Winter 2015

amita.alumgroup.mit.edu

President's Letter

Dear MIT Alumnae ­

Welcome to the 2014­2015 year of alumnae events and news! After a bright, colorful fall season inNew England, we are making our way through the winter: so much snow has fallen in recent monthsthat MIT was closed for two days in January and two more in February! (and MIT never closes!)

Our first event of the season, "Job Offer Negotiation Strategies" led by Farzana Mohamed '99, was ahit. Many current MIT students attended the September seminar and heard Farzana discuss her recent book on the salarynegotiation process. In December, we held our annual AMITA Holiday Party and Ellen Swallow Richards Birthday Celebration. TheJanuary Women Mentoring and Networking event was well­attended. Most recently, Marta Gross, '80 moderated a panel on LegalIssues for Start­ups featuring speakers: Jennifer Yang '05, Janice Vatland '95 and Jean Weidemier P '15. The audience askedengaging questions about protecting intellectual property and negotiating the terms of a license.

A popular topic at MIT these days is Diversity. Professor Bertschinger of the Physics Department was appointed ICEO InstituteCommunity and Equity Officer (ICEO) of MIT. He held a Symposium in October 2014 titled "Challenging Technical Privilege: HowRace and Gender Matter." The video is accessible at TechTV (click here) and AMITA had a video viewing in November. A relatedvideo by Professor Claude Steele (Berkeley) called, "Stereotype Threat, " is available at Harvard's website (click here). While thistitle sounds a bit unclear, Steele is excellent at conveying how different parties can feel in mixed race situations. MIT continued witha Diversity Summit held on January 29th and February 12th. More details on that event are available at the Diversity Summitwebsite (click here) While not many sessions are available online, the website shows the scope of the initiative.

Thanks for reading and have a great year!

Dorothy

Dorothy Curtis, '73President, AMITAdcurtis@alum.mit.eduamita.alumgroup.mit.edu

Upcoming AMITA Events

The Remarkable Life and Career of Ellen Swallow Richards ­ Celebrate International Women's Day with AMITA! Today, onMarch 8th from 4­6 pm, AMITA together with the MIT Division of Student Life and Women@Broad will host Pamela Curtis Swallow,who will discuss her new book, The Remarkable Life and Career of Ellen Swallow Richards: Pioneer in Science and Technology(on Amazon and IndieBound). Her book documents the life of Ellen, the first woman admitted into MIT, who went on to performpioneering research in nutritional and environmental studies.

AMITA Executive Board (2014­2015)PresidentDorothy Curtis '73

Vice PresidentKia Freeman '89

Chair, Membership CommitteeVeena Jayadeva MBA '10

TreasurerAnh Thu Vo '89

Recording SecretaryDeborah Poodry MAA '79, MCP '79

Chair, Program CommitteeDorothy Curtis '73

ArchivistCarol Hooker '67

Chair, Newsletter CommitteeAileen Wu '03

Chair, Student AwardsCommitteeUttara Marti '03, MNG '05

Nominating CommitteeEkta Desai '03Wendi Zhang '09

LEARN MORE

Professor Dresselhaus Honored by President

Institute Professor MildredDresselhaus HM '86 received thePresidential Medal of Freedom onNovember 24th. The PresidentialMedal of Freedom is the Nation’shighest civilian honor, presented toindividuals who have madeespecially meritorious contributionsto the security or national interestsof the United States, to world peace,or to cultural or other significantpublic or private endeavors. Here isthe MIT news article. She was alsointerviewed by NPR: please listen tothe interview with the "Queen ofCarbon" here.

To join in person, register here. To join the live webcast, register here.

Date: Sunday (TODAY) 3/8/2015Time: 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM EDTLocation: The Broad Institute, 415 Main St., Cambridge, MA

Uncovering and Preserving Stories of MIT Alumnae: AMITA Oral History Projectby Christine Kuta '83 (kuta@alum.mit.edu)

The earliest alumnae of MIT are no longer around for us to speak to, however, for the past twenty­five years, the AMITA OralHistory Project has been collecting the stories of our more recent alumnae. In the fall of 1988, Bonny Kellerman (then AMITApresident) and Susan Kannenberg had the idea of capturing the stories of MIT alumnae. A chance conversation with Jane Sherwin(then Director of UROP) resulted in the inclusion of undergraduates as interviewers under UROP. An Oral History Working Groupwas formed which brought together AMITA, UROP, the MIT libraries and the MIT museum.

