Faculty

3 Questions: Laura Beretsky on living and learning with epilepsy
Do you have a disability? It’s a question every employer is required to ask job applicants. Some people quickly check a box and move on. For Laura Beretsky, deciding how…
High school students gain skills by working on digital learning materials
For Thomas Esayas, now a high school senior in Texas, the shift to virtual learning in the earlier days of the Covid-19 pandemic provided an opportunity to dive further into…
Q&A: Phillip Sharp and Amy Brand on the future of open-access publishing
Providing open access to scholarly publications is a long-running issue with new developments on the horizon. Last year, the U.S. federal government’s Office of Science and Technology Policy directed government…
What does the future hold for generative AI?
Speaking at the “Generative AI: Shaping the Future” symposium on Nov. 28, the kickoff event of MIT’s Generative AI Week, keynote speaker and iRobot co-founder Rodney Brooks warned attendees against…
Everything, everywhere all at once
The way Morgane König sees it, questioning how we came to be in the universe is one of the most fundamental parts of being human. When she was 12 years…
MIT’s Science Policy Initiative holds 13th annual Executive Visit Days
From Oct. 23-24, a delegation consisting of 21 MIT students, one MIT postdoc, and four students from the University of the District of Columbia met in Washington for the MIT…
Boosting rocket reliability at the material level
The success of the SpaceX Falcon 9 reusable launch vehicle has been one of the most remarkable technological achievements of the last decade. Powered by SpaceX’s Merlin engine, the Falcon…
Celebrating five years of MIT.nano
There is vast opportunity for nanoscale innovation to transform the world in positive ways — expressed MIT.nano Director Vladimir Bulović as he posed two questions to attendees at the start…
MIT students build connections with Black and Indigenous Brazilians to investigate culture and the environment
In January 2024, at the height of Brazil’s summer, a group of 20 MIT undergraduates will arrive in São Paulo, Brazil, for the Independent Activities Period (IAP) course WGS.247/21L.592 (Race, Place, and…
A green hydrogen innovation for clean energy
Renewable energy today — mainly derived from the sun or wind — depends on batteries for storage. While costs have dropped in recent years, the pursuit of more efficient means…
Richard Fletcher named a 2023 Packard Fellow
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation has announced that atomic physicist Richard Fletcher, assistant professor of physics and a researcher at MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms (CUA) and the MIT Research Laboratory…
Judgment, reason, and the university
At a time when universities are subject to intense political pressure, it is tempting to think they can follow a template for establishing to all concerned that educational institutions are…
Liberty Ladd: Going above and beyond
Liberty Ladd has been drawn to public service and fighting injustice from a young age. At 15, as a student representative from the first congressional district of Maine, she testified…
Scholarship keeps John F. Kennedy’s legacy alive at MIT
About 20 miles west of London, the meadow of Runnymede hosts a memorial to John F. Kennedy, dedicated by Queen Elizabeth II two years after the U.S. president’s assassination on…
A civil discourse on climate change
A new MIT initiative designed to encourage open dialogue on campus kicked off with a conversation focused on how to address challenges related to climate change. “Climate Change: Existential Threat…
Students pitch transformative ideas in generative AI at MIT Ignite competition
This semester, students and postdocs across MIT were invited to submit ideas for the first-ever MIT Ignite: Generative AI Entrepreneurship Competition. Over 100 teams submitted proposals for startups that utilize…
Merging science and systems thinking to make materials more sustainable
For Professor Elsa Olivetti, tackling a problem as large and complex as climate change requires not only lab research but also understanding the systems of production that power the global…
Three MIT affiliates receive Schmidt awards
Two MIT faculty were recently honored by Schmidt Futures, a philanthropic initiative of Eric and Wendy Schmidt. MathWorks Professor Jörn Dunkel received the 2023 Schmidt Science Polymath award, and professor of…
Peer coaching helps graduate students thrive
Eventually she became aware that her PhD was taking longer than average, which fueled her doubts. When the pandemic delayed her research, she worried about falling even further behind. Then,…
Working to beat the clock on climate change
“There’s so much work ahead of us and so many obstacles in the way,” said Raisa Lee, director of project development with Clearway Energy Group, an independent clean power producer.…
Celebrating diversity and cultural connections
The aroma of global delicacies filled MIT’s Bush Room, as students made cultural connections and answered trivia questions at the third “Heritage Meets Heritage” event. The event is organized by…
Aging Brain Initiative symposium showcases “cutting-edge” research across MIT
Spanning computer science, mechanical engineering, biological engineering, neuroscience, and other disciplines, presenters at MIT’s Aging Brain Initiative Symposium Oct. 23 delivered a rich and diverse sampling of the university’s research…
Five MIT affiliates receive awards from the American Physical Society
The American Physical Society (APS) recently honored five MIT community members for their contributions to physics: Professor Wit Busza, Instructor Karol Bacik, postdocs Cari Cesarotti and Chao Li, and Pablo Gaston Debenedetti SM ’81,…
Rewarding excellence in open data
The second annual MIT Prize for Open Data, which included a $2,500 cash prize, was recently awarded to 10 individual and group research projects. Presented jointly by the School of…
Future Leaders in Aerospace prepares the next generation for research careers
MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro) recently hosted the 2023 Future Leaders in Aerospace Symposium, inviting women and underrepresented minorities in aerospace fields to campus for a two-day program.…
Materials science and engineering career fair connects students with industry opportunities
Students in the MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE) got to mingle with potential employers interested in their specific skills this fall when the department held its first…
Computational imaging researcher attended a lecture, found her career
Soon after Kristina Monakhova started graduate school, she attended a lecture by Professor Laura Waller ’04, MEng ’05, PhD ’10, director of the University of California at Berkeley’s Computational Imaging…
Kristala Prather named head of the Department of Chemical Engineering
Kristala L. J. Prather ’94, the Arthur Dehon Little Professor, has been named the new head of the Department of Chemical Engineering (ChemE), effective Jan. 1, 2024. “Professor Prather has…
Spoken-word collaboration shows off the MIT community’s musical talents
What do you get when you cross MIT student and alumni raps with other community members’ electronic dance music, rhythmic riddles, and heartfelt love songs? You get MITverses, a new…
Meet the 2023 tenured professors in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
In 2023, 11 faculty were granted tenure in the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. Isaiah Andrews PhD ’14 is a professor in the Department of Economics. He…
Explained: Generative AI
A quick scan of the headlines makes it seem like generative artificial intelligence is everywhere these days. In fact, some of those headlines may actually have been written by generative…
The Beaver visits Father Sky: Meet MIT’s First Nations Launch team
Earlier this year, MIT’s First Nations Launch team participated in the 2023 First Nations Launch, an international NASA-Artemis Student Challenge hosted by the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium that focuses on…
GlycoMIT Symposium celebrates advancements in glycobiology
On Oct. 5, the Department of Chemistry, funded by a generous donation from Frank Laukien ’94, hosted the GlycoMIT Symposium, an interdepartmental celebration of advancements in glycobiology research. Defined broadly…
Centering feminism
There’s a black-and-white photo from a 1920s beauty pageant in a gilt frame hanging above the desk in MIT Professor Lerna Ekmekcioglu’s office. The Jazz Age image features white flapper…
Three from MIT named American Physical Society Fellows for 2023
Three members of the MIT faculty have been elected fellows of the American Physical Society (APS) for 2023. The APS Fellowship Program was created in 1921 for those in the physics community…
Panel examines Israel-Hamas conflict
As the armed conflict between Israel and Hamas unfolds, observers and news reports depict the prospect of a near-term halt in warfare as being unlikely. A panel of experts at…