 Welcome Global Supply Chainers. My name is Brittany Collins and I am joining you here today from Cambridge, Massachusetts at MIT's campus. I am so excited to be here. I myself earned my MicroMasters certification back in 2017 and now I'm here as a full-time residential student in the Supply Chain Management program. I will be serving as the emcee today, introducing you to our featured guests and congratulating you on your accomplishments. I hope that you can join us for the next 40 minutes. We're going to begin with hearing about the genesis of the MicroMasters program from Professor Yossi Shafi. Next we'll hear from Dr. Chris Kaplis about how the program was conceived and created. And then we'll invite Dr. Eva Ponce to share highlights from the program. Next we'd like to hear from you. We have several learners joining us via webcam and so we'll be hearing from our learners. We have a learner here in Cambridge to share her experience and finally we'll visit the other centers in the Scale Network. Dr. Eva and Chris will share their congratulations to the whole group and lastly we'll just close out this awesome celebration. So first up I would like to introduce Dr. Yossi Shafi who is the Elijah Gray Professor of Engineering and Director of MIT CTO. He is an expert in resilience, supply chain sustainability and systems optimization. He was pivotal in launching the SCX courses and MicroMasters series. Here's Dr. Shafi. Thank you and welcome everybody. Congratulations. I want to welcome you to the family of supply chain professionals. They always say supply chain is life. It is the number one tool to get competitive advantage in the industry. Today with so much knowledge available and it is so early, so easy to just create another product that looks like an innovative product. Think how quickly it took the Android system to copy the iPhone because within months the Samsung and others were able to generate and come up with similar phones. However creating a global supply chain that delivers on time at low cost around the world continuously and consistently is no mean feat and it creates a competitive advantage. So now you are part of this competitive advantage that you can add to your confidence. So congratulations and thank you for joining us. Thank you Professor Shafi. Next we'll hear from Chris Kaplis. Dr. Kaplis is the Executive Director of the MIT CTO. He is the mastermind behind SEM and I'm sure that many of you are familiar with him from the many videos. He's dedicated more than 50 hours filming videos of the course lectures for the MicroMasters. Out from behind the light board this may be one of the first times you'll actually hear him talking without two times the speed. Dr. Kaplis. Thank you Brittany. Welcome everyone. Congratulations on finishing all five of the courses and the grueling CFX. It's not easy task so congratulations. You should feel very proud of yourself for having completed this. You are now the third cohort who's completed the MicroMasters credential and you're joining 1,200 others who have done this. These are from 196 different countries and they are using this program that things they've learned to advance their careers, find new jobs, just improve their career overall. To put this into perspective to 1,277 that's more than 50% more than in 21 years we've graduated students from our traditional class. So in less than a year and a half since we first graduated with our first CFX we're almost 50% more than we've done in 20 years here at MIT. So that's a great thing and you're joining a great bunch of people. When I first started this, when Yossi and I first started talking this back in the summer of 2014 we thought we'd make a couple videos and use them for in class here at MIT. We didn't imagine the magnitude of the response. The first lecture I did was an SC1X, the EOQ lectures and they're probably the worst quality because I didn't know what I was doing. Over a period of time they've gotten better at it I think and we've got a much the enhancement of the course that's certainly improved class over class over class. In fact I got an email earlier today from someone who said they took some of the classes in 2015 and they wanted to know if they should retake them because they looked at one the new ones and there were recitations and there are new course leads and there are new sandbox tools and they wanted to know if they should retake them. So I said of course you should retake them. The content hasn't changed. It's just that we've gotten better at delivering the online content and that brings me to my major point that it takes a community, it takes an army to make these things happen. Not just to create them but to actually deliver them because the magic in my opinion is not in the delivery or the creation rather but it's in the team of the people who actually continue to deliver the value. So it takes a strong team and Dr. Ava Ponce is the one who's really been driving this. So she has full control of delivery along with an army of course leads, Dr. Sergio Caballero, Dr. Alexis Bateman, David Corell, Inma Morello and Alex Rothkoff, countless TAs and community TAs and community TAs out there. Thank you. We couldn't do it without you guys. You're really like the white blood cells in the blood system. You're