As part of an MS/MBA dual degree program, LGO students are fully integrated into both MIT Sloan School of Management and the School of Engineering and have a wide range of extracurricular options and avenues. Many take part in conferences and competitions across campus and beyond, drawing on both their business and technical skills to build their experience and network.

Danielle Castley, Dartmouth PhD Candidate, Jordan Landis, LGO ’20, and Ian McDonald, PhD, of Neutroelectric LLC won the inaugural American University of Sharjah New Ventures Challenge, winning the Chancellor’s Prize of $50,000 with radiation shielding materials  developed to improve safety margins and reduce costs for both nuclear power plant operations and transport and storage of spent nuclear waste.

READ MORE

~

The Leaders for Global Operations Program combines both the Sloan School of Management and the School of Engineering. But it also uniquely incorporates industry partners into the program. Our second year student Yucen walks us through how the special relationship with the LGO partner companies works and how each student benefits from the knowledge shared with them.

~

Hi all! I’m Yucen!  A little bit about me: my career passion is to blend technological innovations with a principled management skillset to affect positive change in society. After going through a technically rigorous chemical engineering curriculum in undergrad, I worked in upstream oil and gas for three years as a project engineer. I had a lot of fun collaborating with design teams in the morning, then managing construction projects in the afternoon. It was a great blend of technical with management. I wanted to continue that path of developing my technical and leadership skillsets, and LGO provided me with the perfect opportunity to do so.

There were many reasons why LGO was the best fit for me.  I thoroughly love the community here – we get to be in one of the most intellectually-gifted communities in the world, full of diverse, innovative, brilliant, yet humble people. I was highly motivated to grow as a person and leader in this environment. The LGO cohort is about 45 – 50 students, all with high ambitions, all working through a rigorous curriculum and sharing a seminal two-year experience. On top of that, we get to be fully integrated into the Sloan class and well as our engineering department. We have action learning labs with emphasis on “learning by doing,” and we have access to approachable, world-class faculty. It’s truly the best of both worlds (engineering and business). Before I joined, upperclassmen told me the hardest thing about LGO is knowing when to say no. A year in, and I couldn’t agree more. There’s literally an exciting project, a cool event, or a world-changing speaker engagement happening every day (and often all at the same time!). You will be very intellectually captivated.

One of the aspects that sets LGO apart from other dual degree programs are our industry partners. The LGO Industry Partners – or “partner companies,” are a group of 29 companies that have strong, formal relationships with the LGO program. These partner companies contribute to the program by offering –  among many things – strong alumni networks, fellowship funding, plant tours, and providing input on latest industry trends in operations and technology. They are an integral part of the LGO program.

All students are guaranteed an internship at a partner company. The internship process is collaborative and considers students’ interest (through committee surveys) and partner company needs for that year. Certain students are “pre-matched” into more-customized internships that deliver sufficient technical content as it relates to the engineering department. Most students interview for different opportunities among the different partner companies. You can interview with as many companies as you’re interested in. Then, there is a matching process based on mutual rankings between the companies and students to pair each role to each student.

The internships are an opportunity for students to conduct research in an industrial application. We publish a thesis based on our six-months internship work. Faculty advisors from both the Sloan school and the engineering department advise on our thesis content. Overall, the internship is a good opportunity to apply the skills you learned, while giving you the chance to dive deeper than a traditional summer internship and produce potentially novel content.  The internship opportunities are quite diverse, in terms of function and company. Did I mention that everyone is guaranteed an internship?

My internship is at Amgen, one of the worlds’ leading biotechnology companies based in Thousand Oaks, California. I am applying machine learning to generate predictive models for cell line selection. Ultimately, we want to increase efficiency (reduce resource utilization and cycle times) in this critical, resource-intensive process within the biologics development pipeline.

Beyond the machine learning coursework in LGO, which has provided me with a capable data analytics foundation, what’s been even more useful within the LGO curriculum is the emphasis on operations and organizational dynamics. The focus on analytics within operations allows me to diagnose where my project adds value within the workstream. Furthermore, “soft skill” classes in communication and organizational processes has helped me manage my project stakeholders so I can be more successful in implementing my project.

