Personal Development – Career Advising & Professional Development | MIT

March Career Exploration Opportunities

Qingqing Ouyang — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 16:27:41 +0000

March brings a range of career exploration opportunities designed to help you connect your interests with meaningful paths forward. From conversations with guest speakers and professionals across global development, anthropology, and energy policy to Fulbright information sessions and international fellowship exploration, these events offer chances to network, ask questions, and discover new possibilities for your future career.

Mon, Mar 2 | 6:00 PM
Infinite Careers — Amah Edoh: Founder of African Futures Lab
In-person, Ford Building (E19-202)

Thu, Mar 5 | 4:00 PM
Graduate Student Professional Development Resource Lounge
In-person, Rogers Building (7-103)

Tue, Mar 10 | 6:00 PM
International Development Career Social
In-person, MIT D-Lab (N51-265)

Tue, Mar 10 | 6:00 PM
Infinite Careers — Kali Benavides, Senior Analyst at National Grid
In-person, Ford Building (E19-202)

Wed, Mar 11 | 2:00 PM
Fulbright In-Person Information Session
In-person, Maclaurin Buildings (4-153)

Thu, Mar 12 | 4:00 PM
Graduate Student Professional Development Resource Lounge
In-person, Rogers Building (7-103)

Fri, Mar 13 | 1:00 PM
Physician Lunch & Learn with Dr. John Leung — Boston Specialist Clinic
In-person, Rogers Building (7-103)

Wed, Mar 18 | 1:00 PM
Explore Fulbright: Norway
In-person, Rogers Building (7-103)

Thu, Mar 19 | 4:00 PM
Graduate Student Professional Development Resource Lounge
In-person, Rogers Building (7-103)

Career Exploration Bingo + Networking

Handshake #Event:1913099 — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 12:12:43 +0000

Turn career exploration into a fun game and enjoy cookies! In this interactive session, we complete a bingo card, each square prompting exploration, reflection, and connection—of career resources, school, work culture, or skills. By the end, you’ll leave with new connections, practical insights, and a clearer sense of what paths are worth exploring next.This CAPD event is open to MIT undergraduates.Please indicate any accommodation needs by completing the following survey: https://airtable.com/shrfsjcovcoDIN0daNote: Accommodation requests should be submitted one week in advance of an event. If accommodations are not possible due to the late timing of the request, a team member will reach out to you to discuss alternative resources and/or solutions.

February Career Exploration Events

Qingqing Ouyang — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 23:01:13 +0000

Valentine’s Day isn’t just about romance—it’s also a great excuse to invest a little love in your future. This February, CAPD’s Career Exploration events are here to help you explore new paths, meet inspiring professionals, and spark ideas that might just turn into long-term commitments. Whether you’re curious about studying abroad, unconventional career routes, or hands-on industry insights, consider this your sign to swipe right on what’s next.

Thu, Feb 12 | 2:00 PM
Fulbright Virtual Information Session (Virtual)

Wed, Feb 18 | 1:30 PM
Careers in Patent Law for PhDs & Postdocs
In-person, E19-202 (Ford Building)

Mon, Feb 23 | 12:00 PM
Physician Lunch & Learn with Dr. Lucy Shen
In-person, Rogers Building (7)

Mon, Feb 23 | 5:00 PM
Legal Career Options for STEM Students
In-person, Maclaurin Buildings (4)

Tue, Feb 24 | 6:00 PM
Infinite Careers: Francesca DeMeo — Research Scientist at MIT & CEO of NoStove, Inc.
In-person, location TBD

*not on flyer

Wed, Feb 25 | 1:00 PM
Explore Fulbright: Turkey (Türkiye)
In-person, Rogers Building (7)

Fri, Feb 27 | 10:00 AM
How to Succeed in Your Squiggly Career
In-person, Maclaurin Buildings (10)

Fri, Feb 27 | 2:00 PM
Coffee Chats with Alpha AI Engineering (For 1st & 2nd Years)
In-person

Infinite Careers – Francesca DeMeo – Research Scientist at MIT & CEO of NoStove, Inc.

