Vision for Transformative Impact
Education Partner:
MIT is known for its nexus of education, research, and innovation, producing published research, accomplished students, and impactful startups that are building the future. This year, we explore an MIT vision of emerging technology and its anticipated impacts on the world in a unique way. MIT’s new President, Sally Kornbluth will share her vision of MIT’s future, and we will hear from the leadership of MIT’s 5 schools and 1 college on what is currently a “hot topic” within their school as well as what is “warming up.” We will explore many of those subjects more deeply in our technology tracks in Energy, Biotech, Materials, Manufacturing, Mobility, and Fintech.
Please join us at our annual Research and Development Conference on November 15-16, 2023, to hear from MIT leadership, researchers, MIT Startup Exchange entrepreneurs, and global business leaders dedicated to building a better future.
In addition to plenary sessions, attendees can choose from two workshops and six tracks on both days, followed by MIT Campus Tours.
John Roberts has been Executive Director of MIT Corporate Relations (Interim) since February 2022. He obtained his Ph.D. in organic chemistry at MIT and returned to the university after a 20-year career in the pharmaceutical industry, joining the MIT Industrial Liaison Program (ILP) in 2013. Prior to his return, John worked at small, medium, and large companies, holding positions that allowed him to exploit his passions in synthetic chemistry, project leadership, and alliance management while growing his responsibilities for managing others, ultimately as a department head. As a program director at MIT, John built a portfolio of ILP member companies, mostly in the pharmaceutical industry and headquartered in Japan, connecting them to engagement opportunities in the MIT community. Soon after returning to MIT, John began to lead a group of program directors with a combined portfolio of 60-80 global companies. In his current role, John oversees MIT Corporate Relations which houses ILP and MIT Startup Exchange.
Before joining MIT Corporate Relations in 2022, Yui Yashiro was Senior Manager, Commercial Insights & Salesforce Operations at Alexion Pharmaceuticals in Boston. As Manager, Commercial Strategy & Operations, she was responsible for reaching group sales targets and leading cultural change projects, including DEI initiatives. Before Alexion, Yashiro was Senior Planning Analyst, Corporate Planning for TeraDiode Inc. (a Panasonic company) in Wilmington, MA, where she led business planning activities. Additionally, she held two roles at Takeda in Tokyo and Osaka. As Chief of Cardiovascular & Metabolic, Shonan Office, Japan Pharma Business Unit, Yashiro was a leader in sales and sales strategy, consistently achieving & surpassing revenue and market share targets for herself and the sales team that she led.
Yashiro earned her B.A. Education & Human Science at Tsukuba University and her MBA at Ohmae Kenichi Graduate School of Business, both in Japan.
Since January 2023, Sally Kornbluth has served as MIT’s 18th president. In her Inaugural address, she urged the MIT community to tackle humanity’s great global challenges, especially climate change, with renewed urgency. A cell biologist, Kornbluth focused her research on the biological signals that tell a cell to start dividing or to self-destruct — processes key to understanding cancer and various degenerative disorders.
President Kornbluth joined Duke University’s biology faculty in 1994, and in 2006 was named vice dean for basic science at the Duke School of Medicine. She was selected in 2014 to serve as provost, the university’s chief academic officer. Her eight-year tenure won her a reputation as a brilliant administrator with a gift for advancing the university’s intellectual priorities, a creative problem-solver, and a leading advocate of faculty excellence and student wellbeing. She is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Inventors, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Professor Grossman earned a BA in physics at Johns Hopkins University in 1991 and did graduate work at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, earning a PhD in theoretical physics in 1996. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California at Berkeley and then a Lawrence Fellow at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. In 2009 he joined MIT, where he developed a research program known for its contributions to energy conversion, energy storage, membranes, and clean-water technologies. He has published more than 200 scientific papers, holds 17 current or pending patents, and recently co-founded two Massachusetts companies to commercialize novel membranes materials for efficient industrial separations. One is ViaSeparations, which commercializes graphene-oxide membranes to separate chemicals for manufacturing. The other is SiTration, a company that commercializes silicon membranes for chemical-free, energy-efficient extraction and recycling of critical materials.
Professor Jeffrey Grossman’s research focuses on a wide array of nanomaterials and energy related applications. Researchers in his Grossman Group target fundamental materials understanding and novel materials and devices for consumer and industrial adoption. Their research has included the development of materials that can store solar energy chemically, and then release the energy at a later time as heat, a process for constructing electronic components out of coal, novel 3-D arrangements for solar panels, and the use of graphene for water desalination.
Daniela Rus is the Andrew (1956) and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, director of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. She brings deep expertise in robotics, artificial intelligence, data science and computation. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer, and the Association for Computing Machinery. She is also a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, a National Science Foundation Career award, and an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation fellowship. Rus earned her PhD in computer science from Cornell University.
Co-Director, MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium Jerry McAfee (1940) Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering Associate Dean, MIT School of Engineering
Professor Olivetti received a BS in engineering science from the University of Virginia in 2000, and a PhD in materials science and engineering from MIT in 2007. She spent her PhD program studying the electrochemistry of polymer and inorganic materials for electrodes in lithium-ion batteries. In 2014, she joined DMSE as an assistant professor. As an educator, Olivetti overhauled DMSE’s undergraduate curriculum and developed new courses, including one for the MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium Climate Scholars. She’s a member of the MIT Climate Nucleus and co-director of the MIT Climate & Sustainability Consortium.
Professor Elsa Olivetti’s research focuses on improving the environmental and economic sustainability of materials. Specifically, she develops analytical and computational models to provide early-stage information on the cost and environmental impact of materials. Professor Olivetti and her research-group colleagues work toward improving sustainability through increased use of recycled and renewable materials, recycling-friendly material design, and intelligent waste disposition. The Olivetti Group also focuses on understanding the implications of substitution, dematerialization, and waste mining on materials markets.
Nergis Mavalvala is an award-winning physicist and a pioneer in the detection of gravitational waves and of quantum measurement science. She is a longtime member of the scientific team behind the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), which in 2016 detected the gravitational waves resulting from colliding black holes. With her doctoral adviser, Rainer Weiss, she helped to develop the gravitational-wave detector technologies that are at the heart of LIGO, which enabled the scientific discoveries that earned Weiss and his colleagues the 2017 Nobel Prize in physics.
The LIGO discovery—ripples in the space-time fabric caused by the motion of black holes and neutron stars—has been widely hailed as the dawn of a new era in astrophysics, allowing researchers to observe objects in the universe that are not visible with light. Thus, Mavalvala’s research has been instrumental in capturing the witheringly faint warping and rippling of the very structure of space-time to observe violent cosmic events. To further this research, she has conducted experiments on generation and application of exotic quantum states of light as well as on laser cooling and trapping of macroscopic objects to enable observation of quantum phenomena in human-scale systems.
For her groundbreaking research and her role in achieving the LIGO discoveries, Mavalvala has received numerous awards and recognitions, including a Sloan Foundation Fellowship (2005), a MacArthur Fellowship (2010), the Gruber Prize in Cosmology (2016), and the Carnegie Corporation’s Great Immigrant Award (2017). Mavalvala, who has been an outspoken voice for equality and women’s access to education, is a dedicated mentor and a highly visible role model for the LGBTQ+ community. In 2014, she was honored as the LGBTQ Scientist of the Year by the National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals. She is a fellow of the American Physical Society and an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences.
David Schmittlein joined the MIT Sloan School of Management as John C Head III Dean in October, 2007. His focus, since arriving on campus, has been to broaden MIT Sloan's global visibility, work with the faculty to create new high-quality management education programs, develop enhanced educational opportunities for current students, and to develop and disseminate business knowledge that has impact and will stand the test of time. He has also reached out to the many members of MIT's alumni community to gain their valuable insights on MIT Sloan and management education.
Prior to his appointment at MIT Sloan, Dean Schmittlein served on the faculty at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania from 1980 until 2007. While at Wharton, he was the Ira A. Lipman Professor and Professor of Marketing. He also served as Interim Dean during July 2007 and as Deputy Dean from 2000-2007. In addition, he was chair of the editorial board for Wharton School Publishing. Dean Schmittlein received a Ph.D. and M.Phil. in Business from Columbia University and B.A. in Mathematics (magna cum laude) from Brown University. His research assesses marketing processes and develops methods for improving marketing decisions. He is widely regarded for his work estimating the impact of a firm's marketing actions, designing market and survey research, and creating effective communication strategies.
Dr. Schmittlein has served as a consultant on these issues for numerous firms, e.g. American Express, American Home Products, AT&T, Bausch & Lomb, Boston Scientific, Ford Motor Company, Gianni Versace S.p.A., Hewlett-Packard, Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin, Pfizer, Revlon, Siebe PLC, The Oakland Raiders, The Quaker Oats Co., and Time Warner. He has over forty publications, most in leading journals in Marketing, Management, Economics and Statistics. He has been an area editor for Marketing Science and a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Interactive Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Letters and Marketing Science.
Dr. Schmittlein serves on the International Advisory Board for Groupe HEC; the Governing Board of the Indian School of Business; the International Advisory Board of Lingnan (University) College of Sun Yat-sen University; the Advisory Board for the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University; the International Advisory Board for the School of Management, Fudan University; and the Board of Trustees of The Conference Board. He has served on the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council for Marketing and Branding. He has been a visiting professor in the Faculty of Economics at Tokyo University, and a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Washington University's John M. Olin School of Business. He has received awards for his research, his editorial work, and his teaching. His observations and research have been cited often in the popular press, including Advertising Age, Business 2.0, Business Week, China.com, Computerworld, Fortune, NPR's Marketplace, People's Daily Online, Reuters, The ABC Evening News with Peter Jennings, The Economist, The Financial Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report and USA Today. For more than 30 years, Dr. Schmittlein has done extensive consulting work for corporate clients in a wide variety of industries, including consumer products, computer software, pharmaceuticals, entertainment, manufacturing, and management consulting. For a full list of Dr. Schmittlein's consulting work, visit his corporate consulting engagements page.
Dr. Schmittlein is a member of the American Statistical Association and the Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences (INFORMS).
Dean Agustín Rayo PhD '01 is a professor of philosophy. His research lies at the intersection of the philosophy of logic and the philosophy of language. He is the author of numerous articles and two books: The Construction of Logical Space (OUP, 2013) and On the Brink of Paradox (MIT Press, 2019), which won the 2020 PROSE Award for best textbook in the humanities. Dean Rayo redesigned 24.118 Paradox and Infinity, a class on topics at the intersection of philosophy and mathematics that is taught both residentially and online. Before his current role as SHASS Dean, Rayo served terms as Associate Dean and Interim Dean of the School, and he served as head of house at one of our undergraduate dormitories.
Hashim Sarkis is the dean of the School of Architecture and Planning. Prior to that, he was at Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD) as the Aga Khan Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism. Dean Sarkis has held numerous visiting appointments around the world, including at the American University of Beirut and the Metropolis Program in Barcelona. He was selected to serve as director/curator of the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale.
