NCAA - Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MIT EngineersThe beaver, nature's engineer, was adopted as mascot at the annual dinner of the Technology Club of New York on January 17, 1914 by a group of MIT alumni. The late President Richard Maclaurin formally accepted the proposal, and at this dinner a group of beavers shown in natural surroundings was presented to the Institute. The beaver has since been named TIM as MIT spelled backwards. Thus, Tim the Beaver (or MIT the Beaver) was born.