Making a Better World Teaching and Learning
 


MIT aims to help provide access to a quality education by 2050 to anyone, anywhere, with the will to learn. A quality education is the foundation for economic and social progress for all people, but today, nearly 1 billion people around the world do not have access to a basic education. The MIT-SHASS disciplines contribute to meeting this goal in four primary ways:
 

Research to Policy
To help make education a universal reality, MIT's social science, arts, and humanities fields conduct research that informs public policy about education, and analyzes solutions to the array of economic, cultural, and political factors that create barriers to a good education.

Empowering every MIT student
MIT SHASS faculty also teach every MIT undergraduate. By empowering MIT students with political, economic, cultural, and historical perspectives — as well as skills in critical thinking, languages, and communication — the School increases the capacity of every MIT graduate to serve the world well, across the broad range of humanity's challenges.

International Education and Global Citizens
The SHASS faculty and coursework are also at the core of international education at MIT. Through all the SHASS disciplines and via MISTI — the School's applied international education program — MIT students learn how to collaborate and lead on teams around the globe.

Generating Online Educational Tools
MIT SHASS faculty are developing innovative MOOCs (massive online open courses) and other forms of online open access information. In addition to the course information itself, of interest are the ways the SHASS-generated MOOCs are exploring solutions to one of the greatest challenges of the MOOC concept: to translate the undisputed power of the small, discussion seminars and classes that characterize humanities education into the online, massive scale course formats.

 

Selected Stories

The 2023 cohort with Prof. Helen Elaine Lee (left) and guide Pedro Moreira (center) at the Rio Museum of Art

MIT SHASS undergraduates study race, place, and modernity in Brazil

MIT undergraduates visit São Paulo for the Independent Activities Period (IAP) subject “Race, Place, and Modernity in the Americas.

portrait of PhD student Kelcey Gibbons

NEW RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP

New Shapiro Graduate Fellowship supports research on the History of the African-American Experience of Technology
 

HASTS PhD student Kelcey Gibbons is the inaugural recipient.

Detail, exhibit in the Chomsky Halle wing

TRIBUTES + THE FUTURE

Linguistics luminaries Chomsky and Halle honored
 

A Stata Center wing celebrates their achievements— and the next generation of linguistics research at MIT.

portrait of MIT historian Sana Aiyar

IN THE CLASSROOM | ON CULTURE

History Lab: 21H.S04

History class led by Associate Professor Sana Aiyar delves into South Asian experience at MIT via oral histories and the Institute Archives / Distinctive Collections

Medieval castle by the ocean

BASIC RESEARCH | LITERATURE

A Portal to Another World: Arthur Bahr and the 14th Century Pearl-Manuscript
 

"Pearl is my favorite poem in the world,” says Bahr, a professor of literature at MIT. “Its form is simply exquisite, and the story itself is bittersweet.” He adds that "the Pearl-Manuscript as a whole serves as “a useful reminder that seriousness of moral and theological purpose can coexist with vivacity and verve and fun."  

portrait of Dave Darrow '22

MEET THE MIT BILINGUALS

David Darrow '22 | Languages + Math
 

Darrow's languages (to-date) are German, French, Spanish — and Math, which he sees as "the language that the universe operates within." And by learning several human languages Darrow says he can connect to more experts — in math and many other topics.

portrait of Ryan Conti, MIT '23

MEET THE MIT BILINGUALS

Ryan Conti '23 | Math/CS + Philosophy of Language
 

Preparing for a career advancing the science and policy of climate issues, Ryan Conti '23 focuses on math, computer science, and the philosophy of language.

MIT economists Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo

INSIDE THE CLASSROOM

The power of economics to explain and shape the world
 

In 14.009, a first-year class taught by Nobel laureates, MIT students discover how economics helps solve major societal problems.

Planet Earth

BE YOUR WHOLE SELF AT MIT

The Power of the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at MIT
 

"From climate change to poverty to disease, the challenges of our age are unwaveringly human in nature and scale; and engineering and science issues are always embedded in broader human realities, from deeply-felt cultural traditions to building codes to political tensions."

Building 10, at dusk, from Killian Court

At MIT, the arts, humanities, design, and STEM fields forge an essential partnership

The humanistic fields are vital to solving the world’s most urgent problems. They also help students shape successful careers and meaningful lives, argue Agustín Rayo and Hashim Sarkis in a commentary for Times Higher Education

BE YOUR WHOLE SELF AT MIT

Gallery | Meet the Bilinguals
 

100% of MIT undergraduates study both the humanistic and sci/tech fields. And many go much deeper, often earning a degree or minor in a humanities, arts, or social science field, often alongside a STEM degree. Meet some of these students and learn more about their plans for the future.

Sophia Gibert, MIT Philosophy

MEET OUR STUDENTS | PHILOSOPHY

Ethics in action: Sophie Gibert
 

Gibert, a PhD student in philosophy, discusses applying the tools of philosophy to ethical questions, in particular the ethics of health and healthcare.

MIT columns and laurel branch

NEW FACULTY GALLERY 2021

MIT SHASS welcomes six new faculty.
 

Our new faculty bring an array of research interests and domain knowledge to the School, including: ethical questions about misinformation and lying; macroeconomics; economic theory; transnational power and civic media; the literature and thought of East Asia; and the politics of trade.

portrait of Natasha Jogkelar

MEET THE MIT BILINGUALS

A Framework for Understanding the World: Natasha Joglekar '21
 

A CS + Biology major with a minor in Women's and Gender Studies, Joglekar found that her WGS coursework gave her powerful insight into the human factors that drive so many societal outcomes. “WGS studies helped give me a framework for understanding the world," she says, "in the same way my Physics and Math classes did."

laurels

HONORS AND AWARDS

Announcing the 2021 Levitan Teaching Award Winners
 

The James A. and Ruth Levitan Teaching Award, given annually by the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, honors the superlative teaching staff across the School. About the award, Dean Nobles says, "This prize honors instructors in our School who have demonstrated outstanding success in teaching our undergraduate and graduate students. These great educators, who are nominated by students themselves, represent the very best academic leadership in the School."

Kiara Wahnschafft '22, Economics and MechE

MEET THE MIT BILINGUALS

Kiara Wahnschafft '22 | Economics + MechE
 

Whether improving sanitation or addressing climate change, Wahnschafft is drawn to evidence-based methods for tackling social challenges.

MIT Hayden Library at dusk

HONORS AND AWARDS

MIT SHASS names 36 extraordinary students as 2021 Burchard Scholars
 

The undergraduates selected for the competitive program enjoy a seminar series and conversations over dinners with distinguished faculty.

illustration by Manzel Bowman, woman's head in profile

IN THE CLASSROOM

Inhabiting Science Fiction
 

Students in 21L.434 / "21st Century Science Fiction," taught by Assistant Professor Laura Finch, discover that the world-building of science fiction is not only a way to envision possible futures, but a powerful way to think about the world we currently inhabit.

portrait of Anjali Nambrath '21

MEET THE MIT BILINGUALS

Anjali Nambrath '21 | Physics/Math + French & Theater
 

Nambrath says learning to see the world through a wide variety of lenses is crucial to success in her field. In physics, she explains, “the whole point is to find new ways of looking at the world. I think it’s super important as a human being to push the boundaries of knowledge, to find out more.”

Portrait, Caroline White Nockleby, PhD student at MIT

SOLVING CLIMATE

Caroline White-Nockleby, PhD student in MIT HASTS
 

Research to surface and address the socio-environmental complexities of renewable energy: "Renewables must be collected, stored, and transported; they require financing, metals extraction, and the processing of decommissioned materials. Energy access, mining, and waste deposition are material, geographically situated dynamics. Not everyone stands to benefit equally from renewable energy's potentials, and not everyone will be equally exposed to its socioenvironmental impacts."

globe and coronavirus form

IN THE CLASSROOM | PANDEMIC

For the pandemic, MIT History opens a course to the public via a free, live webinar format.
 

