ALC Speaker Biographies
Noubar Afeyan PhD '87
Managing Partner and CEO, Flagship Ventures Management, Inc.
Noubar Afeyan is Managing Partner and CEO of Flagship Ventures, a firm he co-founded in 2000. He is also a Senior Lecturer at MIT in both the Sloan School of Management and the Biological Engineering Department. Dr. Afeyan has authored numerous scientific publications and patents since earning his Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering from MIT in 1987.
A technologist, entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Dr. Afeyan has co-founded and helped build over 20 successful life science and technology startups during the past two decades. He was founder and CEO of PerSeptive Biosystems (Nasdaq: PBIO), a leader in the bio-instrumentation field. After PerSeptive's acquisition by Applera Corporation (NYSE: ABI), he was Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer of Applera, where he initiated and oversaw the creation of Celera Genomics (Nasdaq: CRA).
Currently Dr. Afeyan serves on a number of public and private company boards. He is a director and co-founder of Flagship portfolio companies Affinnova, BG Medicine, Ensemble Discovery, Helicos BioSciences (NASDAQ:HLCS), Joule Biotechnologies and LS9. Previously he was a member of the founding team, director and investor in several successful ventures including Chemgenics Pharmaceuticals, Color Kinetics, Antigenics, EXACT Sciences and Adnexus Therapeutics.
Dr. Afeyan is a member of the Board of Overseers of Boston University and the Board of Overseers of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he is a member of several advisory boards including the Whitehead Institute at MIT, the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST) and the SKOLKOVO School of Management in Moscow. Dr. Afeyan is also co-founder and board member of Armenia 2020 and the National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia, two international economic development projects focusing on the former Soviet Republic of Armenia. In 2008 he received an Ellis Island Medal of Honor, an award granted to outstanding Americans who have distinguished themselves as U.S. citizens and who have enabled their ancestry groups to maintain their identities while becoming integral parts of American life.
Suzanne Berger
Director of MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI)
Suzanne Berger is Raphael Dorman-Helen Starbuck Professor of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is also Director of the MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI), which sends over 400 MIT students a year abroad for internships in companies and laboratories in ten countries.
Her current research focuses on politics and globalization. Her first book was on peasant politics in Brittany (Les Paysans contre la politique, 1975). She was a co-author in the 1989 Made in America project at MIT. She wrote Made By Hong Kong and Global Taiwan (with Richard K. Lester). She is the author of Notre Première Mondialisation (Seuil). As principal investigator of the MIT Globalization Study, she organized the project presented in How We Compete: What Companies Around the World Are Doing To Make It in Today's Global Economy (2006). The book was published in French as Made in Monde (Seuil), and also in Japanese, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Berger served as Head of the Department of Political Science, MIT, and Vice President of the American Political Science Association. She has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the French government has awarded her the Légion d'Honneur, Palmes Academiques and l'Ordre National du Merite.
Judith M. Cole
Executive Vice President and CEO of the Alumni Association
As an undergraduate, Cole earned a degree in business administration with a concentration in finance at the University of Colorado in 1976 and then moved to Texas. There she worked in banking for six years, ultimately as vice president at Texas Commerce Bank. She returned to her home state of Connecticut and earned a master's degree in public and private management at the Yale School of Management in 1984. Upon graduating, she accepted a job with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and then took a consulting job organizing the 10th anniversary celebration for the Yale School of Organization and Management. She eventually signed on with the Association of Yale Alumni (AYA), where she remained for 17 years. In 2004, she was recruited by Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) to revitalize the alumni relations program in anticipation of a major fundraising campaign. Cole has sought to strengthen the alumni community connections with each institution through educational programming, networking with/and mentoring fellow alumni and current students, and encouraging alumni participation in annual giving.
