During his MIT Commencement address, Matt Damon urged graduates to engage with the world, reports WBUR’s Andrea Shea. Senior class president Anish Punjabi likened MIT students to Will Hunting, the character Damon played in “Good Will Hunting,” noting that “like Will we possess a gift not just for creativity, but more importantly a gift for relentless service and compassion.”
Writing for The Boston Globe, James Sullivan recounts MIT’s 2016 Commencement exercises, which featured an address from actor and filmmaker Matt Damon. In his charge to the graduates, Sullivan noted that MIT President L. Rafael Reif reminded graduates that “heart is what makes the hard problems worth solving. Heart is what makes the data sing with meaning.”
The AP spotlights MIT’s 2016 Commencement exercises, which featured an address from actor and filmmaker Matt Damon. Damon told graduates, “You’ve got to go out and do really interesting things, important things, inventive things, because this world has problems that we need you to drop everything and solve."
In a Boston Magazine article about six city squares in Boston, Joseph Mendolia writes that MIT’s plan for Kendall Square, “which is slated to bring 740 apartments—not to mention additional office, retail, and research space—to the square,” could help bring a neighborhood feel to the the area.
Tim Logan writes for The Boston Globe that MIT has received approval to develop new buildings, open spaces, restaurants, research and commercial spaces in Kendall Square. “We want to create a greater sense of place,” says Provost Martin Schmidt. “A greater place to live and learn, not only for our community, but also for our neighbors.”
During a special live broadcast from the MIT campus, President L. Rafael Reif speaks with Bloomberg’s Emily Chang about MIT’s innovation ecosystem and the future of education. Reif explains that students come to MIT because “they want to use their skills to do something important for the world, to make the world better.”
A Boston.com slideshow highlights photographs of MIT’s Moving Day celebrations, which featured a parade of boats, floats and other creations crossing the Charles River by land and water. The parade commemorated the ceremonial journey of MIT’s charter, which was transported across the river by a barge in 1916.
Boston Globe reporter Nicole Fleming recounts MIT’s Moving Day celebrations, which featured a parade to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Institute’s move from Boston to Cambridge. “From rafts and fantastical wheeled contraptions to salsa dancers and puppets, a colorful array of MIT creations crossed the Charles River -- by land and by water."
MIT has launched a campaign aimed at advancing the Institute’s work on some of the world’s biggest challenges, reports Laura Krantz for The Boston Globe. Krantz writes that President L. Rafael Reif’s vision for the campaign is centered around the idea that the “university of the 21st century should do more than educate students and advance knowledge — it should solve real problems.”
Writing for The Boston Globe, Jaclyn Reiss highlights that MIT was named one of the most prestigious colleges in the world in a new ranking by Times Higher Education.
Prof. John Ochsendorf speaks with Boston.com reporter Allison Pohle about MIT’s Moving Day celebrations. Ocsendorf notes that the celebrations are a “once in a lifetime opportunity to celebrate MIT and bring it to the larger community.”
Tech reporters Drew Bent and Katherine Nazemi speak with MIT President L. Rafael Reif about the MIT Campaign for a Better World. “We want to be as strong as we can, but for a purpose, and the purpose is to do something good for the world,” says Reif. “That’s very uniquely MIT.”
As part of the centennial celebration of MIT’s move from Boston to Cambridge, the Institute is hosting a campus-wide open house on Saturday, April 23rd, the AP reports. The open house will feature more than 350 activities, including “robotic demonstrations, science exhibits, laboratory tours and talks by professors.”
Steve Annear writes for The Boston Globe about how grad student Lydia Krasilnikova created graphs and charts illustrating the color underwear MIT students select, based off self-reported information from dorm mailing lists. “It’s a different type of picture of MIT’s dorm culture,” says Krasilnikova. “I absolutely love it, and it was so much fun to put together.”
In an article for The Boston Globe, Jeremy Eichler highlights MIT’s open house on Saturday April 23rd as part of his top picks for Boston-area classical music events. Eichler writes that, “researchers from the MIT Media Lab — incubator of operatic robots, city symphonies, and many other arts-related projects — will offer demos of their current research.”