The spark of innovation and the commercialization journey
To Vanessa Chan PhD ’00, effective engineers don’t just solve technical problems. To make an impact with a new product or technology, they need to bring it to market, deploy it, and make it mainstream. Yet this is precisely what they aren’t trained to do.In fact, 97 percent of patents fail to make it over […]
Enabling energy innovation at scale
Enabling and sustaining a clean energy transition depends not only on groundbreaking technology to redefine the world’s energy systems, but also on that innovation happening at scale. As a part of an ongoing speaker series, the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) hosted Emily Knight, the president and CEO of The Engine, a nonprofit incubator and accelerator […]
NY-NJ Metro McNair Conference & Graduate School Fair
CUNY John Jay College Regional Research Conference cohosted by Rutgers-NB, Rutgers-Newark, Montclair State University, Kean, Rider, NJIT, Ramapo College, Hunter College-CUNY, and John Jay College, CUNY. Program also will include a graduate school recruitment fair with leading research institutions throughout the US, a student graduate panel, and a graduate representative panel.
MIT graduate engineering and business programs ranked highly by U.S. News for 2025-26
U.S. News and Word Report has again placed MIT’s graduate program in engineering at the top of its annual rankings, released today. 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, in rankings announced April 8. It occupies the […]
The human body, its movement, and music
Watching and listening to a pianist’s performance is an immersive and enjoyable experience. The pianist and the instrument, with a blend of skill, training, and presence, create a series of memorable moments for themselves and the audience. But is there a way to improve the performance and our understanding of how the performer and their […]
GAPG End of Term Academic Review
Recommendations made by departmental graduate committees are brought by a department representative to the GAPG for action. All such recommendations must be brought to the GAPG no later than the meeting during which the relevant academic term or session is being discussed. Students do not appear in person before the GAPG. Unless extenuating circumstances are […]
Tabletop factory-in-a-box makes hands-on manufacturing education more accessible
For over a decade, through a collaboration managed by MIT.nano, MIT and Tecnológico de Monterrey (Tec), one of the largest universities in Latin America, have worked together to develop innovative academic and research initiatives with a particular focus in nanoscience and nanotechnology and, more recently, an emphasis on design and smart manufacturing. Now, the collaboration […]
MIT welcomes 2025 Heising-Simons Foundation 51 Pegasi b Fellow Jess Speedie
The MIT School of Science welcomes Jess Speedie, one of eight recipients of the 2025 51 Pegasi b Fellowship. The announcement was made March 27 by the Heising-Simons Foundation. The 51 Pegasi b Fellowship, named after the first exoplanet discovered orbiting a sun-like star, was established in 2017 to provide postdocs with the opportunity to […]
GAPG membership
The Graduate Academic Performance Group (GAPG) is composed of faculty, graduate students, and staff, including ex officio members who may provide relevant information but do not vote on academic action decisions. If you have a question for the GAPG, please email gapg-staff@mit.edu. The staff to the GAPG is Katie Carruth, Senior Administrative Assistant in the […]
GAPG role and function
The GAPG is concerned with the academic performance of graduate students. Its key functions include the following: End of Term Academic ReviewThe GAPG reviews the academic performance of all graduate students at the conclusion of the fall and spring terms, the Independent Activities Period, and the summer session, and takes appropriate actions. End of term […]
Graduate Academic Performance Group (GAPG)
The Graduate Academic Performance Group (GAPG) is a permanent subcommittee of the Committee on Graduate Programs (CGP), a standing committee of the MIT faculty. The GAPG monitors minimum academic standards for graduate students and special students in accordance with the rules and regulations of the faculty. The GAPG operates with the authority of the CGP. […]
More Than Just Books: My Favorite Bookstores in Boston
People who love visiting bookstores know that it isn’t just about the books but also the environment. Personally, bookstores remind me that there are so many different worlds out there and so much to learn. I love picking up a book and feeling how floppy it is (if you know you know) and imagining myself […]
Looking under the hood at the brain’s language system
As a young girl growing up in the former Soviet Union, Evelina Fedorenko PhD ’07 studied several languages, including English, as her mother hoped that it would give her the chance to eventually move abroad for better opportunities. Her language studies not only helped her establish a new life in the United States as an […]
Merit and Impact: Writing a Compelling NSF GRFP Statements
Join MIT’s Writing and Communication Center for a workshop on how to write your personal and research statements for the NSF-GRFP application.
Rodrigo Verdi
In their academic journey, a graduate student can count oneself incredibly lucky to find a strong mentor. In the accounting specialty at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, Rodrigo Verdi’s support is well known and deeply appreciated. “Rodrigo’s dedication to mentoring and his unwavering support have positively impacted every student in our group,” one student praised. […]
Xiao Wang
“Professor Xiao Wang’s caring efforts have a profound impact on the lives of her students,” one of her nominators commended. Xiao Wang is a core institute member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry at MIT. She started her lab in 2019 to develop and […]
Presidential Fellowship Moves Innovation and Research Forward
In fields as varied as computer architecture, behavioral economics, data activism, and planetary science, MIT Presidential Fellowship recipients and alumni credit the prestigious award with improving their research, expanding their opportunities, and broadening their academic network. The donor-supported program, administered by the Office of Graduate Education in coordination with the Office of the Provost, provides fellows with tuition, a monthly […]
MIT affiliates named 2024 AAAS Fellows
Six current MIT affiliates and 27 additional MIT alumni have been elected as fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The 2024 class of AAAS Fellows includes 471 scientists, engineers, and innovators, spanning all 24 of AAAS disciplinary sections, who are being recognized for their scientifically and socially distinguished achievements. Noubar […]
Sourdough and the Scientific Method
It was inevitable. I was staring down the barrel of the hardest academic semester of my life and needed an outlet to restore my energy– something to reinvigorate my creativity. The answer floated into my consciousness one fateful October night: Yeast. I think it takes a certain kind of person to become addicted to sourdough. […]
Credit where it’s due
When most people buy cars, the sticker price is only part of the cost. The other part involves the loan, since folks usually borrow money for auto purchases. Therefore the interest rate, monthly payment size, and total repayment cost all matter too. And yet, on aggregate, people do more comparison shopping about car prices than […]
NSF Presentation – Interested NSF GRFP Applicants
Presentation providing an overview of the NSF GRFP at MIT for students looking to apply to the NSF GRFP this fall!
