Advocating for science budget and policy
A group of 20 MIT students and postdocs from various departments traveled to Washington from March 27-29 to advocate for increased federal funding of scientific research for the 2024 fiscal year. The trip was part of the Congressional Visit Days program, organized by MIT’s Science Policy Initiative, a student-run organization that introduces the scientists of […]
MIT HUMANS project breaks down borders, empowering global voices to reach for the stars
When the Axiom-2 mission launches later this month, it will carry with it a payload of languages never heard beyond Earth’s atmosphere. The Humanity United with MIT Art and Nanotechnology in Space (HUMANS) nanowafer, which will travel to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the mission, is a record of messages in over […]
After Amazon, an ambition to accelerate American manufacturing
After more than two decades as part of Amazon’s core leadership team, Jeff Wilke helped transform the way people buy almost everything. His next act is no less ambitious: proving that America can make just about anything. In March 2021, Wilke stepped down from his post as CEO of Amazon’s Worldwide Consumer business — encompassing […]
A transformative era ends at the Center for International Studies
In the early 1980s, Richard Samuels PhD ’80 was an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science, specializing in Japanese politics and public policy. With the rapid emergence of Japan as a global economic powerhouse, Samuels, now the director of the Center for International Studies (CIS) and Ford International Professor of Political Science, had […]
There’s something for everyone at the “front porch of campus”
There’s a long list of reasons why MIT’s sailing pavilion is unique. For one, it’s home to the oldest collegiate sailing program in the world. It’s also completely free and open to the MIT community — a rarity among sailing programs, made possible by alumni donations. There are also not many sailing facilities in the […]
Third annual MIT Research Slam showcase highlights PhD and postdoc communication skills
An 80,000 word PhD thesis would take many hours to present. MIT Research Slam competitors get three minutes. The finalists of the 2023 MIT Research Slam competition met head-to-head on April 19 at a live, in-person showcase event. Four PhD candidates and five postdoc finalists competed for the judges’ and audience’s vote. The contestants put […]
School of Engineering first quarter 2023 awards
Faculty and researchers across MIT’s School of Engineering receive many awards in recognition of their scholarship, service, and overall excellence. The School of Engineering periodically recognizes their achievements by highlighting the honors, prizes, and medals won by faculty and research scientists working in our academic departments, labs, and centers. Anuradha Agarwal of the MIT Microphotonics Center won Phase […]
Envisioning education in a climate-changed world
What must colleges and universities do differently to help students develop the skills, capacities, and perspectives they’ll need to live, lead, and thrive in a world being remade by the accelerating climate crisis? That question was at the heart of a recent convening on MIT’s campus that brought together faculty and staff from more than 30 […]
“Join us in something important and new”
Sally Kornbluth made a resounding call today for the entire MIT community to join together and address the “global crises” of the current era, including climate change, in her inaugural address as the Institute’s 18th president. “I hope to inspire you to join us in something important and new,” Kornbluth said in remarks delivered to […]
MIT faculty tackle big ideas in a symposium kicking off Inauguration Day
Big ideas took the stage on Monday morning, ahead of the inauguration of MIT’s 18th president, Sally Kornbluth. As final preparations were underway on Killian Court for the afternoon’s ceremonies, members of the MIT community gathered to welcome Kornbluth with an academic symposium exploring the theme “Where Big Ideas Come From — and Why They […]
Open-source platform simulates wildlife for soft robotics designers
Since the term “soft robotics” was adopted in 2008, engineers in the field have been building diverse representations of flexible machines useful in exploration, locomotion, rehabilitation, and even space. One source of inspiration: the way animals move in the wild. A team of MIT researchers has taken this a step further, developing SoftZoo, a bio-inspired […]
Q&A: Introducing Axim Collaborative, a new MIT-Harvard online ed venture
MIT and Harvard University are teaming up on a new online education initiative: Axim Collaborative, a venture designed to make learning more accessible, effective, and relevant so that learners can reach their full potential. Axim Collaborative is a nonprofit funded with the $700 million the two institutions received for the sale of edX, the online […]
