Professor Emeritus James Harris, a scholar of Spanish language, dies at 92
James Wesley “Jim” Harris PhD ’67, professor emeritus of Spanish and linguistics, passed away on Nov. 10. He was 92.Harris attended the University of Georgia, the Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios...
View ArticleHow mass migration remade postwar Europe
Migrants have become a flashpoint in global politics. But new research by an MIT political scientist, focused on West Germany and Poland after World War II, shows that in the long term, those countries...
View Article3 Questions: Community policing in the Global South
The concept of community policing gained wide acclaim in the U.S. when crime dropped drastically during the 1990s. In Chicago, Boston, and elsewhere, police departments established programs to build...
View ArticleWhat do we know about the economics of AI?
For all the talk about artificial intelligence upending the world, its economic effects remain uncertain. There is massive investment in AI but little clarity about what it will produce.Examining AI...
View ArticlePhotos: 2024 Nobel winners with MIT ties honored in Stockholm
MIT-affiliated winners of the 2024 Nobel Prizes were celebrated in Stockholm, Sweden, as part of Nobel Week, which culminated with a grand Nobel ceremony on Dec. 10.This year’s laureates with MIT ties...
View ArticleMIT affiliates named 2024 Schmidt Futures AI2050 Fellows
Five MIT faculty members and two additional alumni were recently named to the 2024 cohort of AI2050 Fellows. The honor is announced annually by Schmidt Futures, Eric and Wendy Schmidt’s philanthropic...
View ArticleMiracle, or marginal gain?
From 1960 to 1989, South Korea experienced a famous economic boom, with real GDP per capita growing by an annual average of 6.82 percent. Many observers have attributed this to industrial policy, the...
View ArticleMIT welcomes Frida Polli as its next visiting innovation scholar
Frida Polli, a neuroscientist, entrepreneur, investor, and inventor known for her leading-edge contributions at the crossroads of behavioral science and artificial intelligence, is MIT’s new visiting...
View ArticleWhy open secrets are a big problem
Imagine that the head of a company office is misbehaving, and a disillusioned employee reports the problem to their manager. Instead of the complaint getting traction, however, the manager sidesteps...
View ArticleInsights into political outsiders
As the old saw has it, 90 percent of politics is just showing up. Which is fine for people who are already engaged in the political system and expect to influence it. What about everyone else? The U.S....
View ArticleQ&A: Examining American attitudes on global climate policies
Does the United States have a “moral responsibility” for providing aid to poor nations — which have a significantly smaller carbon footprint and face catastrophic climate events at a much higher rate...
View ArticleStudy shows how households can cut energy costs
Many people around the globe are living in energy poverty, meaning they spend at least 8 percent of their annual household income on energy. Addressing this problem is not simple, but an experiment by...
View ArticleGlobal Languages program empowers student ambassadors
Angelina Wu has been taking Japanese classes at MIT since arriving as a first-year student.“I have had such a wonderful experience learning the language, getting to know my classmates, and interacting...
View ArticleMIT philosopher Sally Haslanger honored with Quinn Prize
MIT philosopher Sally Haslanger has been named the 2024 recipient of the prestigious Philip L. Quinn Prize from the American Philosophical Association (APA).The award recognizes Haslanger’s lifelong...
View ArticleMIT student encourages all learners to indulge their curiosity with MIT Open...
Shreya Mogulothu is naturally curious. As a high school student in New Jersey, she was interested in mathematics and theoretical computer science (TCS). So, when her curiosity compelled her to learn...
View ArticleMaking the art world more accessible
In the world of high-priced art, galleries usually act as gatekeepers. Their selective curation process is a key reason galleries in major cities often feature work from the same batch of artists. The...
View ArticleFor MIT-WHOI Joint Program student Faith Brooks, the sky’s the limit
Faith Brooks, a graduate student in the MIT-WHOI Joint Program, has had a clear dream since the age of 4: to become a pilot.“At around 8 years old, my neighbor knew I wanted to fly and showed me...
View ArticleAligning AI with human values
Senior Audrey Lorvo is researching AI safety, which seeks to ensure increasingly intelligent AI models are reliable and can benefit humanity. The growing field focuses on technical challenges like...
