Analia Barrantes holds a master’s degree in physics from the University of Buenos Aires and a PhD in civil and environmental engineering from MIT in the field of fluid dynamics. Since 2008, she has been teaching ES.801 (Physics I) and ES.802 (Physics II) at ESG and has collaborated with the MIT physics department to develop pedagogical materials for first–year students, including contributions to MITx and the MIT Open Learning Library. Her academic interests focus on improving physics education and studying how students learn most effectively. Outside the classroom, Analia enjoys exploring the outdoors and traveling.

Jonathan Bloom is a most curious mathematician and teacher. Jon grew up in Michigan and studied math at Harvard (BA) and Columbia (PhD). As an MIT C.L.E. Moore Instructor and a National Science Foundation (NSF) postdoctoral fellow, he proved theorems about 3- and 4-dimensional shapes. Jon’s experience redeveloping 18.05 (Probability and Statistics) kicked off a quest into computational biology and machine learning. As an Institute Scientist at the Broad Institute, he developed open-source software to learn from massive genomic datasets and organized the community Models, Inference & Algorithms. At the biotech startup Cellarity, he led a team of computational scientists to design single-cell experiments and algorithms to advance drug discovery. Jon returned to MIT in 2023 to geek out at ESG, build on 18.05, and ponder topology. He bikes in from Arlington, where he plays soccer and Taylor Swift with his daughters.

Patti Christie has been teaching full–time at ESG since 1999, after completing her PhD in MIT’s chemistry department (1996) and a postdoctoral fellowship in the biology department. She is also known around MIT as the course manager for 5.111 and 5.112 (Principles of Chemical Science) in the chemistry department and for teaching Chem Patti in Interphase Edge in the OME. Patti has also been developing video resources for EdX (5.01X–General Chemistry I and 5.02X–General Chemistry II), the chemistry department, and ESG. While at ESG, Patti has developed many seminars, with the two most popular being “Kitchen Chemistry” and “Chemistry of Sports.” Patti also helps train the undergraduate instructors with the “ESG Teaching Seminar” every fall. She has participated in the MIT–SUTD collaboration by writing and implementing the chemistry/biology courses in Singapore. Patti has a passion for her family, cooking, traveling, and attempting to keep up a fitness lifestyle.

Dave Custer has been teaching hands–on, interdisciplinary subjects at ESG since he was a student in the program, over 40 years ago. After graduation, he spent a few years as an electrical engineer before returning to teach at MIT. He is also a long–standing lecturer in WRAP, the Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication unit of MIT’s Comparative Media Studies and Writing program, where he teaches communication, primarily in the mechanical and electrical engineering Communication Intensive in the Major classes. In 2002, he was a recipient of an MIT Excellence award. In 2013, he received the James A. and Ruth Levitan Award for Excellence in Teaching in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. He is a member and former president of the UIAA Safety Commission, the global standards organization for climbing and mountaineering equipment. Dave spends his free time in the vertical world.

Arthur completed his PhD in physics at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City, where he also was an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship recipient in mathematics. He then left the Big Apple to hold postdoctoral positions in mathematics, physics, and informatics at the University of Connecticut, the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques in France, and Nagoya University in Japan, respectively. Arthur’s research is centered around the notion of time in quantum physics, specifically Bayesian inference and causality. Besides research, he also creates educational video lectures and enjoys making advanced topics in mathematics and physics more accessible. Outside of work, Arthur paints, cooks, hikes, rock climbs, and eats pizza.

Lee Perlman earned his BA from St. John’s College (Annapolis) and then pursued graduate work in philosophy at the Catholic University of America. He completed an MA in political philosophy at Georgetown University. Before earning his PhD at MIT, Lee spent eight years working in the political arena as a public interest lobbyist and political organizer. In 1978, Baltimore Magazine named him “the most feared lobbyist in Maryland.” He has taught at Harvard University, Brown University, Swarthmore College, Phillips Academy (Andover), and, for over 30 years, at MIT. Lee considers himself to be primarily an educator, and prides himself on designing and teaching courses that teach what he calls “philosophical life skills.” Among these are his courses ES.112 (Philosophy of Love) and ES.114 (Non-Violence as a Way of Life), as well as the seminar “Authenticity.” Lee has been awarded the Irwin Sizer Award for Most Significant Improvement to MIT Education three times (1997, 2015, and 2019). He was also awarded MIT’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Award in 2018. Lee is a composer and musician, and the music director of the Deborah Abel Dance Company, which has toured in the United States, Mexico, and India.

