Traditional folk ballads are one of our most enduring forms of cultural expression. They can also be lost to society, forgotten over time. That’s why, in the mid-1700s, when a Scottish woman named Anna Gordon was found to know three dozen ancient ballads, collectors tried to document all of these songs — a volume of […]
Read More
With the rapid advancement of generative artificial intelligence, teachers and school leaders are looking for answers to complicated questions about successfully integrating technology into lessons, while also ensuring students actually learn what they’re trying to teach. Justin Reich, an associate professor in MIT’s Comparative Media Studies/Writing program, hopes a new guidebook published by the MIT Teaching Systems […]
Read More
The MIT Human Insight Collaborative (MITHIC) is a presidential initiative with a mission of elevating human-centered research and teaching and connecting scholars in the humanities, arts, and social sciences with colleagues across the Institute. Since its launch in 2024, MITHIC has funded 31 projects led by teaching and research staff representing 22 different units across MIT. […]
Read More
Around 80 percent of global energy production today comes from the combustion of fossil fuels. Combustion, or the process of converting stored chemical energy into thermal energy through burning, is vital for a variety of common activities including electricity generation, transportation, and domestic uses like heating and cooking — but it also yields a host […]
Read More
Nuclear security can be a daunting topic: The consequences seem unimaginable, but the threat is real. Some scholars, though, thrive on the close study of the world’s most dangerous weapons. That includes Caitlin Talmadge PhD ’11, an MIT faculty member who is part of the Institute’s standout group of nuclear security specialists. Talmadge, who joined […]
Read More
MIT professors Michael McDonald and Kristala Prather embody a form of mentorship defined not only by technical expertise, but by care. They remind us that the most lasting academic guidance is not only about advancing research, but about nurturing their students along the way. For McDonald’s students, his presence is one of deep empathy and […]
Read More
Professor Ioannis V. Yannas SM ’59, a physical chemist and engineer known for the invention of artificial skin for the treatment of severe burns, and a longtime member of the MIT faculty, died on Oct. 19 at the age of 90. “Professor Yannas was a beloved and distinguished colleague, teacher, and mentor. The impact of […]
Read More
On Oct. 20 during its annual meeting, the National Academy of Medicine announced the election of 100 new members, including MIT faculty members Dina Katabi and Facundo Batista, along with three additional MIT alumni. Election to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and […]
Read More
The MIT School of Engineering welcomes new faculty members across six of its academic units. This new cohort of faculty members, who have recently started their roles at MIT, conduct research across a diverse range of disciplines. “We are thrilled to welcome these accomplished scholars to the School of Engineering,” says Maria C. Yang, interim […]
Read More
The MIT Schwarzman College of Computing welcomes 11 new faculty members in core computing and shared positions to the MIT community. They bring varied backgrounds and expertise spanning sustainable design, satellite remote sensing, decision theory, and the development of new algorithms for declarative artificial intelligence programming, among others. “I warmly welcome this talented group of […]
Read More
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation has announced that two MIT affiliates have been named 2025 Packard Fellows for Science and Engineering. Darcy McRose, the Thomas D. and Virginia W. Cabot Career Development Assistant Professor in the MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has been honored, along with Mehtaab Sawhney ’20, PhD ’24, a graduate […]
Read MoreOct. 16 is World Food Day, a global campaign to celebrate the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization 80 years ago, and to work toward a healthy, sustainable, food-secure future. More than 670 million people in the world are facing hunger. Millions of others are facing rising obesity rates and struggle to get healthy […]
Read More
Associate Professor Gene-Wei Li has accepted the position of associate head of the MIT Department of Biology, starting in the 2025-26 academic year. Li, who has been a member of the department since 2015, brings a history of departmental leadership, service, and research and teaching excellence to his new role. He has received many awards, […]
Read More
MIT associate professor of physics Riccardo Comin has been selected as 2025 Experimental Physics Investigator by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Two MIT physics alumni — Gyu-Boong Jo PhD ’10 of Rice University, and Ben Jones PhD ’15 of the University of Texas at Arlington — were also among this year’s cohort of 22 honorees. The prestigious Experimental […]
Read More
Laurent Demanet, MIT professor of applied mathematics, has been appointed co-director of the MIT Center for Computational Science and Engineering (CCSE), effective Sept. 1. Demanet, who holds a joint appointment in the departments of Mathematics and Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences — where he previously served as director of the Earth Resources Laboratory — succeeds […]
Read More
For Priya Donti, childhood trips to India were more than an opportunity to visit extended family. The biennial journeys activated in her a motivation that continues to shape her research and her teaching. Contrasting her family home in Massachusetts, Donti — now the Silverman Family Career Development Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and […]