Charles L. Cooney SM '67, PhD '70
Faculty Director of the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation and the International Innovation Initiative
Charles L. Cooney, the Robert T. Haslam (1911) Professor of Chemical Engineering, in the Department of Chemical Engineering is the Faculty Director of the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation, and the International Innovation Initiative (I3) at MIT. He received the 1989 Gold Medal of the Institute of Biotechnological Studies (London), the Food, Pharmaceutical and Bioengineering Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the James Van Lanen Distinguished Service Award from the American Chemical Society's Division of Microbial and Biochemical Technology and was elected to the American Institute of Medical and Biochemical Engineers. Cooney serves as a consultant to a number of biotech and pharmaceutical companies, and he chaired the FDA Advisory Committee for Pharmaceutical Science from 2004-2006.
Cooney's research and teaching interests span a range of topics in biochemical engineering and pharmaceutical manufacturing. His research interests include manufacturing strategy in the pharmaceutical, biotech and biofuels industries, as well as bioprocess design, operation and control, and processing of pharmaceutical powders. His teaching has focused on bioprocessing, drug development and technological innovation. As founding faculty director of the Deshpande Center and the International Innovation Initiative he is interested in the process of stimulating technological innovation and translating innovation into new company creation. In addition to his professional interests, Cooney is a Trustee of Boston Ballet, and Overseer of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and a board member of MIT's Community Service Fund.
Michael J. Cima
Sumitomo Electric Industries Professor of Engineering and Director of the Lemelson-MIT Program
Dr. Michael J. Cima is a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He earned a B.S. in chemistry in 1982 (phi beta kappa) and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering in 1986, both from the University of California at Berkeley. Prof. Cima joined the MIT faculty in 1986 as an Assistant Professor. He was promoted to full Professor in 1995. He was elected a Fellow of the American Ceramics Society in 1997. He now holds the Sumitomo Electric Industries Chair at MIT. Prof. Cima is author or co-author of over one hundred and ninety peer reviewed scientific publications, forty-five patents, and is a recognized expert in the field of materials processing. Prof. Cima is actively involved in materials and engineered systems for improvement human health such treatments for cancer, metabolic diseases, trauma, and urological disorders. Prof. Cima's research concerns advanced forming technology such as for complex macro and micro devices, colloid science, MEMS and other micro components for medical devices that are used for drug delivery and diagnostics, high-throughput development methods for formulations of materials and pharmaceutical formulations. He is a coinventor of MIT's three dimensional printing process. His research has led to the development of chemically derived epitaxial oxide films for HTSC coated conductors. He and collaborators are developing implantable MEMS devices for unprecedented control in the delivery of pharmaceuticals and implantable diagnostic systems. Finally, through his consulting work he has been a major contributor to the development of high throughput systems for discovery of novel crystal forms and formulations of pharmaceuticals. Prof. Cima also has extensive entrepreneurial experience. He is co-founder and a director of MicroChips Inc., a developer of microelectronic based drug delivery and diagnostic systems. Prof. Cima took two sabbaticals to act as senior consultant and management team member at Transform Pharmaceuticals Inc. a company that he helped start and that was ultimately acquired by Johnson and Johnson Corporation. He is a co-founder and director at T2 Biosystems a medical diagnostics company. Most recently, Prof. Cima co-founded Entra Pharmaceuticals a specialty pharmaceutical company and Taris Biomedical a urology products company.
Elisabet de los Pinos
President and CEO, Aura Biosciences, Inc.
Elisabet (Eli) de los Pinos, PhD, is a biotech entrepreneur building a company in Boston with the potential to radically improve cancer treatment. Eli has created Aura Biosciences from the ground up: from concept, through patents in her name, fundraising and incorporation, to today's pre-clinical research and strategic partnerships. She is passionate about eradicating cancer, has dedicated her career to research in oncology and is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Eli has been appointed to this year's BBJ's 40 under 40 and is a candidate of the world economic forum tech pioneer.
