
Ivan Burns studied electrical engineering at MIT before founding a software company, Business Systems Resources. He and his spouse, Anne Hayden, raised three daughters, one of whom attended MIT, and are active philanthropists. In honor of Ivan’s 50th reunion, the couple established a fund to support SPARC—the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center’s fast-track experiment to demonstrate by 2025 that a fusion reaction can produce more energy than it consumes.
An energy revolution. “There are dozens of exciting things going on at MIT that I’d be glad to support. But energy contributes to quality of life in many ways, and if we want to eliminate carbon-based energy sources, there’s only one answer: fusion energy,” Ivan says. Carbon-free and limitless, fusion produces little waste, makes few demands on natural resources, and can operate 24/7. “MIT is the first organization to take advantage of new magnet technology that greatly reduces not only the size of the tokamak device that produces fusion energy, but the cost and time to build it as well,” he says.
Long-term impact. Ivan worked with the MIT administration as president of his dormitory as a student and in a professional capacity in the 1990s, so he and Anne have confidently made unrestricted gifts to the Institute for many years. “I have a great deal of respect and trust in the MIT administration to make the best use of resources,” he says. “The world is a better place because of the science and engineering that takes place at MIT.”
Help MIT build a better world.
For more information, contact David Woodruff: 617.253.3990; daw@mit.edu. Or visit giving.mit.edu.
Keep Reading
Most Popular
A Roomba recorded a woman on the toilet. How did screenshots end up on Facebook?
Robot vacuum companies say your images are safe, but a sprawling global supply chain for data from our devices creates risk.
A startup says it’s begun releasing particles into the atmosphere, in an effort to tweak the climate
Make Sunsets is already attempting to earn revenue for geoengineering, a move likely to provoke widespread criticism.
10 Breakthrough Technologies 2023
These exclusive satellite images show that Saudi Arabia’s sci-fi megacity is well underway
Weirdly, any recent work on The Line doesn’t show up on Google Maps. But we got the images anyway.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.