MIT CLUB OF NEW YORKWINTER / SPRING 2016 NEWSLETTER

NEWSLETTER

Editors:

Yiting Shen GM ’07

Charlene Chuang ’05 BC

Kenneth Namkung AR ’03

OUR WEBSITE

www.mitclub.org

SOCIAL MEDIA

Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter | Flickr

DID YOU KNOW?

There are 8,000+ alumni in the

metropolitan NYC area. Graduating

classes range from 1944 to 2015.

MIT alumni are distributed as

follows: 51% in Manhattan, 13% in

Westchester, 11% in Brooklyn, 6% in

Queens, and 1% in the Bronx.

UPCOMING EVENTS

FEBRUARY 2016

No Better Time: A Talk by Molly

Knight Raskin

MARCH 2016

Reading Structures: A Lecture by Guy

Nordenson ’77

FIRST Robotics Event at

Javits Center

A Conversation with Carlo Ratti,

Professor of the Practice

APRIL 2016

Annual Membership Meeting

MIT Comes to NYC at the Hayden

Planetarium

MAY 2016

Admissions Update from

Stu Schmill ’86

INFORMATION

ON THE RADARKenneth Namkung AR ’03

We’re proud to announce that the Club enters spring 2016 with a fantastic

slate of programs. For our signature annual event on April 18 with the

American Museum of Natural History, Curtis and Kathleen Marble Professor

of Astrophysics Nergis Mavalvala will discuss her research in the quantum

measurement of gravitational waves. Renowned engineer and Princeton

University professor Guy Nordenson ’77 will share his work in structures and

coastal resiliency on March 8, and Stu Schmill ’86 will visit us in May with

updates on the latest in MIT Admissions. These events are a small portion of

our upcoming offerings—there are many more great events to come!

PHOTOS

Top:

Hayden Planetarium

Lower Left:

Guy Nordenson ’77

Lower Right:

Stu Schmill ’86

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ABOUT US OFFICERS 2015 – 2016

President

Michael G. Johnson CP ’97

Immediate Past President

Scott Morrison ’86 EE

Executive Vice President

Jay Damask ’90 EE

Vice President, Educational and

Cultural Programs

Kenneth Namkung AR ’03

Vice President, Social Programs and

Inter-Club Relations

Dominic Ricci ’99 PH

Vice President,

Professional Programs

Malinda Foy ’87 SB

Vice President, Community

Service Programs

Sarah Kaspers ’85 CM

Vice President, Communications

Yiting Shen GM ’07

Vice President, Membership

David Fung ’85 CH

Secretary

Joanne Baker ’80 MG

Treasurer

Charlene Chuang ’05 BCS

Club Counsel

Arthur Katz ’61 MG

Nominating Committee Chair

Gregory Arenson ’70 EC

Officer-at-Large

Jeremy Gerstle ’99 EE

FIND US ONLINE!

Like the MIT Club of New York

Facebook page to learn the latest club

news and hear about upcoming events.

Join the Club’s LinkedIn group

(currently 700 strong) to exchange

your thoughts on leadership and

career development.

In addition, we’re on Twitter. Follow

@MITClubNY to find out what we’re

up to. Links to our social media

profiles are below:

Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter | Flickr

MOLLY KNIGHT RASKIN TALKS ABOUT DANNY LEWIN SM ’98 Kenneth Namkung AR ’03

Journalist Molly Knight Raskin will give

a talk to the Club about her book No Better Time: The Brief, Remarkable Life of Danny Lewin, the Genius Who Transformed the Internet. It chronicles

the life and accomplishments of Danny

Lewin SM ’98, the founder of Akamai

Technologies and one of the first

victims of September 11. This event

is on February 16. Sign up soon to

reserve your ticket.

