NBA All-Star Steph Curry. "Star Wars" actor John Boyega. Platinum-selling rapper Fetty Wap.
And, of course, CSAIL researchers Abe Davis and Teasha Feldman-Fitzthum.
Okay, those last two might not be household names, but they were among the select few picked to be part of Forbes "30 under 30" list, which highlights the world’s “game changers, movers and makers, and brightest minds” who are less than 30 years old.
A PhD candidate in CSAIL’s Computer Graphics group, Davis has developed video technologies that can analyze the microscopic vibrations of resting objects and recover audio from a soundproof room using video of a potato chip bag. He thinks such research could help us identify structural defects in buildings and understand how dangerous materials work. In the introduction to his 2015 TED talk, TED founder Chris Anderson predicted that his technology could be as game-changing as a touchscreen presented at TED in 2006, a year before the release of the iPhone.
Feldman-Fitzthum, meanwhile, co-founded a CSAIL spin-off called EverVest that provides software for analyzing, valuing and financing renewable energy projects. The company emerged from her CSAIL research developing a machine-learning algorithm that can better predict wind-power resources.
Davis was named to the “30 under 30” science list, while Feldman-Fitzthum was selected for the energy list.