CO-CHAIR

Nathan Engelman Lado

He is a second year Social and Engineering Systems PhD student. His focus is on the relationship between renewables and energy storage in the energy transition. Prior to MIT, Nathan attended Georgetown’s Master of Public Policy Program where he focused on environmental economics. He also holds a B.A. in Applied Math and a minor in Classical History from Middlebury College.

In his spare time Nathan loves to read, run, ski and row.

Challenge Directors

Dansil Green

She is a second-year graduate student in the Technology and Policy Program at MIT. Her research focuses on technology and policy related to In-Space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing (ISAM). Dansil also supports the MIT AeroAstro Small Satellite Collaborative. Prior to MIT, Dansil was a civilian engineer with the US Space Force. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from California Polytechnic State University in 2019.

Marketing

Logistics

Marilena Velonia Bellonia

She is a Graduate student at the MIT Technology and Policy Program. She is interested in Artificial Intelligence, Data, Internet and Industrial policy. Before MIT, she studied Management Science and Technology at the Athens University of Economics and Business and was working in the Technology sector in Greece. Having participated in the MIT Policy Hackathon 2022, Marilena is eager to help craft one of the Challenges for this year's Hackathon to help address an important sociotechnical issue.

Rachael Kha

She is a second-year PhD student in Social and Engineering Systems at MIT. Her research has primarily focused on applying systems methods to health and healthcare, including combatting childhood obesity and developing personalized adaptive interventions for sedentary adults. Prior to MIT, she was at Arizona State University, where she triple majored in Chemical Engineering, Philosophy, and Economics in 2021 and received her master's in Chemical Engineering in 2022

Talla Babou

Talla Babou is a PhD Student in the Social and Engineering Systems (SES) Program at the MIT, where his research focuses on equitable returns and access to housing, and questions related to race and wealth inequality. Prior to joining IDSS, Talla worked as a Science Policy Fellow at the Science and Technology Policy Institute, a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) managed by the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA). Talla holds a B.S. in Physics with a minor in Statistics and Data Science  from MIT.

Yael Cervantes

He is a first-year master's student at MIT. Previously, he studied economics at CIDE (Mexico). After graduating we worked at the Central Bank of Mexico in the division of Economic Research and volunteered in NGOs focused on public policy. His interests are development economics, machine learning, supply chain, and econometrics. His research at the MIT Low-Income Firms Transformation Lab (LIFT) aims to enhance the supply chain management of micro and small enterprises in developing countries.

Khyati Garg

She is a first year graduate student in the Technology and Policy Program at MIT. Her interest lies in climate mitigation technologies and social and environmental implications of climate change. Her current research is in climate investments under the Inflation Reduction Act and specifically the impact of subsidies on energy communities. Prior to MIT, Khyati did her undergrad in chemical engineering at UC Berkeley. She will be attending COP28 this year as a youth delegate!