NSF Presentation – New & Current NSF GRFP Fellows
Presentation providing an overview of the NSF GRFP at MIT for current fellows!
Women’s swimming and diving wins first NCAA Division III National Championship
The MIT women’s swimming and diving team won the program’s first national championship, jumping ahead of New York University by erasing a 20-point deficit as the Engineers finished with 497 points at the 2025 NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving National Championships, hosted by the Old Dominion Athletic Conference March 19-22 at the Greensboro Aquatic Center […]
A new way to make graphs more accessible to blind and low-vision readers
Bar graphs and other charts provide a simple way to communicate data, but are, by definition, difficult to translate for readers who are blind or low-vision. Designers have developed methods for converting these visuals into “tactile charts,” but guidelines for doing so are extensive (for example, the Braille Authority of North America’s 2022 guidebook is […]
Scene at MIT: Artfinity brings artistic celebration to campus
The MIT campus came alive with artistic energy on March 13 as Artfinity — the Institute’s new festival celebrating creativity and community — took over multiple venues with interactive experiences, exhibitions, and performances. Artfinity participants created their own paths through interconnected artistic encounters across campus, exploring everything from augmented reality (AR) experiences in the Infinite Corridor […]
Ariel White
“Professor Ariel White has made my experience at MIT immeasurably better and I hope that one day I will be in a position to pay her kindness forward,” one student credited. Ariel White is Associate Professor of Political Science at MIT. She studies voting and voting rights, race, the criminal legal system, and bureaucratic behavior. […]
Andrew Vanderburg
“Andrew is incredibly generous with his time, resources, and passion for mentoring the next generation of astronomers,” praised one of his students. “I hope that one day I can be as amazing of a mentor as Andrew.” Prof. Andrew Vanderburg is Bruno B. Rossi Career Development Assistant Professor of Physics and is affiliated with the […]
I can see clearly now
Over the winter break, I got contact lenses for the first time. Putting them in produced an effect like removing a plastic sheet from before my eyes. Every detail, even in the distance, was crisp and clear. When driving, I could read the small print on signs, and in the mirror I saw every pore […]
David Schmittlein, influential dean who brought MIT Sloan into its own, dies at 69
David Schmittlein, an MIT professor of marketing and the MIT Sloan School of Management’s longest-serving dean and a visionary and transformational leader, died March 13, following a long illness. He was 69. Schmittlein, the John C Head III Dean from 2007 to 2024, guided MIT Sloan through a financial crisis, a global pandemic, and numerous […]
“An AI future that honors dignity for everyone”
Ben Vinson III, president of Howard University, made a compelling call for artificial intelligence to be “developed with wisdom,” as he delivered MIT’s annual Karl Taylor Compton Lecture on campus Monday. The broad-ranging talk posed a series of searching questions about our human ideals and practices, and was anchored in the view that, as Vinson […]
3D printing approach strings together dynamic objects for you
It’s difficult to build devices that replicate the fluid, precise motion of humans, but that might change if we could pull a few (literal) strings. At least, that’s the idea behind “cable-driven” mechanisms in which running a string through an object generates streamlined movement across an object’s different parts. Take a robotic finger, for example: […]
New platform lets anyone rapidly prototype large, sturdy interactive structures
Prototyping large structures with integrated electronics, like a chair that can monitor someone’s sitting posture, is typically a laborious and wasteful process. One might need to fabricate multiple versions of the chair structure via 3D printing and laser cutting, generating a great deal of waste, before assembling the frame, grafting sensors and other fragile electronics […]
Three economists with MIT ties win BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award
Olivier Blanchard PhD ’77, the Robert M. Solow Professor of Economics Emeritus, has been named a winner of the 2025 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Economics, Finance and Management for “profoundly influencing modern macroeconomic analysis by establishing rigorous foundations for the study of business cycle fluctuations,” as described in the BBVA Foundation’s award […]
2025 You Belong at MIT Visit
Welcome to the “You Belong at MIT” Visit, taking place on March 17-19, 2025! This special event is designed to welcome students from all backgrounds, with an emphasis on those historically underserved in graduate education. It’s your chance to explore how MIT will support you throughout your graduate journey, no matter your background. During this […]
Making airfield assessments automatic, remote, and safe
In 2022, Randall Pietersen, a civil engineer in the U.S. Air Force, set out on a training mission to assess damage at an airfield runway, practicing “base recovery” protocol after a simulated attack. For hours, his team walked over the area in chemical protection gear, radioing in geocoordinates as they documented damage and looked for […]
Compassionate leadership
Professors Emery Brown and Hamsa Balakrishnan work in vastly different fields, but are united by their deep commitment to mentoring students. While each has contributed to major advancements in their respective areas — statistical neuroscience for Brown, and large-scale transportation systems for Balakrishnan — their students might argue that their greatest impact comes from the […]
