MIT GradEl

Persuasive Communication for Technical Leaders
2025-11-14 10:00 - 12:00 (America/New_York) | Room 9-354, 105 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Location: Room 9-354
How do you get others to act on your ideas?
In this interactive GradEL workshop, you’ll learn and practice persuasive communication strategies that technical leaders use every day – whether it’s advocating for resources, influencing design decisions, or navigating tough conversations. Come ready to experiment with communication frameworks that will sharpen your ability to make your voice heard and your ideas stick.
This workshop offers a preview of the upcoming Spring GradEL course 6.S650 Persuasive Communication for Technical Leaders – giving you the chance to experience the skills in action and discover why you’ll want to master it next semester.
Leader:
Rachel Moore Best is passionate about translating skills, frameworks, and proven theory into actionable guidance for her students’ and clients’ current challenges. Her dynamic, hands-on approach to education has led her to teach in multiple arenas, including graduate-level negotiation courses for MIT, creative university programs, youth conferences, government agencies, and corporate audiences. Along with her work as an educator, Rachel is an experienced strategist and the founder of The Human Factor, a strategy firm focused on equipping organizations to negotiate the challenges of change within complex ecosystems. In this work, Rachel works with individuals from the executional level to the c-suite as they negotiate conflicting goals, organizational complexity, and human dynamics to close deals and form effective, sustainable teams. Her notable clients include Disney, NASA, and Boston Children’s Hospital.

Register for This Workshop
Add this workshop to your calendar using the “Add to Calendar” link below. (That does not register you for the workshop. Use the above link to register.)
This workshop counts toward the requirements for GradEL’s Graduate Certificate in Technical Leadership.

Systems Thinking for Technical Leadership
2025-10-30 17:00 - 19:00 | Room 32-144, 32 Vassar St., Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Location: Room 32-144
As engineers, we are trained to think about physical systems, but technical leadership involves navigating complex social structures as well. In this workshop, we will explore how systems thinking tools can help leaders to integrate social and technical considerations, and support interdisciplinary collaboration and decision making with a particular focus on sustainability.
Leader:
Dr. Emily Moore is a leader in engineering education and leadership development, serving as the Director of the Troost Institute for Leadership Education (ILead) at the University of Toronto. Before joining U of T, Dr. Moore spent over two decades in industry, first at the Xerox Research Centre of Canada where she scaled lab innovations to manufacturing, and later at Hatch, where she held leadership roles including Director of Technology Development. As a Rhodes Scholar with a BEng in Engineering Chemistry from Queen’s University and a DPhil in Physical Chemistry from Oxford University, Dr. Moore combines technical depth with leadership insight. Her awards include being named one of “100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining” and receiving the SCI Canada Kalev Pugi Award, highlighting her commitment to equity and innovation in engineering.

Register for This Workshop
Add this workshop to your calendar using the “Add to Calendar” link below. (That does not register you for the workshop. Use the above link to register.)
This workshop counts toward the requirements for GradEL’s Graduate Certificate in Technical Leadership.

ASML Info Session
2025-10-21 17:30 - 18:30
GradEL will participate in ASML’s info session about available opportunities related to leadership in technical environments.

From Apple to OpenAI: Leading the Development of Transformational Products
2025-10-16 17:00 - 18:00
TLC Distinguished Speaker Series
Fireside chat with: Tang Tan, OpenAI Chief Hardware Officer, former Apple VP of iPhone Product Design, and MIT Course 2 alum
Reserve your seat

The Science of Charisma: First Impressions
2025-10-03 10:00 - 12:00 | Room 5-234, 55 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Location: Meet at Room 5-234 (Workshop will take place in Rooms 5-134 and 5-234.)
You only get one chance to make the right first impression. Within a few seconds, people judge your level of intelligence, trustworthiness, friendliness and social success. This happens in an instant, yet can impact the way you’re perceived from then on. How can you make sure you never miss, especially when the stakes are high?
This practical workshop will give you concrete tools to make great first impressions both online and IRL, using researched-based science on which actions are effective and why. (References and links to research papers will be shared at the end of the workshop.) You’ll learn exactly how to give a great handshake, avoid the common pitfalls of the “engineer voice profile”, emanate the body language of a good friend, and discover how to select and use the mic and signal-compression technologies of online calls properly.
Leaders:
Dr. Oliver Niebuhr is Associate Professor of Communication and Innovation at the University of Southern Denmark where he heads the Acoustics Lab in the Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. His research specializes in charismatic communication. Professor Niebuhr has authored more than 150 peer-reviewed publications over the course of 20 years of research and is Exec Secretary of the International Phonetic Association.
Olivia Fox Cabane is the bestselling author of The Charisma Myth, which has been translated into 36 languages. Previously Director of Innovative Leadership for Stanford StartX, she has lectured on charisma at Harvard, Yale, the Marine War College and the United Nations. Her clients include Deloitte, UBS, Google, Tiktok, and Airbnb.

