Daniela Rus is the Andrew (1956) and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at MIT. Rus’ research interests are in robotics, artificial intelligence, and data science.

The focus of her work is developing the science and engineering of autonomy, toward the long-term objective of enabling a future with machines pervasively integrated into the fabric of life, supporting people with cognitive and physical tasks. Her research addresses some of the gaps between where robots are today and the promise of pervasive robots: increasing the ability of machines to reason, learn, and adapt to complex tasks in human-centered environments, developing intuitive interfaces between robots and people, and creating the tools for designing and fabricating new robots quickly and efficiently. The applications of this work are broad and include transportation, manufacturing, agriculture, construction, monitoring the environment, underwater exploration, smart cities, medicine, and in-home tasks such as cooking.

Rus serves as the Associate Director of MIT’s Quest for Intelligence Core, and as Director of the Toyota-CSAIL Joint Research Center, whose focus is the advancement of AI research and its applications to intelligent vehicles. She is a member of the Toyota Research Institute advisory board.

Rus is a Class of 2002 MacArthur Fellow, a fellow of ACM, AAAI and IEEE, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is the recipient of the 2017 Engelberger Robotics Award from the Robotics Industries Association. She earned her PhD in Computer Science from Cornell University.

Having received his B.Sc. (Physics) from Manchester University and D. Phil. (Physics) from Oxford University, Professor Thomas Peacock of the Mechanical Engineering Department at MIT is the Director of the Environmental Dynamics Laboratory (ENDLab). His research group conducts field studies, laboratory experiments and modeling of environmental flows with an emphasis on ocean dynamics and transport. Professor Thomas Peacock received NSF and ONR sponsored projects, including recent studies in the Arctic Ocean, the Timor Sea, and the Western Pacific. Recently, he established a research program at MIT that studies scientific and societal aspects of deep-sea mining, with activities ranging from plume dynamic studies in the Pacific Ocean to the development of an international royalty payment regime for the International Seabed Authority.

Karthish Manthiram is the Warren K. Lewis Career Development Professor in Chemical Engineering at MIT. His lab is focused on electrifying chemical manufacturing, so that air, water, and renewable electricity can be used to make diverse chemicals. Examples include converting air and water into fertilizers, fuels, and plastics. Karthish received his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from UC Berkeley, and, most recently, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the California Institute of Technology. Karthish’s research and teaching have been recognized with several awards, including Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science, Dan Cubicciotti Award of the Electrochemical Society, 3M Nontenured Faculty Award, and the C. Michael Mohr Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award.

Raffaele Ferrari studies the circulation of the ocean, its impact on present and past climates, and its role on shaping biological productivity. His group combines observations, theory and numerical models to investigate the physics of the ocean and atmosphere from scales of centimeters to thousand of kilometers. 

Ferrari has PhDs in Oceanography (Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 2000) and Fluid Dynamics (Politecnico di Torino, 1999). Before joining the faculty in 2002 he spent time as a postdoctoral scholar at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). Since 2012 Ferrari has been Director of the Program in Atmospheres, Oceans and Climate.

Darya Guettler is a Junior (Class of 2021) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is majoring in Course 2 (Mechanical Engineering) and 17 (Political Science). Coming from Germany and the United States, she became interested in the field of sustainability because of her aunt, but decided to pursue her passions in the field because Climate Change is “such a real threat to the world,” and she thinks that we need as many people as possible working on mitigating it.

Darya is the co-president of the Undergraduate Energy Club. She is a member of the MIT Symphony Orchestra, the MIT Climate Action Team and the Solar Electric Vehicle Team, and has spent her summer interning at Tesla Energy. In her free time, she likes hiking, watersports, performing in her Indie-Rock band, and visiting new countries.