Has my internship allowed me to think outside the box and take on new leadership roles? Yes, and yes! Since our internships are finite in duration, I had to think of practical ways of delivering predictive models that would be useful for our stakeholders after I leave. Instead of building time-consuming, first principles-based models, we focused on an algorithmic framework to build data-driven models, to allow for scalability and transferability in analogous use cases. There was a lot of research and advise-seeking on the best ways to create our tools. In the end, we were able to develop a modular framework and a user-friendly front-end application to help our projects’ customers understand and adopt our tools.

This internship has helped me practice influencing without formal authority in an industrial setting. In fact, one of my favorite experiences was the opportunity to travel to the Amgen site in Singapore for a knowledge transfer session, where I taught end users how to use my machine learning-based applications.

I had a lot of support throughout my internship. There were biweekly meetings with my faculty advisors, during which Anna, our helpful LGO research collaboration manager, also provided advice. Within Amgen, I relied heavily on alumni for mentorship, both in navigating my project and the company.

Most importantly, my fellow LGO classmates provided invaluable support. Within Amgen, the LGO interns have created a close-knit community, collaborating on project topics and providing useful resources to one another. For the whole class, we hold weekly calls where all LGOs can share issues and provide constructive advice to each other.

There have been some surprises along the way. From a technological sense, what’s been surprising is the ubiquitous emphasis on Big Data and AI (and all the related buzzwords) across companies and industries. I feel very fortunate to be in a community at the forefront of innovation, where I can learn about the “latest and greatest” technologies.

Regarding LGO – I can’t say I’m too surprised – but I’m very appreciative of the amazing achievements of my classmates. On top of that, everyone is humble, friendly, and funny – which makes for a great group! One of my favorite takeaways from my classes at MIT is that authenticity is the one key trait shared among diverse, effective leadership styles. As you think about applying, think about how you can present your story authentically and show your genuine aspirations and passions. Be bold and think about what specific program or opportunity will allow you to be genuinely fulfilled, for the duration of the program and beyond. Good luck!

~

By Yucen Xie, LGO Class of 2019

The LGO Program is a blend of both the MIT School of Engineering and the MIT Sloan School of Management. LGO Students gain both the hard-technical skills and the softer skills that will help them succeed in the business world. Jake Pellegrini is an LGO 2019 student pursuing his degree in Mechanical Engineering. Here he reflects on why he chose a dual degree with the business school and one of his favorite classes from Sloan.

~

Why business school?  Why now?  Even when applying for schools, I thought extensively about these questions.  Coming from a consulting background, I felt that I had a broad business base and there was a path to the post-MBA role at my firm without the need to leave for an MBA.  I had worked on over two dozen cases: acquisition screens (What should we buy?), commercial due diligence (Should we buy it?), post-merger integration (How does 2+2 become 5?), and growth strategy (What next?).  I realized, though, that as I transitioned from more of an individual contributor role to one of leadership and management, I knew I needed to work on some of the softer skills like communication and team building.

After completing my undergrad in MechE at the University of Notre Dame and working at L.E,K Consulting, I knew it was time to take the leap and apply to graduate school. I stumbled upon the LGO website and cold-contacted a current student who happened to have attended the same undergrad as I did.  That conversation plus meeting other current students at the Preview Day event helped me better understand how complementary the engineering / operations and business ideas could be.  I applied, got in, and began my LGO journey.

After spending the summer with my LGO Cohort and taking classes that are specifically targeted for LGOs, it was time to move into the Sloan world and join my fellow Sloanies as an MBA Candidate. I was excited to take on classes that were outside of my comfort zone, particularly a Communications class that was a required part of the core semester.  The class offered opportunities for impromptu speaking, structured communication, and effective writing.  My two favorite experiences with this were giving a prepared five-minute persuasive presentation and learning to give and receive feedback.

While decked out in Notre Dame gear, I gave my presentation on how Notre Dame should be ranked higher than Alabama in college football (at the time, there was a case for that… a persuasive case might I add J).  Reflecting after, I realized the Powerpoint skills developed as a consultant combined with the tools learned in the Communications class complemented each other.

