In the Media

New York Times reporter Adam Bryant interviews Tom Leighton about how his time teaching as an MIT professor influenced his management style in his current role as CEO of Akamai. 

In an article for The Washington Post, Jim Tankersley reports on a new Science article by Professor David Autor. In the article Autor contends that inequality, driven by varying levels of education, has risen dramatically among the 99 percent.

Wall Street Journal reporter Brenda Cronin features David Autor’s new research on inequality. “Two ‘destructive’ points that Mr. Autor tries to skewer with his most recent work are the idea that prospects are dim for all but the financial elite—and the notion that too many students are giving rise to a “college bubble,” Cronin writes. 

In an article for Forbes, Yevgeniy Feyman and Fil Babalievsky report on new research from Professor Jonathan Gruber that tackles the question of how competition among insurers impacts premium rates. 

“Previously Fischer taught at the University of Chicago and MIT, where his students included former Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers,” writes Don Lee of The Los Angeles Times about Stanley Fischer’s appointment to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. 

In an article for The Boston Globe, Bloomberg News reports that former professor and MIT alumnus Stanley Fischer was confirmed to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors by the Senate. Fischer previously served as the governor of the Bank of Israel.

“The MIT List Visual Arts Center threw a party Wednesday for artist Joan Jonas, who was chosen recently to represent the United States in its national pavilion at the Venice Biennale,” write Mark Shanahan and Meredith Goldstein for The Boston Globe. 

Pedro Nicolaci Da Costa of The Wall Street Journal reports on former Professor Stanley Fischer’s appointment to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. “Mr. Fischer, former chief of the Bank of Israel, is expected to play a leading role helping Chairwoman Janet Yellen forge consensus on the Fed's sometimes-fractious policy committee,” writes Da Costa.

In a piece for Bloomberg News, Tom Moroney highlights the innovative spirit behind the MIT Hobby Shop. “The little-known incubator has spawned hundreds of patented inventions, from a contraption that drops a line of salt around your Margarita to a wheelchair sold worldwide that can move the disabled across the roughest terrain,” Moroney writes. 

“The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, a hub of genetics research in Kendall Square, will open a new 15-story research tower Wednesday, bringing together hundreds of scientists who previously worked across four scattered locations,” writes Priyanka Dayal McCluskey of The Boston Globe.

Tom Ashbrook speaks with Senior Lecturer Frank Ackerman during this audio segment on NPR’s On Point. Ackerman talks about the importance of putting in place policies that put a price on carbon emissions. 

Randy Bean of The Wall Street Journal interviews Professor Alex “Sandy” Pentland on the transformational power of big data. “Scientists are discovering that we can begin to explain many things—financial crashes, revolutions, panics—that previously appeared to be random events,” says Pentland.

Forbes reporter Bruce Rogers profiles the work of Professor Tom Leighton, from his days teaching as an MIT professor to his work co-founding Akamai and serving as the company’s CEO. 

Hollie Slade of Forbes writes about ProtonMail, a new secure email service started by MIT and Harvard alumni.

Doug Saffir reports for Boston.com on ProtonMail a new, high-security email service started by five alumni of MIT and Harvard. ProtonMail is incorporated in Switzerland and subject to strict governmental privacy protections, features encrypted data, and a self-destruct feature that deletes sent emails.