In the Media

Postdoctoral associate Milan Klöwer shares how large conferences can impact air travel and personal carbon footprints, reports Sydney Johnson for KQED. “Flying is one of the sectors where there are enormous inequalities,” says Klöwer. “The people that earn the most [money] fly the most, and therefore have personal carbon footprints that are thousands of times larger than the poorest people on the planet. There is a responsibility for people to understand that problem about how they are personally emitting.”

Jasmina Aganovic '09 speaks with MSNBC reporter Daniela Pierre-Bravo about her mission to transform the beauty industry by creating more sustainable products through her startup Arcaea. “The way that I’ve always viewed this industry is that it touches almost every single human being on this planet every single day,” says Aganovic. The beauty industry also, “plays such an important emotional role in our day-to-day lives in terms of self-expression and self-care, the ability to escape when things are a little bit tough, those like little small indulgences.”

Principal Research Scientist Andrew McAfee discussed the impact of artificial intelligence and technology on businesses at the Fortune CFO Collaborative, reports Sheryl Estrada for Fortune. Generative AI is “going to diffuse throughout the economy,” said McAfee. “It’s going to separate winners from losers, and it’s going to turbocharge the winners faster than you and I have been expecting.”  

The Economist reporter Rachel Lloyd predicts a “distinct change” in topics for bestselling books in 2024. Lloyd predicts artificial intelligence will take a lead, spotlighting “The Heart and Chip: Our Bright Future with Robots,” by Prof. Daniela Rus, director of CSAIL, as a leading example of the shift.

New York Times reporter Conor Dougherty spotlights DUSP graduate student Nick Allen MS '17 and his work advocating for Land-value taxes (LVT) in distressed US cities.

Writing for Fortune, Sloan research fellow Michael Schrage and his colleagues, explain how AI-enabled key performance indicators (KPIs) can help companies better understand and measure success. “Driving strategic alignment within their organization is an increasingly important priority for senior executives,” they write. “AI-enabled KPIs are powerful tools for achieving this. By getting their data right, using appropriate organizational constructs, and driving a cultural shift towards data-driven decision making, organizations can effectively govern the creation and deployment of AI-enabled KPIs." 

Augmental, an MIT spinoff, has created MouthPad, a tongue-controlled, computer mouse pad designed for people with disabilities, reports Zoya Hasan and Alex York for Forbes. The device is a “hands-free, custom fit mouthpiece for device control,” explains Hasan and York.

Boston Globe reporter Steve Annear spotlights MITHenge – a bi-annual occurrence where the sunset aligns with the Infinite Corridor. “A blast of orange sunlight spills through a window, lighting up the lengthy space with a warming glow,” explains Annear. “The phenomenon, which has amassed ‘a cult-like following,’ has been highly celebrated for years by both members of the school community and the public.”

Prof. David Rand speaks with Wall Street Journal reporter Christopher Mims about the impact of generative AI on the spread of misinformation. “When you show people deepfakes and generative AI, a lot of times they come out of the experiment saying, ‘I just don’t trust anything anymore,’” says Rand.

Aleena Nadeem '16 founded EduFi, a fintech startup that provides a straightforward process for students in Pakistan to take out loans to help finance their education, reports Kate Park for TechCrunch. “Education offers hope and can change the lives of people. I am one example of millions out there,” says Nadeem.

Prof. Nick Montfort speaks with Inside Higher Ed reporter Lauren Coffey about the use of AI tools in art and education. “The primary concern should be how can we provide new education, how can we inform students, artists, instructors,” says Montfort. “How can we, not so much bolt policies or create guardrails, but how can we help them understand new technologies better and their implications?”

Cognito Therapeutics, founded by Prof. Ed Boyden and Prof. Li Huei Tsai, has developed a “specialized headset that delivers 40Hz auditory and visual stimulation” to the brain, which could potentially slow down the cognitive decline and neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease, reports William A. Haseltine for Forbes. Prof. Li-Huei Tsai “and her team speculated that if gamma wave activity is reduced in Alzheimer’s disease, perhaps, artificially stimulating the brain may enhance synchronized firing and restore cognition,” writes Haseltine.

MIT researchers have successfully figured out how to trap tiny electrons in a three-dimensional crystal prison, reports Jess Thomson for Newsweek. The researchers hope that “the flat band properties of the electrons in these crystals will help them to explore new quantum states in three-dimensional materials,” Thomson explains, “and therefore develop technology like superconductors, supercomputing quantum bits, and ultraefficient power lines.”

Lisa Su BS, MS ’91, PhD ’94, the CEO of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), has been named to the Forbes 2023 Future of Work list for her, “technological chops and management savvy [techniques that] helped orchestrate a case-study worthy turnaround at AMD,” reports Jena McGregor for Forbes. The Forbes list, “highlights 50 leaders, executives, thinkers and teams rethinking the world of work at a time when everything – from the job market’s future to AI’s impact to a college degree’s value – feels more uncertain than ever.”

Principal Research Scientist Andrew McAfee writes for Fast Company about the makings of a successful corporate culture. “I’ve come to believe that the most fundamental reason Silicon Valley companies are disrupting so many industries is that they’ve iterated and experimented their way into a corporate culture that supports high levels of agility, innovation, and execution simultaneously,” writes McAfee. “I call this culture the geek way. It’s based on four norms expected by those around you (and not just the bosses).”