View ArticleStudy in India shows kids use different math skills at work vs. school
In India, many kids who work in retail markets have good math skills: They can quickly perform a range of calculations to complete transactions. But as a new study shows, these kids often perform much...
View ArticleBridging philosophy and AI to explore computing ethics
During a meeting of class 6.C40/24.C40 (Ethics of Computing), Professor Armando Solar-Lezama poses the same impossible question to his students that he often asks himself in the research he leads with...
View ArticleCultivators of research
“Intelligent, caring, inspiring, and full-of-wisdom,” one student described Kenneth Oye. Another lauded that “We are beyond lucky to have such a caring, supportive, empathetic and compassionate leader”...
View ArticleMIT Human Insight Collaborative launches SHASS Faculty Fellows program
A new initiative will offer faculty in the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS) the opportunity to participate in a semester-long internal fellows program.The SHASS Faculty...
View ArticleMIT faculty, alumni named 2025 Sloan Research Fellows
Seven MIT faculty and 21 additional MIT alumni are among 126 early-career researchers honored with 2025 Sloan Research Fellowships by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.The recipients represent the MIT...
View ArticleTimes Higher Education ranks MIT No. 1 in arts and humanities, business and...
The 2025 Times Higher Education World University Ranking has ranked MIT first in three subject categories: Arts and Humanities, Business and Economics, and Social Sciences. The Times Higher Education...
View ArticleWhy rationality can push people in different directions
It’s not a stretch to suggest that when we disagree with other people, we often regard them as being irrational. Kevin Dorst PhD ’19 has developed a body of research with surprising things to say about...
View ArticleA leg up for STEM majors
Senior Kevin Guo, a computer science major, and junior Erin Hovendon, studying mechanical engineering, are on widely divergent paths at MIT. But their lives do intersect in one dimension: They share an...
View ArticleBuilding trust in science through conversation and empathy
How do we foster trust in science in an increasingly polarized world? A group including scientists, journalists, policymakers and more gathered at MIT on March 10 to discuss how to bridge the gap...
View ArticleQS World University Rankings rates MIT No. 1 in 11 subjects for 2025
QS World University Rankings has placed MIT in the No. 1 spot in 11 subject areas for 2025, the organization announced today.The Institute received a No. 1 ranking in the following QS subject areas:...
View Article2025 MacVicar Faculty Fellows named
Three outstanding educators have been named MacVicar Faculty Fellows: associate professor in comparative media studies/writing Paloma Duong, associate professor of economics Frank Schilbach, and...
View ArticleMaking airfield assessments automatic, remote, and safe
In 2022, Randall Pietersen, a civil engineer in the U.S. Air Force, set out on a training mission to assess damage at an airfield runway, practicing “base recovery” protocol after a simulated attack....
View ArticleWhen did human language emerge?
It is a deep question, from deep in our history: When did human language as we know it emerge? A new survey of genomic evidence suggests our unique language capacity was present at least 135,000 years...
View ArticleThree economists with MIT ties win BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award
Olivier Blanchard PhD ’77, the Robert M. Solow Professor of Economics Emeritus, has been named a winner of the 2025 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Economics, Finance and Management for...
View Article“An AI future that honors dignity for everyone”
Ben Vinson III, president of Howard University, made a compelling call for artificial intelligence to be “developed with wisdom,” as he delivered MIT’s annual Karl Taylor Compton Lecture on campus...
View ArticleCredit where it’s due
When most people buy cars, the sticker price is only part of the cost. The other part involves the loan, since folks usually borrow money for auto purchases. Therefore the interest rate, monthly...
View ArticleMIT affiliates named 2024 AAAS Fellows
Six current MIT affiliates and 27 additional MIT alumni have been elected as fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The 2024 class of AAAS Fellows includes 471...
View ArticleNew Alliance for Data, Evaluation and Policy Training will advance...
On March 25, the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at MIT launched the global Alliance for Data, Evaluation, and Policy Training (ADEPT) with Community Jameel at an event in São Paulo,...
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