In addition to his academic work, Sarkis is principal of Hashim Sarkis Studios (HSS), established in 1998 with offices in Boston and Beirut. The architectural and urban projects of HSS include affordable housing, houses, parks, institutional buildings, urban design, and town planning.
HSS has received several awards for its projects, including for the Housing for the Fishermen of Tyre, Byblos Town Hall, and the Courtower Houses. The firm’s work has been exhibited around the world, including at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and at the biennales of Venice, Rotterdam, Shenzhen/Hong Kong, and Valparaiso.
His work has also been published extensively, including in a monograph by Ness.docs and in the Phaidon Atlas of 21st Century World Architecture (2008), with the Housing for the Fishermen of Tyre selected as one of the most significant buildings of the century. He also received numerous teaching awards while at Harvard University.
Sarkis is the author and editor of many articles and books that have filled important gaps in the history of modern architecture and urban design. These include Circa 1958: Lebanon in the Pictures and Plans of Constantinos Doxiadis and the edited CASE: Le Corbusier’s Venice Hospital; Josep Lluis Sert: The Architect of Urban Design (with Eric Mumford); The World as an Architectural Project (with Roi Salgueiro Barrio and Gabriel Kozlowski); and Biennale Architettura 2021: How Will We Live Together? (official catalog).
Sarkis was a founding member of Plan B, the Institute for Urban Design Studies in Lebanon and the Middle East, and the Arab Center for Architecture. He has served on the board of several organizations, including the Association for Rural Development in Southern Lebanon. He holds professional registration with the Beirut Order of Engineers and Architects.
Sarkis has a BArch and BFA from Rhode Island School of Design and an MArch from Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He received his PhD in architecture from Harvard University for his thesis Publics and Architects: Re-engaging Design in the Democracy.
Each of the five MIT Schools (Engineering, Science, Management, Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences, and Architecture + Planning) and the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing will share their perspectives on the most relevant and upcoming topics within their respective schools. The representatives will then discuss common themes, ongoing initiatives, potential projects, and future prospects across multiple disciplines.
Tricia Dinkel comes to Corporate Relations with several years of experience in the innovation ecosystem and managing relationships with startups and corporates. Tricia previously worked as Director of Navigate (NECEC’s flagship innovation program) at the Northeast Clean Energy Council (NECEC) in Boston where she led all operations and partnership development for 400+ startups, 65+ innovation partners, and 200+ investors & corporates in North America and Europe. Prior to that role, Tricia held positions with increasing responsibility in program management at NECEC. Before that, her experience included Director of Data Analytics and Sustainability Reporting Manager at WegoWise Inc. in Boston, Associate Director at the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation in Cambridge, Senior Sustainability Coordinator at A Better City in Boston, and Assistant Director at The Green Alliance in Portsmouth, NH.
Tricia earned her B.A., in Environmental Studies/Natural Resource Policy at the University of Colorado, and her M.A., in Environmental Science Education at the University of New Hampshire. She served on the NECEC Diversity & Inclusion Committee and as a member of the USGBC (U.S. Green Building Council), Massachusetts Chapter.
Dr. Richard Swartwout is an MIT Ph.D.’21in Solar R&D and Printed Electronics under Dr.Bulovic and Dr. Bawendi. Dr. Swartwout brings over a decade of experience in energy innovation to Active Surfaces. As a Tata Center Fellow, Dr. Swartwout recognized the potential of flexible solar panels in powering remote areas, which led him to co-develop MIT’s GridEdge program. Dr.Swartwout brings his deep technical expertise to Active Surfaces, inventing 3 of the patents in Active Surface’s IP portfolio.
Thomas Collet is a serial life sciences entrepreneur with deep drug development expertise. He serves as President, CEO, and Director of Bilayer Therapeutics. Dr. Collethas founded and led several life sciences companies, including ProNAi Therapeutics(subsequently went public, now Sierra Oncology); Neural Intervention Technologies(subsequently acquired by W.L. Gore); and Rubicon Genomics (subsequently acquired by Takara Bio). He also served as Vice President of Business Development at IntegratedProtein Technologies, a unit of Monsanto Company that Dr. Collet helped start. Prior to entering the start-up space, Dr. Collet served as a General Partner at Tullis-Dickerson &Company, a healthcare-focused venture fund, and as a consultant at McKinsey &Company. He earned a Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and completed post-doctoral studies in Dr. Richard Lerner’s laboratory at The Scripps Research Institute.
Tom is an innovator, bringing impactful technologies to life over a 20+ year career. He is the founder and CEO of Blue Dot Motorworks, where he single-handedly conceived, designed, fabricated, and funded the development of the world's first universal technologies for electrifying existing vehicles. He led the development of a mobile processor for low-income countries that can empty and perform on-site processing of trash-laden pit latrines, dramatically improving sanitation. He has designed e-mobility systems, medical devices, novel global sanitation technologies, and alternative energy systems. In leadership positions, Tom is a proven technology integrator, team organizer, and people manager, and thrives when connecting market needs to technology innovation to development execution. He also founded Carbyne Enterprises, a technology development consultancy and incubator. Tom holds a degree in mechanical engineering from MIT and is a board member and EV group lead for MIT Alumni for ClimateAction.
Christina Qi is the CEO of Databento, an on-demand market data platform. She formerly founded DomeyardLP, a hedge fund focused on high-frequency trading (HFT)that traded up to $7.1 billion USD per day. Failing to earn a job offer after a Wall Street internship, Christina started Domeyard from her dorm room with $1000 in savings in 2012. Her fund was a tiny minnow amongst the tigers of the hedge fund world, but after Michael Lewis’s Flash Boys came out in 2014 and HFT firms hid from the spotlight, Domeyard accidentally found itself in the center of the ring. Over the next decade, her company’s story was featured on the front page of Forbes and Nikkei and quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, CNN, NBC, and the Financial Times as a result of the controversy and fascination with HFT. Christina is a member of the MIT CorporationDevelopment Committee, a standing committee of the MIT Corporation (the board of trustees), charged with raising critical financial resources to uphold the Institute's Institute's academic rigor, promote student life, and advance global initiatives. From 2018 to 2023, she co-chaired the Development Committee and eventually became Co-Chair of the Board of Invest in Girls, bringing financial literacy education to underserved populations across the US. Christina also sits on the Board of Directors of The Financial ExecutivesAlliance (FEA) Hedge Fund Group, drove entrepreneurship efforts at the MIT SloanBoston Alumni Association (MIT SBAA), and served on the U.S. Non-Profit BoardsCommittee of 100 Women in Finance. Although "X Under X" lists are a gimmick, she’ll admit that Forbes 30 Under 30 made a positive impact on her life by giving her community friends who dragged her out of bed during the lowest days of her life. Christina holds a Bachelor of Science in Management Science from MIT and recently celebrated her 10-year reunion.
Lavi Erisson, a physician-scientist-entrepreneur, is the co-founder and CEO of Gensaic, an MIT spinout delivering targeted genomic medicines through its ML-powered protein evolution platform. Lavi was previously Chief Medical and Head of Business Development at IterativeHealth, another MIT spinout, where he led clinical development to successful clearance of its flagship product, Skout (TM), and signed R&D collaborations with Eli-Lilly, Pfizer, and Janssen. Earlier in his career, Lavi held various leadership roles at Teva Pharmaceuticals, clinically translating over 10 novel assets from lead candidates through first-in-patient and investing over $300 M through Teva's corporate venture group. Lavi is a passionate global health advocate,volunteering as a physician in refugee camps along the border of Thailand and Myanmar, as wellas advising Israel's ministry for foreign trade on bi-national R&D funds. Lavi received hisMedicalDegree and Public-Policy degree, Summa Cum Laude, from Tel-Aviv University. He later earnedan MBA from MIT Sloan, where he was a Sloan Fellow.
Dr. Ashish Kulkarni, Ph.D., is a successful innovator who has applied his expertise in chemical engineering and materials science to deliver breakthrough products and platforms in various industries. He has been researching how mature organizations can develop an innovation ecosystem to tap into the unique characteristics of start-up companies. Serving as Chairman &CEO of Kebotix, Kulkarni is committed to adopting AI/ML tools in the Chemicals, Materials and building and construction industries to drive sustainability & decarbonization. He has held executive positions at companies such as GAF Materials Corporation, a building materials company, Avantor, Inc., and Celanese, where he developed new innovation strategies and infrastructure to drive growth. He also has experience in global engineering and has held several patents and published articles in refereed journals. He serves on the board of directors forseveral companies, including Evercloak Materials, ConnectM, and Ghost Robotics.
Joyce Wang is the CEO of Ontologic, a startup building flexible and intuitive computational infrastructure for life science research. She completed her PhD in neuroscience at MIT in 2023, where she studied inter-region dynamics involved in brain plasticity. While in graduate school, she led student advocacy, volunteer education, and mental health support organizations, for which she was awarded the National Science Foundation graduate student research fellowship, the Angus MacDonald Award for excellence in teaching, and the MIT Graduate Women of Excellence award. As a co-founder, Joyce is passionate about building a supportive work culture and improving scientific rigor, which she believes are mutually reinforcing
Dr. Sadegh Riazi is a technology enthusiast, co-founder and CEO of Pyte. He received his PhD in secure computation from UC San Diego where he was awarded the best PhD thesis award. Sadegh founded Project HEAX at Microsoft Research (a new computing platform for Homomorphic Encryption). Prior to that, he studied Electrical Engineering and designed a new system for Brain-Computer Interfaces. Sadegh is a fellow of the Institute for Global Entrepreneur and has received multiple prestigious awards including Richard Newton Young Fellow Award, Jacobs Graduate Student Award, and Silver Medal in International Student Olympiad.
Nader Karayanni has a strong passion for software and AI, and spent three years at Microsoft as a software engineer. Following which, he pursued his master's in Computer Science, researching systems for ML at Columbia University as a Fulbright Fellow. In the last year, he joined the Surplex team, working to bridge the gap between AI and the human body.
Peter H. Schmidt, Co-Founder and COO of Transcend Air, is an entrepreneur and executive with startup, turn-around, and large enterprise experience. Schmidt’s aviation roles have included sUAS test pilot, with two first flights; President & COO of LinearAir, Eclipse 500operator and Part 135 online charter marketplace; COO of Jet Advisors, a business aviation consultancy; and SVP of National Aviation Academy, the second largest Part 147 aviation mechanic school in the U.S. In his pre-aviation career, Schmidt led several networking and embedded systems companies, including as CTO of North America for Ipanema Technologies, CEO of Echo Engineering, Division Manager of Teradyne, and Co-Founder and President of MidnightNetworks. An aerobatic pilot, Schmidt did his undergrad in computer science and his master's degree in management, both at MIT. He currently serves as Chair of the Electric Flight Test Committee of the E-VTOL Flight Test Council.
George Westerman is a Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management and Founder of the Global Opportunity Forum (http://gof.mit.edu).
