Alumni News Briefs
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Poppen selected for Midwest League All-Star GameSean Poppen, A.B. ’16, (engineering sciences), a starting pitcher for the minor league Cedar Rapids Kernals, was selected for the Midwest League All-Star Game, played on June 20 at Dow Diamond in Midland, Mich.
Poppen, who pursued a double-concentration in chemistry and physics, was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the 19th round of last year’s Major League Baseball draft. The Kernals, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, are a Class A minor league baseball team, affiliated with the Twins.
A four-year starting pitcher for the Harvard Crimson, right-handed Poppen finished the first-half of this season with a 5-1 record and a 2.80 earned run average in 12 starts for the Kernals. He has allowed just 63 hits in 74 innings.
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Startup co-founded by Frangakis featured in ForbesMira, a tech startup startup co-founded by Gabriel Frangakis, A.B. ’13 (applied mathematics), has been featured in Forbes.
The startup, which Frangakis co-founded in 2014 with his brother, Jon, uses targeted digital out-of-home technology to deliver crowd analytics in real-time. Frangakis currently serves as chief technology officer at Mira.
The Forbes article, featuring an interview with Jon Frangakis, highlights the vision behind the company, rethinking digital ads, and the future of behavioral marketing.
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Xie receives Outstanding Young Engineering Award from IEEE PESLe Xie, S.M. ’05 (engineering sciences), has been awarded the 2017 Outstanding Young Engineering Award from the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Power & Energy Society (PES) for his contributions to power systems analytics and leadership in big data.
Xie, Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University, received a $2,000 scholarship, a plaque, and a travel stipend of up to $1,000 to attend the PES meeting and awards ceremony, which will be held in July in Chicago.
He joined the Texas A&M faculty in 2010 and currently focuses his research on modeling and control of large-scale complex systems, smart grid applications in support of renewable energy integration, and electricity markets
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Hyten addresses seniors at ROTC Commissioning CeremonyGen. John Hyten, A.B. ’81 (engineering and applied sciences), recently addressed six graduating seniors at Harvard University’s ROTC Commissioning Ceremony.
Hyten, who participated in Air Force ROTC before his graduation, initially planned to serve his four-year obligation and then leave the Air Force. Now, three decades later, he is Commander of U.S. Strategic Command, encompassing nuclear, cyber space, electronic warfare, missile defense, and other forces.
He told the newly commissioned officers, “Leadership is a gift, freely given by those who follow. You have to be worthy.”
During the ceremony, SEAS alumni Kira Headrick, S.B. ’17, mechanical engineering, and John Holland, S.B. ’17, mechanical engineering, were inducted into the Air Force and Navy, respectively.
Read more in the Harvard Gazette.
Photo by Stephanie Mitchell, Harvard Staff Photographer
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Ku featured in National GeographicKathy Ku, S.M. ’14 (engineering sciences), was featured in a National Geographic article about her work at SPOUTS of Water, the social enterprise she co-founded in Uganda. Click here to read the SEAS Alumni Profile story on Ku.
Ku, who earned a bachelor’s degree in molecular and cellular biology at Harvard before pursuing her master’s degree, discussed the challenges she and co-founder John Kye faced after they launched the startup in 2011. Today, SPOUTS of Water produces about 2,000 low-cost, clay water filters each month, which help impoverished Ugandan families access clean drinking water.