The Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) hosted their fifth annual Patrons Circle Dinner on April 11, 2019, bringing together EAPS fellowship donors with their student fellows and members of the faculty for an evening of friendship, inspiration, and thanks. EAPS Patrons Chair Neil Rasmussen ’76, SM ’80 concluded the evening making a case for the value of basic research and its importance for public enlightenment about the urgent issues of today, and how science can be used to help the human condition. “If we are going to be good stewards of our planet, we are clearly going to need important advancements in understanding urgent issues like climate change and the health of our oceans,” said Rasmussen. “But science and technology themselves make nothing happen. People make things happen.”
To learn more about the EAPS Patrons Circle, contact Angela Ellis at aellis@mit.edu.

  • Neil Rasmussen (center), chair of the EAPS Patrons Circle, meeting this year’s Norman
    C. Rasmussen Fellows Kasturi Shah (left) and Lesly Franco (right), who are both students
    of atmospheric chemistry and climate. The fellowships are named in honor of Neil’s late
    father who was a professor of nuclear engineering at MIT from 1958 to 2003.
    Photos: Vicki McKenna
  • Tajana Schneiderman, the inaugural James L. Elliot Fellow, spoke about her path to EAPS,
    noting the positive influence of role models like her mother, pictured in the background with Schneiderman and sister on the day she received her PhD. Photos: Vicki McKenna
  • Cassandra Seltzer, M. Nafi Toksöz Fellow, presents her geophysics research to EAPS Patrons. Photos: Vicki McKenna