like attack prompts and keep it moving. Also Arthur Groud for making this available here. Remember the first videos we used to do was in my office with the little camera. We've certainly gotten a lot better in that respect. All the work on the tactical side that Connor Mikowski has done and then the instructors, Professor Sheffi, Dr. Jared Gensel, Dr. Bruce Ornson, Jim Rice, Dr. Chris Casa, as well as other core teams who've made recitations. So it's taken a lot to create this and then there are other people outside of just what we have here, the Office of Digital Learning with Ron Scott for the visit videos, Cheryl Frueckman, Jim Cain for the light boards that everyone loves, he's the man behind that, Dana Doyle, Lisa Eichel, David Chauden, all these people play instrumental roles in getting you where you are now. And it wouldn't have been possible for the conversations that we had back in the fall of 2015 between myself, Professor Sheffi and Professor Sanjay Sarma and President Raphael Wright. Without those people, this would not, it would have been a set of nice videos, but it wouldn't be a micro master's credential. So congratulations again. You've earned it. This is not an easy thing. And again, you're joining a group of 1200 plus professionals that are now your core network. And so hopefully you'll continue networking with them and interacting with them. And if you're ever in Cambridge, Massachusetts, stop on in and we'll get a cup of coffee. Congratulations again. Thank you, Dr. Caplis. It is so cool to hear how much the Micro Master's program has grown over the years. I know when I first started, I selected my first course and I never imagined that I was going to complete the Micro Masters. In fact, it was being developed while I was taking it. So a lot of that, that design and creation is owed to Dr. Eva Ponce who also joins the CTL while the program was being developed. Since then, she has tirelessly led the course and has kept an eye on you. She makes sure that you're signing up for the next courses and communicating with you along with Arthur, you know, keeping those communications out there. So I would like to introduce her next and have her speak to you. So thank you. Thank you, Josie and Chris for giving me the opportunity to be part of this amazing team. It has been truly a pleasure to work with you and develop this amazing program. Today we are celebrating the third cohort of Micro Master holders in supply chain management. This is huge. This is a very important milestone for all of us, for the whole team. But this is all about you, all about our learners. And I need to say that the best thing we have in this program is the community of learners that we have. You are bringing your experience, you are bringing your effort to this program and this is making really a great community of SCX learners. So let me share with you the latest statistics because I think that none of us imagine the magnitude of this program when we started. Chris mentioned that. Now you are part of a huge community of SCX learner. We have more than a quarter of a million people that have taken at least one SCX courses. From these people we have 17,000 that are verified learners and we have developed more than 9,000 verified certificates in all of our SCX courses. We have run so far 23 SCX courses and three runs of the comprehensive final exam. So in terms of the MicroMaster Credential Holders, we have now 1,273 unique credential holders. We have delivered 1,276 certificates but unique learners are 1,273. So congratulations to all of you. We are really proud of all of your effort. And I know, I know you have spent a lot of nights, a lot of weekends and you have sacrificed many things in order to achieve this credential. In terms of the statistics and in terms of where are our MicroMaster Holders from, we have more of our learners are from the United States. We have 400 credential holders from USA, 71 from India. And then we have around 50 people from Brazil, from Spain, Goa, Spain, also from Mexico, Canada, Germany. And the beauty thing is that we have learners from all over the world. And this is something really fascinating for this program. We have people from Australia, from Thailand, from Indonesia, from Nigeria, and from many other different countries. In terms of the level of education, most of our MicroMaster Holders, they already have a bachelor degree or a master degree, also a PhD degree, some of three percent of our learners already earn a PhD degree. But we also have high schoolers. This is a program, as you know, is open to anyone. So anyone can join and we have high schoolers that are already completed and pass this credential holder. In terms of the gender, I really want to invite more women to come here. We have only 15 percent of females, so we need more women. And I need to tell you that supply chain management is a fascinating field for all of us. And also for women, I'm so happy when companies visit us here at CTL and I see women VPs coming here and senior directors. So I think it's a field that there is a lot of room also for women. I really encourage you to take these MicroMaster Credential Holders. And in terms of age, our credential holders are, I need to say, very young, between 25 and 35 years old on average. But