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The MIT-Portugal Program enters Phase 4
New phase will support continued exploration of ideas and solutions in fields ranging from AI to nanotech to climate — with emphasis on educational exchanges and entrepreneurship.
MIT in the world
MIT Portugal Program 2025 call for seed grant proposals
The call is open to MIT principal investigators from any of the Institute’s schools, departments, laboratories, or centers.
Four from MIT awarded 2025 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans
Fellowship honors contributions of immigrants to American society by awarding $90,000 in funding for graduate studies.
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President Reif testifies before Congress on U.S. competitiveness
No U.S. strategy to respond to competition from China will succeed unless it includes increased investment in research, a concerted effort to attract more students to key research fields, and a more creative approach to turning ideas into commercial products, MIT President L. Rafael Reif said in congressional testimony on Wednesday, Feb. 26. Reif spoke at […]

It all adds up
The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is more than a math competition for high schoolers: It’s also a springboard for subsequent success. The MIT delegation that annually dominates the Putnam Mathematical Competition is largely composed of alumni of the IMO and related math competitions. Many of these mathletes remain involved by producing training or prep courses […]

Instrument may enable mail-in testing to detect heavy metals in water
Lead, arsenic, and other heavy metals are increasingly present in water systems around the world due to human activities, such as pesticide use and, more recently, the inadequate disposal of electronic waste. Chronic exposure to even trace levels of these contaminants, at concentrations of parts per billion, can cause debilitating health conditions in pregnant women, […]

Dreaming big in a small country
When Miguel Brechner started planning a new ambitious plan to foster a new generation of data scientists in Uruguay and Latin America, he immediately thought of MIT. “There is no question that MIT is a world leader in science and technology. In Uruguay we are a small country, but we dream big.” Brechner is president […]

A road map for artificial intelligence policy
The rapid development of artificial intelligence technologies around the globe has led to increasing calls for robust AI policy: laws that let innovation flourish while protecting people from privacy violations, exploitive surveillance, biased algorithms, and more. But the drafting and passing of such laws has been anything but easy. “This is a very complex problem,” […]

What pharmacy students in Ethiopia can do with supply chain education
What might pharmacy students at Addis Ababa University learn from an MIT supply chain course? The answer is quite a lot. Research Scientist Alex Rothkopf of the MIT Humanitarian Supply Chain Lab recently taught a blended course to the Addis Ababa University (AAU) School of Pharmacy in Ethiopia. “I’ve never taught pharmaceutical students,” he says. […]

Benjamin Chang: Might technology tip the global scales?
The United States and China seem locked in an ever-tightening embrace, superpowers entangled in a web of economic and military concerns. “Every issue critical to world order — whether climate change, terrorism, or trade — is clearly and closely intertwined with U.S.-China relations,” says Benjamin Chang, a fourth-year PhD candidate in political science concentrating in […]

New theories at the intersection of algebra and geometry
As a self-described “classical type of mathematician,” Chenyang Xu eschews software for paper and pen, chalk and chalkboard. Walk by his office, and you might simply see him pacing about, deep in concentration. Walking — across campus to get a cup of coffee, or from his apartment to his office — is an essential part […]

The complex effects of colonial rule in Indonesia
The areas of Indonesia where Dutch colonial rulers built a huge sugar-producing industry in the 1800s remain more economically productive today than other parts of the country, according to a study co-authored by an MIT economist. The research, focused on the Indonesian island of Java, introduces new data into the study of the economic effects […]

3 Questions: Kang Zhou on the lessons of Chinese calligraphy
Kang Zhou is a lecturer in Chinese in MIT Global Languages. His class, 21G.111 (Chinese Calligraphy), teaches the fundamentals of one of the best-known traditional arts during the Institute’s Independent Activities Period in January. Students taking this class may be learning Chinese as a second language but are not required to speak the language to […]