George’s work bridges the fields of executive leadership and technology strategy. During more than 20 years with MIT Sloan School of Management, he has written three award-winning books, including Leading Digital: Turning Technology Into Business Transformation. As a pioneering researcher on digital transformation, George has published papers in Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, and other top journals. He is now focused on helping employers, educators, and other groups to rethink the process of workforce learning around the world through the GOF and several research collaborations.
George is cochair of the MIT Sloan CIO Leadership Awards, a member of the Digital Strategy Roundtable for the US Library of Congress, and member of the Board of Directors for Workcred. He works frequently with senior management teams and industry groups around the world. Prior to earning a Doctorate from Harvard Business School, he gained more than 13 years of experience in product development and technology leadership roles.
Technology R&D is an essential capability-building activity. But R&D is a people challenge as much as a technical one; every company we talk to mentions the challenge of hiring good people – in the technology space and the rest of the organization. To complement the technology-focused research presentations this year, we have designed this half-day program to delve into the critical challenges of finding the right people and helping them develop. There are many simple answers that are just too simplistic and insurmountable challenges that have reasonable solutions. In this session, we’ll share expert insights from practicing leaders and internationally-recognized academic researchers. We’ll also introduce a new ILP effort – in collaboration with other parts of MIT – to help our member companies learn and share best practices in the complex world of talent management.
With multiple leadership roles at MIT, Kathleen is on the front lines of technology and innovation. Right now, she is passionate about AI education, digital transformation, and sustainable fashion. She is a strategic leader with a unique skill set for transforming organizations as well as building new ones.
As Executive Director of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence, Kathleen works with a multidisciplinary research team on Supermind Design, a methodology for designing intelligent human/machine organizations. She is putting that into practice at MIT Open Learning, where she leads MIT Horizon, a digital learning platform helping organizations to train at scale about emerging technologies such as AI.
Bjørn Jalving graduated as M.Sc. in Engineering Cybernetics from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in 1991. He started at FFI, the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment in 1992, on development of autonomous underwater vehicles. Bjørn developed the HUGIN AUV control and mission management system and was responsible for the team that developed the aided inertial navigation system. He was heavily involved in AUV system design, as well as applying and verifying use of AUVs in new applications as detailed seabed mapping, naval mine hunting (MCM) and marine research. During his 14 years at FFI, moving to the position as Principal Scientist, Bjørn Jalving published and co-authored more than 30 publications.
In 2006 Bjørn Jalving started in Kongsberg Maritime as Senior Principal Engineer. In 2007 he became Vice President of the AUV Department. In 2014 he received the Compass Distinguished Achievement Award from the Marine Technology Society for his long career and achievements within AUV technology at the OCEANS 2014 MTS/IEEE conference in St. John 's, Newfoundland, Canada.
From 2012 Bjørn has been Executive Vice President of the Subsea Division in Kongsberg Maritime. Subsea operations include Horten, Norway, Mesotech in Canada, Kongsberg Underwater Technology in WA, USA, Hydroid in MA, USA, Kongsberg GeoAcoustics in UK, Kongsberg Contros in Germany and Simrad Spain. Subsea is responsible for underwater sensors system and marine robotics in Kongsberg Maritime. Underwater sensor systems include positioning, communication, multibeam echo sounders, sub bottom profilers, synthetic aperture sonars, sensors for gas in water, sonars, echo sounders and trawl instrumentation. Marine robotics include autonomous underwater vehicles, bottom nodes and unmanned surface vehicles.
In 2017 Kongsberg Maritime Subsea won the award for Norwegian Lean Business, announced at the annual conference for Lean Forum Norway.
Kanji began his career at Revlon USA as a Chemist before joining L’Oréal USA in 1993 as a Senior Chemist in the Research and Development department. At L’Oréal, he developed mascara and liners for the Maybelline brand and gradually advanced through the ranks.
In 2008, Kanji became the Vice President of R&D Makeup Laboratories for Maybelline, where he led global development efforts, and along with his team launched several successful products, including the Dream Matte Mousse Foundation, Color Sensational Lip Color, ESSIE nail color, and the Colossal Mascara. He also was instrumental in creating the R&I center in India.
In 2013, he was promoted to Senior Vice President, Research & Innovation for L’Oréal USA, where he managed the pre-development and development labs, Evaluation department, Micro Analytical Labs, and all the NJ-based R&I center-related activities across the USA, Canada, and Hispanic America.
Kanji’s current role is Chief Open Innovation and Operational Excellence Officer, where he is responsible for Open Innovation Activities & critical areas, including Scouting, Transformation, and Strategic Alliances. For Operational Excellence, he manages functions such as Analytical, Quality, IT, Facilities, and EHS, and oversees the development of L’Oréal’s new Research & Innovation hub for North America.
Taiil Kim is Global Director of Strategy at Schneider Electric whose mission is to be digital partner for sustainability and efficiency. In this role, Taiil is responsible for innovation and corporate development. Prior to Schneider Electric, Taiil served as Head of Sales and Strategy at HyAxiom, formerly known as UTC Power of United Technologies Corporation in Connecticut, for 5 years. Taiil’s career grounded in management consulting as Project Leader at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) specializing in corporate development and growth strategy for 9 years. Taiil is a firm believer of 3Ds – Decarbonization, Distributed generation, and Digitalization in energy. Taiil holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a BBA from Yonsei University. Taiil is based in Boston with his wife, a concert pianist, and two sons.
Susan is the Inaugural Assistant Dean of the Career Development Office (CDO) at MIT Sloan and a strategic catalyst for the CDO’s re-imagination and culture transformation. In this role she leads a talented team of approximately 30 career professionals who guide the careers of students and alumni across MIT Sloan’s diverse portfolio of graduate business programs. Susan and her team take to heart MIT Sloan’s mission to develop innovative principled leaders who improve the world and are inspired every day to catalyze and connect the world’s most dynamic talent community. A passionate advocate for advancing diversity, equity and inclusion, Susan brings her action-oriented commitment to MIT Sloan’s school-wide DEI efforts.
Susan is a recognized higher education thought leader and career coach with 30 years’ experience in career development and team building at the world’s leading organizations. A certified CliftonStrengths, CareerLeader, and Design Your Life coach who also leverages training in Positive Intelligence and Co-Active Coaching, she empowers students and alumni to realize their unique power and potential. Known for her strategic, creative and relational approach, she is a proven leader of organizational culture transformation, balancing left and right brain solutions and turning creative ideas into actionable solutions that engage and energize her team. She guides change with love, transparency and vulnerability.
An active volunteer and lifelong learner, Susan served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Colleges (NACE) and led the organization’s committees focused on Diversity Equity and Inclusion and Principles for Professional Practice. She is an active member of the MBA Career Services and Employers Alliance (MBA CSEA) and the Career Leadership Collective (CLC), a graduate of its Mastermind program for senior leaders. Susan completed an Executive Education Certificate in Management and Leadership from MIT Sloan with focus on MIT’s unique 4-CAPS+ Leadership Framework and is a certified Design Your Life (DYL) coach from Stanford University. She holds an MBA from Babson College, an Ed.M. from Harvard University and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania.
Maya Makarovsky is a junior-year student in the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Victory Yinka-Banjo is a junior-year student in the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Pedro Russel is a second-year MBA candidate at MIT Sloan School of Management.
David Autor is Ford Professor in the MIT Department of Economics. His scholarship explores the labor-market impacts of technological change and globalization on job polarization, skill demands, earnings levels and inequality, and electoral outcomes.
Autor has received numerous awards for both his scholarship—the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, the Sherwin Rosen Prize for outstanding contributions in the field of Labor Economics, the Andrew Carnegie Fellowship—and for his teaching, including the MIT MacVicar Faculty Fellowship.
In 2017, Autor was recognized by Bloomberg as one of the 50 people who defined global business. In March of 2019, he was christened "Twerpy MIT Economist, David Autor" by John Oliver, host of Last Week Tonight, during a segment on automation and employment. Autor is currently determining how to merchandise this title.
There is so much interesting research on talent and upskilling across MIT. George and Kathleen will share some highlights from Sloan, Open learning and other areas.
Prior to joining MIT in September 2022, Olivier Cadet was Senior Vice President Global Operations, Americas, and President of Kongsberg Maritime Inc. located in Houston, TX and responsible for Kongsberg Maritime operations in the Americas region. Prior to assuming his role in July 2018, Olivier was Executive Vice President of Products & Services, based in Norway. In that role, Olivier was overseeing the teams managing Kongsberg Maritime’s products portfolio aligned with market demands and future trends, such as autonomous operations and digital performance. Olivier was also accountable for Kongsberg Maritime’s strategic initiative around Information Management System and Smart Data.
Olivier started his international career in the offshore drilling industry in 1998, working for Schlumberger/Transocean as a Controls Engineer where he was involved in the installation, commissioning and support of Dynamic Positioning and Automation systems on offshore drilling rigs. In 2004 Olivier joined Air Liquide, the world leader in industrial gases, where he served for 9 years in a variety of innovation management roles, including R&D Group Manager and Program Director, driving Air Liquide’s research efforts in the field of Advanced Process Control and Operations Research to support the company’s efficiency program.
A dual citizen (U.S./France), Olivier graduated from the Grenoble Institute of Technology (INP Grenoble) in France in 1998 with a Master of Engineering (Diplôme d’Ingénieur) in Electrical Engineering. He completed the Advanced Management Program with MIT Sloan Executive Education in June 2022.
Rebekah Miller joined the Office of Corporate Relations team as a Program Director in March 2022. Rebekah brings to the OCR expertise in the life sciences and chemical industries as well as in applications including sensors, consumer electronics, semiconductors and renewable energy.
Prior to joining the OCR, Rebekah worked for over a decade at Merck KGaA, most recently as a Global Key Account Manager in the Semiconductor division. Rebekah also served as Head of Business and Technology Development for the Semiconductor Specialty Accounts, during which time she led strategic planning and technology roadmapping.
While at Merck KGaA, Miller established a strong track record in industry-university partnerships, corporate entrepreneurship, and innovation management, with experience in roles spanning Technology Scouting, Alliance Management, and New Business Development. Early in her career, she led early phase R&D projects as a member of the Boston Concept Lab, which focused on technology transfer from academia.
Miller earned her B.A. in Chemistry and Biology from Swarthmore College and her Ph.D. in Chemistry, with a Designated Emphasis in Nanoscale Science and Engineering, from the University of California, Berkeley. She first joined MIT as a postdoctoral associate in the Bioengineering and Material Science Departments.
Adi Gottumukkala joined the MIT OSATT Core Catalyst team in 2020, where he advances partnerships between MIT and industry and facilitates technology transfer. Before MIT, Adi founded and led the Intellectual Asset Management team at PPG Industries, responsible for harvesting value from PPG's global intellectual property portfolio. Adi holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, the Netherlands, and an MS in Organometallic Chemistry from Université de Rennes 1, France. His postdoctoral work at the University of California, Berkeley, focused on enzyme catalysis and organic synthesis.
