Building better batteries, faster
To help combat climate change, many car manufacturers are racing to add more electric vehicles in their lineups. But to convince prospective buyers, manufacturers need to improve how far these cars can go on a single charge. One of their main challenges? Figuring out how to make extremely powerful but lightweight batteries. Typically, however, it […]
Bridging careers in aerospace manufacturing and fusion energy, with a focus on intentional inclusion
“A big theme of my life has been focusing on intentional inclusion and how I can create environments where people can really bring their whole authentic selves to work,” says Joy Dunn ’08. As the head of operations at Commonwealth Fusion Systems, an MIT spinout working to achieve commercial fusion energy, Dunn looks for solutions […]
Bringing lessons from cybersecurity to the fight against disinformation
Mary Ellen Zurko remembers the feeling of disappointment. Not long after earning her bachelor’s degree from MIT, she was working her first job of evaluating secure computer systems for the U.S. government. The goal was to determine whether systems were compliant with the “Orange Book,” the government’s authoritative manual on cybersecurity at the time. Were […]
MeepCon comes to MIT
Meep is not just the sound made by the Road Runner and Beaker the Muppet. Meep is a software package that MIT physicists originally developed in the early 2000s as a custom code written in C++ to facilitate the academic research of photonic crystals. It was released as open source in 2006. After nearly two […]
Be water, MIT friend
I just finished my third year of graduate school in the Mathematics Department. I work in Fourier analysis, a part of math that studies qualitative and quantitative questions about the overlapping patterns of waves. Before I was thinking about Fourier analysis, when I was a new graduate student, I was considering the question of what […]
On the front lines of space innovation
George Lordos is not your typical graduate student. A degree in economics from Oxford University, an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, and a 20-year professional career were not the end of his learning journey. His longtime passion for space, particularly the prospect of making a sustainable society on Mars a reality, drew […]
Amy Keating named head of the Department of Biology
Amy E. Keating, the Jay A. Stein Professor of Biology and a professor of biological engineering, has been named head of the Department of Biology, effective today. She succeeds Alan Grossman, the Praecis Professor of Biology at MIT, who led the department since 2014. “Professor Keating is a leading researcher in her field, employing computational […]
Reif, Zuber attend signing of CHIPS and Science bill
President L. Rafael Reif and Vice President for Research Maria Zuber were among those on hand Tuesday when President Biden signed the “CHIPS and Science” bill into law in an upbeat ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House. The act provides $52 billion in federal funding to advance the U.S. semiconductor industry […]
Passion projects prepare to launch
At the start of the sixth annual MITdesignX “Pitch Day,” Svafa Grönfeldt, the program’s faculty director, made a point of noting that many of the teams about to showcase their ventures had changed direction multiple times on their projects. “Some of you have pivoted more times than we can count,” Grönfeldt said in her welcoming […]
Noelle Wakefield, friend to the MIT community
Dr. Noelle Wakefield, Assistant Dean for Diversity Initiatives and Director of the MIT Summer Research Program (MSRP), was honored with the 2022 Laya Wiesner Community Award. “Noelle believes no detail is too small when it comes to creating an inclusive community experience,” her recommenders shared. From revamping an entire program curriculum, to developing recruitment strategy, […]
Caspar Hare, Georgia Perakis named associate deans of Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing
Caspar Hare and Georgia Perakis have been appointed the new associate deans of the Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing (SERC), a cross-cutting initiative in the MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing. Their new roles will take effect on Sept. 1. “Infusing social and ethical aspects of computing in academic research and education is […]
Leveraging computational tools to enhance product design
As an undergraduate at MIT, Jana Saadi had to find a way to fulfill her humanities class requirements. Little did she know that her decision would heavily shape her academic career. On a whim, Saadi had joined a friend in a class offered through MIT D-Lab, a project-based program aimed at helping poor communities around […]
J-PAL expands evidence-to-policy government partnerships to fight poverty worldwide
The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at MIT has announced a significant expansion of its efforts to forge evidence-to-policy partnerships with innovative-minded governments seeking to use rigorous research to inform their social policies and programs. These partnerships will support governments in laying the groundwork to take evidence-informed policies and programs to scale, aiming […]
MIT’s efforts to get out the vote make an impact
Students in STEM fields are historically less likely to vote than those in other areas of study. Two nonpartisan MIT groups are working to change that, and early returns suggest they’re having an impact. This spring, the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) — an initiative of the Institute for Democracy and Higher […]
3 Questions: What to expect from Covid-19 this fall
As MIT prepares for the fall — its fifth full semester since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic — the Institute is continuing to evolve from its initial stance of strong institutional responsibility for managing Covid to an approach rooted in individual responsibility. Throughout the pandemic, MIT has taken an “always be prepared to pivot” […]
3 Questions: John Durant on the new MIT Museum at Kendall Square
To the outside world, much of what goes on at MIT can seem mysterious. But the MIT Museum, whose new location is in the heart of Kendall Square, wants to change that. With a specially designed space by architects Höweler + Yoon, new exhibitions, and new public programs, this fall marks a reset for the […]
Emma Gibson: Optimizing health care logistics in Africa
Growing up in South Africa at the turn of the century, Emma Gibson saw the rise of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and its devastating impact on her home country, where many people lacked life-saving health care. At the time, Gibson was too young to understand what a sexually transmitted infection was, but she knew that HIV […]