Hundreds from around the world responded to the opportunity and joined MIT students in the weekly class, "History of Now: Plagues and Pandemic." The experimental webinar format also greatly expanded the scope of expertise available to students, bringing in speakers from fields ranging from microbial biology to economics.

Sign: Land of the Wanpanoag

MAKING A JUST SOCIETY

Native American and Indigenous scholarship, education, and creativity in MIT's humanistic fields
 

This collection highlights works by and about Indigenous and Native American faculty, students, alumni, and visiting scholars in the humanities, arts, and social science fields in the MIT SHASS community. 

Portrait of Nasir Almasri '21

MEET OUR STUDENTS

Profile | Nasir Almasri '21
 

Political science PhD candidate studies conflicts that emerge at the intersection of politics and religious traditions, with a focus on humanizing those involved.

photo of MIT student

MEET THE MIT BILINGUALS

Darya Guettler ’21 | MechE + Political Science
 

Combining degrees in mechanical engineering and political science, MIT senior Darya Guettler '21 advocates for climate policy, sustainable technologies, and equitable, inclusive processes.

Phi Beta Kappa Key

HONORS AND AWARDS

115 graduating MIT seniors inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society
 

A remarkable cohort of graduating seniors in the Class of 2020 were honored for excellence in the liberal arts.

Annaul Olin and family

MIT INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE INITIATIVE

Saving Iñupiaq: Annauk Denise Olin
 

Olin, a graduate student in linguistics, is working to help her Alaska Native community preserve their language and navigate the severe impacts of climate change on their coastal village. 

columns and laurel bramch

EDUCATION

MIT SHASS welcomes new faculty.
 

The School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences warmly welcomes six new professors to the MIT community. They arrive with diverse backgrounds and vast knowledge in their areas of research, which include technology and identity; imperial and modern China; musical ensembles; immigration and voting law;  cyber warfare; and the history of environmental management.

Portrait of Stephen Morris, Peter Diamond Professor of Economics at MIT

HONORS AND AWARDS

Stephen Morris named the inaugural Peter A. Diamond Professor of Economics
 

MIT Department of Economics establishes new professorship honoring Institute Professor and Nobel Laureate.

Apple - Orange combination

MEET THE MIT BILINGUALS

Salute to Seniors | Class of 2020
 

35 of the many outstanding MIT 2020 students who have focused on both humanistic and scientific/technical fields reflect on their MIT education — and their visions for the future.

photo of Kathryn Jiang ' 20

MEET THE MIT BILINGUALS

Kathryn Jiang ’20 | Literature + Mathematics
 

“Literature and math both try to explain how the world works; literature through stories and math through patterns," and these different perspectives are needed to solve today’s complex problems. “So much of this world is messy," Jiang says, "and MIT’s humanistic subjects give you a way to think about messy data, qualitative data. That’s really valuable.”

portrait of Emily Soice, MIT '20

MEET THE MIT BILINGUALS

Emily Soice ’20 | Environmental Engineering + Music
 

"I came to MIT to be an environmental engineer. I've always loved the environment and wanted to protect it. We also need leadership, which is what I've learned the most in music." 

detail, data visualization

IN THE CLASSROOM

Course Profile: Data and Society
 

A new course in the Computing and Society Concentration, taught by Eden Medina and Sarah Williams, engages MIT students in the ethics and societal implications of data. 

portrait of MIT anthropologist Amah Edoh

HONORS AND AWARDS

MIT Anthropologist Amah Edoh receives Baker Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
 

This Institute-wide award is given every year to an MIT faculty member, recognizing an “exceptional interest and ability in the instruction of undergraduates.” It is the only teaching award in which the nomination and selection of the recipients is done entirely by students.  

COMPUTING AND AI | HUMANISTIC PERSEPCTIVES FROM MIT

Computing and AI: Humanistic Perspectives from MIT
 

"With a sense of promise and urgency, we are embarked at MIT on an accelerated effort to more fully integrate the humanistic and technical forms of discovery in our curriculum and research, in our institutional structure, and in our habits of mind and action."

Melissa Nobles, Kenan Sahin Dean, MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

COMPUTING AND AI: HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVES FROM MIT

Foreword | Melissa Nobles
Dean, MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, 2015-2021; MIT Chancellor, 2021 —
 

"With a sense of promise and urgency, we are embarked at MIT on an accelerated effort to more fully integrate the humanistic and technical forms of discovery in our curriculum and research, in our institutional structure, and in our habits of mind and action. Together, the commentaries in this series offer a guidebook to myriad productive ways that humanistic, scientific, and technical fields can join forces at MIT and elsewhere."

AI information network

ETHICS, COMPUTING, AND AI

Ethics, Computing, and AI | Perspectives from MIT
 

To support ongoing planning for the Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing, Dean Melissa Nobles invited faculty from all five MIT schools to offer perspectives on the societal and ethical dimensions of emerging technologies. This series presents the resulting commentaries — practical, inspiring, concerned, and clear-eyed views from an optimistic community deeply engaged with one of the most consequential questions of our time.

Melissa Nobles, MIT Chancellor; Former Kenan Sahin Dean of MIT SHASS

ETHICS, COMPUTING, AND AI | PERSPECTIVES FROM MIT

Foreword | Melissa Nobles
 

"These commentaries implore us to be collaborative, foresighted, and courageous as we shape the new Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing, and to proceed with judicious humility. Rightly so. We are embarking on an endeavor that will influence nearly every aspect of the human future."

portrait of Talia Khan '20

MEET THE MIT BILINGUALS

Talia Khan '20 | Materials Science + Music
 

“When I was looking for a university, I wanted one with access to top-quality music teachers and top-quality science. MIT really fit the bill. At MIT, we have the same quality of music education as conservatories, and you also have the rest of the MIT education.”

photo of Sandy Alexandre, MIT Professor of Literature

INNOVATION

3Q with Sandy Alexandre: On the literary roots of many technological innovations
 

In 2019, Alexandre was awarded a prestigious Bose Research Grant, which supports her study of the under-explored phenomenon of ideas that first appear in speculative fiction becoming technological and social reality.  

Christine Soh '20, computer science and linguistics

MEET THE MIT BILINGUALS

Christine Soh '20 | CS/Engineering + Linguistics
 

With her dual degrees, Soh is prepared to make new tools in computational linguistics. Potential applications include improving speech recognition software and making machine-produced speech sound more natural.

HONORS AND AWARDS

38 MIT students selected as 2020 Burchard Scholars
 

The selective Burchard Scholars program recognizes students who have demonstrated outstanding abilities and academic excellence in some aspect of the humanistic fields — the humanities, arts, and social sciences — as well as in the STEM fields. 

Milo and Marion, ethics of technology at MIT

ETHICS OF TECHNOLOGY

3Q with Marion Boulicault and Milo Phillips-Brown
on integrating ethics into a technical curriculum
 

"The approach we are piloting at MIT is teaching ethics as a set of skills (what Aristotle would call techné). If we’re going to make a difference in whether our students make things ethically and responsibly, they need ethical skills that they can apply to their own work."

Detail, Delacroix painting, Liberty guiding the people

INSIDE THE CLASSROOM

How to Stage a Revolution: History 21H.001
 

MIT history class explores the roots and complexities of revolutions across the globe. From early printing presses to changing fuel sources to the reach of global social media, the technological contexts of revolutions are intrinsic to understanding them.

