In the Media

Diana Ganz MBA ’14 co-founded SuitShop, a clothing company specializing in gender-inclusive suits and tuxedos, reports Diti Kohli for The Boston Globe. The company has just opened their first Massachusetts location.

Research scientist Ryan Hamerly and his team are working to harness “the low power consumption of hybrid optical devices for smart speakers, lightweight drones and even self-driving cars,” reports The Economist. 

Sally Kornbluth, the 18^th president of MIT, speaks with Boston Magazine reporter Jonathan Soroff about why she is excited to lead MIT, Smoots, Boston weather and sports, and how to encourage more girls and women to pursue STEM careers.

Writing for The Boston Globe, Prof. Emeritus Ernest Moniz writes that the National Ignition Facility’s fusion energy advancement “is exciting because when the journey from science demonstration to a commercially viable power plant is completed, the electricity grid will be revolutionized.” Moniz continues, “To meet widely accepted climate objectives, we must double the clock speed of the clean energy innovation process.”

Forbes has named Commonwealth Fusion Systems one of the biggest tech innovations and breakthroughs of 2022, reports Bernard Marr. “Commonwealth Fusion Systems is now working with MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center on plans to build a factory that can mass-produce components for the first commercial fusion reactors,” writes Marr.

Prof. Jessika Trancik speaks with Bloomberg reporter Kyle Stock about the carbon impact of electric vehicles. “On average, your emissions are substantially lower if you go for the full electric [vehicle],” says Trancik. “But we could probably think of extreme edge cases where a hybrid is just as good.”

CNN reporter Oscar Holland spotlights the late Prof. Harold Eugene Edgerton ’31 and his work in pioneering flash technology. Edgerton “is considered the father of high-speed photography,” writes Holland. “Camera shutter speeds were too slow to capture a bullet flying at 2,800 feet per second, but his stroboscopic flashes – a precursor to modern-day strobe lights – created bursts of light so short that a well-timed photograph, taken in an otherwise dark room, made it appear as if time had stood still.”

Researchers at MIT have found that those with an E4 variant display abnormalities in cholesterol metabolism, reports William A. Haseltine for Forbes. “The MIT team suggest that the disruption of cholesterol metabolism could be a fundamental reason why those with the E4 variant are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease symptoms,” writes Haseltine.

President L. Rafael Reif, who will return to the faculty following a Sabbatical, reflects on his tenure and how his upbringing shaped his outlook on education. “For many, MIT’s reputation is one that is defined by innovative research – a technology hub built on drive and hustle,” writes Nour Saudi. “But when Rafael Reif first visited the school in the spring of 1979, he found a campus full of down-to-earth people who wanted to make the world better, something he could get behind.”   

Financial Times reporter Jonathan Derbyshire spotlights “Life is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way” by Prof. Kieran Setiya. “But that doesn’t mean either that ‘Life Is Hard’ is a self-help book, and it’s all the better and more interesting for it,” writes Derbyshire. “Setiya warns readers at the outset that they are not going to find in it ‘five tips for overcoming grief’ or ‘how to succeed without even trying.’”

Alumnus Jeremy Bilotti co-founded Rarify, a design furniture retail company, reports Lauren Mowery for Forbes. “Rarify uses the history of design to tell a story, educate our audience about the importance of notable designers, and push toward the future, bringing to light noteworthy manufacturers and designers that aren’t known or recognized to the degree that they deserve,” explains Rarify co-founder David Rosenwasser. Alumnus Jeremy Bilotti co-founded Rarify, a design furniture retail company, reports Lauren Mowery for Forbes. “Rarify uses the history of design to tell a story, educate our audience about the importance of notable designers, and push toward the future, bringing to light noteworthy manufacturers and designers that aren’t known or recognized to the degree that they deserve,” explains Rarify co-founder David Rosenwasser.

A team of MIT students developed reconfigurable robots capable of exploring rough terrains on the moon as part of NASA's Breakthrough, Innovative, and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge, reports Alejandra Borunda for National Geographic. The MIT students “figured that once astronauts were on the moon, they’d want to use various types of robots so they designed “‘Lego-like combinations that can be reconfigured,’” the team explained.

Boston Globe reporter Aaron Pressman spotlights how The Engine has “backed a number of promising climate-tech startups” and has “helped attract many other investors to climate tech.” Additionally “three-quarters of startups backed by The Engine had a founder or chief executive from an underrepresented minority group, and 44 percent had a woman in one of those roles,” Pressman notes. “From our point of view, it is unacceptable not to believe that people of very diverse backgrounds should be the next founders,” says Katie Rae, CEO and managing partner of The Engine.

MIT researchers have developed an ultra-thin solar panel that can adhere to any surface for access to immediate power, reports Jules Suzdaltsev for Mashable. “These ultra-portable panels can make the difference in remote regions where emergencies require more power,” writes Suzdaltsev.

Lydia Villa Komaroff PhD ’75 speaks with NPR reporter Emily Kwong about her work in gene editing. Biotechnology and genetic engineering were “enormously impactful,” says Komaroff. “So impactful that molecular biology pretty much disappeared as a field, it has become a tool that is of use in every field of biology and medicine today.”