Celebrating excellence in mentorship
The Committed to Caring (C2C) program at MIT is a student-driven initiative that celebrates faculty members who have served as exceptional mentors to graduate students. Twenty-three MIT professors have been selected as recipients of the C2C award for 2023-25, marking the most extensive cohort of honorees to date. These individuals join the ranks of 75 previous C2C honorees.
The following faculty members are the 2023-2025 Committed to Caring honorees:
- Hamsa Balakrishnan, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
- Cynthia Breazeal, Media Lab
- Roberto Fernandez, Sloan School of Management
- Nuh Gedik, Department of Physics
- Mariya Grinberg, Department of Political Science
- Ming Guo, Department of Mechanical Engineering
- Myriam Heiman, Department of Brain and Cognitive Science
- Rohit Karnik, Department of Mechanical Engineering
- Erik Lin-Greenberg, Department of Political Science
- Michael McDonald, Department of Physics
- Emery Neal Brown, Department of Health Sciences and Technology
- Wanda Orlikowski, Sloan School of Management
- Kenneth Oye, Department of Political Science
- Kristala Prather, Department of Chemical Engineering
- Zachary Seth Hartwig, Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering
- Tracy Slatyer, Department of Physics
- Iain Stewart, Department of Physics
- Andrew Vanderburg, Department of Physics
- Rodrigo Verdi, Sloan School of Management
- Xiao Wang, Department of Chemistry
- Ariel White, Department of Political Science
- Nathan Wilmers, Sloan School of Management
- Maria Yang, Department of Mechanical Engineering
One or more honorees are celebrated roughly each month of the academic year though a broad poster campaign, MIT News articles, and profiles on this site. Find all profiles posted to date in the honoree index.
Criteria for selection for a “Committed to Caring” honor include:
- Impact. Who has the nominee reached with their caring actions? How deeply, and for what length of time?
- Reach. What is the breadth of the nominee’s caring actions? Do they have a leadership role? Are there multiple nominations? Does the nominee demonstrate a commitment to influencing or changing systems that will improve graduate life?
- Excellence in scholarship. In addition to the nominee’s own academic excellence, how have they contributed to student academic and professional success?
- Equity and inclusivity. What contributions has the nominee made toward supporting all members of the community?
- Professional development as an advisor. Does the nominee seek feedback or make time to conduct self-study or professional development around various aspects of mentoring and advising? This may include management, communication skills, and/or support of students with varied needs and backgrounds.
