Sasha Rollinger

Before she became the Program Manager for MIT’s Governance Lab, Sasha Rollinger worked in several organizations in which partnerships across multiple areas were vital to meeting these organizations’ goals. She carries this approach into the work she does today. “Big challenges can’t be solved by singular disciplines,” she says.

Rollinger holds an MA in Art Business from the University of Manchester via Sotheby’s Institute of Art (New York), a BA in Communications from the University of Pennsylvania, and a graduate certificate from Harvard Extension School in Corporate Sustainability and Innovation.

Describe your roles and responsibilities.

As the Program Manager for MIT GOV/LAB, I oversee the finance and administration for our research lab in the Political Science department.  I work with our Principal Investigator (PI) Lily Tsai to determine our research priorities, set budgets, and work with funders to secure the resources needed to foster effective collaborations. Threats to democracies around the world are only growing, and it’s exciting to play a small role in helping governments, practitioners, and students learn and incubate ideas to improve the relationship between citizens and government and strengthen democracy.  

How long have you worked at MIT?

I’m coming up on eight years at MIT. 

What’s the best thing about your job?

The best part of my job (and my previous role at MIT) is helping to support interdisciplinary collaborations between faculty and other students.  In my three years at MIT GOV/LAB, we have worked on projects with public health experts, AI computer scientists, and design specialists.  Sometimes these partners are here at MIT, faculty at other universities, or practitioners in other countries. Big challenges can’t be solved by singular disciplines, so I appreciate our lab’s interdisciplinary approach as we think about what future democracies will look like. 

What advice would you offer someone interested in doing what you do?

At the beginning of my MIT career, someone advised me that it would take years to “understand how MIT works”.  This is kind of true!  I’m always learning new things, but there’s always someone who knows the answer and they are very happy to explain. In that sense, my job is a bit like a puzzle where you have to hunt for the pieces.  I also love figuring out how to make research collaborations happen within the unique scaffolding of MIT’s policies and procedures.