Varun Mohan '17, SM '17 and Douglas Chen '17 co-founded Codeium, an AI-powered coding startup designed to help users write code in a faster and more efficient manner, reports Marina Temkin for TechCrunch. “Codeium tries to distinguish itself from competitors by targeting companies rather than individual developers,” writes Temkin.
Tye Brady SM '99 speaks with Fortune reporter John Kell about his career in robotic development and the role of generative AI in future advancements. “We’re using generative AI in just about everything that we’re doing inside of robotics,” says Brady.
Steve Mann PhD '97 has been awarded the IEEE Masaru Ibuka Consumer Electronics Award for his contributions toward the development of virtual reality, augmented reality, wearable technology, eXtended Reality products and services, reports Thomas Coughlin for Forbes. “Widely regarded as ‘the father of wearable computing,’” Mann “invented, designed, and built the world’s first smartwatch capable of downloading and running a wide variety of apps for health, well-being, and fitness tracking, ushering in a new era of personal health,” explains Coughlin.
In a letter to The Guardian, Research Scientist Florian Metzler, Research Affiliate Matt Lilley and their colleagues highlight the important advancements being made in cold fusion research. “Cold fusion could result in spectacular technologies. But we are convinced that the way forward requires rigorous, open-source scientific investigation, not more claims,” they write. “In many ways, cold fusion’s time has come. Advances in theory and experiment have made the LENR field eminently actionable.”
Evan Ehrenberg PhD '16 co-founded Waterlily, a company that “uses artificial intelligence to predict a family’s future long-term care needs and costs” with the right care and financial planning, reports Mary Ann Azevedo for TechCrunch. “Ehrenberg — who had previously founded and sold Clara Health — helped with early research and was struck by the industry’s response,” writes Azevedo. “Curious, he tested the platform and was shocked by his long-term care predictions — so much so that he changed his diet, hired a personal trainer, and updated his financial plans.”
Georgina Campbell Flatter SM '11 has been named the chief executive of Greentown Labs, the “nation’s largest clean-tech incubator,” reports Jon Chesto for The Boston Globe. “This is a pretty critical time for energy and climate, and we all need to lean in,” says Flatter.
Forbes reporter Nina Bambysheva spotlights Michael Saylor '87 and his professional career after co-founding MicroStrategy and his company’s approach to investing in Bitcoin. “We adopted bitcoin out of frustration and desperation, and then it became an opportunity, and then it became a strategy, and then it became an identity, and then it became a mission,” says Saylor.
Shiv Bhakta MBA '24, SM '24 and Richard Swartwout SM '18, PhD '21 co-founded Active Surfaces, a solar tech company that has developed “a new kind of solar collector so thin and flexible it can be attached to anything under the sun,” reports Hiawatha Bray for The Boston Globe. “The company prints solar cells onto a plastic sheet, using methods not too different from those used to print newspapers,” explains Bray. “The resulting cells can generate electric power nearly as efficiently as today’s heavy, thick silicon panels.”
Graduate student Palak Patel speaks with BBC News reporter Chris Baraniuk about her work designing an “experimental molten regolith electrolysis system, for extracting oxygen and metal from the lunar soil.” Palak explains: “We’re really looking at it from the standpoint of, ‘Let’s try to minimize the number of resupply missions.’”
Drew Houston '06, founder and CEO of Dropbox, speaks with NBC Boston reporter Ashton Jackson about his work creating and developing the cloud storage platform. "I started Dropbox more out of just personal frustration," says Houston. "It really felt like something only I was super interested in as far as file syncing, and focusing on one customer, which was myself."
Ministry of Supply, a clothing brand founded by MIT alumni, has developed a machine-washable, heated jacket, reports Rebecca Barker for Fast Company. “The issue with a lot of heated garments is that they want you to know that they’re heated garments,” says co-founder Gihan Amarasiriwardena '11. “The controller is on the outside, for example, they’re often times made out of kind of cheap shell material, so it doesn’t look as high quality. We think of the heating system as a secondary element, because we think the design of the garment can stand on its own.”
NeuroBionics, an MIT spinoff, has developed bioelectric fibers that could deliver neuromodulation therapy aimed at helping people who live with neurological conditions like depression, epilepsy, and Parkinson’s disease, reports Connie Loizos for TechCrunch. “The fibers are powered by a fairly standard implantable battery that’s shaped like an AirPod case, designed to last five to 10 years, and is used by other medical device makers for spinal cord stimulation, among other things,” writes Loizos.
Alumnus Andrew Clare has been named CEO of Elory Air, an aircraft company that has developed an “autonomous and hybrid-electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft,” reports Ed Garsten for Forbes. “My big goal on the technical side for the company is flight envelope expansion as well as autonomous capability expansion of our full-scale aircraft,” Clare explains. “You will see in the coming months that we will start to do full mission envelope work with our full-scale aircraft.”
Noubar Afeyan PhD '87 and a member of the MIT Corporation speaks with Boston Globe reporter Aaron Pressman about the future of artificial general intelligence (AGI) and “superintelligent” AI. “Humans have long developed tools, microscopes, mass spectrometers, you name it, to help them be able to understand nature better,” says Afeyan. “Now one of the tools, in the case of machine [learning], we’re elevating to the level of a whole new intelligence.”
Stever Robbins '86 shares his tips for organizing college application essays with Forbes contributor Dr. Marlena Corcoran. “There are two main ways that you would want to find the essays that you write,” says Robbins. “One is you're going to want to find the essay that you wrote for a particular school. The other way is you're going to want to find an essay you wrote on a particular topic.”