Boston Globe reporter Jonathan Saltzman spotlights postdoctoral associates Matheus Victor, Jarrett Smith and Quinton Smith. They have been selected by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute as Hanna Gray Fellows, a program that aims to encourage emerging young scientists who are underrepresented in life sciences.
BBC Click reports on an AI system developed by CSAIL researchers that simplifies image editing. “Instead of requiring the user to select the pixels very accurately, our system can just detect it and give the opacities for every object in the image automatically, which can then be used for editing the images in a realistic way,” explains visiting researcher Yagiz Aksoy.
CSAIL researchers have created a system that allows robots to see and pick up objects they have never encountered without assistance from humans, writes Jason Murdock for Newsweek. The researchers are now working on teaching the system to “move objects with a specific goal in mind, such as cleaning a desk,” reports Murdock.
QS has selected MIT as the best university in the world in their 2019 Graduate Employability Ranking, reports Rachel Hall for The Guardian. Hall explains that, “the rankings are compiled based on employer reputation, alumni outcomes, partnerships with employers per staff member, employer-student connections and the graduate employment rate.”
MIT researchers have developed a model that can help detect depression by analyzing an individual’s speech patterns, reports Kaveh Waddell for Axios. Waddell explains that the researchers, “trained an AI system using 142 recorded conversations to assess whether a person is depressed and, if so, how severely.”
New York Times reporter Ellen Rosen highlights how MIT is preparing students for the industries and jobs of the future through the AIM Photonics Academy and Manufacturing USA. “Community colleges across the country, with the help of companies and research institutions like MIT, are beginning to shape their curriculums to expose students to new theories and technology while teaching longstanding core manufacturing fundamentals,” explains Rosen.
In an article for The New York Times about the most effective ways to supply aid to impoverished populations in developing countries, Marc Gunther highlights GiveDirectly, a nonprofit co-founded by graduate students from MIT and Harvard. Gunther explains that GiveDirectly aims to “reshape international giving by using cash as a kind of ‘index fund’ of development against which actively managed interventions can be measured.”
In an article for Quartz about how robots are being used to help care for the elderly, Corinne Purtill highlights Prof. Sherry Turkle’s work on the impact of using machines to satisfy the human need for emotional connection. Putrill cites Turkle’s argument that using machines creates a new relationship where we “feel connected although we are alone.”
CSAIL researchers have developed a new system that gives robots a greater visual understanding of the world around them, reports Heather Kelly for CNN. “We want robots to learn by themselves how to very richly and visually understand lots of objects that are useful for lots of tasks,” explains graduate student Pete Florence.
Spencer Buell of Boston magazine reports that Massachusetts colleges are among the best in the country according to U.S. News and World Report’s latest rankings, with MIT being named the number three school in the country.
Writing for USA Today, Prof. Barry Posen argues for ending the war in Afghanistan. “It is plain that we have no actual strategic policy in Afghanistan — no plausible purpose other than using taxpayer money, the lives of American soldiers and the deaths of Afghan civilians caught in the crossfire to protect U.S. leaders against the possibility of future blame."
Wired reporter Matt Simon writes that MIT researchers have developed a new system that allows robots to be able to visually inspect and then pick up new objects, all without human guidance. Graduate student Lucas Manuelli explains that the system is “all about letting the robot supervise itself, rather than humans going in and doing annotations.”
MIT was named one of the top three colleges in the country on U.S. News & World Report’s annual list of the best colleges, reports Felicia Gans for The Boston Globe. Gans notes that, “MIT was also ranked first for best engineering programs.”
Amy Fitzgerald, outreach program coordinator for the Edgerton Center, speaks with New York Times reporter Jane Levere about the Ad Council’s new “She Can STEM” campaign aimed at girls ages 11 to 15. Fitzgerald says the message “could have a big effect,” adding that it’s vital the campaign shows “mechanical engineers, aviation engineers, women who get their hands dirty…Girls, especially, do not have an idea of the range of possibilities.”
MIT researchers have found that a role-playing game can motivate people to address climate change, reports James Rainey for NBC News. Prof. John Sterman explains that the game helps people to “discover the urgency of this issue for themselves and to be motivated to get out and to create the grassroots support that is needed to make a change.”