Commencement 2021: Thank you

Commencement Transition Team

Members and contributors

• James Poterba, Chair; Economics
• Kofi Blake, President, Class of 2021
• James Brogioli, Alumni Association
• Steven Burcat, GSC Treasurer, 2020–2021; Mechanical Engineering
• Brian Canavan, Registrar
• Jacob Cohen, Sloan School of Management
• Mahi Elango, UA President, 2019-2020
• Deborah Fitzgerald, Program in Science, Technology, and Society
• Gayle Gallagher, Executive Officer for Commencement; Institute Events
• Danielle Geathers, UA President, 2020–2021
• Joaquin Giraldo-Laguna, Co-President, Class of 2020 Alumni Council
• Tia Giurleo, School of Engineering
• Ted Johnson, Institute Events
• Kristina Kastrinelis, staff to the committee, Institute Events
• Leslie Kolodziejski, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
• Kathryn Liede, Office of the President
• Leslie Norford, Architecture
• Nacho Nwana, President, Class of 2020
• Tema Nwana, Vice President, Class of 2021
• Temi Omitoogun, President, Class of 2022
• Mallika Pajjuri, President, Class of 2023
• Jag Patel, Office of the Chancellor
• Elise Perkins-Noel, Alumni Association
• Nico Salinas ’21
• Nidhi Sharma, GSC Representative
• Blanche Staton, Office of the Vice Chancellor
• Peter Su, GSC President 2019–2020
• Madeleine Sutherland, GSC President 2020–2021
• Rebecca Tyler, Institute Events
• Joel Voldman, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
• Heather Williams, School of Science
• Elizabeth Young, First Year Advising and Academic Programs

• MIT Alumni Association, including Amy Davis, Brian Geer, and Alyssa Holland
• Lee Corbett, Institute Events
• Christine Daniloff, MIT News
• Chief John DiFava, MIT Police
• Martha Eddison, Office of the President
• Jenny Fowler, Communications Initiatives
• Emer Garland, Communications Initiatives
• Melanie Golnick, MIT News
• Malcolm Jones, Institute Events
• John Ledbury, MIT Facilities
• John McDonald, Division of Student Life
• MIT Information Systems & Technology, including Cam Fox and Ron Hoffman
• MIT in Minecraft community
• MIT.nano Immersion Lab, including Tom Gearty, Praneeth Namburi, and Annie Wang
• Lillie Paquette, School of Engineering
• Victor Park, graphic design
• Photographers Jake Belcher, SRK Branavan, Ed Collins, Gretchen Ertl, Andy Ryan, and Bryce Vickmark
• MIT Registrar’s Office
• Sergeant Mary Beth Riley, MIT Police
• Miguel Rivera, MIT Coop
• Dan Safer, MIT Music and Theatre Arts
• Paul Shay, MIT Audio-Visual
• Smol Tim artists Emily Han ’22, Audrey Cui ’24, Alison Lam ’24, Angela Zhang ’24, and Margaret Zheng ’23
• Traci Swartz, Institute Events
• Stephanie Tran, Division of Student Life
• Aaron Weinberger, Office of the President
• Susan Wilson, MIT Center for Arts, Science and Technology
• Winbrook Promotions, including Mike Champoux and Michele Oliveira

Aerial footage: MIT Image Library/DronePros.net

MIT Video Productions

• Clayton Hainsworth, Director
• Jean Dunoyer
• Rod Lindheim
• Joe McMaster
• Dawn Morton
• Barry Pugatch
• Wes Richardson
• Alex Sachs
• Tom Stift
• Brigitte Tersek
• Kevin Tierney
• Tom White

Agoos D-zines

• Peter Agoos
• Andrew Zamore
• Mark Caraco
• Jim Cassidy
• Mark Herd
• Alyson Shultz

MIT Emergency Management

• Suzanne Blake
• Steven Taddonio

Music for MIT Moments          

Alexis’ Dream by Kevin Costello
Performed by the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble    

Music for the deans’ greetings and pre-show co-hosts’ ID animation 

Insignificant Figures by Richard Oates ’18
Performed by the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble   

MIT Wind Ensemble

Frederick Harris, Jr., Music Director
Kenneth Amis, Assistant Conductor

Flute
Madison Bronnimann ’24
Aba Kpeglo ’21
Vincent Lin ’24
Lennie Ma ’24
Hailey Quinn ’24
Olivia Rosenstein ’24
Sara Simpson, G
Charlotte Wickert ’23
Anna Yoon ’19

Oboe
Angelica Chin ’24
Crista Falk ’23
Michelle Kornberg ’20

Bassoon
Andrea Baker, guest musician
Samit Shah, community member

Clarinet
Jenna Dierich ’24 UMD
Priya Ganesh ’23
Erica Lauren Herrera, G
Andy Huang ’13
Brian Liu ’24
Jenny Li ’24
Nicholas Ortiz ’23
Matthew Putnam ’09
Matt Vice ’24 UMD

Alto Saxophone
Julie Bharucha ’09
Yasin Hamed ’24
Jess Hebert ’18

Tenor Saxophone
Rachel Morgan, G
Antoine Vigouroux, Harvard Postdoc

Baritone Saxophone
Tina Kambil ’16

Trumpet
Alexandra Ferguson, G
Miki Hansen ’21
Junhee Lee ’22
Jonathan Li ’24
Morgan Schaefer ’24

Horn
Maria D’Ambrosio, guest musician
Samantha Rencher ’24
Scott Stransky ’05/’07

