Karenna Groff

A former MIT soccer player and the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year.

Karenna Groff was born and raised in Weston, Massachusetts, and graduated from Weston High School in 2018. At MIT, she earned a bachelor’s degree in biological engineering in 2022 and a master’s in biomedical engineering. Groff was a two-time captain of the women’s soccer team and an All-American player, leading the team to multiple conference championships and NCAA tournament appearances. She co-founded openPPE during the COVID-19 pandemic to design protective masks for essential workers. After graduating from MIT, she moved to Manhattan to study medicine at New York University.

Tragically, Karenna Groff died in a plane crash in Copake, New York, on April 12, 2025. The private plane, a twin-engine Mitsubishi MU-2B, crashed in a muddy field, killing all six people on board, including her parents, Dr. Michael Groff and Dr. Joy Saini, her brother Jared Groff, his partner Alexia Couyutas Duarte, and her boyfriend James Santoro.