Daniel Enderton PhD '09
Executive Director, Sustainable Energy Revolution Program
Daniel Enderton is Executive Director of the MIT Energy Initiative's Sustainable Energy Revolution Program, which seeks to coordinate and enhance support for breakthrough research in renewable energy sources-such as solar, wind, waves, geothermal, and bioenergy-as well as their associated enabling technologies, including storage and transmission. In 2008, Daniel defended his Ph.D. in climate physics and chemistry in MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences. His research focused on estimating and understanding the poleward transport of energy by the atmosphere and oceans, and how this partition affects surface climate conditions. As a student, Daniel was a Linden Earth System Fellow, 2007-2008 President of the MIT Energy Club, and Content Director for the 2007 and 2008 MIT Energy Conferences.
Woodie C. Flowers SM '68, ME '71, PhD '73
Pappalardo Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Emeritus
Dr. Woodie Flowers is the Pappalardo Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Distinguished Partner at Olin College. Dr. Flowers serves as National Advisor and Chairman of the Executive Advisory Board for FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology).
Dr. Flowers helped create MIT's renowned course "Introduction to Design." He also received national recognition in his role as host for the PBS television series Scientific American Frontiers from 1990 to 1993 and received a New England EMMY Award for a special PBS program on design. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He recently received The Joel and Ruth Spria Outstanding Design Educator Award from ASME, a Public Service Medal from NASA, and a Doctor Honoris Causa from both Andreas Bello University in Chile and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He is a MacVicar Faculty Fellow at MIT for extraordinary contributions to undergraduate education. He was also the Inaugural Recipient of the Woodie Flowers Award by FIRST. Currently, Dr. Flowers is a director of two companies and advisor to three others. He and his wife Margaret live in Weston, Massachusetts.
Natalie M. Givans '84
Vice President, Booz Allen & Hamilton, Inc.
Based in Herndon, Virginia, Booz Allen Hamilton Vice President Natalie Givans has 25 years of experience in system security engineering, Cyber security, information and mission assurance, and communications, information, and transmission security. She leads the firm's Assurance and Resilience (A&R) capability team of over 2000 professionals and sales in excess of $380M annually, serving the Federal Government and select commercial customers.
Key A&R focus areas include Secure Cloud Computing, Secure Service Oriented Architecture solutions, Cross Domain Security solutions, Integrated Life Cycle Security, Secure Infrastructures (such as Smart Grid, Telecom, Water) and converged information assurance and mission assurance services.
She served on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Alumni Association from 2007 to 2009 and co-chaired an Ad Hoc Committee on Energy, Environment, and Sustainability, with the goal of enabling interested alumni to be informed about these initiatives on campus, to connect with MIT faculty, researchers, students, and each other, and to take action on the global and national level. She is also the President of the Class of 1984 and the William Barton Rogers Society Chair for her class.
Matthew K. Haggerty '83, SM '86
Founder of Product Genesis, Inc. and Altair Avionics and CEO of ProGen, Inc.
Mr. Haggerty is a serial entrepreneur with 25 years of business experience. Matt founded Product Genesis, Inc., an innovation and technology strategy firm in Cambridge, MA, spun out of the MIT Innovation Center in 1986. He also founded Altair Avionics, a company specialized in airborne data acquisition, analysis and web-based diagnostic and reporting systems which was sold to United Technologies in 2001.
Education in technology commercialization has been a consistent pursuit throughout his career and continues today in industry and in youth enrichment programs. Matt helped lead and was Chairman of the MIT Enterprise Forum, an international non-profit, volunteer educational organization with 25 chapters and 40,000 constituents worldwide.
Matt is an advisor to two companies, and has served as board member for several private and one public company and was a member of the governing board of the MIT Center for Innovation in Product Development. Matt is the holder of about a dozen US and international patents. He earned his BSME and MS at MIT and MS at Yale where he was a Sheffield Fellow. Matt lives on a farm near Boston with his wife, Carol, and four children, ages 15 to 21.