The second experience I look back on as critical in my development involved giving and receiving feedback with my core Sloan team, a group I had become very close with over the course of the semester.  We carefully prepared feedback for each person, including one positive and one constructive.  While I had been in feedback sessions before, the structure of the session and the thoughtfulness of my peers helped me realize what effective feedback is and how to give it.

Looking forward to my future career, I know there will be times when I am on the other side of the table, looking to grow and develop those around me to be leaders.  I know I will leverage the softer skills developed throughout my time at Sloan, particularly with the Communications class.

~

By Jake Pellegrini, LGO Class of 2019

The thought of coming to MIT was one of dreams to me, even more so being an international student from Libya. This was my dream however; I had always imagined myself coming to MIT and learning to become a principled thinker making an impact on the world with hands and mind. Just ten months ago, that dream felt like an insurmountable mountain with no clear way up, however today, I am writing this blog post after finishing up my first summer semester as an LGO student. I wanted to write and reflect about my experience making it to where I am now. I will touch on how I first came to the US as an international student, my first experience learning about LGO, how I went on to apply to MIT and my experience so far now that I’m three months into being a graduate student.

I was born and raised in Benghazi, Libya and I consider Benghazi to be my home. I grew up in the 90’s when Libya was politically and economically isolated from the world under the socialist dictatorship of the time. Nonetheless, I was extremely fortunate to have had the best possible education given the circumstances. My parents instilled upon my siblings and I the importance of learning English (along with Arabic) at a young age and expanded my learning horizons by getting us all the book and interactive games they could in both English and Arabic. I then even went on to take Spanish, French and Italian language classes as well! In the evenings after school, most of time was spent in the various extracurricular activities that I was a part of from all the sports I hopped on and off from to all the volunteer and community work that I got to do and most importantly to my 13 years as a Libyan Boy Scout. It was truly through scouting that I came to develop my leadership, social and personal skills. In those long sun-drenched summer days along the Mediterranean coast of Libya when we were pitching up tents for our summer Jamborees did I learn how to work in a team, lead by example, and value the importance of friends.

Just as I graduated from high school and was planning out my gap year, as if fate meant it to be, the Arab Spring rolled in and all my plans for the future were scrapped as I was on the front lines of attempting to bring change to my beloved country. Nonetheless, I always maintained that desire to continue my education and so by the end of 2011, I embarked on a journey that took me from the American University of Sharjah to Michigan State University to study electrical engineering. It was during those years when I was away from my family, friends and people I came to know growing up, did I find home with my fellow international students across campus. I developed relationships that crossed cultural lines and taught me the value of the global connected world. As I was approaching graduation, growth and career opportunities back home were non-existent and so I decided to take a job working as an electrical engineer with Black & Veatch designing electrical systems within power plants. By then, I had experimented with an internship and was involved with the Solar Car Racing team at MSU, so I knew that my passion was in the energy/power worlds and so I embraced my new job as the perfect place to learn and grow my passion for the industry and prepare me for my next career move.

Being the constant learner that I am, I was never satisfied with the introductory knowledge I was taught during my undergraduate years and I had always intended to continue on to graduate school. I had my eyes set on doing my masters in some form of engineering at some point but never knew when the right time or place was. Until I stumbled onto a few programs of interest at the 2015 Purdue Graduate School Fair where I picked up brochures and collected business cards. I felt rejuvenated by the prospect of being a student again and learned so much more from meeting admissions representatives in person than I ever did scrolling through websites. A couple years into working with Black & Veatch, I felt like I was falling into a stagnant routine and I was getting too comfortable in my job. And so, I decided to apply to graduate school. I knew I wanted to study electrical engineering with a focus on sustainable power generation and I knew I wanted to go to the best universities that I could, but not much beyond that. And thus commenced my graduate school research adventure sometime around the fall of 2017.

