Dan Darling: What is your role in BE and why are you excited about your work?

Mark Veligor: My role is a new one, Development Officer, and I’m tasked with increasing private, philanthropic support for the department (read: fundraising). I work closely with the central MIT fundraisers to promote BE initiatives with current prospects and foster new relationships with alumni, parents, and friends who are interested in supporting Biological Engineering. I’m excited because I get to share the stories borne out of some of the most cutting-­‐edge,  high-­‐impact  work being done on campus. Also, private support can often allow faculty to explore high-­‐risk, high-­‐reward  research  that  sponsored  research  won’t  touch,  so  it’s  really  fun  to enable that.

DD: Where are you from?

MV:  I  grew  up  on  the  North  Shore  of  Massachusetts  and  currently  live  in Shrewsbury, MA with my wife, newborn son, two dogs, and a cat.

DD: What do you like to do when outside of MIT?

MV: Prior to our newborn coming along, I played in an indie rock band -­‐   we released a few albums, did some weekend touring, and made a little splash on the local music scene. I still help a bit with their music production, but now my time is happily spent coaxing smiles from our three-­‐month-­‐old with funny faces.

To  learn  more  about  giving  opportunities  or  to  swap  playlists  with  Mark,  contact him at mveligor@mit.edu.