Bethesda Father-Son Duo Graduate From MIT

BETHESDA, MD — The phrase "like father, like son" has a special meaning for the Solomon family.

On May 29, Bethesda resident Dr. Michael Solomon and his son, Samuel, graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

"I came to MIT for its unique combination of liberal arts and sciences. It provided an opportunity to explore all of the disciplines of science, which is important to me because my long-term goal is to pursue a career in aerospace and space medicine," Samuel, who majored in chemistry-biology and physics, said.

After seeing his son succeed at MIT, Michael decided to pursue his MBA.

"I had visited a lot of colleges for my three children and MIT stood out to me as a special place. It is an amazing community. Many parents have a desire for their children to attend their alma mater, but we flipped the script when I came to MIT," he said.

Michael — who is now a senior research physician at the National Institutes of Health — said Samuel helped him adjust to college life by loading his computer with software and providing notes with directions and formulas.

"It was nice to go through the experience together and know that I wasn't alone in staying up all night to study and prepare for tests," Samuel said.

After graduating, Samuel became a research assistant at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. He will pursue a PhD at Caltech in the fall before returning to MIT for his MBA.