SHASS News

The MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences announced leadership changes in three of its academic units for the 2025-26 academic year. “We have an excellent cohort of leaders coming in,” says Agustín Rayo, the Kenan Sahin Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. “I very much look forward to working […]

Crime and public safety are among the most pressing concerns across communities in the United States. Violence fractures lives and carries staggering costs; the economic burden of gun violence alone tops $100 billion each year. More than 5 million people live under supervision through incarceration, probation, or parole, while countless more experience the collateral consequences of arrests and criminal […]

Back in the 17th century, German astronomer Johannes Kepler figured out the laws of motion that made it possible to accurately predict where our solar system’s planets would appear in the sky as they orbit the sun. But it wasn’t until decades later, when Isaac Newton formulated the universal laws of gravitation, that the underlying […]

Many things account for Haiti’s modern troubles. A good perspective on them comes from going back in time to 1715 or so — and grappling with a far-flung narrative involving the French monarchy, a financial speculator named John Law, and a stock-market crash called the “Mississippi Bubble.” To condense: After the death of Louis XIV […]

The prolific inventor, thinker, and futurist is the 2025 Robert A. Muh Alumni Award winner.