Anne, whose research focuses on fusion energy, joined the MIT faculty in 2009; she became head of the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering in 2019. In 2020, she was named the School of Engineering Distinguished Professor of Engineering, reflecting her excellence in research and teaching and her commitment to Institute service. Anne has served on several Institute-wide committees and is currently co-chair of the MIT Climate Nucleus. She also chairs the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee.
As Vice Provost and Associate Vice President for Research Administration, Anne oversees the Office of Strategic Alliances and Technology Transfer, Research Administration Services, Research Administration Systems and Support, and Research Development.
Meghan McCollum Fenno joined MIT as Counsel in the Office of the General Counsel in 2017, became Director of OSATT’s Strategic Transactions Team in 2019, and is currently Executive Director of the OSATT Core and Counsel.
Prior to joining MIT, Meghan was the Director of Technology Transactions in Harvard’s Office of Technology Development. Before Harvard, Meghan was an Associate Counsel in the Office of the General Counsel at the University of Massachusetts; she has also worked at the law firms Choate, Hall & Stewart and Saul Ewing LLP in their corporate, IP, and emerging technology practice areas.
Lauren C. Foster is the Associate Director of MIT's Technology Licensing Office (TLO), focusing principally on the licensing and commercialization of technologies in the biomedical, biotechnology and medical device fields. She also serves as Director of Intellectual Property and Strategic Alliances at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT where she is involved in the strategic management of the Koch Institute’s industrial partnerships and intellectual property portfolio. Prior to joining MIT, Lauren was Senior Director, IP and Technology Acquisition at Antigenics, Inc., a public biotechnology company, where she played an integral role in envisioning and implementing the company’s business, intellectual property and technology strategies. Lauren was also a Technical Specialist at the law firm Lahive & Cockfield LLP where she focused on strategic development of intellectual property rights for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and universities. Ms. Foster holds a D.Sc. from Harvard University and a B.S. from Haverford College, and is a registered Patent Agent.
Engagement with corporations and support of entrepreneurship are two critical vehicles for delivering on MIT’s mission to bring knowledge to bear on the world’s greatest challenges. MIT commitment to both is among the strongest of any university, with leading corporations involved in over 20% MIT’s research and thousands of startups having spun off from research connected to MIT. MIT’s Office of Strategic Alliances and Technology Transfer (OSATT) provides dedicated resources to make this possible, including the MIT Office of Corporate Relations, the OSATT Core, and the Technology Licensing Office. Representatives of each with speak on their role, the interface with corporations, and lessons learned.
An entrepreneurial product development leader who champions design, creativity, and innovation, Tony Hu serves as Director of and Senior Lecturer with the MIT Riccio Graduate Engineering Leadership Program. Over a span of 25 years as head of product design and development at small companies and large corporations, he brought more than 200 consumer products to market globally, including electronics, appliances, toys, and sporting goods. As an inventor, he’s licensed 22 products and been awarded 18 patents.
As a teacher, he is a rarity: an engineer with a deep background in design and business who loves sharing his holistic approach to product design with students. He has taught product design at MIT and Stanford for 13 years prior to joining MIT’s IDM. Hu earned his BS in electrical engineering at MIT, conducting research at the Media Lab, and his MS in product design from Stanford.
With extensive experience in product design, Tony Hu, Director of MIT’s Integrated Design and Management Program, will share his insights on spanning design, engineering, and business domains to develop a holistic approach to product design.
Christine LaBarre joined Liberty Mutual in 2020, first as a Senior Manager for Corporate Strategy and Research, where she drove day-to-day execution of strategic projects, and then as a Managing Director for Cross-business unit innovation. In this role, she spearheaded efforts to develop AI-enabled innovations in collaboration with leading research institutions. Prior to joining Liberty Mutual, LaBarre served as an Engagement Manager and, subsequently an Analytics Expert with McKinsey and Company. She earned a BSBA in Management Information Systems from the University of Tulsa and a Masters in Business Administration from the Carnegie Mellon University Tepper School of Business.
Anthony J. Sinskey, Sc.D., is a Professor of Microbiology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and holds positions as Co-Director of the Malaysia-MIT Biotechnology Partnership Program and as Faculty Director of the MIT Center for Biomedical Innovation (CBI). He conducts interdisciplinary research in metabolic engineering, focusing on the fundamental physiology, biochemistry and molecular genetics of important organisms. Dr. Sinskey is well known in the biopharmaceutical industry and has been a Scientific Co-founder of several biotechnology companies, including Genzyme Corporation, Natural Pharmaceuticals, Metabolix, Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, and Tepha. Dr. Sinskey has given more than 300 presentations at U.S. and International scientific meetings and congresses. He has received 31 issued patents, has made more than 30 invention disclosures, and has published more than 300 scientific papers in leading peer-reviewed journals for biology, metabolic engineering, and biopolymer engineering.
Dr. Stacy Springs is the Executive Director at the MIT Center for Biomedical Innovation (CBI). The Center integrates the Institute’s technical, scientific, and management expertise to solve complex biopharmaceutical challenges. CBI leads multi-stakeholder, multidisciplinary research and educational initiatives with real world impact, including MIT’s Biomanufacturing Consortium, (BioMAN), and it’s Consortium on Adventitious Agent Contamination in Biomanufacturing, (CAACB). Dr. Springs is a principle investigator on several research programs in biologics manufacturing, from application of data analytics and PAT in the continuous production of monoclonal antibodies, viral vectors and vaccines, to development of innovative rapid sterility tests and new approaches to adventitious agent contamination through long read sequencing. Dr. Springs is part of the leadership of SMART CAMP, an interdisciplinary research group focused on Critical Analytics for Manufacturing Personalized-Medicine at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) and serves as the Chair of Landmark Bio’s Science and Technology Committee.
Dr. Springs’ research interests include biopharmaceutical development and manufacturing, risk management, regulatory and translational science and food safety and food supply chains. She holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin and gained postdoctoral training in protein and biophysical chemistry at Princeton University.
Dr. Gopalaswamy serves as Global Technology Director, New Domains at Novelis, where his mission is to accelerate the pace of innovation through exponential technologies and by engaging a global ecosystem of research partners. Prior to this, he held roles at Novelis as Global Technology Director for Packaging and Specialties and at Coca Cola as a Technical Director for Global Packaging. Dr. Gopalaswamy earned a PhD in Engineering Science and Management at Penn State University and MBA in Economics, Finance and Strategy at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
MIT Faculty and staff will be joined by industry leaders to explore the role of research collaborations as part of a successful technology innovation strategy.
Aude Oliva, Ph.D. is the MIT director in the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab and director of strategic industry engagement in the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, leading collaborations with industry to translate natural and artificial intelligence research into tools for the wider world. She is also a senior research scientist at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), where she heads the Computational Perception and Cognition group. Oliva has received an NSF Career Award in computational neuroscience, a Guggenheim fellowship in computer science, and a Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship in cognitive neuroscience. She has served as an expert to the NSF Directorate of Computer and Information Science and Engineering on the topic of human and artificial intelligence. She is currently a member of the scientific advisory board for the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence. Her research is cross-disciplinary, spanning human perception and cognition, computer vision and cognitive neuroscience, and focuses on research questions at the intersection of all three domains. She earned a MS and PhD in cognitive science from the Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble, France.
Vladimir Bulović is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, holding the Fariborz Maseeh Chair in Emerging Technology. He directs the Organic and Nanostructured Electronics Laboratory, co-leads the MIT-Eni Solar Frontiers Center, leads the Tata GridEdge program, and is the Founding Director of MIT.nano, MIT's new 200,000 sqft nano-fabrication, nano-characterization, and prototyping facility. He is an author of over 250 research articles (cited over 50,000 times and recognized as the top 1% of the most highly cited in the Web of Science). He is an inventor of over 100 U.S. patents in areas of light emitting diodes, lasers, photovoltaics, photodetectors, chemical sensors, programmable memories, and micro-electro machines, majority of which have been licensed and utilized by both start-up and multinational companies. The three start-up companies Bulović co-founded jointly employ over 350 people, and include Ubiquitous Energy, Inc., developing nanostructured solar technologies, Kateeva, Inc., focused on development of printed electronics, and QD Vision, Inc. (acquired in 2016) that produced quantum dot optoelectronic components. Products of these companies have been used by millions. Bulović was the first Associate Dean for Innovation of the School of Engineering and the Inaugural co-Director of MIT’s Innovation Initiative, which he co-led from 2013 to 2018. For his passion for teaching Bulović has been recognized with the MacVicar Fellowship, MIT’s highest teaching honor. He completed his Electrical Engineering B.S.E. and Ph.D. degrees at Princeton University.
Klavs F. Jensen is the Warren K. Lewis Professor in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a co-director of MIT’s consortium, Machine Learning for Pharmaceutical Discovery and Synthesis, which aims to bring machine learning technology into pharmaceutical discovery and development. From 2007- July 2015, he was the Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering. His research spans thermal-, electro-, and photo-chemistry in batch and flow, kinetics and optimization, automation, and machine learning to develop new methods that accelerate chemical discovery and development. His lab explores new automated reaction systems integrated with online analytics, robotics, optimization, and machine learning algorithms toward autonomous discovery.
Prof. Jensen is the co-author of ~500 refereed journal publications and the inventor of 63 US patents. He is the inaugural Editor-in-Chief of the Royal Society of Chemistry Journal Reaction Chemistry and Engineering. Prof. Jensen is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, the US National Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Science. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the National Academy of Inventors, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Dr. Juner Zhu joined the faculty of Northeastern University as an Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering in August 2022. Before that, he was a Research Scientist at MIT in Mechanical and Chemical Engineering. He received his Ph.D. from MIT in 2019. Juner co-developed the 2020-2022 phase of the MIT Industrial Battery Consortium and acted as the Executive Director, working with eight world-leading companies in EV, battery, and electronics. He got his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Tsinghua University, where he graduated with top honors (the Top Grade Fellowship) for Tsinghua graduate students 2014-2015. Juner is leading the Electro-Chemo-Mechanics Lab on the Innovation Campus at Burlington. His research group tackles the fundamental challenges of integrating data-driven methods with physics-based theories for complex engineered systems with a particular interest in Li-ion batteries, solid-state batteries, and Li-metal anode.
Leaders from four dynamic and impactful MIT Consortia and Centers with share their mission, new developments, and ways that companies can become involved to collaboratively address key challenges.
Erin L. Scott, Ph.D. draws upon her nearly two decades of academic and practical experience to partner with groundbreaking innovators to successfully navigate the entrepreneurial journey from initial idea to commercialization. Her research focuses on Strategy for Startups, has been published in leading journals such as Harvard Business Review and Management Science, and will be released in a forthcoming book published by Norton.
At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Scott mentors early-stage entrepreneurs and teaches the award-winning Entrepreneurial Strategy course (MBA and EMBA) and the popular Entrepreneurial Founding & Teams course (MBA).
