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! @mitspokes 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 @mitspokes 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)
MIT Spokes: From MIT to rural America — biking 4,000 miles to bring STEM education to communities that need it most 🚴♂️🔥
It’s inspiring to see how much impact a small group can make, and how much they genuinely love doing it. @mitspokes
Please check out their full stories on Youtube (@huskymind_uc ).
#MITSpokes #MITStudents #STEMOutreach #BikeAcrossAmerica #Biking #CollegeLife
Today is the MIT 24-Hour Challenge! We are almost at our crowdfunding goal so please consider donating through the link in our bio ❤️ Thank you so much for all your support!
helloooo everyone! i’m aarushi, a senior in course 20 (bioengineering) and 6-3 (computer science). at MIT i work on modeling protein evolution with machine learning, specifically for how to better predict flu vaccine strains, and i’m planning on pursuing my PhD in computational biology after i graduate (and after SPOKES!!). i’m so lucky to have lived with the @b1ners and become a brother at @mitnumbersix during my time at MIT, and i’m so so excited for my newest community, the spokes 2026 team!! what an incredible opportunity to do something crazy that will not only better my life forever but also those of kids across the country (the majority of which i have yet to experience!). outside of school and spokes, you can find me dilly-dallying, picnicking, wandering, reminiscing, or hanging out with my friends, probably laughing at something really funny one of them said. 😽
Hello! My name is Drew Dowdy and I am a freshman from Lake Cormorant, Mississippi. I am studying Course 16 (Aerospace Engineering). I like to play a lot of different sports: Soccer, basketball, football, etc…. I also like cats, and playing piano,. My ultimate dream is to someday build a plane that I can fly around the country in. (i know its very aerospace engineery) But like the proto-avian therapod dinosaurs before us, I must learn to use my legs first, hence why I’m so excited to be biking across the US with MIT Spokes. I’ve always loved the thrill of sharing my passions with others, and I can’t wait to to meet kids from all across the country.
Hii! My name is Carmen and I’m a first-year planning to study chemical engineering and biology (course 10B)! I’m from Phoenix, Arizona where I’ve grown accustomed to exploring the outdoors in the blazing heat! I’m incredibly excited to bike and hike through such a wide variety of climates along the journey. My first year at MIT has been made exponentially better by the amazing people I live with. I’m very lucky to call h4 my home. On campus, I’ve just begun a UROP with the Jaklenec lab where we will design biocompatible polymers for vaccine delivery! On the weekends, I can be found on trips with MITOC, where we get to hike in the mountains of New Hampshire, or walking around Wellesley’s beautiful campus with my sister. Some of my hobbies include crocheting, drawing, painting, and weightlifting. To me, Spokes is a once in a lifetime experience, and I’m so grateful I get to be a part of the team. I joined excited to face so many new and unknown challenges, and to bring STEM to kids across the nation! Once we get started, make sure to check our blogs for accounts of our daily sidequests! 🫡
Hi! My name is Caroline, and I’m a freshman from Santa Rosa, CA. I’m currently undecided (thinking maybe Course 11-6, Urban Science and Planning with Computer Science), but I have a lot of interests in sustainability, technology, and design. Outside of classes, I’m a part of some groups, including lion dance, Geo@MIT , AT, Technique, and @h4cult . I love spending my free time journaling/painting or watching F1 whenever (literally whenever) there’s a race! I’m also a huge outdoors person and have been to 33 national parks, so I’m definitely excited to add a couple more to that list this summer as we make our way across the country 😙 Stay tuned for our blog/social media posts, and I can’t wait to start working with students through our workshops soon! So hyped to be part of this amazing team 🚲
Howdy!! I’m Tatiana, and I’m a senior from Houston, Texas studying Course 6-2 (Electrical Engineering & Computer Science) and Course 15-3 (Finance). I’ve been teaching STEM since I was in middle school, and I am so excited to bring hands-on STEM workshops to students across the United States through Spokes! I’m a big thrill-seeker who loves snowboarding, scuba diving, hiking, traveling, and trying new things. I’m down for anything, and especially biking 4,000 miles across the country! On campus, I’m involved in Brass Rat Investments, Sloan Business Club, MISTI and @mittheta . I’m passionate about negotiation, space, and learning by doing. I love going to concerts with friends (Del Water Gap has my heart), crocheting, building Legos, dancing, and I am now learning how to make pottery :) I’m beyond excited for the adventures that this summer will bring, and I can’t wait to share the journey with the best team and best supporters <3 🚴♀️
Hi y’all, my name’s Nate. I’m from Houston, Texas and I’m looking forward to doing Spokes this summer :)
I’m currently an MEng student in the PDOS lab and during my undergrad at MIT I studied Course 6 (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) and Course 18 (Mathematics). Aside from that, you can most likely find me running along the Charles, in the Z lifting or playing volleyball, or dancing salsa with MIT’s Latin Dance Club. I’m also a big fan of trying/cooking new food (but rice and ground turkey will always have a special place in my heart 🏆🥇).
I’m very excited to do Spokes this summer, it’s definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity and super impactful for all the students along the way. Make sure to keep up with the team by checking out the blogs on our website!
Hi!! My name is Nunu and I’m a senior in Course 4 (Architecture). I’m from the Bay Area where I naturally split my time between exploring the city and adventuring the outdoors! On campus, I’ve lived all four years with the @b1ners my home away from home 💙 In my free time I enjoy eating good food, photography, arts, thrifting, and hanging out with my friends. I’m sooo excited to bike across the country this summer, to share my passion for design with students everywhere, and to do it all with the most amazing team 😁
Thank you so so much to all our friends and family who have already donated, we are almost halfway to our crowdfunding goal! ❤️🚴♀️ But, we still have more to go! If you want to support STEM outreach and education or if you love to bike and think we are doing something crazy and awesome, please consider donating to our cause. Any amount or type of support helps a lot and we greatly appreciate it. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us directly if you have any comments, questions, or just want to chat! 🫶 The link to our crowdfund is in our bio.
