Aashish Tripathee changed the way exams are graded in Nepal.
Class of 2017
All tenth graders in Aashish Tripathee's home country of Nepal are required to take an exam before they can get a higher education. Because the exams are counted, processed, and graded by hand before the results are published in the local newspaper, it takes months before students find out their scores.
Tripathee built an online system that enables students to log in and see their scores instantly. More than 10,000 students in 100 schools all over Nepal now use the system.
Tripathee has been building websites since he was eight years old, and has designed a number of sites for Nepali nonprofits; he also recently helped build Parkchhya, an online system that helps students in Nepal prep for engineering and med school entrance exams.
The physics major hopes to go to grad school after MIT and engage in theoretical high-level physics research.
Amelia Bryan competed in one of the oldest, most prestigious ballet competitions in the world.
Class of 2018
Before attending MIT, Amelia Bryan was home-schooled by her mother, a former NASA employee. The non-traditional high school routine freed up Bryan to pursue a passion for ballet.
In 2013, Bryan was one of about 60 ballet students invited to compete in the prestigious Genée International Ballet Competition in Glasgow, Scotland. She qualified under strict Royal Academy of Dance criteria in the advance 2 level, and had the opportunity to train with renowned choreographers for five days before performing at the semi-finals.
At MIT, Bryan has traded her slippers for an epee dueling sword. The biomedical engineering and global health major plays on the women's fencing team, although she hasn't entirely ruled out auditioning for professional ballet companies.
Barbara Schloss helped develop the liquid propulsion system for Virgin Galactic.
Class of 2015
When she was 11 years old, Barbara Schloss' parents took her to California's Mojave Desert to watch SpaceShipOne try to make the first privately funded human space-flight.
Ten years later, the aerospace engineering major interned for Virgin Galactic, where as a member of the Advanced Programs group, she helped develop the liquid propulsion system for a small satellite launch vehicle. In June, Virgin Group billionaire Richard Branson wrote a LinkedIn Influencer post about the importance of encouraging children to reach for the moon — and used Schloss as the poster child.
After graduating, Schloss plans on returning to school for a joint MBA and Masters of Engineering program at MIT after she works for a few years. She will continue chasing her childhood dream of being "a rocket scientist."
Christina Lalani empowers kids to make healthy lifestyle choices.
Class of 2015
As a child, Christina Lalani witnessed the effect of diabetes on her grandparents. Years later, she grew frustrated by how little children are taught about nutrition.
In response to the lack of education, Lalani designed and implemented a pediatric nutrition program called LAHL: Living a Healthy Life, which today counts some 1,500 kids in Boston and Phoenix as participants. The program empowers children to reduce time spent in front of screens, increase physical activity, eat fruits and veggies, and more.
Lalani plans to complete a joint MD/MPH degree, and to pursue a career as a physician policymaker with a focus on preventive care in children's health.
Connie Liu designed a camera ring that reads text to the blind.
Class of 2016
Connie Liu, a researcher in the MIT Media Lab Fluid Interfaces Group, designed a wearable device that assists blind people in reading. FingerReader is a camera-equipped ring that allows the wearer to scan a line of text with their finger and receive audio feedback of the words.
Developing the prototype became the unlikely inspiration for Design for America, a student-run group that focuses on social impact through engineering. Design for America provides support for dozens of students tackling problems from improving the hospital experience to ending child hunger.
Liu, a mechanical engineering major, dreams of starting a high school where students learn through designing solutions to community problems using a user-centric approach.
Garrett Parrish uses new technology to disrupt the music industry.
Class of 2017
Garrett Parrish applies technology to revamp the music industry. He developed a "hyperinstrument" system that uses technology to give extra finesse to musical instruments and designed a control system for omni-directional robots that carried light sculptures for artist-technologist Otto Piene’s memorial.
Last year, the mechanical engineering major worked on a project at the MIT Media Lab's Opera of the Future group called Death and the Powers, a technology-enhanced opera that incorporates robotics, ambisonic surround sound, and many more custom technologies developed at the lab. Parrish designed and coded a networked mobile system that allowed the opera's remote audiences to provide live input to the performance.
Parrish plans to work for Walt Disney Imagineering in summer 2015 and continue to pursue music. The accomplished drummer plays in educational groups at MIT and Harvard, where he previously attended, and professional groups in the Boston area.
Jennifer Zhang co-directed one of the largest hackathons in the country.
Class of 2017
HackMIT gathers more than 1,000 student programmers from around the world for an annual, 30-hour long coding session. This year, Zhang was responsible for planning the logistics of the event, including corporate sponsorship, marketing, and making sure the thousand-plus hackers were fed and caffeinated.
Zhang is heavily involved in the startup community, and also serves as a student partner at VC firm Rough Draft Ventures, where she helps find local, student-founded startups in the Boston area and funds them up to $25,000 to get them off the ground.
Zhang interned for Facebook's Facebook U last summer. The college sophomore doesn't know what she wants to do when she graduates yet, but says she hopes to someday "solve a larger issue with technology," possibly in areas like education reform or healthcare.
Jin Woo Kim is a member of the US Archery Team.
Class of 2018
When a back injury shattered Jin Woo Kim's dreams of a tennis or basketball career, he picked up a bow and arrow and found his calling. In 2012, he was selected to the USA Junior Archery Dream Team, made up of the top 24 archers ages 12 to 18 — and climbed the ranks to first in California and fifth in the nation.