Prior to MIT Sloan, Scott was an Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore Business School. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the National Bureau of Economic Research’s Innovation Policy and the Economy Group. A recipient of the Kauffman Dissertation Fellowship, she earned her PhD in strategy from Washington University in St. Louis in 2013. Scott also holds an MBA-MS and BE in biomedical engineering from Washington University in St. Louis and Vanderbilt University, respectively. She previously evaluated and consulted for early-stage ventures in the medical device and biotechnology sectors.
Dr. Scott will draw upon her nearly two decades of academic and practical experience to speak how corporations and startups can navigate the entrepreneurial journey from initial idea to successful commercialization.
Stanley Chu is the Chief Financial Officer of Defond, a diversified manufacturing company headquartered in Hong Kong. Defond has served as an integrated manufacturing partner to Fortune 500 automotive, consumer, and industrial brands for more than 40 years. In recent years, the company has also worked closely with the MIT ILP team to solve research challenges as well as accelerate new technologies' growth from lab to market.
In his current role, Stanley draws upon his background in alternative investments and company digitalization to lead the group’s digital transformation objectives. His deep understanding of data-driven analytics and decision-making have been instrumental in shaping a culture of innovation at Defond.
Before becoming the CFO, Stanley was also the director for business development in Defond’s automotive division, where he led the division’s business expansionary initiatives including key R&D projects. He also played a key role in bridging MIT-affiliated startups to collaborate with Defond’s in-house research teams.
Prior to joining Defond, Stanley had extensive experience in the PE and VC sector. Most recently, he served as investment lead and CFO at a HK-based private equity firm focusing on China’s consumer and technology sector. Stanley holds an MBA from HKUST and an undergraduate degree from Boston University.
Alex Gruzen is the CEO of WiTricity, the industry pioneer in wireless power transfer over distance. Before WiTricity, Gruzen co-founded Texas-based Corsa Ventures, where he focused on building leading technology companies via early-stage investments. Prior to Corsa, he was the Senior Vice President of the Consumer and Small Medium Business Product Group at Dell, and previously led the company’s global notebook computer business. His experience spans product development, global sales and marketing, operations and growth through mergers and acquisitions, having also held leadership roles at Hewlett Packard, Compaq, and Sony. Gruzen holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a S.M. and S.B. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The panelists will explore models for successful corporate-startup engagement, based on research and perspectives from industry and startups with extensive experience.
Sinan AbuShanab is the Associate Director of the MIT Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (MIT REAP) where he oversees the operational and logistical needs of the program, including workshop implementation, managing technology platforms, as well as serving as a point of contact to the program participants.
Sinan joined MIT Sloan Global Programs in 2018. Previously, he was the Program Manager for Our Generation Speaks, a fellowship program and incubator at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, where young Israeli and Palestinian community leaders create high-impact ventures together, cooperating across ethnic and political lines to build shared prosperity within Palestine and Isreal. Prior to that, he worked at the Public Relations Department of Al-Quds University in Jerusalem and at the Palestine Information and Communications Technology Incubator (PICTI) in Ramallah, the first nonprofit startup incubator in Palestine.
Sinan holds an MS in management and information systems from the University of Manchester and an MA in intellectual encounters of the Islamicate world from the Free University of Berlin.
Jinhua Zhao is the Professor of Cities and Transportation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Prof. Zhao integrates behavioral and computational thinking to decarbonize the world’s mobility system.
Prof. Zhao founded the MIT Mobility Initiative, coalescing the Institute’s efforts on transportation research, education, entrepreneurship, and engagement. He hosts the MIT Mobility Forum, highlighting transportation innovation from MIT and across the globe.
Prof. Zhao directs the JTL Urban Mobility Lab and Transit Lab, leading long-term collaborations with transportation authorities and operators worldwide and enabling cross-culture learning between cities in North America, Asia and Europe.
Prof. Zhao leads the program “Mens, Manus and Machina (M3S): How AI Impacts the Future of Work and Future of Learning” at the Singapore MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART).
He is the co-founder and chief scientist for TRAM.Global, a mobility decarbonization venture.
As Executive Director, April Julich Perez oversees the MISTI country programs, seed funds, and partnerships that create opportunities for MIT students and faculty to learn and collaborate abroad.
Julich Perez has worked on the editorial support staff of the International Herald Tribune and the parisavenue.com division of Le Figaro in France, and in Boston as Assistant Cultural Attachée for the French Consulate. Prior to joining MISTI in 2005, she was Program Associate in MIT's Office of the Arts.
While completing a BA in French at the University of Nebraska, Julich Perez earned certificates in European studies and French linguistics from the University of Antwerp, Belgium, and the Center for Applied Linguistics in Besançon, France. She holds an MA in French Cultural Studies from Columbia University.
Julich Perez serves on the policies and procedures group of MIT's International Coordinating Committee. She participated in MIT's Leader to Leader program and is a recipient of the MIT Excellence Award.
A member of NAFSA, the Association of International Educators, Julich Perez authored a case study about MIT's pioneering international education model in the NAFSA publication "Internships, Service Learning & Volunteering Abroad." She has spoken about MISTI at venues such as the American Society for Engineering Education International Forum, the Annual Colloquium on International Engineering Education and the Global Internship Conference.
Engaging with MIT is not limited to Kendall Square. In this session, representatives from MIT programs with global reach will share how to maximize impact through programs such as MIT Sloan Global Programs, the SMART M3S program, and MIT MISTI.
Mr. David Martin joined Corporate Relations on August 15, 2018 as Program Director for the ILP. Martin comes to OCR with deep and broad knowledge and expertise in program management, innovation, commercial and government contracting, and strategic planning. In his most recent position at Altran (Burlington, MA) as the VP Programs, Dave had many major accomplishments including leading an innovation team to develop new technology in the beverage-filling industry, and managing client-facing relations supporting sales and execution of projects. Before that, he was at Windmill International as VP, Product Development, R&D. There he spearheaded the move into new markets for an innovative satellite communications product including through the SBIR program where he secured funding and sponsorship. Martin also leveraged other government programs collaborating with the DoD and congressional contacts. He began his career in the US Air Force as an Active Duty Captain and served for 10 years as an Acquisition Manager, Scientist, Test Director, and finally as Executive Officer in the Executive Office for Command, Control and Communications Systems in the Pentagon. Martin also served in the US Air Force Reserves before joining Windmill. Mr. Martin earned his B.S., Physics from MIT, and his M.S., Systems Management from the University of Denver. He also earned a Certificate in Information Systems at the University of Denver.
Michael Short joined the faculty in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering in July, 2013. He brings 15 years of research experience in the field of nuclear materials, microstructural characterization, and alloy development. His group’s research is a mixture of large-scale experiments, micro/nanoscale characterization, and multiphysics modeling & simulation. The main areas of Short’s research focus on 1) Non-contact, non-destructive measurement of irradiated material properties using transient grating spectroscopy (TGS) more, 2) Preventing the deposition of deleterious phases, such as CRUD in nuclear reactors, as fouling deposits in energy systems more, and 3) Quantification of radiation damage by stored energy fingerprints more. This last project was recently selected for an NSF CAREER award.
Dr. Corey Cheng joined the Office of Corporate Relations (OCR) as an Senior Industrial Liaison Officer in December 2011. He has broad interests in science and technology, and uses his technical research experience to better serve ILP members in Asia and the United States.
Cheng spent six years in industrial research at Dolby Laboratories, San Francisco, where he contributed to sound compression (Dolby Digital, AAC, MP3), wireless networking, fingerprinting, and spatial/“3-D audio” technologies. Later, he was Associate Professor and Director of the undergraduate and graduate programs in music engineering technology at the University of Miami, Florida, where he also held a dual appointment in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Cheng holds various U.S. and international patents, has published technical papers, and has presented at various conferences. His technical work includes collaborations and consulting work with the U.S. Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory, Fujitsu-Ten USA, Starkey Laboratories, America Online, and the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). Cheng was an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer for the Circuits and Systems Society from 2009-2010, and was a Westinghouse (Intel) Science Talent Search national finalist many years ago.
Cheng holds degrees in Electrical Engineering (Ph.D., M.S.E. University of Michigan), Electro-Acoustic Music (M.A. Dartmouth College), and physics (B.A. Harvard University).
Personally, Dr. Cheng is an American Born Chinese (ABC), serves as his family’s genealogist, and traces his roots back to Toi San, Guang Dong Province and Xing Hua, Jiang Su Province, China. He also has a background in music, and his electro-acoustic compositions have been presented at various U.S. and international venues.
Before MIT, Jim was the assistant dean of research business development at the UMass Amherst College of Information and Computer Sciences. Jim founded, built, and sold multiple technology companies in fintech and online media. He has bootstrapped startups and closed venture capital, angel, and private equity funding rounds. Jim also served as the Chief Operating Officer of a public company and a subsidiary of Pitney Bowes. He began his career at AT&T as a software developer, hardware engineer, and national account manager. Jim has authored patents and wrote one of the first books on Java programming. Out of all the roles he's held, Jim's favorite job title by far is dedicated dad of four. He earned a BS from Manhattan College and an MBA with concentrations in finance and international business from New York University.
This lightning talk introduces the main results from a survey MIT Corporate Relations and Innolead Inc. (https://www.innovationleader.com/) recently conducted on “Best Practices in University-Corporate Partnering." Through a blend of surveys and deep conversations with 100+ corporate leaders in 20+ different industries, this study illustrates corporates’ different strategic reasons and priorities for engaging with universities, along with what works and what doesn’t in initiating and maintaining these relationships. In the survey, corporates give some advice to other corporates interested in engaging with universities; discuss some challenges they encounter; and offer universities some ideas for improvement.
John Hart is Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. He is also the Director of the MIT Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity and the Center for Advanced Production Technologies. John’s. John’s research group focuses on the science and technology of production, including work on additive manufacturing, materials processing, automation, and computational methods. John has been recognized by awards from the United States NSF, ONR, AFOSR, DARPA, SME, and ASME, along with two R&D 100 awards. He has also received the MIT Ruth and Joel Spira Award for Distinguished Teaching in Mechanical Engineering and the MIT Keenan Award for Innovation in Undergraduate Education, for his leadership in undergraduate manufacturing education using new pedagogical models and digital resources. John is a co-founder of Desktop Metal and VulcanForms, and a Board Member of Carpenter Technology Corporation.
Prof. John Hart will describe a new initiative at MIT - Manufacturing@MIT - that aims to develop and scale the technologies and systems that will shape the future of production. The vision for Manufacturing@MIT incorporates research, education and training initiatives, entrepreneurship, new lab facilities, and more. Manufacturing@MIT is building an industry alliance that allows members to work closely with one another, and with MIT faculty and students on shaping their manufacturing strategy, exploring manufacturing-related research across campus, and educating their workforce.
Prof. Faez Ahmed is the ABS Career Development Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He leads the Design Computation and Digital Engineering (DeCoDE) lab, with a research focus on the synergy of machine learning and engineering design. His recent work addresses the synthesis of designs tailored to real-world constraints and promotes the collaborative potential between human designers and machines. Prior to his appointment at MIT, Prof. Ahmed was a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University and earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland. He has industrial experience in Australia's railway and mining sectors, where he championed data-driven predictive maintenance initiatives. Prof. Ahmed's vision is to create a world where humans and AI design together to solve our biggest challenges.
