M&T Building Update – Check out the latest renderings!

The M&T Program recently relocated to temporary space while our permanent location at 3537 Locust Walk undergoes a tremendous renovation. We’re very excited to share three of the latest renderings! Detailed interior renderings will not be available until fixtures and furniture are finalized.

Front exterior view:Exterior_South Entry View

Rear exterior view:Exterior_North West View

General, non-detailed interior view:

Long Section

More renderings to come as designs become finalized! Thank you to all who have helped us reach this amazing milestone within the M&T Program.

M&T 35th Fundraising – The Results Are In!

The following email was sent to the entire M&T alumni community on January 13, 2015 from the M&T 35th Anniversary Planning Committee. If you have any comments or questions feel free to email Jaime Davis at djaime@wharton.upenn.edu.

YOU DID IT! We set very high goals designed to ensure the M&T Program remains strong for the future and we are delighted to THANK YOU for your support (and if you haven’t yet participated, you still can – see below). Your rising to the challenge led to great results with just one remaining goal:

$13,531,752.20 raised – exceeding our goal!
215 First-Time M&T Donors – 65 more than our stretch goal unlocking the $300K challenge gift!
415 Total M&T Donors – also 65 more than our stretch goal!
157 donors of $5000 or more to be recognized on the Wall of Support in the new M&T building!
• A remodeled M&T building thanks to Larry Robbins, M&T ’92
• An endowed M&T chair thanks to a generous gift from an M&T alumnus
• Remaining Goal: Raise $67K left toward the $2M Dr. H Fund

It’s not too late to give to help us reach the final goal with a gift to the William F. Hamilton Director’s Fund. Ask if your company has a matching gift program to double or triple the size of your gift.

Some Background
The M&T Program gets NO FUNDING from either Wharton or SEAS to run its operations and support its students. That means virtually 100% of the M&T budget is from DONORS LIKE US who make direct donations to the M&T Program.

Contact
If you are interested in specific named giving opportunities, such as endowing summer internships for M&T students, naming a room in the new building, or supporting the new M&T Innovation Fund, contact Katie McCarthy at Penn’s Office of Development (215-898-9422). Please see www.mt35th.com for more information.

THANK YOU again for your tremendous support! M&T Alumni Are The BEST!!!!!!!!!!

Ken Glass, M&T 35th Chair
Allie Rogers, M&T 35th Fundraising Chair

M&T and Dr. Hamilton’s Legacy

The following email was sent to the entire M&T alumni community on December 16, 2014 from the M&T 35th Anniversary Planning Committee. If you have any comments or questions feel free to email Jaime Davis at djaime@wharton.upenn.edu.

Honor the legacy of Dr. Hamilton as he is retiring in June of 2015. To honor him, we’ve established the Hamilton Fund. The fund has a goal of $2MM to qualify as a fully funded endowment per Penn standards. We are very close to full funding but we need your help to cross the finish line and reward Dr. Hamilton for his years of service with this enduring legacy in his name. Please donate now, at any level.

Remember, any donation of $5,000 or more (as little as $1,000/year over five years) will receive individual recognition on the Wall of Support in the new M&T building.

Click here to fulfill your pledge:
https://giving.apps.upenn.edu/giving/jsp/fast.do?program=WHA&fund=403033.

Select “Make a Pledge” and fill in the appropriate information (e.g. “$5,000, bill me annually for five years, etc.).

Sincerely,
M&T 35th Anniversary Planning Committee

M&T 35th Challenge

The following email was sent to the entire M&T alumni community on December 10, 2014 from the M&T 35th Anniversary Planning Committee. If you have any comments or questions feel free to email Jaime Davis at djaime@wharton.upenn.edu.

We are almost over the finish line. Three generous alumni, Ken Glass, Doug Alexander, and Roland Van der Meer have committed an additional $300,0o0 in funding to the M&T Program but only if 150 first-time ever donors to the M&T Program make donations before December 31st, 2014. We need less than 30 newcomers to reach this goal. Help us cross the finish line and tap into this additional $300,000 gift. Please donate ANY amount today.

