News

National Student Parent Month: Nicholas Maurer

September 3, 2026

One graduate student family treasures the community they found alongside other MIT student parents Nicholas MaurerFamily: Children Elaine (5) and Zachary (3), and wife Andrea.Degree program: PhD in Data, Systems, and SocietyYears at MIT: 2 For Nicholas Maurer, an international PhD student from Australia pursuing his degree in Data, Systems, and Society, MIT was a […]

A new kind of aircraft departs an MIT classroom and arrives at an Ohio factory

September 1, 2026

A former MIT class project is becoming an $850 million effort to manufacture a new kind of aircraft in Ohio. Electra began as an idea for a hybrid plane that could take off from shorter runways than traditional airplanes but have more range and speed than all-electric aircraft. Now, like other great MIT projects, it’s […]

Gage Coon: An Earth scientist exploring the power of microbes

September 1, 2026

Growing up in Waverly, Tennessee, Gage Coon spent much of his childhood outside. His family had everything from chickens to horses and even an emu named Big Bird. Coon and his cousins would explore the woods surrounding their home, and his father, a mechanic, taught him how to build and repair things around the house. […]

How MIT Sandbox has turned student ideas into $8.7 billion in global impact

September 1, 2026

Although Jacob Becraft had two swings and two misses when he first tried to become an entrepreneur as a graduate student, the MIT Sandbox Innovation Fund Program allowed him to keep at it. This especially benefited cancer patients, as Becraft went on to co-found Strand Therapeutics: a $550-million firm whose programmable mRNA drug has shrunk […]

How an MIT graduate student helped a team of young scientists test their experiment at CERN

September 1, 2026

This past spring, MIT physics graduate student Manu Srivastava opened an email from a group of high school students in India he had never met. They were hoping to enter Beamline for Schools, an international competition that gives secondary school students the chance to design and carry out experiments using particle accelerator beams. And they […]

MIT Quantum Initiative launches postdoctoral fellowship program

September 1, 2026

The MIT Quantum Initiative (QMIT) has launched a new postdoctoral fellowship program to accelerate interdisciplinary quantum research and develop the next generation of scientific leaders working at the frontiers of quantum science and technology. Supported by a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the program reflects QMIT’s vision of expanding the boundaries of quantum […]

Translating economic growth into better lives

September 1, 2026

Solving complex social problems with multiple interrelated causes can involve juggling a variety of factors. Securing funding, designing the right programs, and sustaining the political will necessary to implement them demands a targeted approach. Lyonel Tanganco, a graduate student in MIT’s Master in Data, Economics, and Design of Policy (DEDP) program, seeks to connect data, policy, […]

Ila Kumar: Innovating with communities

September 1, 2026

Before Ila Kumar thinks about how to build technology, she asks a different question: What is the context that technology will operate in, and who needs to be involved in the design?  For Kumar, meaningful innovation doesn’t result from engineers or designers working in isolation. Instead, she believes the best innovations emerge when the people […]

Featured video: An “MIT story” about an iconic professor

August 12, 2026

A new short film spotlights the life and career of MIT Institute Professor and School of Engineering Dean Paula Hammond ’84, PhD ’93. The documentary, “Full Circle: Paula Hammond at MIT,” traces Hammond’s path from childhood in Detroit, Michigan, to her arrival at MIT at 16 years old, to her evolution into a pioneering researcher […]

Met Warehouse opens as the new home of MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning

August 12, 2026

It is a transformation for the ages: The Metropolitan Storage Warehouse in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is opening as the new home of MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning, after a makeover turning the century-old storage facility into a light-infused center for teaching, research, and public engagement. The massive structure is a unique addition to daily life at […]