Timothy D. Heidel '05, MNG '06, SM '09
Co-President, MIT Energy Club
Tim is a fifth-year PhD student in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT where his research is focused on improving the understanding of the physics of organic semiconductor photovoltaics. Tim also completed a MS in the Technology and Policy Program at MIT in June 2009. His policy thesis studied the potential tradeoffs between the economic and emissions benefits that could be achieved by adding energy storage to photovoltaics in New England. During the summer of 2009, Tim worked at the new Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) at the US Department of Energy. At ARPA-E, Tim helped coordinate the concept paper merit review process for the organization's inaugural funding opportunity announcement. Tim expects to graduate from MIT in early 2010.
Tim has been involved in the MIT student energy community throughout his time as a graduate student at MIT. He has served in various leadership positions within the MIT Energy Club and is currently serving as one of the two Co-Presidents of the club. Tim also served as the Managing Director for the 2009 MIT Energy Conference. Tim's primary interests are in the areas of renewable generation sources (principally photovoltaics) and in the operation and control of the power grid (including interest in restructured electricity markets, renewables integration, smart grid concepts, and utility-scale energy storage).
Susan Hockfield PhD
President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Susan Hockfield has served as the sixteenth president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since December 2004. A noted neuroscientist whose research has focused on the development of the brain, Hockfield is the first life scientist to lead MIT and holds a faculty appointment as professor of neuroscience in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she holds honorary degrees from Brown University, Tsinghua University (Beijing), and the Watson School of Biological Sciences at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York.
Following graduation from the University of Rochester, she earned her PhD from Georgetown University School of Medicine while carrying out her dissertation research in neuroscience at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She was an NIH postdoctoral fellow at the University of California at San Francisco and then joined the scientific staff at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Before assuming the presidency of MIT, she was provost at Yale University, where she had taught since 1985 and had also served as dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
Hockfield lives in Gray House on the MIT campus with her husband, Thomas N. Byrne MD, and their daughter, Elizabeth. She serves as a director of the General Electric Company, a trustee of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and an overseer of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
She has made extensive international visits on behalf of MIT including trips to China, Greece, India, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. In 2008 she was elected to the foundation board of the World Economic Forum.
Richard Paul Kivel
CEO of TheraGenetics, Ltd. and Chair of the MIT Enterprise Forum
Richard Kivel is a serial entrepreneur and seasoned life science & technology executive with a proven record of building successful companies, world-class teams and securing profitable exits for investors. Since April 2006 he has served as CEO of TheraGenetics, a UK-based genetic diagnostics company focusing on the development and commercialization of pharmacogenetic diagnostic tests to guide and improve the treatment of Central Nervous System (CNS) disorders. In January 2009, TheraGenetics was acquired by UK based Avacta Group plc. LSE: (AVCT). Rich remained as CEO and continued to lead the growth of TheraGenetics under the new ownership until June 2009.
Prior to TheraGenetics, Rich spent two years working with a select group of investors and entrepreneurs to launch and grow a portfolio of life science companies. Rich was retained to focus on: technology identification, market development and financial operations in the areas of diagnostics, genetics, healthcare and biotech.
Clients included: BioBehavioral Diagnostics, Pervasis Therapeutics, UK Trade and Investment, Enterprise Ireland, Trinity Pharma Solutions, The Physicians Academy.
From 2001-2004, he served as CEO of MolecularWare, Inc., an MIT spin-out and leader in genomic and proteomic microarray technologies. Under his leadership, MolecularWare secured venture capital and debt funding and launched multiple products globally. In June, 2003, the company was acquired by California based CalbaTech, Inc.
Rich is a Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management and serves as Chairman of the global Board of Directors of the MIT Enterprise Forum and is a member of the MIT Alumni Association Board. He serves as a judge for the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition and is a Lead Catalyst and Mentor for the MIT Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation. Over this past decade, Rich has worked with many of the leading scientist and researchers at MIT and at other leading universities, focused on early-stage technology identification, development and commercialization.
Rich serves as an Advisor and Board member to life science companies in the US, Europe and Asia as well as government and entrepreneurial organizations globally. He is a mentor to UK Trade & Investment, Global Entrepreneurs Mentoring Program and is a founding board member of the Enterprise Ireland biotech initiative (BioLink).