Handshake #Event:1908431 — Sun, 08 Feb 2026 12:11:50 +0000

Join us for dinner with Francesca DeMeo! Come meet Francesca in person and enjoy a dinner while learning about her unique career bridging entrepreneurship and planetary science.Francesca is the CEO and Founder of NoStove, Inc., a platform helping people find the best local meal prep and meal delivery businesses to save time, eat healthier, and live better. Before founding NoStove, she co-founded Cambridge Select, where she served as CIO from 2011 to 2021. She led the company’s growth to over $30 million in annual revenue, becoming one of the largest footwear sellers on Amazon, and built the data systems managing product discovery, pricing, purchasing, and logistics at scale.Alongside her entrepreneurial career, Francesca is a Research Scientist at MIT, where her work focuses on asteroid surface compositions through spectroscopic measurements. Her research on the Bus-DeMeo asteroid taxonomy has earned over 500 citations, and her work on solar system evolution has been published in Nature. She has received prestigious honors including the DPS Urey Prize, NASA Hubble Fellowship, and Fulbright Scholarship, and has an asteroid named in her honor—Asteroid (8070) DeMeo.As an MIT alum, Francesca earned her Bachelor of Science degrees in Physics and Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, as well as her Master of Science. She also earned her PhD at the Paris Observatory and completed postdoctoral work at MIT. During her time at MIT, she was actively involved in asteroid spectroscopy research and competed on the MIT gymnastics team!Register in Handshake. Dinner will be served for the first 30 attendees. This CAPD event is open to MIT undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs, and alumni. Please indicate any accommodation needs by completing the following survey: https://airtable.com/shrfsjcovcoDIN0da.Note: Accommodation requests should be submitted one week in advance of an event. If accommodations are not possible due to the late timing of the request, a team member will reach out to you to discuss alternative resources and/or solutions.

Infinite Careers – Kali Benavides – Senior Analyst at National Grid

Handshake #Event:1908436 — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 12:11:51 +0000

Join us for dinner with Kali Benavides! Come meet Kali in person and enjoy a dinner while learning about her career in energy policy and environmental strategy.Kali is a Senior Analyst at National Grid, where she focuses on crafting strategies for energy-efficiency programs for commercial and industrial customers. With more than 10 years of experience in the energy sector, she is passionate about advancing solutions that drive positive environmental impact at the intersection of policy, technology, and strategy. Before joining National Grid, Kali worked at the U.S. Department of Energy ensuring compliance with grants under the Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains. She also worked at Charles River Associates as a project manager and held multiple roles at Chevron in environmental compliance.After six years in environmental compliance, Kali returned to MIT to learn more about how policy and regulation are shaped. The Technology and Policy Program provided the perfect blend of technical analysis and policy instruction, allowing her to pivot into energy policy roles while continuing on a technical path. As an MIT alum, Kali earned her Bachelor of Science in Chemical and Environmental Engineering in 2015 and her Master of Science in Energy Policy from the Technology and Policy Program in 2023. She values the unique nature of every career path and has found the MIT network invaluable in discovering new opportunities throughout her career.Register in Handshake. Dinner will be served for the first 30 attendees. This CAPD event is open to MIT undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs, and alumni. Please indicate any accommodation needs by completing the following survey: https://airtable.com/shrfsjcovcoDIN0da.Note: Accommodation requests should be submitted one week in advance of an event. If accommodations are not possible due to the late timing of the request, a team member will reach out to you to discuss alternative resources and/or solutions.

Distinguished Fellowships Information Session

Handshake #Event:1897182 — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 12:14:35 +0000

The Distinguished Fellowships team and MIT alumni will meet to share what fellowships and scholarships opportunities are available to students considering next steps after their time at MIT. Fellowships we support include the Rhodes, Marshall, Schwarzman, Knight-Hennessy, Gates, and many more. We will discuss the internal and external process for preparing to apply for fellowship, and will have members of the MIT community who can share their experiences pursuing, winning, and experiencing fellowships after their time at MIT.

This CAPD event is open to MIT juniors, seniors, graduate students, and alumni.

Please indicate any accommodation needs by completing the following survey: https://airtable.com/shrfsjcovcoDIN0da

Note: Accommodation requests should be submitted one week in advance of an event. If accommodations are not possible due to the late timing of the request, a team member will reach out to you to discuss alternative resources and/or solutions.

Professional Development Workshops with the hosts of the Squiggly Career Podcast

Tara Thakurta — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 23:09:38 +0000

Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis, hosts of The Squiggly Career, are coming to campus on Friday, February 27 to lead two workshops on professional development for graduate students. RSVP for one or both workshops!

How to succeed in your squiggly career

10 – 11:30am

Career ladders have been the default for development for far too long. But careers aren’t linear, and the world we’re working in is not as predictable as the ladder implies. Squiggly careers give people a new way to think about their development—one that reflects the reality of the world we work in and the individuality of the work we want to do. Read the full event description at the link or in the text below.

RSVP to “How to succeed in your squiggly career”

Learn like a lobster

1:30 – 3pm

We used to go to work to learn to do the job, and now learning is the job. In our ever-changing careers, we need a new way to learn that feels achievable for everybody, reflects our busy working reality, and feels motivating and useful to do. Enter the lobster…. Read the full event description at the link or in the text below.

