Maclaurin was not dissuaded. A formal new hunt for an expansion site launched with four main criteria: accessibility for students, faculty, and the public; affordability; space, with the potential for constructing buildings “worthy of the institute’s importance”; and a location “independent of the influence of other institutions.” The selection committee’s report, submitted to Maclaurin in […]

A longtime volunteer, Baker is a 2017 recipient of the Bronze Beaver, the highest award bestowed by the MIT Alumni Association for service to the Institute and the Association. He also received a Lobdell Distinguished Service Award in 2013. He served on the Alumni Association’s board of directors from 2013 to 2017 and was later […]

For Fields, it’s the latest expression of a passion for volunteer service that’s shaped his life. He discovered his zeal for volunteering at age 15, working for his local Red Cross chapter and volunteer fire department and rescue squad. Although he originally planned to go into medical research, his volunteer work inspired a change of […]

“MIT helped me in so many ways,” says Yaffee, who taught MIT’s first undergrad course in environmental issues as a PhD student. “I learned how to best reach my audience in the classroom,” he says. “DUSP also taught me decision-making dynamics and processes. And last but certainly not least, it was at MIT where I […]

Dixon found a job as an assistant chaplain at the Brooks School in North Andover, Massachusetts, and began teaching there as well. “I’ve always considered my life to be a faith journey,” he says. In fact, he went on to earn a master’s in divinity at the Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, and he has been […]

Petheo leads the firm’s projects and partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region and advises globally on international development and humanitarian assistance. She also works on preparedness in the Asia-Pacific region with the United States Agency for International Development.  “We’re doing programming on the engagement of the private sector in disaster risk management in Indonesia, which is […]

“Starting a business is a privilege,” says Burton O’Toole, who worked at various startups before launching and later selling AdMass, her own marketing technology company. The company gave her access to the HearstLab program in 2016, but she soon discovered that she preferred the investment aspect and became a vice president at HearstLab a year […]

Don Mattes started giving to the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT before he himself was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Since his death in 2020, his wife, Glenda, has carried forward Don’s passion for its work. “My wish is that no one ever has to go through the horrors of Alzheimer’s disease ever […]

“These Indigenous people were killed for their land,” Alvin Harvey, SM ’20, an Aero/Astro PhD student and a member of the Navajo Nation, said in a presentation to a faculty meeting this spring. “As a land-grant college, MIT has an obligation to support Indigenous people and students.” MIT is creating a tenure-track position in Native […]

The MIT Morningside Academy for Design, an interdisciplinary center that aims to build on the Institute’s leadership in design-­focused education and become a global hub for design research, thinking, and entrepreneurship, will launch in September 2022, President L. Rafael Reif announced in March. The academy, which will be housed in the Metropolitan Warehouse with the […]