Team - 2026 MIT SPORTS SUMMIT

About the MIT Sports Lab

The MIT Sports Lab works with a diverse set of undergraduate and graduate MIT students and faculty across all disciplines. The Sports Lab is committed to addressing complex challenges in sports by advancing research in artificial intelligence, computer vision, mechanics, human and institutional behavior, machine learning, and statistics. Our mission is to accelerate new techniques and approaches in areas such as athlete health and performance, talent identification and development, game strategy, and fan engagement. Driven by the desire to push the limits of human performance, we also focus on the design and discovery of new materials and products to advance high-performance personal and protective equipment.

Partnering with leaders across sports, the Sports Lab provides early entry into advancements in the field, facilitates cross-industry learnings, offers unparalleled access to the latest innovations across disciplines, and helps organizations define and grow their expertise.

Learn more about us at our website.

2026 Faculty Leadership

Christina Chase
Lecturer, Mechanical Engineering, MIT; Co-Founder & Managing Director, MIT Sports Lab

Christina Chase is a Lecturer at MIT in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. In 2015, she co-founded the MIT Sports Lab with Prof. Anette “Peko” Hosoi and serves as its Managing Director. Prior to this she was the first Entrepreneur in Residence at MIT through the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship. Christina has helped hundreds of teams go from concept to company. In 2013, she was named one of the 25 Most Influential Women in the Boston Tech Community and in 2014, Mashable named her one of the 15 People Shaping Boston’s Tech Scene. In a past life, Christina was a cyclist where she was one of 12 women selected by the US Cycling Federation to train at the US Olympic Training Center. She has taught downhill skiing in Colorado, summited six of Colorado’s 14-ers across seasons, and her latest sport is kiteboarding. Christina is a Techstars mentor and serves on the Board of the MIT Enterprise Forum, is a judge for the SXSW Accelerator Competition and former Advisory Board member.

Favorite Sports Moment:
Watching a shark feeding frenzy while scuba diving in the Blue Hole of Belize

Professor Anette (Peko) Hosoi
Neil and Jane Pappalardo Professor, Mechanical Engineering, MIT; Co-founder, MIT Sports Lab

Anette “Peko” Hosoi is a Neil and Jane Pappalardo Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Professor of Mathematics. Her research contributions lie at the junction of nonlinear hydrodynamics, biomechanics, and bio-inspired design. A common theme in her work is the fundamental study of shape, kinematic, and rheological optimization of biological systems with applications to the emergent field of soft robotics. More recently, she has turned her attention to problems that lie intersection of biomechanics, applied mathematics, and sports. She is the co-founder of the MIT Sports Lab which connects the MIT community with pro-teams and industry partners to address data and engineering challenges that lie within the sports domain. She has received numerous awards including the APS Stanley Corrsin Award, the Bose Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the Jacob P. Den Hartog Distinguished Educator Award. She is a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), a Radcliffe Institute Fellow, and a MacVicar Faculty Fellow.

Isabel Bourelle
Senior Administrative Assistant to Professors Anette "Peko" Hosoi and Maria Yang, MIT Mechanical Engineering

2026 Student Leadership

Nicolas Stone Perez
Co-Lead | Computer Science, Economics, and Data Science | MEng Student

Nicolas Stone Perez is a Master of Engineering candidate in Computer Science, Economics, and Data Science. Nicolas is a member of the Men's Soccer team here at MIT, plays Gaelic football for Donegal Boston, and has been a sports fanatic for as long as he can remember. He has also worked with the MIT Sports Lab for FIFA, on auto-eventing using skeletal data and innovations using pitch-level audio data. Nicolas is now developing his own thesis on recurrent injury patterns in elite global soccer. His undergraduate degree includes a second major in Management. Raised in Miami to Irish and Chilean parents, Nicolas is a loyal supporter of his local team, Inter Miami CF. Nicolas is passionate about the intersection of sports, business, and technology, which he hopes to pursue in his time at MIT and beyond.

Favorite Sports Moment:
Watching in the stadium when Chile beat Argentina in the 2016 Copa America final. A close second is being at Lionel Messi's Inter Miami debut in 2023.

Angelica Castro-Salazar
Co-Lead | Mechanical Engineering | Senior

Angelica is a senior mechanical engineering student interested in product design, materials research, and making things that impact people's lives. She has been on the Sports Summit Leadership team for two years and enjoys thinking about how to push the worlds of sports equipment design and player biomechanical insights forward. Angelica's favorite sport to play and watch is soccer, and outside of sports, she enjoys cooking and painting.