Asegun Henry wins National Science Foundation’s Alan T. Waterman Award
The National Science Foundation (NSF) today named Asegun Henry, an associate professor in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, as a 2023 recipient of its Alan T. Waterman Award. This award is the NSF’s highest honor for early-career researchers and provides funding for research in any science or engineering field. This is the second year NSF has […]
President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea visits MIT
President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea visited MIT on Friday, participating in a roundtable discussion with Institute leaders and faculty about biomedical research and discussing the fundamentals of technology-driven innovation clusters. South Korea, Yoon noted in his remarks, has highly regarded educational institutions, hospitals, and research facilities, along with robust legal and business systems. […]
With music and merriment, MIT celebrates the upcoming inauguration of Sally Kornbluth
MIT’s campus spilled over with good cheer yesterday during a community-wide celebration marking the upcoming inauguration of MIT President Sally Kornbluth on Monday. In a day of activities that truly had something for everyone, MIT community members and their families enjoyed an array of student performances, amusement park rides, exhibits hosted by MIT’s departments and […]
Why I left the tech industry for grad school
“Why are you leaving your job?” “Don’t you make enough money?” “Why would you leave a big tech company?” “Are you going for a bigger paycheck? You must be stuck at the same level.” “What?! You said you’re completely leaving the tech industry?” “Oh! PhD? Don’t you already do research at work? Everybody learns at […]
Six from MIT awarded 2023 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans
MIT graduate students Kat Kajderowicz and Shomik Verma, alumni Desmond Edwards ’22 and Steven Truong ’20, and Adriana Liimakka and Vaibhav Mohanty, MD-PhD students in the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, are among the 30 recipients of this year’s Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans. The P.D. Soros Fellowships for New […]
Five from MIT awarded 2023 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans
MIT graduate students Kat Kajderowicz and Shomik Verma, alumni Desmond Edwards ’22 and Steven Truong ’20, and Vaibhav Mohanty, an MD-PhD student in the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, are among the 30 recipients of this year’s Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans. The P.D. Soros Fellowships for New Americans program […]
MIT graduate engineering, business, science programs ranked highly by U.S. News for 2023-24
U.S. News and Word Report has again placed MIT’s graduate program in engineering at the top of its annual rankings. The Institute has held the No. 1 spot since 1990, when the magazine first ranked such programs. The MIT Sloan School of Management also placed highly. It occupies the No. 4 spot for the best […]
Exploring the bow shock and beyond
For most people, the night sky conjures a sense of stillness, an occasional shooting star the only visible movement. A conversation with Rishabh Datta, however, unveils the supersonic drama crashing above planet Earth. The PhD candidate has focused his recent study on the plasma speeding through space, flung from sources like the sun’s corona and […]
Eight from MIT elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences for 2023
Eight MIT faculty members are among more than 250 leaders from academia, the arts, industry, public policy, and research elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the academy announced April 19. One of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies, the academy is also a leading center for independent policy research. Members contribute to […]
Understanding our place in the universe
Brian Nord first fell in love with physics when he was a teenager growing up in Wisconsin. His high school physics program wasn’t exceptional, and he sometimes struggled to keep up with class material, but those difficulties did nothing to dampen his interest in the subject. In addition to the main curriculum, students were encouraged […]
Graduate Student Appreciation Week (GSAW)
After 2022’s successful in-person and virtual roster, the 9th annual Graduate & Professional Students Appreciation Week (GSAW) provided primarily in-person events and giveaways from April 3-7, 2023. Led by the Office of Graduate Education (OGE), the weeklong celebration thanks graduate and professional students for their incredible contributions to MIT. The week featured 15 events, 2 […]
Volunteer committee helps the MIT community live and work sustainably
April 22 marks the arrival of Earth Day, which provides all of us with a good reason to think of ways to live more sustainably. For more than 20 years, the MIT Working Green Committee has helped community members do just that by encouraging the reuse and recycling of possessions. Made up entirely of volunteers, […]