Advances in Artificial Intelligence are transforming industries by discerning patterns in vast data sets and delivering accurate predictions. Notably, Generative AI is poised to reshape engineering product design, heralding new avenues of innovation. While tools like ChatGPT and Dall-E have shown significant potential in multimedia applications, design synthesis presents distinct challenges. This talk will probe these challenges, emphasizing the quest for realistic and high-performance designs. We'll unveil emerging generative AI methods addressing precision, constraints, and novelty, and present solutions to navigate these hurdles. A central theme will be the synergy of deep generative models with engineering optimization techniques, spotlighting how this fusion augments the design process. We'll wrap up by highlighting the transformative implications of these methodologies in fields like aerospace, robotics, and transportation, underscoring the impact of generative optimization on design democratization and engineering innovation.
J. Christopher Love is the Raymond A. (1921) and Helen E. St. Laurent Professor of Chemical Engineering and member of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT. His research focuses on advancing next-generation approaches for accessible and affordable biomanufacturing and on single-cell analyses in chronic diseases like cancer and food allergy. He served as a Distinguished Engineer in Residence at Biogen in 2015 and is the founding director of the Alternative Host Research Consortium at MIT. He has also co-founded four companies for biopharmaceutical services and technologies, including Honeycomb Bio, OneCyte Bio, and Sunflower Therapeutics.
Biomanufacturing will change the food we eat, energy we use, and how we cure diseases. It has the potential to drastically reduce our reliance on greenhouse gases. But there are enormous challenges to getting promising advances from labs to the market. Standing up a large-scale manufacturing facility can run to $2 billion, the field is full of regulatory hurdles, and workers need advanced training. We’ll look ahead at promising biomanufacturing solutions, and what it will take to scale them.
Dr. John Liu is the Principal Investigator of the MIT Learning Engineering and Practice (LEAP) Group, which applies design principles to solving challenges to better meet the increasing demand for STEM skills in tomorrow’s workforce. He is a Lecturer in MIT's Mechanical Engineering department and MITx Digital Learning Lab Scientist. He leads education and workforce development efforts for MIT's new initiative: Manufacturing@MIT. He was the Director of the Principles of Manufacturing MicroMasters program, an online certificate program that has now enrolled over 180,000 learners across the globe. Dr. Liu's work includes engineering education, mixed reality and haptic experiences, workforce solutions to address the nation-wide manufacturing skills need, open-ended assessments for scalable education settings, and instructional design theory for massively open online courses. He received Best Paper Awards at the American Society Engineering Education (ASEE) in 2020. Dr. Liu earned his B.S. in Applied Physics from Caltech and S.M. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, under an MIT-SUTD fellowship and NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.
Manufacturing firms that employ advanced technologies need an enlightened and empowered workforce. In this session, I will discuss the MIT Learning Engineering and Practice (LEAP) group’s projects to address workforce challenges in advanced manufacturing. Topics will include critical thinking manufacturing education, regional training systems, and extended reality simulations to train next-generation workers.
Richard Young is a Professor at the Whitehead Institute and MIT. Dr. Young studies gene regulation in health and disease. Therapeutic concepts from these studies have led to development of multiple anti-cancer drugs that are currently in clinical trials. Dr. Young has served as an advisor to the World Health Organization, the National Institutes of Health and numerous scientific societies and journals. His honors include Membership in the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine, and Scientific American has recognized him as one of the top 50 leaders in science, technology and business. He has founded and advised companies in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, and currently serves on the boards of Syros Pharmaceuticals, CAMP4 Therapeutics, Omega Therapeutics, Dewpoint Therapeutics, Paratus Sciences and Precede Biosciences. Dr. Young is also an aviator and holds a commercial pilot license.
Recent discoveries in RNA biology have changed the textbook paradigm of gene regulation and provide new therapeutic opportunities for many unmet medical needs. I will discuss these breakthroughs, the new therapeutic opportunities they offer, and how they enable rapid drug discovery and development. I’ll show how one company is pioneering a new class of medicines based on this new RNA science.
Dr. Richard D. Braatz is the Edwin R. Gilliland Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT, where he conducts research into advanced biomanufacturing systems. He is the Director of the Center on Continuous mRNA Manufacturing and leads process data analytics, mechanistic modeling, and control systems for projects on vaccine, monoclonal antibody, and gene therapy manufacturing. Dr. Braatz received an M.S. and Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology and was the Millennium Chair and Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University before moving to MIT. Dr. Braatz has collaborated with more than 20 companies, including Novartis, Pfizer, Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Biogen, Amgen, Takeda, and Abbott Labs. He has published over 300 papers and three books. Dr. Braatz is a Fellow of IEEE, IFAC, AIChE, and AAAS and a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering.
Mechanistic models are being constructed for all unit operations for the end-to-end continuous manufacturing of mRNA biotherapeutics. The dynamic models are integrated with models for constraints, uncertainties, and disturbances to form a digital twin for automated, integrated manufacturing. The digital twin is suitable for:
(1) The evaluation and validation of mechanistic hypotheses to gain mechanistic understanding, (2) comparison of multiple process flowsheet options, (3) optimization of individual unit operations and their control systems, (4) The design of end-to-end operations, (5) The real-time operation alongside plant operations. Experimentally validated results are presented for multiple unit operations.
Xiao Wang is a core institute member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at MIT. She started her lab in 2019 to develop and apply new chemical, biophysical, and genomic tools to better understand tissue function and dysfunction at the molecular level. Xiao conducted postdoctoral research at Stanford University with Prof. Karl Deisseroth. She received her B.S. in Chemistry and Molecular Engineering from Peking University in 2010 and her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Chicago in 2015, mentored by Prof. Chuan He.
mRNA translation is tightly regulated in mammalian cells. In this talk, I will begin by presenting a high-resolution 3D in situ sequencing approach (RIBOmap and TEMPOmap) that enables simultaneous mapping of mRNA transcription, export, translation, and degradation of thousands of genes within intact cells and tissues. Following that, I will explore strategies to improve mRNA translation and stability using mRNA-oligonucleotide conjugates, with a focus on their potential biomedical applications.
Kevin Kauffman, Ph.D., is an Associate Director of Delivery Sciences at Orna Therapeutics. Kevin’s group focuses on the discovery, optimization, and development of novel lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technologies for the delivery of circular RNA (oRNA™) across various therapeutic applications, including in vivo delivery to immune cells for in situCAR (isCAR™) therapy. Kevin received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in Daniel Anderson’s lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has over 25 peer-reviewed publications in the field of nucleic acid delivery. Prior to Orna Therapeutics, Kevin worked at Verseau Therapeutics where he helped advance first-in-classmacrophage checkpoint modulators for cancer therapies
Tasuku Kitada is the President and Head of R&D of Strand Therapeutics. He co-founded Strand and serves on its board of directors. Prior to Strand, Tasuku was a Senior Biotechnology Analyst at Candriam Investors Group, where he conducted due diligence for the company’s multi-billion-dollar biopharma public equity investment strategy. At Candriam, he focused on cell and gene therapy companies and also covered numerous oncology companies. Currently, Tasuku continues to serve Candriam Investors Group as an advisor. Prior to Candriam, Tasuku was a researcher at the Synthetic Biology Center at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he became the first scientist to create synthetic gene circuits using synthetic mRNA. This was the first demonstration of post-transcriptional circuits that can be “wired” to create a variety of networks of increasing complexity, which enabled cell type-specific expression as well as small-molecule-based control of gene expression from synthetic mRNA. This important research led to publications in Science, Nature Biotechnology, and Nature Chemical Biology. The mRNAsynthetic biology platform developed from this research has been exclusively licensed to Strand. Tasuku holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a B.S. in Biophysics and Biochemistry from the University of Tokyo.
Jacquelyn Pless is the Fred Kayne (1960) Career Development Professor of Entrepreneurship and an Assistant Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Her research interests are in the economics of innovation, energy and environmental economics, and public economics.
Her research focuses on understanding how policy affects firm behavior and innovation outcomes, with a particular interest in clean energy innovation. Current projects concentrate on the role of public subsidies in driving private research and development investments and the direction of innovation. Other work examines renewable energy markets and how environmental policy impacts firm competitiveness.
She holds an MS and PhD in mineral and energy economics from the Colorado School of Mines, and a BA in economics and political science from the University of Vermont.
Jacquelyn Pless is an Assistant Professor in the Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management group at the MIT Sloan School of Management and the Fred Kayne (1960) Career Development Professor of Entrepreneurship. Her research interests are in the economics of innovation, energy and environmental economics, and public finance. Most of her work studies the effects of policies and investment (both public and private) on innovation for social progress — innovation that protects the planet and people — focusing primarily on energy and environmental innovation. One of her current obsessions is understanding how market failure interdependencies and policy interactions shape firms’ and individuals’ incentives to innovate and especially how they steer the direction of innovation.
Jacquelyn is also an Honorary Research Associate with the University of Oxford, a Research Affiliate of CESifo, and an Invited Researcher with J-PAL’s Science for Progress Initiative.
Before joining MIT, Jacquelyn held various positions in the public and private sectors. She worked in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and National Conference of State Legislatures supporting state and tribal governments on energy policy and project finance issues, and she was a research economist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. She was also the Head of Analytics for a boutique consulting firm in the UK helping companies manage their reorganizations.
Climate change is one of today’s greatest threats to humanity and the economy. Stabilizing global temperatures and avoiding the most catastrophic consequences, though, will require new and more affordable technologies and processes for producing low-carbon energy as well as innovative approaches to energy management in the utility sector. This talk will discuss the challenges and opportunities for fostering energy innovation from an economics perspective, focusing on what has been learned from experience so far and how industry leaders, investors, and policymakers can help steer innovation moving forward.
Donald R. Sadoway is the John F. Elliott Professor Emeritus of Materials Chemistry in the MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He obtained the B.A.Sc. in Engineering Science, the M.A.Sc. in Chemical Metallurgy, and the Ph.D. in Chemical Metallurgy, all from the University of Toronto. After a year of postdoctoral study at MIT as a NATO Fellow, Dr. Sadoway joined the faculty in 1978. He is the author of over 180 scientific papers and holder of over 37 U.S. patents, and his research is directed towards the development of batteries for grid-level storage and mobile applications as well as environmentally sound technologies for the extraction of metals. Sadoway’s contributions include two breakthroughs. First came the liquid metal battery, which could enable the large-scale stationary storage of renewable energy. That represents a huge step forward in the transition to green energy, according to António Campinos, president of the European Patent Office, when Sadoway won the 2022 European Inventor Award for the invention in the category for non-European Patent Office Countries. The second breakthrough is molten oxide electrolysis, which produces metal from ore with no CO2 emissions. Discovered at MIT, Sadoway spun out the company today known as Boston Metal, which is the most credible solution to green steel. In 2012 he was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.