One of the brochures I had picked up from the Purdue Graduate School Fair was from LGO and so I looked more into the program and was intrigued. I knew I always had entrepreneurial and business development aspirations but never considered doing an MBA. LGO sounded to me like the perfect combination with the added benefit of being at MIT – a place I had previously attempting to apply to as an undergraduate but never managed to put an application together. On the LGO events page, I learned about Preview Day and instantly booked a spot. I knew I could be flexible at work but I made sure to communicate with my supervisors my intentions of going to graduate school early and hence my upcoming travels. To my surprise, my supervisor welcomed it and encouraged me to pursue graduate school, albeit as a second option to staying in the company. Preview day was a blast! I came out of it convinced that LGO was the perfect fit for me and learned all about MIT and Sloan from the current students, alumni, admissions staff and faculty. Moreover, hearing stories of prior students’ experiences made me a little bit more confident in that there might be a possibility of making it in.

From there I got straight to working on my application. Thanksgiving break was a welcomed time off to dive deep into essay draft editing and hunting down of reference letters from my supervisors and peers. Looking back at it now, I think I enjoyed the process. There were many times when I thought I was embarking on a hopeless challenge and that I should just give up on applying. I surely disliked writing about myself and found it hard to focus. However, I learned a lot from it all the writing. Through reflecting on my life, I honed down further on my personal career aspirations and became even more convinced of why I wanted to pursue this path. To my recent surprise, I wasn’t alone in thinking this way; I learned from my LGO peers that many of them went through that same process and everyone comes to MIT with the famed imposter syndrome. Hence, my words of wisdom are: trust in yourself, your skills and talents and let it be shown in the application; your essays will speak for themselves if you are true about your ambitions.

A couple months later at work, as I turned my phone back on after presenting a major plan to my project clients for the first time, I was surprised to find an invitation for an interview for LGO. Could this really be happening? From there, I nailed my interview and waited anxiously for a couple more months before I got that phone call from Thomas Roemer, LGO’s Executive Director welcoming me to the Class of 2020 and so began the roller-coaster of ride that was my spring and summer.

With classes starting swiftly in June, I wanted to use the transition opportunity as an escape from the comfortable life I got used to in the US and to travel. I made the most out of this career-changing transition period and booked a one-way flight ticket to Aguadilla, Puerto Rico where I was committed to helping the people of the island in their recovery from Hurricane Maria. I ended up staying in Puerto Rico for a month volunteering my time with Solar Libre driving through the narrow mountain dirt roads installing solar power systems for farms, schools and community centers. It was a thrilling experience that got me recharged and ready for my time at LGO and to becoming a community-focused, entrepreneurial, leader within the energy industry.

I could write a whole other blog post about the three months since our first day of classes on June 4^th. I am still in awe of how much I learned, how much fun I had, and above all, the amazing 47 other individuals that I now get to call my friends: the LGO Class of 2020. The summer semester comes at you fast. You are immediately thrown into small summer team that you grow and get to know on a personal level. With no background in operations, optimization or even statistics, I still had a great learning experience from our classes without being too overwhelmed. However, LGO is special in that we also go on plant treks and, for example, see how Amazon’s fulfillment center robots are being assembled and brought into life as well as having events with partner companies where we got to learn about what they did and its importance. Finally, I can’t talk about the summer, without mentioning the countless hours I spent sailing in the Charles River and the amazing resource that is the MIT Sailing Pavilion.

Looking back at it now, I have no doubt that 2018 was the best year of my life so far. However, in reflecting, I want to retell the story of how none of what I got to do this year was even possible in my mind only a year ago, but I trusted the process and trusted where my ambitions would take me. We can never know what the future holds for us, but the steps we take today will shape our day tomorrow and I can’t wait for what’s ahead of me in the rest of these two years at LGO.

~

By Ali Alrayes, LGO Class of 2020

Applying to a dual degree program can be stressful and sometimes scary for prospective students. Amidst your work and life commitments, you also find yourself pouring over the GRE or GMAT prep books, hustling to get your recommendations on time, and trying to craft your video essay so that it truly captures your essence.

We caught up with some LGO students reflecting on their admissions experience. They’ve gone through the ups and downs and red pen edits of their application and are now happy to share what they have learned with you as you prepare for your LGO application. Meet Fatima and Taylor!

