Skip to Content
Profiles in generosity

Francesco ’70, SM ’72, and Marybeth Pompei

Boston, Massachusetts

June 29, 2021
Pompei
Ken Richardson

Frank Pompei  is founder and CEO of Exergen, a maker of scanners, thermometers, and sensors. He credits his MIT education with equipping him to build a successful company, mindful of the possibilities created by his financial aid package. “My parents could never have sent me to MIT on their wages as factory workers,” he says. 

Thriving at MIT and beyond. “I remember the academics as challenging but always interesting and, in some ways, fun,” says Frank. “Inventing came easily for me, and MIT prepared me well.” Today, he holds more than 70 US patents, and Exergen’s signature temporal thermometer is powered by an infrared scanner he developed and patented after years of experimentation and study. “With 5,000 years of history touching the forehead as a rough gauge of body temperature,” he explains, “many attempted and failed to make a medically accurate device to measure body temperature there.” When the pandemic led to a surge in demand for accurate, noninvasive thermometers, Exergen increased manufacturing capacity more than fourfold in 2020. 

Giving back through scholarships. In honor of Frank’s 50th MIT reunion in 2020, he and his wife, Marybeth, Exergen’s senior vice president and chief clinical scientist, established the Drs. Francesco (1970) and Marybeth Pompei Scholarship Fund. Recalling that his parents brought him to the United States in 1952 from a region of Italy that had been devastated by World War II, Frank says his success “fulfilled the vision of my immigrant family.” He adds, “Our scholarship fund is directed to MIT students who immigrated as I did to seek the promise of America.” 

Help MIT build a better world. 

For information, contact Amy Goldman
617.253.4082; goldmana@mit.edu
Or visit giving.mit.edu/planned-giving.

Keep Reading

Most Popular

Geoffrey Hinton tells us why he’s now scared of the tech he helped build

“I have suddenly switched my views on whether these things are going to be more intelligent than us.”

ChatGPT is going to change education, not destroy it

The narrative around cheating students doesn’t tell the whole story. Meet the teachers who think generative AI could actually make learning better.

Meet the people who use Notion to plan their whole lives

The workplace tool’s appeal extends far beyond organizing work projects. Many users find it’s just as useful for managing their free time.

Learning to code isn’t enough

Historically, learn-to-code efforts have provided opportunities for the few, but new efforts are aiming to be inclusive.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.