Said and Done

October 2015 Edition
Published by the Office of the Dean
MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
 


 


QUOTABLE

"Heidi Williams's insights about market inducements for innovation and the implications of technological change in health care markets are informing institutional practice and public policy, and sparking new lines of inquiry about innovation more broadly."

— The MacArthur Foundation


ECONOMICS
Heidi Williams wins 2015 MacArthur “genius grant”
Williams is an innovation economist who researches the causes and consequences of technological change in health care markets. Her broad goal is to shed light on the economics of innovation in a context — health care — that has important consequences for human health and welfare, one which is critical to national fiscal policy.
Story at MIT News | MacArthur Foundation webpage | Video
 


Photocredit: John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation


FEATURE


ECONOMICS + LINGUISTICS
QS ranks MIT Economics and MIT Linguistics top in the world
For the fourth straight year, QS World University Rankings has named MIT the top university in the world. Two MIT-SHASS departments — economics and linguistics — have been ranked as the finest in the world in their respective fields.

Story | QS Linguistics | QS Economics
 


 



FEATURE | MUSICAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY


New book of photographs documents MIT's Music program
Musical Institute of Technology is a behind-the-scenes look at MIT Music's performance program, published by the MIT-SHASS Office of the Dean. The photographs are from an ongoing series by Jon Sachs, the principal photographer on the SHASS Communications team. Paired with the photographs are comments on the significance of music at MIT, the intersection of music with science and technology, and why music training correlates with outsize success in other fields.

Story  |  View the book  |  Video: The science of why playing music benefits the brain
 


"MIT’s music program was a 'gigantic factor' in Dylan Sherry’s decision to attend MIT, rather than a music school, he says. 'Conservatory programs are transforming musically, but MIT is transforming personally, professionally, and also musically.” 


RESEARCH
 

Research Portfolio
Research is the engine for the School's capacity to help meet the world's great challenges. To name just a few areas of impact, MIT SHASS research helps alleviate poverty, safeguard elections, steer economies, understand the past and present, inform policy in the health, environment, education, water, and energy sectors, assess the impact of new technologies, understand human language, and create new forms at the juncture of art and science. 
Research Portfolio


RESEARCH TO POLICY
State of growth | Daron Acemoglu
A recent study co-authored by Acemoglu finds that states develop and spur economic growth best when they grow at both the local and national levels. Left to themselves, local governments will underinvest in building their own capacities — infrastructure, education, health care, etc. But when a national government invests as well, a catalytic effect occurs, and the local investments can help an entire region grow.
Story by Peter Dizikes


ANTHROPOLOGY + HISTORY
Black Histories Matter | essay by Erica Caple James and Malick Ghachem
"In the small town of Somers, Connecticut, near the Massachusetts border, the cofounder of a prominent American restaurant chain has built an apparently meticulous replica of Thomas Jefferson’s mansion in Monticello, Virginia." James and Ghachem notice that something is absent, however. No attempt has been made to recreate an area of Monticello known as Mulberry Row.
Read


RESEARCH TO POLICY
Sampler of MIT's sustained research on work and economic equity
The research of MIT's social scientists informs policymaking in many areas, including healthcare, poverty alleviation, the environmnent and climate, education, energy, food and water, elections, security, and economic well-being and equity.
Take a look


MIT SOLVE
MIT SHASS at SOLVE
A conference on campus October 5-8, 2015 marked the launch of SOLVE — a project dedicated to collaborations that accelerate solutions to some of the world's toughest problems. Led by the Office of the MIT President and Technology Review, SOLVE is planned as a series of ongoing events throughout the year. Meet MIT-SHASS participants in the initial conference event.  
Gallery | SOLVE
 

A MODEL FOR GLOBAL EDUCATION IN LOCAL LANGUAGES
Haitian educators and MIT faculty develop Kreyòl-based teaching tools
A project led by Professor of Linguistics Michel DeGraff is revolutionizing education in Haiti, and serving as a model for similar projects around the world. Most recently, six veteran Haitian educators — biologists, physicists, and mathematicians — were on campus to work with MIT faculty to hone Kreyòl-based, technology-enhanced teaching tools for Haitian classrooms.
More
 


Some of the members of the MIT-Haiti Initiative

“This project will have a profound impact on the way people think about teaching in mother tongues and will serve as a very important model for similar initiatives around the globe.”

— Vijay Kumar, Associate Dean and Senior Strategic Advisor for Digital Learning at MIT, and co-founder of MIT-Haiti Initiative


RESEARCH | BOOKSHELF

 




SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
Our Robots, Ourselves: Robotics and the Myths of Autonomy | David Mindell
Viking Books, 2015

Drawing on firsthand experience, extensive interviews, and the latest research from MIT and elsewhere, Mindell takes readers to extreme environments — high atmosphere, deep ocean, and outer space — to reveal where the most advanced robotics already exist. He argues that the stark lines we’ve drawn between human and not human, manual and automated, aren’t helpful for understanding our relationship with robotics.
Website | Q&A  | Presentation at Harvard Book Store, October 13, 2015


SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age | Sherry Turkle
Penguin Random House, 2015

"Sherry Turkle is a singular voice in the discourse about technology. She’s a skeptic who was once a believer, a clinical psychologist among the industry shills and the literary hand-wringers, an empiricist among the cherry-picking anecdotalists, a moderate among the extremists, a realist among the fantasists, a humanist but not a Luddite: a grown-up.
Review by Jonathan Franzen, NYTBR


