News From SHASS

John Buttrick was an influential professor of humanities and music at MIT.

John Buttrick, celebrated pianist and former director of music at MIT, dies at 88

Benjamin Daniel | School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

January 17, 2024

A renowned classical musician and MIT faculty member for more than two decades, Buttrick taught and performed extensively around the world.

Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate and Graduate Education Ian Waitz

3 Questions: Implementing the MIT Graduate Student Union’s collective bargaining agreement

Elizabeth Durant | Office of the Vice Chancellor

January 16, 2024

Ian Waitz describes the three-year contract that will change and enhance MIT’s graduate student policies and procedures.

A new comic takes readers through a history of infectious disease discoveries. “A Paradigm Shift in Infectious Disease” follows MIT Associate Professor Lydia Bourouiba and artist Argha Manna, who are both protagonists and creators of the project.

Turning history of science into a comic adventure

Zach Winn | MIT News

January 11, 2024

Associate Professor Lydia Bourouiba and artist Argha Manna take readers through a series of discoveries in infectious disease.

Attendees at the Blueprint Labs Preschool Research Convening

Bridging the gap between preschool policy, practice, and research

Talia Gerstle | Amanda Schmidt | Blueprint Labs

January 10, 2024

At an MIT Blueprint Labs Preschool Research Convening, researchers present studies on early childhood education and discuss new research directions with practitioners.

The new MIT Music Building, adjacent to Kresge Auditorium, will feature high-quality rehearsal and performance spaces, a professional-grade recording studio, classrooms, and laboratories for the music technology program.

3 Questions: A new home for music at MIT

Ken Shulman | Office of the Vice President for Campus Services and Stewardship

January 9, 2024

Keeril Makan describes how a new facility, now under construction, features rehearsal and performance spaces, a recording studio, classrooms, and music technology laboratories.

Five projects were selected for WORLDING 2023, each exploring an emergent field within climate futures through interdisciplinary teams made up of storytellers, land use planners, and creative technologists who use speculative modeling and game engine technologies.

Co-creating climate futures with real-time data and spatial storytelling

Open Documentary Lab

January 8, 2024

Five multimedia projects communicating climate futures selected for 2023 WORLDING program, online and at MIT.

Five projects were selected for WORLDING 2023, each exploring an emergent field within climate futures through interdisciplinary teams made up of storytellers, land use planners, and creative technologists who use speculative modeling and game engine technologies.

Co-creating climate futures with real-time data and spatial storytelling

Open Documentary Lab

January 8, 2024

Five multimedia projects communicating climate futures selected for 2023 WORLDING program, online and at MIT.

MIT senior Kwesi Afrifa believes technology has a unique power to accelerate urban development and empower citizens. With a major in urban planning and computer science, he seeks to create cultural hubs that are inviting to everyone.

Building technology that empowers city residents

Angelina Parrillo | MIT News correspondent

January 3, 2024

Kwesi Afrifa, a senior majoring in urban planning and computer science, wants to create cultural hubs that are inviting to everyone.

Left to right: Panelist Ziv Epstein SM ’19, PhD ’23, multimedia artist and social science researcher; panelist Alex Reben MAS ’10, artist and roboticist; moderator Onur Yüce Gün SM ’06, PhD ’16, director of computational design at New Balance; and panelist Ana Miljački, MIT professor of architecture and director of SMArchS Programs and the SMArchS AD Program.

The creative future of generative AI

Ken Shulman | Arts at MIT

January 2, 2024

An MIT panel charts how artificial intelligence will impact art and design.

A new study co-authored by an MIT economist looks at the impact of a healthy diet on Type 2 diabetes.

Does “food as medicine” make a big dent in diabetes?

Peter Dizikes | MIT News

December 27, 2023

Study of rigorous trial shows mixed results, suggests need to keep examining how nutrition can combat a pervasive disease.

Irene Terpestra (left) and Rujul Gandhi are master's of engineering students in course 6A at MIT.

Leveraging language to understand machines

Lauren Hinkel | MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab

December 22, 2023

Master’s students Irene Terpstra ’23 and Rujul Gandhi ’22 use language to design new integrated circuits and make it understandable to robots.

Robert Solow, influential economist and longtime MIT professor, was affilliated with the Institute for nearly three-quarters of a century.

Institute Professor Emeritus Robert Solow, pathbreaking economist, dies at age 99

Peter Dizikes | MIT News

December 22, 2023

Nobel-winning scholar changed his field, taught generations of students, and helped make MIT a global leader in economics research.