Trombone
Aaron Buede, guest musician
Justin Croushore, guest musician
Christos Kakoutas, G
Laura Koemmpel ’19
Ethan LaBelle ’23
Marlia Nash ’24 UMD

Euphonium
Israel Gutierrez, guest musician
John San Soucie, G
Linnaea Uliassi  ’24

Tuba
Frederick Ajisafe ’23
Pranav Krishna ’23 NJ
Joey Zheng ’24 NH

Percussion
Jason Amis ’24 UMD
Christopher Boxall ’23 UMD
Lisa Blomberg ’23
Jack Bouhanna ’21
Mark Chilenski ’16
Tats Daniel ’20
Luka Govedič ’22
Yasin Hamed ’24
Frederick Harris, Jr.
Rachel Morgan, G
Andrew Motz ’23
Olivia Rosenstein ’24
Sara Simpson, G
Rila Shishido ’23
Jamshied Sharifi ’83
Frank Wang ’24

MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble

Frederick Harris, Jr., Music Director

Flute
Sara Simpson, G

Clarinet
Erik Helstrom, G

Alto Saxophone
Tony Terrasa ’21
Hannah Savoldy ’22
Brian Xiao ’23

Tenor Saxophone
Dylan Sleeper ’21
Yaateh Richardson ’20
Ben Allsup, G

Baritone Saxophone
Israel Bonilla ’21

Trumpet
Tommy Krause, G
Miki Hansen ’21
Emeka Echezona ’24
Miles Kaming-Thanassi ’23

Trombone
Kevin Costello ’21
Brandon Allen, Postdoc

Electric Guitar
Richard Oates ’18

Acoustic Guitar
Sebastian Franjou ’21

Harp
Kirsten Agresta Copely, guest musician

Piano
Peter Godart, G

Fender Rhodes
Jamshied Sharifi ’83

5-String Electric Bass
Dominic Skinner, G

Drums
Laura Grill Jaye, Director, MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble

Vibraphone
Julia Fiksinksi, G

Percussion
Erik Strand, G

Voice
Talia Khan ’20

MIT Symphony Orchestra

Adam K. Boyles, Music Director

Violin
Luis Gallegos ’21
Eric Gan ’24
Megan Gould, guest musician
Ashley Granquist ’24
Sierra Green ’24
Helen Hu ’24
Carol Jiang ’24
Inori Kawauchiya ’24
Sabrina Liu ’24
Sabrina Meng ’24
Andreas Mentzelopoulos, G
Alan Peng ’22
Grace Pu ’24
Hana Ro ’24
Isabella Salinas ’23
Megan Smith ’24
Daniel Stein ’22
Michelle Tan, G
Tara Venkatadri ’22
Ian Wong, G
Jeffery Yu ’22

Viola
Clémence Gruget, Postdoc
Megan Gould, guest musician

Cello
Ansel Garcia-Langley ’24
Eleanor Norton, guest musician
Jessica Wang ’24

Contrabass
Zev Katz, guest musician

MIT Concert Choir

William Cutter, Music Director

Danielle Allison ’23
Carles Boix, G
Theresa C Caso-McHugh ’23
Cecilia Chu ’21
Eva Demsky ’22
Freya Edholm ’23
Eva Goldie ’24
Allison Hamilos ’12, G
Lucy Hao ’24
Melissa Hill ’23
Henry Hu ’20, G
Ruofei Jia, G
Lani Lee ’21
Benjamin Owen-Block ’23
Peter Rowley ’22
Josh Sweet ’24
Soor Vora, G
Derrick Xiong ’23
Alan Zhu ’23

MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble

Laura Grill Jaye, Music Director

Alex Boccon-Gibod ’22
Grace Chuan ’21
Richard Colwell ’21
Autumn Geil ’21
Emily Huang ’22
Gabe Kane ’21
Talia Khan ’20
Junhee Lee ’22
Michael Peters, G
Sharon Opara-Ndudu ’22
Brindha Rathinasabapathi ’24
Ellison Scheuller ’24
Lauren Schexnayder ’20
Claire Walsh, Economics Dept

Tabitha Fair, guest musician
Neal Coomer, guest musician

RAMBAX MIT

Lamine Touré, Music Director

Lina Ahmed ’22
Jenny Chan ’21
Guangqi Cui ’21
Chibuzor Eduzor ’22
Cecilia Esterman ’21
Elissa Gibson ’22
Stacy Godfreey-Igwe ’22
Gabriel Kane ’21
Francesca Macchiavello Cauvi ’21
Aaron Makikalli ’21
Tema Nwana ’21
Andrea Orji ’21
Juan M Ortiz, G
Sergio Perez ’22
Nishat Protyasha ’22
Sandra Walter, G
Sienna Williams ’23
Wen Ting Zheng ’22

With students from

The Chorallaries of MIT  |  The MIT Logarhythms  |  MIT Syncopasian  |  The MIT Asymptones  |  MIT Resonance

Danielle Allison ’23
Guang Cui ’22
Vanessa Deering ’24
Josh Sweet ’24
Alberto Naveira ’21        
Melody Phu ’21
Sirena Yu ’23
Mingye Wang ’21

MIT community student participants

Shayna Ahteck ’23
Andrea Aude ’24
Dominique de Fiesta ’23
Sarah Gao ’23
Trinity Gao ’23
Keshav Gupta ’21
Miki Hansen ’21
Anika Katt ’23
Brandon Lei ’24
Tianyu (Cindy) Luo ’21
Amanda Mei ’24
Safiyyah Ogundipe ’24
Sherrie Qian ’23
Toomas Tennisberg ’23
Jack Yurkanin ’23
Megan Wei ’22
Charlotte Wickert ’23