President Sally Kornbluth’s charge to the Class of 2024
Below is the text of President Sally Kornbluth’s Commencement remarks, as prepared for delivery today. Penny, and Mikala — thank you both, for your reflections today, and for your leadership in our community. Good afternoon, everyone. It’s customary, on this day of celebration, for the president to deliver a “charge” to the graduating class. In […]
Commencement address by Noubar Afeyan PhD ’87
Below is the text of MIT alumnus Noubar Afeyan’s Commencement remarks, as prepared for delivery on May 30. Thank you, Mark, for that generous but somewhat embarrassing introduction. President Kornbluth, trustees and faculty, students and families, guests, and members of this remarkable community of scholars and solvers: It’s a special honor to be with you […]
Modeling the threat of nuclear war
It’s a question that occupies significant bandwidth in the world of nuclear arms security: Could hypersonic missiles, which fly at speeds of least five times the speed of sound, increase the likelihood of nuclear war? Eli Sanchez, who recently completed his doctoral studies at MIT’s Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE), explored these harrowing […]
A Thoreau-ly nice day trip
The idea of a day trip always makes me feel nostalgic of my childhood. I picture a car ride, a picnic, and a day spent in parks or museums. Now, as an adult, I think day trips are also ideal for grad students, since they are mini vacations when you don’t have the time or […]
2024: Alex Schmid & Eppa Rixey
Fourth-year Operations Research PhD student Alex Schmid’s efforts as a teacher in the classroom had a tremendous impact on the learning experience of her students. Schmid has served as a teaching assistant, instructor of record, and session instructor in three courses at MIT, including coordinating an eight-session course as well as designing a workshop for […]
Using art and science to depict the MIT family from 1861 to the present
In MIT.nano’s laboratories, researchers use silicon wafers as the platform to shape transformative technologies such as quantum circuitry, microfluidic devices, or energy-harvesting structures. But these substrates can also serve as a canvas for an artist, as MIT Professor W. Craig Carter demonstrates in the latest One.MIT mosaic. The One.MIT project celebrates the people of MIT […]
A community collaboration for progress
While decades of discriminatory policies and practices continue to fuel the affordable housing crisis in the United States, less than three miles from the MIT campus exists a beacon of innovation and community empowerment. “We are very proud to continue MIT’s long-standing partnership with Camfield Estates,” says Catherine D’Ignazio, associate professor of urban science and […]
MIT scholars will take commercial break with entrepreneurial scholarship
Two MIT scholars, each with a strong entrepreneurial drive, have received 2024 Kavanaugh Fellowship awards, advancing their quest to turn pioneering research into profitable commercial enterprises. The Kavanaugh Translational Fellows Program gives scholars training to lead organizations that will bring their research to market. PhD candidates Grant Knappe and Arjav Shah are this year’s recipients. […]
Measure twice, cut once, then force it to fit
It was during last year’s Independent Activities Period, also popularly known as IAP, when I came across the woodworking class taught by Lee Zamir. I was browsing through classes that were offered during IAP, scouting for fun ones. The woodworking course, offered by Project Manus, caught my eye because it seemed like the polar opposite […]
NSF GRFP Presentation – Prospective and Applying Fellows
We will host a presentation providing an overview of the NSF GRFP at MIT for students looking to apply to the NSF this fall!
