This nonprofit is proving that creating good jobs is good business
There’s a widely held belief that in order for places like retail stores, restaurants, and fulfillment centers to be successful, they need to squeeze everything they can out of frontline workers and offer as little in return as possible. This extends beyond offering low pay to include irregular schedules, minimal benefits, no real career paths, […]
Michael John Gorman named MIT Museum director
MIT has appointed Michael John Gorman the Mark R. Epstein (Class of 1963) Director of the recently re-imagined MIT Museum. Gorman replaces longtime museum director John Durant, who stepped down in 2023. Originally from Ireland, Gorman is the founding director of BIOTOPIA – Naturkundemuseum Bayern in Munich, Germany, a newly established innovative center and museum […]
Three honored with 2023 School of Science teaching prizes
The MIT School of Science has announced the winners of its 2023 Teaching Prizes for Graduate and Undergraduate Education. The prizes are awarded to School of Science faculty members who demonstrate excellence in teaching. Winners are chosen from nominations by their students or colleagues. Roger Levy, a professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive […]
Juana De La O: Food for thought
MIT graduate student Juana De La O describes herself as a food-motivated organism, so it’s no surprise that she reaches for food and baking analogies when she’s discussing her thesis work in the lab of undergraduate officer and professor of biology Adam Martin. Consider the formative stages of a croissant, she offers, occasionally providing homemade […]
Food for thought
MIT graduate student Juana De La O describes herself as a food-motivated organism, so it’s no surprise that she reaches for food and baking analogies when she’s discussing her thesis work in the lab of undergraduate officer and professor of biology Adam Martin. Consider the formative stages of a croissant, she offers, occasionally providing homemade […]
Richard Wiesman, professor of the practice in mechanical engineering, dies at age 69
Richard M. Wiesman ’76, SM ’76, PhD ’83, a professor of the practice in the MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering (MechE), died on Sunday, Jan. 7. He was 69. A technology innovator and leader who saw many complex engineering systems reach the marketplace, Wiesman’s work spanned from laboratory development to field deployment. His broad skills […]
The future of motorcycles could be hydrogen
MIT’s Electric Vehicle Team, which has a long record of building and racing innovative electric vehicles, including cars and motorcycles, in international professional-level competitions, is trying something very different this year: The team is building a hydrogen-powered electric motorcycle, using a fuel cell system, as a testbed for new hydrogen-based transportation. The motorcycle successfully underwent […]
3 Questions: A new home for music at MIT
More than 1,500 students enroll in music classes each year at MIT. More than 500 student musicians participate in one of 30 on-campus ensembles. In spring 2025, to better provide for its thriving musical program, MIT will inaugurate its new music building, a 35,000-square-foot three-volume facility adjacent to Kresge Auditorium. The new building will feature […]
Inclusive research for social change
Pair a decades-old program dedicated to creating research opportunities for underrepresented minorities and populations with a growing initiative committed to tackling the very issues at the heart of such disparities, and you’ll get a transformative partnership that only MIT can deliver. Since 1986, the MIT Summer Research Program (MSRP) has led an institutional effort to […]
MIT community members elected to the National Academy of Inventors for 2023
The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) recently announced the election of more than 160 individuals to their 2023 class of fellows. Among them are two members of the MIT Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Professor Daniel G. Anderson and Principal Research Scientist Ana Jaklenec. In addition, 11 MIT alumni were also recognized. The highest professional […]
Positive Procrastination
I think procrastination gets a bad rep. It’s something you’re meant to grow out of and certainly, as a busy graduate student, there’s no time to procrastinate. Well, I think procrastination is really misunderstood and should not have an immediate negative connotation. When you don’t feel like doing something, there is often a reason why. […]
Culturally informed design: Unearthing ingenuity where it always was
Pedro Reynolds-Cuéllar, an MIT PhD student in both media arts and sciences and art, culture, and technology (ACT), explores how technology and culture intersect in spaces often overlooked by mainstream society, stretching beyond the usual scope of design research. A former lecturer and researcher at MIT D-Lab with experience in robotics, Reynolds-Cuéllar is an ACT […]
The creative future of generative AI
Few technologies have shown as much potential to shape our future as artificial intelligence. Specialists in fields ranging from medicine to microfinance to the military are evaluating AI tools, exploring how these might transform their work and worlds. For creative professionals, AI poses a unique set of challenges and opportunities — particularly generative AI, the […]
Leveraging language to understand machines
Natural language conveys ideas, actions, information, and intent through context and syntax; further, there are volumes of it contained in databases. This makes it an excellent source of data to train machine-learning systems on. Two master’s of engineering students in the 6A MEng Thesis Program at MIT, Irene Terpstra ’23 and Rujul Gandhi ’22, are […]
Winter break activities & connections
Note: If you need support while the Institute is closed, please don’t hesitate to use these resources. Free or discounted tickets to museums and arts events Take some time to feed your soul! MITAC (MIT Activities Committee) and Arts Access offer discounted tickets to concerts, museums, theater performances, ski lift tickets, and more. Your local […]
Need support while OGE is closed for the winter break?