Favorite Sports Moment:
Sinner vs. Alcaraz 2025 Roland Garros Final

Henry Wang
Research Talks | Social & Engineering Systems (IDSS)| PhD Student

Henry is a PhD candidate in Social & Engineering Systems at the MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society and graduate researcher in the MIT Sports Lab. His research with FIFA Innovation leverages Electronic Performance and Tracking Systems to democratize access to performance data and support referee decision making.

Favorite Sports Moment:
Philly Special from SB52.

Kaitlin Tam
Website / Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering / Junior

Kaitlin is currently a junior studying Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Biomedical Engineering. She is also a member of the MIT Varsity Women's Basketball team. She is passionate about learning more about the intersection of Mechanics and Sports including understanding more about soft tissue sports injuries and Biomechanics. This interest has manifested in her current research at the MIT Sports Lab helping analyze Biomechanical data for applications in muscle recovery.

Favorite Sports Moment:
Kobe Bryant's 60 point final game in 2016

Rome Delgado-Gonzalez
Partner Management | Computer Science, Data Science, & Economics and Business Analytics | Senior

Rome is currently a senior (‘26) at MIT majoring in Computer Science, Data Science, & Economics and Business Analytics. He is a 2 year captain of the Varsity Basketball team, bringing leadership and passion on and off the court. Rome is currently working on a handful of projects, including helping the NBA’s Automated Officiating Team to analyze Hawk-Eye tracking data, and enrich their SIQ Basketball dataset. Additionally, Rome has been selected to be a part of the 2026 NBA Future Analytics Stars Program and will be working for the Oklahoma City Thunder as an AI Engineer Intern after graduation before coming back to do his Masters in Engineering at MIT in the fall. At the MIT Sports Summit, he is thrilled to contribute, hoping to create an engaging and memorable experience for all partners & attendees.

Favorite Sports Moment:
Helping his high school capture its first conference championship in 10+ years

Adam Gardner
Ticketing | Chemical Engineering and Management | Junior

Adam Gardner is a junior at MIT double majoring in Chemical Engineering (Course 10end) and Management (Course 15-1). A lifelong basketball fan and player, he cares most about the culture behind sports: teamwork, resilience, and the way a locker room can become a community. He’s thrilled to support the MIT Sports Summit and help create conversations that connect athletes, students, and industry leaders.

Favorite Sports Moment:
2025 NBA playoffs when the Knicks came back from down 20 points against the Celtics (Game 1 AND 2.)

Holly Bill
Research | Social and Engineering Systems (IDSS) | PhD Student

Holly is a first-year PhD student at MIT in Social and Engineering Systems. As a graduate research assistant in the MIT Sports Lab, she works with FIFA on data-driven research related to officiating technology. She recently graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a B.S. in Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics, where she served as a performance science student analyst for ND Athletics and the OKC Thunder. Holly loves scenic drives, live music, audiobooks, and watching the greatest sports team of all time (Notre Dame Football).

Favorite Sports Moment:
Final 0.6 seconds of UVA vs. Auburn in the 2019 Final Four

Jiateng Zeng
Outreach | MSMS Sloan | Master's Student

With a background in Sports Management, Jiateng's experience spans from sports marketing, investment to sports entrepreneurship. After graduation from Loughborough University, he has supported Jorginho in designing a social media growth strategy focused on the APAC region to expand his fan base. In parallel, he founded and scaled a startup into a leading provider of children’s obstacle course racing training programs—an emerging sport scheduled to debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Favorite Sports Moment:
My favorite sports moment will be Cristiano Ronald winning the 2026 FIFA World Cup

Michael Ewing
Ticketing and Website | Mechanical Engineering, AI, Business Management, African Diaspora Studies | Junior

Michael Ewing is currently a junior at MIT pursuing a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in artificial intelligence, alongside minors in business management and African Diaspora studies, and member of the MIT Basketball team. He is an undergraduate researcher in the MIT Sports Lab and has contributed to a wide variety of research projects in the world of Sports technology and beyond, working with the NBA's Hawkeye and SIQ data to improve automated officiating capabilities, using motion capture to gain insight on athletic performance, and conducting analyses of foot biomechanics to understand ACL tears. He has also done research in the live music and sustainability arena. Michael has supported hands-on technical workshops through the 7uice Foundation’s Bridge Program.

Favorite Sports Moment:
Celebrating with my team freshman year after our first win of the season

Ekanem Okeke, Partner Management
Woods Windham, Logistics
Jerry Lu, Research Talk
Thomas Wu, SWAG
Daniel Cruse, Outreach
Felipe Rosas, Startups
Pete Connell, Graphics
Luka Secilmis, Website