RSVP to “Learn like a lobster”

Additionally, we have a unique opportunity for a small group to have lunch with Helen and Sarah from noon – 1pm for more personalized feedback and coaching (Sign up for the lunch)!

In these sessions, Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis will share practical tools for learning, growth, and navigating non-linear (“squiggly”) careers. Sessions include Learn like a lobster, focused on continuous, self-directed learning through challenge and change, and How to Succeed in your squiggly career, which explores key skills such as values, strengths, confidence, community, and career possibilities.

All attendees will receive a free copy of their new book, Learn Like a Lobster.

Attendees may RSVP for one or both workshops, with an additional opportunity for a small-group lunch and personalized coaching.

Helen and Sarah are the authors of the upcoming book Learn Like a Lobster, two Sunday Times bestsellers (The Squiggly Career and You Coach You), and hosts of the popular Squiggly Careers podcast. Their TEDx talk “The best career path isn’t always a straight line” has been watched by 2 million people and together they have worked with hundreds of organizations to develop the skills to succeed in today’s increasingly squiggly careers

Watch their TEDx talk below:

Session 1: Learn like a lobster

We used to go to work to learn to do the job, and now learning is the job.
In our ever-changing careers, we need a new way to learn that feels achievable for everybody, reflects our busy working reality, and feels motivating and useful to do. Enter the lobster….

Lobsters have three fascinating features that make them a brilliant role model for learning and growth:

Lobsters never stop growing.
In this session, we’ll teach you how to use experiments, questions, and data so that you can learn as you go.
Lobsters grow the most in their hard moments, when they shed their shell and experience vulnerability.
We all have shell-shedding moments, and we’ll help you turn these moments of feedback, failure, and challenge into opportunities for new learning.
Lobsters fuel their own growth by eating the shell they shed.
We’ll share simple ways to lead your own learning and be resourceful with your development, so you can create learning rather than wait for it to come to you.

Because when you learn, you grow.

Session 2: How to succeed in your squiggly career.

There are five skills that help people succeed in their squiggly career. In this session, best-selling authors Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis will share how:

Knowing your values—the things that motivate and drive you
Working with your strengths—the things that give you energy and that you want to be known for
Caging your confidence gremlins—the beliefs that hold you back
Developing a community—the people you can learn from and grow with
Exploring your possibilities—the ideas and options that expand your future choices

…can help you take ownership of your development and succeed in your career.

Learn more about Sarah and Helen

Listen to “The Squiggly Career” podcast

Save the date: Professional certificates for PhDs and postdocs

Lydia Huth — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 19:32:03 +0000

Professional Certificate programming for graduate students and postdocs has entered its 3rd year. These popular programs provide opportunities for participants to go a little deeper into grant writing and research mentoring, two important topics certain to play key roles in the careers of research trainees, regardless of their career destination. Past programs have seen high numbers of applicants and strong outcomes in terms of participant satisfaction and growth.

Opportunities to apply for the next round of certificate programs are approaching in the fall semester. Applications for the Grant Writing Training Certificate program open October 1 and close October 15. The Research Mentoring Certificate Program begins accepting applications on November 7 with a due date of November 25.

All MIT PhD students and postdocs are enthusiastically welcome to apply. For questions on the Research Mentoring Certificate please contact Elsie Otero, Assistant Director of Graduate Student Professional Development at eotero@mit.edu; for inquiries about the Grant Writing Training program, please email Amanda Cornwall, Associate Director of Graduate Student Professional Development at acorn5@mit.edu.

EVENT: Spilling the Tea on Leadership | 24 April 2025, 5pm

Lydia Huth — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 19:05:32 +0000

Thursday, April 24 | 5-6pm | On-campus

There’s something very special about the opportunity to hear directly from a leader about what her path to success was really like, how she learned to lead, and what has helped her to thrive. In this “Spilling the Tea” event, join an informal chat with MIT alumna Colleen Akehurst, who in her current leadership role serves as Chief Executive Officer at Sterilex. Don’t miss this chance to talk with an accomplished alumna mentor and ask her advice on leadership in graduate school and beyond.

Learn more about Colleen Akehurst on LinkedIn. This CAPD event is open to MIT graduate students.

‘Let’s Chat’ Is Here To Support Your Mental Health This School Year!

Tara Thakurta — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:12:28 +0000

Let’s Chat is a drop-in service that provides MIT graduate students with easy access to informal, free, confidential consultations with clinicians from MIT Health’s Student Mental Health & Counseling.

Next session is coming up on Sept 19!

Note: Let’s Chat isn’t formal counseling; If you are currently in distress or would like to connect with a clinician for mental health services, call Student Mental Health & Counseling at 617-253-4481, option 2 and ask to speak with a mental health clinician. Or call our 24-hour number for urgent concerns: 617-253-2916