A portfolio that’s out of this world
At age 9, Ezinne Uzo-Okoro SM ’20, PhD ’22 was preoccupied with down-to-earth problems, such as devising an alternative to her father’s messy, paper Filofax organizer, and fixing the unreliable electric service plaguing her home of Owerri, Nigeria. Could she have imagined a path-breaking, 17-year career at NASA, followed by a position as the nation’s […]
Festival of Learning 2023 underscores importance of well-designed learning environments
During its first in-person gathering since 2020, MIT’s Festival of Learning 2023 explored how the learning sciences can inform the Institute on how to best support students. Co-sponsored by MIT Open Learning and the Office of the Vice Chancellor (OVC), this annual event celebrates teaching and learning innovations with MIT instructors, students, and staff. Bror […]
Planet hunting and the origins of life
George Ricker built his first telescope when he was in third grade. Growing up in rural Florida, with its abundance of dark night skies, facilitated his natural propensity for stargazing. But it was in Cambridge, Massachusetts, during his undergraduate days at the Institute that his fascination became a calling. “I was a physics major at […]
Tom Wolf PhD ’81: Government is a common endeavor from which all can benefit
Former Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf PhD ’81 made a forthright call for integrity and the expression of a common purpose in politics, while accepting the Institute’s 2023 Robert A. Muh Alumni Award from the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS) on March 21. Government, Wolf suggested in his acceptance lecture, is a form […]
A design tool to democratize the art of color-changing mosaics
A colorful new design tool developed by MIT researchers allows individuals to create polarized light mosaics that can be printed on cellophane to make data visualizations, passive light displays, mechanical animations, fashion accessories, educational science and design tools, and more. Ticha Melody Sethapakdi, a PhD student in electrical engineering and computer science and affiliate of […]
Giving refugees design education — and newfound hope
They come by foot and by boat. Desperate, many bring nothing more than the clothes on their backs. They seek asylum and hope. Since 2015, more than a million refugees have flooded into Greece. Syrians, Afghanis, Iraqis, and Kurds, they’ve been uprooted from their home countries by violence and oppression. Political gridlock traps them in […]
Bob Metcalfe ’68 wins $1 million Turing Award
Robert “Bob” Metcalfe ’68, an MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) research affiliate and MIT Corporation life member emeritus, has been awarded the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) A.M. Turing Award for his invention of Ethernet. Often referred to as the “Nobel Prize of computing,” the award comes with a $1 million prize […]
An education in climate change
Several years ago, Christopher Knittel’s father, then a math teacher, shared a mailing he had received at his high school. When he opened the packet, alarm bells went off for Knittel, who is the George P. Shultz Professor of Energy Economics at the MIT Sloan School of Management and the deputy director for policy at […]
QS World University Rankings rates MIT No. 1 in 11 subjects for 2023
QS World University Rankings has placed MIT in the No. 1 spot in 11 subject areas for 2023, the organization announced today. The Institute received a No. 1 ranking in the following QS subject areas: Chemical Engineering; Civil and Structural Engineering; Computer Science and Information Systems; Data Science and Artificial Intelligence; Electrical and Electronic Engineering; […]
Bob Metcalfe ’69 wins $1 million Turing Award
Robert “Bob” Metcalfe ’69, an MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) research affiliate and MIT Corporation life member emeritus, has been awarded the 2022 Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) A.M. Turing Award for his invention of Ethernet. Often referred to as the “Nobel Prize of computing,” the award comes with a $1 million […]
MIT-led teams win National Science Foundation grants to research sustainable materials
Three MIT-led teams are among 16 nationwide to receive funding awards to address sustainable materials for global challenges through the National Science Foundation’s Convergence Accelerator program. Launched in 2019, the program targets solutions to especially compelling societal or scientific challenges at an accelerated pace, by incorporating a multidisciplinary research approach. “Solutions for today’s national-scale societal […]
MIT’s Barry Duncan demonstrates the power of writing in reverse