again, we have credential holders from all of the ages. With that, today is your day. So we really want to hear from our learners. We also want to hear from other MIT Network Scale Centers. But before doing that, I really want to introduce you Arthur Grau. He's our community manager. He's behind the scenes. And he is the one that is responsible of this community of SEX learners. So Arthur, please say something. I can't get the camera back to face myself. I'm sure you can hear me. I'm really inspired. Every time I talk to learners, I do a lot of interviews with them. I do a lot of talking to them online and on email and on Slack and on WhatsApp and on Facebook and on LinkedIn. And you know what I mean? You all inspire me so much because I know that you go to work and I know that you raise families and you're here doing the courses with us. And it's just actually a really great thing. So I'm just going to echo what everyone else is saying. Excellent. Thank you, Arthur. So let's hear now from our learners and from the other centers and then we'll be back. Sure. Yes. Thank you. So we are going to start with the MIT Scale Center at Luxembourg. This is one of our newest scale centers. And Joaquin Arts is here to say a few words on behalf of the SEM program in Luxembourg. Thank you. Congratulations on completing the MicroMaster. It's a credential that is recognized, well, pretty much everywhere in the world. And it is a standard that conveys that you know how to improve the supply chain. You know how to manage your time and you can work hard. The supply chain management program here in Luxembourg is welcoming to anyone who wants to pursue graduate studies during admissions. If you completed the MicroMaster, your application will end up on the top of the admission priority list. I'm learning this great milestone and I look forward to meeting some of you in person here in Luxembourg. Congratulations. All right. Next, I would like to welcome the course lead, Alexis Bateman, to share her thoughts on the course. Alexis is a research scientist here at the CTL and she's a course lead for many of the courses. So I'm sure you'll be delighted. Thanks, Brittany. I'm so excited to be here with you guys as you probably heard from me frequently in SE3X. I've also been a course lead for SE4X and also the CFX in a few of the lessons. But we so admire all of you guys putting in your nights and hours and weekends to get these courses done. But what you might not know is we're doing a lot of the same thing on the other end. So we are a 24-hour team and I can't actually count on my hand how many times Eva and I have been crossing over in the middle of the night, taking over some sort of last minute to do that we have to take over. So we are a fully 24-hour team trying to make sure that all of our content is the best as possible, that we can make it, that it's being released and really is bulletproof for all of you learners that are working so hard. So and a funny thing is actually a year or two ago, you know, as you all know, the 1500 UTC deadline every week, I know that many of you guys are grilling down for the last second to make sure that your assignments are going in or your midterm or final exam or being submitted and you have that clock ticking down. Well, if you can believe it, we have the same thing. So actually Arthur printed us a sweat rag that says 1459 UTC and I have it right next to my desk to remind myself every week to make sure to hit that deadline, make sure the content's ready to go and make sure that it's as best as it can be for all of you. So if you can think about it as you guys are sitting there sweating trying to finish your last minute assignments, you can think about us on the back end making sure at 1459 UTC that we push that publish button as you would that submit button and make sure that we are working just as hard as all of our learners around the world. And you guys have done such a great job and so happy to be part of this community with you. Congratulations. Awesome, Alexis. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and for giving us the reality of the experience behind everything that goes into making this MicroMaster such a success. Next, we're going to be joined by learners who have completed the course or are in the process of going through the SEM journey. First, we'll be joined by Aaron. He is a traveller, scuba diver and someone who enjoys playing tennis. Also a professional from Dubai who has been tackling supply chain challenges since 2010. Hi, am I audible? Yes. Okay, so first of all, congratulations to all the credential holders. I mean, I know how hard it would have been, but since I've completed it myself, I know for sure how enjoyable it's been. And what this course has done is completely changed my perception towards how I view or how I used to view online learning. I started with SC1X and I wasn't sure of what I was going to encounter. But what really hit me first was the sheer depth of the content and then the amazing teaching style. And then what really brought it all together was just a structure of the program, just how well structured the program was. I mean, just going from the lectures to the quick questions, the practice problems, it just made everything so immersive and so enjoyable. And