The Irish Essayons
The Irish Essayons is dedicated to helping students in the College of Engineering navigate the difficulties of being both an engineer and a cadet, while working on real world military projects. The club's main initiative is participation in the SOCOM Ignite program, which has cadets forming teams to tackle engineering challenges that Special Forces operators face in the field.
"Essayons!" is the slogan of the Army Corps of Engineers, meaning "Let us try!" This club is for engineers willing to take on any challenge that comes their way and show that the Fightin' Irish Battalion has the best engineers in the nation.
Additional opportunities offered through the club include:
- Research for engineering credit
- Internship opportunities at MIT Lincoln Laboratory and SOCOM in Fort Bragg
- Travel to Boston and Ft. Bragg for conferences
- Tutoring for difficult engineering courses
- Course planning assistance
In the 2022-2023 academic year, the Irish Essayons formed two SOCOM Ignite project teams. The first consisted of the battalion's Electrical, Mechanical, and Computer engineers and took on the challenge of further developing drone capabilities for Special Operations. The second team consisted of Chemical and Environmental engineers who developed a trade study for alternative battery sources for the Navy Special Warfare Command. The two teams presented their research to a panel of Special Operators, SOF AT&L leadership, the Director of MIT Lincoln Laboratory, and Major General Benjamin Maitre.