Words have always played a central role in Barry Duncan’s life. He’s worked in bookstores for more than 40 years, reads often, and has tried his hand at writing novels, children’s books, song lyrics, and plays. But it wasn’t until he stumbled onto the book “An Almanac of Words at Play” that Duncan realized words […]
Detailed images from space offer clearer picture of drought effects on plants
“MIT is a place where dreams come true,” says César Terrer, an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Here at MIT, Terrer says he’s given the resources needed to explore ideas he finds most exciting, and at the top of his list is climate science. In particular, he is interested in […]
Designing for better lives
Even though Flavio Emilio Vila Skrzypek left his native country of Peru to study at MIT, you can tell immediately that his homeland is close to his heart. Vila, who is pursuing a master’s in city planning, has made it his mission to improve land-use policy back home. “Property policies in Peru should learn from […]
MIT affiliates honored with 2023 Optica awards and medals
MIT Professor Marin Soljačić and four additional MIT alumni — Vanderlei Salvador Bagnato PhD ’87, Turan Erdogan ’87, Harold Metcalf ’62, and Andrew Weiner ’79, SM ’81, ScD ’84 — are among 17 recipients of the 2023 Optica Awards. Optica, formerly known as OSA, announced the awards, which celebrate those in the optics and photonics field […]
3 Questions: John Dozier on Dialogues Across Difference
MIT’s new series “Dialogues Across Difference” will bring speakers to campus and create opportunities for community members to demonstrate practical ways to take on difficult subjects across differences of opinion, background, viewpoint, and life experience. A collaboration among the offices of the MIT president, provost, and chancellor, the program kicks off March 22 with John […]
Peter Baddoo, Department of Mathematics instructor, dies at 29
Peter Baddoo, an instructor in the Department of Mathematics, passed away suddenly on Feb. 15 while playing basketball on campus. Baddoo joined the MIT Department of Mathematics in January 2021. Prior to this, he was an EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellow at Imperial College London. He studied mathematics as an undergraduate at the University of Oxford […]
MIT’s sustainable cycle: How to recycle the right way
Have you ever looked down inside the blue recycling bins around campus wondering if what we had thrown away is truly recyclable? From a piece of paper that you scribble over during your quiz to an empty coffee cup someone drank in the morning, can it all truly be recycled? The short answer is no, […]
Tom Wolf PhD ’81 receives the 2023 Robert A. Muh Alumni Award
The MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS) has announced that former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf PhD ’81 has been recognized with the 2023 Robert A. Muh Alumni Award. The biennial Muh Alumni Award recognizes the tremendous achievements of MIT degree holders who are leaders in one of the Institute’s humanities, arts, or […]
Mix-and-match kit could enable astronauts to build a menagerie of lunar exploration bots
When astronauts begin to build a permanent base on the moon, as NASA plans to do in the coming years, they’ll need help. Robots could potentially do the heavy lifting by laying cables, deploying solar panels, erecting communications towers, and building habitats. But if each robot is designed for a specific action or task, a […]
It’s a weird, weird quantum world
In 1994, as Professor Peter Shor PhD ’85 tells it, internal seminars at AT&T Bell Labs were lively affairs. The audience of physicists was an active and inquisitive bunch, often pelting speakers with questions throughout their talks. Shor, who worked at Bell Labs at the time, remembers several occasions when a speaker couldn’t get past […]
MIT professor to Congress: “We are at an inflection point” with AI
Government should not “abdicate” its responsibilities and leave the future path of artificial intelligence solely to Big Tech, Aleksander Mądry, the Cadence Design Systems Professor of Computing at MIT and director of the MIT Center for Deployable Machine Learning, told a congressional panel on Wednesday. Rather, Mądry said, government should be asking questions about the […]
2023 MacVicar Faculty Fellows named
The Office of the Vice Chancellor and the Registrar’s Office have announced this year’s Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellows: professor of brain and cognitive sciences John Gabrieli, associate professor of literature Marah Gubar, professor of biology Adam C. Martin, and associate professor of architecture Lawrence “Larry” Sass. For more than 30 years, the MacVicar Faculty Fellows […]
Katie Carruth
Monday: RemoteTuesday: 3-107Wednesday: 3-107Thursday: RemoteFriday: Remote I can help you with scheduling for the Senior Associate Dean, petitions, OGE event planning, and other administrative matters.