I found myself then taking up all the other courses from SC1X to 2X, 4X, and completing the credential. And also I would like to say that it is a phenomenal statement from MIT as well. Telling the world really, the kind of world class teaching, the kind of avenues there are, it's just phenomenal. And thank you to Dr. Chris and Dr. Ava and to all the team for making this possible. It's been a great ride. And as a CTN now, I hope to contribute in whatever way I can. So thank you for this opportunity. Thank you, Erin. Great to hear from you from Dubai. Next, we're joined by Lance So and a group of MicroMasters holders and candidates who have accepted a unique challenge after completing SC4X. Lance, can you tell us about where you're joining us from? Okay, hello, I'm Lance. Okay, one of the CTA you may recognize me from Hong Kong. So today I'm very excited that we are at a fresh collection. We have the fresh collection team here. We win a free trip to Milan basically by winning the global heat touch. Okay, so here is our captain. I mean, I mean, I'm done. But our team member called from Shanghai, another team member. It's Subdelati from Casablanca, yes, we are truly a very good team that is a presentation of our global presence for the MicroMaster. Okay, and we never meet before. We only meet yesterday. So it's amazing, right? But we all speak the same sub-patching language. Thank you for the MicroMaster, MIT explained to us. So I think all of the candidates of the students here now already compete your CFX, get your credential. Congratulations is a big achievement. But what is next to you? I would highly recommend you try the SC4X Global TFC Global Challenge. You should try the coming challenge next year. And you may win a free trip. I don't know where you will host the final next year, but you may win a free trip just like us. Okay, and try this amazing experience. That is a very good simulation game. Basically, you bring all your learning to a real life experience. And we learn how to win as a team instead of individuals. So that's a really good experience. Last but not least, I would like to also thank Chris, Eva, all the colleagues in the CTL to bring the MicroMaster to all of us. Thank you very much. And congratulations. Wow, so cool. I did not have that in my script, so I did not know where they were joining from. So I'm just as surprised as all of you. But congratulations to Lance and their team on the Fresh Connection game. That's really awesome that you are getting to meet each other in person. Even though I'm here in Cambridge, you know, it's I still feel a part of the MicroMaster's team and that connection around the world. So really cool to see that other people are meeting in person. Next, we're going to Germany and hearing from Alessandro. Hi, can you hear me? Can you hear me? Yes, yes. Great. Hi, everyone. First of all, I'd like to again, and Chris, Eva, all the course needs for the amazing program and amazing support. And of course, congratulations to all the MicroMaster holders. That's a great achievement. And for those of you who are in the process, this is such a big opportunity to achieve your dreams if you're passionate about supply chain. I personally started my journey in the MicroMaster about one year ago. At that time, I recently changed job and I had, at that time, a two-year small child. So it was a big time management challenge for me. And I need to thank as well, of course, my family, my wife, to bring me in this process or just to go away for the four hours final exam or mid exam out of the apartment. Allow me to have some consultation in order to do that. As Alexis already mentioned, there's a lot of weekends and night hours behind it. And at the same time, I need for another job, which now I have got in July, and completely fulfills me from supply chain management and the manufacturing standpoint. So as a piece of advice, if you are a young parent and you're trying to achieve this, and you're trying to improve your career, and you see like you have no time, you can really do this. Think about community work. Think about there is a chance to move every little step forward in order to achieve the MicroMaster. And again, thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here. I'm also really excited. And I can say a lot of love. Thank you very much for home because it's doing me a completely new professional purpose. And I'm really thankful for that. Thank you, Alessandro. Next we're joined by Teddy in Mexico City. Well, hi to everybody. I'm Teddy. I'm from Mexico City. And well, now I am a MicroMaster holder. I want to congratulate to everybody who completes the program. And well, I basically want to share my experience as a student. I want to share with you that this is a program that changed your life personally and in a professional way. Of course, in my experience, this program give you a professional experience not only to work in an industry or make a master, for example, but also for a for entrepreneurial projects like my game. During my life, I have been working in personal business. But when I studied this in MicroMaster, I can see that it gives me a lot of knowledge in many, many areas where I can apply it in my business. So this is a very complete program. You're gonna, you have a lot