Wait, there’s a fun scale?
As a statistics-loving graduate student, I am prone to quantifying everything. I have a tracking app for my running mileage, a separate one for my sleeping hours, and even a custom spreadsheet to grade fried hot chicken I’ve tried in Boston. One of the only areas of my life I don’t quantify is the nebulous […]
How to hang in there
I was skimming the schedule of a conference last week when I saw the last thing any 6th year PhD student wants to see: a title that could describe my project, on someone else’s abstract. I froze with dread. Did I just get scooped? No: the other project used a different experimental approach in a […]
Recreating the taste of home
“Do you need anything from home?” say my parents whenever we chat, asking if I wanted anything to be mailed. “I’m good!” I usually reply. There was one thing I missed from home, but it certainly couldn’t be mailed—the bakeries. Every visit to an Asian bakery was reminiscent of childhood memories of visiting the warm, […]
How a tree decided where I live
It was a hot summer day in India, and I was holding my dad’s arms and standing in front of this old tree. My young mind was fascinated by the wrinkled bark and well spread branches tearing through the sky. He hoisted me into the air to pluck a lime from the tree, but suddenly […]
Tomatoes, parmesan, bread… oh, my!
Focaccia – Your favorite (or soon to be favorite) dimpled bread that seems to have taken the world by storm recently. For those who haven’t heard of it, focaccia is a type of Italian oven-baked bread famous for its distinctive dimpled crust. It can be served in many ways, but my personal favorite is just […]
The White House is on the phone
President Jimmy Carter conceded the 1980 election earlier than expected. Ronald Reagan recounted, “I never dreamed it would be in the late afternoon when I was taking a shower, standing there dripping wet, that Nancy told me the White House was on the phone.” A year ago I received an email from another white-columned place, […]
Reactivating
As a budding biologist, I am familiar with the way metaphor is employed to effectively communicate scientific concepts. For example, the molecule of the moment is messenger RNA, whose name represents the fact that mRNA is a transient molecule that transports information from the genome to the ribosome (the protein-making machinery), where it is translated […]
QS World University Rankings rates MIT No. 1 in 12 subjects for 2022
MIT has earned a No. 1 spot in 12 subject areas, according to the QS World University Rankings for 2022, announced today. The Institute received a No. 1 ranking in the following QS subject areas: Architecture/Built Environment; Chemistry; Computer Science and Information Systems; Chemical Engineering; Civil and Structural Engineering; Electrical and Electronic Engineering; Materials Science; […]
Letter regarding graduate student unionization election
The following letter was sent to MIT graduate students, and subsequently shared with the wider MIT community, today by Chancellor Melissa Nobles and Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate and Graduate Education Ian A. Waitz. To MIT graduate students, The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has counted the ballots from the graduate student unionization election held on […]
Dan Huttenlocher ponders our human future in an age of artificial intelligence
What does it mean to be human in an age where artificial intelligence agents make decisions that shape human actions? That’s a deep question with no easy answers, and it’s been on the mind of Dan Huttenlocher SM ’84, PhD ’88, dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, for the past few years. “Advances […]
Credit Cards 101
11:30am – 12:30pm EasternLearn the basics of getting a credit card. Learn what credit cards can do for you and what penalties you could face if you are not careful.Conducted by Alexander Kossak, Graduate Community Fellow
Featured video: L. Rafael Reif on the power of education
MIT President L. Rafael Reif recently joined Raúl Rodríguez, associate vice president of internationalization at Tecnológico de Monterrey, for a wide-ranging fireside chat about the power of education and its impact in addressing global issues, even more so in a post pandemic world. “When I was younger, my parents used to always tell me and my […]
Kickback Series: A Black at MIT Sloan experience
At the MIT Sloan School of Management, Lena Hairadin, a second-year MBA candidate and co-president of the MIT Sloan Black Business Students Association (BBSA), took an avid interest in uncovering opportunities for improving the Black MBA experience and the pipeline of underrepresented MBA candidates. As part of BBSA’s leadership team, Hairadin and other members of […]
“Yulia’s Dream” to support young, at-risk Ukrainian students of mathematics
Millions have fled the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and for those who are staying, schools are closed. While refugee-supporting programs focus on immediate needs, the Department of Mathematics’ MIT PRIMES program plans to use its resources to support the mathematics education of Ukrainian high school students. In honor of Yulia Zdanovska, a 21-year-old Ukrainian mathematician […]
Reversing hearing loss with regenerative therapy
Most of us know someone affected by hearing loss, but we may not fully appreciate the hardships that lack of hearing can bring. Hearing loss can lead to isolation, frustration, and a debilitating ringing in the ears known as tinnitus. It is also closely correlated with dementia. The biotechnology company Frequency Therapeutics is seeking to […]
MIT graduate engineering, business, science programs ranked highly by U.S. News for 2023
MIT’s graduate program in engineering has again topped the list of U.S. News and World Report’s annual rankings, released today. The program has held the No. 1 spot since 1990, when the magazine first published these rankings. The MIT Sloan School of Management also placed highly, landing in the No. 5 spot for the best […]
A new era in MIT community philanthropy and service
After decades of close collaboration and partnership, the MIT Community Service Fund (CSF) and Community Giving at MIT have officially joined forces under the CSF banner to continue their pursuit of philanthropic leadership across the Institute and Greater Boston. Prior to the merger, Community Giving had served as MIT’s workplace giving program. While the two […]
Athulya Aravind
While her research focuses on the study of language acquisition, MIT professor Athulya Aravind also helps her students acquire the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in their field. Aravind is an assistant professor of linguistics at MIT and serves as the co-director of the Language Acquisition Lab. She studies children’s developing understanding of […]
Karthish Manthiram
Although his professional expertise lies in developing chemical catalysts, MIT Visiting Professor Karthish Manthiram also makes sure to catalyze positive relationships with his graduate students. Manthiram is concluding his appointment as an assistant professor of chemical engineering at MIT. He is the principal investigator for the Manthiram Lab, which focuses on developing and producing key […]
