Mona Vijaykumar is an architect based in India and envisions a society that collectively values diversity, ethnicity, and culture. Her approach to architecture and urban design dives into the larger spectrum of social egalitarianism and empowerment. She has initiated and designed numerous architecture and urban scale competitions/projects in India, USA, China, Ukraine, Bangladesh and Africa tackling social and environmental issues. She believes in a multi-disciplinary design approach that is adaptive, inclusive, and responsive.

She has been an active member of the MIT community since joining in Fall 2020. Her interest in social entrepreneurship and public service propelled her to work as a Graduate Student Fellow at  MIT-PKG public service center over the course of two semesters. In the Spring semester, her research interest in the intersection of climate change and adaptation processes led her to contribute as a research assistant at Civic Design Initiative directed by Prof.Yihyun Lim. As part of the Climate Grand Challenge, the research project aims to propose and develop a participatory adaptation platform to enable the world’s most climate-vulnerable communities to discover, negotiate with and migrate to receptive locations where they can thrive and be safe. 

She has earnestly participated in department initiatives such as the admissions mentorship program (AMP) and is currently working on a collaboration with the DUSP and department of architecture students to initiate a student-led discussion series that fosters cross-disciplinary conversations on various urban trajectories.