Hannah Northey of Greenwire features the work of MIT alumnus Samuel Brinton, an energy fellow at Third Way and LGBT activist who is known for his bright red mohawk. "A lot of Hill staffers know me as the MIT or nuclear kid with a red mohawk," says Brinton. "It gets the conversation started."
Barbara Walters selected MIT alumnus and corporation member David H. Koch as one of the ten most fascinating people of 2014. In an interview with Walters, Koch discusses his commitment to philanthropy, saying, "I intend to continue being very philanthropic for the rest of my life."
Stacy Shepard writes for Boston Magazine about FitBark, a product created by MIT alumnus Davide Rossi that monitors a dog’s activity and health statistics. “Our pets are full members of the family, and we needed a way to monitor how they are doing,” says Rossi.
Financial Times reporter John Thornhill speaks with MIT alumnus and former British foreign secretary David Miliband about his work with the International Rescue Committee, life in New York City and the European Union.
Austin Hess of The Tech speaks with MIT alumna and U.S. Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith following her selection as the 2015 commencement speaker. “The students graduating today are going to live … possibly past 100 years. So there’s so many different adventures that people should get up to,” says Smith.
Caitlin Dewey writes for The Washington Post about MIT startup Charitweet, which aims to make supporting charitable causes easier. “Ecommerce has just made it so easy for me to send money, except when it comes to giving. … Why should donating to charity be harder than buying something on Amazon?” says Charitweet co-founder Charles Huang.
CNBC reporter Hailey Lee writes about the startup Saathi, which was founded by MIT alumna Amrita Saigal to empower rural women by giving them access to sanitary pads and economic opportunity. "We want to be invested in the entirety of the village—we want to see how Saathi improves socioeconomic status, girls' school attendance, female employment and income," explains Saigal.
MIT alumnus Dave Smith speaks with Anthony Brooks of WBUR about his company, LiquiGlide. LiquiGlide makes a substance that coats the surface on the inside of containers, reducing friction and allowing fluids to slide out more easily.
MIT alumnus Noam Angrist and seniors Anisha Gururaj and Elliot H. Akama-Garren were among 32 Rhodes scholars selected from the U.S. this year, reports Jennifer Smith for The Boston Globe. “The American scholars will join an international group of students chosen from 14 other global jurisdictions, according to the Rhodes Trust,” Smith reports.
Two MIT seniors and alumnus Noam Angrist have been named Rhodes Scholars, reports Dave Collins for the Associated Press. “It’s a total dream come true,” says Angrist. “The skills I will get at (Oxford) are just incredible, and I’ll come back into the world fully equipped to do what I love to do.”
NPR’s Lynn Neary writes about the life and legacy of MIT alumnus Tom Magliozzi, who along with his brother, Ray, became famous for their NPR program Car Talk. “They liked to act like they were just a couple of regular guys who happened to be mechanics, but both of them graduated from MIT,” writes Neary.
Los Angeles Times reporter Steve Chawkins writes about Tom Magliozzi, an MIT alumnus and co-host of NPR’s Car Talk, highlighting the MIT commencement address Magliozzi delivered with his brother in 1999. "I became a bum," said Magliozzi of the period in his life after he quit his job as an engineer. "I spent two years in Harvard Square drinking coffee."
Washington Post reporter Adam Bernstein writes about Tom Magliozzi, an MIT alumnus and co-host of the popular NPR program Car Talk, who passed away at age 77. “As youngsters, Tom and Ray, who is 12 years his junior, conducted science experiments in the back yard and enjoyed tinkering with their father’s Depression-era car,” writes Bernstein.
“Wielding his unmistakable laughter as ably he would a wrench, Tom Magliozzi hosted NPR’s “Car Talk” for 35 years with his brother, Ray, instructing and entertaining millions,” writes Boston Globe reporter Bryan Marquard of MIT alumnus Tom Magliozzi, who passed away Monday.
MIT alumnus Tom Magliozzi ‘58, co-host of Car Talk on NPR, has died at 77. In a remembrance on WBUR, Bruce Gellerman highlights a clip from Magliozzi’s 1999 commencement speech at MIT, where he used the speech to elaborate on his famous “theory of life.”