2026 Thrive Forward Leadership Symposium
Emotional Intelligence & Adaptive Leadership Intensive This one day summit is a condensed, high-impact introduction to Thrive Forward’s 6 week leadership curriculum. Participants will leave with actionable strategies for adaptive leadership, emotional intelligence, and values-aligned decision making. Led by MIT and industry leaders, partcipants will engage in systems thinking and changemaking, learn about adaptative leadership, restorative […]
Grad School is Just Chess with Pipettes
In grad school, I learned how to play chess—and got addicted to it. At first, it was just a fun distraction from experiments and papers, but over time I realized that many of the lessons I was learning over the board applied just as much to my PhD. Strategy, patience, resilience—the same principles that helped […]
Fulbright Information Session
Learn how to apply for a Fulbright fellowship! The Fulbright U.S. Student Program offers grants to over 140 countries for an academic year of research, graduate study, or English teaching.
MIT HEALS Graduate Fellowship Info Session
Join the MIT HEALS team for an info session on the HEALS Graduate Fellowship.
Fulbright Virtual Information Session
Learn how to apply for a Fulbright fellowship! The Fulbright U.S. Student Program offers grants to over 140 countries for an academic year of research, graduate study, or English teaching.
Welcome Spring Semester Study Break!
Free Lunch! Join your fellow graduate students for lunch and relaxation in the Den (3-108). Drop by to pick up free lunch or stay and chat! Relax and do crafts! Date: Monday, February 2nd Time: 11 am-1 pm Location: 3-108, The Den Sponsored by the Office of Graduate Education Grad Thriving & Grad Diversity Reserve […]
Keeril Makan named vice provost for the arts
Keeril Makan has been appointed vice provost for the arts at MIT, effective Feb. 1. In this role, Makan, who is the Michael (1949) and Sonja Koerner Music Composition Professor at MIT, will provide leadership and strategic direction for the arts across the Institute. Provost Anantha Chandrakasan announced Makan’s appointment in an email to the […]
Expanding educational access in Massachusetts prisons
Collaborators from across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts came together in December for a daylong summit of the Massachusetts Prison Education Consortium (MPEC), hosted by the Educational Justice Institute (TEJI) at MIT. Held at MIT’s Walker Memorial, the summit aimed to expand access to high-quality education for incarcerated learners and featured presentations by leaders alongside strategy […]
Emily Paramore
Monday: RemoteTuesday: 3-136Wednesday: RemoteThursday: RemoteFriday: 3-136 I can help with a range of processes that graduate students may encounter, including navigating the medical leave of absence procedures and processing add/drop and OX petitions. I can also answer questions about the GradSupport team and what we do, about the OGE Short-Term Emergency Hardship Fund, and about the policies and procedures that apply to […]
Bryan Bryson: Engineering solutions to the tough problem of tuberculosis
On his desk, Bryan Bryson ’07, PhD ’13 still has the notes he used for the talk he gave at MIT when he interviewed for a faculty position in biological engineering. On that sheet, he outlined the main question he wanted to address in his lab: How do immune cells kill bacteria? Since starting his […]
Pablo Jarillo-Herrero wins BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award
Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics at MIT, has won the 2025 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Basic Sciences for “discoveries concerning the ‘magic angle’ that allows the behavior of new materials to be transformed and controlled.” He shares the 400,000-euro award with Allan MacDonald of the University of […]
Richard Hynes, a pioneer in the biology of cellular adhesion, dies at 81
MIT Professor Emeritus Richard O. Hynes PhD ’71, a cancer biologist whose discoveries reshaped modern understandings of how cells interact with each other and their environment, passed away on Jan. 6. He was 81. Hynes is best known for his discovery of integrins, a family of cell-surface receptors essential to cell–cell and cell–matrix adhesion. He […]
Professor of the practice Robert Liebeck, leading expert on aircraft design, dies at 87
Robert Liebeck, a professor of the practice in the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and one of the world’s leading experts on aircraft design, aerodynamics, and hydrodynamics, died on Jan. 12 at age 87. “Bob was a mentor and dear friend to so many faculty, alumni, and researchers at AeroAstro over the course of […]
A new way to “paint with light” to create radiant, color-changing items
Gemstones like precious opal are beautiful to look at and deceivingly complex. As you look at such gems from different angles, you’ll see a variety of tints glisten, causing you to question what color the rock actually is. It’s iridescent thanks to something called structural color — microscopic structures that reflect light to produce radiant […]
Demystifying college for enlisted veterans and service members
“I went into the military right after high school, mostly because I didn’t really see the value of academics,” says Air Force veteran and MIT sophomore Justin Cole. His perspective on education shifted, however, after he experienced several natural disasters during his nine years of service. As a satellite systems operator in Colorado, Cole volunteered […]
How an online MIT course in supply chain management sparked a new career
As a college student, Kevin Power never considered working in supply chain management; in fact, he didn’t know it was an option. He earned an undergraduate degree in manufacturing engineering while working full time at an oil refinery, which demanded a rigorous routine of shift work, long days, and evening classes. After graduation, he found […]
Generative AI tool helps 3D print personal items that sustain daily use
Generative artificial intelligence models have left such an indelible impact on digital content creation that it’s getting harder to recall what the internet was like before it. You can call on these AI tools for clever projects such as videos and photos — but their flair for the creative hasn’t quite crossed over into the […]
Feeding innovation to solve complex urban problems
The Mexico City Initiative at MIT, led by the Institute’s Norman B. Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism (LCAU), has conceived and modeled an impressive array of solutions for challenges facing urban areas in Mexico and beyond. Faculty and students have designed the repurposing of a vintage roller coaster as a public meeting space, modeled strategies […]
The “delicious joy” of creating and recreating music
As a graduate student, Leslie Tilley spent years studying and practicing the music of Bali, Indonesia, including a traditional technique in which two Balinese drummers play intricately interlocking rhythms while simultaneously improvising. It was beautiful and compelling music, which Tilley heard an unexpected insight about one day. “The higher drum is the bus driver, and […]