Fatima Diallo:

I was born in Guinea, West Africa and moved to Atlanta, GA in 2008.  I have a Chemical Engineering degree from Georgia Tech. Before MIT, I was working as a capital project manager at WR Grace, which is a specialty chemical manufacturing company. I was responsible for the design, procurement, and construction of a catalyst plant in southwest Louisiana. During this time, I realized that I wanted to deepen my technical and leadership skills in operations management. After attending LGO Preview Day and meeting with current students, I knew that LGO would best help me achieve these goals. I was also excited about the opportunity to network with partner companies through the 6-month internship.  Additionally, the small LGO cohort provided me with an opportunity to really get to know my classmates and develop a strong support system during and after LGO.

Taylor Robinson:

Newport News, VA will always be my true home. However, after graduating from Columbia University with a Mechanical Engineering degree, I moved to Hartford, CT to work for Pratt & Whitney (an aircraft engine manufacturing company). While at P&W, I participated in a rotational program to gain exposure to multiple sides of the company. As a result, my passions for technical products and complex designs were solidified. However, over time, I realized that I wanted to take on roles that were more strategy-focused and team-driven than solely design-oriented or solitary. Yet, to develop the skills needed to transition into managing technical products, I knew that an MBA with a focus on technology would prove to be invaluable. The Leaders for Global Operations program meets my desires to remain technically grounded while overseeing diverse teams. Lean/Six Sigma tools, systems optimization, and data analysis are vital skills that are transferable to a variety of industries. From Day 1, I knew that LGO would set me on a bright path and surround me with a strong, supportive network.

1.     Choose the Engineering Department that is right for YOU

We recommend applying to the engineering department that not only interests you but also the department in which you have some prior work or academic experience. Many LGO students join an engineering department that is different than what they studied as an undergraduate student. It can be helpful to research the department’s faculty and course catalog and admissions requirements on the LGO website beforehand. Feel free to reach out to LGO admissions officers and current students with any questions. Additionally, the LGO Ambassador Program is a great way to attend classes with current LGO students and experience the LGO culture first-hand.

2.     Get ready for some serious self-reflection

Fatima: The first step of the application process was to self-reflect.  It was important to take the time to reflect on my past experiences and think about what I wanted to do not only while at MIT but also after the LGO program. I also needed to reflect on my personal story, my values, and how these aligned with the MIT culture.  This process helped me refine my story, understand my motivations for the dual degree and identify the leadership skills I needed to develop, all of which were crucial during the application process.

Taylor: I was a participant in an MBA preparatory program called Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT). MLT pushed me to develop my personal story, elaborate on my passions, and to think deeply about why I truly wanted to pursue business school. This overall process is comparable to the Lean concept of asking “Five Why’s.” To sum this briefly, ask yourself a question such as “What truly makes me happy?” Answer this question, and subsequently ask yourself “Why?” Continue this process until you have asked “Why?” five times, allowing you to better understand your intrinsic motivators in a simple, yet effective way. During this process, I also researched and visited multiple schools, spoke with current students and alumni, and spoke with people who already worked in roles that I wished to perform one day. Having all this information available enabled me to put together a thorough and cohesive business school application.

3.     Be Yourself

The essays:

The essays are your opportunities to let your voice shine through. They provide the admissions team with a window into how you think. Merge your passions and past accomplishments with how MIT will specifically help you progress towards your goals.  In the statement of purpose, we both outlined why the Mechanical Engineering Department interested us. Whether it was for the distinguished faculty, unique opportunities in product design/manufacturing/operations, or possibilities for diverse collaboration, we clearly stated what motivated us to apply to the MechE department. We used the technical essay to highlight how we overcame a technical challenge in our respective careers, emphasizing the lessons we learned.  Lastly, the optional essay is just that: optional. Use this space to explain any inconsistencies in your application such as a gap in employment, prior academic performances, or any other personal situations that created extenuating circumstances.

1 Minute Introduction Video:

Consider approaching this from the viewpoint, what would I like my potential classmates to know about me? Accordingly, use the introduction video to convey your personality, hobbies, and/or whatever else matters most to you. There is no need for anything extravagant so do not overthink this. Keep it simple and authentic.

