Milena Pagán ’11 speaks with Good Morning America about her inspiration for opening Little Sister Café, which is bringing a taste of Puerto Rican cuisine to Providence, Rhode Island. "This food is authentic to my experience, which is I lived half of my life in Puerto Rico, half of my life in America and I love to travel all over the world,” says Pagán, “so I'm just putting all of it together, and in that sense it's very authentic."
Prof. Paulo Lozano speaks with Boston Globe reporter Travis Anderson about NASA’s recent asteroid test, which successfully shifted the orbit of a harmless asteroid. The mission had a “truly inspirational result,” says Lozano. “We’re getting closer to hav[ing] the ability to protect our planet from one of the most destructive forces in nature.”
Prof. Danna Freedman has been honored as a recipient of a 2022 MacArthur Fellowship, “one of the nation’s most prestigious awards for intellectual and artistic achievement,” reports Michael T. Nietzel for Forbes. “Using molecular chemistry [Freedman] is designing molecules that can act as qubits—the building blocks of quantum systems - to address fundamental questions in physics,” writes Nietzel.
Washington Post reporter David Lynch highlights the work of Ben S. Bernanke PhD ’79, one of the recipients of this year’s Nobel Prize in economic sciences, who was honored for his research on the role banks play during financial turmoil. “Bernanke demonstrated that bank failures — rather than resulting from the downturn — were responsible for making it so deep and so long. When banks collapsed, valuable information about borrowers disappeared, making it difficult for new institutions to channel savings to productive investments,” notes Lynch.
The 2022 Nobel Prize in economic sciences was awarded in part to Ben S. Bernanke PhD ’79 for his research showing that “bank failures can propagate a financial crisis rather than simply be a result of the crisis,” reports Jeanna Smialek for The New York Times. When asked about his advice for younger economists, Bernanke noted “one of the lessons of my life is, you never know what is going to happen.”
Ben S. Bernanke PhD ’79 has been honored as one of the recipients of this year’s Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences, reports the Associated Press. Bernanke was recognized for his work examining the Great Depression and “showing the danger of bank runs — when panicked people withdraw their savings — and how bank collapses led to widespread economic devastation,” notes the AP.
Researchers from MIT and the University of Southern California are “using large-scale mobility data to follow people's eating behaviors throughout the day, to understand how food choice is influenced by what’s accessible, available, and affordable,” reports Mike Branom for Daily Beast.
Ben Bernanke PhD ’79, former chair of the Federal Reserve, has been awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in economic sciences, reports Allison Morrow for CNN. Bernanke “received the award for his research on the Great Depression,” says Morrow. “In short, his work demonstrates that banks’ failures are often a cause, not merely a consequence, of financial crises.”
Cybersecurity at MIT Sloan has launched a cyberattack prevention course for business leaders, reports Sydney Lake for Fortune. “Board members must be knowledgeable participants in cyber leadership,” says Keri Pearlson, executive director of Cybersecurity at MIT Sloan. “Board members need a set of frameworks, a language, some examples, and actionable insights so they have an independent way to interpret and understand what their organization is doing to be cybersecure.”
Ben Bernanke PhD ’79 has won a share of the 2022 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on banks and financial crises, reports Micahel T. Nietzel for Forbes. Bernanke and his fellow winners are credited with significantly improving “our understanding of the role of banks in the economy, particularly during financial crises,” says The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Prof. Christopher Knittel speaks with Wall Street Journal reporter Andrew Duehren about how European governments are beginning to experiment with new ways to control energy prices.“Especially with the European energy-market policy interventions, what policy makers do not want to do is exacerbate these problems with their policies, and my fear is that is what these proposals would do,” says Knittel.
Washington Post reporter Pranshu Verma spotlights Prof. Kevin Chen’s research creating flying lightning bug robots that could be used to pollinate crops in vertical farms or even in space. “If we think about the insect functions that animals can’t do,” says Chen, “that inspires us to think about what smaller, insect-scale robots can do, that larger robots cannot.”
Prof. Jessika Trancik speaks with Science Friday host Ira Flatow about the future of electric vehicles. “I think there is a lot happening in this space both coming from the private sector and then also from these government incentives coming in to accelerate that process,” says Trancik.
NPR’s Miles Parks spotlights Prof. Charles Stewart III’s research showing that hand counting ballots is “significantly less accurate, more expensive and more time-consuming than using tabulation equipment.” Stewart noted "Computers — which ballot scanners rely on — are very good at tedious, repetitive tasks. Humans are bad at them. Counting votes is tedious and repetitive.”
David Moinina Sengeh MS ’12, PhD ’15 speaks with Ted Radio Hour host Manoush Zomorodi about his research in developing a more comfortable socket for prostheses. Sengeh “pioneered a new system for creating prosthetic sockets, which fit a prosthetic leg onto a patient's residual limb,” writes NPR.