The Institute is closed from December 25-January 1, but there are still resources available if you need help! Don’t hesitate to reach out to any of the people below. Searching for social connection or things to do? Take a look at this article for free or affordable ideas, tailored for you as a graduate student. […]
MIT community in 2023: A year in review
The year 2023 saw the turning of a new page for MIT, as the Institute welcomed its 18th president. MIT also saw the opening of new and renovated spaces, launched a new “Dialogues Across Difference” speaker series, and celebrated a Nobel Prize, Turing Award, National Medals of Technology and Science, and many more honors for […]
Minicourse open to the MIT community gives context to the Middle East crisis
MIT community members can learn more about the Israel-Hamas conflict through a recently developed online course organized by Middle East and North Africa (MENA)/MIT at MIT’s Center for International Studies. The three-session course, titled “Israel, Palestine, Gaza before and after October 7: Understanding historical context and contrasting narratives,” was first held between Nov. 29 and […]
A flexible solution to help artists improve animation
Artists who bring to life heroes and villains in animated movies and video games could have more control over their animations, thanks to a new technique introduced by MIT researchers. Their method generates mathematical functions known as barycentric coordinates, which define how 2D and 3D shapes can bend, stretch, and move through space. For example, […]
Navy officer deepens her engineering and leadership skills at MIT
Trained to be a leader even as a child, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Asia Allison is acquiring a new level of expertise as a graduate student at MIT — and a new approach to technical leadership in the Daniel J. Riccio Graduate Engineering Leadership (GradEL) program. “The Navy has a need for engineering leaders,” Allison says. […]
“MIT can give you ‘superpowers’”
Speaking at the virtual MITx MicroMasters Program Joint Completion Celebration last summer, Diogo da Silva Branco Magalhães described watching a Spider-Man movie with his 8-year-old son and realizing that his son thought MIT was a fictional entity that existed only in the Marvel universe. “I had to tell him that MIT also exists in the […]
Hearing Amazônia: MIT musicians in Manaus, Brazil
On Dec. 13, the MIT community came together for the premiere of “We Are The Forest,” a documentary by MIT Video Productions that tells the story of the MIT musicians who traveled to the Brazilian Amazon seeking culture and scientific exchange. The film features performances by Djuena Tikuna, Luciana Souza, Anat Cohen, and Evan Ziporyn, with […]
How to make an apartment a home
So you’ve just survived the Boston housing process and signed a lease on a cozy new apartment. Now what? While moving can feel like a daunting task at first, it really isn’t as bad as it seems. Take it from someone who’s moved 8 times within the past 5 years. Whether it was for school, […]
Three MIT students selected as inaugural MIT-Pillar AI Collective Fellows
MIT-Pillar AI Collective has announced three inaugural fellows for the fall 2023 semester. With support from the program, the graduate students, who are in their final year of a master’s or PhD program, will conduct research in the areas of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science with the aim of commercializing their innovations. Launched […]
Angela Belcher delivers 2023 Dresselhaus Lecture on evolving organisms for new nanomaterials
“How do we get to making nanomaterials that haven’t been evolved before?” asked Angela Belcher at the 2023 Mildred S. Dresselhaus Lecture at MIT on Nov. 20. “We can use elements that biology has already given us.” The combined in-person and virtual audience of over 300 was treated to a light-up, 3D model of M13 […]
Leaves, accommodations, and time away
Graduate students may need time away from their employment and studies at various times throughout their academic careers. Based on their relationship with the Institute, the time away may be accommodated through employment leaves, enrollment leaves, and/or accommodations. Graduate student employees may be eligible for employment leaves that allow for relief of employment responsibilities for […]
