Entrepreneurship Panel

We have invited two distinguished panelists (former grads of the department, descriptions below) to talk about their experiences as successful entrepreneurs. If you have burning questions (How do I become an entrepreneur? How do people like us make companies work? How do I juggle school, work, research, and life?), then come to the panel and hear from folks like you who are in the trenches.

Nathan Ball (SM 2007) Atlas Devices

In 2005, Nate and three mech-e classmates (Dan Walker '05 SM '09, Bryan Schmid '03 SM '05, and Tim Fofonoff SM '03 PhD '08) formed Team ATLAS to compete in the ISN Soldier Design Competition. After creating the first working prototype of the ATLAS Powered Rope Ascender, they founded Atlas Devices, LLC to commercialize the product. Led through the entrepreneurial experience of how-the-heck-do-you-actually-start-a-company by the ISN's technology transition specialist, Team ATLAS filed several patents with prize money from the competition and went to work. In 2007 they were awarded a small acquisition contract for a number of ascenders from the U.S. Army's Rapid Equipping Force. They footed the bill for the R&D out-of-pocket, delivered the units in only four months, and have been continuing to refine and supply their product to the U.S. Government ever since.

Prof Andre Sharon (PhD 1988) kSARIA Corp

I founded kSARIA in 2000 to develop capital equipment for the optical communication industry. The company went through (and survived) the telecom crash. While manufacturing of fiber optic components has since gone to China and other low cost producers, kSARIA was able use automation as a competitive differentiator. Not only staying cost-competitive, but achieving much higher quality. This has enabled it to become the premier provider of fiber-optic interconnect solutions to the U.S. military and aerospace industry. Today, if you fly in some of the newer Boeings or Airbuses, your in-seat entertainment system may be brought to you via kSARIA fiber optic cable systems.

The panel will be followed by a Grape Juice & Cheese reception.

Date:

Friday, November 13

Time:

3:30pm

Location:

4-231

Grape Juice & Cheese

That time has come again where we take out our glasses in celebration, pour some festive water, and make a toast to all that is MechE. Yes, I know you’re thinking what I’m thinking---make a toast to your floating windmill, to your robot, or to your award-winning design. You can even toast to the exam that you just failed, to your code that doesn't run, to your experiments that break the 2nd law of thermodynamics, to that paper draft that you should have started a month ago, or maybe just to the xⁿ years that you’ve been here… OK, maybe we should stop this whole toast thing. Better to forget about it, and come down this Friday to the Bush Room (10-105) from 5-7pm for some good times and good toasts brought to you by your friends at MIT Grad Rat and the GSC.

The MIT Grad Rat team is proudly sponsoring this event. The MIT Grad Rat is the official MIT graduate ring, and is seen as the symbol of MIT community worldwide. The Grad Rat sponsorship for this event is specially for the Mechanical Engineering students to come know more about the tradition of the MIT Graduate Ring. Grad Rat officials will be present to provide information about ring ordering, post-delivery services offered by the manufacturers, and some exciting new initiatives of the Grad Rat committee. Also, we are excited to inform you about an exclusive offering for you: we will be having a raffle for an iPod nano.

Date:

Friday, November 13

Time:

5–7pm

Location:

The Bush Room (10-105)

Halloween Spookfest

This is the story of a graduate student — an Nth year PhD student who just never left. You might not have heard of him, but surely you have felt his presence. Maybe late at night, you saw free food disappear just as you reached for it. Maybe after a long night of experiments, you found the phrase “You are NOT PREPARED for QUALS” spelled out in your data. Maybe while walking down the hallway of building 3, you heard a whisper in your ear — “Form your THESIS COMMITTEE” — that sent a chill down your spine. Or maybe you woke up in a cold sweat at your desk to a voice in your head saying “Graduate… GRADUATE”. This graduate student is among us, and his spirit will wander restless until the day he graduates. Unfortunately, the tragedy is that he never will…

To try to appease this spirit, GAME will be having a Halloween Spookfest after the ME Colloquium Lecture on Friday October 30th. We will have our standard fare of grape juice and Halloween goodies, and we will be giving out prizes for best costume in the following categories:

1. Adviser Look-Alike Contest
2. How MechE Can You Be?
3. General Bad-Ass Costume

So come in your ghastly best!

Date:

Friday, October 30

Time:

5pm (after the M.E. Colloquium Lecture)

Location:

The Fish Bowls (first floor of Building 3)

Fall Social

Food will be served and throats will not remain dry!

Date:

Wednesday, October 14

Time:

5:00 to 7:00 pm

Location:

The New Thirsty Ear (in The New Ashdown)

Library Info Session

Think you can use only Google and Google Scholar to complete your literature review for your thesis? Well, think again! Angie Locknar, librarian for Mechanical Engineering, will provide tips for doing a thorough literature review using MIT Libraries resources. Included will be tools for finding articles, patents, and standards, and tips for keeping up with new research. You’ll also learn about different citation software packages for organizing your references and producing bibliographies.

Refreshments will be served.

Date:

Monday, October 5

Time:

4 to 5 pm

Location:

DIRC (14N-132)

Fall BBQ

Don’t miss our fall barbecue: Monday from 4 to 6pm at the Kresge BBQ pits (behind Kresge auditorium). This event was organized by Lisa and Catherine, GAME’s orientation chairs, and is sponsored by the Graduate Student Council.

Date:

Monday, September 14

Time:

4 to 6 pm

Location:

Kresge Barbecue Pits

GAME on Facebook

Trying to figure out how to get a little more GAME into your life? Why not join our new Facebook Group.