The plastic bottle you just tossed in the recycling bin could provide structural support for your future house.MIT engineers are using recycled plastic to 3D print construction-grade beams, trusses, and other structural elements that could one day offer lighter, modular, and more sustainable alternatives to traditional wood-based framing.In a paper published in the Solid FreeForm […]
Brian Hedden PhD ’12 has been appointed co-associate dean of the Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing (SERC) at MIT, a cross-cutting initiative in the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, effective Jan. 16. Hedden is a professor in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, holding an MIT Schwarzman College of Computing shared position with the […]
Dean of Engineering Paula Hammond ’84 PhD ’93 made a resounding call for the MIT community to “embrace endless hope” and “never stop looking forward,” in a keynote address at the Institute’s annual MLK Celebration on Wednesday, Feb. 11. “We each have a role to play in contributing to our future, and we each must […]
Keeril Makan has been appointed vice provost for the arts at MIT, effective Feb. 1. In this role, Makan, who is the Michael (1949) and Sonja Koerner Music Composition Professor at MIT, will provide leadership and strategic direction for the arts across the Institute. Provost Anantha Chandrakasan announced Makan’s appointment in an email to the […]
Collaborators from across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts came together in December for a daylong summit of the Massachusetts Prison Education Consortium (MPEC), hosted by the Educational Justice Institute (TEJI) at MIT. Held at MIT’s Walker Memorial, the summit aimed to expand access to high-quality education for incarcerated learners and featured presentations by leaders alongside strategy […]
On his desk, Bryan Bryson ’07, PhD ’13 still has the notes he used for the talk he gave at MIT when he interviewed for a faculty position in biological engineering. On that sheet, he outlined the main question he wanted to address in his lab: How do immune cells kill bacteria? Since starting his […]
Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics at MIT, has won the 2025 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Basic Sciences for “discoveries concerning the ‘magic angle’ that allows the behavior of new materials to be transformed and controlled.” He shares the 400,000-euro award with Allan MacDonald of the University of […]
MIT Professor Emeritus Richard O. Hynes PhD ’71, a cancer biologist whose discoveries reshaped modern understandings of how cells interact with each other and their environment, passed away on Jan. 6. He was 81. Hynes is best known for his discovery of integrins, a family of cell-surface receptors essential to cell–cell and cell–matrix adhesion. He […]
Robert Liebeck, a professor of the practice in the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and one of the world’s leading experts on aircraft design, aerodynamics, and hydrodynamics, died on Jan. 12 at age 87. “Bob was a mentor and dear friend to so many faculty, alumni, and researchers at AeroAstro over the course of […]
Gemstones like precious opal are beautiful to look at and deceivingly complex. As you look at such gems from different angles, you’ll see a variety of tints glisten, causing you to question what color the rock actually is. It’s iridescent thanks to something called structural color — microscopic structures that reflect light to produce radiant […]
