SHASS News

Blending neuroscience, AI, and music to create mental health innovations
Computational neuroscientist and singer/songwriter Kimaya (Kimy) Lecamwasam, who also plays electric bass and guitar, says music has been a core part of her life for as long as she can remember. She grew up in a musical family and played in bands all through high school. “For most of my life, writing and playing music […]
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Ray Kurzweil ’70 reinforces his optimism in tech progress
Innovator, futurist, and author Ray Kurzweil ’70 emphasized his optimism about artificial intelligence, and technological progress generally, in a lecture on Wednesday while accepting MIT’s Robert A. Muh Alumni Award from the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS). Kurzweil offered his signature high-profile forecasts about how AI and computing will entirely blend with human […]
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3 Questions: Addressing the world’s most pressing challenges
The Center for International Studies (CIS) empowers students, faculty, and scholars to bring MIT’s interdisciplinary style of research and scholarship to address complex global challenges. In this Q&A, Mihaela Papa, the center’s director of research and a principal research scientist at MIT, describes her role and her founding of the BRICS Lab, which studies how the […]
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SHASS/MISTI Global Classroom awards funding to four projects
The new pool of funding supports Independent Activities Period subjects abroad led by SHASS faculty or teaching staff.
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An adaptable evaluation of justice and interest groups
In 2024, an association of female senior citizens in Switzerland won a case at the European Court of Human Rights. Their country, the women contended, needed to do more to protect them from climate change, since heat waves can make the elderly particularly vulnerable. The court ruled in favor of the group, saying that states […]
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