MIT affiliates elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for 2026
The prestigious honor society honors four MIT faculty and 13 additional MIT alumni among more than 250 new members.
Department
Mechanical Engineering
Plants can sense the sound of rain, a new study finds
Experiments by MIT engineers show rice seeds sprout faster to the sound of rain.
New study bridges the worlds of classical and quantum physics
The weird quantum behavior of subatomic particles can be understood through everyday classical ideas, MIT researchers show.
Carbon removal project supports Maine’s blue economy, broader marine health
A chemical-free approach to balancing ocean acidity protects marine life and could dramatically impact the global aquaculture market.
MIT graduate engineering and business programs ranked highly by U.S. News for 2026-27
Graduate engineering program is No. 1 in the nation; MIT Sloan is No. 6.
Toward cheaper, cleaner hydrogen production
Co-founded by Dan Sobek ’88, SM ’92, PhD ’97, 1s1 Energy has developed electrochemical cell materials for hydrogen electrolyzers that it says reduces energy use by 30 percent.
Preview tool helps makers visualize 3D-printed objects
By quickly generating aesthetically accurate previews of fabricated objects, the VisiPrint system could make prototyping faster and less wasteful.
MIT researchers use AI to uncover atomic defects in materials
A new model measures defects that can be leveraged to improve materials’ mechanical strength, heat transfer, and energy-conversion efficiency.
MIT hackathon tackles real-world challenges in Ukraine
Build for Ukraine 2.0 united students, researchers, and Ukrainian collaborators to prototype solutions shaped by wartime conditions.
Seeing sounds
Mariano Salcedo ’25, a master’s student in the new Music Technology and Computation Graduate Program, is designing an AI to visualize and express music and other sounds.
MIT engineers design proteins by their motion, not just their shape
An AI model generates novel proteins based on how they vibrate and move, opening new possibilities for dynamic biomaterials and adaptive therapeutics.
Augmenting citizen science with computer vision for fish monitoring
MIT Sea Grant works with the Woodwell Climate Research Center and other collaborators to demonstrate a deep learning-based system for fish monitoring.
QS World University Rankings rates MIT No. 1 in 12 subjects for 2026
The Institute also ranks second in seven subject areas.
Wristband enables wearers to control a robotic hand with their own movements
By moving their hands and fingers, users can direct a robot to play piano or shoot a basketball, or they can manipulate objects in a virtual environment.
Turning extreme heat into large-scale energy storage
Fourth Power, founded by Professor Asegun Henry, is developing thermal batteries for efficiently storing excess electricity from utility grids and power producers.