Read More
Matthew D. Shoulders, the Class of 1942 Professor of Chemistry, a MacVicar Faculty Fellow, and an associate member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, has been named head of the MIT Department of Chemistry, effective Jan. 16, 2026. “Matt has made pioneering contributions to the chemistry research community through his research on mechanisms […]
Read More
In 2024, an association of female senior citizens in Switzerland won a case at the European Court of Human Rights. Their country, the women contended, needed to do more to protect them from climate change, since heat waves can make the elderly particularly vulnerable. The court ruled in favor of the group, saying that states […]
Read More
MIT professors Zachary Hartwig and Wanda Orlikowski exemplify a rare but powerful kind of mentorship — one grounded not just in intellectual excellence, but in deep personal care. They remind us that transformative academic leadership starts with humanity. Whether it’s Hartwig’s ability to bring engineering brilliance to life through genuine personal connection, or Orlikowski’s unwavering […]
Read More
Just as the United States has prospered through its ability to draw talent from every corner of the globe, so too has MIT thrived as a magnet for the world’s most keen and curious minds — many of whom remain here to invent solutions, create companies, and teach future leaders, contributing to America’s success. President […]
Read More
The Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship strives to teach students the craft of entrepreneurship. Over the last few years, no technology has changed that craft more than artificial intelligence. While many are predicting a rapid and complete transformation in how startups are built, the Trust Center’s leaders have a more nuanced view. “The fundamentals […]
Read More
In 2025, six faculty were granted tenure in the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. Sara Brown is an associate professor in the Music and Theater Arts Section. She develops stage designs for theater, opera, and dance by approaching the scenographic space as a catalyst for collective imagination. Her work is rooted in […]
Read More
George Tynan followed a nonlinear path to fusion. Following his undergraduate degree in aerospace engineering, Tynann’s work in the industry spurred his interest in rocket propulsion technology. Because most methods for propulsion involve the manipulation of hot ionized matter, or plasmas, Tynan focused his attention on plasma physics. It was then that he realized that […]
Read MoreFor the past decade, MIT has offered doctoral-level study in computational science and engineering (CSE) exclusively through an interdisciplinary program designed for students applying computation within a specific science or engineering field. As interest grew among students focused primarily on advancing CSE methodology itself, it became clear that a dedicated academic home for this group […]
Read MoreIn the late 1990s, a Harley-Davidson executive named Donald Kieffer became general manager of a company engine plant near Milwaukee. The iconic motorcycle maker had forged a celebrated comeback, and Kieffer, who learned manufacturing on the shop floor, had been part of it. Now Kieffer wanted to make his facility better. So he arranged for […]
Read MoreAlan Lightman has spent much of his authorial career writing about scientific discovery, the boundaries of knowledge, and remarkable findings from the world of research. His latest book “The Shape of Wonder,” co-authored with the lauded English astrophysicist Martin Rees and published this month by Penguin Random House, offers both profiles of scientists and an […]
Read More
The Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research fondly remembers its founding director, David Baltimore, a former MIT Institute Professor and Nobel laureate who died Sept. 6 at age 87. With discovery after discovery, Baltimore brought to light key features of biology with direct implications for human health. His work at MIT earned him a share of […]
Read More
Artificial intelligence optimization offers a host of benefits for mechanical engineers, including faster and more accurate designs and simulations, improved efficiency, reduced development costs through process automation, and enhanced predictive maintenance and quality control. “When people think about mechanical engineering, they’re thinking about basic mechanical tools like hammers and … hardware like cars, robots, cranes, but mechanical […]
Read More
The world is awash in data visualizations, from charts accompanying news stories on the economy to graphs tracking the weekly temperature to scatterplots showing relationships between baseball statistics. At their core, data visualizations convey information, and everyone consumes that information differently. One person might scan the axes, while another may focus on an outlying data […]
Read More
Caroline Uhler is an Andrew (1956) and Erna Viterbi Professor of Engineering at MIT; a professor of electrical engineering and computer science in the Institute for Data, Science, and Society (IDSS); and director of the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Center at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, where she is also a core institute and scientific […]
Read More
In World War II, Britain was fighting for its survival against German aerial bombardment. Yet Britain was importing dyes from Germany at the same time. This sounds curious, to put it mildly. How can two countries at war with each other also be trading goods? Examples of this abound, actually. Britain also traded with its […]
Read More