MIT year: 1959 (Electrical Engineering)

From high school on I have had an interest in energy production and use in all of its aspects.

All aspects of energy production, fuel source location, fuel transportation, generation location, power transmission distance, regulatory concerns, environmental concerns, and cost & safety at each and every level. 

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 energy issues are of great concern in her home state of Hawaii, she's particularly excited to be involved with Mission 2018.
 
This is Yolanda's ninth 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.

Stephen Estes-Smargiassi is a planner and an engineer. Throughout his career, he has focused on gathering and managing multi-disciplinary teams to design and communicate complex projects to the public. He has a Bachelors of Civil Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Masters in City and Regional Planning from Harvard University. He lives in Boston where the streets don’t follow old cowpaths, although they seem to, loves maps, and has two kids who also love maps. And he proudly drinks tap water, at least in Boston.

In his 27 years at the MWRA, the regional wholesale water and wastewater provider for the Boston metro area, he has lead or participated in all MWRA drinking water quality initiatives, including treatment decisions for corrosion, microbial and disinfection byproducts control; and outreach and coordination with local and state health officials. He is active with the Water Research Foundation, is a QualServe peer review team leader, and has actively participated in water quality regulatory development activities regionally and nationally.

As part of his responsibilities he managed the MWRA's successful demand management programs, reducing water demand by over 100 mgd; initiated its GIS system; and coordinated protection planning studies for the 400 square mile Quabbin, Ware River and Wachusett reservoir watersheds, as well as about 40 other smaller supply systems in the metropolitan area. His group recently completed an integrated master plan to prioritize and schedule improvements to the region’s water and sewer systems.

He has overseen MWRA's collaborative efforts to understand and communicate the risks of lead in drinking water since 1993, and has been active in regional and national efforts to review and revise the Lead and Copper Rule.

He has worked cooperatively with local and national groups to understand the implications of climate change on the region’s water and sewer systems and frequently presents on MWRA’s efforts on climate change, green energy production, and water and energy efficiency.

He developed the briefing materials used by MWRA's Board of Directors to make the treatment technology decision for the metropolitan Boston water system and then participated in the successful defense of that decision in federal court. He is responsible for producing and distributing MWRA's annual water quality report to over 800,000 households, as well as monthly public reports, and using those opportunities to reinforce the bridges built over the past decade to the public health community.

Hal Gustin

Occupation: Engineer

MIT year: 1973

This will be my eighth year as an alumni mentor to the 12.000 class. The first seven 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.

Bob has been a Mentor for 12.000 for the past thirteen years. 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 B.Sc. degrees from MIT in Computer Science and two M.Sc. and a Ph.D. degree from Stanford University in the areas of computer systems, artificial intelligence and management. He has been a mentor for 12.000 for the past eight years. A successful entrepreneur for over 25 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. Jorge has been involved with MIT in many ways over the years: he is a member of the MIT Education Council, past member of MITAA’s Advisory Committee on globalizing MIT, and a founder, past President and past Vice-President of International Relations of LAMIT, MIT’s Iberoamerican affinity group. He has also held Cabinet-level government positions in Colombia and diplomatic positions in Europe, as well as academic appointments in universities in the US, South America and Europe. He is a founding member of the Children's Museum in Bogotá, 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. Dr. Phillips 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

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.

Johnny's current interests include traveling, penguins, microfinance, sweater vests, and hoppy beers. He currently lives in Cambridge, MA and will do his best to make it to campus to meet the class.

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

This is Paul's sixth 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 Lockheed Martin) 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
MIT Year: 2012
Education: B.S. Environmental Engineering '12


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


I was involved in Mission as a freshman in 2007 and then as a UTF the following three years; I was an alumni mentor the last three years 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 the bioeconomic effects of climate change on fisheries. 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

Education: Chemical Engineering (MIT: SB ’87; M.S. CEP ‘89); Public Policy (Harvard University - Kennedy School of Government: MPA '2006)

After graduating from MIT, I have worked in technology, R&D, and management consulting, serving the chemicals industry. After 10 years, I switched careers to focus more on environmental sustainability and related public policy. At the Environmental Defense Fund, a leading national environmental advocacy organization, I worked on addressing air pollution problems guided by science, law, and economics, and in partnership with public and corporate sector actors. In 2006, I earned a graduate degree in Public Policy with a focus on sustainable development.

In the past 5 years, I have directed policy, research, and advocacy programs at an environmental think tank, with an exclusive focus on the Middle east. One of the products of this work is a report I have co-edited on water resources management and another on water efficiency.

As a 12.000 mentor, I hope to assist Mission 2017 students develop sound approaches to address the question of Global Water Security from a social science (policy) perspective.