News & Stories

J-WAFS announces 2019 Solutions Grants supporting agriculture and clean water

The development of new technologies often starts with funded university research. Venture capital firms are eager to back well-tested products or services that are ready to enter the startup phase. However, funding that bridges the gap between these two stages can be hard to come by. The Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food System Lab […]

Reaching climate solutions through negotiation

Evaluating the many possible strategies for curbing greenhouse gas emissions and limiting the destructive effects of a warming planet is a daunting and contentious task. This week, about 50 MIT students got a chance to try out new software that can visually demonstrate how different policy choices could affect the global outcome. At Tuesday’s “SimPlanet” […]

Making high-quality education accessible to all

One of the earliest interactive course videos offered by MIT BLOSSOMS (Blended Learning Open Source Science or Math Studies) looks at the physics of donkey carts — used frequently in the streets of Pakistan. The lesson, created by Naveed Malik ‘81, looks at Newton’s Third Law of Motion, teaching how gravity can affect how two […]

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum honors MIT D-Lab with National Design Award

The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum announced that MIT D-Lab has won the National Design Award in the Corporate and Institutional Achievement category. Nominations were solicited from leading designers, educators, journalists, cultural figures, corporate leaders, and design enthusiasts from every U.S. state. “D-Lab’s work in bringing design thinking to under-resourced areas of the globe is […]

VP for Research Maria Zuber urges outward-facing collaborations at MIT Climate Night

MIT’s Plan for Action on Climate Change, released by President L. Rafael Reif in October 2015, has already begun to catalyze new research on climate issues at the Institute and a tighter focus on building a sustainable campus here in Kendall Square. But MIT will be passing up important opportunities to make an impact on […]

Detecting dengue, Zika, and chikangunya within minutes

An MIT Tata Center funded research team led by MIT Professor Lee Gehrke and collaborator Irene Bosch has developed a paper-based diagnostic test to detect Zika, dengue, chikungunya and other related viruses within minutes. To commercialize the venture, they recently formed life sciences startup, E25Bio, to not only change the way mosquito-borne illnesses are diagnosed, but also […]

3 Questions: Chappell Lawson on U.S. security policy

The year 2020 has featured an array of safety and security concerns for ordinary Americans, including disease and natural disasters. How can the U.S. government best protect its citizens? That is the focus of a new scholarly book with practical aims, “Beyond 9/11: Homeland Security for the Twenty-First Century,” published by the MIT Press. The […]

CS+HASS SuperUROP debuts with nine research projects

Trade policy, government transparency, and music composition systems were among the humanities, arts, and social science (HASS) research areas explored this year by students in MIT’s Advanced Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, better known as the SuperUROP. These and similar HASS-related research projects materialized because the SuperUROP — which launched in 2012 in the Department of […]

Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi presents moral vision in age of crisis

The Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi called for solidarity, love, compassion, and justice as an antidote to the crises of our time spawned by corporate greed. He called for a willingness to act on behalf of people in need, near and distant, including future generations, and on behalf of a living planet. Bhikkhu Bodhi, an American Buddhist […]

Rona Wang, Selam Gano win 2018 De Courtivron Writing Prizes

MIT Global Studies and Languages has announced the winners of the Isabelle de Courtivron Prize for 2018. First Prize went to sophomore Rona Wang, from Portland, Oregon, who majors in mathematics with computer science (Course 18-C), for her story “Acceptance Day.” The story explores identity, race, and bigotry in the United States through the voice […]