Leo Marx, MIT Professor Emeritus

CELEBRATING SCHOLARSHIP

Celebrating Leo Marx on his 100th birthday
 

Over 40 years, the influential historian helped build MIT's Program in Science, Technology, and Society into a world leader in the field.

Timothy Loh, MIT doctoral student

MEET OUR DOCTORAL STUDENTS

Meet Timothy Loh, doctoral student in the MIT HASTS program
 

“MIT is the best place to be an anthropologist studying issues of science and technology. It’s a place where we’re able to think deeply and critically about how scientific knowledge and authority is constructed."

MIT Columns from Building 10

HONORS AND AWARDS

MIT ranked No.1 worldwide for Economics and Business for 2020
 

Times Higher Education awards top honors to fields in MIT SHASS and MIT Sloan for the second year in a row. 

MIT Buiding 4 and Killian Court

HONORS AND AWARDS

MIT ranked No.1 worldwide for the Social Science fields for 2020
 

Our social structures, systems of governance, and means of communication demand crucial examination, both historically and predictively," says Dean Melissa Nobles. "MIT’s scholars make vital contributions to the social science fields, and also prepare students in both humanistic and technical programs to understand the larger context of the world in which they’re living.”
 

Anthropology and Studio Art Class

INSIDE THE CLASSROOM

The Technology of Enchantment
 

In a new Anthropology + Studio Art maker class, MIT students investigate the human dimensions of interacting with technologies.
 

Marc Aidinoff

VOICES OF MIT SHASS GRADUATE STUDENTS

Meet Marc Aidinoff, PhD candidate
 

"What does it mean when civil rights become about access to computers and the Internet? When lack of Internet access is considered a form of poverty? These questions were getting under my skin. I wanted to know how social and economic policy were tied to changing ideas about technology."

HONORS AND AWARDS

MIT Economist Parag Pathak honored by Science News
 

Pathak, the Jane Berkowitz Carlton and Dennis William Carlton Professor of Microeconomics at MIT, has been named by Science News as one of 10 early- and mid-career scientists with great potential to shape the future of their field.

How Christopher Weaver transformed video games and game studies

Weaver revolutionizes video games with physics, design, virtual reality, storytelling, and games for social change.

Ruth Perry, MIT Professor of Literature

COMPUTING AND AI: HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVES FROM MIT

Women and Gender Studies | Ruth Perry, Sally Haslanger, Elizabeth Wood
 

"The Schwarzman College of Computing presents MIT with a unique opportunity to take a leadership role in addressing some of most pressing challenges that have emerged from the ubiquitous role computing technologies now play in our society — including how these technologies are reinforcing and even exacerbating social inequalities."

Eran Egozy, Professor of the Practice of Music Technology

COMPUTING AND AI: HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVES FROM MIT

Music | Eran Egozy

"Through the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, our responsibility will be not only to develop the new technologies of music creation, distribution, and interaction, but also to study their cultural implications and define the parameters of a harmonious outcome for all."
 

Eden Medina, MIT Associate Professor of Science, Tech, and Society

COMPUTING AND AI: HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVES FROM MIT

Science, Technology, and Society | Eden Medina and Dwai Banerjee

"A more global view of computing would demonstrate a broader range of possibilities than one centered on the American experience, while also illuminating how computer systems can reflect and respond to different needs and systems."

Alex Byrne, Professor of Philosophy

COMPUTING AND AI: HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVES FROM MIT

Philosophy | Alex Byrne and Tamar Schapiro

“The new College of Computing presents an opportunity for MIT to be an intellectual leader in the ethics of technology. The Ethics Lab we propose could turn this opportunity into reality."

Shankar Raman, MIT Professor of Literature

COMPUTING AND AI: HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVES FROM MIT

Literature | Shankar Raman with Mary C. Fuller

"At least three priorities of current literary engagement with the digital should be integrated into the SCC’s research and curriculum: democratization of knowledge; new modes of and possibilities for knowledge production; and critical analysis of the social conditions governing what can be known and who can know it."

Stata Center, home of MIT Linguistics

COMPUTING AND AI: HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVES FROM MIT

Linguistics | Faculty of MIT Linguistics

“Crucially, nearly all transformative new tools have come from researchers at institutions where linguists work side-by-side with computational researchers who are able to translate back and forth between computational properties of linguistic grammars and of other systems.”

Jeffrey Ravel, MIT Professor of History

COMPUTING AND AI: HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVES FROM MIT

History | Jeffrey S. Ravel

"The nuanced debates in which historians engage about causality provide a frame of reference for considering the issues that will inevitably emerge from new computing technologies. We may not be doomed to repeat the past if we do not study it. But we certainly miss an opportunity to imagine our way out of today’s existential threats if we do not appreciate the complexity of past crises."

Emma Teng, T.T. and Wei Fong Chao Professor of Asian Civilizations

COMPUTING AND AI: HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVES FROM MIT

Global Languages | Emma Teng, with colleagues

"Language and culture learning is a gateway to international experiences and an important means to develop cross-cultural understanding and sensitivity. Such understanding is essential to addressing the social and ethical implications of the expanding array of technology affecting everyday life across the globe."

William Uricchio, MIT Professor of Comparative Media Studies

COMPUTING AND AI: HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVES FROM MIT

Comparative Media Studies | William Uricchio
 

"Given our research and practice focus, the CMS perspective can be a key one for understanding the implications of computation for knowledge and representation, as well as computation’s relationship to the critical process of how knowledge works in culture — the way it is formed, shared, and validated."

U.S. woman at voting booth

COMPUTING AND AI: HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVES FROM MIT

Political Science | Faculty of the Department

"The advance of computation gives rise to a number of conceptual and normative questions that are political, rather than ethical, in character. Political science and theory have a significant role in addressing such questions as: How do major players in the technology sector seek to legitimate their authority to make decisions that affect us all? And where should that authority actually reside in a democratic polity?"

Nancy Rose, MIT Professor of Economics

COMPUTING AND AI: HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVES FROM MIT

Economics | Nancy L. Rose and David Autor

"The affinity between economics and computer science traces back almost a century, to the founding of game theory in 1928. Today, the practical synergies between economics and computer science are flourishing. We outline some of the many opportunities for the two disciplines to engage more deeply through the new MIT Schwarzman College of Computing." 

Heather Paxson, MIT Professor of Anthropoogy

COMPUTING AND AI: HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVES FROM MIT

Anthropology | Heather Paxson

"Incorporating anthropological thinking into the new College of Computing promises to help students become more effective and responsible coders, designers, and engineers. The study of anthropology can prepare students to live and work effectively and responsibly in a world of technological, demographic, and cultural exchanges."

Tom Levenson, MIT Professor of Science Writing

COMPUTING AND AI: HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVES FROM MIT

Writing | Thomas Levenson

"Computation and its applications in fields that directly affect society cannot be an unexamined good. Professional science and technology writers are a crucial resource for the mission of the SCC, and they need to be embedded within its research apparatus."

Carolyn Stein, MIT Economics doctoral candidate

VOICES OF MIT SHASS GRADUATE STUDENTS

Meet Carolyn Stein: MIT Economics PhD student researches the economics of science
 

"Scientists are often motivated by factors other than wages, but many insights from labor economics still help us understand how the field of science functions."

GALLERY | NEW FACULTY 2019

Seven new faculty members join MIT SHASS
 

Dean Melissa Nobles and the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences are pleased to welcome the newest members of the MIT SHASS faculty. They come with diverse and broad research interests, from environmental economics to language formation to the history of the Chernobyl disaster.