CARLO RATTI, DIRECTOR OF THE SENSEABLE

CITY LAB Kenneth Namkung AR ’03

On March 31, The Club will host Carlo

Ratti, Professor of the Practice and

Director of the SENSEable City Lab, at

Cooper Union’s Rose Auditorium. Artist

and engineer Natalie Jeremijenko will

moderate the conversation. To learn

more about Carlo Ratti, please visit the

links below.

FIRST ROBOTICS FINALS! Sarah Kaspers ’85 CM

Please come out to see FIRST Robotics

at the Javits Center on March 12 for

fun events for all ages. Iffat Mai ’89

will lead tours of the event including

behind-the-scenes explanations of the

pit area. Mai is a veteran coach for

JFLL, FLL, and FTC and organizes the

Forest Hills Robotics League.

Last year over 200 people attended

this exclusive tour for MIT alumni and

friends. Watch the Club’s upcoming

e-blasts for registration details.

UPCOMING EVENTS

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Profile on DUSP Website

TED Talk

Event Information

UPPER LEFT:

MIT Sloan alumni ringing the closing

bell at NASDAQ

UPPER RIGHT:

Alumni at a screening of the Godfather

at Lincoln Center

LOWER LEFT:

Dom Ricci speaking at the fall Club

Annual Social

LOWER RIGHT:

MIT alums at the annual holiday party

CLUB NEWS AND RECENT EVENTSph

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oyCouldn’t make the Club’s annual autumn social

event? You missed mingling with fellow MIT alumni

and discovering more about the upcoming Club year.

You missed Jerry Appelstein ’80, an alumni leader

who embodies MIT’s spirit in his professional and

volunteer careers—he spoke about the benefits of

remaining involved with the Institute as an alumnus

or of reconnecting with the Institute for those have

lost touch.

Couldn’t make the Club’s holiday gathering? You

missed a festive congregation of the MIT NYC

community, networking opportunities, and some

trivia fun too.

Couldn’t make the Toast to IAP? You missed a

chance to raise a communal glass to the Institute

with alumni around the world while alumna Georgia

Garinois-Melenikiotou GM ’84 shared how she

has drawn lessons from life and combined them

with a strategic mindset to achieve personal and

professional success.

MIT Club of New York social events—if you’re not there, you don’t know what you’re missing.

CLUB OF NEW YORK SOCIAL PROGRAMS UPDATE Dom Ricci ’99 PH

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CYBERSECURITY@CSAILKenneth Namkung AR ’03

Howard Shrobe, Associate Director and a Principal Research

Scientist at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence

Laboratory (CSAIL), and Andrew Lo, Charles E. and Susan T.

Harris Professor, a Professor of Finance, and the Director of the

Laboratory for Financial Engineering at Sloan, gave a joint talk on

modern digital security to a sold-out crowd on October 20.

Shrobe described the architecture of current computing systems

(based on the engineering tradeoffs of a different age) to discuss

how future digital systems could be secured architecturally via

hardware, software, and cryptography. Lo spoke about predictive

analytics and its potential security pitfalls in the global financial

system, which he illustrated with some eye-opening stories. He then

shared new technologies, such as secure multi-party computation,

that could mitigate some of these downsides.

ANNUAL CLUB KICKOFF WITH URSULA BURNS AT THE UNION LEAGUE CLUB

Charlene Chuang ’05 BCS

Ursula Burns, Chairman and CEO of Xerox and member of

the MIT Corporation, kicked off the Club year with fervor,

commending us that as engineers, we solve problems, make

possibility, and unclog messes.

Burns shared with MIT alumni and New York University

Polytechnic students some wise words for the workplace: we

must bring our whole selves to work—we cannot be someone

else. Veteran professionals and newcomers alike yearned to

know how to find a mentor, so Burns sent us into the year with

a reminder to look up and look out, and to allow ourselves to

connect.