The hub of the local robotics industry
The MIT spinout Ori attracted a lot of attention when it unveiled its shapeshifting furniture prototypes in 2014. But after the founders left MIT, they faced a number of daunting challenges. Where would they find the space to build and demo their apartment-scale products? How would they get access to the machines and equipment necessary […]
devin michelle bunten
devin michelle bunten is an Assistant Professor of Urban Economics and Housing within the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT. She formerly acted as the department’s Edward H. and Joyce Linde Career Development Chair. Her research focuses on urban economic theory, including housing and social stratification as well as queer and trans housing […]
Community abounds as Sidney-Pacific Residence Hall celebrates 20 years
The largest graduate residence on MIT’s campus, Sidney-Pacific (Building NW86), also known as Sid-Pac, thrives on the community its residents have built over the past 20 years. Opened in 2002, the residence hall celebrated its 20th anniversary this year with a reunion featuring cookouts, games, and alumni events. Located in the northwest corner of campus, […]
A new twist on old-school animation
It’s another case of a class project that turned into a bit more than the typical assignment. The story began last fall in the MIT course 6.810 (Engineering Interactive Technologies) taught by Stefanie Mueller, an associate professor in MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. The students, who were mostly undergraduates, were asked to […]
MIT can work for couples
Do you believe that keeping up with a romantic relationship and completing a graduate degree abroad at a top university are incompatible? This is the story about how I was able to start a new stage of my career and initiate a new stage in my relationship at MIT. Hopefully, you will find this post […]
Fusion’s newest ambassador
When high school senior Tuba Balta emailed MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC) Director Dennis Whyte in February, she was not certain she would get a response. As part of her final semester at BASIS Charter School, in Washington, she had been searching unsuccessfully for someone to sponsor an internship in fusion energy, a topic that […]
MIT Governance Lab hosts speaker series on governance innovation
Late this spring, the MIT Governance Lab (MIT GOV/LAB) hosted a pair of online conversations between public service leaders about governance innovation. Discussion topics included how governments can be motivated to innovate and what role design can play in reforming government and public services. MIT GOV/LAB is an applied research group directed by Lily L. […]
Four researchers with MIT ties earn Schmidt Science Fellowships
Four researchers with MIT ties — Juncal Arbelaiz, Xiangkun (Elvis) Cao, Sandya Subramanian, and Heather Zlotnick ’17 — have been honored with competitive Schmidt Science Fellowships. Created in 2017, the fellows program aims to bring together the world’s brightest minds “to solve society’s toughest challenges.” The four MIT-affiliated researchers are among 29 Schmidt Science Fellows […]
Fabric + form = a mask that uniquely fits your face
Form-fitting clothing is not always governed by sartorial choice. The global pandemic, for example, has underscored the need for face masks that effectively seal around the nose and mouth. But faces and their features differ from one person to the next and can render one-size-fits-all face masks less effective. Well-fitting masks have proved to be […]
Donald “Bruce” Montgomery, influential electromagnet engineer, dies at 89
Donald “Bruce” Montgomery SM ’57, a highly influential engineer and longtime MIT researcher whose career was focused on the development of large-scale electromagnets, died on July 1. He was 89. Montgomery’s contributions have been pivotal for numerous major facilities in fusion energy, in the design of magnets for particle accelerators for physics and medical applications, […]
The evermore squares
During quarantine, and especially during the era of Zoom classes, I became re-obsessed with crochet. I noticed that crocheting while listening to Zoom lectures helped me stay focused on the speaker instead of getting distracted by emails or other work on my computer. Having something to do with my hands gave me an outlet for […]
MIT welcomes eight MLK Visiting Professors and Scholars for 2022-23
From space traffic to virus evolution, community journalism to hip-hop, this year’s cohort in the Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Visiting Professors and Scholars Program will power an unprecedented range of intellectual pursuits during their time on the MIT campus. “MIT is so fortunate to have this group of remarkable individuals join us,” says Institute […]
Orientation Slack community guidelines
Here are a few ways to practice respectful behavior in the 2024 Incoming Graduate Students Slack channels: This channel is meant for the exclusive use of the incoming graduate student class. It will be retired after one year. The Slack channel is intended for you to build community with your fellow incoming students. Note that […]
3 Questions: Teaching computational maker skills through gaming
The early stages of teaching maker skills, such as digital fabrication, typically involve simple exercises like laser cutting or 3D printing basic shapes and objects. In our hyperconnected, hyperstimulated world, this learning activity can feel a bit underwhelming — a sentiment that caused Dishita Turakhia, an MIT PhD student in electrical engineering and computer science […]
Heather Lefebvre
Monday: RemoteTuesday: 3-107Wednesday: RemoteThursday: 3-107Friday: Remote As a member of OGE’s Graduate Admissions team, I oversee a variety of high-priority projects for MIT’s graduate degree programs, OGE itself, and our campus partners. A fun fact about me: I love baking bread and making kombucha at home!
Your friendly neighborhood architect
Justin Brazier didn’t always know that his path in life would take him right back home. Brazier grew up with two brothers in a tight-knit family in Randolph, Massachusetts, two cities south of Boston. His parents, who are Haitian immigrants, had also grown up in the Boston area and met each other there. From a […]
The challenges and triumphs of the graduate experience
For many graduate students, the first time they enter MIT’s campus as a student is a momentous occasion. Standing among the pillars and domes for the first time as an MIT student elicited a moment of quiet reflection for recent graduate Hilary Johnson SM ’18, PhD ’22. “It was this moment of awe and kind […]
