Honored with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Award

Posted on by Melanie L Burnat
Dr. Martin Luther King gives his "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia.
Dr. Martin Luther King gives his “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia.

I was proud to be one of five who received the 2012 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Leadership Award, which recognizes achievement and service that reflects the great civil rights leader’s ideals. The awards dinner and breakfast, held on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology last week, was uplifting. Each year, candidates for the leadership awards are nominated by their colleagues. Simply to have been nominated was an honor, but to have been nominated by Robert Langer, an internationally renowned engineer and my mentor, was doubly so. I am grateful to Dr. Langer, the MLK Jr. Planning Committee, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for this award.