The MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics (CTL) is pleased to announce the recipients of the UPS Fellowship for the 2026–27 academic year.
Made possible by a grant from the UPS Foundation, the UPS Fellowship continues its mission to champion outstanding students with financial support, typically one incoming MIT Master’s student and one MIT PhD student pursuing scholarship relating to logistics, freight transportation, supply chain management, or a related topic. Building on over four decades of work beginning in 1983, the UPS Fellowship aims to recognize and reward excellence in these fields, and selections are awarded solely on the basis of merit.
This year’s fellowship was awarded to three students: Chelsey Graham, Michael Leong, and Samuel Wegner.
Chelsey Graham
Chelsey Graham is a PhD candidate and Research Assistant in the Humanitarian Supply Chain Lab at MIT, where her research focuses on resilient distribution network design for supply chains disrupted by natural hazards and other shocks, across both public and private sectors. She has worked in both the private sector and the humanitarian sector, including roles at Office Depot, Amazon, and the UN World Food Programme, where she spent two years in Ethiopia supporting private sector supply chain capacity building in partnership with the Ethiopian government. She later returned to MIT as a researcher in the Humanitarian Supply Chain Lab to support FEMA's COVID-19 response efforts. Chelsey holds an MS from MIT's Supply Chain Management program and a BS from Purdue University.
Michael Leong
Michael is a PhD Candidate at the MIT JTL Urban Mobility Lab and Transit Lab, where he conducts research on strategic urban adaptations to strengthen cities and transportation systems under structural demand shifts arising from the events of the 2020s. Presently, he is researching transit-oriented development strategies to improve long-term ridership resilience for the Washington DC Metro System, and has previously researched travel pattern shifts, transportation sector climate goals, and the use of customer feedback intelligence and sentiment analysis to improve transit planning and operations. Prior to MIT, he earned a BS in Civil Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. He also brings professional experience from Cambridge Systematics, AECOM, and the Singapore Land Transport Authority.
Samuel Wegner
Samuel earned a BS in Supply Chain Management and Applied Business Data Analytics from Arizona State University. His academic achievements are complemented by active involvement in organizations such as Formula SAE, the Supply Chain Management Association, Beta Gamma Sigma, and more. Professionally, Samuel has gained valuable experience through roles at Amazon, Collins Aerospace, and most recently at York Space Systems as a Supply Chain Manager. He is pursuing his Master of Engineering degree at MIT.
“The UPS Fellowships highlight MIT CTL’s commitment to the next generation of supply chain leaders,” noted Chris Caplice, Executive Director of MIT CTL. “These fellowships are vital for maintaining an ecosystem of excellence in supply chain research.”
Congratulations to Chelsey, Michael, and Samuel on this achievement!