Rich is a sought after speaker and lecturer and has shared his insights on future trends in life sciences, personalized medicine and technology with audiences throughout the US, Europe, UK, Asia and South Africa. He has extensive knowledge and experience in entrepreneurship, IP, corporate finance, sales and organizational development. Rich was selected by Mass High Tech: Journal of New England Technology for the "All Star" award for leadership in Biotechnology and by the Boston Business Journal as one of its "40-under-40"; top forty most promising business people under 40 in Massachusetts.
Rich lives in Boston, MA and London, England
Jeffrey L. Newton
Vice President, MIT Resource Development
Jeffrey L. Newton was appointed MIT's vice president for resource development in 2007. He is responsible for building philanthropic support for Institute priorities from individuals, corporations, and foundations.
Before joining MIT, Newton was dean for resource development and alumni relations at Harvard Medical School. He distinguished himself there by reorganizing the development staff to maximize return on investment and preparing the school to participate in a projected university-wide campaign. His efforts to promote the school's strength in basic science to attract the support of non-alumni and institutions led to record levels of support.
Newton began his career in resource development at Johns Hopkins University, where he was associate director for foundation and corporate relations from 1989 to 1993. During a subsequent decade working at the University of Miami, he served as executive director of corporation and foundation relations, assistant vice president for development and alumni relations, and assistant vice president for medical development and alumni affairs at the university's school of medicine.
Newton received a bachelor's degree in history from Kenyon College and a master's in European history from Brown University. He is fluent in Italian. He grew up in Gambier, Ohio.
Richard J. Samuels PhD '80
Ford International Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for International Studies
Richard J. Samuels is Ford International Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for International Studies. He is also the Founding Director of the MIT Japan Program. In 2005 he was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Samuels served as Head of the MIT Department of Political Science between 1992-1997 and as Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Japan of the National Research Council until 1996. From 2001-2007 he was Chairman of the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission, an independent Federal grant-making agency that supports Japanese studies and policy-oriented research in the United States. Grants from the Fulbright Commission, the Abe Fellowship Fund, the National Science Foundation, and the Smith Richardson Foundation have supported a decade of field research in Japan.
Dr. Samuels' most recent book, Securing Japan: Tokyo's Grand Strategy and the Future of East Asia, was named one of the five finalists for the 2008 Lionel Gelber Prize for the best book in international affairs. His previous book, Machiavelli's Children: Leaders and Their Legacies in Italy and Japan, a comparative political and economic history of political leadership in Italy and Japan, won the 2003 Marraro Prize from the Society for Italian Historical Studies and the 2004 Jervis-Schroeder Prize for the best book in International History and Politics, awarded by the International History and Politics section of the American Political Science Association.
His articles have appeared in Foreign Affairs, International Security, The Washington Quarterly, International Organization, The Journal of Modern Italian Studies, The National Interest, The Journal of Japanese Studies, Daedalus, and other scholarly journals.
Donald Shobrys '75
Chair, Annual Fund Board
Donald Shobrys '75 has a long and distinguished volunteer career with MIT, having served as class president, the gift committee chair of a record setting 25th reunion effort, educational counselor, a member of the Board of Directors and the Corporation Development Committee, and chair of the Annual Fund Goals Committee. He co founded and was the first president of the Friends of DAPER, and founded and serves as a member of the Engineering Systems Division's Alumni Advisory Council. He also currently serves as a member of the MIT Venture Mentoring Service, the board of the Friends of DAPER, the Corporation Visiting Committee on Athletics, the Board of Directors and the Annual Fund Goals Committee.
He received an SB in civil engineering from MIT, an MS is civil and environmental engineering from Northwestern University in 1978, and a PhD from Johns Hopkins University in 1981 in engineering (operations research). In 2001, he received the Henry B. Kane '24 award for exceptional fundraising service.
Don's professional activities are in the area of supply chain management. After starting his career at Exxon he joined a 3-person startup that became a pioneer in supply chain decision support. Don has worked internationally with over 100 major companies on supply chain issues, has mentored several startups, and has numerous publications. He lives in Concord, Massachusetts with his wife, Carol Aronson.