The Oral History Project is now an endowed program run by AMITA. In the years since the founding of the Oral History Project,over fifty alumnae have been interviewed by UROP researchers. Collecting histories through UROP provides undergraduates withthe opportunity to meet and network with alumnae. The collected interviews are then posted to a dedicated site in the MIT librarysystem. The histories are web­accessible through a public portal and so are available to all.

Are you interested in oral history? Do you know of an alumna that should be interviewed or would you like to be interviewed?Contact Carol Hooker '67 (csh@alum.mit.edu) if you want to help with AMITA's Oral History Project.

US Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith to Address Commencementby Nancy Duvergne Smith originally published in Slice of MIT blog on 12/11/14

Megan Smith ’86, SM ’88, the newly installed chief technology officer (CTO) of the United States, is coming home to MIT onceagain. This time as the June 5, 2015, Commencement speaker. After earning two degrees and serving two stints on the MITCorporation, she certainly knows the campus layout.

And she knows the issues facing technology creators and entrepreneurs. Until her White House appointment, she served as a VPof New Business Development at Google, initiating partnerships and acquiring the Google Earth, Google Maps, and Picasaplatforms.

Smith was on the leadership team of the famously secretive Google[x] project. Many MIT alumni work on that project, includingMike Cassidy ’85, SM ’86 and Rich DeVaul SM ’99, PhD ’04. Their Project Loon aims to use solar­ and wind­powered balloons toconnect remote areas to the Internet. She also co­created the Solve For <X> project that invites inventors to “accelerate progresson technology moonshots.”

In a 2007 Technology Review profile, Smith noted that as an MIT mechanical­engineering student, she built a solar car and drove itin the first Cross­Continental Solar Car race across the Australian outback. “I loved all my time at MIT,” she said, which includedserving as a young alumni member of the MIT Corporation from 1988 to 1993 and later on visiting committees. In 2006 Smithrejoined the MIT Corporation and resigned earlier this year.

Smith arrived at Google from PlanetOut, an interactive media company and series of web sites serving the gay and lesbiancommunity; she was COO and then CEO until 2001. Earlier she worked at Apple Computer Japan in Tokyo, where she developedthe multimedia market. She served as product design lead and then as manager of General Magic, an Apple Computer spinoffdevoted to developing a PDA precursor.

As CTO, Smith guides the President’s technology policies and initiatives such as using technology to help create jobs, reducehealth care costs, keep the nation secure, and increase access to broadband. In her new role, she joins the White House Office ofScience and Technology Policy, headed by John P. Holdren ’65, SM ‘66.

Learn more about Smith in a MIT News piece. Or about learn about the history of MIT Commencement speakers.

Volunteers Needed!Are you #SocialMediaSavvy? Contact Dorothy Curtis '73 (dcurtis@alum.mit.edu), if you want to help with AMITA's Twitter andFacebook presence.

Want to see what talented MIT seniors are currently doing? The AMITA Awards committee is looking for volunteers to helpchoose this year's recipients. If you are interested, please contact Uttara Marti '03 (upm@alum.mit.edu) or Dorothy Curtis '73(dcurtis@alum.mit.edu).

Volunteers make our club fun, interesting and exciting! Come to our events and suggest some that you think would be of interest!

AMITA Negotiation Event wasa Success

On Wednesday, September 15th,AMITA held a sold out eventteaching attendees crucial jobnegotiation skills. FarzanaMohamed, MIT alum, was featuredat the event and co­authored thebook, How to Negotiate Your FirstJob (Amazon or IndieBound). Thebook targets college students asthey plan for their first importantnegotiation ­ the terms andconditions of their first job.

Professor Bhatia ReceivesLemelson­MIT Prize

In September, Prof Sangeeta Bhatia'93, '97 was awarded the Lemelson­MIT Prize which honors outstandingmid­career inventors improving theworld through technologicalinvention and demonstrating acommitment to mentorship inscience, technology, engineering,and mathematics.

We welcome your help in getting our events together. Please contact any of our board members.

Join or Renew Membership

We have changed when annual memberships expire. They now expire on the date you joined AMITA instead of June30th. Please visit our membership form page for more information.

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