Sara Brown, MIT Assistant Professor of Theater, Director of Theater Design

COMPUTING AND AI: HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVES FROM MIT

Theater Arts | Sara Brown

"As a subject, artificial intelligence (AI) problematizes what is means to be human. There are an unending series of questions posed by the presence of an intelligent machine. The theater, as a synthetic art form that values and exploits liveness, is an ideal place to explore the complex and layered problems posed by AI and advanced computing."

A scholar and teacher re-examines moments in the history of STEM

“I love teaching,” says PhD student Clare Kim. “It’s not that I’m just imparting knowledge, but I want [my students] to develop a critical way of thinking.”

3 Questions: The social implications and responsibilities of computing

In helping envision the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, working group is focusing on ethical and societal questions.

STUDENT HONORS

76 MIT seniors inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society
 

PBK honors the nation’s most outstanding undergraduate students for excellence in the liberal arts, which include the humanities and the natural and social science fields. Only 10 percent of higher education institutions have PBK chapters, and fewer than 10 percent of students at those institutions are selected for membership.

Merging machine learning, the life sciences, and linguistics

Through computing, senior and Marshall Scholar Anna Sappington seeks answers to biological questions.

The quest to understand human society scientifically

In STS.047 (Quantifying People), MIT students explore the history of science from the 17th century to the present, through the eyes of statisticians and sociologists.

A stage of their own

Presentation workshop for political science graduate students serves as training ground for research and professional skills.

Cornerstone donation sparks bright future for MISTI's MIT-Israel
 

In the first major step toward solidifying a future for MISTI’s MIT-Israel program, Arthur J. Samberg SB ‘62 has made a 1 million dollar donation. The gift is a foundational move in making sure the program — a critical bridge between MIT and Israel for over a decade — will be able to continue supporting student and faculty work for years to come.

3 Questions: Why are student-athletes amateurs?

MIT Professor Jennifer Light digs into the history of the idea that students aren’t part of the labor force.

Historian William J. Turkel

MIT HiSTORY SERIES ON DIGITAL HUMANITIES | 3

Computation and the practice of 21st-century history
 

In a talk at MIT, Professor William J. Turkel, PhD'04, described the techniques and tools he uses in his study of global21st-century history.

Historian Juliette Levy

MIT HISTORY SERIES ON DIGITAL HUMANITIES | 2

Digital Zombies and Virtual Reality: Juliette Levy on history in the digital classroom
 

"Weekly podcasts, a virtual reality experience involving Che Guevara, and a learning game with zombies are among the digital platforms a history professor has used to enhance her teaching and make the subject engaging, especially for large classes of hundreds of students."

Professor David Pesetsky

3 Questions: David Pesetsky on the field of linguistics
 

Solving language puzzles, linguists shed light on deep properties of the human mind, on language acquisition in children, on machine learning, social interactions, and meaning itself. David Pesetsky, an internationally acclaimed linguistic scholar, is the Ferrari P. Ward Professor of Modern Languages and Linguistics at MIT.

MIT HiSTORY SERIES ON DIGITAL HUMANITIES | 1

Talk by Cameron Blevins launches MIT Digital History Seminar Series
 

“This seminar series is part of our ongoing exploration of computational methods and digital media for research and teaching in the history field. Writ large, this new series is a space for us to reflect on our engagement with the new MIT Schwarzman College of Computing" — Jeffrey Ravel, head of MIT History

Panelists at Ethics and AI event

ETHICS, COMPUTING, AND AI

Making the path to ethical, socially beneficial AI
 

At celebration for the new MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, leaders from government, philanthropy, academia, and industry say collaboration is the key.

Melissa Nobles, speaking at Hello World Celebration

ETHICS, COMPUTING, AND AI

Coda | Computing for the People: Ethics and AI
 

A post-panel conversation  

Susan S. Silbey, Chair of the MIT Faculty

ETHICS, COMPUTING, AND AI

Welcoming Remarks | Susan S. Silbey
 

Celebration for the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing
28 February 2019

Scale of justice with a robot

ETHICS, COMPUTING, AND AI | PERSPECTIVES FROM MIT

The Tools of Moral Philosophy | Caspar Hare and Kieran Setiya

"Framing a discussion of the risks of advanced technology entirely in terms of ethics suggests that the problems raised are ones that can and should be solved by individual action. In fact, many of the challenges presented by computer science will prove difficult to address without systemic change.”

Heather Paxson, MIT Professor of Anthropology

ETHICS, COMPUTING, AND AI | PERSPECTIVES FROM MIT

Computing is Deeply Human | Stefan Helmreich and Healther Paxson

“Computing is not an external force that has an ‘impact’ on society; instead, society is built right into making, programming, and using computers. The computational is political. MIT can make that recognition one of the pillars of its aspiration to help build a better world."

Mary Fuller, MIT Professor of Literature

ETHICS, COMPUTING, AND AI | PERSPECTIVES FROM MIT

The Common Ground of Stories | Mary Fuller

“Stories allow us to model interpretive, affective, ethical choices; they also become common ground, conceptual meeting places that can serve to gather very different kinds of interlocutors around a common object. We need these.”

David Kaiser MIT Professor

ETHICS, COMPUTING, AND AI | PERSPECTIVES FROM MIT

Blind Spots | David Kaiser

“MIT has a powerful opportunity to lead in the development of new technologies while also leading careful, deliberate, broad-ranging, and ongoing community discussions about the “whys” and 'what ifs,' not just the 'hows.' No group of researchers, flushed with the excitement of learning and building something new, can overcome the limitations of blind spots and momentum alone."

MIT Professor Lisa Parks

ETHICS, COMPUTING, AND AI | PERSPECTIVES FROM MIT

Addressing the Societal Implications of AI | Lisa Parks

"Given the power of AI tools to impact human behavior and shape planetary conditions, it is vital that a political, economic, and materialist analysis of the technology’s relation to global trade, governance, natural environments, and culture be conducted."

Robin Wolfe Scheffler MIT Professor

ETHICS, COMPUTING, AND AI | PERSPECTIVES FROM MIT

Clues and Caution for AI from the History of Biomedicine
Robin Wolfe Scheffler

"The very intractability of biology and medicine to computation makes their history an essential counterpoint to more optimistic contemporary discussions of the challenges and opportunities for AI in society. Their past underlines two major points: ‘Quantification is a processes of  judgment and evaluation, not simple measurement’ and ‘Prediction is not destiny.’”

T.L. Taylor, MIT Professor of Comparative Media Studies

ETHICS, COMPUTING, AND AI | PERSPECTIVES FROM MIT

The Environment for Ethical Actions | T.L. Taylor

"We can cultivate our students as ethical thinkers but if they aren’t working in (or studying in) structures that support advocacy, interventions, and pushing back on proposed processes, they will be stymied. Ethical considerations must include a sociological model that focuses on processes, policies, and structures and not simply individual actors."

Bernardo Zacka, MIT political scientist

ETHICS, COMPUTING AND AI | PERSPECTIVES FROM MIT

Machine Anxiety | Bernardo Zacka
 

"To someone who studies bureaucracy, the anxieties surrounding artificial intelligence have an eerily familiar ring. So too does the excitement. For much of the 20th century, bureaucracies were thought to be intelligent machines, with all the positive and negative connotations the term carries."

D. Fox Harrell, MIT Professor of Digital Media and Artificial Intelligence

ETHICS, COMPUTING, AND AI | PERSPECTIVES FROM MIT

A Dream of Computing | D. Fox Harrell

"We must be vigilant stewards of the future of computing at MIT. We must reimagine our shared dreams for computing technologies as ones where their potential social and cultural impacts are considered intrinsic to the engineering practices of inventing them."

