News

Mark Rober to deliver MIT’s 2023 Commencement address

December 8, 2022

Mark Rober, a NASA engineer-turned-internet celebrity whose hugely popular videos celebrate problem-solving, determination, and having fun while learning, will deliver the address at the OneMIT Commencement Ceremony on Thursday, June 1. Also an entrepreneur and educator, Rober is best-known for his successful YouTube channel, which hosts videos with title such as “Egg Drop From Space” […]

Holding space for tough topics

December 7, 2022

MIT professor Michael Birnbaum strives to prepare his students for success, from day one of graduate school through embarking on an enriching career path. For the thoughtfulness and depth of his feedback, the variety of different career paths he exposes students to, and his far-reaching inclusiveness within both his lab and his greater department, he […]

Educating future naval leaders

December 7, 2022

Since 1901, MIT has offered a graduate program unlike any other at the Institute. The Naval Construction and Engineering program in the Department of Mechanical Engineering educates active duty officers in the U.S. Navy, U.S Coast Guard, and foreign navies. Every year, the U.S. Navy chooses 10 officers to enroll in the program, which is […]

School of Science appoints 10 faculty to named professorships

December 5, 2022

The School of Science has announced that 10 of its faculty members have been appointed to named professorships. The faculty members selected for these positions receive additional support to pursue their research and develop their careers. Camilla Cattania has been named a Cecil and Ida Green Career Development Professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric […]

MacGregor House gains a well-being graduate resident advisor

December 5, 2022

The noise of a construction site often annoys the people living and working nearby. But at MIT, it can lead to creativity and innovation. Such was the case with the creation of the new well-being graduate resident advisor (WGRA) role at MacGregor House. With the construction of a new apartment in the residence hall, heads-of-house […]

Using game engines and “twins” to co-create stories of climate futures

December 1, 2022

Imagine entering a 3D virtual story world that’s a digital twin of an existing physical space but also doubles as a vessel to dream up speculative climate stories and collective designs. Then, those imagined worlds are translated back into concrete plans for our physical spaces. Five multidisciplinary teams recently convened at MIT — virtually — […]

Ushering in a new era of computing

November 30, 2022

As a graduate student doing his master’s thesis on speech recognition at the MIT AI Lab (now the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory), Dan Huttenlocher worked closely with Professor Victor Zue. Well known for pioneering the development of systems that enable an user to interact with computers using spoken language, Zue traveled frequently […]

A breakthrough on “loss and damage,” but also disappointment, at UN climate conference

November 29, 2022

As 2022 United Nations climate change conference, known as COP27, stretched into its final hours on Saturday, Nov. 19, it was uncertain what kind of agreement might emerge from two weeks of intensive international negotiations. In the end, COP27 produced mixed results: on the one hand, a historic agreement for wealthy countries to compensate low-income […]

Lessons in innovation based on values of the Cherokee Nation

November 29, 2022

Traditional Cherokee community values can broadly be condensed into four primary teachings that have guided members of the community through life and its challenges for centuries, two members of the Cherokee nation told an MIT audience last week. Be respectful and curious; observe and learn from your environment; take time to think about and find […]

MIT Policy Hackathon produces new solutions for technology policy challenges

November 28, 2022

Almost three years ago, the Covid-19 pandemic changed the world. Many are still looking to uncover a “new normal.” “Instead of going back to normal, [there’s a new generation that] wants to build back something different, something better,” says Jorge Sandoval, a second-year graduate student in MIT’s Technology and Policy Program (TPP) at the Institute […]