News

Celebrating five years of MIT.nano

November 27, 2023

There is vast opportunity for nanoscale innovation to transform the world in positive ways — expressed MIT.nano Director Vladimir Bulović as he posed two questions to attendees at the start of the inaugural Nano Summit: “Where are we heading? And what is the next big thing we can develop?” “The answer to that puts into […]

MIT students build connections with Black and Indigenous Brazilians to investigate culture and the environment

November 27, 2023

In January 2024, at the height of Brazil’s summer, a group of 20 MIT undergraduates will arrive in São Paulo, Brazil, for the Independent Activities Period (IAP) course WGS.247/21L.592 (Race, Place, and Modernity in the Americas) jointly offered by the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences’ programs in Women’s and Gender Studies, Literature, and Writing.  Continuing a program developed […]

A green hydrogen innovation for clean energy

November 27, 2023

Renewable energy today — mainly derived from the sun or wind — depends on batteries for storage. While costs have dropped in recent years, the pursuit of more efficient means of storing renewable power continues. “All of these technologies, unfortunately, have a long way to go,” said Sossina Haile SB ’86, PhD ’92, the Walter […]

Richard Fletcher named a 2023 Packard Fellow

November 27, 2023

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation has announced that atomic physicist Richard Fletcher, assistant professor of physics and a researcher at MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms (CUA) and the MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE), has been named a 2023 Packard Fellow for Science and Engineering. The Packard Foundation Fellowships are one of the most prestigious and […]

Judgment, reason, and the university

November 22, 2023

At a time when universities are subject to intense political pressure, it is tempting to think they can follow a template for establishing to all concerned that educational institutions are neutral entities. But circumstances will almost always complicate such efforts, MIT Professor Malick Ghachem suggested in a recent public lecture. The talk focused on the […]

Liberty Ladd: Going above and beyond

November 22, 2023

Liberty Ladd has been drawn to public service and fighting injustice from a young age. At 15, as a student representative from the first congressional district of Maine, she testified to the state board of education about unfair grading policies at her school. Later, she decided to join the Air Force, with the understanding that […]

Scholarship keeps John F. Kennedy’s legacy alive at MIT

November 21, 2023

About 20 miles west of London, the meadow of Runnymede hosts a memorial to John F. Kennedy, dedicated by Queen Elizabeth II two years after the U.S. president’s assassination on Nov. 22, 1963. Situated on land bequeathed in perpetuity to the American people, the memorial overlooks the riverbank where the Magna Carta — a pivotal […]

A civil discourse on climate change

November 21, 2023

A new MIT initiative designed to encourage open dialogue on campus kicked off with a conversation focused on how to address challenges related to climate change. “Climate Change: Existential Threat or Bump in the Road” featured Steve Koonin, theoretical physicist and former U.S. undersecretary for science during the Obama administration, and Kerry Emanuel, professor emeritus […]

Students pitch transformative ideas in generative AI at MIT Ignite competition

November 21, 2023

This semester, students and postdocs across MIT were invited to submit ideas for the first-ever MIT Ignite: Generative AI Entrepreneurship Competition. Over 100 teams submitted proposals for startups that utilize generative artificial intelligence technologies to develop solutions across a diverse range of disciplines including human health, climate change, education, and workforce dynamics. On Oct. 30, […]

Merging science and systems thinking to make materials more sustainable

November 21, 2023

For Professor Elsa Olivetti, tackling a problem as large and complex as climate change requires not only lab research but also understanding the systems of production that power the global economy. Her career path reflects a quest to investigate materials at scales ranging from the microscopic to the mass-manufactured. “I’ve always known what questions I […]