Principal Investigator Antonio (Tony) Hu
Project Website http://gelp.mit.edu/grad
Project Start Date October 2022
At the intersection of engineering practice, leadership scholarship, and experiential learning lies an opportunity to take the best technical students in the world and develop them into exceptional technical leaders. The Riccio Graduate Engineering Leadership Program (GradEL) is here to help MIT graduate students develop skills across career paths, from leading research groups to leadership roles in large companies and startups. The program builds on students’ technical education by allowing them to practice developing highly-effective teams, identifying worthy problems to solve, creating innovative solutions, and crafting a shared vision.
Apple executive Dan Riccio’s gift of $10 million in 2022 allows GradEL to expand its classes, workshops, and certificate into a world-class program for technical leaders. In addition to new classes and workshops, GradEL is creating an intensive internship experience called an “engineering residency” that is analogous to a medical residency. It will target exceptional students with deep technical acumen and a strong desire to make impact as leaders. There will also be a new program for researchers to gain a deep understanding of the real-world impact of their work.
The Daniel J. Riccio Graduate Engineering Leadership Program (GradEL) aims to build on the engineering education that graduate students receive, helping to foster leadership capabilities and developing engineers who can inspire and guide teams throughout their careers. “
Students who complete the requirements (below) earn a Graduate Certificate in Technical Leadership. Ph.D. candidates may also use GradEL coursework to fulfill the doctoral minor.