A search engine for shapes

Born and raised in Shanghai, Tan came to MIT to study high-energy astrophysics and wrote his dissertation on computational modeling of neutron stars. "Coming from China at that time, I had very little experience with computers," he says. "I was fortunate to find many helpful students during my time there." Tan also met his wife, Hong (Zhang) Tan, SM '88, PhD '96, at MIT. The pair were married in the MIT Chapel and today have two sons.