MIT year: 1959 (Electrical Engineering)

I am a Wyoming native and life long resident of the state.

Going back to my high school days I have had an interest in geology, the minerals industry, and land use. For two years I worked in the minerals industry, mostly with uranium. Mine design, mining, ore processing, and pollution survey and control.

Another reason I follow the minerals industry closely is its importance to the economy of Wyoming. The minerals industry in Wyoming is controlled by state and federal regulations, plus the fact that so much of the land (46.5%) in Wyoming is owned and controlled by the United States government. None the less, in FY98, the minerals industry accounted for 42% of our state and local tax revenues.

I spent twenty years working in the water industry and with water rights.

Full disclosure, I have a small investment in U. S. Energy.

Yolanda Lau

Occupation: Entrepreneur
MIT year: 2002 Education: B.S. Chemical Engineering, B.S. Biology
After graduating from MIT, Yolanda worked at MIT's Technology Licensing Office before ultimately starting a real estate investment company, a consultancy firm, and a few other ventures in Baltimore, MD. She's since sold those companies back to her partners and is working on several new ventures. She also provides consulting services to startups and small businesses. She enjoys creative problem solving and, given that biodiversity has long been a concern in her home state of Hawaii, she's particularly excited to be involved with Mission 2015.
 
This is Yolanda's sixth year as a 12.000 mentor -- some of her other MIT alumni activities include leadership in her class and fund raising for the Institute.
 
Since she lives in Honolulu, most communication will have to be via email, phone, Skype, or Google+ Hangouts.

Hal Gustin

Occupation: Engineer

MIT year: 1973

This will be my seventh year as an alumni mentor to the 12.000 class. The first six have been energetic, stimulating, and a lot of fun.

I love the premise of the class.

1. Identify a problem that is huge, difficult (almost intractable), with major implications for the world.
   
2. Assign it to a group of people with immense ability but no or very little exposure to the conventional ways of looking at the problem.
   
3. See what they come up with.

35 yrs product development at Polaroid: Mechanical Eng, Physics, Chem. Eng, Materials, 13 patents.
Previously NASA and US Army.

Travels: Russia, Cuba, Brazil, Oaxaca, Baltic capitals, Turkey, Costa Rica, W Europe, B Virgin Islands, Bogota.
Hobbies: ballroom dancing, Arg. tango, biking, choir singing, cooking.

Mentoring for 12.000 since 2006 has been a great pleasure.

Robert Gurnitz

Bob has been a Mentor for 12.000 for the past elevenyears. He also works with and provides support for the other mentors. Bob is President of the MIT Club of Southwest Florida. Additionally he is on the Board of Directors of Habitat for Humanity of Collier County (Florida) and is Treasurer of the Everglades Astronomical Society. His hobbies include astronomy and sailing.

He is a Chemical Engineer by education (S.B., S.M., Ph.D., MIT). Bob briefly taught at MIT prior to going into the Aerospace Industry. He then spent a year in the President’s Executive Interchange Program in Washington working at the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Upon returning to Rockwell International, he subsequently held various positions leading to becoming President of their Passenger Car Components Business. Upon leaving Rockwell, he became President of Bethlehem Steel’s Structural Components Business. His subsequent positions included President of Webcraft Technologies, Chairman and CEO of Northwestern Steel and Wire, and Chairman of Envirosource.

Education: Doctorate

Dr. Phillips holds a B.Sc. degree from MIT in Computer Science as well as two M.Sc. and Ph.D degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Stanford University in the areas of computer systems, artificial intelligence and management. A successful entrepreneur for over 20 years in Silicon Valley, the East Coast and overseas, he has had a lifelong interest since his MIT years in complex social and physical systems, appropriate technology, politics and policy making, the environment and social development. Dr. Phillips has held Cabinet level government positions in Colombia and diplomatic positions in Europe, as well as academic appointments in the US, South America and Europe. He is a founding member of the Children's Museum in Bogot·, Colombia and of the International Center of Physics in Colombia, and member of the Eta Kappa Nu and Sigma Xi national honorary societies to which he was inducted as an undergraduate at MIT. He is a patented inventor with registered software patents in the US, Japan and Europe, and lives in the Research Triangle area in North Carolina, where he is currently involved in high tech startups, management consulting, academia and other entrepreneurial efforts.