Professor Donald Sadoway’s research seeks to establish the scientific underpinnings for technologies that make efficient use of energy and natural resources in an environmentally sound manner. The overarching theme of his work is electrochemistry in nonaqueous media. Specific topics in applied research are environmentally sound electrochemical extraction and recycling of metals; rechargeable batteries for stationary storage or mobile applications; synthesis of thin films or of nanoparticles in cryogenic media.
Today’s lithium-ion batteries are still too expensive for most large-scale applications. To address this limitation, Prof. Sadoway has founded Avanti: “The aluminum battery – A unique storage solution for widespread decarbonization.” This new battery architecture uses aluminum and sulfur (two of the most abundant elements on earth) as its two electrode materials, with a molten salt electrolyte in between.
The molten salt the team chose as an electrolyte simply because of its low melting point turned out to have a fortuitous advantage. One of the biggest problems in battery reliability is the formation of dendrites, which are narrow spikes of metal that build up on one electrode and eventually grow across to contact the other electrode, causing a short circuit and hampering efficiency. But this particular salt, it happens, is very good at preventing that malfunction.
Avanti is working on demonstrating that the technology works at scale, including running through hundreds of charging cycles.
Desirée Plata’s research seeks to maximize technology’s benefit to society while minimizing environmental impacts in industrially important practices through the use of geochemical tools and chemical mechanistic insights. Plata earned her doctoral degree in Chemical Oceanography and Environmental Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s Joint Program in Oceanography (2009) and her bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Union College in Schenectady, NY (2003). Plata is an NSF CAREER Awardee (2016), an Odebrecht-Braskem Sustainable Innovation Awardee (2015), a two-time National Academy of Engineers Frontiers of Engineering Fellow (2012, 2020), a two-time National Academy of Sciences Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow (2011, 2013), a Caltech Resnick Sustainability Fellow (2017), and winner of MIT’s Junior Bose Teaching Award (2019),Edgerton Faculty Achievement Award (2021), and Perkins Graduate Advising Award (2021). Having previously served as John J. Lee Assistant Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at Yale University and Associate Director for Research at the Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering at Yale, Plata is now Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT, co-director of the MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium, and Faculty Lead of Belonging, Achievement, and Composition in the MIT School of Engineering. Plata directs MIT’s Methane Network, serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of Spark Climate, and served on the National Academy of Science Engineering and Medicine’s Atmospheric Methane Removal study (recused).Plata is co-founder of Nth Cycle(nthcycle.com), co-founder and President of Sustainable Chemical Resource Advisors LLC, and co-founder and President of Moxair Inc.
Methane emissions reductions on the order of 50% of anthropogenic sources could save 0.5oC warming by 2100. However, over 80% of all methane emissions are diffuse and dilute, making their abatement technically challenging. Plata will discuss the work her group is doing to tackle this problem using Earth-abundant zeolite catalysts, which are low-cost, operate at low-temperature, and show robust reactivity over long time periods. Application of these materials and customized reactors in key locations could have a meaningful effect on global methane emissions reduction in certain sectors, like coal extraction. Further development is needed for other targets, and Plata will briefly highlight opportunities undertaken by the MIT MethaneNetwork to advance this mission.
Our research focuses primarily on the development of electrochemical processes to facilitate chemical separations and to mediate the transformation of captured waste to useful commodity chemicals. The electrochemically-mediated separation processes that are currently under development and investigation in our group can primarily be divided into two areas: (i) carbon capture from both point (power plants, industrial emissions) and distributed (ambient air, ocean waters) sources; and (ii) water purification (including decontamination of wastewater and desalination). These research projects are supported by both government agencies and industrial partners.
We also have experience in the synthesis, characterization, and application of stimuli-responsive materials, which include nanoparticles, nanofibers, surfactants, polymers, and gels; these materials have a wide variety of applications in, for example, drug delivery, protein, environmental separations, rheology, and surface tension modification. We have particular experience with redox-active polymers for selective separations, and on the use of superparamagnetic nanoparticles (e.g. magnetic fluids) in environmental, biological and chemical separations.
Research advances in our group have resulted in the formation of a start-up company, Verdox Inc., developing electro-swing adsorption processes for removal of CO2 and other acid gases from process streams and the ambient environment. Other potential start-up ventures are currently under consideration.
As carbon dioxide continues to build up in the Earth’s atmosphere, research teams around the world have spent years seeking ways to remove the gas efficiently from the air. Meanwhile, the world’s number one “sink” for carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is the ocean, which soaks up some 30 to 40 percent of all of the gas produced by human activities.
Recently, the possibility of removing carbon dioxide directly from ocean water has emerged as another promising possibility for mitigating CO2 emissions, one that could potentially someday even lead to overall net negative emissions. But, like air capture systems, the idea has not yet led to any widespread use, though there are a few companies attempting to enter this area.
A team lead by Prof. Hatton and Prof. Kripa Varanasi has come up with a reversible process consisting of membrane-free electrochemical cells. Reactive electrodes are used to release protons to the seawater fed to the cells, driving the release of the dissolved carbon dioxide from the water. The process is cyclic: It first acidifies the water to convert dissolved inorganic bicarbonates to molecular carbon dioxide, which is collected as a gas under vacuum.
Professor Aristide Gumyusenge received a BS in chemistry from Wofford College and a PhD in chemistry from Purdue University. Before joining DMSE, he was a postdoctoral fellow of the Geballe Lab for Advanced Materials at Stanford University, working with Professor Zhenan Bao and Professor Alberto Salleo. Professor Gumyusenge’s research background and interests are in semiconducting polymers, their processing and characterization, and their role in the future of electronics. Particularly, he has tackled long-standing challenges in operation stability of semiconducting polymers under extreme heat and has pioneered high-temperature plastic electronics. At MIT, Professor Gumyusenge’s research group, OMSE Lab, focuses on developing novel organic semiconducting materials and using them to build organic electronic devices and body-machine interfaces. Through polymer design, novel processing strategies, large-area manufacturing of electronic devices, he’s interested in relating molecular design to device performance, especially transistor devices able to mimic and interface with biological systems.
Smart body-machine interfaces offer great potential for healthcare and consumer products. For effective merging of the body and machines, the necessary electronic hardware should be mechanically compatible, function stably within the body's dynamic environment, accurately capture and process body signals, learn from the body's reactions and act accordingly. Mixed ionic-electronic polymers are promising for this highly demanding task. They react to ions, changing their properties, which can then be used in applications. To date, the main hurdle is finding a material that balances ion movement with electronic movement. In my lab at MIT lab (the Laboratory of Organic Materials for Smart Electronics, OMSE Lab), we focus on creating such materials. I will discuss how we design new semiconductors that respond differently to ions and how we tweak molecules for varied uses. One method we use is copolymerization, allowing us to produce a range of conductors suited for devices from quick electrochemical transistors to advanced artificial synapses. By adding polar groups to known good electronic conductors, we can study the balance of ionic and electronic movement and its impact on performance. I will also touch on our work in creating bio-compatible probes that combine sensing and brain-like signal processing.
Polina Anikeeva received her BS in Physics from St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University, and a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from MIT. She completed her postdoctoral training at Stanford, where she created devices for optical stimulation and recording from brain circuits. Polina joined the MIT faculty in 2011 and is currently a Matoula S. Salapatas Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and a Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. She serves as the director of the K. Lisa Yang Brain-Body Center. Anikeeva’s Bioelectronics research group focuses on the development of minimal approaches to record and modulate the physiology of the nervous system, especially in the context of brain-body communication. Anikeeva is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award, the DARPA Young Faculty Award, the TR35, the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise, and the NIH Pioneer Award.
To understand the function and dynamics of the nervous system and to find treatments for the neurological and psychiatric conditions that increasingly affect our aging society, new tools capable of addressing neuronal signaling complexity are urgently needed. These tools must also match the mechanical and chemical properties of the neural tissue to avoid functional perturbation to local circuits. By leveraging fiber drawing, our group creates flexible and stretchable probes capable of recording and stimulation of neural activity as well as delivery of drugs and genes into the brain and peripheral nervous system. Simultaneously, we develop magnetic nanotransducers that convert magnetic fields into thermal, chemical, and mechanical signals, which can then be perceived by ion channels on neurons. Weak magnetic fields can penetrate arbitrarily deep into the body, allowing us to remotely control a variety of biological processes.
Rafael Jaramillo is the Thomas Lord Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT. His research sits in the big, fun space between materials science, solid state physics, and opto-electronic technologies. His current interests can be characterized as defect and phase engineering of chalcogenide semiconductors, with an emphasis on developing processing methods to control sulfide and selenide thin films. Prior to joining the faculty at MIT, he worked as a postdoc at Harvard and at MIT on topics in oxide electronic materials and chalcogenide thin-film solar cells. He earned his Ph.D. from The University of Chicago for work on antiferromagnetism and quantum phase transitions in chromium. Dr. Jaramillo is the recipient of numerous awards including the Rosalind Franklin Young Investigator Award from the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory, the Department of Energy SunShot Potdoctoral Fellowship, and the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER). He lives in Cambridge, MA, with his wife and kids.
Recent decades have seen exciting explosions of research into new and lesser-studied semiconductors, including such broad categories as complex-structured nitrides and chalcogenides and layered and two-dimensional (2D) materials. Even so, silicon has further consolidated its position as the leading material for computing, solar energy conversion, and even for some optoelectronics. In light of this friendly but often overmatched competition with silicon, I will motivate continued innovation in new semiconducting materials and present materials development projects in my research group that address future technology and market needs. I will highlight research on forming high-performance semiconductor-dielectric interfaces with 2D materials for transistors and on exploring new perovskite semiconductors for solar cells. Throughout, I will emphasize how choices in fundamental research topics can address the manufacturability of future semiconductor technologies.
Dr. Iwnetim (Tim) Abate is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Previously, he was both Miller Fellow and a Presidential Post-Doctoral Fellow at UC Berkeley (with Professor Mark Asta and Kwabena Bedikao), working on layered materials for application in computing, catalysis, and sensing. His Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University focused on designing high-performance materials for Li- and Na-ion batteries and elucidating their reaction mechanism (with Professor William Chueh and Thomas Devereaux). Before joining Stanford, he was researcher at IBM Alamden and Los Alamos National Laboratory working on metal-air batteries and hybrid perovskite solar cells, respectively.
Dr. Abate's achievements have been acknowledged with awards such as C&EN's "Talented Twelve," the Electrochemical Society's "Daniel Cubicciotti," and the Stanford Materials Science and Engineering "John Stevens Jr Memorial" Award, the "Miller" and "Presidential Postdoctoral" at UC Berkeley, among others.
Professor Abate is also a co-founder and president of a non-profit organization (www.scifro.org), working on empowering the African youth to solve local problems through scientific research and innovation. The organization is generously supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, National Science Foundation, American Physical Society, and others.