Paola Rebusco was born in Italy, near Lake Garda. She earned her master’s degree in theoretical physics from the University of Trieste (Italy) in 2003. Paola received her PhD in astronomy from the Ludwig–Maximilians–Universität (Munich, Germany) and the International Max Planck Research School on Astrophysics in 2007. She then crossed the Atlantic and spent three years as a postdoctoral Pappalardo Fellow in Physics at MIT. Paola is interested not only in teaching and theoretical astrophysics but also in how specialized knowledge is made publicly accessible. In addition to being the European Southern Observatory Network representative in the United States, from time to time she collaborates with Italian teaching and outreach institutions. Paola loves traveling, sailing, martial arts, writing, reading, fixing/making things, and torturing a ukulele. To learn more about Paola, see her webpage and her blog for the ESG seminar “Speak Italian with Your Mouth Full.” 

Bettina McGimsey joined ESG in 2015. As the outreach and communications director, she works with students, alumni, and staff to build and enhance the ESG community, both socially and financially. She also serves as an ESG advisor and supervises ESG–PKG Center Fellows. With degrees in German literature from the University of Virginia (BA) and UMass/Amherst (MA) and an MBA from Simmons, Bettina has spent the bulk of her career helping organizations work in a healthy and positive way. She has two adult children with Michael Sortor ’84. In her free time, she loves to read, cook, bake, and walk—and someday she would like to get back to the study of literature and her own writing.

Graham Ramsay has been a member of the ESG community since 2002. In his role as associate director, Graham sees to all aspects of the program’s day–to–day and long–term functioning. In addition to his administrative roles, he serves as advisor each year to ESG first–year students. Within the program, he has developed and taught numerous humanities–based seminars, including “The Artist in the World,” “Blogging the ESG Experience,” and “Composing Your Life”; with ESG lecturer Dave Custer, he developed and co–taught “Production of Educational Videos.” In his MIT life outside of ESG, Graham taught numerous photography subjects from 1990 to 2012 at the MIT Student Art Association. His undergraduate studies at Boston University were in music composition and voice, and he studied in music programs at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute and at The Fontainebleau Schools of Music and Fine Arts in France. Outside of MIT, he has worked as a professional photographer, videographer, author, and musician. His photographs have appeared in national and international publications, including the The Atlantic Monthly, TIME, and Le Figaro (France). As a musician, he is a regularly commissioned composer whose works are performed worldwide. Two CDs of his compositions are available on the Albany Records label, including The Sacred Voice (2011) and Compendium (2013). He is the coauthor of A Creative Guide to Exploring Your Life with former ESG staff member Holly Sweet (Jessica Kingsley, 2009).

Professor Leigh Royden grew up in California, where she spent most of her time in the swimming pool. She studied physics at Harvard and then received her PhD from MIT in geology and geophysics. At Harvard she competed in crew, both in the single and the eight, winning the US women’s single sculls championships and, with the US National team, a silver medal in the eights in the world championships. Disheartened by the US boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games, Leigh returned to graduate school full–time. She survived a two–year postdoctoral appointment at Harvard and then returned to MIT, where she has been on the faculty ever since. She has a husband, three adult children, two horses, and a dog.

Carole Cafferty is a leader in the corrections field who has worked to equip people involved in the criminal legal system with the tools necessary to redefine their identity and reach their potential. Dedicated to promoting progressive and sustainable change, she has developed integrative programs to empower incarcerated people through therapeutic and educational opportunities, many of which have been replicated both within the United States and internationally. She has 30 years of experience working inside correctional facilities, most recently serving as superintendent of a carceral facility in Massachusetts.

Upon retirement from her career in corrections, Carole and Lee Perlman together launched The Educational Justice Institute (TEJI) at MIT in 2018, where she currently serves as co–director. TEJI is creating sustainable solutions to mass incarceration and social injustice through education and emerging technologies. In 2019, Carole was awarded the Irwin Sizer Award for the Most Significant Improvement to MIT Education at MIT. She is a graduate of Saint Anselm College (Honorary DHL May 2024) and holds a master’s degree in correctional administration from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where she teaches in the School of Criminology and Justice Studies, which presented her the school’s Adjunct Faculty of the Year Award in 2018. Carole believes, as Bryan Stevenson says, “each person is more than the worst thing they’ve ever done” and that to create systemic change, the corrections field must align itself with the ideals of redemption and restoration.

The Educational Justice Institute grew out of Lee Perlman’s dedication and passion to provide incarcerated men and women with the opportunity to obtain college degrees. Lee began teaching in prisons in 2012, through Boston University’s Prison Education Program. He founded the ESG Prison Education Program Prison Initiative in 2016, and cofounded TEJI with Carole Cafferty in 2018, with the support of ESG. Through the initiative, Lee teaches classes to both MIT and incarcerated students at minimum– to maximum–security Massachusetts Correctional Institutions. (For more information about Lee, see his bio under ESG Teaching Staff above.)