of nice little dreams without sleep, of course. But believe me, this is very, very valuable. I remember when I did the CFX exams, I did not sleep that day. Well, I'm very happy. I'm very happy because now I am a MicroMaster holder. If you have friends or someone who want to study supply chain management, this is a great opportunity. It's great to know a lot of people from all over the world. And well, this is a great opportunity. I want to thank to the Professor Kriska, please, Professor Sheffi and everybody. Thanks for bringing this program to the real life. And well, hope to see you in new adventures. Thanks. Thank you, Teddy, for sharing your words. And I hope that you can get some sleep now that it's all over. You did it. You deserve a nap. Next, we would like to come here to the studio. We are joined in person by Jamie. So Jamie, if you would like to share your words. Thank you. This has been a great course. And as an SAP implementer, I was on the front lines of implementing the theory that we learned in class over the past 18 months. And I remember being very early in one of the meetings, my supply chain, and they almost fell off the chair when I discussed the push and pull strategy and influence of inventory that I heard the night before. My kids think that Dr. Kappelskis, the family member, is a game very nice. But it's very valuable. It made me more successful, faster, greater implementer. And I'm just looking forward to hearing about you and the success of our cohort and probably going to the blended micromancer. All right, Eva, if you would like to step up again and just thank you, everyone, for sharing your experience. And I'll let Eva close. Excellent. So thank you. Thank you for your kind words, for your encouragement. This is going definitely to help us to continue with this program with positive energy. So I want to share with you the latest results we have from a survey that we have conducted among our micromaster holders. We did just when the micromaster holders finished the program and one year later. So I really want to share with you, we asked our micromaster holders about does the credential help you to improve your career? Do we have this slide? Okay, okay. So we asked about if the credential is improving you. So we found that for those people that are looking to grow in their company, to have a promotion in their company, 84% said that the credential helps them to promote in their company. There are also people that have been looking for changing their job and moving to a different company. So for those that was looking into that, 34% said that the credential helped them to apply for a new job in a different company. And we also asked about if the micromaster credential helped you to increase your income. So for those who reported the income, we found that 30% claimed that the credential was an important factor in this increase. They got around a 50% of increase in their program. So whether you are looking for the standalone certificate by itself or whether you are looking for continuing your education in supply chain management, applying to the blended master degree here at MIT or at any other of the scale center in Zaragoza or in Malaysia, this is just a way to start, to start a new career for you. There are also some universities around 20 universities around the world that are recognizing the micromaster credential as a pathway for credit. So there are also local opportunities in different continents. There are universities in Australia, universities in Latin America, universities in Europe, and also in the United States that are now offering credits for the micromaster credential to continue with a master degree. So whichever is your plan, this is just the beginning. It's the beginning to continue your education growing in supply chain management. Also, as September 2018, you are now ambassadors, ambassadors of the credential in supply chain management. So I'm very, very confident that you are going to bring more value to this program as you have done so far with us. We are all very proud of your effort. I want to say finally, thank you to President Raif for his vision and his support to this program. Thanks again to Josie and Chris for supporting this program. A big thank you to the ECX team, to all of the course leaders, Alexis, Sergio, Ima, Sina, and Alex, Dave Correll too. They are dedicating days and nights to this program. So trying to help you and bringing the best learning experience through the micromaster credential. Thank you also to our teaching assistants, Andrea and Bilal, our amazing community of community teaching assistants. These volunteers around the world, Lance was an example of those. Alessandro is another example that are helping us to moderate the forums. Thank you always for your feedback. Thank you always for being active in the discussion forum and for reaching us, reaching Chris, reaching myself and share your experience with us. Based on this feedback, we are trying to improve the program. So do not hesitate to reach any time to us and share your feedback with us. So with that, as I mentioned, this is the beginning for you, for a new career in supply chain management. Congratulations to everyone and please join me to congratulate them again. Thank you. Thank you, Arthur.