Thank You to These Community Members

The following MIT community members have been recognized for going the extra mile. Thank someone today.
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VPF's Strategic Sourcing and Contracts team

To the entire Strategic Sourcing and Contracts team at VPF who have worked quietly, behind the scenes, yet tirelessly and with dedication, to secure critically needed supplies and services for the entire Institute during this difficult and strange time. From contracts for IT solutions like Zoom and Slack, to assisting students with travel challenges, and securing urgently needed medical and personal protection equipment - the list goes on. Your dedication and support for the work of MIT allows the institute to continue fulfilling its mission. THANK YOU!
Christina Lo, VPF

Williams Adams

I support 4 groups at RLE and have three offices. A year ago with the help of RLE-IT we set up one of my computers in bldg 26 so I could connect remotely from my Mac. In order to have a back-up plan I wanted to enable another PC (in bldg 36) and this required getting a static IP address. I got that and thought everything was good until I got an error message on this second machine about my certificate. Bill's help was prompt - he phoned me at home, logged onto my computer which was remotely connected and saw to it that everything was in order. And he did this all remotely from his home on a day that was supposed to be a vacation day for him. He went above and beyond!!!
Dianne Lior, RLE

Myriam Joseph

Myriam's energy and positive outlook have been instrumental in keeping spirits high. She reaches out with a video call nearly every day that she can. She has done everything in her power to normalize the current situation, despite having overwhelming responsibilities and 5 children at home. I feel completely supported during this unprecedented time. Thank you Myriam!
Courtney Burt, MIT Professional Education

David Elwell

Since the first email went out to the students and MIT community, David Elwell has been working around the clock printing documents and mailing out letters (express mail) while answering questions, both in person and online as well as on the phone. Meeting after meeting, two hundred students later, everyone in the office is exhausted with nothing left to give, but David is still going strong, helping students and staff at all hours of the night, getting everyone all of the latest information from the government for the Office of the General Council and for the international students. Thank you David for all your hard work.
Antoinette Browne, International students office

Michel Goemans

Thank you, Michel, as Department Head, for keeping us all informed, keeping the community alive through virtual teas and lunches, and keeping your sense of humor! While at the same time calmly handling thousands of individual requests and problems.
Haynes Miller, Mathematics

MIT Police

Thank you MIT Police for keeping our campus safe in these troubled times. When many people can work from home, you still have to work in person, and with an empty campus, your work to keep the campus safe and secure has become more challenging, not less. Thank you for showing up for us every day, and thank you to MIT Police leadership for continuing to provide guidance and a feeling of safety and security during this crazy time.
The entire MIT community

Jackie Sherry

Jackie, the occupational health NP on site at MIT Medical, has by far taken this challenge with huge responsibility to get her staff and the MIT community ready for Covid-19. She is incredible.

Allie Sherwood , MIT Medical

Katie Ellis-Lawler

Katie went all out to learn about and teach us how to connect remotely. She prepared how-to documents to simplify all the steps for Slack, Remote Desktop, WebEx ... she rocks!
Sudy Nally, Campus Construction - Department of Facilities

Terry Clewley and Tyler Jacks

For their tireless efforts and steady helm guiding us all through this research scale back.
Ryan Murphy, Koch Institute

MIT Facilities

Thank you for all you do for all of us. You are all amazing.
Kathleen McCoy, EECS

Fletch Freeman

Tireless efforts to keep EECS staff connected. You rock, Fletch.
Kathleen McCoy, EECS

Bill Furtado and the entire Desktop Deployment & Maintenance team

Bill and his team worked tirelessly to get laptops, ipads and mobile hotspots into the hands of the community as the institute began to shut down. They scoured online as well and physically going to the malls and stores to purchase what they could. As the rest of IS&T (and MIT as a whole) began working from home they were still on campus deploying these devices to ensure that as many people as possible could remain productive during these difficult times. Words can't describe the gratitude that this team deserves.
Karl Witt, IS&T

Mohamed El Ouirdi

In the wake of announcements that MIT would be shifting to a remote teaching and working model, Mohamed worked tirelessly to ensure that Libraries staff had the equipment they needed to transition to working from home, working with IS&T to distribute laptops, set up machines, and survey staff to ensure everyone had the support they needed. His calm focus and strong leadership helped set the tone for all, and he truly went the extra mile during this major transition.
Heather Yager, Libraries

Cameron Cler, GRA

Cameron was so supportive throughout the entire week as we packed up. She reached out to students, was always available and accessible, and kept spirits up as we said goodbye to each other and to our homes. Really appreciate all she did for us - best GRA ever!
Carolina Gutierrez, B3rd

DUE Desktop Support

The unsung heroes. We take for granted how much you all do behind the scenes working around the clock to get all of us working from home. Donyatta Small, Terre Dilworth, and Paul Schumacher, you all are miracle workers!
Your Peers, DSL and OVC

Open Learning Team

Kudos to this amazing group of people who have mobilized their talents to help faculty get their courses online - from the wonderful staff at MVP to the MITx staff, the hardworking Residential team and those OpenCourseWare Warriors who have opened their content and talent to the world All of those efforts are helping faculty get content to where it is needed most - in their hands online to share with our students scattered around the world. Bravo!
Anonymous

Edgerton House Staff

Thanks to Katina Ross, Trudy Morris, and the Edgerton House staff who have continued in their mission to help students and create a healthy and clean environment for all. Often they do this by simply being wonderful people who know and care about us, but all have gone above and beyond to help many students manage this crisis and keep the facility safe and functioning. Thank you all so much!
David Mindell, Head of House, Edgerton House