Making steel with electricity
Steel is one of the most useful materials on the planet. A backbone of modern life, it’s used in skyscrapers, cars, airplanes, bridges, and more. Unfortunately, steelmaking is an extremely dirty process. The most common way it’s produced involves mining iron ore, reducing it in a blast furnace through the addition of coal, and then […]
2024 MAD Design Fellows announced
Since its launch in 2022, the MIT Morningside Academy for Design (MAD) has supported MIT graduate students with a fellowship, allowing recipients to pursue design research and projects while creating community. Pulling from different corners of design, they explore solutions in fields such as sustainability, health, architecture, urban planning, engineering, and social justice. On May […]
Eleven from MIT awarded 2024 Fulbright fellowships
Eleven MIT undergraduates, graduate students, and alumni have won Fulbright grants to embark on projects overseas in the 2024-25 grant cycle. Two other students were offered awards but declined them to pursue other opportunities. Funded by the U.S. Department of State, the Fulbright U.S. Student Program offers year-long opportunities for American citizen students and recent […]
Trying to make the grade
As of 2015, about one-third of all 15-year-old students in Latin America lacked rudimentary literacy and math skills, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Those students may have been enrolled in school, but they were not getting an education. “They’re essentially condemned to a life of unskilled jobs,” says MIT professor of […]
Navigating longevity with industry leaders at MIT AgeLab PLAN Forum
How can people better imagine and plan for their future selves? A two-day event hosted at MIT featured two chief executives at the forefront of an emerging industry centered around helping the public prepare for longer lives. Karen Lynch, CEO of CVS, and Penny Pennington, managing partner at Edward Jones, were the opening speakers for […]
Jeong Min Park earns 2024 Schmidt Science Fellowship
Physics graduate student Jeong Min (Jane) Park is among the 32 exceptional early-career scientists worldwide chosen to receive the prestigious 2024 Schmidt Science Fellows award. As a 2024 Schmidt Science Fellow, Park’s postdoctoral work will seek to directly detect phases that could host new particles by employing an instrument that can visualize subatomic-scale phenomena. […]
John Joannopoulos receives 2024-2025 Killian Award
John Joannopoulos, an innovator and mentor in the fields of theoretical condensed matter physics and nanophotonics, has been named the recipient of the 2024-2025 James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award. Joannopoulos is the Francis Wright Davis Professor of Physics and director of MIT’s Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies. He has been a member of the […]
The MIT Bike Lab: A place for community, hands-on learning
Bianca Champenois SM ’22 learned to ride a bike when she was 5 years old. She can still hear her sister yelling “equal elbows!” as she pushed her off into the street. Although she started young, her love of bikes really materialized when she was in college. Champenois studied mechanical engineering (MechE) at the University […]
Robotic “SuperLimbs” could help moonwalkers recover from falls
Need a moment of levity? Try watching videos of astronauts falling on the moon. NASA’s outtakes of Apollo astronauts tripping and stumbling as they bounce in slow motion are delightfully relatable. For MIT engineers, the lunar bloopers also highlight an opportunity to innovate. “Astronauts are physically very capable, but they can struggle on the moon, […]
3 Questions: Technology roadmapping in teaching and industry
Innovation is rarely accidental. Behind every new invention and product, including the device you are using to read this story, is years of research, investment, and planning. Organizations that want to reach these milestones in the fastest and most efficient way possible use technology roadmaps. Olivier de Weck, the Apollo Program Professor of Astronautics and […]
Five MIT faculty elected to the National Academy of Sciences for 2024
The National Academy of Sciences has elected 120 members and 24 international members, including five faculty members from MIT. Guoping Feng, Piotr Indyk, Daniel J. Kleitman, Daniela Rus, and Senthil Todadri were elected in recognition of their “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.” Membership to the National Academy of Sciences is one of the […]
Professor Emeritus Jerome Connor, pioneer in structural mechanics, dies at 91
Jerome J. Connor ’53, SM ’54, ScD ’59, professor emeritus in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and a member of the MIT faculty since 1959, died on March 31. He was 91 years old. Over a remarkable career spanning nearly six decades at the Institute, Connor was a prolific scholar and highly respected […]
Hannah Hanemann
As a member of the OGE GradAdmissions team, I work on projects that affect the applicant experience and our application policies. I love the Real Housewives franchises and my cat, Millie, loves to watch reunions with Andy Cohen!
