Parsons has announced that it has joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT’s) Industrial Liaison Program (ILP), a program dedicated to creating and strengthening mutually beneficial relationships between MIT and corporations worldwide. Parsons and MIT held an ILP kickoff meeting in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on June 26, 2017.
By participating in MIT’s ILP, Parsons’ three business units—Federal, led by Carey Smith; Infrastructure, led by Michael Johnson; and Middle East Africa, led by Gary Adams—will be able to monitor MIT research developments and emerging technologies, identify MIT resources of interest to the corporation, arrange and participate in expert face-to-face meetings with MIT faculty.
“Parsons understands that Smart City solutions require new partnerships between cities, research institutions, and implementation partners. Our participation in MIT’s Industrial Liaison Program is just one example of how we are tapping into emerging areas of thought to develop innovative solutions for urban infrastructure,” stated Chuck Harrington, Parsons’ chairman and CEO.
He added, “We are excited to be among the more than 200 companies participating in the Industrial Liaison Program. We see this as a continuation of our relationship with MIT and our commitment to innovation, research, and development.”
In March, Parsons and MIT’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering hosted the Infrastructure, Smart Cities, and Transportation Workshop. The day-long event brought together leadership representatives from Parsons and faculty, postdocs, and alumni from cross-cutting MIT programs to explore pressing issues faced by the engineering industry and by the world more broadly.
Parsons–MIT kickoff meeting participants included Gary Adams, Parsons Group president; Gibran Hadj-Chikh, Parsons’ director of innovative transport; Michael Johnson, Parsons Group president; Nour Kassassir, Parsons vice president and international director of information technology; Biff Lyons, Parsons executive vice president and security & intelligence division manager; and Carey Smith, Parsons Group President; as well as Markus Buehler, McAfee Professor of Engineering and Head of the MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; and Karl Koster, Executive Director of the MIT Office of Corporate Relations/ILP.
