MIT Professors John Ochsendorf and Maria Yang Receive IDSA Special Achievement Award

HERNDON, VA – The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) is proud to present the Special Achievement Award to Professors John Ochsendorf and Maria Yang of the MIT Morningside Academy for Design, recognizing their outstanding leadership in advancing the integration of design, engineering, and innovation in education and practice.

John Ochsendorf

John Ochsendorf is an engineer, educator, and designer who has served on the MIT faculty since 2002, where he is the Class of 1942 Professor of Architecture and Civil and Environmental Engineering. Trained at Cornell, Princeton, and Cambridge, Ochsendorf and his students are known for groundbreaking research and creative work at the intersection of structural engineering and architecture.

His design portfolio includes the Mapungubwe Interpretive Centre in South Africa, the Sean Collier Memorial at MIT, exhibitions at the Venice Biennale, and collaborations with leading artists and architects around the world.

Ochsendorf was named the founding director of the MIT Morningside Academy for Design in 2022 and previously served as director of the American Academy in Rome (2017–2020). His achievements have been recognized through a Fulbright Fellowship to Spain, a Rome Prize, and a MacArthur Fellowship, among numerous other honors.

Maria Yang

Maria Yang is interim dean of engineering and the William E. Leonhard (1940) Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. Her research and teaching focus on product design and development, particularly early-stage processes that drive innovation and create systems to better serve society.

She is the faculty director for MIT D-Lab, which addresses global poverty through participatory design with local communities, and associate director of the Morningside Academy for Design.

A Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Yang has received the NSF CAREER Award and the ASEE Merryfield Design Award for excellence in engineering education. She earned her S.B. from MIT and M.S. and Ph.D. from Stanford University, all in mechanical engineering, and previously served as director of design at Reactivity, a Silicon Valley startup now part of Cisco Systems.

“Professors Ochsendorf and Yang exemplify the power of design to shape a more innovative and inclusive future,” said Donte Shannon, CEO, IDSA. “Their leadership at MIT has created new models for interdisciplinary education and global impact, inspiring generations of designers and engineers.”