Our Most Popular Alumni Stories of the Year

Talus Analytics founder Ellie Graeden PhD’11 deciphers natural disaster and public health data for decision-makers who must act sensibly—and quickly.

Barbara Partee PhD ’65 was one of the first seven students in a new graduate program led by Noam Chomsky. She went on to found the field of formal semantics.

When Florence (Huang) Sheehan ’71 saw a need for Covid training, "I felt so glad that there was something I could do, that only I could do, that I had unique technology to provide help.”

Jenny C. Xu ’19 created her first video game at age 12, young enough not to realize how outnumbered she would be as a female in the game developing world. She’s glad it worked out that way. 

In November, Laura Aust ’10 and Alec Marshall wrapped up an extraordinary three-year journey that took them from Croatia to Fiji on a secondhand sailboat they refitted themselves.

Diana Ganz MBA ’14 remembers the moment she decided tux rentals were a bad return on investment and saw a business opportunity to do better.

US Navy veteran and Pacific Engineering president Osie V. Combs Jr. OEng ’77, SM ’77 is partnering with the State of Nebraska on trailers for cold-weather Covid testing.

Many believe that a shift to alternate sources of protein is an important strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Air Protein CEO Lisa Dyson PhD ’04 has turned to an untapped source.

Teaching nuclear engineering isn’t your typical day job for an aspiring filmmaker. But Jackie Perez ’08 brings her experience studying alternative energies to creative projects with a scientific bent.

Chris Cassidy SM ’00 says his recent sendoff to the International Space Station was shaped by the pandemic—including new precautions and an empty parking lot in place of cheering crowds. 

Walking into Mah-Ze-Dahr Bakery, you won’t see any indication that the self-trained head chef and founder, Umber Ahmad ’94, was once a teenage professional violinist turned MIT biology major turned banker.

In a handful of days, designer Quinnton Harris ’11 and his collective built a campaign that prompted 655 companies to recognize Juneteenth, which celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. 

After visiting refugee camps in Greece, former Maseeh Hall roommates Aziz Alghunaim ’15, MEng ’15 and Atif Javed ’15 quit their jobs to found the translation app Tarjimly.

“I’m not focused on developing the next generation of programmers,” says Marina Umaschi Bers SM '97, PhD '01. “I just want to impact the next generation of citizens."

According to Flourish Klink SM ’10, a fandom is a community of people who build their own world—lovingly, and also sometimes critically—around whatever piece of pop culture makes them ravenous for more.

When Michael Solomon MBA ’20 moved his son Sam Solomon ’20 to MIT’s campus for his first semester as an undergraduate, he didn’t yet know that in two years he too would enroll as a student.

After switching from marketing to computer animation, Laura Han ’10 is now working at Walt Disney Animation Studios, where she was on the team for the forthcoming film Raya and the Last Dragon.

“I often use the tools of science and technology to create aesthetic experiences,” says interdisciplinary artist Ani Liu SM '17—experiences that sometimes question the ways society fails to be humane.

Bernard Loyd ’83, SM ’85, PhD ’89, SM ’90 founded Urban Juncture to revitalize underserved communities in Chicago, including his own neighborhood, Bronzeville.

Manya Ranjan SM ’10 helped to ensure the reliable delivery of electricity in India as the country struggled with monsoon season and the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.