Nick Montfort - MIT Professor of Digital Media

ETHICS, COMPUTING AND AI | PERSPECTIVES FROM MIT

A Network of Practitioners | Nick Montfort

"The new college presents an opportunity for many practitioners of computing at MIT. We should use this chance to build a truly robust network and to make many relevant types of connections."

Susan S. Silbey, MIT Professor of Anthropology and Sociology

ETHICS, COMPUTING, AND AI | PERSPECTIVES FROM MIT

Two Commentaries | Susan S. Silbey, Chair of the MIT Faculty

Letters from the MIT Faculty Chair on teaching ethics, and on forming the new MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing.

Building a more inclusive future, worldwide

An avid traveler, organizer, and educator, senior Kathleen Schwind helps others develop skills in negotiation and leadership.

Starting new conversations about identity abroad

New MISTI programs provide a platform for student dialogue on diversity in international travel, study, and work.

MIT ranked No. 1 university worldwide for Economics and Business - 2019
 

The Times Higher Education World University Ranking system determines a university’s quality in a given subject area by examining five areas: the learning environment; the volume, income, and reputation of its research; the influence of its citations in other research; the international outlook of its staff, students, and research; and its knowledge transfer to various industries.

MIT Phi Beta Kappa Society inducts 77 students from the Class of 2018
 

New members achieved exceptional excellence in both the humanities and science scholarship.

Professor Craig Steven Wilder and Dean Melissa Nobles

21st C. CITIZENSHIP | LEGACY OF SLAVERY

3Q Interview with Dean Nobles, Professor Wilder
 

"The MIT community has the opportunity to be involved in this endeavor in real time, learning from the emerging findings. and making informed suggestions to the leadership about potential responses." — Dean Melissa Nobles

MAKING A JUST SOCIETY

MIT and the Legacy of Slavery Project
Stories, Videos, Community Dialogue
 

“I believe the work of this class is important to the present — and to the future. Something I have always loved about the MIT community is that we seek, and we face, facts. What can history teach us now, as we work to invent the future? How can we make sure that the technologies we invent will contribute to making a better world for all?"   — L. Rafael Reif, President of MIT

Ryan Robinson '17

From blank verse to blockchain
 

The founder of a startup at the cutting edge of computer science, Ryan Robinson ’17 says that his MIT background in the humanities and engineering has helped him understand the human dimensions of the world’s greatest challenges.

Sandra Rodriguez

INSIDE THE CLASSROOM

Hacking virtual reality | CMS.339
 

Contributing to a culture of pioneers, MIT students in "Virtual Reality and Immersive Media Production" explore the technical, philosophical, and artful dimensions of VR.

MIT Philosopher Justin Khoo

CITIZENSHIP | IMPACT OF LANGUAGE

Applying philosophy for a better democracy
 

In a new philosophy class, MIT students explore how language affects censorship, dissent, lies, and propaganda.

TEACHING AND LEARNING

MIT-Haiti, Google team up to boost education in Kreyòl

Effort to create STEM lexicon, led by linguistics faculty Michele Degraff, is now available for global translation.

21ST CENTURY CITIZENSHIP

Connecting through conversation
 

Whether in Cambridge or Shanghai, MIT senior Joshua Charles Woodard '17 seeks to learn from others’ perspectives and challenge his own.

portrait of MIT Professor Shigeru Miyagawa

Q&A with digital learning pioneer Shigeru Miyagawa
On interdisciplinary approaches to digital learning

 

"The MIT Office of Digital Learning (ODL) is actively reaching out to faculty across MIT to help them leverage digital learning to improve teaching and learning, and I am glad to be contributing to that."

CORE

MIT named No. 2 university worldwide for the Arts and Humanities - 2018

At MIT, two schools — the School of Architecture and Planning, and the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences — and several centers are home to the arts and humanities.

PLANETARY HEALTH

Citizen Science and the Wild workshop illuminates the value of multidisciplinary research.
 

Convened by MIT historian Harriet Ritvo, the workshop drew an unusual variety of MIT experts together, including historians of science, anthropologists, scientists, and museum professionals. 

TEACHING AND LEARNING

Two sciences tie the knot

A new major combining computer science and economics will prepare students for designing the virtual marketplaces of the future.

TEACHING AND LEARNING

Increasing equity through educational technology

CMS/W Assistant Professor Justin Reich looks to transform educational settings by equipping teachers with the technology tools they need to best serve all students.

TEACHING AND LEARNING

Political science debuts on MITx

“Democracy and Development: Perspectives from Africa” is the first MIT Political Science class produced exclusively for edX, the multi-university online education platform.

John Durant plans a new era for the MIT Museum

Bridging science, technology, the arts, humanities, and the social sciences MIT Museum Director John Durant makes plans to engage the public with a new purpose-driven museum space.

TEACHING AND LEARNING

In search of a meaningful life

Popular MIT anthropology course offers contemplation and dialogue on life's big questions.

TEACHING AND LEARNING

Preschoolers learn from math games — to a point

Games found to improve conceptual math skills, but gains may not carry over to primary school.

actress from Einstein's Dream play

TEACHING AND LEARNING

Practicum: Directing Einstein's Dreams

Neerja Aggarwal, SB ’17, MEng ’18, discusses the rewards and challenges of directing Einstein's Dreams, an adaptation of the acclaimed novel by MIT faculty member and author, Alan Lightman. 

TEACHING AND LEARNING

MIT Chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society inducts 74 graduates of the Class of 2017

The Phi Beta Kappa Society, the nation’s oldest academic honor society, this year admitted 74 graduating seniors into the MIT chapter, Xi of Massachusetts.

TEACHING AND LEARNING | SOCIAL INNOVATION

Breaking down walls between the ivory tower and prison

The MIT Prison Initiative provides an academic framework for undergraduates and local inmates to explore the human condition.

TEACHING AND LEARNING

Testing the metrics

MIT researchers refine yardstick for measuring schools and teachers.

TEACHING AND LEARNING

"Mens et manus" goes global

MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives program will send students to six continents this summer.

TEACHING AND LEARNING

Entering the animal world

In a history seminar, engineering students explore shifting ideas about animal intelligence and human uses of animals throughout the ages.

TEACHING AND LEARNING

In search of a meaningful life

Popular MIT anthropology course offers contemplation and dialogue on life's big questions.

An economist delves into charter schools

PhD student Elizabeth Setren brings data to bear on questions about charter schools and local education policy.

EDUCATION: STEM + SHASS = MIT

Hundreds of MIT students take the 2016 TOUR de SHASS

At MIT, every undergraduate receives a balanced STEM + SHASS education — with 25% of required classes in the humanities, arts, and social sciences. At the annual TOUR de SHASS academic fair, MIT students meet SHASS faculty, and discover the great diversity of classes in MIT's humanities, arts, and social sciences fields.

TEACHING AND LEARNING

MIT Chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society inducts 72 graduating seniors

The Phi Beta Kappa Society, the nation’s oldest academic honor society, held its MIT induction ceremony on Thursday, June 2, admitting 72 graduating seniors into the MIT chapter, Xi of Massachusetts.

TEACHING AND LEARNING

Kurt Fendt of CMS/W receives MIT Teaching with Digital Technology Awards

Co-sponsored by the Office of Digital Learning (ODL), the Dean of Undergraduate Education (DUE) and the Office of the Dean for Graduate Education (ODGE), the student-nominated awards recognize faculty and instructors who have effectively leveraged digital technology to improve teaching and learning at MIT.

CORE

9 SHASS faculty members awarded named professorships

MIT's School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences is very pleased to announce that nine members of its faculty have been awarded named professorships. These honored positions afford the faculty member additional support to pursue their research and develop their careers.

