3 Questions: How the MIT mini cheetah learns to run
CSAIL scientists came up with a learning pipeline for the four-legged robot that learns to run entirely by trial and error in simulation.
Department
Mechanical Engineering
Q&A: Climate Grand Challenges finalists on accelerating reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions
Faculty leaders describe their efforts to develop potentially game-changing tools.
Professor Emeritus Peter Griffith, a pioneer in heat transfer and fluid mechanics, dies at 94
Longtime professor of mechanical engineering influenced nuclear reactor design and shaped thermodynamics education at MIT.
MIT Morningside Academy for Design created as a new hub for cross-disciplinary education, research, and innovation
Supported by a $100 million founding gift, the academy will deepen the integration of design across the Institute and beyond.
How to clean solar panels without water
A new cleaning method could remove dust on solar installations in water-limited regions, improving overall efficiency.
2022 MacVicar Faculty Fellows named
Professors Kamrin, Lang, McGee, and Shoulders are honored for exceptional undergraduate teaching.
School of Engineering welcomes new faculty
Seventeen new professors join the MIT community, with research areas ranging from robotics and machine learning to health care and agriculture.
MIT entrepreneurs think globally, act locally
A new solution to beach-fouling seaweed, developed by MBA candidate Andrés Bisonó León and Luke Gray ’18, SM ’20, is designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
A new, inexpensive catalyst speeds the production of oxygen from water
The material could replace rare metals and lead to more economical production of carbon-neutral fuels.
Solar-powered system offers a route to inexpensive desalination
Passive solar evaporation system could be used to clean wastewater, provide potable water, or sterilize medical tools in off-grid areas.
New plant-derived composite is tough as bone and hard as aluminum
The material could pave the way for sustainable plastics.
MIT.nano receives grant to acquire focused ion beam scanning electron microscope
National Science Foundation award will allow the VELION FIB-SEM to become a permanent instrument in MIT.nano’s characterization facility.
Engineers develop surgical “duct tape” as an alternative to sutures
The sticky patch could be quickly applied to repair gut leaks and tears.
2021-22 Takeda Fellows: Leaning on AI to advance medicine for humans
New fellows are working on electronic health record algorithms, remote sensing data related to environmental health, and neural networks for the development of antibiotics.
Making RNA vaccines easier to swallow
A pill that releases RNA in the stomach could offer a new way to administer vaccines, or to deliver therapies for gastrointestinal disease.