Mohammed Alsehali has come a long way to study at SDM. Originally from Saudi Arabia, he completed his undergraduate degree at San Diego State University. Since graduating he’s worked in different industries such as telecommunications, industrial security, and spectrum management for wireless communications. Through his work and his time at MIT, Mohammed has found the importance of understanding the complexity that results when people and factors from multiple backgrounds meet.
Mohammed felt the need for further education when he began handling complicated projects at the Communications, Space and Technology Commission of Saudi Arabia. As part of the Radio Spectrum Management team he conducted research on emerging wireless technologies and worked on policies and regulations for spectrum access. He learned about the master’s degree in engineering and management from his former colleague Aisha Alomair SDM ’15. Mohammed felt that SDM was the right next step as his level of responsibility increased. “I needed to be involved in an integrated ecosystem of transdisciplinary backgrounds,” he said.
At MIT, Mohammed continues finding the importance of learning from and working with people from different walks of life. Since the program allows students to take courses across the School of Engineering, a typical cohort includes professionals from mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and computer science, energy, aerospace and aviation, and many other disciplines. These varied backgrounds gave Mohammed the chance to hear new perspectives from his classmates. “SDM helped me understand that being a technical leader is more than just improving my leadership skills. It is also about embracing that people come from different technical and social backgrounds,” he says. SDM’s core class also challenged students with case studies and problems outside their previous experiences. For the spring project, Mohammed was on a team tackling a healthcare industry challenge. The team used system architecture, systems engineering and model-based project management tools to design a bed-sensor system that could ensure patient safety in long-term care settings. Taking the core class together gave the team a common language to use on the project.
Mohammed also took advantage of MIT’s rich ecosystem during his time at SDM. “There is a sense of freedom and boundless creativity that is unique to MIT,” he said. “The open-door policy has been a great way for me to meet, learn, and connect with professors and students doing research.” These courses gave him further experience in understanding other perspectives, such as in Power and Negotiation with Basima Tewfik. “I grew to appreciate my counterpart’s side of the story and how to better find win-win situations,” Mohammed said. Outside the classroom, Mohammed participated in other extracurricular activities that required an understanding of complexity. He served as the president of SDM’s Student Leadership Council, was vice president of the MIT Saudi Student Association, and served on the student organizing committee for Complex Adaptive Systems 2025.
Now that he’s graduating, Mohammed will not only bring his enhanced engineering and leadership skills to work, he’ll also be guided by his experiences. “My approach when leading teams or being part of a team has changed tremendously. I want to be the person that bridges the gap between the different stakeholders on a project because of the skills that SDM equipped me with.”