Mohamadou Bella Bah sees coordination problems everywhere. A Junior at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) majoring in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Bella’s research interests include artificial intelligence, multi-agent systems, and algorithms and controls for cyber-physical systems. Bella believes that many of today’s cyber-physical systems can be made fully autonomous; wherein, a human operator provides no additional instruction beyond providing the desired system state. Bella’s research addresses how to achieve coordination in networks that have numerous, diverse, and independent agents, through the interactions of autonomous and intelligent agents — particularly in the context of smart grids. Bella’s most recent project is a communications and services platform for smart grids that enables distributed energy resources to autonomously self-coordinate pursuant of demands made by a system operator.

David McGee’s paleoclimate research focuses on understanding how precipitation patterns respond to climate change. Using natural climate archives such as lake deposits, stalagmites, and deep-sea sediments, his group reconstructs water availability in past climates in order to test theories and models used to project future changes. David is also the Director of the Terrascope First-Year Learning Community at MIT, which engages first-year undergraduates in student-led exploration of challenges related to sustainability and the environment. He received his bachelor’s degree from Carleton College, then taught secondary school science for seven years prior to obtaining a master’s degree from Tulane University and a Ph.D. in Earth and Environmental Sciences from Columbia University. David was a NOAA Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Minnesota before joining MIT’s faculty in 2012.

A broad thinker, Juan Enriquez bridges disciplines to build a coherent look ahead. He is the managing director of Excel Venture Management, a life sciences VC firm. He published (with Steve Gullans) Evolving Ourselves: How Unnatural Selection and Nonrandom Mutation Are Shaping Life on Earth. The book describes a world where humans increasingly shape their environment, themselves and other species. Enriquez cofounded the company that made the world’s first synthetic life form, and seed funded a company that may allow portable brain reading.

Noelle Eckley Selin is Associate Professor in the Institute for Data, Systems and Society and the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is also the Director of MIT’s Technology and Policy Program. Her research uses atmospheric chemistry modeling to inform decision-making on sustainability challenges, including air pollution, climate change and hazardous substances such as mercury and persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Her work also examines interactions between science and policy in international environmental negotiations and develops systems approaches to address sustainability challenges. She received her PhD from Harvard University in Earth and Planetary Sciences as part of the Atmospheric Chemistry Modeling Group. Her M.A. (Earth and Planetary Sciences) and B.A. (Environmental Science and Public Policy) are also from Harvard University. Before joining the MIT faculty, she was a research scientist with the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change. Her articles were selected as the best environmental policy papers in 2015 and 2016 by the journal Environmental Science & Technology.  She is the recipient of a U.S. National Science Foundation CAREER award (2011), a Leopold Leadership fellow (2013-2014), Kavli fellow (2015), a member of the Global Young Academy (2014-2018), an American Association for the Advancement of Science Leshner Leadership Institute Fellow (2016-2017), and a Hans Fischer Senior Fellow at the Technical University of Munich Institute for Advanced Study (2018-2021).

Vibha is a fourth-year student studying Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, with a minor in Biomedical Engineering. Her passion for sustainability comes from her belief  that everyone has the right to basic needs, and that things like clean water, a safe environment, nutritious foods, and access to education are the key to helping people accomplish their personal goals. She loves learning about other communities, and is inspired by Tanzania’s move towards solar energy. At MIT Engineers Without Borders, she’s served as External Relations Manager, Electrical Team Lead, Technical Lead, and President; this club has given her amazing opportunities to grow as a leader and change-maker. (She’s also been involved with MIT D-Lab in the past. )

Vivian Song is a senior majoring in Materials Science & Engineering at MIT. She has a passion for sustainability and has acted as co-chair for the MIT Undergraduate Association Committee on Sustainability Outreach. Currently, she serves as one of the administrators and founders of Waste Watchers under the MIT Recycling and Materials Management Office. In her free time, she likes to write stories and listen to musitomcals.

