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MIT Brainpower Highlighted in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Lists

  • Jay London
  • slice.mit.edu

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Forbes calls its 2018 30 Under 30 lists an “encyclopedia of creative disruption featuring 600 young stars in 20 different industries.” So it should come as no surprise that these lists are heavily populated by recent MIT graduates and other members of the Institute community. Similar to past years, at least 30 MIT alumni, faculty, and postdocs are listed throughout Forbes’ seventh annual edition of the world’s best young innovators.

Check the MITers who made this year’s list below, then see which MIT alumni and friends made this lists in 2017, 2016, and 2015. (All images courtesy of Forbes unless otherwise noted.)

  • Abudayyeh and Gootenberg

    Omar Abudayyeh ’12 & Jonathan Gootenberg ’13

    Doctoral candidates, Broad Institute, Harvard-MIT

    Healthcare
    “Abudayyeh and Gootenberg pioneered two advances: a new enzyme for editing genes and a new technique for editing RNA.”

  • Bharadia

    Dinesh Bharadia (Post-doc)

    Assistant Professor, University of California, San Diego

    Science
    Bharadia built a radio that “transmitted and received at the same time at the same frequency.”

  • Bierman

    David Bierman SM ’14, PhD ’17

    Founder, Marigold Power, Inc.

    Energy
    “At MIT he helped to develop a thermophotovoltaic converter that absorbs sunlight and converts it to a form of light.”

  • Brockman

    Greg Brockman ’13

    CTO, OpenAI

    Enterprise Technology
    “The boundary-breaking nonprofit is dedicated to building safe AI and ensuring AI’s benefits are widely and evenly distributed.”

  • Chen

    Ritchie Chen SM ’13, PhD ’16

    MIT Postdoc

    Science
    “Chen’s research found that dysfunctional brain regions could be stimulated by metal nanoparticles powered by magnetic fields.”

  • Chu

    Tiffany Chu ’10

    Cofounder, Remix

    Enterprise Technology
    “Chu is cofounder of Remix, a public transit platform used by more than 200 agencies worldwide…that evaluates transit data and suggests improvements.”

  • Conn

    Lisa Conn MBA ’17

    Strategic Partner Manager, Facebook

    Law & Policy
    “Conn joined Facebook to lead the civic leadership team in its community partnerships program. Previously at the MIT Media Lab, Conn was program manager of the Electome Project.”

  • Daniel

    Cody Daniel ’11

    Director of Research, 3Scan

    Science
    “Instead of fewer than 10 slices, 3Scan’s…robotic microscope can turn a small tissue sample into up to 60,000 slices.”

  • Damak_Khalil

    Maher Damak SM ’15 & Karim Khalil SM ’14

    Cofounders, Infinite Cooling

    Energy
    “Infinite Cooling…recaptures 80 percent of the water vapor that normally escapes from cooling towers attached to big power plants.”

  • Dubbin

    Karen Dubbin ’12

    Science Director, Aether

    Manufacturing & Industry
    “Dubbin is the science director at Aether, which builds 3D-printers capable of creating living tissue. She’s responsible for creating the “bio-inks” that Aether uses to build tissues.”

  • Falco

    Gregory Falco G

    Cofounder, NueroMesh

    Enterprise Technology
    “NeuroMesh provides endpoint security for smart devices and re-engineers malware to become a vaccine for the Internet of Things.”

  • Johnson

    Alistair Johnson

    Research Scientist, MIT Laboratory for Computational Physiology

    Healthcare
    “Johnson created a database of ICU records used by 4,000 researchers from 30 countries to conduct clinical research.”

  • Keller

    Brent Keller PhD ’16

    Cofounder, Via Separations

    Manufacturing
    "Via Separations develops membrane materials for separation processes. Keller (is) part of MIT’s The Engine accelerator program."

  • Li_Saigal

    Weihua Li ’15, MEng ’16 & Arun Saigal ’13, MEng ’13

    Cofounders, Thunkable

    Consumer Technology
    “Saigal and Li decided spin-out MIT’s App Inventor tool, the drag-and-drop service for building your own app.”

  • Manthiram

    Karthish Manthiram (Postdoc)

    MIT Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering

    Science
    “Manthiram’s research is focused on providing farmers with fertilizer by manufacturing it out of thin air, literally, by using air, water and solar power.”

  • Qi_Wang

    Christina Qi ’13 & Jonathan Wang ’13, MEng ’15

    Partners, Domeyard LP

    Finance
    “(Domeyard) is a small hedge fund that is using high frequency strategies to trade U.S. equity futures and currencies.”

  • Raman

    Ritu Raman

    MIT Postdoc

    Science
    “Raman’s research focuses on understanding the dynamic interactions between biological and synthetic materials and developing bio-hybrid systems to tackle different applications.”

  • Shen

    Yichen Shen PhD ’16

    MIT Research Scientist

    Energy
    “Has contributed to nanophotonic breakthroughs that could shape the future of energy. Light-AI designs computer chips powered by light rather than electricity.”

  • Sun

    Hao Sun (Postdoc)

    Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh

    Science
    “Sun’s research uses analytics and machine learning combined with  internet-of-things enabled sensors to track the health of buildings.”

  • Sundvor

    Scott Sundvor ’12

    Cofounder, Nima

    Consumer Technology
    “Nima is a portable bluetooth-enabled device that tests foods for allergens before you eat.  The company has raised more than $20 million between venture funding and government grants.”

  • Tomovich

    Michael Tomovich SM ’14

    Cofounder, Kuvee

    Manufacturing
    “Kuvee has engineered a patented, smart wine bottle that prevents oxygen from reaching the wine inside, and has raised $10 million in venture funding to roll it out.”

  • Wang

    Sin Wang SM ’15

    Cofounder, TetraScience

    Science
    “Wang is cofounder and CTO of TetraScience, which is bringing the Internet of Things to daily lab work. The company has raised over $10 million in venture capital.”

  • Warren

    Andrew Warren PhD ’16

    Founding Scientist, Glympse Bio

    Healthcare
    “Based on Andrew Warren’s PhD at MIT, Glympse Bio uses modular nanoparticle sensors to create diagnostics for diseases potentially including cancer. ”

  • Wu

    You Wu SM ’14

    Cofounder, Pipeguard Robotics

    Manufacturing
    “Wu’s company, Pipeguard Robotics, manufactures a shuttlecock-shaped robot that travels through water pipes to detect leaks.”

  • Xu

    Jenny Xu ’19

    Founder, JCSoft Inc.

    Games
    “Xu has released nine mobile games that have been downloaded over 3.5 million times, including Can You Escape Fate.”

  • Yu

    Julia Yu ’10

    Investment Analyst, Millennium Management

    Finance
    “Emerging markets trader with big role on a large macro team at billionaire Israel Englander’s $34 billion hedge fund.”

Is there an MIT alumna or alumnus that we missed? Let us know in the comments below, or on Facebook and Twitter, and we’ll add them to our ever-growing list.

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