MIT’s Master of Applied Science in Data, Economics, and Design of Policy program adds a public policy track
MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and Department of Economics have announced an expansion of their jointly administered Master of Applied Science in Data, Economics, and Design of Policy (DEDP) program. This expansion adds a new public policy track to complement the existing international development track, opening up new avenues for student learning […]
Four from MIT named 2024 Knight-Hennessy Scholars
MIT senior Owen Dugan, graduate student Vittorio Colicci ’22, predoctoral research fellow Carine You ’22, and recent alumna Carina Letong Hong ’22 are recipients of this year’s Knight-Hennessy Scholarships. The competitive fellowship, now in its seventh year, funds up to three years of graduate studies in any field at Stanford University. To date, 22 MIT […]
The power of App Inventor: Democratizing possibilities for mobile applications
In June 2007, Apple unveiled the first iPhone. But the company made a strategic decision about iPhone software: its new App Store would be a walled garden. An iPhone user wouldn’t be able to install applications that Apple itself hadn’t vetted, at least not without breaking Apple’s terms of service. That business decision, however, left […]
From steel engineering to ovarian tumor research
Ashutosh Kumar is a classically trained materials engineer. Having grown up with a passion for making things, he has explored steel design and studied stress fractures in alloys. Throughout Kumar’s education, however, he was also drawn to biology and medicine. When he was accepted into an undergraduate metallurgical engineering and materials science program at Indian […]
Professor Emeritus David Lanning, nuclear engineer and key contributor to the MIT Reactor, dies at 96
David Lanning, MIT professor emeritus of nuclear science and engineering and a key contributor to the MIT Reactor project, passed away on April 26 at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Massachusetts, at the age of 96. Born in Baker, Oregon, on March 30, 1928, Lanning graduated in 1951 from the University of Oregon with a […]
MIT Supply Chain Management Program earns top honors in three 2024 rankings
MIT’s Supply Chain Management (SCM) Master’s Program, housed within the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics (CTL) at the Institute’s School of Engineering, has been named top master’s program for supply chain management for 2024 by three leading global rankings institutions: QS World University Rankings, Eduniversal, and Supply Chain Digital. QS World University Rankings, recognized […]
How AI might shape LGBTQIA+ advocacy
“AI Comes Out of the Closet” is a large learning model (LLM)-based online system that leverages artificial intelligence-generated dialog and virtual characters to create complex social interaction simulations. These simulations allow users to experiment with and refine their approach to LGBTQIA+ advocacy in a safe and controlled environment. The research is both personal and political to lead […]
Two MIT PhD students awarded J-WAFS fellowships for their research on water
Since 2014, the Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS) has advanced interdisciplinary research aimed at solving the world’s most pressing water and food security challenges to meet human needs. In 2017, J-WAFS established the Rasikbhai L. Meswani Water Solutions Fellowship and the J-WAFS Graduate Student Fellowship. These fellowships provide support to outstanding […]
This sound-suppressing silk can create quiet spaces
We are living in a very noisy world. From the hum of traffic outside your window to the next-door neighbor’s blaring TV to sounds from a co-worker’s cubicle, unwanted noise remains a resounding problem. To cut through the din, an interdisciplinary collaboration of researchers from MIT and elsewhere developed a sound-suppressing silk fabric that could […]
Exploring frontiers of mechanical engineering
From cutting-edge robotics, design, and bioengineering to sustainable energy solutions, ocean engineering, nanotechnology, and innovative materials science, MechE students and their advisors are doing incredibly innovative work. The graduate students highlighted here represent a snapshot of the great work in progress this spring across the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and demonstrate the ways the future […]
Fostering research, careers, and community in materials science
Gabrielle Wood, a junior at Howard University majoring in chemical engineering, is on a mission to improve the sustainability and life cycles of natural resources and materials. Her work in the Materials Initiative for Comprehensive Research Opportunity (MICRO) program has given her hands-on experience with many different aspects of research, including MATLAB programming, experimental design, […]
The art of balance: A myth or reality?
As a graduate student at MIT, the concept of balance is often discussed as something we should strive for. But is it truly achievable? Can we truly balance our academic responsibilities, research projects, and personal lives? As someone who enjoys nature, exercise, traveling, cooking, and other non-research related activities, I was curious to find a […]
Science communication competition brings research into the real world
Laurence Willemet remembers countless family dinners where curious faces turned to her with shades of the same question: “What is it, exactly, that you do with robots?” It’s a familiar scenario for MIT students exploring topics outside of their family’s scope of knowledge — distilling complex concepts without slides or jargon, plumbing the depths with nothing […]
