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 […]
3 Questions: Laura Beretsky on living and learning with epilepsy
Do you have a disability? It’s a question every employer is required to ask job applicants. Some people quickly check a box and move on. For Laura Beretsky, deciding how to answer the question is more complicated. Beretsky, who works as a grant writer in the MIT Introduction to Technology, Engineering, and Science (MITES) program, […]
Credit Cards 101
Graduate Community fellow, Alexander Kossak, will walk you through 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.
High school students gain skills by working on digital learning materials
For Thomas Esayas, now a high school senior in Texas, the shift to virtual learning in the earlier days of the Covid-19 pandemic provided an opportunity to dive further into his interests in computer science. He started learning the fundamentals of Python and developing projects, such as trying to make a bot that could scour […]
Q&A: Phillip Sharp and Amy Brand on the future of open-access publishing
Providing open access to scholarly publications is a long-running issue with new developments on the horizon. Last year, the U.S. federal government’s Office of Science and Technology Policy directed government agencies to develop policies that will provide public access to publications derived from federal funding, by the beginning of 2026. That provides more impetus for […]
What does the future hold for generative AI?
Speaking at the “Generative AI: Shaping the Future” symposium on Nov. 28, the kickoff event of MIT’s Generative AI Week, keynote speaker and iRobot co-founder Rodney Brooks warned attendees against uncritically overestimating the capabilities of this emerging technology, which underpins increasingly powerful tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard. “Hype leads to hubris, and hubris […]
Everything, everywhere all at once
The way Morgane König sees it, questioning how we came to be in the universe is one of the most fundamental parts of being human. When she was 12 years old, König decided the place to find answers was in physics. A family friend was a physicist, and she attributed her interest in the field […]