Don’t forget, any donation of $5,000 or more (as little as $1,000/year over five years) will receive individual recognition on the Wall of Support in the new building.

Click here to fulfill your pledge of $5,000 or more: https://giving.apps.upenn.edu/giving/jsp/fast.do?program=WHA&fund=403033. Select “Make a Pledge” and fill in the appropriate information (e.g. $5,000, bill me annually for 5 years‚ etc.).

Sincerely,
M&T 35th Anniversary Planning Committee

35th Anniversary Event: Announcing Kunal Bahl (M&T ’06) as Guest Speaker!

photo courtesy of Snapdeal

photo courtesy of Snapdeal

Thinking about starting a company? Who better to learn from than M&T alumnus Kunal Bahl (’06), co-founder and CEO of Snapdeal.com. We’re thrilled to announce that Kunal will be speaking during the M&T 35th’s lunch session on Saturday, November 8th about the journey an entrepreneur takes to set up a company.

In February 2010 Kunal, along with Rohit Bansal, started Snapdeal.com, India’s largest online marketplace, with the mission to create life-changing experiences by connecting buyers to sellers of millions of products from thousands of national, international, and regional brands. With over 25 million members and 50,000 sellers, Snapdeal.com is the shopping destination for internet users across the country, delivering to 5,000+ cities and towns in India. In its journey until now, Snapdeal has partnered with several global marquee investors such as BlackRock, Temasek, eBay Inc., Premji Invest, Intel Capital, and Bessemer Venture Partners, among others.

Kunal holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School and a Bachelor of Applied Science from Penn Engineering. Kunal serves on Unilever’s Global Digital Advisory Board and the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs. He is also featured on Fortune’s 2014 Global 40 Under 40 list at number 25.

35th Anniversary Event: Announcing Dr. Vijay Kumar as Guest Speaker!

Dr. Vijay KumarPrintable robots, flying quadrotors, and micro aerial vehicles. These are some of the cutting-edge technologies you might learn about when chatting with Penn Engineering Professor Vijay Kumar. We are excited to announce that Vijay will be our final speaker at the 35th Anniversary celebration in November. Don’t miss it!

Vijay Kumar is the UPS Foundation Professor in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his Bachelors of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and his Ph.D. from The Ohio State University in 1987. He has been on the Faculty in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics with a secondary appointment in the Department of Computer and Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania since 1987. He was the Assistant Director for Robotics and Cyber Physical Systems at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy from 2012-2014.

Dr. Kumar served as the Deputy Dean for Research in the School of Engineering and Applied Science from 2000-2004. He directed the GRASP Laboratory, a multidisciplinary robotics and perception laboratory, from 1998-2004. He was the Chairman of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics from 2005-2008 and the Deputy Dean for Education in the School of Engineering and Applied Science from 2008-2012.

Dr. Kumar is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (2003), a Fellow of the Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (2005) and a member of the National Academy of Engineering (2013).

Dr. Kumar’s research interests are in robotics, specifically multi-robot systems, and micro aerial vehicles. He has served on the editorial boards of the IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering, ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, the ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics and the Springer Tract in Advanced Robotics (STAR). He is the recipient of the 1991 National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator award, the 1996 Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching (University of Pennsylvania), the 1997 Freudenstein Award for significant accomplishments in mechanisms and robotics, the 2012 ASME Mechanisms and Robotics Award, the 2012 IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Distinguished Service Award and a 2012 World Technology Network Award. He has won best paper awards at DARS 2002, ICRA 2004, ICRA 2011, RSS 2011, and RSS 2013, and has advised doctoral students who have won Best Student Paper Awards at ICRA 2008, RSS 2009, and DARS 2010.

We look forward to his presentation during the 35th celebration!