School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

“State and local governments can serve as laboratories of innovation and test out new approaches to tackling challenging social problems,” says Mary Ann Bates, deputy director of J-PAL North America.

State and local governments invited to apply for funding, support on pressing policy challenges

Selected governments will partner with MIT's J-PAL North America to test which programs work, which work best, and why.

November 15, 2016

Top row: Sana Aiyar, Catherine Clark, Sasha Costanza-Chock. Middle row, Amy Finkelstein, Deborah Fitzgerald, Daniel Hidalgo. Bottom row: Justin Khoo, Bradford Skow, Craig Wilder

Nine SHASS faculty members awarded named professorships

Honored positions afford faculty additional support for research.

November 10, 2016

My Sister's Keeper seeks to support black women students at MIT, through social, professional, and mentoring relationships. From left to right: Nikahya Etienne, Naomi Dereje, Annie Abay, Bettina Arkhurst, and Kristina Hill.

My Sister's Keeper builds community for black women students at MIT

New organization aims to increase connections, mentoring, and success.

November 10, 2016

The term “wild,” is receiving renewed attention from academics and popular authors alike. MIT historian Harriet Ritvo notes that even those who are critical of the term employ it frequently, and that most of us remain uncertain of the word's conceptual parameters.

3Q: Historian Harriet Ritvo on what it means to be "wild"

Scientists, social scientists, and humanists heed the call of the wild at MIT workshop.

November 4, 2016

MIT Football tackles diversity and inclusion conversations

Players’ protest begins wave of discussion.

November 4, 2016

(Left to right): Heidi Williams, the Class of 1957 Career Development Associate Professor in MIT’s Department of Economics; and Amy Finkelstein, the John and Jennie S. MacDonald Professor of Economics at MIT. By scrutinizing millions of Medicare patients who have moved from one place to another, the researchers have found that patients and providers account for virtually equal shares of the diff...

Decoding the medical cost mystery

Providers and patients drive health care spending in roughly equal amounts, study shows.

November 3, 2016

First Row: (left to right) Alberto Abadie, Isaiah Andrews, Dwaipayan Banerjee, Claire Conceison. Second Row: (left to right) Drew Fudenberg, Paul Roquet, Tamar Schapiro, Ariel White.

New faculty in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

SHASS welcomes eight new faculty members for 2016.

November 2, 2016

Three MIT mentors were among this year's student participants, mentors, and judges at the final International Young Physicists’ Tournament at the San Joaquin campus of Pontifical Catholic University.

MIT-Chile collaboration stresses hands-on projects and teamwork in STEM education

MIT alumni and the MIT-Chile Program are bringing unique learning opportunities to Chilean high school students in a partnership with two major Santiago universities.

November 1, 2016

The creative "Stata-o'-lantern" honors MIT's iconic Stata Center.

Scene at MIT: Stata-o'-lantern

October 27, 2016

Science writing graduate student Eben Bein spent the summer of 2016 in a community service work-study position at NOVA, the prime-time science television series produced by WGBH Boston.

Working with purpose

Work-study program creates priceless relationships between MIT students and the local community.

October 24, 2016

“I don't think you can hack the election,” says MIT political scientist Charles Stewart III. The distributed nature of America's voting system is a key reason why rigging the election is not really possible. But also, observers are stationed in every polling place; ballots are counted in public, post-election audits spot-check results; and machines that record and count ballots are all offline...

How healthy is the U.S. voting system?

Professor Charles Stewart III explains why the U.S. electoral system is strong and how MIT research is making the voting process even more seamless.

October 20, 2016

“Contrary to the conjecture that Medicaid would get people to [move] out of the emergency room and to the primary care physician, we’re seeing a persistent increase in emergency room use,” says Amy Finkelstein, the John and Jennie S. MacDonald Professor of Economics at MIT.

Study: With Medicaid, ER visits remain high for two years

Acquiring health insurance does not lead to drop in emergency room usage.

October 19, 2016

With support from the International Policy Lab, the Trancik Lab compiled a report on the link between emissions cuts and energy technology cost reductions ahead of the 2015 UN climate conference. It was presented at the White House and helped to inform discussions in Paris on strengthening commitments to reduce emissions every five years. Pictured: (left to right) Patrick Brown, Magdalena Klemun, ...

International Policy Lab issues second annual call for proposals to faculty and researchers

The IPL provides funding and policy outreach support to help MIT researchers connect with the policy world.

October 19, 2016

“MIT is wonderful because in addition to [finding] an amazing home in economics, I can talk with and learn from a lot of people on the science side,” says Heidi Williams, the Class of 1957 Career Development Associate Professor in MIT’s Department of Economics.
MIT professor Heidi Williams

Making a splash in health care economics

Heidi Williams builds all-new data sets to answer questions about innovation and biomedical research.

October 18, 2016

Electing to vote — or not

Assistant Professor Ariel White is looking to understanding how government, policies, and people affect voting behavior.

October 14, 2016

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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