Next Exec

Next Exec is the Exec of the undergraduate dorm Next House. Next Exec worked tirelessly over the move out week to handle the entire dorm's storage - getting boxes, distributing boxes to residents, how to label boxes, answering tons of questions over Piazza, messenger, and email, getting and managing the PODS and Nexties loading their belongings in the PODS. They did way, way more than should have been expected of any undergraduate student leadership group, and way more than they signed up for by running for Exec, and they did it amazingly. Besides handling logistics and managing everything, Next Exec provided a comforting presence during this stressful time to all residents, while under lots of stress themselves. Thank you all of Next Exec, especially Tommy Adebiyi, Faraz Masroor, Meghana Vemulapalli, and Jiayi Dong.
Zoe Anderson, EECS

MIT Medical

I want to thank MIT Medical for updating the important information regarding COVID-19 since the very beginning of the semester. From how to self-check for COVID-19 to detailed instruction on getting help for MIT members remaining on campus now, MIT Medical has provided professional support to the community.
Qianqia Zhang, EECS

MIT Care Team

I want to thank the MIT Care Team for being so supportive in many aspects during my self-isolation at the beginning of the semester. The team responded quickly and offered meal delivery services for us everyday, while reaching out and being very responsive to our needs and questions. I especially appreciated the care package delivered to me including snacks, hand sanitizer, and even art supplies to help me get through our time of isolation. Though the isolation period certainly caused inconvenience to academic and daily routines, the MIT Care Team minimized such inconvenience and made me feel supported and made my 14-day isolation much easier to get through. Thank you!
Qianqia Zhang, EECS

Idulia Lovato

Idulia’s positivity and sense of humor have been such a morale-booster for our team. On top of her regular job, she’s been dreaming up with creative ideas to help us stay engaged and maintain our sense of connectedness in this new environment. Thank you Idulia!
Terry Clewley, Koch Institute

Mathew Ganatra

Mathew Ganatra (who goes by Ganatra) was a Burton Conner resident who stepped up to organize the move-out at the cost of his own time, energy, and well-being. Working as many as 20 hours a day, Ganatra coordinated the use of the Burton Conner storage room for most of the week, enabling even those with rushed flights to safely stow away their belongings before heading home. He even manned the storage room and the desk checkout alone for most of those hours. And he kept us posted with the latest information on move-out procedures during a confusing, rapidly changing situation.

Ganatra was also a senior who had spent his four years of undergrad in this dorm, and I know that he would've loved to have had more of his precious last few days to spend with friends and to say goodbye to his home. For his efforts and his sacrifices, I would like to offer my most sincere gratitude to Ganatra for helping all of us give the best farewell to Burton Conner that we could.
Brice Wang, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Class of 2020

President Reif, Senior Administrators, Staff, and constituents

I am beyond grateful to be an employee of MIT, especially during Covid-19, as I have been allowed to work from home without a loss in pay and benefits. MIT did not ask me to jeopardize my well-being and my families by remaining at work. Rather, MIT took swift action to ensure the safety for our entire #MITfamily! Thank you for providing support and consistency to me and my family during these rapidly changing times.
Shannon Gamache Scurry, MITAA--Annual Fund

Mathew Ganatra

Thank you so much for spending so much time and effort helping all of BC move out. You did so in a way to minimize our stress as much as possible and I really don't know how you did it but thank you. You are very appreciated.
Andrea Garcia

Professor Elizabeth Wood

Professor Wood has provided the utmost degree of flexibility during these times, and has assured every student that she is there for them. I am confident that she is someone I could turn to if I need any help, academic or not.
Chessa Hoekstra, EECS

Professor Steven Leeb

Professor Leeb sent a beautiful email about why MIT is special, and why it survives crises like these. A beautiful excerpt:

"MIT is not buildings or a lab, those are the trappings. The Institution is you. MIT represents the faith people have in the boundless possibilities of human creativity. Don't forget."
Chessa Hoekstra, EECS

Graduate Officers + Graduate Administrators

Thank you for ensuring newly admitted graduate students have a space to preview MIT. The challenge of Covid-19 led to immediate cancellations of open houses and campus visits - these events are crucial in the new admit's decision of where to go for graduate school. Graduate officers and graduate administrators made a strong pivot to virtualize their events - some within hours and others within days. We are grateful to each of you!
Gloria Anglon, Office of Graduate Education (OGE)

Arthur Grau and team

Marketing and communications expert Arthur Grau has been leading the effort to help everyone at CTL transition to remote communication. With lightning speed, he and his team researched what would work for us and sent out relevant information about the technologies and where to find tutorials. He's been providing follow-up tips and quickly responds to questions and requests for help. A lifesaver, especially for some of us older, not-so-tech-savvy people.
Toby Gooley, Center for Transportation & Logistics (MIT CTL)

IS&T support

I have had a couple problems getting connected for remote work, and the support has been great. I appreciate it, especially since they must now be dealing with a flood of such help requests.
Bruce Adams, Department of Chemistry Instrument Facility

MIT Medical and MIT Pharmacy

Thank you for your incredibly clear and helpful instructions on what to do with prescriptions we normally fill at the pharmacy at MIT Medical. Absolutely what I needed to read. Thank you!
Kim Maxwell, MIT Libraries
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