Maggie Huili Yao

What’ve you enjoyed most about your area of study? Was there a particular discovery, new skill or way of thinking, or insight that you found especially valuable? Please share an example from your favorite class or experience.

I enjoyed how incredibly diverse the field is across the classes I’ve taken, studying environmental issues, philosophy, artificial intelligence, and so much more. One of my favorite memories was trying to come up with a futuristic technology in STS.075 Technology and Culture and hearing all my classmates’ ideas!

How does the knowledge from this field, or your interest in it, combine with your other major or minor studies at MIT?

As most of my research work is in applied machine learning, STS has taught me how to think critically about how we design these and evaluate these algorithms with their broader implications in society.

An MIT education includes study in the scientific, technical, social science, arts, and humanities fields. How do you think that wide range of knowledge and perspectives will be valuable to you – for your career success and for your enjoyment of life?

One aspect I value is having a broad foundational knowledge across various fields, which enables me to engage in meaningful conversations and quickly delve deeper into new areas of expertise.

What are your plans for the future?

I’ll be staying at MIT for another year to pursue my MEng!