Making Tech Reunions memories

A packed weekend brings together alumni spanning eight decades.

Aug 21, 2019

The number of brass rats on campus skyrocketed June 6–9 as more than 2,000 alumni—along with their guests, totaling some 3,600 attendees—arrived in Cambridge for the biggest alumni party of the year. Throughout the weekend of Tech Reunions 2019, alumni enjoyed revisiting the campus, learning from MIT faculty and fellow graduates of the Institute, connecting with old friends at class events, and dancing the night away at Toast to Tech.

Friday, 10:03 a.m. The procession of 50th-reunion attendees is led down Memorial Drive toward commencement in Killian Court by marshals Bruce N. Anderson ’69, MArch ’73, and former MITAA president Linda Sharpe ’69, both past members of the MIT Corporation.
Friday, 8:45 p.m. Retired astronaut Cady Coleman ’83 narrates a special performance of the new musical work From the Earth to the Moon and Beyond for an all-MIT Symphony Hall crowd at Tech Night at Pops.
Friday, 10:47 p.m. A full day is capped off by hanging out with friends at the Pops Encore after-party in a festively lit tent on Kresge Oval.
Saturday, 11:28 a.m. Technology Day faculty speakers on climate change include Valerie Karplus, SM ’08, PhD ’11; Janelle Knox-Hayes, Lister Brothers Associate Professor of Economic Geography and Planning; and VP for research Maria Zuber, E. Griswold Professor of Geophysics.
Saturday, 12:37 p.m. Young guests, with Julia Zimmerman Sharpe ’09, experiment with smoke rings at the family maker fair at the Kresge Barbecue Pits.
Saturday, 1:45 p.m.Following the Tech Day program, alumni gather to celebrate class giving. There to represent the 75th-reunion class is Edwin G. Roos ’44 (pictured with President L. Rafael Reif and his wife, Christine).
Saturday, 7:38 p.m.Classmates catch up at the 40th-reunion dinner in the Brain and Cognitive Sciences building. Pictured: Lisa Egbounu-Davis ’79 and Burtel Batson ’79, SM ’80.
Saturday, 7:54 p.m.On the top floor of the MIT Media Lab, the Class of 1994 celebrates its quarter-century reunion against sunset-lit views of Boston and Cambridge.
Saturday, 10:48 p.m. At Toast to Tech, partiers take a break from dancing to the live band in Johnson Athletic Center and grab a treat from the cupcake conveyor belt.
Story photos by Melody ko; dominick reuter; ken Richardson
Sunday, 8:32 a.m.Eight boats filled with alumni, most veterans of MIT Crew, take to the Charles River for Reunion Row, a Tech Reunions tradition in its third decade.