Podcast: SHASS’s special sauce
Established after World War II, the School of the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences is an integral part of the MIT experience. Three faculty reflect on the school’s ongoing impact.
Stories from the steel mills: A model for sharing workers’ histories
MIT anthropologist Chris Walley developed a project for people in Southeast Chicago to tell their histories — an approach any community can adopt.
The mystery of the Chinese tea chest label
MIT historian Tristan Brown uncovers the true origins of an artifact once thought to be a relic of the Boston Tea Party.
Building a scholarly community
The SHASS Faculty Fellows Program, administered by the MIT Human Insight Collaborative, is fostering new research projects and creating space for supportive and interdisciplinary discussion.
Research from the ground up
A leading innovator in community-based archaeology, Professor Sonya Atalay works to link local know-how with academic inquiry across the globe.
Place-based pathways to a viable future
Living Climate Futures Symposium explores climate challenges and solutions at the community level.
Bridging medical realities in the study of technology and health
Anthropologist Amy Moran-Thomas studies overlooked insights from people health care is meant to reach.
New MIT class uses anthropology to improve chatbots
MIT computer science students design AI chatbots to help young users become more social, and socially confident.
The “delicious joy” of creating and recreating music
Leslie Tilley combines deep experience as a musician with cultural and formal analysis, to see how people refashion music anew.
A new lens on humanity
The inaugural MIT Human Insight Collaborative (MITHIC) Annual Event showcased the breadth of projects supported in the first year of the presidential initiative.
Mind, hand, and harvest
A volunteer-driven pilot program brings low-cost organic produce to the MIT community.
Where climate meets community
MIT’s Living Climate Futures Lab takes a human-centered approach to investigating a global challenge.
Charts can be social artifacts that communicate more than just data
Researchers find that design elements of data visualizations influence viewers’ assumptions about the source of the information and its trustworthiness.
SHASS announces appointments of new program and section heads for 2025-26
Sandy Alexandre, Manduhai Buyandelger, and Eden Medina take on new leadership positions.
Six from MIT elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences for 2025
The prestigious honor society announces nearly 250 new members.