Douglas C. Spreng '65
Member, Alumni Ad Hoc Committee on Energy, Environment & Sustainability
Doug Spreng is a 40-year high tech industry veteran who has held leadership positions with numerous high-profile semiconductor and equipment companies in the computer and communications market. Most recently, he was Chairman and CEO of Ubicom, Inc., a leading supplier of communication processors for wireless LAN applications. Before that, he was president and COO at AMCC, a publicly traded communications IC company. His position at AMCC resulted from an acquisition by AMCC of MMC Networks, a public fabless communications semiconductor company where he was president and CEO.
Prior to his tenure at MMC Networks, he was executive vice president of the Client Access Business Unit at 3Com Corporation, where he was responsible for the company's $2 billion network interface card and modem businesses. During this period, he made many acquisitions of private technology companies to complement the 3Com product portfolio. He has also held executive positions at CellNet Data Systems and Hewlett-Packard Company.
Spreng retired in 2006, but still holds Board seats on 2 privately held technology companies and one non-profit.
Born and raised in Ohio, Doug holds a BS degree in electrical engineering from MIT and an MBA from Harvard University. He is married and the father of three sons.
Kenneth Wang '71
115th President, MIT Alumni Association
Following his graduation from MIT, Kenneth Wang '71 worked in the oil tanker shipping industry going on to earn an MBA from Harvard Business School. In 1980, following four years as a commercial banker, he joined the oil refining and pharmaceutical distribution businesses of Oceanic Petroleum/U.S. Summit Company, companies founded by (delete t)his father (MIT S.M '43 and headquartered in New York City. In 1996, be became Summit's president. Throughout his career he has been an active volunteer for MIT. Wang is a member of the MIT Corporation and has served on several development and visiting committees. He's a former president of the MIT Club of New York, a past member of th e Association's board, and, since July 1, president of the Association for a one-year term. His outstanding efforts have earned him a Henry B. Kane '24 Award for fundraising and a Harold E. Lobdell '17 Distinguished Service Award. His donations to MIT have supported the economics department, graduate-student financial aid, and several Shakespeare programs.
Dick K. P. Yue '74, SM '76, SCD '80
Director for International Programs for the School of Engineering
Dick K. P. Yue is the Philip J. Solondz Professor of Engineering, and Professor of Mechanical and Ocean Engineering at MIT. He serves as the Director for International Programs for the School of Engineering, and co-Chair of the Institute-wide MIT Global Council. He is also the MIT Director for the Singapore-MIT Alliance and the co-Director for the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology.
Yue has been a faculty member in Ocean Engineering (part of the Department of Mechanical Engineering) since 1983. He is active in research and teaching in marine fluid mechanics and ocean engineering, and he supervises an active research group of over 20 members, directing the Vortical Flow Research Laboratory and co-directing the Ocean Engineering Towing Tank facility. His main research contributions are in theoretical and computational hydrodynamics, and he is internationally recognized for his expertise on ocean and coastal wave dynamics and for his extensive work in nonlinear wave mechanics, large-amplitude motions and loads on ships and offshore structures, making seminal contributions in developing numerical methods for these types of problems. He has also made fundamental contributions to the understanding of hydrodynamics of fish swimming, overturning a century-old design paradigm for underwater vehicles and ushering in a new era of applying biomimetic principles to man-made marine designs.
Yue served as Associate Dean of Engineering from 1999-2007 and was actively engaged in the overall administration of the School and in its pioneering educational and research initiatives. During that time, he was the originator of the MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) concept and its formulation and played a major role in its adoption by MIT, and in its successful funding and implementation. UPOP addresses the core issue of the lack of immediate job readiness in traditional engineering education, and promotes the future success and leadership of MIT's engineering graduates. In 2008, in recognition of these and other wide-ranging activities benefiting MIT, Professor Yue received the prestigious Gordon Y. Billard Award for services of outstanding merit to the Institute.
