Nir Shavit
America is now my home, but unlike many people who “immigrate” and then go through the process of building a life in their new country, I gradually built a life to the point where I can now say that I have indeed “immigrated.”
Dina Katabi
I grew up in Damascus, Syria, and came to the US to do my PhD. My years as a graduate student at MIT were amazing, with many long nights of heated discussions, coding and searching for intractable bugs, and arguing about social and political issues while solving math problem sets. My best friends were also my office mates. We worked, took classes, and traveled together. By the end of my PhD, I was so attached to MIT, it was hard to leave. I took a faculty job and stayed.
Corporate polish
The other day, a friend of mine put in a good word for me for an amazing internship opportunity. He wrote, “Laura is not corporate polished, but she built a cosmetics manufacturing enterprise with no science background at all. She hustles and makes it happen. If she doesn’t know how to do something, she will figure it out and learn it inside out.”
Munther Dahleh
I was born in a small town in the West Bank in Palestine called Tulkarem. However, I grew up in Amman, Jordan. I came to America when I was 17 years old. I spent 7 years in Texas where I got my BS and PhD. I then came to MIT as an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and I have been here since then. I met my wife, Jinane, at MIT, and we raised our three kids (Deema, Hilal, and Yazeed) while we were housemasters at MacGregor house. After living in Cambridge for 30 years, I can confidently say that this is our home.
Hello gorgeous!
Have you met your "other” self? No one likes to admit they have one, but I am starting to become well-acquainted with mine. Lately, she has come alive in 3D and is stronger than ever. Perhaps school stress led my mind to build theories that betray me. I’ll describe her in more detail, and maybe our "other” selves will identify with each other.
Fadel Adib
I was born in Tripoli, Lebanon in 1989 — the same year the civil war ended. I grew up listening to stories of how my parents narrowly escaped the horrors of a sectarian civil war. My parents enrolled us in a secular school, and I didn’t know who among my best friends were Christians or Muslims until I was in middle school. It didn’t really matter to us.
The senior-year question
It doesn’t take long before that dreaded question pops up: “So, what are your plans after graduation?”
Mehran Kardar
I was born in Tehran, Iran and attended the same school for twelve years. Following undergraduate studies at Cambridge University (UK), I moved to Cambridge (US) for graduate studies at MIT in 1979.
Nuh Gedik
I am originally from Turkey. I graduated from Bogazici University in Istanbul. I came to the US in 1998 for my graduate studies. After obtaining my PhD in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, I moved to Caltech as a postdoctoral scholar. In 2008, I started as an assistant professor at MIT. My lab uses ultrafast laser pulses to understand newly discovered materials such as high temperature superconductors. I greatly enjoy being part of such a diverse and distinguished community of students, postdocs, and faculty at MIT.
Ahmed Ghoniem
I grew up in Egypt. After finishing my bachelor's and master’s degrees at Cairo University, I joined the University of California, Berkeley to do my PhD.
Leaving the MIT whirlwind
My first two years of college, I found myself getting caught up in a flurry of so many obligations and classes that I couldn’t even remember how many organizations I was a part of.
Azra Aksamija
I come from Sarajevo, Bosnia, a place historically known as the Jerusalem of Europe. I grew up in an environment where many different cultures and religions coexisted for centuries. That history, but also the systematic targeting of our culture during the 1990s war, informed my life and my work. The war taught me about the power of culture, and the experience of migration taught me to feel at home in many places.
Stefanie Mueller
One of the great things about working in a research environment is that you are surrounded by so many people from different countries.
Srini Devadas
I grew up in various cities in India and arrived at the University of California, Berkeley for graduate school in 1985, weeks after turning 21.
Nikta Fakhri
I grew up in Tehran, Iran. After completing my undergraduate studies at Sharif University of Technology, I came to Rice University as a graduate student.
MIT's spiciest memelord
Before I got on Jeopardy, I’d catch it on TV, but it wasn’t really a big part of my life. I did quiz bowl in high school, and way back in the day I tried out for teen tournament, but I don’t really remember that at all.
Nasser Rabbat
I have spent more than half of my life at MIT. Having studied architecture in my native Damascus, Syria, I came to the U.S. to specialize in passive solar energy at UCLA in Los Angeles.
Mohammad Alizadeh
I am an Iranian immigrant. I came to the United States in 2006 for graduate school, accompanied by my wife and soulmate.
Campus Life editor's note
Every day we trudge through the Infinite. We pass peers, professors, and staff, all heading their separate ways. In Campus Life, we cross paths; we learn each other’s names and hear each other’s voices. This year, we heard resilience in struggle and grief in loss, courage under pressure and inspiration in hard work. We heard from our president, from a student EMT, from incredible people in hard places. Now, we return to their stories — we’ll catch a glimpse of their lives before they melt back into the crowd. This is you and me. This is MIT.
Inverse curling and Sunday tea
A group of my residents were huddled around a window on the 9th floor. With complete sincerity and transparency, one turned to me and said, “We froze a water balloon, and we think it’d be cool to throw it out the window!”