Seven Brown alumni — Gaurab Chakrabarti ’10, Rachel Hunter ’12, Noah Kraft ’09, Monica Rosenberg ’10, Matt Sacchet ’10, Evan Wallace ’12 and Cliff Weitzman ’16 — were named on the Forbes 30 under 30 list this year, chosen for their accomplishments in the fields of entrepreneurship, science and finance.
Rosenberg was recognized for her research on the human attention span. “I’m focused on … (why) some people are better at paying attention,” Rosenberg said. Rosenberg, who is now a doctoral student in the psychology department at Yale University, began her research as an undergraduate at Brown, where she was given the chance to create her own research projects, which helped her develop as scientist, she said.
Sacchet made the list for his psychiatric research, specifically on the causes and conditions of happiness. In his current work, he uses tools from psychology, neuroscience and computational science to study currently unknown factors of depression and anxiety. “I hope that one day we’ll have a well-developed science of happiness and that I can contribute to making this a reality,” Sacchet wrote in an email to The Herald.
Hunter, a former investment banker, now works in real estate investing and has closed 30 deals totaling $2.3 billion. Currently, she works in investing mortgage loans, revenue loans and structure financing, making deals across the globe. Hunter believes that her work helps small companies and people who have big ideas, but don’t have enough capital to achieve them. “It’s not all big bad evil corporations. It’s actually providing liquidity to a well-functioning capital system to work,” Hunter said.
Weitzman, the youngest alum on Forbes’ list, created Speechify, an innovative text to speech software. Unable to keep up with his readings at Brown due to his dyslexia, Weitzman initially created the software to aid himself. Inspired by his love for audio books, Weitzman created Speechify, which turns readings, websites and other text materials into an audio book that then becomes available on the user’s phone or computer. In 2014, Weitzman won the Lime Connect Fellowship, awarded to the 20 highest-achieving people with disabilities in the United States. After winning the fellowship, he made a video tutorial about the software, which received about 40,000 views. “I am obsessed with the idea of creating value. I am amazed by the idea that by arranging your thoughts, you can help the world around you,” he said. While at Brown, Weitzman built 35 different products. “I am very deliberate in my time. I don’t drink, smoke, watch TV,” he said. “This gives me time to focus on what’s most important to me,” Weitzman added.
Chakrabarti founded a green chemicals company, Solugen, which developed a method for creating hydrogen peroxide using plants. While studying cancer cells for his doctoral degree, Chakrabarti researched the method in which cancer cells make hydrogen peroxide to clean themselves from bacteria. “It turned out that this peroxide production was extremely productive in the cancer system,” Chakrabarti said. He then applied this method to plants to create a safer way to produce hydrogen peroxide. Many of the alums interviewed point to Brown as a crucial element of their success after graduation. Brown “taught me how to think about structuring fields and finance more creatively than some of my counterparts,” Hunter said. “It allowed me to define what success is, and it gave me the opportunities to achieve that.”
Rosenberg observed the diverse interests of fellow students while at Brown, which allowed each undergraduate to find their own niche. “I remember being totally blown away by the number of people I could find that would be interested in something weird like I was,” Rosenberg said.
Sacchet echoed this sentiment and encourages students to take advantage of the University’s resources. “Brown’s a special magical fairyland where you can do whatever you want,” Sacchet wrote. “Do whatever you want, make it your career, find a way to do what you love — and ideally, you might help some people along the way.”
