Hana Sousa, a senior in chemical engineering who grew up at the confluence of the Rio Negro and the Amazon River, learned some important lessons as the leader of MIT's Brazilian Students Association. Now president of the Association of Student Activities (ASA) ' the organization that oversees all student clubs on campus ' she is using what she's learned to help hundreds of student groups navigate the intricacies of Institute policies. The ASA serves as a bridge between MIT and all 359 of the Institute's student clubs and groups, which are organized around topics ranging from acroyoga to model railroads to yearbook. Sousa likes to focus on how to get things done; in this interview she talks about how she works closely with Institute staff and her fellow students to help club leaders, and also takes part in water-treatment research that can be applied to the Amazon River and her hometown. A: I was president of the Brazilian Club. I'm from Manaus, a 2-million-person city in the North...
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