Graduate student Elizabeth Dekeyser writes for The Washington Post about why the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party’s push to reverse Germany’s current citizenship law could backfire. “More inclusive citizenship policy, not less, will encourage greater national identification,” writes Dekeyser, “not just among children who are potential German citizens, but for their families as well.”
David Weininger of The Boston Globe writes about the longest instrumental work composed by Prof. Keeril Makan, a 47-minute movement performed by the New York-based chamber ensemble Either/Or. “Makan creates a succession of fresh and inventive colors, especially when he places two unusual instruments — glockenspiel and cimbalom — in dialogue,” writes Weininger.
Senior Lecturer Ken Urban speaks with HuffPost reporter Michael Levin about the burgeoning theater program at MIT. “There is a lot of institutional support for the arts in all of its forms at MIT and I think it’s because that process of being creative and realizing that it’s super-important for engineers,” says Urban.
Jane Borden of The Washington Post highlights research by Prof. Edward Schiappa in an article about the idea that TV can help tackle prejudice. According to the 2006 study, viewers of the TV show Will and Grace have “the strongest potential influence on reducing sexual prejudice.”
MIT placed second in Times Higher Ed’s 2018 arts and humanities ranking, reports Ellie Bothwell. “The multidisciplinary nature of the institute is certainly invaluable – not only for educating citizens, engineers, scholars, artists and scientists, but for sustaining the institute’s capacity to tackle challenges,” explains Melissa Nobles, dean of the MIT School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences.
In an article for The New York Times, Prof. Kieran Setiya writes that, in his view, living in the present means appreciating activities that cannot be completed and are not incomplete. “If projects are all we value, our lives become self-subversive, aimed at extinguishing the sources of meaning within them,” he explains.
In an article for The Boston Globe about the Boston school system’s new dual-language program in Haitian Creole, James Vaznis speaks with Prof. Michel DeGraff, who is assisting Boston with the program. DeGraff says that the program provides Boston with an opportunity to, “produce new material in Haitian Creole that in time can become models for programs in Haiti.”
New York Times reporter Austin Frakt writes that MIT researchers have found that hospitals that spend more on emergency care had better patient outcomes. “Hospitals that score well on patient satisfaction, follow good processes of care and record lower hospital mortality rates,” says Prof. Joseph Doyle, “do seem to keep patients alive and out of the hospital longer.”
The MIT Media Lab has awarded its first Disobedience Award to Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha and Prof. Marc Edwards, for their work drawing attention to the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, reports Scott Malone for Reuters. "They saw…an actual harm that was occurring and they did what they needed to do to intervene," explains Joi Ito, director of the Media Lab.
Science reporter Gloria Emeagwali reviews Prof. Clapperton Mavhunga’s new book, which examines how Africans have contributed to science throughout history. “Eurocentric assumptions about the history of science and technology, entrepreneurship, epistemology, and scientific methodology are directly challenged in this scholarly collection of essays that masterfully document the historical and contemporary scientific contributions of Africans.”
Writing for CNBC, Ali Montag highlights MIT’s MicroMasters programs and how they offer students around the world a new path to a graduate degree. Montag notes that passing students from the MicroMasters in data, economics and development policy, “are eligible to apply for a master's program on campus at MIT.”
Prof. Jonathan Gruber writes for The Washington Post that the Senate’s health care bill could make the opioid epidemic worse by proposing a, “rollback of the Medicaid expansions that had finally slowed the rapid growth of this devastating problem.”
Forbes reporter Kevin Murnane writes about how MIT researchers have used a computer vision system to examine how several American cities physically improved or deteriorated over time. Murnane writes that the study “provides important support for nuanced versions of traditional theories about why urban neighborhoods change over time.”
Washington Post reporter Robert Samuelson highlights a study co-authored by Prof. David Autor that finds that new technologies can lead to productivity increases that often generate more jobs. Autor and his colleagues found that “every 10 percent gain in productivity resulted in a 2 percent gain in employment spread over four years.”
Prof. Esther Duflo speaks with WBUR’s Fred Thys about MIT’s MicroMasters in development economics. Thys explains that the new MicroMasters program allows students, “to take rigorous courses online for credit, and if they perform well on exams, to apply for a master's degree program on campus.”