Leading industry toward sustainability and equity
Just a year after graduating from the MIT Leaders for Global Operations program (LGO), Janelle Heslop SM ’19, MBA ’19 found herself entrusted by Amgen to lead a team determining where the company would put its next $1 billion manufacturing facilities. With her passion for sustainability, Heslop relished the chance to take on what she […]
Last-minute pivot leads to record-setting Microsystems Annual Research Conference
Graduate student co-chairs Jatin Patil and Kruthika Kikkeri had big plans for the 18th annual Microsystems Annual Research Conference (MARC) in January 2022: After last year’s all-virtual event, students, faculty, staff, and industry partners would again be able to gather in person to chart the future of microsystems and nanotechnology. Then the pandemic took another […]
Nilma Dominique aims to build community and nourish the soul
Nilma Dominique makes it her mission to build bonds of community — whether it is in a language classroom at MIT, where she teaches Portuguese, more broadly across the Institute, or in the community at large. Dominique was one of four honorees recently awarded an MLK Jr. Leadership Award in recognition of her work embodying […]
Investing in a stronger MIT
MIT plans to make significant investments in the next fiscal year to support the Institute community, strengthen its research enterprise, and enhance its digital and physical infrastructure. The Institute announced in October that its pooled investments recorded a return of 55.5 percent — the strongest annual performance in more than 20 years — bringing the […]
Learning to fly
Andrea Henshall, a retired major in the U.S. Air Force and current MIT PhD student, has completed seven tours of combat, two years of aerial circus performance, and three higher education degrees (so far). But throughout each step of her journey, all roads seemed to point to MIT. Currently working on her doctoral degree with […]
MIT Morningside Academy for Design created as a new hub for cross-disciplinary education, research, and innovation
MIT President L. Rafael Reif today announced the creation of the MIT Morningside Academy for Design, a major interdisciplinary center that will build on the Institute’s leadership in design-focused education and become a global hub for design research, thinking, and entrepreneurship. The new academy, which aims to foster collaboration and innovation on campus, will be […]
Historic entrepreneurship course shows no signs of slowing down
In a process that has taken place for more than 60 years at MIT, this week a group of students gathered to practice entrepreneurship at a whirlwind pace designed to mimic the steep learning curve required to start a company. MIT’s course 15.390 (New Enterprises) has been held every year since 1961 — a time […]
Yen-Jie Lee probes particle collision data for clues to the universe’s origins
When Yen-Jie Lee came to MIT as a graduate student in 2006, it was a bit of a culture shock. The aspiring particle physicist had studied physics at National Taiwan University before his career took a hiatus in the forested mountains of Taiwan. There, he worked as a marine corps lieutenant to fulfill the nation’s […]
Using nature’s structures in wooden buildings
Concern about climate change has focused significant attention on the buildings sector, in particular on the extraction and processing of construction materials. The concrete and steel industries together are responsible for as much as 15 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. In contrast, wood provides a natural form of carbon sequestration, so there’s a move […]
From bench to biotech
Kendall Square has been called the most innovative square mile in the United States, in part due to the high density of biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies in the MIT-adjacent neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts — but more so thanks to the generations of MIT-trained doctoral students who have pursued careers in these local companies after graduation. […]
MIT ReACT welcomes first Afghan cohort to its largest-yet certificate program
Through the championing support of the faculty and leadership of the MIT Afghan Working Group convened last September by Provost Martin Schmidt and chaired by Associate Provost for International Activities Richard Lester, MIT has come together to support displaced Afghan learners and scholars in a time of crisis. The MIT Refugee Action Hub (ReACT) has […]
MIT Center for Real Estate launches the Asia Real Estate Initiative
To appreciate the explosive urbanization taking place in Asia, consider this analogy: Every 40 days, a city the equivalent size of Boston is built in Asia. Of the $24.7 trillion real estate investment opportunities predicted by 2030 in emerging cities, $17.8 trillion (72 percent) will be in Asia. While this growth is exciting to the […]
MIT community stands with Ukraine at candlelight rally
People from across MIT gathered outside the Student Center on March 3 for a candlelight rally to support MIT’s Ukrainian community and condemn attacks on Ukraine by Russian forces. “It was great to see so many people that I’ve never met before come together,” said Ukrainian third-year student Mariia Smyk. “It was such a powerful […]
Leveraging schools for political influence
“When I began graduate school, the issue of states losing control over their central functions piqued my interest,” says Blair Read, a sixth-year doctoral candidate in political science. To tackle such a broad agenda, she zeroed in on the case of private schooling. “It has exploded worldwide, especially in lower- and middle-income countries, and I’m […]
Unlocking new doors to artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence research is constantly developing new hypotheses that have the potential to benefit society and industry; however, sometimes these benefits are not fully realized due to a lack of engineering tools. To help bridge this gap, graduate students in the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science’s 6-A Master of Engineering (MEng) Thesis […]
3 Questions: Fotini Christia on racial equity and data science
Fotini Christia is the Ford International Professor in the Social Sciences in the Department of Political Science, associate director of the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS), and director of the Sociotechnical Systems Research Center (SSRC). Her research interests include issues of conflict and cooperation in the Muslim world, and she has conducted fieldwork […]
Launchpad for health care entrepreneurs
When computation and systems biology PhD student Elvira Kinzina was diagnosed with Lyme disease during her first year at MIT, she struggled to find a doctor specializing in the disease — even though Boston is renowned for its thriving health care community. She soon found out this was common for Lyme patients, with many specialists […]