Ultimately, what surprised us most was how quickly the LGO cohort became a supportive family over the summer. While the entire class was divided into ‘summer teams’ of six students, everyone encouraged one another with humility and patience. For example, we held multiple, student-led sessions on best modeling practices in Excel and Python. We also held multiple “What Did I Do” sessions during which we shared our past experiences, our biggest accomplishments and the challenges we faced pre-LGO. Additionally, we all come from diverse backgrounds and this brings a wide range of perspectives into the classroom. Having genuine in-depth conversations with our classmates has made us realize others’ passions and helped foster a truly authentic and awesome LGO experience.

~

By Fatima Diallo and Taylor Robinson, LGO Class of 2020

It’s hard to believe that over 10 years ago I made one of the biggest decisions in my life to move across the country and start at MIT in the Leaders for Global Operations program. In many ways, the decision was one of the easiest I’ve made – honestly, who could turn down an acceptance letter from MIT?!

All joking aside – even though it was an easy decision for me, it wasn’t one that I made lightly. I had been at Northrop Grumman for over 5 years and I’d held a variety of exciting roles ranging from Industrial Engineer to Financial Analyst and was being promoted to positions with increased responsibility and breadth. I also loved the product I was working on (planes!) and the team and leadership were amazing. So, why did I want to leave? It’s hard to pinpoint one thing specifically, but I knew deep down that I was looking for an opportunity in my career that would open up more doors for me in the future. I yearned for a challenge that would push me outside of my comfort zone and allow me to grow in a way that I didn’t think I could experience with my current career path.

I knew the LGO program was a perfect fit for me from the moment I decided to apply. In fact, I felt so strongly about the program that it was the only place I applied for grad school. I was specifically drawn to LGO because of the balance of content that would allow me to grow as an Engineer, a Businesswoman and as a Leader. It sounds cheesy but that balance of content in the program really allowed me to expand my skills while also doubling down on my passion for operations.

I still look back at my two years in LGO as some of the most fun (very busy and challenging – but mostly fun!) years of my life. The variety of experiences I had both personally and professionally during that short period are hard to surpass. I was exposed to not only challenging curriculum, but also to different cultures, a variety of business situations and world class faculty. There are also some unique aspects of the LGO program that I loved:

·     Domestic plant trek – A whirlwind 2-week trip across the USA where you get to visit a variety of partner companies, enjoy line tours and have Q&A sessions with some of the top leaders in the organization.

·     Operations Labs – Coursework where you partner directly with a company that needs help with operations challenges. You get to see behind the curtains to help come up with a solution they could actually implement. I worked with companies ranging from large businesses like Victoria’s Secret to small local Massachusetts startups.

One of the most important things you gain through the LGO program are the relationships with your classmates. The summer starts quickly and you’re all thrown together trying to get bearings in a new city and with a new routine. The special bond between the class is formed immediately and lasts even today, over 8 years since graduation. I was recently married and had many LGO and Sloan classmates at my wedding, I work closely with LGOs from all years and I turn to many of my LGO classmates for career advice and guidance when I’m in need of wise opinions. The strength of the LGO (and Sloan) network cannot be denied or minimized and it will truly be something you can rely on for years after you graduate.

As you consider whether LGO is the right program for you, I’d offer two pieces of advice that helped me decide:

1)   The culture of the program should not be undervalued. Visit the campus, meet alumni, current and prospective students, talk to staff and professors. Gather any data you can to help determine if this a community you see yourself being part of. The value you get from your experience comes from more than just the lectures in a classroom.

2)   Ensure you have a clear goal for what you want to accomplish in grad school. Don’t worry, the goal will probably evolve over time, but by being clear (and honest) with yourself about why you’re considering embarking on this path it’ll help you know if it’s the right decision and will also (most likely) help you tell a more compelling story to the admissions team.

Today, I look back on that day in 2008 when Don Rosenfield called to tell me that I was accepted into LGO as a pivotal moment in my life. Because of LGO, I’ve been able to be part of a team that solves the most challenging supply chain problems in the world. I’ve helped launch dozens of new products, been to many new countries working with suppliers all over the world and have had the opportunity to mentor young professionals just starting their career in Operations. It was no doubt the right decision for me and one that I benefit from every day.