To decarbonize transportation, grid systems, and heavy industries, we rely on disruptive technologies and novel materials. Among these solutions, chemical and electrochemical energy storage mechanisms play pivotal roles in our journey. In the realm of chemical energy storage, hydrogen emerges as a clean and versatile fuel, holding the potential to drive us towards net-zero emissions by 2050. However, current hydrogen production methods have limitations, including CO2 emissions and high energy consumption. The Abate lab is committed to developing more efficient hydrogen production chemistries, eliminating CO2 emissions, and achieving a cost below $1/kg—an essential milestone for broader hydrogen adoption. In the field of electrochemical energy storage, our mission is to create high-energy-density, cost-effective batteries reliant on sustainable minerals. Sodium-ion batteries (NIBs) offer promise in this endeavor. Our laboratory actively explores manganese and iron-rich NIB technology, aiming to contribute to a more sustainable and eco-friendly energy future.
Prior to serving as the head of the Federal Housing Administration from 2015-2017, Ed Golding was a senior advisor in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In that role, he helped formulate policy on housing finance reform and the expansion of funding for the Housing Trust Fund.
Golding was also an executive at the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) from 1989-2012, where he headed model development, strategy and investor relations and developed a national reputation for visionary leadership in housing finance policy.
Most recently, Golding served as a Visiting Fellow in the Housing Finance Policy Center at the Urban Institute and as an Adjunct Professor of Finance at Columbia Business School. In addition, Golding has taught at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, and the University of Florida.
He earned an AB degree in applied mathematics from Harvard University in 1976 and a PhD in economics from Princeton University in 1982.
Daniel Aronoff is a Research Scientist at the MIT Media Lab. He has published two peer-reviewed books on the economic foundations of the 2008 global financial crisis. His research on digital currencies is focused on two areas. One area is game theoretic analysis of the consensus protocols that underlie cryptocurrencies and the design of new protocols to improve security. The other area is the design of smart contracts to improve the performance of financial markets in environments where money and securities are appended to distributed ledgers. Daniel received his BSc in Philosophy and Economics with first-class honors from the London School of Economics and his PhD in Economics from MIT.
In this panel, two distinguished experts, Edward Golding and Dan Aronoff, will engage in a thought-provoking discussion that delves into the ever-evolving landscape of finance, digital currencies, and blockchain technologies.
Edward Golding is a seasoned veteran with a wealth of experience in housing finance and economic policy. Having served as the head of the Federal Housing Administration and as an executive at Freddie Mac, his insights into the regulatory and policy dimensions of finance are invaluable. Edward brings a unique perspective on how financial markets and regulations have evolved over the years.
Dan Aronoff, a research scholar with an academic foundation in economics, has not only studied the roots of the 2008 global financial crisis but has also ventured into the exciting world of digital currencies and blockchain technology. His expertise in game theory, consensus protocols, and smart contracts positions him as a thought leader in the fintech space.
During this panel, Golding and Aronoff will engage in a lively discussion, tackling critical issues at the forefront of the fintech revolution. They will discuss the practical utility of digital currencies, explore use cases for blockchain technologies, discuss the future of the mortgage market, and share insights on how Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) may influence the economy. Additionally, the panel will examine the potential for future disruptions in financial markets, drawing parallels to historical events.
The discussion will delve into the role of financial regulation in this rapidly changing landscape, exploring how regulations can either foster or hinder innovation and economic stability. Attendees can expect an enlightening conversation that bridges the worlds of policy and technology in the context of modern finance.
Dr. Michael Fleder’s MIT research forms the basis for Covariance. Ai-a machine learning startup with breakthrough forecasting technology. Michael’s work has been featured in MIT News and leading modeling conferences. Michael has an extensive background in robotics (MIT, NASA/JPL), quantitative trading, and technology advising for the C-Suite at retail banks. Michael earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees from MIT.
Helen Yang, CFA, is the founder and CEO of Andes Wealth Technologies, the first company to combine behavior finance with analytics to help financial advisors deliver deeply personalized service and asset managers distribute investment products. A winner of the prestigious Harry Markowitz Award in 2011 and the 2022 Investment News Women to Watch Award, Yang has 20+ years in FinTech at leading institutions, including Thomson Reuters and Charles River Development (a State Street company). Yang also holds an MBA from MIT and two patents in FinTech.
Prof. Zhao directs the JTL Urban Mobility Lab and Transit Lab, leading long-term collaborations with transportation authorities and operators worldwide and enabling cross-culture learning between cities in North America, Asia, and Europe.
Prof. Zhao leads the program “Mens, Manus, and Machina (M3S): How AI Impacts the Future of Work and Future of Learning” at the Singapore MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART).
Research Interest
He brings behavioral science and transportation technology together to shape travel behavior, design mobility systems, and reform urban policies. He develops computational methods to sense, predict, nudge, and regulate travel behavior and designs multimodal mobility systems that integrate automated and shared mobility with public transport. He sees transportation as a language to describe a person, characterize a city, and understand an institution and establishes the behavioral foundation for transportation systems and policies.
Bhuvan Atluri is currently Program Manager at the MIT Mobility Initiative. Bhuvan is a mobility & automotive technology enthusiast who is extremely passionate about solving the problems mobility faces today. He has interests across Electric Vehicle Adoption & Charging Equity, Autonomous Mobility & Safety, and Multi-Modal Urban Mobility. He has over 11 years of product, marketing and business development experience starting from early days as a brand manager at Unilever to most recently founding & heading the B2B e-commerce subsidiary of NCML. He has a MIT Sloan Fellows MBA, a master’s degree from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta and is a computer science engineer by training.
Join us for a 45-minute presentation (followed by Q&A) by the MIT Mobility Initiative (MMI) on the state of mobility and transportation in 2023. The MMI was founded as a cross-disciplinary initiative at MIT in 2020 in response to the rapid transformation of the transportation sector. New technologies, such as electrification, autonomous/connected/software-defined vehicles, and shared mobility services, are creating new opportunities and challenges for transportation systems across the world. The MMI is working to better understand these technologies and ensure that these new technologies are used to create safer, cleaner, and more inclusive transportation systems.
After a brief overview of the MMI, this talk will cover some of the challenges facing our modern transportation systems, covering topics such as climate change, congestion, safety, reliability, and inequality. This will be looked at from the perspective of different types of systems – the private automobile, public transit, micromobility, and on-demand ride hail.
Examples from academia and industry highlighting the unique challenges will be presented. Promising new trends and technologies in mobility that can be used to address and overcome some of the aforementioned challenges will be covered next. And finally, the research at MMI and, more broadly, at MIT tackling these issues by working in partnership with industry will be highlighted. The audience will leave this talk with a greater appreciation for the critical role that mobility plays in society, its unique challenges, and the promising research taking place at MIT that can help accelerate a safe, clean, and inclusive mobility system.
Alexandre Jacquillat is an Associate Professor of Operations Research and Statistics at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His research focuses on data-driven decision-making, spanning integer optimization, stochastic optimization, and machine learning. His primary focus is on the optimization of complex transportation and logistics systems to promote efficient, reliable and sustainable mobility of people and goods. Alexandre is the recipient of several awards, including the INFORMS Dantzig Dissertation Award, the Best Paper Prize from INFORMS Transportation Science and Logistics (twice), the Pierskalla Best Paper Award from INFORMS Health Applications, and the Best Paper Award from INFORMS Data Mining and Decision Analytics. Prior to joining MIT, Alexandre was an Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He received a Master of Science in Applied Mathematics from the Ecole Polytechnique and PhD in Engineering Systems from MIT.
Microtransit offers opportunities to enhance urban mobility by combining the reliability of public transit and the flexibility of ride-sharing. This paper optimizes the design and operations of a demand-responsive micro-transit system and performs on-demand deviations in response to passenger demand. We formulate a Microtransit Network Design (MiND) model via two-stage stochastic optimization. The model features a tight second-stage formulation thanks to a subpath-based representation of microtransit operations in a load-expanded network, which optimizes on-demand deviations between checkpoint stops. We develop a double-decomposition algorithm combining Benders decomposition and subpath-based column generation armed with a tailored label-setting algorithm. Using real-world data from Manhattan, results suggest that our method scales to large practical instances, with up to 100 candidate lines and hundreds of stops. Comparisons with transit and ride-sharing benchmarks suggest that microtransit provides win-win outcomes toward efficient mobility (high demand coverage, low operating costs, high level of service), equitable mobility (broad geographic reach), and sustainable mobility (limited environmental footprint).
Bryan Reimer, Ph.D., is a Research Scientist in the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics. Bryan’s research seeks to develop theoretical and applied insight into driver behavior and the future of mobility. His work aims to find solutions to the next generation of human factors challenges associated with driver attention management, distraction, automation, and the use of advanced driver assistance systems to maximize mobility and safety. He founded and leads the Advanced Vehicle Technology (AVT) consortium - an academic-industry partnership seeking to understand how drivers use emerging, commercially available vehicle technologies. In his 2018 TEDx talk, “There’s more to the safety of driverless cars than AI”, he discusses the undertreated health crisis on our roads and the limits of focusing on automation alone as a solution. He is the recipient of the 2019 Jack A. Kraft Innovator Award from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society and a 2018 Autos2050 Impact Award. He is an author of over 250 technical contributions, a Contributor to Forbes, and a graduate of the University of Rhode Island with a Ph.D. in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering.
Highly automated vehicle technology has been touted as a revolutionary fix to many of our transportation problems. However, this view ignores that, for the foreseeable future, drivers will remain effectively responsible for control while being assisted by automation, placing them in the role of collaborators with AI.
The MIT Advanced Vehicle Technology (AVT) consortium was formed in 2015 to develop a better understanding of the challenges that today’s drivers experience, as well as to identify related opportunities to promote better system design and user experiences that enhance safety, convenience, and comfort in a rapidly evolving mobility landscape. Today, AVT draws together 25 organizations to collectively accelerate insight into system performance and how drivers adapt to, use (or do not use), and behave with advanced vehicle features.
This talk will provide highlights from recent MIT AVT consortium research and offer some projections concerning the future of automated and electrified mobility.
Join the ILP for a unique opportunity to explore the MIT. Sign-up sheet will be available at the registration desk.
Take a guided tour of our dynamic campus and experience firsthand how MIT is making a better world. From cutting edge research to innovation, from world-renowned architecture to rich community life, the MIT campus is a treasure to explore. MIT is also the heart of the vibrant innovation district of Kendall Square, the most innovative square mile in the world – come see how academics, entrepreneurs, corporations and non-profits make it all happen.
Set in the heart of campus, MIT.nano is the Institute’s 200,000 sf center for nanoscience and nano engineering research. Take a behind the scenes tour of key research spaces, hear about the progress MIT.nano has made since its launch in 2018, and learn how this remarkable building is helping researchers from every corner of MIT explore the dawn of the Nano Age.
Participants will be introduced to provocative exhibitions on CRISPR and AI, the magical kinetic sculptures of Arthur Ganson and Andy Cavatora, and countless unexpected treasures from the museum collection of more than a million artifacts.