Prospective Students

Richard Agbeyibor ’12—known to his friends as Coco—moved to the United States from Togo when he was 12 years old to escape the political conditions in his home country. As with many young people, his love for engineering began with LEGO and then transitioned to small electronics and computers. “I was happiest when manipulating physical objects. I was fascinated by these little black boxes that could do magical things—I would take them apart to investigate their mechanical parts and circuit boards. I wanted to understand everything about how they worked.”

At MIT, Coco had abundant opportunities to discover the science and theory of engineering, but he soon realized that he wanted more hands-on experiences. That led him to join GEL, which was a new program at the Institute at the time. His cohort was instrumental in developing and pressure-testing Engineering Leadership Labs, which are to this day one of the most beloved aspects of the GEL curriculum. “We had the chance to play the role of engineering stakeholders in a way that we couldn’t in our other MIT courses. I wanted to be an engineer that makes things, that could bring a vision to reality—through GEL, I saw that I needed other people to realize bigger and more influential systems.”

Coco joined the military after graduation, where he distinguished himself among his fellow cadets thanks to his ability to see the bigger picture and communicate his thinking with others. “In Togo, I saw that people with power could persecute others and exercise it negatively,” he recalls. “My decision to serve in the military came from a desire to exercise my power positively—to be a person who could fight for justice on behalf of those who couldn’t on their own.” He is currently a flight test engineer and a highly competitive candidate for astronaut school. He’s also enrolled in a robotics PhD program studying how to make autonomous aircraft a reality—a topic that integrates his diverse experiences. “There are so many questions tied up in this field. Can we design a vertical takeoff aircraft that would help with commuting? Or to perform medical evacuations? Or deliver cargo. There’s a lot of talk about drone delivery systems. How can you tell when a front yard is empty and when it’s safe to drop a package? And so on.”

In reflecting on his time at GEL, there’s one thing Coco wants to emphasize. “The people you meet through the program are one of the greatest benefits. They are folks who will go on to do amazing things—and who you will always be able to count on. I think of my fellow GEL alums as my own personal board members.”