Encouraging a scientific habit of the mind
As a child growing up in northern Nigeria, Abdullahi Tsanni always knew he had a passion for writing. Some of his earliest memories are trying to read his mother’s writings in Arabic and Hausa. It was in secondary school when Tsanni also developed an interest in science. When Tsanni was studying biochemistry at Ahmadu Bello […]
Podcast: Curiosity Unbounded, Episode 1 — How a free-range kid from Maine is helping green-up industrial practices
The Curiosity Unbounded podcast is a conversation between MIT President Sally Kornbluth and newly-tenured faculty members. President Kornbluth invites us to listen in as she dives into the research happening in MIT’s labs and in the field. Along the way, she and her guests discuss pressing issues, as well as what inspires the people running […]
Yael Tauman Kalai PhD ’06 awarded 2022 ACM Prize in Computing
Yael Tauman Kalai PhD ’06, an MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) adjunct professor, member of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), and senior principal researcher at Microsoft Research has been awarded the 2022 ACM Prize in Computing for “breakthroughs in verifiable delegation of computation and fundamental contributions to […]
Ellen Roche and Justin Solomon named Edgerton Award winners
MIT associate professors Ellen Roche of the Department of Mechanical Engineering (MechE) and Justin Solomon of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) have been named the 2023 winners of MIT’s annual Harold E. Edgerton Faculty Achievement Award. Established in fall 1982, the award exists as a permanent tribute to the late Institute […]
MIT Energy Conference grapples with geopolitics
As Russia’s war in Ukraine rages on, this year’s MIT Energy Conference spotlighted the role of geopolitics in the world’s efforts to lower greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the worst effects of climate change. Each year, the student-run conference, which its organizers say is the largest of its kind, brings together leaders from around the […]
First-generation and/or low-income (FLI)
First-generation and low-income (FLI) graduate students bring valuable perspectives and diverse experiences to the MIT community. As defined by GFLI@MIT: FLI students carry their unique experiences and perspectives from their undergraduate program into their graduate studies. Read how students at MIT and beyond have been reframing the first-generation academic experience. FLI grad students can connect […]
REFS
REFS stands for Resources for Easing Friction and Stress. Do you feel stressed out? Do you think you don’t have enough time to finish everything? Are you wondering how to choose the right lab and PI or how to prep for quals? If you’re struggling with one of these challenges or need peer support for […]
Taking the guesswork out of the architecture business
Managing a building or renovation project really means managing a series of disparate, interconnected tasks. Something as small as a kitchen renovation might involve half a dozen subcontractors including plumbers, electricians, carpenters, and painters. The complexity makes cost and time overruns common. On the other hand, “Architecture is a passion business,” says Moe Amaya MA […]
MIT CSAIL researchers discuss frontiers of generative AI
The emergence of generative artificial intelligence has ignited a deep philosophical exploration into the nature of consciousness, creativity, and authorship. As we bear witness to new advances in the field, it’s increasingly apparent that these synthetic agents possess a remarkable capacity to create, iterate, and challenge our traditional notions of intelligence. But what does it […]
Responding to Ukraine’s “ocean of suffering”
Within 72 hours of the first Russian missiles striking Kyiv, Ukraine, in February 2022, Ian Miller SM ’19 boarded a flight for Poland. Later, he’d say he felt motivated by Kyiv’s “tragic ocean of suffering” and Ukrainian President Zelensky’s pleas for help. But he arrived with little notion of what to do. As he’d anticipated, […]
The buzz on keeping bees
Are you wary of bee stings? Maybe you are one of about 7.5 percent of Americans who, according to BeeAware, are severely allergic to insect venom? Even if you are bee-averse, it is important to remember that bees play a vital role in pollinating approximately one-third of our food supply. This includes more than 130 […]
Nelson Yuan-sheng Kiang, influential researcher in human hearing science, dies at 93
Nelson Yuan-sheng Kiang, an internationally recognized scientist known for his influential research into speech and hearing, as well as his dedication to enhancing academic exchange between Chinese and American scientists, died March 19 at his home in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston. He was 93. Kiang was a principal research scientist in the Research […]
