In the Media

"If they can recognize faces of people in a room, that brings them into the social environment as opposed to sitting there waiting for someone to talk to them." - Shawn Kelly, a researcher in MIT's Research Laboratory for Electronics

"We have for a long time had two shorter essays on the application, and from those we got very direct, clear answers to our questions." - Dean of Admissions Stuart Schmill on a new way to write admissions essays.

"The great advantage of the prize model is that it moves work away from the realm of the beauty contest to being performance-oriented." - Michael Schrage, research fellow at the Center for Digital Business at the Sloan School of Management, on Netflix's million-dollar prize competition.

"Most people who are really active in the fight against poverty fundamentally are very keen to do the best thing." - Esther Duflo, J-PAL director, on her work. Duflo was recently honored with a MacArthur "genius" grant.

"How do we rethink human-environment interactions in light of these mobile devices?" - Dale Joachim, a visiting scientist at MIT’s Media Lab, on a project that uses consumer electronics in the study of flora and fauna.

"I’m really grateful for all the students and the postdocs and the collaborators I’ve had over the years that have made science really fun.’’ - Biochemist JoAnne Stubbe, on the announcement that she will receive a National Medal of Science

"After all this administration has done to save the big banks, including bending over backwards to be nice to the CEOs of these banks, not a single individual can show up for the President's speech?" - Q & A with Simon Johnson on the most surprising effects of the financial crisis.

"Changing sides, realigning, flipping — whatever you want to call it — is the Afghan way of war." - MIT political scientist Fotini Christia on the war in Afghanistan.

"Lately jazz has become more important to me because I’ve felt the need to experience that kind of performing." - Institute Professor John Harbison on his upcoming performance at Scullers Jazz Club.

"If you see where a plastic bottle ends up, a few miles down the road in a dump, you may want to get tap water or some other container for the water." - Carlo Ratti, director of MIT's SENSEable City Laboratory, on his "Trash Track" project.

"Congress and the administration must take specific steps that clearly link worker issues to the economic agenda." - Op-ed by MIT Sloan professor Thomas A. Kochan on labor issues.

"A lot of people have a hard time going from their frenetic lives to sitting still." - Lauren Mayhew, a program manager at the Center for Health Promotion and Wellness at MIT, on stress-reduction classes that incorporate meditation.

"Hopefully, if the outbreak hasn’t gone through our community yet, [vaccines] will blunt or prevent a serious outbreak." - Dr. David Diamond, Associate Medical Director at MIT Medical

"The idea of being able to monitor cancer in situ is very appealing." - Michael J. Cima, professor of materials science and engineering, on tiny devices developed to track tumor growth.

Institute Prof. Sheila Widnall, the first woman to lead the Air Force, and Linguistics alumna Jessie “Little Doe” Baird, an indigenous language preservationist, are two of the 10 accomplished women chosen to represent Massachusetts in USA Today’s Women of the Century series, reports Nicole Simmons. Baird was also included in the paper’s nationwide list of 100 Women of the Century.