Advancing Human Understanding
Ken Urban on teaching playwriting at MIT
Graduate student spotlight: Mariano Salcedo
World-class
research
Without human understanding, there is no understanding. We are home to scholars and artists doing transformative work in fields vital to addressing the world’s most important challenges. Our faculty develop the values, vision, and ethical compass of tomorrow’s leaders.
Our faculty are among the world’s leading experts in their fields. Here you’ll find a selection of recent publications from SHASS scholars.
Why bother with plausible deniability?
New research from MIT philosopher Sam Berstler explains why we have social norms that let people engage in open deception. “What we mean can often be different from what we say, or enhanced from what we say,” Berstler says.
Seeds of something different
Program in Science, Technology, and Society professor Kate Brown’s new book, “Tiny Gardens Everywhere: The Past, Present, and Future of the Self-Provisioning City,” examines the hidden history of urban farming, its extensive use, and the politics of growing food. “In a little space, you can grow a lot of produce,” Brown says. “You can have another job and still grow food.”
MIT graduates share how their SHASS education prepared them to take on the world’s greatest challenges.
Ankita Reddy ’19
Anthropology (Course 21A)
Biology (Course 7)
“My classes, discussions, and connections fostered through SHASS taught me the value of deep listening, priming me to ask difficult questions about technological solutions (and to have the courage to do so).”
Meicen Sun PhD ’22
Political Science
“SHASS provided the crucial resources and flexibility needed to investigate how we can approach the social sciences from the perspective of information science.”
Music & Theater Arts gives students the opportunity to explore these disciplines as artistic practices and as cultural, intellectual, and personal avenues of inquiry and discovery.
Music on the brain
Graduate student Claire Southard ’25 explores new frontiers in music technology.
Students learn theater design through the power of play
MIT Theater faculty invite students to draw upon their personal experiences to create evocative set, sound, and lighting designs.
Broadening student minds
If you want to make the world a better place, you need to understand how it works. SHASS plays an essential role at MIT, ensuring our students have a deep understanding of the human implications of the world’s biggest challenges.
Latest news from SHASS
Our work has broad impact at MIT and across the globe. Read the latest about new ideas coming out of SHASS.
Improving understanding with language
MIT senior Olivia Honeycutt investigates how the ways we communicate can shape our views of the world.
Study: Immigrants help address the US eldercare shortage
Economists find that in metro areas with more immigration, nurses are spending more time with elderly patients.
Six from MIT awarded 2026 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.
In the media
The AI job apocalypse is avoidable
Political campaigns have no idea what’s about to hit them
The town that reveals all of Trump’s bad economic ideas
Every automation wave in history created more jobs than it destroyed. Will AI be different?
SHASS videos
Learning about global music traditions and cultures
