EVENT DESCRIPTION
Join us for the launch of the Future of the City: Mobility event series, which presents how MIT alumni from design, business, and mobility fields are leading global efforts to create 21st-century models to transform both the city and transportation. The series will describe initiatives to solve the climate crisis, decarbonize the global economy, and create more equitable and sustainable urban ecosystems.
Keynote speaker Henry Ford III MBA ’10 will present Ford’s strategic initiatives to transform the company and its iconic product lines. Then Mary Culler, development director, Michigan Central Station, and Priyanka Shah SMArchS/MCP '08, Senior Associate, PAU, will present the design for Ford’s new mobility innovation district in Corktown, Detroit’s oldest neighborhood, intended to bring together entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, educators and companies to help solve real-world mobility challenges in a dynamic urban community.
Dr. Maria T. Zuber, Vice President for Research and E. A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics at MIT, will open with an overview of the Institute’s commitments and relevant programs and then moderate a Q+A between the audience and the speakers.
SPEAKERS
Henry Ford III MBA ‘10
Member, Board of Directors, Ford Motor Company
Henry Ford III was elected to the Ford Motor Company board of directors in May 2021. Ford was an employee of the company from 2006 to 2021. He currently serves on the Finance Committee and the Sustainability and Innovation Committee of the Board.
Ford is a member of the advisory boards of Henry Ford College, Bridging Communities, Operation HOPE and Southwest Solutions. He serves on the board of trustees of The Henry Ford Museum, the Ford Foundation, Neighborhood Villages and the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant.
Ford has a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College, and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Mary Culler
Development Director, Michigan Central Station
Mary Culler is the development director for Ford’s Michigan Central Station project, overseeing the strategic direction of the historic train station redevelopment. She is also president of Ford Fund, the company’s philanthropic arm, and Chief of Staff, Office of the Executive Chair, reporting to Bill Ford, with responsibility for advancing strategic priorities and shaping internal and external engagement in areas such as sustainability, smart mobility, autonomous driving and corporate citizenship.
Culler holds a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University and a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University. She lives in Birmingham, Michigan, with her husband and their three children.
Priyanka Shah SMArchS MCP ‘08
Senior Associate at Practice for Architecture and Urbanism
Priyanka Shah is a graduate of Architecture and Urban planning program at MIT. (SMArchS, MCP 2008) As is a senior associate at Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU) she was part of the Corktown Master Planning and design team.
Prior to joining PAU she worked at practices in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Cambridge and New York, among them Leo Pereira, deCoi, Kohn Pedersen Fox and Grimshaw. Priyanka has been a winner in the International Berkeley Undergraduate Prize for Architectural Design Excellence. She is also a recipient of the Lawrence B. Anderson Award from MIT, and the Deborah J. Norden Grant from the Architectural League of New York.
MODERATOR
Maria Zuber
Vice President for Research and E. A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Maria Zuber is responsible for research administration and policy. She oversees MIT Lincoln Laboratory and numerous interdisciplinary research laboratories and centers. She also oversees Fast Forward, MIT’s Climate Action Plan for the Decade. Zuber is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. President Obama appointed Zuber to the National Science Board; she was reappointed by President Trump. In 2021, President-elect Biden named Zuber as co-chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).
ABOUT
This event series is produced by MIT Architecture Alumni (MITArchA) in collaboration with the MIT Club of Southeast Michigan, and the MIT Alumni/ae Energy, Environment, and Sustainability Network (EESN). For more information about Ford’s Michigan Central development, visit michigancentral.com.