Professors Edward Boyden and Max Tegmark are honored as “Game Changers” in a Boston Globe special section dedicated to highlighting people and organizations for their work. The Globe features Boyden’s work developing tools to better understand the brain, and Tegmark’s involvement in the Future of Life Institute.
The researchers involved with the successful detection of gravitational waves have been honored with a Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, reports Joseph Ax for Reuters. "This is the first time we've seen the full force of Einstein's theory of gravity at work,” says Edward Witten, head of the selection committee.
New York Times reporter Dennis Overbye writes that the scientists of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration have been honored with a $3 million Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for their work successfully detecting gravitational waves.
BetaBoston reporter Amanda Burke writes that three MIT student inventors have been named winners of the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize. Burke writes that the MIT students were honored for creating, “a camera that is sharper than the human eye, an electric car transmission, and a fully automatic health-food restaurant.”
Washington Post reporter Laurie McGinley writes that Prof. Tyler Jacks, director of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, was named to a panel of experts that will advise the Obama administration on the cancer “moonshot” initiative and how to best “tackle some of the most promising but challenging areas in research today.”
Prof. Feng Zhang has been named a recipient of the 2016 Canada Gairdner International Award for his work on the development of the CRISPR gene-editing system, reports CBC News. CRISPR "may prove to be a ‘powerful therapeutic’ for treating human diseases by editing out harmful genetic mutations.”
Globe and Mail reporter Ivan Semeniuk spotlights Prof. Feng Zhang and his role in developing the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing system, for which he was honored as a recipient of the 2016 Canada Gairdner International award. “CRISPR genome editing technology is a really powerful platform,” says Zhang. “It think it will advance both our ability to understand disease and to develop treatments.”
Prof. Anant Agarwal, CEO of edX, has been honored with a 2016 Harold W. McGraw Prize in Education, writes Ruth Hammond for The Chronicle of Higher Education. Agarwal was cited for his “leadership in the development of massive open online course, or MOOCs.”
Prof. Edward Boyden speaks with STAT about winning the Breakthrough Prize and his research at MIT. Boyden explains that the technique he developed to examine brain samples is being applied to “bacteria, cancer, biopsies, virology questions. There’s a huge pent-up demand for ways of seeing large objects with nanoscale precision.”
Prof. Ioannis Yannas was inducted into the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame for his work with Dr. John Burke on regenerating human skin as a treatment for burn victims, writes Robby Berman for Slate. In a video accompanying the story, Yannas explains that his work was focused on “speeding up the rate of closing up these wounds.”
A number of MIT students, researchers and alumni have been named to Forbes’ annual “30 Under 30” list, which honors rising stars in 20 different sectors.
Writing for The Boston Globe, Sebastian Smee writes that 2015 “was a banner year for great artists and curators who just happened to be women.” In his article, Smee highlights the work of Prof. Emeritus Joan Jonas, who represented the U.S. at the Venice Biennale this year.
MIT was named one of the top 25 employers in Forbes and Statista.com’s list of America’s best large employers, reports Justine Hofherr for Boston.com.
“MIT professor emerita Joan Jonas, who represented the United States at the Venice Biennale, has been named the next visual arts mentor for the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative,” writes Meredith Goldstein for The Boston Globe. Jonas was named to the initiative along with five other artists.
STAT reporter Andrew Joseph writes about optogenetics and Prof. Edward Boyden’s work developing this technique for turning neurons on and off. “There are just huge frontiers out there for which optogenetics will be one of our most powerful tools,” said Robert Desimone, director of the McGovern Institute.