(presented by Israel Ruiz, Executive Vice President + Treasurer)
Our next recipient for Advancing Inclusion and Global Perspectives is David Dolev of MISTI—that’s MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives. David is Assistant Director of MISTI and Managing Director of the MIT Israel Program.
By all accounts, David has always worked well beyond the bounds of his job title. Since his arrival at the MIT-Israel Program in 2008, David has poured his time and energy into creating opportunities for hundreds of MIT students to experience Israel through internships and research opportunities. He also created MISTI 2.0, a revolutionary new program that encourages MIT students to become global leaders.
“More than any other person I know at MIT,” one of his colleagues says, “David reaches out eagerly and often to bring people together around a common idea, initiating dialogues and partnerships with colleagues across the Institute—and beyond.”
What’s important, his colleagues say, is that David is guided not just by a sense of what is right, but what is right for MIT students. For years David has felt that it was an oversight that MISTI did not have a program in the Arab world. Over the past several months, David has taken it upon himself to rectify the situation. For every hurdle, David has found a way over it. For every problem, David has invented a solution. For every “no,” David has extracted a “yes.”
But he is used to building bridges. In the MEET program, he brings Israeli and Palestinian high-schoolers together with MIT students to achieve new levels of understanding and camaraderie.
As with all the Excellence Award winners, this introduction barely scratches the surface of David Dolev’s contributions, but it’s time we invited him to the stage to accept his award - congratulations!