Dear members of the MIT community and friends,

It has been an extraordinary year that has tested our abilities and endurance—transformed challenges into opportunities—and forced us to navigate uncertainty the MIT way: with hope, ambition, innovation, and perseverance. It is in that spirit that I wish to celebrate our students who have risen to so many challenges despite what has stood in their paths.

Almost two weeks has passed since MIT’s Commencement ceremony. I want to applaud our graduates and every one of our students for their deep and sustained commitment to individual and collaborative learning, discovery, invention and creation; for their probing questions that continually push us all to reexamine what we do and how we do it; and for their instincts and talent for collaboration and building community that make a better MIT.  

This issue of The Infinite shines a light on some of our remarkable School of Engineering students through stories such as that of Ashley Kaiser, who is applying her doctoral research to designing stronger, tougher, and lighter materials for future space vehicles and habitats; Awele Uwagwu, who is working to accelerate the adoption of solar energy in Nigeria, and Zaina Moussa, who is embracing different cultures and interests while pursuing a career as a physician-scientist. You’ll also meet some of our recent graduates who fondly recall their experiences in the New Engineering Education Transformation (NEET) and working from a distance and across the globe to design an autonomous air pollution monitoring system.

Whether inventing solutions, pursuing curiosities, or continuing education, the many roads our remarkable students travel all lead to a willingness and determination to build a better world—and I know they will.

I hope you enjoy reading about some of our newest members of the alumni community, and that you’ll join me in celebrating their accomplishments. 

Sincerely,