MEET THE MIT BILINGUALS

Cara Lai '16 cites MIT Literature as key to her preparation for medical practice.
 

Lai, who graduates with degrees in both Literature and Mechanical Engineering, is en route to Stanford University's School of Medicine. In this story she explains how MIT Literature provided her with tools critical to the practice of medicine.

TEACHING AND LEARNING

In the MIT History Workshopwhere building a printing press illuminates human systems

A group of MIT students briefly put away their cell phones this spring to concentrate on a much older information storage and retrieval device: the book. As students built a handset printing press — the kind of press on which the documents of the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution were printed — they also gained insight into human systems. 

TEACHING AND LEARNING

Remarks by Michel DeGraff, upon receiving the 2016 MIT Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Award

Michel DeGraff, MIT-SHASS Professor of Linguistics, is a founding member of Haiti's newly created Haitian Creole Academy (Akademi Kreyòl Ayisyen) and Director of the MIT-Haiti Initiative.

CORE | TEACHING AND LEARNING

3 Questions: Jeffrey Ravel on bringing data to cultural history

Centuries from now, will anyone remember the hit Broadway show “Hamilton?” Will they know how popular it was? As it happens, historians do know a great deal about Enlightenment-era French theater, and they continue to learn more — thanks in part to the Comédie Française Registers Project (CFRP), an ongoing effort led by Jeffrey Ravel, head of the MIT History faculty.

INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION

Around the World | Snapshots from MISTI

A slide show of photos and reflections from students in MIT's flagship international education program

TEACHING AND LEARNING

Ravel awarded grant from National Park Service for Visualizing Maritime History project

The National Park Service, with the Maritime Administration, announced the award of a $50,000 grant in support of the Visualizing Maritime History Project, led by Jeffrey Ravel, MIT SHASS Professor of History.

CORE

Patricia Tang named a MacVicar Faculty Fellow

“It is a tremendous honor to be selected as a MacVicar Faculty Fellow. I am truly humbled," said Tang. "As an ethnomusicologist, I love many aspects of my job, but there is nothing more gratifying than sharing my passion for African music with MIT students, and giving them tools to better understand music and its broader cultural contexts."

TEACHING AND LEARNING

35 Burchard Scholars announced for 2016

The award honors sophomores and juniors who demonstrate academic excellence in the humanities, arts, and social sciences, as well as in science and engineering. “The Burchard scholars are some of MIT’s liveliest undergraduates,” says Margery Resnick, professor of literature and director of the Burchard Scholars Program. “Selection is extremely competitive, and the students chosen are unafraid to wrestle with new ideas.”

THE HUMAN FACTOR | NATIVE LANGUAGES

The importance of native languages in education

This video provides a short overview of the science and data that show why children's native languages are necessary for learning to read and write — and everything else.

BASIC RESEARCH + CORE

MIT named among three top universities in the world for humanities, arts

The Times Higher Education 2015 World University Rankings has named MIT one of the top three universities worldwide for arts and humanities education. The three top ranked universities — Stanford University, Harvard University, and MIT — are closely aligned in the evaluation metrics.

EDUCATION

MIT-SHASS MOOC courses available on edX

Discover the MIT-SHASS courses available online at edX — free, for anyone, anywhere.

Q&A with Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf PhD '81
On making good policy; the politics of global issues
 

"The search for the answers to society’s most pressing questions always involves a political science dimension. Politics is the art of figuring out what you want to do, how you’re going to do it, and how you’re going to convince others to go along with what you want to do."

RESEARCH TO POLICY: EDUCATION

Testing Student Learning

Numerous strategies to improve student learning have been evaluated by J-PAL, and found to have widely different impacts. These different strategies also incur drastically different costs, and some programs therefore achieve learning gains with much greater cost-effectiveness than others.

RESEARCH TO POLICY: EDUCATION

Studying school quality, to fight inequality

MIT economists Parag Pathak, Joshua Angrist, and David Autor founded the School Effectiveness & Inequality Initiative (SEII), a new center at MIT giving a home to diverse studies of education and its effects on Americans throughout their working lives.

RESEARCH TO POLICY: EDUCATION

Haitian educators and MIT faculty develop Kreyòl-based teaching tools

Six veteran educators from Haiti — two biologists, two physicists, and two mathematicians — were on campus recently to work closely with MIT faculty to develop and hone Kreyòl-based, technology-enhanced pedagogical tools for STEM education.

RESEARCH TO POLICY: EDUCATION

MIT economist Parag Pathak engineers practical solutions to complicated education problems

For students in New York and Boston, who have a range of options beyond their neighborhood school, choosing a high school used to be a maddeningly complicated guessing game. Just a decade ago, it seemed like an intractable problem. But that has changed, thanks in part to a graduate student — now an MIT professor — named Parag Pathak.

RESEARCH TO POLICY: EDUCATION

Linguist Michel DeGraff is revolutionizing education in Haitian Kreyòl and other local languages

With his MIT-Haiti Inititiave, MIT-SHASS Professor of Linguistics Michel DeGraff is creating a historic new model for reaching science-hungry students around the world who speak local languages. A revolution in education is underway that will touch populations across the globe. 

EDUCATION: HUMANITIES MOOC

"Visualizing Japan" humanities MOOC nominated for the Japan Prize: Interview with Shigeru Miyagawa

“Visualizing Japan”—a massive open online course (MOOC) co-taught by Shigeru Miyagawa and others—has been nominated for the Japan Prize, a prestigious international prize awarded to educational broadcast and digital media programs selected from around the world.

EDUCATION: STEM + SHASS = MIT

Hundreds of MIT students take the TOUR de SHASS 2015

At MIT, every undergraduate receives a balanced STEM + SHASS education — with 25% of required classes in the humanities, arts, and social sciences. At the annual TOUR de SHASS academic expo, MIT students meet SHASS faculty, and discover the great diversity of classes in MIT's humanities, arts, and social sciences fields. Plus, free lunch!

EDUCATION: INTERNATIONAL

Training MIT’s “Innovation Diplomats”

Each year, hundreds of MIT students travel abroad to conduct research through MISTI, the Global Entrepreneurship Lab, and other programs. The new iDiplomats program aims to transform the experience of students traveling abroad with advice on how to be unofficial “innovation diplomats” for MIT.

CORE: EDUCATION

TOUR de SHASS 2015 on September 10

Event offers students the chance to meet professors and learn about MIT’s many options in the humanities, arts, and social sciences.

CORE + EDUCATION

New Faculty, Fall 2015

The School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences is very pleased to present the newest members of the MIT-SHASS faculty. They come to us with diverse backgrounds and vast knowledge in their areas of research: ecology and globalization; trade reforms in India; post–Cold War Cuba; a humanistic account of the global diabetes crisis; and the political history of Mexico’s rural training schools for teachers. Please join us in welcoming these excellent scholars into the School community.

CORE + EDUCATION

MIT chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society inducts 80 graduating seniors 

The Phi Beta Kappa Society, the nation’s oldest academic honor society, held its MIT induction ceremony on Thursday, June 4, admitting 80 graduating seniors into the MIT chapter, Xi of Massachusetts.

EDUCATION: INTERNATIONAL

Five MIT students win MISTI Excellence Awards
 

MIT SHASS-based MISTI, the Institute’s groundbreaking program in applied international studies, presented its annual Excellence Awards to five students on Friday, June 5, in a ceremony in Kirsch Auditorium. MISTI prepares students to become informed, engaged participants in work and research opportunities in more than 20 countries. Training includes everything from workplace etiquette to the language, politics, and history of the country.

EDUCATION: INCREASING DIVERSITY

MIT grad students organize summer institute to increase diversity in the philosophy field.

