News & Stories

For cultural and political conflicts, a humanizing imperative

Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, Nasir Almasri heard so many discussions about the political struggles of Palestinians that by the time he was 7, he thought he’d heard enough to last a lifetime. He was wrong. Decades later, Almasri is now in his fourth year in the MIT political science PhD program pursuing […]

Q&A: Holly Jackson on building a cosmic family tree

Holly Jackson doesn’t think of herself as an astronomer, but her work has contributed to some of the most startling and original research in the field this century. A junior majoring in electrical engineering and computer science, Jackson has become a valued member of Professor Paula Jofré’s research team in the astronomy department at Diego […]

MISTI shifts to fully remote global internships and cultural experiences amid pandemic

The 10.5-hour time difference between the eastern United States and India may seem like it would pose a challenge to collaborative teamwork. However, MIT junior Robert Koirala and sophomore Grace Smith quickly got used to scheduling team meetings as late as 11 p.m. as remote interns for India-based Ek Kadam Aur Foundation for Education and […]

Cracking the secrets of an emerging branch of physics

Thanh Nguyen is in the habit of breaking down barriers. Take languages, for instance: Nguyen, a third-year doctoral candidate in nuclear science and engineering (NSE), wanted “to connect with other people and cultures” for his work and social life, he says, so he learned Vietnamese, French, German, and Russian, and is now taking an MIT […]

Aspiring physician explores the many levels of human health

It was her childhood peanut allergy that first sparked senior Ayesha Ng’s fascination with the human body. “To see this severe reaction happen to my body and not know what was happening — that made me a lot more curious about biology and living systems,” Ng says. She didn’t exactly plan it this way. But […]

Why soldiers fight

Matthew Cancian concluded his service in the U.S. Marine Corps in 2013, but in some ways he never left his Afghanistan battlefield experience behind. A rising fifth-year doctoral candidate in political science, Cancian researches what motivates people to enlist and to engage in combat. “It could be said that my dissertation is a poorly disguised […]

Finding patterns in the noise

When social scientists administer surveys and questionnaires, they cannot always count on the scrupulous cooperation of their respondents: It’s human nature to get distracted when faced with a form. So how can researchers sort through what may be unreliable data to identify statistically significant answers to their questions? That’s where Shiyao “Sean” Liu comes in. […]

Digitizing supply chains to lift farmers out of poverty

Millions of cocoa farmers live in poverty across western Africa. Over the years, these farmers have been forced to contend with geopolitical instability, predatory loan practices, and a general lack of information that hampers their ability to maximize yields and sell crops at fair prices. Other problems, such as deforestation and child labor, also plague […]

Crowdsourced grocery delivery service thrives despite pandemic woes

Early this year, Philip Kuai MNG ’07 and his team were faced with a challenging decision about whether to continue on their pathway to publicly offer their company, Dada Group, in the midst of a global pandemic. While there was much uncertainty in the market at the time, the team’s perseverance and dedication paid off […]

Tunney Lee, professor emeritus of urban planning, dies at 88

Tunney Lee, professor emeritus of urban planning and former head of the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP), passed away of complications from cancer treatment on July 2 in Boston. He was 88 years old. An architect by training, Lee was also an accomplished planner, historian, and community activist. At MIT, his research […]