~

By Johanna Wonsowicz, LGO Class of 2010

After the official MIT commencement ceremonies, Thomas Roemer, LGO’s executive director, announced the best thesis winner at LGO’s annual post-graduation celebration. This year’s winner was Jonathan Zanger, who developed a predictive model using machine learning at Massachusetts General Hospital. “The thesis describes breakthrough work at MGH that leverages machine learning and deep clinical knowledge to develop a decision support tool to predict discharges from the hospital in the next 24-48 hours and enable a fundamentally new and more effective discharge process,” said MIT Sloan School of Management Professor Retsef Levi, one of Zanger’s thesis advisors and the LGO management faculty co-director.

Applying MIT knowledge in the real world

Zanger, who received his MBA and an SM in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, conducted his six-month LGO internship project at MGH that sought to enable a more proactive process of managing the hospital’s bed capacity by identifying which surgical inpatients are likely to be discharged from the hospital in the next 24 to 48 hours. To do this, Zanger grouped patients by their surgery type, and worked to define and formalize milestones on the pathway to a post-operative recovery by defining barriers that may postpone patients’ discharge. Finally, he used a deep learning algorithm which uses over 900 features and is trained on 3000 types of surgeries and 20,000 surgical discharges. LGO thesis advisor Retsef Levi stated that “in my view, this thesis work represents a league of its own in terms of technical depth, creativity and potential impact.” Zanger was able to have true prediction for 97% of patients discharged within 48 hours. This helps to limit overcrowding and operational disruptions and anticipate capacity crises.

A group of faculty, alumni and staff review the theses each year to determine the winner. Thomas Sanderson (LGO ’14), LGO alumni and thesis reviewer stated that Zanger’s thesis showed  “tremendous extensibility and smart solution architecture decisions to make future work easy. Obvious and strong overlap of engineering, business, and industry.  This is potentially revolutionary work; this research advances the current state of the art well beyond anything currently available for large hospital bed management with obvious and immediate impact on healthcare costs and patient outcomes. The theory alone is hugely noteworthy but the fact that the work was also piloted during the thesis period is even more impressive. LGO has done a lot of great work at MGH but this is potentially the widest reaching and most important.”

Zanger, who earned his undergraduate degree Physics, Computer Science and Mathematics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, will return to Israel after graduation and resume service as an Israeli Defense Forces officer.

~

Looking over the barren New Mexico landscape from seat 14F, it’s hard to believe the LGO class of 2019 is only on our fourth flight of seven on the Domestic Plant Trek (DPT) – our annual whirlwind trip around the country visiting our partner companies. With the generosity of these partners, we’ve made this year’s DPT the longest ever: 11 sites in 7 states over 17 days.

This is a big trip: bouncing around the country to visit manufacturing sites, fulfillment centers, and other cutting edge operations means flying a total of about 400,000 passenger air miles between 50 classmates and staff. LGOs have recognized that in addition to airline points, we’re racking up a significant amount of CO2 emissions given the carbon intensity of air travel. I’m proud to say that for the first time, the student planning committee for DPT and the LGO program have purchased carbon offsets to reflect the CO2 emissions of our seven DPT flights.

While these offsets do not reduce our immediate environmental impact, they represent an acknowledgement of the externalities of our decisions and set a precedent for student travel at MIT. By purchasing offsets through Gold Standard – a trusted non-profit maximizing the environmental and social impact of such purchases – we generate meaningful environmental benefit in parallel to our travel impacts, in this case supporting a reforestation project in Panama.

A savvy environmentalist might point out that we’ve neglected the impacts of our inter-city bus rides, hotel stays, and non-CO2 emissions from flights. In fact, we made a conscious choice to address impact over precision. A detailed analysis of our exact impacts could easily fill a PhD thesis, so we opted to prioritize the most obvious and most readily quantified impact. Similarly, simply not traveling is not an option: the wealth of insight we gain on DPT is unparalleled and critical to our dual degree program.

As we move forward to institutionalize this practice of offsetting student travel at MIT, we will expand our thinking both with respect to our broader impacts and to more immediate and tangible mitigation options. In the meantime, I hope we’ve set a new standard for LGO and helped inform the travel decisions of our class and our LGO stakeholders.

~

By Yakov Berenshteyn, LGO Class of 2019