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Department

Materials Science and Engineering

Top row, left to right: Yuriy Roman, Katharina Ribbeck, Ryan Williams, Bradley Olsen, Noelle Selin, and John Hart. Bottom row, left to right: Polina Anikeeva, Cullen Buie, Nuno Loureiro, Timothy Lu, Jessika Trancik, and Xuanhe Zhao.

The tenured engineers of 2017

Twelve appointments in the School of Engineering.

May 12, 2017

For their 2017 J-WAFS Seed Grant project, MIT professors Stephen Graves and Bishwapriya Sanyal will analyze irrigation practice, supply chain design, and extension services in Senegal. Their goal is to understand how policy and market conditions influence the availability of irrigation technologies in developing countries. Seen here: Irrigated rice cultivation in the Senegal River Valley.

J-WAFS awards $1.4 million in third round of seed grant funding

Principal investigators will receive grants of up to $200,000 per year for two years, overhead free, for innovative research on food and water challenges.

May 10, 2017

“The most interesting thing about these materials is they function at temperatures above 500 degrees Celsius,” says MIT graduate student Jessica Swallow, pictured with the equipment used for testing the new materials.

High-temperature devices made from films that bend as they “breathe”

Mechanical actuators developed by MIT team expand and contract as they let oxygen in and out.

May 8, 2017

“I decided to come to MIT because it was the best place to do engineering, and I eventually settled on materials science, because I felt like it was really applicable to all sorts of fields, including medicine," MIT senior Tiffany Yeh says.

Engineer, pianist, global citizen

Senior Tiffany Yeh explores health care and poverty through working abroad, and cultivates her love of music while at home.

May 4, 2017

“There are many thousands of combinations of materials and interfaces that we can create,” says associate professor Geoffrey Beach. “So with this wealth of material structures, rather than relying on the few materials that nature has given us, we can now design materials and their magnetic properties to exhibit the characteristics that we want.”

Geoffrey Beach: Drawn to explore magnetism

Materials researcher is working on the magnetic memory of the future.

April 24, 2017

Michael Short, assistant professor of nuclear science and engineering at MIT

Exelon Generation supports research on advanced nuclear fuel cladding coatings

Exelon Generation funding for the MIT Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems could transform the performance of the fuel cladding in light water reactors.

April 19, 2017

Katy Olesnavage of MIT is a $15,000 Lemelson-MIT “Cure it!” Graduate Winner for her method to design a better prosthetic foot.

Collegiate inventors awarded 2017 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize

Students recognized for inventive solutions to challenges in health care, transportation, food and agriculture, and consumer devices.

April 19, 2017

Zhu Zhenqi (left), president of ENN Energy Research Institute, and Robert Armstrong, director of the MIT Energy Initiative, sign the agreement for ENN's membership in MITEI's Center for Energy Storage Research.

ENN Group becomes MIT Energy Initiative member to advance energy storage technologies

ENN Group, one of China’s largest private energy companies, will join MITEI’s Center for Energy Storage Research.

April 13, 2017

Polina Anikeeva, the Class of 1942 Associate Professor in Materials Science and Engineering at MIT, is training for her third Boston Marathon. She has participated in others around the country, including at Disney World in Orlando. She ran that marathon as Tinkerbell.

The sanity of the long-distance runner

Associate Professor Polina Anikeeva, in preparing for the Boston Marathon, shares her love of running.

April 13, 2017

Researchers may have determined why fairly brittle electrode materials in batteries don’t crack under the strain of expansion and contraction cycles when they are used and recharged.

How some battery materials expand without cracking

Brittle electrodes handle expansion by going glassy, study shows.

April 12, 2017

Researchers have found a way to make tiny particles that can be injected into the body, where they emit short-wave infrared light. The advance may open up a new way of making detailed images of internal body structures such as fine networks of blood vessels.

Nanoparticles open new window for biological imaging

“Quantum dots” that emit infrared light enable highly detailed images of internal body structures.

April 10, 2017

Tata Center students and staff pose with Ratan Tata (center-right), chair of the Tata Trusts.

Tata Center adds 14 new projects to its portfolio for 2017-18

MIT principal investigators will apply cutting-edge research to the challenges of the developing world, seeking a large-scale impact.

April 7, 2017

As part of a $35 million materials science discovery program, The Toyota Research Institute will support three MIT-affiliated projects directed at advancing technologies that underpin the future of mobility and autonomous systems and energy storage, such as rechargeable batteries used in hybrid and electric cars.

Multi-university effort will advance materials, define the future of mobility

With support from the Toyota Research Institute, MIT faculty will focus on next-generation energy storage.

April 3, 2017

Researchers have developed a rubber-like fiber, shown here, that can flex and stretch while simultaneously delivering both optical impulses, for optoelectronic stimulation, and electrical connections, for stimulation and monitoring.

Stretching the boundaries of neural implants

Rubbery, multifunctional fibers could be used to study spinal cord neurons and potentially restore function.

March 31, 2017

MIT graduate programs earn top marks from US News

Graduate engineering and economics programs are No. 1 in the nation; MIT Sloan is No. 4.

March 14, 2017