Los Angeles Times reporter Karen Kaplan writes that NASA’s newest class of astronaut trainees includes Prof. Warren Hoburg and MIT alumni Raja Chari and Jasmin Moghbeli. “These would-be astronauts were chosen from among more than 18,300 applicants,” notes Kaplan. “That means their odds of being selected were less than 1 in 1,500.”
Scott Jaschik of Inside Higher Ed writes that MIT has received an unrestricted gift of $140 million from an anonymous alumnus.
Wall Street Journal reporter Alison Gopnik writes about Prof. Pawan Sinha’s research examining how humans acquire specific visual abilities. Sinha’s latest research into how people learn to differentiate between faces and other objects showed that children who had their vision restored were able to learn “the skill and eventually they did as well as sighted children.”
MIT was named the top university in the world for the sixth consecutive year in the QS World University Rankings, reports Kyle Scott Clauss for Boston Magazine.
AP reporter Marcia Dunn writes that NASA selected MIT Prof. Warren Hoburg and two MIT alumni - Raja Chari and Jasmin Moghbeli – to join their 2017 class of astronauts. After two years of training, the astronauts could be “riding commercial rockets to the International Space Station or flying beyond the moon in NASA's Orion spacecraft. Their ultimate destination could be Mars.”
In an article for The Boston Globe, Travis Anderson highlights how several of NASA’s new class of astronauts have MIT ties. Prof. Warren Hoburg and two MIT graduates - Raja Chari and Jasmin Moghbeli - were selected for NASA’s 2017 astronaut class from 18,300 applications, the largest pool ever, according to NASA.
Writing for The Mercury News, Tatiana Sanchez spotlights the story of Alejandro Diaz, a graduate of Christopher High School in Gilroy, California, who plans to attend MIT in the fall. Sanchez notes that Diaz’s plans to attend MIT, “mark an odds-defying achievement for a family of recent immigrants who embody the promises of the American dream.”
In an article for The Atlantic, Ashley Nunes, a research scientist with MIT’s Center for Transportation and Logistics, examines a proposal to privatize the air-traffic control system in the U.S. Nunes explains that, “reforming how air-traffic services are delivered is worthwhile—but not without costs, and those costs are important to understand and address.”
Reporting for NECN, Sarah Betancourt highlights how MIT has received a $140 million donation in unrestricted funds from an anonymous alumnus. Betancourt notes that this type of “flexible funding provides resources such as laboratories, staff support, and equipment to foster the work of MIT's faculty and students. Unrestricted financial support also goes to financial aid for students.”
Reporting for WGBH about new technologies that can help reduce carbon emissions, Heather Goldstone spotlights how Media Lab researchers have developed shape-changing noodles that transform from a flat sheet of gelatin into 3-D shapes when dropped in water. “Those flat sheets can be shipped more efficiently,” explains Goldstone.
An anonymous alumnus has donated $140 million in unrestricted funds to MIT, according to the Associated Press. As an unrestricted donation, the gift, “be used in any way to support MIT's research and education mission.”
MIT has received an unrestricted $140 million gift from an anonymous alumnus, reports Melissa Korn for The Wall Street Journal. “An unrestricted gift of that size is rare in higher education, as donors often want a say in how their dollars are spent. Unrestricted donations can be used for things like facilities upkeep, as well as to pursue early-state scientific research.”
Inside Higher Ed reporter Scott Jaschik writes that MIT was awarded second place in a, “global list of the top utility patents (awarded by the U.S. for a process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter) awarded in 2016.”
In a letter to The Wall Street Journal, Prof. Ron Prinn and John Reilly, co-directors of the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, explain why their research shows the importance of the Paris climate agreement. “Paris provides an unprecedented framework for global cooperation on this serious threat. In our view, U.S. withdrawal from it is a grave mistake.”
Ashley Nunes, a research scientist at the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics, examines President Trump’s proposal to privatize air traffic control in an article for The Washington Post. Nunes explains that the proposal may be difficult to pass, noting that many lawmakers are, “hesitant to cede regulatory authority — akin to political power — to others.”