MIT MAD announces cohort of future world-changing designers

MIT MAD reveals fellows for 2023-24

Massachusetts Institute of Technology announces their cohort of fellows for the prestigious Morningside Academy for Design (MIT MAD) program, 2023-24. MIT MAD offers opportunities for students, faculty, and the general public to explore the intersection of design, technology, and social impact. Eleven designers were awarded the highly competitive fellowship, destined to make a real-world impact in fields such as sustainability, architecture, health, and social justice.

Ganit Goldstein examines the connection between technology and tradition through a combination of traditional weaving, computer engineering, and 3D design and printing

all images courtesy of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

creative design hub for MIT

The renowned Institute established MAD to form a design focal point at MIT, where students can excel creatively. The one-year fellowship provides full tuition support, a stipend, and health insurance, to current Master’s or PhD candidates from diverse MIT design departments. Eligible students enter a rigorous nomination and selection process, examining how their design approach can positively impact communities and the environment. Fellows are encouraged to engage with designers, researchers, and peers, and participate in MAD’s activities, such as a weekly lunch seminar, and public programming, thus fostering the sharing of ideas with the greater design community.

Prathima Muniyappa investigates alternative cosmologies and cultural ontologies for their potential contribution to emerging discourse on techno-imaginaries in the realm of space exploration, synthetic biology and extended intelligence

MAD fellows tackle world problems through design

‘The MAD Fellowship provides freedom for graduate students to explore their areas of passion and to bring their design skills to the world’s problems,‘ explains Professor John Ochsendorf, founding director of MIT MAD. ‘The Design Fellows are really talented, diverse designers from many different backgrounds, who come together, share their work, learn from each other, and go out into the world energized to apply design to solving difficult challenges.‘

The 2023–2024 cohort adds to the design skills and projects of the current fellows, who were announced in 2022 as the inaugural group. Incoming fellows represent a diversity of skills, fields, and projects, already pushing the boundaries of design and innovation in the very early stages of their career.

Geoffrey Nyakiongora is an architect exploring how to leverage generative AI tools to make architecture more accessible to underserved communities

MIT mad fellows 2023-24

Each of the eleven students chosen for the 2023–24 MIT MAD program have demonstrated visionary work that showcases their huge potential across all corners of design. The fellows’ expertise includes floodplain agriculture (Chen Chu), coastal resilience (James Brice), engineering/neuroscience (Alexandra Rieger), or textiles (Tiandra Ray), among many other design-related fields. By putting various design experts in the same program and having them meet regularly, each one greatly enhances their individual knowledge as well as enriches the overall design community at MIT and beyond.