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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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

Mathew Ganatra

Ganatra worked tirelessly at Burton Conner to make sure everyone was able to store their things on time. He worked way more than should have been expected of him and he did most of it single-handedly.
Alejandro Diaz, 6-2 major, ESI minor, Latin American and Latinx Studies minor

Leonardo Urbano, Lori Layne, Sung Son, Kathy Rink, Eric Evans

My leadership, all the way from the director's office to my team lead, has been excellent. They have prioritized employee and public health over work continuity and productivity, while still enabling us to be productive. I'm proud to work at an organization that cares about its employees this much.
Evan Zinner, Lincoln Lab - Group 36

Gareth Griffin

Every day since we were told to work from home, Gareth has reached out to us to make sure we are okay. He has done everything possible to put us to ease during this dark time.
Cynthia Silck Flannery, SIMS

Ollie Gelmont

Ollie's kindness, compassion, and humor have been on full display this week as he has singlehandedly ensured the building is secure while we're all away - down to creating makeshift greenhouses in conference rooms to care for everyone's office plants! Just this morning, he sent us all pictures of the building so we wouldn't forget about it. Even on a regular day, he's always available with a laugh and a smile, and is one of those people who just makes work better.
W98 Basement Dweller, Resource Development

MIT Parking and Transportation

Thank you to the whole team for providing us with a choice to suspend April commuter rail passes purchases. I’m sure it was not an easy process and required a lot of extra effort—but it has enabled so many to conserve resources in a very anxious time period.
Brian Goldberg, MIT Office of Sustainability

MIT Committee

I want to thank MIT because even in the emergency of evacuating students out of campus it made this process most civilly. MIT helped me with my flight home, and I managed to arrive home a day before my county closed its borders. Also, MIT helped me financially, I am an international student and each flight for me is quite expensive for me. MIT also helped me with paying the flight cost. I am glad to be affiliated with MIT and want to thank MIT really cares about its students.
Serhii Kryhin, Physics Department

Cindy Barnhart, Suzy Nelson, Ian Waitz

Although I've had my gripes with the administration at times, and the initial response to shut down MIT seemed incredibly extreme at the time, I must applaud the MIT administration for their foresight and subsequent commitments to help students in this time of crisis. Decisions were made in a timely fashion yet still supported all students, especially those at risk, even when the timeline was moved up.
Anthony Cheng, Materials Science and Engineering
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