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Graduate Alumni Celebrated at Convocation and Reunion

From left: Howard Rosenberg ME '83, Barrie Gleason, Dean for Graduate Students Ike Colbert, and Albert Essiam CE '95. In his remarks, Colbert discussed ways the Institute is improving the graduate experience. All photos this page: Justin Knight

For many, graduate school is an identity-forming experience, a chance to build intellectual communities that inform sophisticated research and learning, which leads to fruitful careers. Today, half of all MIT alumni earned graduate degrees at the Institute, a number steadily rising given that graduate students comprise 60 percent of all students studying at MIT. Yet reunions at universities nationwide tend to focus on the undergraduate experience. In contrast, the Graduate Alumni Convocation and Reunion, held on campus April 21-22, 2006, brought together some 280 graduate MIT alumni from 13 countries for a weekend of reconnecting with the Institute and departments, seeing former classmates, and forming new ties to fellow alumni. The weekend featured tours of new campus facilities, departmental receptions, networking opportunities, Institute and research updates, and workshops addressing pressing issues in a variety of fields.

A student-alumni reception attended by nearly a hundred current graduate students kicked off the weekend. Some students displayed posters showing graduate student services, such as a babysitting service for parents and community-building food tastings in the math department.

Alumni appreciated the open door to MIT and reengaged with the energy of the Institute. At the Saturday morning session, President Hockfield praised the graduate community for inspiring a culture of collaboration and making MIT a distinctive model of the American research university, calling graduate students "the substance, the vehicle, by which interdisciplinary research happens in a very real way."

Hockfield also pointed to Institute fundraising initiatives: new and enhanced facilities for the Sloan School of Management and the Center for Cancer Research; a new graduate housing facility, which will be completed in 2008 or 2009; and more funding for Presidential Scholarships, which provide incoming graduate students with a year to explore labs and research projects before committing to one.

Ike Colbert, dean for graduate students, discussed efforts to improve the graduate experience at the departmental, Institute, and personal levels. MIT has sought to "operationalize the concept of a graduate community," he said, offering "a new social contract" that acknowledges academic and non-academic experiences. The Graduate Student Life Grant, funded from the student life fee, allows students to develop community, including social events at the Muddy Charles Pub or engaging in dialogues on diversity. Backpack to Briefcase seminars, sponsored by the Alumni Association, help students prepare for the transition to the working world.

On Saturday morning, graduate alumni heard Institute and research updates from President Susan Hockfield, Dean for Graduate Students Ike Colbert, and three MIT researchers, all providing opportunities for engaging conversation.

Three researchers rounded out the morning program, updating attendees on current MIT research. Assistant Professor Forest White and Associate Professor Sangeeta Bhatia ME '93 of the Center for Cancer Research discussed cancer advancements, and Joseph Coughlin, the founder and director of the MIT AgeLab, presented innovations for an aging population.

White's research focuses on protein measurements and looks at how cell signaling regulates cell biology with the goal of making more intelligent cellular intervention and reprogramming cells to not form tumors. Bhatia, a physician and engineer, works in the new MIT-Harvard NanoMedical Consortium on injectable, multifunctional nanoparticles that could deliver drugs specifically to tumors and even be programmable by doctors.

Coughlin seeks to invent a new vision of old age that involves not just health care, but public policy issues such as viable transportation and housing for the elderly and a focus on their need to connect with friends and family and be active. AgeLab inventions include a smart shopping cart that can scan a product and offer advice based on a person's dietary needs and two cars: one that monitors bio-vitals to check stress factors and another designed (for example with special mirrors) for those with strength and flexibility issues.

Pawan Sinha EE '92 combined humanitarian and research interests to help treat blindness in his native country, India, and study how the brain makes sense of visual input.

MIT's philosophy of doing good science that helps the world was illustrated by the luncheon keynote speaker Pawan Sinha EE '92, whose work focuses on a fundamental question: how does the brain makes sense of visual input? "Vision occupies nearly one third of the real estate of the brain, so nature thinks it's important," says Sinha, a brain and cognitive sciences associate professor.

Sinha combined humanitarian and research interests a few years ago when he started Project Prakash in his native country, India, which has the highest rate of blindness in the world—at least one out of 100 Indians is blind. The project has screened more than 800 children and young adults who have been blind since birth, then arranged for treatment for curable conditions such as cataracts. After treatment, Sinha works with young people to study how they begin to recognize objects for the first time.

In the afternoon, breakout sessions brought together alumni in nearly a dozen fields including city planning, medicine, and biotech to share their personal and professional experiences. Martin Tang GM '72, who serves as chairman of SpencerStuart Asia, led the Corporate Leadership session with Harbo Jensen CM '74, manager of ChevronTexaco's Global Technology Services. The panelists and audience members discussed topics ranging from how corporate leaders can make a difference to the characteristics corporations seek in their leaders. Tang, who has worked in banking, his family's textile company, venture capital, and now in executive search, shared his satisfaction with one project. In 1998, he led the search for a new CEO of the Hong Kong airport, which was then plagued with operational and public relations failures. Today, the Hong Kong airport has held the title of best airport in the world for five years.

"There is more than one way to make a difference," Tang reminded the audience. "You can develop outside interests and make your contribution there. My outside interests are in higher education both in the States and in Hong Kong. As the incoming president of the MIT Alumni Association, I hope I'll be able to make some difference at MIT."

A reception hosted by Chancellor Philip Clay CP '75 capped off the day of discussion, networking, and learning. Clay lauded the attendees for making a significant impact both on the world and on MIT and pointed to the Institute's challenges and opportunities. "Competition for talent is more acute than before," said Clay, so MIT must convey a message of openness to attract applicants from as near as Cambridge as well as throughout the U.S. and the world. Clay urged alumni to talk to prospective students about the MIT experience. "As alumni, you have to be the voice of MIT."

April 26, 2006