Register for This Workshop
Add this workshop to your calendar using the “Add to Calendar” link below. (That does not register you for the workshop. Use the above link to register.)
This workshop counts toward the requirements for GradEL’s Graduate Certificate in Technical Leadership.

Apple + OpenAI Engineering Residency Info Session
2025-10-01 12:00 - 13:00
Join us for a virtual info session about our OpenAI Engineering Residency — a six-month, high-impact internship experience for MIT grad students.
OpenAI is specifically interested in grad students to join their hardware, product development, and AI/ML teams for this exclusive internship opportunity!
Special Guest: Tang Tan, Chief Hardware Officer of OpenAI and MIT alum. He and past GradEL Residents will be available to answer your questions.
Click here to register for virtual info session.
The GradEL Engineering Residency is a six-month, high-impact internship experience that allows students to put their classroom learning into practice as a team member at a leading company.
Participants not only gain valuable real-world on-the-job experience during their internship—they are also supported by supplemental learning programs and one-on-one coaching to help them learn and apply key engineering leadership capabilities in real time.

Northrop Grumman + GradEL Engineering Residency Info Session
2025-09-24 12:00 - 13:00
Join us for this virtual info session hosted by GradEL about our upcoming Northrop Grumman internship opportunities!
Click here to register for virtual info session.
The GradEL Engineering Residency is a six-month, high-impact internship experience that allows students to put their classroom learning into practice as a team member at a leading company.
Participants not only gain valuable real-world on-the-job experience during their internship—they are also supported by supplemental learning programs and one-on-one coaching to help them learn and apply key engineering leadership capabilities in real time.

Exploring Technical Leadership from Executive to Entrepreneur (Co-Hosted by MIT HEALS)
2025-09-17 17:00 - 19:00 | Room 32-155, 32 Vassar St., Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Location: Room 32-155
This workshop is co-hosted by MIT Health and Life Sciences Collaborative (MIT HEALS) which brings together researchers from all over the Institute to find new solutions to challenges in health care.
Explore what it takes to lead in engineering – from the boardroom to the startup garage.
In this interactive GradEL workshop, you’ll dive into the mindsets and skills that unite technically-minded executives and entrepreneurs alike: navigating uncertainty, leading cross-functional teams, and making tough decisions in the face of failure. Through real talk, reflection, and stories from a leader who’s done it all, you’ll uncover what kind of leader you want to become – and how to get there.
Leader:
Rahul Singhvi, Sc.D., MBA, and MIT Course 10 Alum is a globally recognized leader in the life sciences and biomanufacturing space, serving as Co‑Founder and CEO of National Resilience, Inc., where he led a high‑tech, end‑to‑end manufacturing platform for advanced medicines. Prior to his entrepreneurial endeavors, he held executive leadership roles as COO of Takeda’s Vaccine Business Unit and President & CEO of Novavax, where he transformed the company into a leading vaccine developer.
(Dinner is included with this workshop.)

Register for This Workshop
Add this workshop to your calendar using the “Add to Calendar” link below. (That does not register you for the workshop. Use the above link to register.)
This workshop counts toward the requirements for GradEL’s Graduate Certificate in Technical Leadership.

Apple + GradEL Engineering Residency Info Session
2025-09-16 12:00 - 13:00
Join us for this virtual info session hosted by GradEL about our upcoming Apple internship opportunities!
Click here to register for virtual info session.
The GradEL Engineering Residency is a six-month, high-impact internship experience that allows students to put their classroom learning into practice as a team member at a leading company.
Participants not only gain valuable real-world on-the-job experience during their internship—they are also supported by supplemental learning programs and one-on-one coaching to help them learn and apply key engineering leadership capabilities in real time.