Fueling research in nuclear thermal propulsion
Going to the moon was one thing; going to Mars will be quite another. The distance alone is intimidating. While the moon is 238,855 miles away, the distance to Mars is between 33 million and 249 million miles. The propulsion systems that got us to the moon just won’t work. Taylor Hampson, a master’s student […]
MIT named to prestigious 2026 honor roll for mental health services
MIT is often recognized as one of the leading institutions of higher learning not only in the United States, but in the world, by several publications, including U.S. News & World Report, QS World University Rankings, Times Higher Education, and Forbes. Now, MIT also has the distinction of being one of just 30 colleges and […]
Decoding the Arctic to predict winter weather
Every autumn, as the Northern Hemisphere moves toward winter, Judah Cohen starts to piece together a complex atmospheric puzzle. Cohen, a research scientist in MIT’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), has spent decades studying how conditions in the Arctic set the course for winter weather throughout Europe, Asia, and North America. His research […]
Eighteen MIT faculty honored as “Committed to Caring” for 2025-27
At MIT, a strong spirit of mentorship shapes how students learn, collaborate, and imagine the future. In a time of accelerating change — from breakthroughs in artificial intelligence to the evolving realities of global research and work — guidance for technical challenges and personal growth is more important than ever. The Committed to Caring (C2C) […]
Stone Center on Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work Launches at MIT
The James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Center on Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work officially launched on Nov. 3, 2025, bringing together scholars, policymakers, and practitioners to explore critical questions about economic opportunity, technology, and democracy. Co-directed by MIT professors Daron Acemoglu, David Autor, and Simon Johnson, the new Stone Center analyzes the forces that contribute to growing […]
A new lens on humanity
When the MIT Human Insight Collaborative (MITHIC) launched in fall 2024, it was designed to elevate scholars at the frontiers of human-centered research and education, and to provide them with resources to pursue their most innovative and ambitious ideas. At the inaugural MITHIC Annual Event on Nov. 17, 2025, faculty from across the Institute shared the progress […]
Positioning Massachusetts as a hub for climate tech and economic development
Massachusetts is uniquely positioned to become a leader in climate tech, said Emily Reichert MBA ’12, the CEO of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) and former CEO of Greentown Labs, to members of the MIT community at a seminar in November. Reichert outlined the interconnectedness of economic development and clean energy innovation in MassCEC’s […]
Using design to interpret the past and envision the future
Some of designer C Jacob Payne’s projects present new, futuristic products — such as zero-gravity footwear for astronauts, and electronic-embedded ceramics — using technological tools and processes of digital fabrication, material innovation, and interactive interfaces. Other projects travel back in time to past centuries, considering the challenge of preserving and reconstructing Black architectural heritage. Payne […]
Time After Time
The ability to have a shower curtain delivered by Amazon in under twenty-four hours is a recent development, relatively speaking. But the ability to have a printed copy of the latest news delivered to your doorstep, with articles written just hours ago, is not very recent at all, in fact. Home delivery of the print […]
One pull of a string is all it takes to deploy these complex structures
MIT researchers have developed a new method for designing 3D structures that can be transformed from a flat configuration into their curved, fully formed shape with only a single pull of a string. This technique could enable the rapid deployment of a temporary field hospital at the site of a disaster such as a devastating […]
MIT community in 2025: A year in review
In 2025, MIT maintained its standard of community and research excellence amidst a shift in national priorities regarding the federal funding of higher education. Notably, QS ranked MIT No. 1 in the world for the 14th straight year, while U.S. News ranked MIT No. 2 in the nation for the 5th straight year. This year, President Sally […]
Q&A: The secret sauce behind successful collegiate dining
MIT Director of Dining Andrew Mankus has been serving the Institute community since his arrival on campus in June. He brings a wealth of energy and experience — and a problem-solver’s sensibilities — to food service at MIT. Most recently, he led dining at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, which has won the top […]
Building reuse into the materials around us
In a field defined by discovering, designing, and processing the materials that underpin modern technology, Diran Apelian ScD ’73 has a resounding message: Reuse can’t remain just the focus of a PhD thesis or a startup. It needs to be engineered from the beginning. Apelian, a metallurgist and MIT alumnus known for his pioneering work […]
Digital innovations and cultural heritage in rural towns
Population decline often goes hand-in-hand with economic stagnation in rural areas — and the two reinforce each other in a cycle. Can digital technologies advance equitable innovation and, at the same time, preserve cultural heritage in shrinking regions? A new open-access book, edited by MIT Vice Provost and Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP) […]
“Robot, make me a chair”
Computer-aided design (CAD) systems are tried-and-true tools used to design many of the physical objects we use each day. But CAD software requires extensive expertise to master, and many tools incorporate such a high level of detail they don’t lend themselves to brainstorming or rapid prototyping. In an effort to make design faster and more […]
MIT community members elected to the National Academy of Inventors for 2025
The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) has named nine MIT affiliates as members of the 2025 class of NAI Fellows. They include Ahmad Bahai, an MIT professor of the practice in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), and Kripa K. Varanasi, MIT professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, as well as seven additional […]
Working to eliminate barriers to adopting nuclear energy
What if there were a way to solve one of the most significant obstacles to the use of nuclear energy — the disposal of high-level nuclear waste (HLW)? Dauren Sarsenbayev, a third-year doctoral student at the MIT Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE), is addressing the challenge as part of his research. Sarsenbayev focuses on […]
