Polina Anikeeva received her BS in Physics from St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University in 2003. After graduation, she spent a year at the Los Alamos National Lab where she developed photovoltaic cells based on quantum dots. In 2004 she enrolled in a PhD program in Materials Science at MIT and graduated in 2009 with her thesis dedicated to the design of light emitting devices based on organic materials and nanoparticles. She completed her postdoctoral training in neuroscience at Stanford University, where she created devices for optical stimulation and electrical recording from neural circuits. Polina joined the faculty of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT in July 2011, where she is now a Class of 1942 career development associate professor. Her lab focuses on the development of flexible and minimally invasive materials and devices for neural recording, stimulation and repair. Polina is also a recipient of NSF CAREER Award, DARPA Young Faculty Award, Dresselhaus Fund Award, and the Technology Review TR35 among others. If you would like to learn more about Prof. Anikeeva’s research interests, take a look at her talk at TEDx Cambridge.

Caroline Ross is Toyota Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She received her undergraduate and PhD degrees from Cambridge University, UK, was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard, and worked at Komag, a hard disk company, before joining MIT. Prof. Ross studies the magnetic properties of thin films and nanostructures for data storage and logic applications, and methods for creating nanoscale structures based on directed self-assembly and lithography.

Jessica Sandland is a Lecturer in the Department of Material Science and Engineering and an MITx Digital Learning Scientist. Jessica leads online learning initiatives in DMSE, creating MOOCs and designing blended courses for MIT students. She has coordinated the development of a wide variety of DMSE’s online courses.