BREAKFAST WITH JOHN CHISHOLM ’75Kenneth Namkung AR ’03

The MIT Club of New York was honored to host John Chisholm

’75, SM ’76, President of the MIT Alumni Association, for a

morning breakfast on November 10. Chisholm has had many

careers—as an entrepreneur, an investor, an executive, and an

author—and shared insights from his wealth of experiences.

Chisholm introduced the Alumni Association, its activities, and

the role played by its Board of Directors. He then detailed his

own career, including the time he spent running a startup that

survived the 2001 dot-com bust, as well as the economic effects

of 9/11. How did his company survive? Through a combination of

passion and perseverance, two traits he sees as critical to business

success—and two traits you see fostered in the MIT community.

CLUB NEWS AND RECENT EVENTSph

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CLUB NEWS AND RECENT EVENTS

ASSOCIATE PROVOST PHILIP KHOURY AT THE GRADUATE CENTERKenneth Namkung AR ’03

On December 3, the Club hosted Philip Khoury, Ford International

Professor of History and Associate Provost at MIT, for a sold-out

talk at the CUNY Graduate Center, during which he discussed the

current state of the Middle East and the prospects for its future.

Khoury began by discussing the origins of the Arab Spring and

subsequent developments before describing the Syrian civil war

and refugee crisis. He delved into the origins of ISIS and the roles

played by nearby regimes, and then proposed potential ways to

contain the organization. Khoury concluded the talk by discussing

the long-term prospects for the region.

A TOUR OF THE JAVITS CENTER GREEN ROOFKenneth Namkung AR ’03

The MIT Club of New York spent a beautiful November afternoon

touring the new green roof atop the Javits Center. Led by Gustavo

Rodriguez AR ’02, tour-goers enjoyed an up-close and personal

view of the second largest planted roof in the country—six times

the size of the lawn at Bryant Park. This roof insulates the Javits

Center building, absorbs rainwater, and provides habitat for local

birds.

Thanks to a robust alumni network, the Club is able to provide

many tours of spaces usually inaccessible to the public. In the past,

alumni have explored beneath Grand Central Terminal and inside

the construction site for the Second Avenue Subway. New tours are

currently in the works and alumni leads are always welcome.

MIT GOES TO THE MAKER FAIRESarah Kaspers ’85 CM

The MIT Club of New York met at the New York Hall of

Science in September to enjoy 3-D demonstrations, tech

workshops, and booths presenting latest inventions.

The 2015 Maker Faire also had an interactive area with

remote-controlled demonstrations—fascinating for all

ages. The Club looks forward to organizing another visit in

September 2016.

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BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP

2012—2014 Graduates | $25

Current Graduate Students | $25

All Other Graduates | $50

1970 and Earlier Graduates | FREE

2015 Graduates | FREE

Patrons | $200

MEMBERSHIP LEVEL:

CONTACT INFORMATION

Mr./Ms./Other First Name Last Name

Check here if you are a renewing member with no changes to membership information.

Class of Course Degree

Mailing Address: Street Apt City State ZIP

Phone MIT Email @alum.mit.edu

Alternate Email

REGISTER ONLINE!

You can also sign up online at www.mitclub.org

PAYMENT INFORMATION AND ADDRESS

Send to: Colette Thompson

Club Administrator, MITCNY

P. O. Box 1122

New York, NY 10163

Please make check payable to MIT Club of New York.

Alternatively, credit card payments can be made at www.mitclub.org

Membership is valid July 1, 2015–June 30, 2016

2015-2016 REGISTRATION

BECOME AN MIT CLUB OF NEW YORK MEMBER TODAY! David Fung ’85 CH

If you have not become a member of the Club of New York, please

consider joining. A Club member enjoys benefits to MIT and Club-

sponsored events. Depending on the membership level, a member

can attend some events gratis or at preferred member pricing.

The Club has some special events planned for the balance of this

fiscal year (review this newsletter). Visit www.mitclub.org for a

complete, up-to-date list of upcoming events and to sign up for Club

membership.

Become a member now.

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