Research + Perspectives for the Pandemic
from the MIT SHASS community
 


Navigating an Unprecedented Time 

This portal provides research and commentaries from the MIT SHASS community to inform policy and increase public understanding of the pandemic landscape. Content areas include impacts of the pandemic on healthcare, the economy, education, elections, daily life, and democracy. There is also a channel of creative works that offer contemplative space and uplift.
 

Contents
 

Healthcare

Economic Impacts

Education

Election 2020

The Arts

Civic Perspectives

Daily Life

Elective Affinities



To see a list of all external media publications on one page, visit:

Collected Media Publications
 

For additional Institute resources, visit:

MIT Information + Resources
 

To suggest new content, contact:
shass-comm@mit.edu

 


Spotlights
Revolving selections from the categories above. 

PANDEMIC

Webinar Series | History of Now: Plagues & Pandemics
 

In the spring of 2020, as people around the world confronted the daily reality of the Covid-19 pandemic, many wondered how previous generations navigated similar crises. At MIT, an interdisciplinary team of humanistic faculty explored this question in a course that broke ground as a live, free MIT class, held in an open public webinar format so that anyone who wanted to attend could do so, from anywhere in the world.

media icons

MIT SHASS MEDIA PUBLICATIONS

At-A-Glance | List of external media publications
 

Research-based insights, for policy and public understanding of the Covid-19 pandemic, from the MIT-SHASS academic community

MIT INFORMATION + RESOURCES

MIT Now
 

Adapting to Covid. Staying Connected. Together, we’re committed to tackling Covid-19 the MIT way – by standing with the science, working the problem, and modeling the solution for our community and beyond. Our minds, hands, and hearts can make a difference.

ELECTION 2020

15 August 2020
Which way of casting a ballot is best for you this year? Latest news and research on the 2020 election administration.
 

The non-partisan MIT Election Lab conducts research and collaborates with other election experts and administrators across the country to help make voting in the U.S. safe, secure, trustworthy, and effective.

Vote button

ELECTION 2020

13 August 2020
The Stanford-MIT Project on a Healthy Election

This project addresses the unprecedented and ongoing threat that the Covid-19 pandemic poses to the 2020 elections, bringing academics and election administration experts together to assess and promote best practices to ensure the election can proceed with integrity, safety, and equal access.

MIT Economics entrance

ECONOMIC IMPACTS

COVID-19 Research Working Papers from MIT Economics
 

As research continues into Covid-19 and its impact on many facets of life, MIT Economics has collected all the faculty's working papers on one page. 

nurse testing for covid-19

ECONOMIC IMPACTS

Conditions needed to reopen the U.S. economy
 

Here’s what economists say the U.S. needs in order to start returning to normal amid the coronavirus outbreak — and how the economy can survive in the meantime.

photo of Kathleen Thelen, MIT political scientist

ECONOMIC IMPACTS

Europe has kept down pandemic unemploymentand the U.S. hasn’t. Here’s why.
 

Kathleen Thelen, Ford Professor of Political Science, examines disparities in US and European unemployment rates in the face of Covid-19

Portrait of Professor Anne McCants

EDUCATION + DAILY LIFE

Faculty Reflections | Anne McCants, Professor of History
 

An ongoing series of notes from the Director of the MIT Concourse Program for her students and others during the pandemic

EDUCATION | SCIENCE WRITERS

Undark magazine | Covid-19 coverage
 

Undark, the acclaimed magazine from our Knight Science Journalism Program, provides ongoing, in-depth journalistic coverage by science writers on SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic.

portrait of Prof Charles Stewart III

ELECTION 2020

3Q with Charles Stewart III: How to make the November 2020 elections safe and secure
 

MIT-SHASS News "Will the November 2020 election be delayed? The answer is, 'no.' There is no statutory or constitutional authority to do that. Even if the asteroids are raining on our heads and the zombies are roaming the streets on November 3, we will be voting."

hands on piano

THE ARTS

Arts from Anywhere
 

During this time of physical distancing to limit the spread of Covid-19, the Arts at MIT offer ways to stay connected to the MIT Arts Community from wherever you are.

Young man in the MIT Orchestra

THE ARTS

The Listening Room
 

A curated collection of outstanding works from MIT's Music Program

detail, balcony illustration by Maria Medem, The New York Times

DAILY LIFE

An ode to the humble balcony
 

In The New York Times, Bernardo Zacka writes: "[A balcony] is private, yet public; exposed, yet secluded. It offers company without the demands of intimacy, and we should never take it for granted again."

Portrait of Justin Reich

EDUCATION

The biggest distance-learning experiment in history
 

On NPR's All Things Considered, Justin Reich, CMS/W Assistant Professor, and director of the MIT Teaching Systems Lab reflects on best practices for remote learning.  Plus a link to collection of all Reich's recent public commentaries. 

photo of Jeffrey E Harris - economist and physician

HEALTH + ECONOMIC IMPACTS | TELEMEDICINE

3Q: A doctor’s view from the front lines
 

SHASS News: Physician and MIT economist Jeffrey E. Harris shares insights on healthcare during the Covid-19 pandemic and the vital role of telehealth.

wash your hands sign

HEALTHCARE + ECONOMIC IMPACTS

J-PAL's response to Covid-19
 

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) has organized an ongoing, evolving response to the Covid-19 pandemic. See initiatives for off-cycle funding rounds for Covid-related research projects. 

photo of Adam Berinsky

ELECTION 2020

3Q with political scientist Adam Berinsky
Impact of the pandemic on U.S. political life
 

"As they do in wartime "people are willing to give the government broader latitude, even to curtail civil liberties, to address this pandemic crisis. But this effect is also short-lived. People are willing to give up some civil liberties for months, but not years."

DAILY LIFE

The virus is a reminder of something lost long ago
 

In The Atlantic, MIT Professor of Writing Alan Lightman observes that the pandemic may force "many of us to slow down, to spend more time in reflection, away from the noise and heave of the world. With more quiet time, we have an opportunity to think about who we are, as individuals and as a society."

HEALTH | VIRUS ORIGINS

KSJ alumna reports on how China’s “Bat Woman” hunted down viruses from SARS to the new Coronavirus
 

In Scientific American, Wuhan-based virologist and KSJ alumna Shi Zhengli has identified dozens of deadly SARS-like viruses in bat caves, and she warns there are more out there

Bulldog puppy with laughing expression

DAILY LIFE

Embracing Humor
 

"Many studies have shown that laughter and humor have a huge array of benefits, including strengthening the immune system, reducing pain and stress, and increasing energy. If you are going through a difficult experience or feeling down, humor may accidently find you. Embrace it."