MIT Sandbox Staff
Meet the Sandbox Team and Current Interns
Click on any team member to learn more about their experience and their role.
MIT Sandbox Team
Maria Yang
Faculty Director
Maria Yang is the Gail E. Kendall (1978) Professor of mechanical engineering, faculty director for academics in the MIT D-Lab, and founder and director of MIT’s Ideation Lab. In her role as associate dean of engineering, she is focused on bolstering undergraduate and graduate academic programming and contributing to strategic initiatives at the school and Institute levels such as design, improving student experiences, and advancing opportunities for faculty support and mentoring, work that she has already begun through past and present department and Institute appointments.
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Yang graduated from MIT with a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering (1991), after which she headed to Stanford University where she earned a master’s (1994) and PhD (2000) from the mechanical engineering department’s design division. She joined the MIT faculty in 2007.
Yang is an internationally recognized leader in design theory and design process, with a focus on the role of design representations. Her research considers early-stage processes used to create successful designs, from consumer products to complex, large-scale engineering systems. Yang has made significant advances in characterizing the relationship between design process and outcome. This work has been recognized by an NSF CAREER award, and in 2013, she was named an ASME Fellow in recognition of her engineering achievements.With a focus on teaching students how to uncover ways to improve design in the world around them, Yang created 2.00 Introduction to Design, and has taught a number of other undergraduate courses including 2.00B Toy Product Design and 2.009 Product Engineering Processes, and graduate courses 2.739/15.783 Product Design and Development, in collaboration with Sloan and the Rhode Island School of Design, and 2.729/EC.729 D-Lab: Design for Scale.
In recognition of her contributions to engineering education, Yang was named a 2017 MacVicar Faculty Fellow, in addition to being the recipient of multiple teaching awards including a 2016 Bose Award, the 2014 Ruth and Joel Spira Award, and a 2012 Earll M. Murman Award. She is the recipient of a 2014 ASEE Fred Merryfield Design Award, a 2014 Capers and Marion McDonald Mentoring Award, a 2013 ASME Design Theory and Methodology Best Paper Award, and a 2008 Robert N. Noyce Career Development Professorship.
From her days as an undergraduate to her role as a faculty member, Yang has made an indelible mark on the school of engineering and the Institute. In the department of mechanical engineering, she was the Faculty Ambassador to undergraduates until becoming Undergraduate Officer in the fall 2018. She served as mechanical engineering’s Area Head for Design and Manufacturing and was the co-organizer of the Rising Stars in Mechanical Engineering in 2018. She was a member of the extended committee for the New Engineering Educational Transformation (NEET) program, and a member of the Faculty Advisory Board for the Technical Leadership Program. She was the Chancellor’s Designated Representative for the Committee on Undergraduate Programs and was a member of the Corporation Joint Advisory Committee on Institute-Wide Affairs. She also recently co-chaired a cross-Institute faculty committee on the future of design at MIT, and currently serves on the faculty steering committee for the MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium.
Ian Waitz
Founding Faculty Director and Head of Faculty Advisory Board
Ian A. Waitz is the Vice Chancellor and Jerome C. Hunsaker Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has been on the faculty at MIT since 1991, serving as the department head of Aeronautics and Astronautics from 2008 to early 2011, and as dean of the School of Engineering from 2011 until June 2017.
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Waitz has made advances in gas turbine engines, fluid mechanics, combustion, and acoustics. The principal focus of his current work is on the modeling and evaluation of climate, the air-quality and noise impacts of aviation, and the assessment of technological, operational, and policy options for mitigating these impacts. He is the director of the Partnership for AiR Transportation Noise and Emissions Reduction (PARTNER), an FAA, NASA, DOD, EPA and Transport Canada-sponsored Center of Excellence with participants from a dozen universities and 50 industry and government organizations. In addition to scholarly publications, Waitz has contributed to several influential policy documents and scientific assessments including a report to the US Congress on aviation and the environment. He holds three patents, and has consulted for many organizations. In 2003, Waitz received a NASA Turning Goals Into Reality Award for Noise Reduction, and in 2007 he was awarded the FAA Excellence in Aviation Research Award. He is a fellow of the AIAA, and an ASME and ASEE member.
Waitz teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in the fields of thermodynamics and energy conversion, propulsion, and experimental projects. He was honored with the 2002 MIT Class of 1960 Innovation in Education Award and an appointment as an MIT MacVicar Faculty Fellow in 2003.
Waitz received his BS in 1986 from the Pennsylvania State University, his MS in 1988 from George Washington University and his PhD in 1991 from the California Institute of Technology.
Jinane Abounadi (Pronouns: she/her)
Executive Director
Jinane Abounadi is Executive Director of the MIT Sandbox Innovation Fund Program. She brings a unique combination of experiences, from academic research to senior operational and strategic roles in start-up companies and large businesses. As the founding Executive Director, she has built MIT Sandbox into a leading student entrepreneurship program, funding over 500 student ideas per year and supporting over 1,000 aspiring entrepreneurs per year. Since the launch in 2016, MIT Sandbox has supported the launch of numerous successful and highly innovative startups. Jinane was recently honored with the 2021 Monosson Award for Entrepreneurial Mentorship for her leadership in supporting entrepreneurship at MIT, and the Underscore VC 2021 Core Award for her contributions to Boston's academic entrepreneurial ecosystem and her leadership in empowering the next generation of student founders.
