MIT School
of Architecture and
Planning
MIT Morningside
Academy for Design
THE
ANDREA CHEGUT
FELLOWSHIP
The Andrea Chegut Fellowship Fund has been established to offer financial support to female graduate students in the School of Architecture and Planning who are interested in applying design to solve complex problems and make a positive impact on the human environment.
This endowed fellowship honors the life and work of Dr. Andrea Chegut, research scientist and co-founder of the MIT Real Estate Innovation Lab and MITdesignX.
Who do we support?
The Andrea Chegut Fellowship is awarded once a year to a female graduate student in any department, lab or center of the MIT School of Architecture and Planning. Students must be enrolled full time at MIT during the Fall semester.
Applicants should demonstrate:
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a creative vision for the future
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an ability to set and achieve challenging goals
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an interdisciplinary approach to problem solving
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a strong will and passion to make an impact
What work do we support?
Areas of study could include, but are not limited to, design innovation, real estate technology, and entrepreneurship.
The fellowship funds can be used for a variety of projects such as research, prototyping, pilot testing and installations.
What the Andrea fellows have in common is they apply design and data to solve urgent and complex problems and aspire to make a positive impact.
The work of the fellows will be documented and archived on this site.
2024 Fellows
Adi
Kupershmidt
MCP 25
Exploring and implementing sharing economy principles in urban management.
Maysaa
Sati
MCP 25
Developing an innovative aid distribution framework that categorizes displaced populations based on their socioeconomic needs.
2023 Fellows
Smriti Bhaya
MCP 24
Developing technology and processes to provide rural Indian households with access to clean drinking water.
Purifyx Project
Claire Gorman
MCP / CSE 25
Environmental Intelligence: Research and Reflections on Large Language Models for Environmental Planning
Articles
Environmental Intelligence: Hello (AI-Assisted, Open-Source) World
This fellowship celebrates the life of Dr. Andrea Chegut and will inspire creative female innovators across the MIT School of Architecture and Planning. Andrea believed deeply in people, possibilities, creativity, and truth. She was a brilliant mind. She fought injustice, lifted people up and was a passionate catalyst for her students and their creative possibilities.
Cancer may have taken her life, but her memory and her legacy lives on. Andrea’s impactful work focused on the financial performance and economic outcomes of change in the built environment stemming from design, technology, and innovation. Her research identified product innovation with the aid of data science and machine learning techniques. Andrea used data science to inspire a sustainable, healthy, socially inclusive, and intelligent human environment.
May Andrea continue to inspire us forever.
Academic
positions
Education
2016–2022 Research Scientist, MIT Center for Real Estate
Co-Founder and Director, MIT Real Estate Innovation Lab
Co-Founder and Head of Research, MIT DesignX
2014–2016 Postdoctoral Research Associate, MIT
2013–2014 Postdoctoral Fellow, Maastricht University
2014–2016 Post-doctorate, MIT Center for Real Estate.
2009–2013 PhD Finance, Maastricht University
2008–2009 Msc. in Economics and Law, Utrecht University
2003–2004 Bsc. in Economics, College of Charleston,
2003–2003 Academic Exchange, Georgetown University.
1999–2003 BA. in Philosophy, College of Charleston