Time reporter Brian Elliott spotlights Prof. Zeynep Ton’s comments at a recent conference regarding the importance of businesses having an employee-focused strategy when implementing new AI tools. “The status quo mindset in leaders is to see labor as a cost to be minimized,” Ton explains. “Exemplary companies think of employees as drivers of customer satisfaction, profitability and growth.”
Vertical Semiconductor, an MIT spinoff, is working to “commercialize chip technology that can deliver electricity to artificial intelligence servers more efficiently,” reports Stephen Nellis for Reuters. “We do believe we offer a compelling next-generation solution that is not just a couple of percentage points here and there, but actually a step-wise transformation,” says Cynthia Liao MBA '24.
Boston Globe reporter Hiawatha Bray spotlights how Reekon Tools, a company co-founded by Christian Reed '14, is focused on reimagining construction tools by integrating new technologies to provide a more efficient and accurate user experience. “Reekon’s tape measures include digital memory, Bluetooth wireless networking, and a laser for exact alignment,” explains Bray. “They can relay their measurements to another Reekon device, which ensures that pieces of wood or metal are cut to exactly the right length.”
According to the U.S. News & World Report rankings for 2025-2026, MIT has been named the No. 2 best university in the United States, reports Madison Lucchesi for Boston.com.
Edward Woodford SM '15 founded Zerohash, a crypto and stablecoin infrastructure company, aimed at helping “financial institutions and fintechs build out their own products for stablecoins, crypto trading, and tokenization,” reports Ben Weiss for Fortune. “Over eight years, Woodford has managed to ride multiple crypto booms and busts,” writes Weiss. “It’s not just that we’re a survivor,” says Woodford. “We’ve actually thrived in that market, and actually now, I think we can accelerate that even further.”
MIT has been named the second best university in the United States, according to the U.S. News and World Report rankings for 2025-2026, reports Alan Blinder for The New York Times.
U.S. News & World Report has named MIT the number two best university in the United States for 2025-2026, reports Emily Sweeney for The Boston Globe. The rankings “evaluated more than 1,700 colleges and universities in the United States, using up to 17 measures of academic quality and graduate success,” adds Sweeney.
MIT has been named the number two college in the United States in U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking, reports Alia Shoaib for Newsweek. “U.S. News & World Report ranks more than 1,700 colleges using a weighted formula that considers factors such as graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, academic reputation, financial resources and student selectivity,” explains Shoaib.
Boon Uranukul PhD '19 co-founded Terra Oleo, a startup working to “develop microbes that can transform agricultural waste into a variety of oils,” reports Tim De Chant for TechCrunch. “The company selected three yeast species based on the microbes’ abilities to produce certain oils when fed with organic waste, including from agriculture and biodiesel production,” explains de Chant. “It then used genetic and metabolic engineering to boost and tune their ability to produce certain fats and triglycerides.”
MIT’s Sloan School of Management has been recognized as one of the top ten best MBA programs in the world, according to LinkedIn’s 2025 rankings, reports Kamaron McNahir for CNBC.
Prof. Thomas Kochan speaks with GBH reporter Craig LeMoult about the recent Market Basket’s leadership dispute. “The reality is Market Basket is a community asset,” says Kochan. “People value it because it provides good service, good prices, good jobs. And the public is hungry for a company like that. And they demonstrated that in 2014 when the first episode occurred and everyone rallied around the employees who rallied their CEO.”
Prof. Catherine Wolfram speaks with Financial Times reporter Simon Mundy about the EU’s decision to begin applying the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) next year. “I’m not sure the Europeans quite realize just how powerful the CBAM was as an incentive for other countries to adopt carbon pricing,” says Wolfram. “It’s really started a global conversation.”
A working paper by MIT researchers has found “that the most successful generative AI deployments consistently involve frontline workers from the earliest stages through rollout,” reports Sharon Wu for USA Today. The researchers “demonstrate that when employees help define the problem, co-design workflows, experiment with tools, and shape fair transition policies, not only does adoption improve, but worker productivity and job quality also rise.”
In an effort to help “build the tools and talent to shape a more productive and sustainable future for manufacturing,” MIT has launched the Initiative for New Manufacturing (INM), reports Nathan Owens for Manufacturing Dive. Owens explains that to help accelerate technology adoption and manufacturing productivity, the INM has "mapped out a series of education and industry partnership programs, including plans to establish new labs and a 'factory observation' effort that allows students to visit production sites.”
Prof. Simon Johnson speaks with Wired reporter Paresh Dave about the financial and social cost of AI implantation in the workforce, making the case that governments should lower payroll taxes for entry-level roles to encourage hiring and help humans build careers. “The right lever to pull is one that reduces costs to employers,” says Johnson.