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Prior to MIT Sandbox, Jinane held leadership roles in two of the most successful local Boston area start-ups, ITA Software and Kayak, where she gained deep knowledge about the travel technology sector. Most recently, she ran a global portfolio of 3rd party products for Travelport, giving her the opportunity to establish partnerships with companies across the globe and to advise and evaluate a number of start-ups in the travel sector. She earned her PhD in electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, a BS in electrical engineering from Caltech, and a BA from Bryn Mawr College. She has several publications in the fields of machine learning and communication networks and is passionate about teaching and working with college students.
Marwan Hassoun (Pronouns: he/him)
Director of Partnerships
Marwan is the Director of Partnerships and has been a mentor with Sandbox since 2016. He is responsible for assisting UM6P in launching the Sandbox sister program (Explorer) in Morocco that is developed in collaboration with Sandbox. His responsibilities include the outreach of the program beyond the boundaries of MIT to provide wider opportunities for the MIT students internationally.
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Marwan has over 30 years of high-tech industrial, academic, intellectual property, entrepreneurship, and innovation Experience. He has founded, co-founded, launched and managed multiple technology startups over the last 22 years (VC and privately funded) and has been involved in successful exist strategies with several of them and has been involved on both sides of mergers and acquisitions. He was involved in funding research at several universities. Marwan has served as a faculty member in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at both Iowa State University and Tufts University and has served as an external advisor for PhD students at the University of Texas at Austin.
Marwan earned his BS from South Dakota State University and his MS and PhD from Purdue University all in Electrical Engineering. He is a named inventor on 50+ US and international patents and has been focused on advising technology companies, especially startups, and law firms on technology and IP strategies including methodologies for maximizing the return on investment of their intellectual property, patents and trade secrets.
Ira Hochman (Pronouns: he/him)
Director of Strategic Initiatives & Operations
As the Director of Operations and Strategy for MIT Sandbox, Ira leads the design and implementation of the critical systems and processes that support Sandbox’s tactical and strategic goals.
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He collaborates with both internal and external stakeholders to extend Sandbox’s current systems and support the program’s growth, facilitates visioning of Sandbox’s future, and architects the organizational structures, systems and staff development needed to fulfill that vision.
Seckin Ozdamar-Tasan (Pronouns: she/her)
Program Administrator
As the Program Administrator of MIT Sandbox, Seckin manages the multi-cohort Sandbox application and review process, and evaluates program effectives to provide input for strategic planning and operations. She works with Sandbox teams and mentors to ensure the effective functioning of the program.
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Her interest in the interplay between education and entrepreneurship originally stems from her graduate research on collective memory formation prior to MIT Sandbox; and her experiences in three different universities in Netherlands and Turkey studying Urban & Environmental Sciences, and Political Science. Seckin enjoys running, graphic novels, vinyl records and drawing.
Debby Sommer (Pronouns: she/her)
Financial Assistant
As the Financial Assistant for MIT Sandbox, Debby is responsible for the stewardship of team financial resources and Sandbox office expenses in compliance with the financial policies and procedures of both the Office of the Vice President of Finance and the Sandbox program.
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Debby has a background in higher-ed administration and developmental editing. Prior to joining MIT, she worked for seven years at Simmons University, and 15 years Pearson Education.
Debby earned an MAT in Secondary Mathematics Education at Boston University, and a BA in medieval history from Brandeis University. In her free time she enjoys canning, crocheting, and reading speculative fiction.
Vyda Bielkus (Pronouns: she/her)
Director of the DHIVE Healthcare Entrepreneurship Program
At MIT Sandbox, Vyda Bielkus is an Entrepreneur in Residence and Director of the DHIVE Healthcare Entrepreneurship Program. She oversees all aspects of DHIVE program development and facilitates partnership opportunities.
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Vyda is a seasoned entrepreneur with 20+ years’ experience scaling startups from idea to fully multi-dimensional operations. With previous experiences in early-stage healthcare, technology, and wellness companies she is passionate about fostering entrepreneurship. As VP of Strategy and Business Development at MedicaMetrix, a prostate health startup, she focused on developing a new biomarker test for prostate cancer. Previously Vyda was a co-founder and CEO of Health Yoga Life, a multi-location and online yoga & wellness company. Prior to helping shape the yoga industry in the US, she was an early employee and director of operations for a successful technology startup acquired by Motorola for $400 million. Her most recent start-up, Wellfulli, reimagines how individuals engage with their emotional wellness. Vyda holds a Master of Business Administration degree with an additional Healthcare Certificate from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a BA in Economics from Wellesley College.
Current Interns
Teagan Allen (Pronouns: she/her)
Communications and Program Intern