MIT campus goals in food, water, waste support decarbonization efforts
With the launch of Fast Forward: MIT’s Climate Action Plan for the Decade, the Institute committed to decarbonize campus operations by 2050 — an effort that touches on every corner of MIT, from building energy use to procurement and waste. At the operational level, the plan called for establishing a set of quantitative climate impact […]
MIT Generative AI Week fosters dialogue across disciplines
In late November, faculty, staff, and students from across MIT participated in MIT Generative AI Week. The programming included a flagship full-day symposium as well as four subject-specific symposia, all aimed at fostering a dialogue about the opportunities and potential applications of generative artificial intelligence technologies across a diverse range of disciplines. “These events are […]
Two from MIT named 2024 Marshall Scholars
Anushree Chaudhuri and Rupert Li have won Marshall Scholarships, a prestigious British government-funded fellowship that offers exceptional American students the opportunity to pursue several years of graduate study in any field at any university in the United Kingdom. Up to 50 scholarships are awarded each year by the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission. The students were […]
Miranda McClellan ’18, MEng ’19 awarded 2025 Schwarzman Scholarship
MIT alumna Miranda McClellan ’18, MEng ’19 has been named a 2025 Schwarzman Scholar. In August 2024, she will join the program’s 150 scholars arriving from 43 countries and 114 universities from around the world. The Class of 2025 Scholars were selected from a pool of over 4,000 applicants. They will attend a one-year fully […]
Building a better indoor herb garden
Randall Briggs ’09, SM ’18 didn’t set out to build indoor gardens when he arrived at MIT. The winner of the 2010 2.007 robot competition class, he was excited to work on designing fighter planes one day. But in 2016, halfway through his studies for his master’s degree in mechanical engineering, Briggs’s father passed away […]
From MIT to Singapore and back: Delivering knowledge and advancing careers in finance
Both sections of MIT class 15.433 (Financial Markets), taught this fall by visiting associate professor of finance Hong Ru MFin ’10, PhD ’15 at the MIT Sloan School of Management, include over 100 students from the master of finance program. However, when he joined the program’s inaugural class just over a decade ago, this number […]
Hungry for knowledge (and bananas)
I have officially been a student at MIT for a month, and in that time, I have juggled the role of an environmental researcher, new Boston tourist, and campus explorer, all while adjusting to the life of a first-year graduate student. Journey with me as I discover the hidden “quirks” of MIT that help foster […]
MIT Women’s League fosters connections and community around campus
As of this week, MIT’s 77 Massachusetts Avenue entrance is beautifully adorned with three giant, intricately decorated holiday wreaths. They’re the work of the MIT Women’s League, one the longest-running groups on campus, which has been organizing its annual wreath-making event for the community since the 1930s — offering a reminder that MIT is not […]
3 Questions: Melissa Nobles on combating antisemitism and Islamophobia
On Nov. 14, President Sally Kornbluth launched Standing Together Against Hate (STAH), a community-driven initiative coordinated by Chancellor Melissa Nobles. The initiative will support efforts led by MIT faculty, staff, students, and the administration to come together, MIT-style, to use our problem-solving skills to address antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of hate. Chancellor Nobles spoke […]
The eyes have it
It’s hard to look away from one of Felice Frankel’s images. For decades, Frankel, a research scientist in the MIT Department of Chemical engineering, has produced dazzling and witty art to tease and intrigue readers of the world’s most prestigious science journals. There is, for instance, the cover of PNAS featuring an illustration of paper […]
