N51. This space is designated strictly for teams working on their projects. There are many teams that share these spaces, so it is imperative that the teams respect each other’s property and keep the space in a clean, usable state. There are a variety of shop tools that may be used; however, their use is restricted to students who have gone through the Edgerton Student Shop safety class. Keep in mind there is almost always a very long wait, so get your name in as soon as you know you will be working with a club or team.

The Edgerton Student Shop is located in Building 44 and is managed by Mark Belanger. It is equipped with lathes, milling machines (CNC and standard), drill presses, band saws, and an extensive array of hand tools.  In order to use the shop, you must take the training class, or if you have significant machine-shop experience, you can attend a brief safety class. You may contact Mark by email (mdbelang@mit.edu) to sign up for a shop class or a safety lecture. Occasionally, special training sessions are given for members of a club or team, but you may have to be patient until such a session can be scheduled.

The Student Project Laboratory is located in room 4-409 and is a place for MIT students to pursue hands-on projects. It is primarily geared towards electronics projects, and includes tools and materials for soldering and for breadboarding electrical circuits. The following items are readily available:

• Electronic test equipment (oscilloscopes, power supplies, digital multimeters, function generators)
• Small hand tools for electronics (e.g., wire strippers, diagonal cutters) and light mechanical projects
• An Athena workstation
• PIC programmers and PCs for programming PIC microcontrollers

To learn more, contact Diane Brancazio (dianeb@mit.edu) or Jim Bales (bales@mit.edu).

All teams are encouraged to seek outside sponsorship as well as support from individual MIT departments. Teams are eligible to receive funding through the Edgerton Center. A detailed budget including your anticipated expenses for the coming year, other income sources, and a short presentation on the team’s intentions and accomplishments is required. On occasion, you may be asked to submit a summary of the year’s activities, which we will include in our report to the foundation.

Edgerton Center–sponsored teams are eligible to have an MIT Procurement Card issued to up to two team members. They must be responsible individuals and be willing to do most of the purchasing for the team. The sharing of this credit card is strictly prohibited. Having a student credit card is not only a convenience but a privilege, and should be treated as such.

In order to ensure this privilege continues, electronic receipts for purchases made with your MIT credit card must be submitted to Sandi Lipnoski within one week of purchase. [Please rename the file following this example: Lipnoski 2.3.22 Amazon $5.00]

Follow the Procurement Card user’s guide when making Visa purchases:

• Avoid sales tax on any Pcard purchase (click here to download Tax Exempt Form)
• No radioactive substances, controlled drugs, firearms, or ammunition
• No software (except standard shrink-wrap software)
• No furniture
• No entertainment expenses
• No chemicals in quantities larger than four-liter sizes
• No flowers, plants, or gifts
• No equipment purchases, rentals, or leases
• No alcohol
• No personal items
• No travel expenses of any kind. This includes rental cars, hotels, food, and gasoline. 

Failure to comply may result in the removal of MIT Procurement Card privileges.

Student clubs should limit food purchases to the following:

• Major recruiting events and annual elections meetings (where food may encourage voter turnout)
• Occasional intensive work days (e.g., a large fraction of the team comes into the lab for eight hours on a Saturday to work on the project)
• A few events (one–three) each year aimed at supporting team spirit

When making a food purchase, the submitted receipt must include the following information:

• Date of event
• Reason for event
• Number of attendees

The purchase of alcohol is prohibited.

MIT will not reimburse for sales taxes. Visit MIT Sourcing and Procurement to download the tax-exemption form to present to vendors so they can waive the sales tax.

Expenses allowed while traveling:

• Event registration fees
• Hotel
• Airfare
• Rental car and gasoline
• Mileage on your personal vehicle is 58.5 cents per mile
• Ground transportation (e.g., taxi, bus)
• A team meal, or up to $200 in groceries per week

Expenses not allowed while traveling:

• Personal items and expenses
• Individual daily food expenses
• Entertainment (movies, health clubs, etc.)  
• Alcohol

Please be sure to have our contact information with you, and to give it to your family and to others who may have concerns or questions. Also, be sure to use us as points of contact if your plans and arrangements change, so others will be able to contact us to find out about those changes.

Your primary contact while on club or team travel is:

Sandi Lipnoski, Administrative Officer, Edgerton Center
77 Massachusetts Avenue 4-408
Cambridge, MA 02139
617.253.4629
slipnosk@mit.edu

If there is an emergency and Sandi is not available, contact the dean on call through Campus Police at 617.253.1212.

MIT students are covered by the MIT International SOS (iSOS) program. Note that this program will only cover expenses that have been agreed upon with the insurer before treatment is given. To get authorization for expenses, call your closest calling station:

Philadelphia +1.215.942.8226
London +44.20.8762.8008
Singapore +65.6338.7800

You may also be covered by your medical insurer for emergency medical treatment while outside the U.S.

It is your responsibility to check the provisions of the iSOS program and your personal medical-insurance policy and determine if they are adequate for your project location and activities. If you think you need more insurance, it is your personal and financial responsibility to purchase it. STA in the Student Center is one source of travel insurance.

Note that MIT insurance does not cover you for items such as lost and stolen luggage.

The Edgerton Center's account with Zipcar enables students to use a zipcar for team-related activities. There are 13 Zipcars on campus. Ending-time and excess-mileage charges, parking tickets, and any other violations are the direct responsibility of the driver.  MIT will not pay these fines. To use the Zipcar, contact Sandi Lipnsoki (slipnosk@mit.edu).  

The Edgerton Center will help you plan for trips to competitions and events. The advantages of using this resource are plentiful, but you must directly charge airline tickets to an MIT Travel Card, so your personal credit card is not involved. Keep in mind, if you make airline reservations and charge your credit card for several members of a student club or team, you are taking a risk. Rarely does MIT Travel issue a reimbursement for airline tickets not used. If you pay for someone’s airline ticket with a personal credit card, and that person does not travel, you are taking the risk of being stuck with a large credit card charge and little chance of getting it back. If everyone is responsible for their own travel expenses, the chances of them not attending are lower. 

MIT has travel agencies set up specifically to assist in student and staff travel. When making travel reservations through one of these travel agencies, please be sure to use an MIT Travel Card. The reservation will be charged directly to that card, and settled at the end of the trip. These travel agencies have agreements with several airlines for flight discounts. If you plan ahead and do not wait until the last minute, it will be beneficial. 

Before travel is approved by the Edgerton Center, risk-acknowledgement forms, emergency contact Information, and a copy of the traveler’s passport (if international travel) must be on file. Please contact Sandi Lipnoski (slipnosk@mit.edu) for an electronic file of these forms. A travel-expense voucher must be completed in Concur at the end of each trip, regardless of whether MIT paid for your airline tickets or you paid for them yourself. Please bring your boarding passes and complete itinerary showing class of ticket, cost of ticket, and travel details to Sandi within one week of travel. No travel expenses will be reimbursed without this itinerary information. While at an Edgerton-sponsored event, if the team has the resources, it may choose to cover some of the costs team members incur on the trip. However, individual team members will be expected to cover certain expenses on their own.

Domestic Travel Waiver
Edgerton Center Shop Release
Emergency Contact Information
International Travel Waiver
Risk Acknowledgment