Alumni/ae

MIT has been named one of the top universities in the country for educating students that go on to found venture-capital-backed startups, according to PitchBook’s annual rankings, reports Steph Solis for Axios.

Biobot, a sewage data company co-founded by Mariana Matus PhD ’18 and Newsha Ghaeli PhD ’17, uses wastewater analysis to track the spread of Covid-19, reports Faye Flam for Bloomberg. “This kind of data gives Covid-cautious people the information they need to reduce their risk,” writes Flam.

Jamie Karraker BS ’12 MS ’13 co-founded Alto Pharmacy – a full-service, online pharmacy that aims to create a transparent, straightforward and user-friendly experience, reports Erika Fry for Fortune. “All patients need to do after seeing their doctor is interface with the app (or via text) and pick up the prescription from their front door,” writes Fry.

MIT startup Quaise Energy is developing an energy-based drill to make geothermal power more accessible, reports Catherine Clifford for CNBC. “The solution to drilling is to replace the mechanical grinding process with a pure energy-matter interaction,” says research scientist Paul Woskov. “Sufficient energy intensity will always melt-vaporize rock without need for physical tools.”

Prof. Peter Shor has been named one of the winners of the 2023 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, reports Nature. “Shor’s most renowned contribution is the development of quantum algorithms for prime number factorization,” writes Nature.

Forbes contributor Marija Butkovic spotlights Gloria Ro Kolb ’94, the founder of medical device company Elidah, which is developing “an external, home-use treatment for female urinary incontinence.” 

MIT spinoff Quaise Energy is transforming a millimeter-wave drilling technique from nuclear fusion experiments to tap geothermal energy, reports Mark Bergen for Bloomberg. “The company’s drill – it is building three prototypes in laboratories – is about 100 feet tall and looks like convential equipment used in the oil and gas industry,” writes Bergen. “Except built into the center of the drill is a gyrotron, an electrical vacuum designed to heat plasma in thermonuclear fusion machines. 

The hosts of Bloomberg Radio’s Baystate Business discussed the announcement that Sally Kornbluth has been named the 18^th president of MIT.  "[Kornbluth] said that she was excited for those 'global challenges,' and that is something that has been really the mantle of MIT: solving the world’s problems with technology,” reports Janet Wu. “It sounded like she wanted to be part of that.”

Vox reporter Sigal Samuel spotlights Joy Buolamwini MS ’17 PhD ’22 for her work in uncovering the bias in artificial intelligence and the real-world harm it creates. Buolamwini “founded the Algorithmic Justice League, where researchers work with activists to hold the AI industry to account,” writes Samuel.

Milena Pagán ’11 speaks with Good Morning America about her inspiration for opening Little Sister Café, which is bringing a taste of Puerto Rican cuisine to Providence, Rhode Island. "This food is authentic to my experience, which is I lived half of my life in Puerto Rico, half of my life in America and I love to travel all over the world,” says Pagán, “so I'm just putting all of it together, and in that sense it's very authentic." 

Washington Post reporter David Lynch highlights the work of Ben S. Bernanke PhD ’79, one of the recipients of this year’s Nobel Prize in economic sciences, who was honored for his research on the role banks play during financial turmoil. “Bernanke demonstrated that bank failures — rather than resulting from the downturn — were responsible for making it so deep and so long. When banks collapsed, valuable information about borrowers disappeared, making it difficult for new institutions to channel savings to productive investments,” notes Lynch.

The 2022 Nobel Prize in economic sciences was awarded in part to Ben S. Bernanke PhD ’79 for his research showing that “bank failures can propagate a financial crisis rather than simply be a result of the crisis,” reports Jeanna Smialek for The New York Times. When asked about his advice for younger economists, Bernanke noted “one of the lessons of my life is, you never know what is going to happen.”

Ben S. Bernanke PhD ’79 has been honored as one of the recipients of this year’s Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences, reports the Associated Press. Bernanke was recognized for his work examining the Great Depression and “showing the danger of bank runs — when panicked people withdraw their savings — and how bank collapses led to widespread economic devastation,” notes the AP.

Ben Bernanke PhD ’79, former chair of the Federal Reserve, has been awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in economic sciences, reports Allison Morrow for CNN. Bernanke “received the award for his research on the Great Depression,” says Morrow. “In short, his work demonstrates that banks’ failures are often a cause, not merely a consequence, of financial crises.”

Ben Bernanke PhD ’79 has won a share of the 2022 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on banks and financial crises, reports Micahel T. Nietzel for Forbes. Bernanke and his fellow winners are credited with significantly improving “our understanding of the role of banks in the economy, particularly during financial crises,” says The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.