News & Stories

Seeing the natural world through a mathematical lens

Growing up in Wallingford, Connecticut, David Darrow loved spending time outside, hiking and camping with his Boy Scout troop. He was fascinated by the environment around him, constantly asking questions about the natural world. Now a senior at MIT majoring in math and minoring in German and physics, Darrow is still studying natural phenomena. With […]

MIT, US Space Force to explore opportunities for research and workforce development

Advancing human understanding and exploration in space is a long-standing pursuit of researchers and students at MIT. For the U.S. military, space technologies and discovery have wide-ranging implications on national security. With that history and context in mind, the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro) hosted an on-campus event on Aug. 31, marking a […]

Daniel Hastings and Maria Yang appointed associate deans of engineering

Professors Daniel Hastings and Maria Yang have been named associate deans of MIT’s School of Engineering. Their new roles took effect August 1. Hastings is the Cecil and Ida Green Education Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and head of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, a role which he will continue in addition to his associate dean appointment. […]

Jing Wang, professor of Chinese media and cultural studies, dies at 71

Jing Wang, the S.C. Fang Professor of Chinese Languages and Culture, and a longtime member of the MIT faculty in Global Studies and Languages and Comparative Media Studies/Writing, passed away on Sunday in Boston after a heart attack. For decades, Wang was a leading scholar of the intersection of media and activism in China. Following […]

How aspirations become actions

Minutes before finding out he’d been accepted to MIT, Mussie Demisse ’21 was shaking Governor Charlie Baker’s hand. Demisse was at an awards ceremony at the Massachusetts State House, being honored as one of the 2018 “29 Who Shine,” a select group of graduates from the Commonwealth’s higher education system who’d made an impact at […]

New approach could change how we track extreme air pollution events

When extreme and dangerous air pollution events strike and blanket the air with hazardous levels of pollution, it causes a major threat to public health and safety. It’s also exceedingly challenging to monitor. The pollutants move quickly through the atmosphere, and can undergo chemical transformations from one form to another, leaving it difficult to predict […]

Up for a challenge in the lab and on the mat

At 5:30 a.m., his alarm would start blaring. Reluctant to get up, Jose Aceves-Salvador would hear his parents outside his door, bustling to get ready for work. “Ponte las pilas!” they would shout, using a Spanish idiom expressing encouragement to work hard. The expression would stick with Aceves-Salvador throughout high school as he dreamed of […]

An artistic approach to designing medical devices

Everything is a canvas for senior Jessica Xu. A prolific artist, Xu has explored a number of media including pen and ink, colored pencil, and watercolor. In her time at MIT, she has expanded her horizon beyond traditional media — turning places on campus into works of art. As a first-year student, Xu painted a […]

MIT juniors Yu Jing Chen and Max Williamson named 2021 Truman Scholars

MIT students Yu Jing Chen and Max Williamson have been selected as 2021 Truman Scholars. Truman Scholars demonstrate outstanding leadership potential, a commitment to a career in government or the nonprofit sector, and academic excellence. Chen and Williamson join 62 other scholars who were selected from 845 candidates. MIT President L. Rafael Reif personally informed both […]

3 Questions: Emma Teng on anti-Asian American violence in the US

A string of murders and violent attacks against Asian Americans has jolted the U.S. over the last year. As shocking as these incidents are, they are not novel. Asian Americans and Asian immigrants have long had to contend with physical attacks and discrimination, something evident in the research of Emma Teng, the T.T. and Wei […]