The academic pursuit of philosophy (like many other fields) has a serious diversity problem. To help remedy the issue, three MIT philosophy graduate students have organized an innovative program that brought a diverse cohort of undergraduates to the MIT campus this summer, where the students explored the full range of options for pursuing an academic career in philosophy.

EDUCATION: STEM + SHASS

MIT undergrads launch national competition

A national competition for high school students, founded and led by MIT undergraduates, held its inaugural conference in April 2015 at MIT. The competition was for research in the humanities, arts, and social science fields. 

CORE: EDUCATION

MIT Political Science graduate student awarded a NSF Fellowship

Rachel Odell, a first year graduate student, has won a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship for 2015. Each of fellow is awarded a three-year stipend for both the student and research institution.

The MIT Campaign for a Better World

Announcing the new comprehensive campaign, MIT President L. Rafael Reif said, "Humanity faces urgent challenges — challenges whose solutions depend on marrying advanced technical and scientific capabilities with a deep understanding of the world's political, cultural, and economic complexities."

Discover the role of MIT's Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences fields in solving the economic, cultural, and political dimensions of global issues, and in problem-solving in collaboration with our STEM colleagues. 

HEALTHCARE

Interview with Seth Mnookin about Vaccination and Public Health
 

MIT SHASS News: What do you see as the ideal situation for vaccination and public health, and what efforts do you think will be involved in getting closer to that condition?

ADVANCING POLICY: PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT WITH SCIENCE

The Knight Science Journalism Fellowships at MIT

Meet the Knight Science Fellow for 2014-2015. This year MIT's Knight Science Journalism program welcomed 11 acclaimed journalists who investigate topics ranging from phenology and climate change, to medicine and human health, to quantum mechanics to hone their science reporting skills. In this article, the Fellows offer their insights on the challenges and rewards of their field.  

COLLABORATION

Political Science and EECS join forces for new "Elections and Voting Technology" course
 

Ensuring that elections are fair and equitable is fundamental to democracy—yet easier said than done, as MIT students discovered in a new class called "Elections and Voting Technology." The class is taught jointly by Charles Stewart III, Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor of Political Science, and Ronald Rivest, Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

CORE + EDUCATION

35 Burchard Scholars announced for 2015

The award honors sophomores and juniors who demonstrate academic excellence in the humanities, arts, and social sciences, as well as in science and engineering. “The Burchard scholars are some of MIT’s liveliest undergraduates,” says Margery Resnick, professor of literature and director of the Burchard Scholars Program. “Selection is extremely competitive, and the students chosen are unafraid to wrestle with new ideas.”

EDUCATION

Bringing Science and Humanities Together - Promise and Perils

"What does it mean to converge science and humanities? why do we want to do this? and what would it take to succeed? Here I will sketch out the beginnings of an answer."

BASIC RESEARCH + SOCIAL INNOVATION

The “metrics” system

Economist’s new book teaches how to conduct cause-and-effect studies on complex social questions.

SOCIO-TECHNICAL COLLABORATION

MIT SHASS at SOLVE

An October 2015 conference on the MIT campus marked the launch of SOLVE — an MIT project dedicated to generating ongoing thinking, research, and collaboration to solve the world's toughest problems. Meet MIT SHASS participants in some of the initial events.  

CORE

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Deborah Blum to lead Knight Science Journalism at MIT

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Deborah Blum will join MIT in 2015 as the director of Knight Science Journalism at MIT, a fellowship program that enables world-class journalists to spend a year at MIT studying everything from science, technology, and engineering to history of science, literature, policy, and political science.

EDUCATION: DISTINGUISHED STUDENTS

MIT chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society inducts 89 graduating seniors

The Phi Beta Kappa Society, the nation’s oldest academic honor society, held its MIT induction ceremony on Thursday, June 5, admitting 89 graduating seniors into the MIT chapter, Xi of Massachusetts.

MAKING A JUST SOCIETY

Writer Ta-Nehisi Coates dazzles during two years as Visiting Scholar

 

“What I tell my students is that you here at MIT have access to great knowledge—more knowledge than 99.9 percent of people who have ever been on planet Earth, and I think you have some sort of moral duty to learn how to communicate that. Knowledge is power; power shouldn’t be hoarded.”

EDUCATION: LANGUAGE AND GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT

MIT students find fluency in languages is transformative

How important is it for MIT students to become fluent in new languages as they expand their horizons and prepare to serve the world? Amanda von Goetz's story is a good example: mastering Russian has proved to be a transformative experience in her life — not just once, but several times over. 

MEET THE BILINGUALS

Laura Meeker '14 | Engineering + Humanities 
Le Morte d'Arthur and the Engineer
 

In the fall of 2013, after having taught "Medieval Literature: Legends of Arthur" at MIT for six years, Arthur Bahr took a leap of faith. Instead of a final paper, he gave his students the option to turn in a creative project about Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur.  “These are MIT students," says Bahr, Associate Professor of Literature."They’re makers. Mens et manus, right?”

EDUCATION: ENGAGEMENT WITH SCI/TECH

SHASS convenes event with leaders in Science Engagement field 

This fall, MIT gathered 75 top practitioners from across the field at the "Evolving Culture of Science Engagement" event to take the measure of the potentials in the convergence of science, education, and entertainment.

INNOVATION + EDUCATION: DIGITAL HUMANITIES

Gallery of Digital Humanities at MIT

The work going on in digital humanities and new media is one expression of the innovation that characterizes the Humanities more broadly. Using computational tools and methods, MIT humanities scholars are opening new lines of research and discovery, revitalizing the study of objects from the past, and asking questions never before possible.

SOCIAL INNOVATION: EDUCATION

Hard Math = Powerful Fun

Six years ago when MIT economist Glenn Ellison volunteered to coach his daughter Caroline’s middle-school math team, he hardly realized he would soon become a leading authority in the niche market of advanced mathematics textbooks for elementary- and middle-school students.

INNOVATION + EDUCATION: DIGITAL HUMANITIES

Class on digital humanities premieres with tech-savvy approach

First offered in the Spring 2013 term, and taught by Professor James Paradis and Principal Research Associate Kurt Fendt, both of Comparative Media Studies/Writing, "Digital Humanities: Topics, Techniques, and Technologies" (CMS.633), gave MIT students the chance to pair technical know-how with real-world humanities projects  — such as designing innovations for the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston (ICA), and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

INNOVATION: EDUCATIONAL + ARTS TOOLS

"Annotation Studio" translates an ancient literary practice into the digital age

Annotation Studio, a digital humanities project developed by HyperStudio, promises to improve upon traditional techniques for entering marginalia and side notes in books — enabling readers not only to annotate texts across media, but also to share comments with others and to enhance them with links, images, video, and audio.

INNOVATION + EDUCATION: HUMANITIES MOOCS

Wi-Phi online video platform presents "philosophy's greatest hits"

A little philosophy could go a long way toward making the world a better place, says Damien Rochford, Ph.D. ’13, who has co-launched the Wi-Phi, an online, interactive philosophy website. The site presents more than a dozen short entertaining video animations to accompany talks by top scholars on such timeless questions as whether humans have free will, whether god exists, and what is it for a sentence to be true. The goal is for people to learn how to do philosophy, rather than simply learning what philosophers have thought, so the site focuses on developing critical thinking skills.

EDUCATION: MIT'S FINEST TEACHERS

Profile of Emma Teng | MacVicar Faculty Fellow

Emma Teng, T.T. and Wei Fong Chao Professor of Asian Civilizations and an associate professor of China studies, relishes the unique atmosphere within MIT that fosters multidisciplinary collaboration. And through her research and teachings about Asian and Asian-American identities and histories, Teng helps her students challenge their own assumptions, an exercise that she hopes extends beyond the classroom.