Stop Googling. Let's Talk! | Sherry Turkle
Turkle describes the power of human conversation to develop empathy, a capacity for solitude and self-reflection, and the ability to listen well. Turkle's research shows that these interrelated abilities are dimished by constant engagement with digital devices. She has some ideas about how to reclaim face-to-face conversation, which, she says, "is the most human and humanizing thing that we do."
Essay


MUSIC | LISTEN
MIT's David Deveau performs Brahms with the Shanghai String Quartet
A gorgeous performance, available at WBGH podcast: Deveau and the Shanghai String Quartet performed Johannes Brahms: Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25; at the 2015 Rockport Chamber Music Festival, Shalin Liu Performance Center, Rockport MA.
WGBH Classical Performance Podcast | Archive: Deveau inaugurates new performance center
 


FEATURE | ALUMNI RESEARCH TALK


RESEARCH TO POLICY
Climate policy focused on local impacts is most effective for Americans
Cheap and Clean (MIT Press, 2014), by political scientist David Konisky PhD '06, has been called "the most important book yet written on how Americans think about energy issues." In a recent tak at MIT, Konisky said citizen demand for climate policy is so soft in the U.S. that new tactics are needed to address global warming. He makes recommendations.
Story by SHASS Communications
 


 


FEATURE | KNIGHT SCIENCE JOURNALISM


MIT is the hub of the universe for science writers this October 9-13
The annual Science Writers Conference, hosted this year by MIT-SHASS and the Knight Science Journalism program, is the largest annual gathering of science communicators in the U.S. Welcome science communicators! 
Story
 


 


COMMUNITY


WELCOMING NEW FACULTY
Announcing new MIT-SHASS faculty
The School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences is very pleased to announce and welcome a new group of standout scholars. Meet our new colleagues.
Gallery of New SHASS faculty, Fall 2015


REMEMBERING
Susanne Martin, longtime MIT staff member, dies at 68
Martin was a talented, much admired administrator and community-builder who contributed to both MIT Medical and to the Writing and Humanistic Studies program.
Story


STUDENTS
Students discover new fields and classes at the annual TOUR de SHASS
The popular SHASS annual academic expo showcases the range of MIT-SHASS, giving hundreds of MIT students a chance to “Take the Tour” — visiting information stations staffed by SHASS faculty and staff from all SHASS fields of study. Students are particularly excited about the chance to talk directly with faculty about potential classes. 
About + Slideshow



 


HONORS, AWARDS, AND GRANTS


All Awards  | October 2015
To see more of the many recent awards for the SHASS community, visit the
Honors and Awards section
 

ECONOMICS | ABDUL JAMEEL LATIF POVERTY ACTION LAB
Esther Duflo receives 2015 A.SK Social Science Award
The WZB Berlin Social Science Center honors the developmental economist and J-PAL director for her studies on poverty alleviation.
Story


GLOBAL STUDIES AND LANGUAGES
"Visualizing Japan,” humanities MOOC, is finalist for The Japan Prize
In a Q&A, course co-founder Shigeru Miyagawa, MIT Professor of Linguistics and Kochi-Manjiro Professor of Japanese Language and Culture, discusses his pioneering online course and its impact on education. The Japan Prize, an international award for educational broadcast and digital-media programs, is sponsored by NHK.
3 Questions interview with Shigeru Miyagawa



Imperial Family Portrait, Meiji Emperor series; from Visualizing Cultures; courtesy MFA Boston

“One student doing research on the use of MOOC material for classroom teaching measured the amount of time that the teacher (me) was speaking and also the students. He found that during the traditional lecture class, I was speaking 80% and students 20%. But in the flipped class format, it was 50-50. The students were much more engaged.”  — Shigeru Miyagawa, MIT Professor of Linguistics and Kochi-Manjiro Professor of Japanese Language and Culture
 


EVENTS
 

All events
To see all forthcoming MIT-SHASS events, visit Calendar.

CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
Starr Forum: Global Refugee Crisis
Speakers: Jennifer Leaning, Harvard School of Public Health, and others; E25-111, Wednesday, October 21, 5:30–7pm
Information

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Fireside chat with MIT SHASS alumni and Nobel laureate Robert Shiller
October 22, 2015; 6-9pm
Information
 


IN THE MEDIA
 

SHASS In the Media | October 2015
For more of the many recent media stories about SHASS research and faculty, visit the complete
In the Media section
 

WRITING
Junot Diaz on reading, writing, and America's amnesia about race
"Black Lives Matter more than amply shows we have great difficulty in dealing with the effects and the legacy of white supremacy. It’s not something that, as a nation, we’ve ever handled well....periodically issues of race and the kind of panorama in which we live comes into focus. But we also, historically, have a great habit of allowing these moments to dissipate...Our amnesia around this, and our ability to change the subject, is really unmatched."
Interview at the Los Angeles Times


ECONOMICS
Everything you know about the history, future of jobs is likely wrong | David Autor
New research by MIT economist David Autor is discussed and analyzed in this article on the history of job growth over the past four decades.
Story at the Huffington Post
 


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Said and Done is published by the Office of the Dean,
MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
Editor and Designer: Emily Hiestand, Director, SHASS Communications
Publication Associate: Daniel Pritchard, SHASS Communications
Published 8 October 2015