Mel King, who founded the Community Fellows Program in 1996, spoke to Crystal Haynes at Boston 25 News for a feature about his lifelong efforts to promote inclusion and equal access to technology. Haynes notes that King, a senior lecturer emeritus at MIT, “is credited with forming Boston into the city it is today; bringing groups separated by race, gender and sexuality together in a time when it was not only unexpected, but dangerous.”
Times Higher Ed reporter Matthew Reisz highlights Prof. Daniel Jackson’s book, “Portraits of Resilience.” Reisz writes that, “MIT and its press are to be congratulated on a book – given out free to all this year’s new students – that not only addresses head on the issue of mental health within higher education but is so frank about how this plays out within its own institution.”
NBC Boston reports that ICE has released MIT custodian Francisco Rodriguez. “Many members of the MIT community have strongly supported that Francisco be released from detention to be with his family so the news of his release is extremely welcome. We also strongly believe Francisco should be allowed to remain in the U.S. permanently," according to a statement from MIT.
Boston Globe reporter Tim Logan writes that Roche Bros. Supermarkets will open a Brothers Market in MIT’s One Broadway Building. Steve Marsh, managing director of MIT’s Real Estate Group, explained that a grocery store was, “so important to those who live and work in Kendall that we worked to incorporate it in the earliest possible phase of our development.”
WHDH speaks with MIT staff member Maia Weinstock, who designed the original concept for the Women of NASA LEGO set. Weinstock explained that she is “really excited to see teachers and parents and kids tell me their stories of how they are going to use the set.”
Bryan Marquard of The Boston Globe writes about the legacy of Paul Gray, the 14th president of MIT, who died at 85 and was known for his efforts to increase diversity at MIT. Gray was a “transformative administrator who enrolled at MIT as an electrical engineering student in 1950 and retired in 1997 as chairman of the MIT Corporation, the institute’s governing body,” writes Marquard.
Lowell Sun reporter Chris Lisinski spotlights the total eclipse viewing party held at MIT’s Wallace Observatory in Westford. Lisinski notes that the Observatory, “hosted close to 200 people, many of them young children, for a viewing of Monday's "Great American Eclipse."
In this video, Jason Brewer of FOX 25 reports from MIT’s Kresge Oval, where an estimated 5,000 people gathered to watch the partial solar eclipse.
MIT custodian Francisco Rodriguez, who has been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), wrote a letter to The Boston Globe explaining that his family needs him. “I believe in this country,” writes Rodriguez. “I believe in what people can do here.”
Boston Globe reporter Steve Annear spotlights how MIT students have transformed the walls of a pedestrian tunnel that runs underneath Ames Street into a giant work of art. Annear notes that, “in true MIT fashion, they rolled out an app that makes some of the work come to life when it’s viewed through a smartphone screen.”
Writing for The Boston Globe, Tim Logan writes that MIT filed a mixed-use zoning petition for the 14-acre Volpe site in Kendall Square. Logan notes that the Volpe redevelopment is part of a broader push by MIT to make Kendall Square, “feel more like a fully-fledged neighborhood.”
In an article for The Epoch Times, Emel Akpan highlights how The Engine is focused on supporting startups in fields that require time and patient capital. “We have a focus on tough tech,” explains Katie Rae, CEO and president of The Engine. “We think that’s where the resources are limited. But the opportunities can have a lot of impact.”
CNBC reporter Anita Balakrishnan writes about MIT’s 2017 Commencement. During his address, Apple CEO Tim Cook noted that at MIT and Apple, people “love hard problems, we love to search for new ideas, and we especially love finding these ideas — the ones that change the world.”
MIT’s 2017 Commencement exercises featured an address by Apple CEO Tim Cook, who urged graduates to use their skills to help people around the world, reports the AP. “Measure impact in humanity; not in the likes, but the lives you touch and the people you serve,” said Cook.
Reuters reporter Ross Kerber writes about MIT’s 2017 Commencement exercises, which featured an address by Apple CEO Tim Cook. Cook urged graduates to infuse technology with human values, explaining that he is concerned “about people thinking like computers, without values or compassion, without concern for consequence.”