Prof. Nancy Kanwisher has been named a recipient of the 2024 Champalimaud Foundation’s Vision Award, reports the Associated Press. The award highlights the collective work of four researchers who have “driven significant progress in the field of visual neuroscience."
Graduate student Zoe Fisher speaks with Yusuf Khan of The Wall Street Journal’s about what inspired her to pursue a career in nuclear engineering, noting that being able to fight climate change firsthand is one of the key reasons she wanted to make a career in nuclear.. “It’s a cool thing to study that is going to have a lot of broader impacts,” Fisher says.
The Wall Street Journal has named MIT one of the overall best colleges in the United States, as well as one of the best colleges at improving the financial futures of its graduates, reports Jeremy Fox for The Boston Globe.
In an article for Forbes, Robert Clark spotlights how MIT researchers developed a new model to predict irrational behaviors in humans and AI agents in suboptimal conditions. “The goal of the study was to better understand human behavior to improve collaboration with AI,” Clark writes.
Boston Globe columnist Scott Kirsner spotlights Prof. Mitchel Resnick, Prof. Neil Gershenfeld, and the late Prof. Emeritus Woodie Flowers and their work developing programs that “get kids excited about, and more proficient in, STEM.” Kirsner underscores: “Each of the initiatives brings some of the hands-on problem solving, messiness, and collaborative prototyping elements of MIT’s culture into the wider world. And they’ve all had a big impact on the way kids learn about technology.”
The Wall Street Journal has named MIT the top university in the country for improving the financial future of its graduates, reports Kevin McAllister for The Wall Street Journal. “At MIT, paths to successful careers often stem from in-class experiences,” writes McAllister. “Former MIT students contacted for this story were generally quick to credit influential professors and their classroom methods, such as teaching critical thinking.”
Forbes has named MIT among the top colleges on their America’s Top Colleges list, reports Beth Treffeisen for Boston.com. “Forbes ranked the schools based on alumni salaries, debt, graduation rates, return on investment, retention rates, academic success, and its own “American Leaders List,” including Forbes 30 Under 30 and Forbes 400,” explains Treffeisen.
Writing for Forbes, Peter Evans PhD '05 identifies used electric vehicle (EV) batteries as the next billion-dollar circular marketplace, noting the possibility of significant search, bargaining and enforcement cost savings. Given large volumes of used batteries won’t be available soon, he acknowledges risk, but “creating a successful national circular EV battery marketplace can be not only a billion-dollar opportunity but an important step toward a more sustainable and resource-efficient future,” he argues.
The Boston Globe’s Angelina Parrillo interviews Jasmina Aganovic ’09 about her beauty company Arcaea, which reconstructs data from extinct flowers to produce fragrances. “I viewed fragrance as this remarkable emotional storytelling category and people don’t view science as being associated with creativity, emotion, or storytelling,” Aganovic says. “I think that that’s very far from the truth.”
Prof. Deborah Ancona provides advice for the new Starbucks CEO in an interview with Fast Company’s Nicole Gull McElroy. Recommending the “sensemaking” leadership strategy, she says “you need to understand the company culture, its business model, its customers…even if you have been successful at one company, there is a need to learn, or ‘sensemake,’ about your new place.”
Researchers at MIT have found that knowledge spillovers are more likely to occur when people are within 20 meters of one another, reports Tracy Brower for Forbes. Knowledge spillover “can occur intentionally—when you ask a question or gather around a white board to work through issues,” explains Brower. “Or it can be unintentional—when you’re near your team and you overhear a great idea or get passive exposure to the work going on with others.”
Dr. Mark Price PhD '01 an orthopedic surgeon who augmented his military honors with Super Bowl rings in 2017 and 2019 and a World Series ring in 2018 through his sports medicine duties with the Patriots and Red Sox, has died at age 52, reports Bryan Marquard for The Boston Globe. Awarded a Bronze Star for service in Afghanistan, Price was an integral part of the Red Sox and Patriots organizations, with owner Robert Kraft commenting he “was a blessing to have on our staff for nearly a decade and we’re going to miss him dearly.”
MIT researchers have developed a new filtration material capable of removing PFAS and heavy metals from water while possessing “antimicrobial properties that prevent the filters from becoming fouled over time,” reports Sujita Sinha for Interesting Engineering. “By combining silk and cellulose and using a method that aligns the silk molecules into nanofibrils, [the researchers] created a hybrid material with unique properties perfect for water filtration,” explains Sinha.
Prof. Stuart Madnick speaks with CNBC reporter Cheryl Winokur Munk about the growing risk of "malvertising" – a new cyberattack technique that places online ads for malicious purposes. “You see something appearing on a Google search, you kind of assume it is something valid,” says Madnick. “You should assume that this could happen to you no matter how careful you are.”
The Princeton Review has named MIT amongst the 10 most studious colleges, reports Kamaron McNair for CNBC. “The publication takes schools from its annual list of Best Colleges and ranks them on different metrics based on student surveys,” explains McNair. “Its ranking of schools where students study the most is based on the results of a survey asking students how many hours outside of class they spend studying each day.”