Jonathan Levin PhD '99 has been named the next president of Stanford University, reports Stephanie Saul for The New York Times. Levin’s “research has been wide-ranging, covering topics such as early admissions at selective colleges, subprime lending and the impact of financial incentives on health and health care delivery,” writes Saul. “As dean, Dr. Levin has promoted educating business entrepreneurs in developing countries through a program called Stanford Seed.”
Prof. William Frank speaks with New York Times reporter Katrina Miller about the recent earthquake in the Northeast, and whether the event was caused by motion between the Earth’s tectonic plates. “It’s not quite as obvious, because there is no tectonic plate boundary that is active,” explains Frank. He noted that fault lines from past tectonic plate activity are located around the world, explaining that “some of these faults can still be storing stress and be closer to failure, and it can just require a little bit more to push it over the edge.”
Writing for The Next Big Idea Club, Prof. Tali Sharot and Harvard Law School Professor Cass Sunstein cite their new book “Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There,” to share five insights on how to incorporate more joy into life. “If you need to complete an unpleasant task (household chores, administrative work) complete them in one go,” they write. “Habituation will help you motor through the yukky bits of life, making them feel less unpleasant. Swallow the bad whole but insert short breaks into pleasant experiences to increase pleasure.”
Prof. Kripa Varanasi co-founded Alsym Energy, a startup “developing rechargeable batteries that won’t be based on lithium or cobalt,” reports Hiawatha Bray for The Boston Globe. “The founders said they expect to build batteries that match the performance of today’s lithium-ion cells but at about half the cost,” writes Bray.
Science reporter Jennifer Sills asked scientists to answer the question: “Imagine that you meet all of your research goals. Describe the impact of your research from the perspective of a person, animal, plant, place, object, or entity that has benefited from your success.” Xiangkun (Elvis) Cao, a Schmidt Science Fellow in the MIT Department of Chemical Engineering, shares his response from a photon’s perspective. “I am a photon,” writes Cao. “I started my journey entangled with my significant other at the beginning of the Universe. In the past, humans couldn’t understand me, but then physicists created a quantum computer. At last, I have been reunited with my life partner!”
Boston.com reporters Zipporah Osei, Alex Svenson, Annie Jonas, and Kristina DaPonte spotlight the MIT Press Bookstore in their guide to independent bookstores in the Greater Boston area. “In the heart of Kendall Square, MIT Press Bookstore is ‘one of the only retail bookstores owned and operated by a university press,’” they write. “Part of the MIT Kendall Gateway, you’ll also find the MIT Museum, which ‘seeks to demystify some of the school’s opaque inner workings.’”
Prof. Joseph Doyle and his colleagues are studying whether type 2 diabetes could be treated or improved by nutrition, reports Donna Eastlake for Food Navigator.
Senior lecturer Renée Richardson Gosline speaks with Boston Globe reporter Maddie Khaw about new marketing strategies and how they are being used to promote the latest water bottle trends. “If you can get the right influencer to talk about your stuff, you’ve got more targeted communications,” says Gosline. “What people buy has started to replace a sense of social connection and identity that is missing for many people.”
David Zipper, a senior fellow at the MIT Mobility Lab, writes for Bloomberg about how the findings of William Whyte, an urbanist observer and writer, on what attracts people to urban spaces could be used to help draw people back to downtown areas after the Covid-19 pandemic. “Whyte’s insights suggest a need to build comfortable, pleasant places that invite people to linger, perhaps eating a meal or buying a new shirt while they’re there,” writes Zipper. “And his research serves as a reminder that good public spaces strengthen human relationships, offering an antidote to the loneliness epidemic said to afflict a growing number of Americans.”
Writing for Fast Company, Jeff Karp, a Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology affiliated faculty member, shares insights into handling professional and personal setbacks and failures. “When we feel burned by such things, it’s often because there’s the heat of emotional attachment,” writes Karp. “But when that cools, it’s possible to emerge with valuable insights and often more of a laser focus to use on the next venture. If you can take humbling first tries in stride, distill their lessons, and move on to the next thing, your chance of success becomes much greater.”
Fast Company reporter Shalene Gupta spotlights new research by Prof. David Autor that finds “about 60% of jobs in 2018 did not exist 1940. Since 1940, the bulk of new jobs has shifted from middle-class production and clerical jobs to high-paid professional jobs and low-paid service jobs.” Additionally, the researchers uncovered evidence that “automation eroded twice as many jobs from 1980 to 2018 as it had from 1940 to 1980. While augmentation did add some jobs to the economy, it was not as many as the ones lost by automation.”
Domingo Godoy '14 speaks with WCVB reporter Emily Maher about running the 2024 Boston Marathon as a member of Team Brookline and his quest to raise money for the Brookline Education Foundation, which provides grants to teachers in the town’s public schools. Godoy, who ran the Boston Marathon in 2014 on the MIT Strong team in honor of Officer Sean Collier, recalls that seeing a lot of people the year after the Marathon bombing show up “to run, people that were basically injured at these events was pretty overwhelming.” This year, he’s looking forward to supporting his community and seeing his family and friends cheer him on. “They will be there with huge signs,” Godoy said. “I’m super pumped to get to Beacon Street, hopefully strong, and say hi to them."
Yuly Fuentes-Medel, program director for textiles in the MIT Fabric Innovation Hub, speaks with Washington Post reporter Daliah Singer about the need for a more sustainable shoe industry. “You don’t want to consider your shoe something you’re going to throw away, and that’s a long-term change,” says Fuentes-Medel. “It’s a mental model that needs to change for us to keep building all the products of the future.”
U.S. News & World Report reporter Cole Claybourn spotlights Amar Gopal Bose '51, SM '52 ScD '56, a former MIT faculty member, as one of fifteen famous Fulbright scholars. Bose, founder of Bose Corporation, “studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on a full scholarship, earning his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering,” writes Claybourn.
Prof. David Autor speaks with New York Times reporter Steve Lohr about his hope that AI can be harnessed to become “worker complementary technology,” enabling individuals to take on more highly skilled work and find better paying jobs. “I do think there is value in imagining a positive outcome, encouraging debate and preparing for a better future,” Autor explains. “This technology is a tool, and how we decide to use it is up to us.”