Boston Metal, an MIT startup, is developing a new method for producing steel that reduces carbon emissions, reports Catherine Clifford for NBC Boston. “The main goal of Boston Metal is green steel, but the company will also use its core electrolysis technology to produce tin, niobium, and tantalum metals from what is otherwise considered waste from the mining process,” writes Clifford.
Astrophysicist Frank Shu '63, who is credited with making pivotal contributions to our understanding of galaxies and star formation, has died at the age of 79, reports Douglas Lin and Fred Adams for Nature. “For the past dozen years, his concern about the climate crisis led him to study the use of molten-salt reactors to generate energy from nuclear waste and to convert waste biomass into inert products that can be sequestered, removing carbon from the atmosphere,” write Lin and Adams.
On Friday, June 2, MIT celebrated the Class of 2023 with its undergraduate commencement ceremony, during which Chancellor Melissa Nobles addressed the graduates and students walked across the stage on Killian Court to receive their diplomas on a summer-like day. The Boston Herald featured a series of photographs from the event.
Prof. Danielle Li and graduate student Lindsey Raymond speak with NPR hosts Wailin Wong and Adrian Ma about how generative artificial intelligence could impact the workplace based on their research examining how an AI chatbot affected workers at customer contact centers. “A lot of what customer service is, is about managing people's feelings 'cause people come, they're tired or whatever,” says Li. “And so in some sense there's kind of this sort of human soft skills component that these technologies are able to capture in a way that prior technologies couldn't.”
VulcanForms, an MIT startup, is at the “leading edge of a push to transform 3-D printing from a niche technology — best known for new-product prototyping and art-class experimentation — into an industrial force,” writes David Scharfenberg for The Boston Globe. Scharfenberg notes that VulcanForms “could help usher in something new — a high-tech industrialism aimed straight at the country’s most pressing problems.”
Boston.com reporter Susannah Sudborough spotlights Mark Rober’s Commencement address to the MIT Class of 2023, during which Rober provided “three bits of life advice in a humor-filled commencement speech.” Rober relayed to graduates that “if you want to cross the river of life, you’re gonna get wet. You’re gonna have to backtrack. And that’s not a bug, that’s a feature. Frame those failures and slips like a video game, and not only will you learn more and do it faster, but it will make all the successful jumps along the way that much sweeter.”
During his Commencement address at MIT, Mark Rober urged graduates to embrace their accomplishments and boldly face any challenges they encounter," writes Ashley Soebroto for The Boston Globe. Rober emphasized that “the degree you’re getting today means so much to you precisely because of all the struggle and setbacks that you’ve had to endure.” Elisa Becker-Foss, who graduated with a master’s in finance, noted that it was “very cool to be here, and after all the hard work to finally find one day to come together and celebrate.”
The Economist spotlights how Boston Metal, an MIT startup, has developed a new process for creating steel that avoids producing greenhouse gas emissions. “Instead of releasing CO2 or steam, its approach produces pure oxygen—which is not merely harmless, but actually valuable,” The Economist notes.
Boston Magazine reporter Rowan Jacobsen spotlights how MIT faculty, students and alumni are leading the charge in clean energy startups. “When it comes to game-changing breakthroughs in energy, three letters keep surfacing again and again: MIT,” writes Jacobsen.
J. Daniel Kim PhD ’20 and Minjae Kim SM ’17 PhD ‘18 have found that young companies “were less likely than similar companies to change their line of business or location” after the departure of a founder, reports Kevin Lewis for The Boston Globe. “Companies that did change their line of business tended to perform better, especially around recessions,” explains Lewis. “This supports the notion that the loss of a founder tends to impede necessary change.”
SpaceX Crew-6 Mission Commander Stephen Bowen MS ’93 recently answered questions from Cohasset Public School students live from the International Space Station, reports WBZ. "The Earth is always amazing to look at," Bowen told the students of his experience in space.
Prof. Marzyeh Ghassemi speaks with NPR host Kate Wells about a decision by the National Eating Disorders Associations to replace their helpline with a chatbot. “I think it's very alienating to have an interactive system present you with irrelevant or what can feel like tangential information,” says Ghassemi.
Jacob DeWitte SM ’11, PhD ’14 co-founded Oklo, a startup working toward developing small nuclear power plants to deliver emission-free, reliable, and affordable power, reports Heather Wishart-Smith for Forbes.
Lisa Dyson PhD ‘04 founded Air Protein, a company looking to “bring recycled carbon cultivated into food with the taste and texture of chicken, meat, and seafood,” reports Geri Stengel for Forbes.
Financial Times reporter Simon Mundy and Kaori Yoshida spotlight Gradiant, an MIT startup that has developed new methods of handling industrial wastewater. “Gradiant promises customers that its technology will allow them to purify and reuse larger amounts of water, reducing the amount they need to source externally,” write Mundy and Yoshia.