Working to make nuclear energy more competitive
Assil Halimi has loved science since he was a child, but it was a singular experience at a college internship that stoked his interest in nuclear engineering. As part of work on a conceptual design for an aircraft electric propulsion system, Halimi had to read a chart that compared the energy density of various fuel […]
MIT Cheney Room reopens with fresh and enhanced programming
The Margaret Cheney Room celebrated its reopening last month after significant updates and remodeling over the last several months. The celebration was led by Lauryn McNair, assistant dean of LBGTQ+, Women and Gender Services, and attended by MIT Chancellor Melissa Nobles, Provost Cynthia Barnhart, and numerous students, staff, and alumni. In 1884, MIT founded the […]
3 Questions: Antje Danielson on energy education and its role in climate action
The MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) leads energy education at MIT, developing and implementing a robust educational toolkit for MIT graduate and undergraduate students, online learners around the world, and high school students who want to contribute to the energy transition. As MITEI’s director of education, Antje Danielson manages a team devoted to training the next […]
Daniel Hastings named American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics president-elect
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) announced Wednesday that MIT professor Daniel Hastings has been elected president-elect of the organization. Hastings, the associate dean of engineering for diversity, equity, and inclusion; head of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics; and the Cecil and Ida Green Education Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, will be […]
Alternate stable states
I am an adventurer at heart. I have never embraced routine or normalcy and I consider that a piece of my identity, so when I started getting tired of my chaotic lifestyle and craving routine, I couldn’t admit to myself that maybe I needed a change. Despite fighting against it, that change finally came about […]
Creating the steps to make organizational sustainability work
Sustainability is a hot topic. Companies throw around their carbon or recycling initiatives, and competing executives feel the need to follow suit. But aside from the external pressure, there are also bottom-line benefits. Becoming more efficient can save money. Creating a new product might make money; customers care about a company’s practices and will spend […]
QuARC 2023 explores the leading edge in quantum information and science
The second QSEC Annual Research Conference (QuARC) brought together MIT student and postdoctoral researchers, staff, faculty, and industry partners for a two-day exploration of the leading edge in quantum information science and engineering. Held on Jan. 23 and 24 at the Omni Mount Washington Resort in New Hampshire, QuARC featured keynote addresses from prominent thinkers […]
Remembering Professor Emeritus Edgar Schein, an influential leader in management
Edgar H. Schein, a social psychologist who bridged the academic and pragmatic sides of culture and organization by practicing his own tenets on humble leadership and inquiry, died Jan. 26. He was 94. Schein, who was the Society of Sloan Fellows professor of management emeritus at MIT Sloan, joined the school in 1956, when it […]
Thirty-two exceptional MIT students selected as 2023 Burchard Scholars
The MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (MIT SHASS) is pleased to announce that 32 MIT undergraduate sophomores and juniors have been named as the 2023 Burchard Scholars.
Integrating humans with AI in structural design
Modern fabrication tools such as 3D printers can make structural materials in shapes that would have been difficult or impossible using conventional tools. Meanwhile, new generative design systems can take great advantage of this flexibility to create innovative designs for parts of a new building, car, or virtually any other device. But such “black box” […]
Religious observances
This message was originally sent to all MIT students on February 21, 2023. Our community encompasses students of many cultures and backgrounds, and MIT supports freedom of religious expression and our students’ right to worship in their chosen faith. To that end, we are writing to share MIT’s policy on academics and student religious observances. […]
Support resources
Here’s how you can get to know the offices and services designed to come alongside you as you navigate life as a graduate student. Review graduate student-serving resources on campus, from MIT Health to your department’s graduate administrator. If you need to be absent from classes or to defer academic work or exams for an […]
