News & Stories

MIT builds community for the Africa Takes On Covid-19 challenge

It all started, like so many things recently, with a Zoom call. David Capodilupo, assistant dean for MIT Sloan Global Programs (GP); Bill Carter, award-winning filmmaker, author, teacher, and MIT consultant; and Stu Krusell, senior director at GP, were discussing what they could do to support the fight against Covid-19 in Africa. The need was […]

Will the Covid-19 pandemic change national security?

As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to inflict huge damage around the world, international affairs experts are increasingly wondering: Will the virus make countries reconsider their national security strategies? After all, conventional defense capacities have been of limited use against a devastating contagion — and more viruses like Covid-19 may well be out there. While few […]

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,” […]

Inclusive Innovation Challenge recognizes startups improving the future of work

Startups working to broaden economic opportunities around the world were awarded $1.6 million in prizes at the MIT Inclusive Innovation Challenge (IIC) yesterday. The $250,000 grand prize winners were JobGet, a mobile platform that matches low-income job seekers with employers; Agros, a company using remote sensing and precision agriculture to assist small farmers in Latin America; […]

From 3D-printed limbs to semi-autonomous race cars

In early October, the MIT International Design Center and the MIT Edgerton Center hosted a panel discussion on “Envisioning the Future of Technology-Enabled Mobility.” Moderated by Edgerton Center Director and Professor of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering J. Kim Vandiver, panelists included Robert Bond, chief technology officer of MIT Lincoln Laboratory; Dan Frey, professor of mechanical […]

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” […]

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 […]

After the Cold War, an uncertain peace

Why have U.S.-Russia relations been rather fraught over much of the last decade? Some might argue that tension is inevitable among international powers. Others have contended that U.S.-backed expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the last two decades has made Russia feel threatened. But those are hardly the only possible explanations. In […]

President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone visits MIT

In just 10 months in office as the Republic of Sierra Leone’s fifth democratically elected president, Julius Maada Bio has already laid out and begun to implement one of Africa’s most ambitious agendas, aimed at transforming the impoverished nation into a major hub for technology and innovation. In a visit to MIT on Thursday, he […]

Combining artificial intelligence with their passions

Computational thinking will be the mark of an MIT education when the MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing opens this fall, and glimpses of what’s to come were on display during the final reception of a three-day celebration of the college Feb. 26-28. In a tent filled with electronic screens, students and postdocs took turns explaining […]