MIT’s top research stories of 2023

MIT News

December 21, 2023

A cheaper water desalination device, a wearable ultrasound scanner, and a new kind of supercapacitor were some of MIT News’ most popular articles.

A review of top MIT community stories of 2023 includes a presidential inauguration, international accolades for faculty and students, “Dialogues Across Difference,” new and refreshed community spaces, and more.

MIT community in 2023: A year in review

MIT News

December 21, 2023

Top Institute stories dealt with a presidential inauguration, international accolades for faculty and students, “Dialogues Across Difference,” new and refreshed community spaces, and more.

MIT faculty, researchers, students, and staff made headlines in 2023, making key research advances including detecting a dying star swallowing a planet, exploring the frontiers of AI, creating new clean energy solutions, inventing tools aimed at earlier detection and diagnosis of cancer and even exploring the science behind how to best spread kindness.

MIT in the media: 2023 in review

MIT News

December 21, 2023

MIT community members made headlines with key research advances and their efforts to tackle pressing challenges.

A new course open to the MIT community gives context to the crisis in the Middle East.

Minicourse open to the MIT community gives context to the Middle East crisis

Zach Winn | MIT News

December 21, 2023

Attended by more than 500 students, faculty, staff, and alumni, with more sessions planned, the course offers a jumping off point for constructive discussions.

MIT historian Tristan Brown’s new book, “Laws of the Land,” looks at the role of fengshui in China’s civic and legal realms.

Fengshui in the Qing Dynasty courtroom

Peter Dizikes | MIT News

December 20, 2023

Historian Tristan Brown’s new book tells the overlooked story of an ancient Chinese concept and its role in shaping the country’s law.

A study co-authored by an MIT economist shows that screening for colon cancer reduces cancer rates by substantially more than previously published analyses of randomized trials suggest.

Study: Colon cancer screenings are more effective than previously understood

Peter Dizikes | MIT News

December 19, 2023

By reevaluating existing data, researchers find the procedure is even more valuable than consensus had indicated.

MIT musicians and tour staff with the São Sebastião community on the Tarumã Açu River in the state of Amazonas, Brazil.

Hearing Amazônia: MIT musicians in Manaus, Brazil

MIT Music and Theater Arts

December 14, 2023

In a new documentary film, music’s storytelling power illuminates cultural and environmental sustainability in Brazil.

The Generative AI + Education Symposium, part of MIT's 2023 Generative AI Week, offered thought-provoking keynotes, panel conversations, and live demonstrations of how generative AI is transforming learning experience and teaching practice from K12, post-secondary education, and workforce upskilling.

MIT Generative AI Week fosters dialogue across disciplines

Mary Beth Gallagher | School of Engineering

December 11, 2023

During the last week of November, MIT hosted symposia and events aimed at examining the implications and possibilities of generative AI.

MIT's 2024 Marshall Scholars, Anushree Chaudhuri (left) and Rupert Li

Two from MIT named 2024 Marshall Scholars

Julia Mongo | Office of Distinguished Fellowships

December 11, 2023

Anushree Chaudhuri and Rupert Li will pursue graduate studies in the United Kingdom.

Eric Evans will step down as director of MIT Lincoln Laboratory after 18 years of leading the federally funded center.

Eric Evans to step down as director of MIT Lincoln Laboratory

Zach Winn | MIT News

December 6, 2023

During 18 years of leadership, Evans established new R&D mission areas, strengthened ties to the MIT community, and increased inclusion and education efforts.

MIT Professor Wiebke Denecke is the series editor of the new Hsu-Tang Library of Classical Chinese Literature.

3 Questions: Wiebke Denecke on a landmark project for Chinese literature

Peter Dizikes | MIT News

December 1, 2023

The Hsu-Tang Library of Classical Chinese Literature brings three millennia of classic texts to the world, in bilingual editions.

Burchard Scholars program participants and faculty advisors at the Burchard Scholars program dinner

Burchard Scholars gather to network, connect, and learn

Benjamin Daniel | School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

December 1, 2023

The Burchard Scholars dinner series helps create conversations between academic disciplines.

Morgane König is a postdoc in theoretical cosmology at MIT and at Dartmouth College, and a 2023 MLK Visiting Scholar at MIT. Her research focuses on the study of the universe as a whole, from the era of inflation to the present.

Everything, everywhere all at once

Sophie Hartley | School of Science

November 29, 2023

Cosmologist and MLK Scholar Morgane König uses gravitational waves to study the universe’s origins, inflation, and present trajectory.

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