Said and Done


September 2011 Edition
Published by the Office of the Dean
MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

  


  

QUOTABLE


"We’re seeing a wave of new technologies in energy, biotechnology, batteries,
where there has to be a closer integration between research, development, design,
product definition and production.”   

              — Suzanne Berger, MIT Professor of Political Science, 
              on American companies bringing industrial processes back to America 

                                     



MULTIMEDIA

 

Audio Slide Show |  The Kuna Celebrations
Photographs and Narration by James Howe
James Howe, MIT Professor of Anthropology, has spent more than forty years working and collaborating with the Kuna, an indigenous people of Panama. In this audio slide show Howe tells the story of how a Kuna village prepares for and conducts a great communal celebration—an event that can last up to four days, and embodies the Kuna's important values, beliefs, and ways of life.
View audio slide show 

 

  



NEWS AND FEATURES

 

Does America need manufacturing?
For several decades, many American companies found that "offshoring" their industrial work could raise profits. But now the situation has changed. In a NYT's article, MIT Professor of Political Science Suzanne Berger says "We’re seeing a wave of new technologies in energy, biotechnology, batteries, where there has to be a closer integration between research, development, design, product definition and production.” 
Article in The New York Times |  MIT PIE  

 

 

School in the News 
Recent news about the School's research from U.S. and international publications
More

 
Wheaton proposes a mortgage fix for U.S. lenders and homeowners: shared equity
Bill Wheaton, MIT Professor of Economics, and Kenneth Rogoff, of Harvard University, suggest that the "government facilitate mortgage write-downs in exchange for claims on a percentage of future appreciation–potentially making it a win not only for homeowners who owe more on their homes than their properties are worth, but also a win for lenders and investors who would eventually be repaid for giving borrowers a break." 
Read how it could work in Fortune Finance

   




FORTHCOMING EVENTS

 

MIT Political Science Distinguished Speaker Series  | 15 September 
Thursday, September 15, 3:00 PM, Wong Auditorium (E51-115) | Co-hosted by Political Science Department and the Production in the Innovative Economy (PIE) group. Several leading MIT faculty will review a series of manufacturing topics, after which Ron Bloom, former Senior Counselor to the President, will speak. Nobel laureate and MIT economist Robert Solow will lead a short closing discussion.
Full schedule and more information 
 


Chomsky to speak in the Boston Review Ideas Matter Forum Series | 22 September
Thursday, September 22, 4:30-6pm, MIT Tang Center  | Noam Chomsky will discuss “The Responsibility of Intellectuals,” revisiting the controversial topic he first addressed in 1967.  The Chomsky event kicks off the second year of the Ideas Matter lecture series, a joint project of Boston Review and the MIT Political Science Department. 
More about the Ideas Matter series


Communications Forum Fall 2011 Series | 22 September 
Local News in the Digital Age: Thursday, September 22, 5-7, Bartos Theater, Media Lab, 20 Ames Street | Forthcoming programs include "Surveillance and Citizenship
," and "Cities and the Future of Entertainment
."  
More about the Communication Forum 


Robert A. Muh Alumni Award Lecture  | 26 October 
Wednesday, October 26, 2011, 5 pm | Bartos Theater, 20 Ames Street, Building E15  | Dr. Joseph E. Aoun, PhD ' 82 Linguistics, and President of Northeastern University, has received the 2011 Muh Alumni Award in the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. President Aoun will give a lecture entitled "The Future of American Higher Education in the Global Knowledge Marketplace." The lecture and a reception, immediately following, are open to the public. 
More

 



 

RESEARCH PORTFOLIO  



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, the School's research helps alleviate poverty, safeguard elections, steer economies, understand the past and present, improve health policy, articulate morality, plan space policy, assess the impact of new technologies, understand human language, advance musicology, and create new forms at the juncture of art and science.
Research Portfolio

 

Lépinay book gives an insider view of investment banking
In Codes of Finance, Vincent Lépinay, MIT Assistant Professor in Science, Technology and Society, gives an insider account of investment banking, and the high-risk trades that can spin out of control. A call for reshaping financial innovation.;“It’s an excellent book,” says William Maurer, chair of the Department of Anthropology at the University of California at Irvine. “There are few people who’ve had the kind of access he was able to secure, at the moment of formation of a financial instrument that was central to the meltdown in 2008.&rdquo
Story by Peter Dizikes at MIT News

 




Neighborly wisdom  
A study co-authored by Abhijit and Benjamin Oiken of the School's Department of Economics along with three colleagues at other institutions, has identified a surprisingly effective way of deciding who, in the developing world, most needs aid: let the citizens sit down and decide among themselves. 
Story by Peter Dizikes at MIT News


Bookshelf
The research of MIT's School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences appears principally in the form of books and publications, as well as music and theater productions. These gems of the School provide new knowledge and analysis, innovation and insight, guidance for policy, and nourishment for lives.  
Take a look

 


 

COMMUNITY 

 

New Faculty
The School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences is pleased to present the newest members of the faculty. A warm welcome to these superb scholars: Sasha Costanza-Chock, CMS; Lerna Ekmekcioglu, History; Hiromu Nagahara, History; Lucas Stanczyk, Political Science; Teppei Yamamoto, Political Science
Bio notes and photographs


Mellon Fellows for 2011-2013
With the generous support of the Mellon Foundation, the School awards two fellowships each year to promising young scholars working at the intersection of humanities disciplines, or between humanities and other disciplines. We are delighted to welcome two new Mellon Postdoctoral Fellows for 2011-2013—Hye Jean Chung and Gretchen Henderson—and to welcome back the Mellon Fellows for 2010-2012, Chuong-Dai Vo and Amaranth Borsuk.  
Bio notes and photographs

 

Uganda human rights journalist joins the Center for International Studies
Jackee Budesta, A Ugandan human rights journalist who has reported on the vicious attacks against women as "revenge crimes," has been selected as the 2011-2012 Elizabeth Neuffer Fellow.  The award is offered through the International Women's Media Foundation and is sponsored in part by the Center for International Studies at MIT.  
Full Story

 

 



MULTIMEDIA

 

Video: The Perfect Oyster
A great short piece about restoring natural oyster reefs in coastal waters—and why that matters for healthy oceans. Produced by talented students in the School's Graduate Program in Science Writing. 
Watch video
 

Exhibition:  installation showcases MIT humanities, arts, and social sciences
In honor of MIT's 150th anniversary, Dean Deborah Fitzgerald and the School Council initiated a new exhibit about the School, being installed now in the first floor of Building 14. Designed to be easy to update, the exhibit features a distilled look at each of the School's 22+ fields of study, and provides a changing gallery of ideas, research, and people.  
Photogallery: making the exhibit
 


 


 

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