The MIT James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Center on Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work recently hosted a half-day symposium at the Institute on “Why Wealth Inequality Matters.” Three panel discussions convened experts from economics, philosophy, sociology, and political science to explore the origins, mechanisms, and political consequences of wealth inequality. Richard Locke, John C […]
Read More
“Guys, have the buzzers been tested?” On Saturday, Feb. 21, volunteers for the 2026 MIT Science Bowl High School Regional hustled around the spacious auditorium, setting up chairs and buzzers and laying out sharpened pencils. The room slowly quieted as all high schoolers filed in, dressed in matching, dark green Science Bowl T-shirts. By late […]
Read More
From enhancing international business logistics to freeing up more hospital beds to helping farmers, MIT Professor Dimitris Bertsimas SM ’87, PhD ’88 summarized how his work in operations research has helped drive real-world improvements, while delivering the 54th annual James R. Killian Faculty Achievement Award Lecture at MIT on Thursday, March 19. Bertsimas also described […]
Read More
Could a three-hour workshop on an advanced materials analysis technique turn someone into a detective — or perhaps an art restorer? At MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms in late January, about a dozen students explored that possibility during an Independent Activities Period (IAP) workshop on Raman spectroscopy, a technique that uses laser light to […]
Read MoreWho benefits from artificial intelligence? This basic question, which has been especially salient during the AI surge of the last few years, was front and center at a conference at MIT on Wednesday, as speakers and audience members grappled with the many dimensions of AI’s impact. In one of the conferences’s keynote talks, journalist Karen […]
Read More
The United States and China “are the two largest emitters of carbon in the world,” said Nicholas Burns, former U.S. ambassador to the People’s Republic of China, at a recent MIT seminar. “We need to work with each other for the good of both of our countries.” During the MITEI Presents: Advancing the Energy Transition […]
Read More
With time dwindling in the Olympic women’s ice hockey gold medal game on Feb. 19, players for Team USA and Team Canada lined up for a key faceoff in Canada’s end. Canada had a 1-0 lead. USA had 2:23 left, and an ace up their sleeve: analytics. USA Coach John Wroblewski pulled the goalkeeper, to […]
Read More
Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt presented a forceful analysis of the damage smartphones and social media are doing to our cognition, our civic fabric, and our children’s wellbeing, while calling for renewed action to ward off their effects, in the latest of MIT’s Compton Lectures on Wednesday. “Around the world, people are getting diminished,” Haidt said. “Less […]
Read More
Dean of Engineering Paula Hammond ’84 PhD ’93 made a resounding call for the MIT community to “embrace endless hope” and “never stop looking forward,” in a keynote address at the Institute’s annual MLK Celebration on Wednesday, Feb. 11. “We each have a role to play in contributing to our future, and we each must […]
Read More