Talia Khan is a Senior (Class of 2020) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is majoring in Course 3 (Materials Science and Engineering) and 21M (Music). She is from Phoenix, AZ, and her passion for sustainability stems from her love of nature. She yearns to protect it from harm that may inhibit the continuation of life. Her hobby outside of protecting our planet includes being a Jazz Singer.

Catherine McCartin, senior lecturer at Massey University and co-owner of a beef and sheep farm explains how New Zealand farming must change from animal based farming to plant based. New laws require the improvement fish water quality and a reduction in methane emissions from livestock. While the country is most efficient producing meat and milk it must adjust the ratio of animal based farming to plant based farming to meet the requirements made by these laws. The repurposing of New Zealand farm land from animal based to plant based will greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make the landscape more habitable to aquatic wildlife as well as land based animals and birds. Senior lecturer at Massey University and co-owner of a beef and sheep farm.

Join Hilary Vogelbaum, an MIT student whose passion for finding solutions to address climate change took her far out of her comfort zone–to an industry-sponsored offshore oil and gas drilling camp for college students. In our hyper polarized and politicized world, the idea that people with widely divergent viewpoints should still talk to each other is RADICAL. Hilary proves that even in the most unlikely places, we can pool our talents to find solutions to prevent catastrophic climate change. The climate problem is so big, everyone can, should and must be part of the solution. 

Ryan Allard is a transportation analyst with broad knowledge of transportation systems and their impact on climate. His specialties include passenger intermodality, intercity transport, competitive issues in transportation, and cooperation among transportation systems, on which he has published peer-reviewed research and presented at international conferences. In the past, Ryan worked as a consultant, aiding in the development of more effective government and state agencies. He has a PhD and MSc in Transportation Systems Analysis from the University of Lisbon, and a BS in Aerospace Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

We are the Ohms, MIT’s electrifying competitive South Asian a cappella group!

Really, we’re a pretty awesome group of people who love punny statements and pride ourselves on having the lowest time commitment on campus. Nevertheless, we have received plenty of praise for our creative arrangements, vocal talent, and upbeat spirit. We have been featured at MIT’s 150th Anniversary celebrations, MIT Campus Preview Weekend, and at our very first concert (Ohms: Resistance) in March 2011.

For us, the Ohms are a family. Though we started as just a really cool idea in Date Room B in McCormick Hall, we are who we are today because of a team effort. Every member of the Ohms has left a lasting imprint on our group, and we have created so many memories together. We collaborate, we’re efficient, we’re fun. We’re a little bit nerdy and little bit crazy, but that is why we love each other. Above all else, we love to sing and celebrate the richness of our culture. We are the Ohms, MIT’s electrifying competitive South Asian a cappella group! 

Syncopasian is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s co-ed East Asian music a cappella group. We celebrate East Asian pop culture at MIT through our eclectic a cappella repetoire featuring songs in English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and other East Asian languages. Syncopasian is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s co-ed East Asian music a cappella group. We celebrate East Asian pop culture at MIT through our eclectic a cappella repetoire featuring songs in English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and other East Asian languages.

MIT Resonance is a co-ed a cappella group at MIT, whose mission is to explore the fine art of covering contemporary music hits of varying popularity armed only with our wits and a pitch pipe! Enjoy this video of us performing at TEDxMIT in December 2019. A special shout-out to senior Jenn Lu for her moving speech on the importance of doing work to fight climate change!

We are a group of individuals from MIT and the Boston area who love Bhangra and are dedicated to exhibiting the energy and excitement that comes with it! Bhangra is a high-energy and upbeat folk dance from the state of Punjab in Northern India. It has grown in style and popularity over the years and today bhangra is celebrated on an international, competitive circuit.

The MIT Asian Dance Team is a student organization established in 2009 to spread the culture and love of East Asian dance, from classical and ethnic Chinese dances to modern Korean, Japanese, and Chinese pop. ADT currently has over 250 members consisting of MIT students and affiliates. For more information, check out our website at adt.mit.edu or our Instagram @mitasiandanceteam.