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 of exceptional students, 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. A continuation of a program started 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 works at the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics in the Humanitarian Supply Chain Lab. She has both private sector and humanitarian supply chain experience ranging from Office Depot, Amazon, and the UN World Food Programme, where she spent two years in Ethiopia working on private sector supply chain capacity building. Most recently she worked on the University of Washington’s Seattle Flu Study team, with a focus on rapid testing and intervention to detect and respond to pandemics. She holds a Master’s degree from MIT’s Supply Chain Management program and a BS from Purdue University.
Michael Leong
Michael earned a BS in Civil Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MS in Interdepartmental Program in Transportation from MIT. Michael combines backgrounds in transportation engineering, cutting-edge mobility research, and data science to tackle the mobility, infrastructure, design, and sustainability challenges in cities and industries of the future. His research projects include quantifying the shifts in regional travel patterns induced by the future of work and post-pandemic shifts in behavior, achieving regional climate goals, and tactically leveraging the customer feedback of public transit agencies. He is now pursuing his PhD in transportation at MIT.
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!