After qualifying for the 2014 US Archery Team, Kim and his younger brother brother Geun Woo Kevin Kim traveled to South Korea to represent the US at Kolon Seoul International Archery Festa, an international youth archery competition at Seoul's Olympic Park. The Kim brothers and one other teammate defeated Malaysia and Mexico and faced the French in the bronze medal match, taking fourth place by a small margin.
Kim plans to study either biomedical engineering or computer science, and hopes to make it home from the 2015 World University Games with a medal.
Katie Bodner developed a "programmable" vaccine for complex diseases such as HIV.
Class of 2015
During her freshman year, Katie Bodner and 13 undergraduates developed a way to "program" cells and organisms using genetic circuits, the same way computer scientists program computers using software.
Fueled by her experience in Professor Ron Weiss' lab, she launched an independent research project under post-doctoral fellow Dr. Tasuku Kitada to create programmable vaccines. They allow for complete control over the dosage and timing of the vaccine, optimal for treatment of complex diseases like HIV.
Today, her research is being used to create vaccination "prime-boost" circuits; a doctor injects a patient with a vaccine and then the patient takes a pill to experience the boost, eliminating the need for booster shots. In countries where health care clinics are largely inaccessible, it helps reduce the number of doctor visits.
Bodner, who has a 5.0 GPA, plans to continue her studies in biological engineering in a doctoral program. She hopes to one day become a professor.
Mitchell Gu won the grand prize at one of the biggest hackathons in the US.
Class of 2018
Mitchell Gu and three teammates — Connor Duffy, Phoebe Cai, and Jiahao Li — won the $4,000 grand prize at this year's HackMIT. It was Gu's first hackathon ever. In just 24 hours, he and his team built BeaverDash, a web app that reads and manages MIT's free food and reuse mailing lists.
The application texts students about free food and other products on campus. It syncs with Google maps, showing you where the free stuff is, and with Fitbit, showing you how many calories you'll burn depending on how you travel there. BeaverDash also won the MIT-related prize and the Novice prize at HackMIT.
Gu also won the Improving MIT prize, worth $1,500, at MIT's BitComp, a competition to develop new BitCoin-related apps. Gu served as the team lead for BitStation, a BitCoin wallet that aims to foster BitCoin usage on campus.
A freshman, Gu plans to follow his passions for computer science and engineering, and create projects that fulfill daily life needs.
Monica Valcourt was the highest-ranking cadet at her military academy.
Class of 2018
Monica Valcourt realized she had what it took to be a leader on an overnight excursion in the mountains where the commanding officer twisted his ankle and was unable to lead the group back down. The other cadets, male and bigger than she was, looked to Valcourt as the best map reader in the group to take charge.
"And I realized, ‘Hey, I’m competent, I can do this,’" Valcourt said in an interview with the MIT News Office.
Valcourt eventually earned the title of battalion commander at Massanutten Military Academy, responsible for about 100 students. From the moment she woke up to bugles in the morning, Valcourt was on call, giving commands and leading her peers. The experience, she says, taught her to "be confident no matter the situation I face."
A freshman, the computer science and electrical engineering major plans to eventually develop her own tech start-up with fellow MIT students.
Nathan Spielberg optimizes 3D printers for construction and biological applications.
Class of 2015
When we think of 3D printers, we picture cartridge-sized robotic arms moving back and forth inside a small box. However, Nathan Spielberg helped develop a massive 3D printer with the aim of creating entire walls and other housing structures.
This robotic arm, dreamt up by Mediated Matter group's Steven Keating and Professor Neri Oxman, could revolutionize how homes are built. Spielberg worked with them to help solve the engineering and physics problems in building a large-scale 3D printer that doesn't sacrifice precision.
He now applies his knowledge of 3D printers to biology. In Professor John Hart's lab, Spielberg is attempting to streamline 3D printing processes in the production of a "lab on a chip." The device is a computer chip that can take a tiny sample of blood, run dozens of medical tests, and produce nearly instantaneous results.
After graduation, Spielberg hopes to pursue a graduate degree in mechanical engineering and ultimately become a professor.
Rachel Davis created a flame retardant plastic after her family's home burned down.
Class of 2016
Rachel Davis was inspired to become a volunteer firefighter after her family's home burned down when she was 13. She still volunteers with the Nissequogue Fire Department on Long Island when she returns home on school breaks, but now primarily as an EMT.
Davis was inspired by her firefighting work to create a biodegradable, flame retardant plastic that blends cellulose — a material used as a flame retardant in clothing — with a phosphate-based component that can be used for industrial packaging and disposable plasticware. Davis's invention currently has a pending patent.
Davis's other passion is polymer science. Starting in January, she will begin working for a 3D printing company in Somerville, Massachusetts. When she graduates, Davis plans to work full-time in materials science while pursuing a part-time MBA and continuing to volunteer as an EMT/firefighter on the side.
Sara Volz is doing groundbreaking research on sustainable fuel sources.
Class of 2017
Since the sixth grade, Sara Volz has been researching alternatives to petroleum based-fuels, specifically algae biofuels — research that won her first place, and $100,000, at the Intel Science Talent Search last year.
Volz discovered that some algae produce an oil that can be converted into sustainable fuel. Then, using artificial selection, she found a way to separate out the algae that produce the highest amount of oil, which can be converted into a more affordable alternative fuel. She's now working on getting her research published.
Volz loves MIT, and has also gotten involved in the school's Dramashop, an annual performance of one-act plays. She hopes to someday pursue a career in academia.