CORE: EDUCATION

Burchard Scholars for 2013 announced 

MIT’s School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences has named 32 undergraduate students as Burchard Scholars for 2013. The award recognizes sophomores and juniors who have demonstrated outstanding abilities and academic excellence in some aspect of the humanities, arts, and social sciences, as well as in science and engineering.

CORE: EDUCATION

MIT Philosophy has extraordinary success placing PhD grads in top tenure-track positions

Consistently ranked among the top ten philosophy departments in the country, MIT’s small Philosophy section—just 12 full time professors—has extraordinary success in placing PhD graduates in tenure-track positions at top philosophy programs nationwide. The Leiter Reports placed MIT second in grad student placement. (New York University, a program nearly twice as large, was first). Because obtaining a faculty position in philosophy is notoriously difficult—often 700 applicants for every appointment—many are wondering: what is the secret of MIT’s outsized success?

CORE: EDUCATION

School Within a School: MIT's Concourse learning community 

The single best thing about college for MIT Professor of History Anne McCants was "exploring ideas ravenously."  It was like being in a candy store for four years,” she says. Now, as newly appointed director of Concourse, a learning community for MIT freshmen, McCants says her goal is to give today’s students the same heady experience of intellectual adventure and discovery within the context of a supportive group. 

Q&A with linguist Michel DeGraff
On the role of language in education and economic development
 

MIT Associate Professor Michel DeGraff recently received a $1M grant from the NSF for research to develop tools to teach STEM subjects in Haitian Kreyòl—part of a larger, transformative project to use Kreyol, the language Haitians actually speak, in the country's classrooms. In this interview, DeGraff speaks about his vision, and how the project is a model for teaching in other local languages around the globe.

RESEARCH TO POLICY: EDUCATION

DeGraff awarded $1m NSF grant

Michel DeGraff, Associate Professor of Linguistics, is the Principal Investigator for a five-year project that will help develop classroom tools to teach science and math in Haitian Creole for the first time. 

Shigeru Miyagawa

CORE + EDUCATION

Shigeru Miyagawa receives President's Award from the OCW Consortium
 

MIT linguistics professor Shigeru Miyagawa has been selected to receive the President's Award for OpenCourseWare Excellence (ACE) for his contributions to the global OpenCourseWare and Open Education movements. Miyagawa, a key member of the faculty team that nurtured the development of MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW), has contributed a significant amount of his own course materials to the site, and has traveled extensively to spread the practice of openly sharing educational materials globally. 

CORE: EDUCATION

Broadhead, Kaiser, Rose named 2012 MacVicar Faculty Fellows 

Four professors have been named 2012 MacVicar Faculty Fellows for their outstanding undergraduate teaching, mentoring and educational innovation. Three are from SHASS: William Broadhead, the Class of 1954 Career Development Associate Professor of History; David Kaiser, the Germeshausen Professor of the History of Science; and Nancy Lin Rose, the Charles P. Kindleberger Professor of Applied Economics. The fourth professor honored is Leslie Pack Kaelbling, the Panasonic Professor of Computer Science and Engineering.  

CORE: MIT'S FINEST TEACHERS

Gallery | The MIT SHASS MacVicar Faculty Fellows

Photographs, research areas, and commentary from SHASS faculty who are among the Institute's finest educators

building 10

CORE: MIT'S FINEST TEACHERS

Meet the MacVicars of MIT SHASS

The SHASS MacVicar Faculty Fellows discuss the significance, the goals—and the sheer fun—of teaching MIT students.  

colorful communication cables

SOCIAL INNOVATION + EDUCATION

Communication Forum conducts a conversation for scholars, citizens
 

How are new technologies transforming public discourse? Are traditional news outlets still influential in framing the news we get online?  What are the legal dangers for publishing secrets in the crowd-sourced era? Founded in 1978 by pioneering media scholar Ithiel de Sola Pool of MIT’s Political Science Department, the forum engages leading scholars, journalists, media producers, and citizens in discussions on emerging media in a changing world.

EDUCATION

Great Ideas exhibit opens in Building 14

The installation, which officially opened in October 2011, presents a tour of the School’s fields of study—from Anthropology to Economics to Wrting—as well as news, profiles, and research briefs. 
 

Great Ideas exhibit features MIT research in the humanities, arts, and social sciences    

For MIT's 150th anniversary, Dean Deborah Fitzgerald and the School leadership initiated a new permanent exhibit about the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. Located on the first floor of Building 14, near Killian Hall, the exhibit presents the 20+ fields of study that make up the School, as well as an updating gallery of research, news, and profiles. 

ARTS INNOVATION + EDUCATION

Report cites arts as essential to MIT's mission
 

The arts at MIT connect creative minds across disciplines and encourage a lifetime of exploration and self-discovery. Rooted in experimentation, risk-taking and imaginative problem-solving, the arts are essential to MIT’s mission.

RESEARCH TO POLICY: TRANSFORMING HAITIAN EDUCATION

A champion of Kreyol for Haitian schools

Linguist Michel DeGraff is on a quest to give Haitian Creole its due as a respected language — and to help Haitian schoolchildren learn in their native tongue.

Kresge Auditorium

RESEARCH TO POLICY: ECONOMICS

Economics Symposium launches MIT's 150th celebration
 

This symposium, organized by the School's Department of Economics and the Sloan School of Management, celebrated the role of MIT’s faculty and students in advancing the fields of economics and finance, in putting the latest developments into practice, and in contributing to the design of public policy.

EDUCATION

Kaiser and Alexander create books for MIT's 150th anniversary
 

MIT150 and MIT Press have partnered to bring out two books for MIT's sesquicentennial year—both works authored by members of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. David Kaiser, Professor in Science, Technology and Society, is the editor of Becoming MIT: Moments of Decision. Philip Alexander, of the Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies, is the author of A Widening Sphere: Evolving Cultures at MIT.  

detail, tree of knowledge

EDUCATION: ROLE OF THE HUMANITIES

How America Invented the Humanities

Geoffrey Galt Harpham, President and Director of the National Humanities Center reviews that history of hte humanities as a collection of academic disciplines invented by the American academy during the post WWII culture of the United States.

Castle

Why I am a history major at MIT
 

Excerpt from MIT Admissions Student Blog | Guest Blog by Dora '11, double major in course 8 and Ancient and Medieval Studies. She writes: "There are lots of people here who love the humanities, and who approach subjects in humanities with the same excitement and fervor that they approach their technical fields.... humanities at MIT carries a distinctly MIT feel: challenging, stimulating, and entirely fulfilling. 

CORE

School's Economics Department ranked first in nation

MIT is ranked as top graduate school for Economics in the US News and World Report on the best graduate schools in the nation. 

HEALTHY PLANET: SHASS ENERGY STUDIES

School offers courses for Studies in Energy Minor
 

MIT's energy minor provides a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the policy, economics, science and technology of energy. All MIT undergraduate students now have a new academic option available: a minor in energy, which can be combined with any major subject. The minor is inherently cross-disciplinary, encompassing all of MITs five schools. SHASS-based courses include: Environmental Policy and Economics; Energy Economics and Policy; and Energy, Environment, and Society.  

RESEARCH TO POLICY: CHARTER SCHOOLS

Why do some charter schools do so well?

MIT economists researching why some Boston charter schools have been able to produce stunning results. What they discover could serve as a lesson for America’s struggling public schools.

Globes

EDUCATION: GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT

Mens et Manus et Mundus:
MIT Global Council plan for international education

 

A September 2009 report from the MIT Global Council outlines an historic opportunity to deepen international learning at the Institute, and to make international education a core component of an MIT education.