Johnny Yang
jtyang@sloan.mit.edu

781-810-2100

Class of 2004, SB, Course 15

Johnny was one of the first guinea pigs to participate in 12.000: Solving Complex Problems. As a student in Mission 2004 (Mars), he was a member of the "Mission Control" team and later took part in writing and editing the mission's final paper. Because he loved 12.000 so much, he joined the staff for the class, serving as a Undergraduate Teaching Fellow (UTF) for several Missions before becoming an alumni mentor beginning with Mission 2007.

Though he grew up in the South, Johnny has resided in New England for the last 10 years. Still in the process of figuring out what he wants to be when he "grows up," he has worked in a variety of industries, ranging from aerospace and biomedical to finance and distribution. He currently works for an early-stage software company in Waltham, MA.

Though not an engineer by training, Johnny's a self-proclaimed "engineer at heart," with research interests in supply chain, finance, and project management. He has also been known to be a stickler for correct grammar and to be a crusader against incomprehensible PowerPoint slides.

Personally, Johnny enjoys traveling and "wining & dining" (to the extent that his pocketbook allows.) He currently lives in Cambridge, MA and will do his best to make it to campus to meet some of the class.

pjacobson@alum.mit.edu
508-548-7945

This is Paul's forth year as a Mentor for the 12.000 program.

Paul graduated from MIT in 1960 (Course III, Metallurgy) and received a Master's degree in Metallurgy from the University of Sheffield in England (’62).

After two years at the Martin Company (now Martin Marietta) working on materials for heat shield components critical to re-entry of spacecraft, Paul joined the General Electric Company. At GE, he worked on development of both hard and soft magnetic materials for use in electrical metering devices. Dating back to the 1970's he worked on materials for use in time-of-day metering – now referred to as Smart Grid technology. During his last decade at GE he developed and managed programs on Quality Assurance with emphasis on statistical methods.

Following his retirement from GE, Paul engaged on a “second career” teaching at community colleges in New Hampshire and Maine, and currently at Cape Cod Community College. He teaches micro- and macroeconomics, and statistics. In addition, he helps students in mathematics and science at the college tutoring center.

Paul is looking forward to working as a mentor in this challenging and critical program, and in returning to Tech to join in on stimulating analyses and discussions.

Elise Hens
elisetch@alum.mit.edu
 
Occupation: Environmental Engineer at Environ Corporation
MIT Year: 2012
Education: B.S. Environmental Engineering '11


As a freshman, I was involved with Mission 2012: Clean Water, had an absolute blast, then proceeded to take both spring classes! I was a UTF the next two years and loved editing the website :-) I'm living and working about an hour away from MIT with a company called Environ. I'm very passionate about Environmental Policy and love to study the politics surrounding environmental issues. I really enjoyed my time with my Terrascope family and I encourage anyone to reach out to me with questions about anything!

Emily Moberg
emoberg@mit.edu OR emoberg@whoi.edu
484-433-2994
Occupation: Graduate Student in the MIT-WHOI Joint Program
MIT Year: 2011
Education: Environmental Engineering '11


I  was involved in Mission as a freshman in 2007 and then as a UTF in the following three years; I was an alumni mentor last year and am excited to join the team again this year! I am currently studying Biological Oceanography at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, particularly looking at marine reserves and fisheries management from a modeling perspective. I am also interested in environmental decision analysis and remote sensing, particularly image analysis. Feel free to contact me at any time!

Bashar M. Zeitoon
bashar@alum.mit.edu
617-494-9239 (landline)

Education: Chemical Engineering (MIT: SB ’87; M.S. CEP ‘89)
Public Policy (Harvard Kennedy School: MPA ’06)

After graduating from MIT, I have worked for 10 years as a technologist, R&D manager, then as a management consultant, serving in all these roles the chemicals industry. Because of my interest in policy and environmental issues, I then joined the Environmental Defense Fund, a leading national environmental advocacy organization. At EDF, I worked on addressing air pollution problems guided by science, law, and economics, and in partnership with public and corporate sector actors. In 2005-2006, I received graduate academic training in public policy with a focus on sustainable development.

I now direct policy, research, and advocacy programs for the Arab Forum for Environment and Development, an environmental policy think tank. I focus on environmentally sustainable human development in Arab countries.

As a 12.000 mentor, I hope to assist students develop sound approaches and frameworks to address the environmental implications of human activities, particularly those pertaining to industrial and economic development.