Sherene Aram has been Administrative Officer of MTL since 2015.
Sherene Aram receiving award from Dean of Engineering (and former MTL Director) Anantha Chandrakasan.
The MIT School of Engineering hosted its 18th annual Infinite Mile Awards ceremony on May 24 to recognize and reward members of the school’s administrative, support, service, and sponsored research staff whose work is of the highest caliber, and this year, MTL’s Sherene Aram is a recipient.
Sherene has graced MIT since 2003 and joined MTL as Administrative Officer (AO) in 2015. She has been an invaluable asset to our MTL administration during a time of unprecedented change. MTL is on its way to transfer its microfabrication facilities to MIT.nano and become “fabless.” This move is a gigantic opportunity for MIT but it also calls for considerable introspection for MTL.
As AO, Sherene has been extraordinarily creative and effective in managing day-to-day operations and also in charting a path for the future MTL. The day-to-day has been remarkably busy over the last three years. For example, Sherene has been guiding the launch of the careers of four junior faculty in EECS who have taken residence in MTL. Her support addresses all their needs in the areas of start-up funds, space, fiscal, mentorship, etc. Sherene also created an administrative structure for the Tec de Monterrey and MIT Nanotechnology Program and ushered the many visitors that this program has brought to MIT over the last few years. During her tenure with MTL, Sherene has worked tirelessly to optimize the use of our limited administrative resources most effectively benefitting the lab and the faculty and users while paying attention to the needs and the unique attributes of every one of our staff members.
From the very beginning of her tenure at MTL, Sherene has wholeheartedly supported the launch of the MIT.nano initiative in multiple ways, big and small. Sherene has contributed fundamental ideas and has been at the center of many discussions shaping the administrative and financial design for the transition of our MTL fab. A key aspect here was to develop an accurate financial model for MTL. This is important in and of itself to guide decision making in MTL but also to provide critical input toward the construction of a financial model for MIT.nano. She, too, has supported MIT.nano in the design of its administrative structure, the creation of an industrial consortium, and countless other needs.
Colleagues extol Sherene’s dedication and creativity when it comes to dealing with thorny administrative issues. They also praise her intelligence and wit. Sherene’s broad understanding of MIT and its culture and the respect that she enjoys across the campus is also seen as a tremendously valuable asset to MTL during these rapidly changing times.
View the Flickr photo gallary here.