Addressing MIT’s newest students and their families yesterday, President Sally Kornbluth and several alumni faculty offered some tips about how to thrive at the Institute.
“You belong here,” Kornbluth and others assured the audience, while emphasizing the many ways that the 1,102 members of the Class of 2028 are connected and interdependent.
“All of us together are responsible for the character of our community,” Kornbluth said.
The President’s Convocation took place under a tent on Kresge lawn, on a warm, sunny morning. Kornbluth introduced several of MIT’s senior leaders — Provost Cynthia Barnhart, Chancellor Melissa Nobles, Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate and Graduate Education Dan Hastings, Vice Chancellor for Student Life Suzy Nelson — and then offered some guidance of her own.
Kornbluth advised students to take advantage of MIT’s “unmissable opportunity,” the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program. She also encouraged students to try new activities and make time for fun, while also acknowledging that the MIT experience can be intense.
“But if you sometimes get frustrated or feel stuck,” Kornbluth said, “please know: We all do! And you don’t have to go it alone. It’s not always easy asking for help, but as everyone up here today will tell you, sometimes the only way to succeed in facing a big challenge or solving a tough problem is to admit there’s no way you can do it all yourself. You’re surrounded by a community of caring people. Please don’t be shy about asking for guidance or help.”
She urged students to care for each other even when disagreeing or having difficult conversations. “At MIT, the work we do is so important, and so hard, that it’s essential we treat each other with empathy and compassion, that we take care to express our own ideas with clarity and respect, and make room for sharply different points of view,” she said.
“Empathy and respect are central values here,” Kornbluth said. “And frankly, they are also skills — skills that we all have to practice, at every stage of life, because they turn out to be vital to every aspect of our success: as an institution, as a community, and as individual human beings.”
Kornbluth was joined by three MIT faculty who had also been students at the Institute.
Isaiah Smith Andrews PhD ’14, the Charles E. and Susan T. Harris Professor of Economics, described the MIT community’s commitment to making the world a better place through “concrete changes we can see, touch, and measure.”
He urged students to consider what they could do to make a better world, not just through new science and engineering advances, but also by figuring out how to ensure those advances benefit humanity. “You’re all here because you’ve excelled, and I know that you will excel here as well,” he said. “I challenge you to follow the MIT tradition and be more than just excellent: I challenge you to be good.”
Paula Hammond ’84, PhD ’93, Institute Professor and vice provost for faculty, recalled that before arriving at MIT, she was excited to join a community of people pursuing their interests in STEM with “true nerdy exuberance.” But, upon arriving, she was intimidated by some of the experiences of her peers. “I was sure I was an admissions mistake,” she said. However, she found her footing by connecting with other students and learning from them.
“You are all meant to be here. You’re all brilliant in a spectacularly diverse set of ways,” she said. “It’s exactly those differences that make MIT a place of excellence and a true foundry of learning and shared knowledge. Without the many perspectives that each of you are bringing here today we don’t learn about new ways to address old problems or how to adjust our lens to see new problems.”
Physics Professor Aram Harrow ’01, PhD ’05 reflected on how unpredictable an educational journey can be — and urged students to embrace that. Harrow wasn’t aware that his own field, quantum computing, even existed when he began college, but he became hooked after attending a seminar with a friend.
He acknowledged some contradictions within the guidance he gives to students: “You’ll notice that I’m saying sometimes you should be flexible and open to new experiences, and sometimes you should fanatically pursue your dreams. That’s why giving advice is hard,” he joked.
But he urged students to seriously consider studying topics they hadn’t expected to. “You never know what will happen,” he said.
