MIT-Japan’s Christine Pilcavage receives Thayer award

Christine Pilcavage, managing director of the MIT-Japan Program, received the John E. Thayer III Award. She is being recognized for creating MIT partnerships with Japanese corporations, startups, research institutions, and universities, and for connecting MIT students with internships and research opportunities in Japan. Through her work, she helps prepare students to serve as future “ambassadors” between the United States and Japan.
 
The Thayer Award honors the achievements of individuals, groups of individuals or organizations that have made outstanding contributions to the progress of the understanding and friendship between the people of the United States and Japan. A nominator described her as someone who “approaches challenges with determination,” and has “consistently ‘gone the extra mile’ for MIT Japan interns and for US-Japan relations.”
 
On her recent award, Pilcavage says, “Looking back on my career spanning the fields of education, public health and international development I see an AKAI ITO—a ‘red thread of fate’—sewing the tapestry of my passion in bridging the two countries that I love so much. This Thayer Award will further fuel and energize my work.”