Materials Science and Engineering

Top row (l-r): Daron Acemoglu, Kristin Bergmann, Gigliola Staffilani, Catherine Drennan. Middle row (l-r): Anna Mikusheva, Kerri Cahoy, Larry Susskind, Gene-wei Li. Bottom row (l-r): Jesse Kroll, Caroline Jones, Alfredo Alexander-Katz, Colette Heald.

Twelve MIT faculty honored as “Committed to Caring” for 2020-2021

Honor recognizes faculty mentors who devote true attention to students’ well-being.

June 30, 2020

Electric power grids and energy infrastructure are becoming increasingly threatened as extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, occur with more frequency and strength. One of the eight novel energy research projects to recently win an MIT Energy Initiative Seed Fund award will address these challenges by developing an approach for building hurricane-resilient smart grids.

MIT Energy Initiative awards eight seed fund grants for early-stage MIT energy research

Annual MITEI awards support research on battery storage, smart grids, and carbon emissions reduction.

June 30, 2020

By folding DNA into a virus-like structure, MIT researchers have designed HIV-like particles that provoke a strong immune response from human immune cells grown in a lab dish.

Engineers use “DNA origami” to identify vaccine design rules

In lab tests, virus-like DNA structures coated with viral proteins provoke a strong immune response in human B cells.

June 29, 2020

Photo shows the device the team developed. The tube at top is connected to a supply of the precursor material, sodium nitrite, which then passes through a channel in the fiber at the bottom and into the body, which also contains the electrodes to stimulate the release of nitric oxide. The electrodes are connected through the four-pin connector on the left.

Producing a gaseous messenger molecule inside the body, on demand

Method could shed light on nitric oxide’s role in the neural, circulatory, and immune systems.

June 29, 2020

A new system developed at MIT and Brookhaven National Lab could provide a faster, more reliable and much more energy efficient approach to physical neural networks, by using analog ionic-electronic devices to mimic synapses.

Engineers design a device that operates like a brain synapse

Ion-based technology may enable energy-efficient simulations of the brain’s learning process, for neural network AI systems.

June 19, 2020

MIT’s 2020 Hertz Fellows are (clockwise from top left): Alexander Alabugin, Alyssa Dayan, Marisa Gaetz, Isaac Metcalf, Nolan Peard, Maya Sankar, and Constantine Tzouanas.

Seven from MIT win 2020 Hertz Fellowships

Award recognizes scholars who pursue graduate studies focusing on “bold, risk-taking research.”

June 11, 2020

QS ranks MIT the world’s No. 1 university for 2020-21

Ranked at the top for the ninth straight year, the Institute also places first in 12 subject areas.

June 9, 2020

A close-up view of a new neuromorphic “brain-on-a-chip” that includes tens of thousands of memristors, or memory transistors.

Engineers put tens of thousands of artificial brain synapses on a single chip

The design could advance the development of small, portable AI devices.

June 8, 2020

2020 MIT Fulbright scholars include Sandra Walter, Srimayi Tenali, William Pinney, Talia Khan, Anshula Gandhi, Booker Schelhaas, Christien Williams, Ivy Li, Kedi Hu, and Max Kessler.

Eleven from MIT awarded 2020 Fulbright Fellowships

Graduating seniors and recent alumni will spend upcoming year abroad on Fulbright grants.

May 22, 2020

Oxygen evolution reactions are important in a variety of industrial processes. A new study provides a detailed analysis of the process at a molecular level. As illustrated here, the researchers analyzed how molecules of water (H2O, left) are catalyzed by specific locations on a surface of ruthenium dioxide (center) to form molecules of oxygen (O2, right).

Study unveils details of how a widely used catalyst splits water

“Gold standard” material for generating oxygen from water divulges its molecular mechanisms.

May 21, 2020

The researchers ran hundreds of atom-by-atom simulations of the propagation of cracks through different kinds of layered material, to see which ones were most effective at stopping the cracks from making it all the way through the material. Shown here are a variety of simulation runs showing different outcomes.

Machine-learning tool could help develop tougher materials

Engineers develop a rapid screening system to test fracture resistance in billions of potential materials.

May 20, 2020

Clockwise from upper left: Angela Belcher, Bruce Walker, Jianzhu Chen, Feng Zhang, Siqi Zheng, and Lee Gehrke

Six from MIT awarded research funding to address Covid-19

Multi-institutional MassCPR initiative announces more than $16.5 million to support 62 Boston-area projects.

May 19, 2020

White blood cells are among the first to mount an attack against sepsis, a deadly complication of Covid-19. In a project led by MIT Professor Daniela Rus, researchers are developing a machine learning system to detect an activated immune response to sepsis which could lead to earlier, more aggressive treatment. Here, a white blood cell attacks malaria.

Marshaling artificial intelligence in the fight against Covid-19

The MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab is funding 10 research projects aimed at addressing the health and economic consequences of the pandemic.

May 19, 2020

In this photograph of fabric, you can see the green light of functional fibers. “No human-made objects are more ubiquitous or exposed to more vital data than the clothes we all wear,” says doctoral student Gabriel Locke. “Wouldn’t it be great if we could somehow teach our fabrics to sense, store, analyze, extract and communicate this potentially useful information?”

3 Questions: The rapidly unfolding future of smart fabrics

Soon, your clothes may be able to monitor your vital signs, analyze the results, and warn you of health risks.

May 8, 2020

Dirty carbon reveals a sophisticated side

Coal could someday be used to make a variety of useful devices, researchers suggest.

April 27, 2020

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