OUR ALUMNI CHANGE THE WORLD

Piotr Lazarek, M&T’25, conceived of Nirby, his real-time farmland management system, while a teenager. His time at the M&T Program saw Piotr shift his focus to become an entrepreneur as he validated his concept and won more than 16 business competitions and raised more than $450,000 in funding.

We sat down with him for a Q&A about how he’s using satellites, drones, and AI to cut expenses, boost crop yields, and save time for farmers using his platform.

Lauren Reeder is a partner on Sequoia Capital’s early-stage team, working with founders from the idea stage onward. “The founders we work with are on the path to shaping the world… it’s an incredible privilege to work with them.” she says.

Reeder began her career at several start-ups, from joining as the first employee to leading product teams to acquisitions. “It’s rewarding to see what it takes to build a company and to help pay that forward to the next generation of founders,” she adds.

Upon graduating from the Penn M&T Program in 1993, with dual degrees from Wharton and Penn Engineering and also an MBA from Wharton, Ryan Limaye went straight to Goldman Sachs to begin a career as a technology investment banker. The rest, as they say, is history. 32 years later, he has spent his entire career doing what he loves, and he is still with Goldman, serving as its Head of the Global Technology Investment Banking group.

Kunal Ghosh is Founder and CEO of Inscopix, a company that began as a research project at Stanford University and resulted in the invention of a miniature, integrated microscope (the “miniscope”). The invention is the centerpiece of Inscopix’s core brain circuit mapping products, which today have advanced fundamental knowledge of the brain circuits underpinning brain function and behavior. Inscopix’s platform is powering neurotherapeutic development in areas such as Parkinson’s, depression, schizophrenia, and migraine.

Mostafa Afr (M&T’25) isn’t slowing down in his final year at Penn. A “super senior,” he’s on track to graduate this December with a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering, a B.S.E., in Electrical Engineering, and a B.S. in Entrepreneurship. Along the way, he’s turned his passion for language learning into Langmates.ai, an AI-powered app that helps users practice speaking new languages. This summer, he received the M&T Summer Entrepreneurship Award, giving him the resources to transform his senior project into a startup with real momentum. In this Q&A, Afr shares his journey, the evolution of his app, and the lessons he’s learned along the way.