Vanu Bose, a member of the MIT Corporation who earned three degrees from the Institute, passed away suddenly. Bose was the founder of the communications company Vanu Inc., which “uses cellular base stations to provide cell phone coverage to remote areas around the world,” writes WBUR’s Bob Shaffer.
MIT alum and Corporation member, Vanu Bose, passed away suddenly at age 52, writes Bryan Marquard for The Boston Globe. “We’ve really lost a beautiful human… a warm and valuable member of our community,” said Robert B. Millard, chairman of the MIT Corporation.
MIT postdoc Ritu Raman is one of five recipients of the 2017 For Women in Science Fellowship from L’Oreal USA, writes Claire Hansen of U.S. News & World Report. The $60,000 grants are awarded to the women “based on the strength of their research and scientific excellence, but also on their commitment to supporting other women and girls in science,” explains Hansen.
Joe Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, writes about the need to rethink how people live as they age. “An older America done right will improve quality of life across the board. After all, if we’re lucky, the future of old age is the future for everyone,” said Coughlin in Time magazine.
MIT researchers have developed a new sensor that can be applied to the leaf of a plant and could be used to help predict droughts, reports Alyssa Meyers for The Boston Globe. Prof. Michael Strano explains that in the future, “One of the most useful ways of using this sensor is to design more stress-tolerant crops.”
Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, writes for Forbes that older female consumers are powerful, yet products geared toward them are poorly marketed. “The insights that occur to this particular consumer group are powerful enough to raze major companies to the ground — and raise new ones out of the rubble,” writes Coughlin.
Sara Clemence writes for Bloomberg that MIT is working with Lamborghini on developing a new electric supercar. Working with two labs at MIT, Lamorghini plans to essentially turn the car into a battery by making “supercapacitors out of carbon fiber panels that can be used to form the body of the car,” explains Clemence.
Prof. Yossi Sheffi writes for The Wall Street Journal that students should be learning soft skills such as communications, leadership and teamwork, tools that are necessary for managing organizations and supply-chains successfully. Sheffi writes that, “professionals need to hone their ability to communicate with people working across a wide range of disciplines and a variety of geographies.”
MIT researchers have teamed up with Lamborghini to create an electric sports car, reports Jordan Graham for the Boston Herald. Graham explains that the research, could be used to, “make the cars lighter and make batteries out of carbon nanotubes. The batteries can be made in any shape, and could be designed to fit inside the car’s side panels.”
BostInno’s Karis Hustad spotlights how Solve tackles some of the world’s most pressing challenges. “You need a different type of innovation or technology or adaptation and affordability of technology for some of the big challenges of today,” explains Alexandra Amouyel, Solve's executive director. “To do that, you need a much more bottom up, grassroots innovation process.”
Researchers from MIT and Lamborghini have unveiled a new concept supercar incorporating futuristic design elements and new technologies, writes Nicole Wakelin for Boston.com. Led by Profs. Mircea Dinca and Anastasios John Hart, the teams are “focused on the development of energy storage systems and the use of innovative materials,” writes Wakelin.
In an article for USA Today, Nick Som highlights six must-see, mid-century college campus buildings, including the MIT Chapel. Som writes that the chapel is “stunning. The undulating walls of the chapel’s interior are devoid of windows, save for a single domed skylight on the ceiling.”
CNN reporter Peter Valdes-Dapena writes that MIT researchers are working with Lamborghini to develop a battery-free, electric supercar. Valdes-Dapena explains that instead of running on batteries, the body of the car, which would be made from exotic carbon nanotubes, would be used as a supercapacitor.
According to Prof. Robert Merton, wealth advisors are unlikely to be replaced by robots, writes Stacey Yuen for CNBC. Merton explains that the problem with replacing wealth managers with robo-advisors is a lack of trust. “What you need to make technology work is to create trust. Technology doesn't create trust on its own,” he notes.
Graduate student Anish Athalye speaks with the BBC about his work examining how image recognitions systems can be fooled. "More and more real-world systems are starting to incorporate neural networks, and it's a big concern that these systems may be possible to subvert or attack using adversarial examples,” Athalye explains.