LFM’s Don Rosenfield family

bats 1.000 at MIT commencement

By Lois Slavin, Communications Director, MIT Leaders for Manufacturing Program – June 23, 2008

On June 6, 2008, Adam Rosenfield, the youngest child of LFM program director Don Rosenfield and his wife, Nancy, became the 5th member of the Rosenfield family to graduate from MIT.

Don Rosenfield's entire family has graduated from MIT. Left to right: Jennifer, SB biology, '96; Nancy SB math, '71; Adam SB computer science, SB math, '08; Don SB math, SM operations management and electrical engineering, all in '71; and Todd, SB mechanical engineering, '01. Photo: Donna Coveney, MIT News Office

With Adam’s graduation, the Rosenfield family is now five for five. In addition to Adam, who just received double degrees – an SB in Computer Science and an SB in Mathematics – both parents and his two siblings are MIT graduates too. This includes Don (SB mathematics and SM operations management and electrical engineering, all in 1971); Nancy (SB mathematics, 1971); Jennifer (SB biology, 1996); and Todd (SB mechanical engineering, 2001).

Don Rosenfield arrived at MIT as a freshman in 1965 and has been at the Institute in some capacity except for a nine-year stint in the ‘70’s. He is currently a senior lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management and director of the Leaders for Manufacturing Fellows Program "MIT has been a great place for the entire family,” says Don.

Nancy arrived in 1969 after transferring from Smith. "Given my interest in math and computer science, I decided that MIT was the perfect fit for me," she explains. It was, in more ways than one. While studying here, Nancy not only got her degree, she also met Don. They married in 1971, three weeks after graduation.

Nancy has worked in software development throughout her career and is now focusing in the area of web security.

Jennifer, Adam’s older sister, earned an MA in genetics from Harvard and a JD from Suffolk after graduating from MIT. She now works in biotech patent law. Todd, Adam’s older brother, also holds a JD, which he received in 2005 from the University of Pennsylvania. He currently works as a patent attorney in New York City.

And now there’s Adam. None of his family members were surprised when he applied to MIT.

“Like all of us, Adam has a passion for math. We had a ball watching him grow and develop academically,” says Nancy, noting that there are even home videos showing Adam as a toddler working at the computer.

During his public school years, Adam showed a strong interest in math and science. Adam placed eighth nationally in MathCounts, the middle school math competition. In high school, he was invited to participate in training camps for the United States math, computer science and physics national teams. As a junior in high school, he was a member of the second U.S team that competed in the international championships in computer science.

“MIT has such a fantastic reputation,” says Adam. “I never really looked hard at other schools because I was convinced there was no better place for me than MIT.”

Like the other members of his family, Adam was active in extracurricular activities at MIT. In addition to playing intramural soccer, ultimate Frisbee, and hockey, he earned a scuba diving certification. He was a member of the MIT ski team, bridge team, and the wind symphony. He was one of the top competitors in the BattleCode and Integration Bee competitions. He was invited to join Eta Kappa Nu, the national honor society for electrical engineering and computer science, and, most recently, he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

As an MIT undergraduate, Adam participated in several internships. During the summer after his sophomore year, Adam worked at Google in Mountain View, California. He notes that Google is an “amazing and fantastic place” because the engineers could attend daily tech talks that allowed them to “learn about the cool stuff underneath the hood,” and there were opportunities to experience a very special culture as well.

After his junior year, Adam interned as a programmer at Demiurge Studios, a video game software company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since his passion is in video game development, he plans to continue working there after graduation. As a long-term goal, Adam said he can see himself becoming a senior engineer at a video game company and perhaps eventually moving into a management role.