Prof. Jeffrey A. Hoffman will be featured in the Boston Jewish Film Festival in a new documentary called “Space Torah,” reports WBUR writer Erin Trahan. The documentary includes some of Hoffman’s proudest moments as an astronaut, “a brief history of human space exploration [and] how Hoffman turned his intergalactic childhood wonder into a remarkable career,” writes Trahan.
New York Times Style Magazine reporter Zoë Lescaze explores the work of artist Agnieszka Kurant and her new installation at MIT. “Looping black lines composed of high-tech lights were designed to simulate the flow of ink scrawl across the facades of two new buildings, as though an invisible hand were repeatedly signing the walls,” writes Lescaze. “Kurant worked with computer scientists to create two collective signatures — one for the scientific and academic community at MIT and another for Cambridge residents.”
Boston Globe reporter Steve Annear spotlights research specialist Kathy Cormier’s dedication to tending a flower planter at the Collier Memorial. “Here’s something that’s empty that I can fill, and make myself feel better and make other people — hopefully — feel better,” says Cormier. MIT Chief of Police John DiFava says, “what she is doing is just so amazing. I just think it’s wonderful and it’s so illustrative of the way we have been treated here.”
The MIT List Visual Arts Center has reopened with three new exhibitions, reports Riana Buchman for The Boston Globe. The new installation includes “Andrew Norman Wilson’s two video pieces ‘Impersonator’ (2021) and ‘Kodak’ (2019); Sreshta Rit Premnath’s sculpture show ‘Grave/Grove’; and, in this era of stops and starts as we lurch from lockdown to reopening, the serendipitously named ‘Begin Again, Again,’ by the pioneering video artist Leslie Thornton.”
An MIT initiative called “Real Talk for Change” launched a new online portal of more than 200 audio stories collected from Boston residents as part of an effort to “help prompt future community dialogues about the lived experiences of everyday Bostonians, particularly those in marginalized communities,” reports Meghan E. Irons for The Boston Globe. “It’s about lifting up the experience as a fundamental piece of what we need to understand [people’s lives], to make better public policy decisions, and to think about who we want to be in leadership roles,’' says Prof. Ceasar McDowell.
Forbes contributor Jeff Kart spotlights the teams selected for MIT Solve’s Resilient Ecosystems Challenge, which is focused on how communities can sustainably protect, manage and restore their local ecosystems. “Ecosystems are a critical resource for communities in so many ways, and face their own pressures from both the climate crisis and development,” says Alexander Dale, the lead for sustainability and U.S. communities at MIT Solve. “Finding ways to strengthen ecosystems against these shocks and stresses while also helping local communities thrive is key for the long-term success of humanity.”
“Real Talk for Change,” a new civic engagement campaign launched by MIT researchers, aims to give voice to regular people across the City of Boston, especially those who feel ignored, reports Meghan E. Irons for The Boston Globe. “We see this as the first step to building what I like to call a new civic infrastructure,’’ says Professor of the practice of community development Ceasar McDowell. “We need new ways to do democracy in this country that are really about honoring the experiences that people have on the ground.”
Incoming Chancellor Melissa Nobles speaks with Tech reporter Srinidhi Narayanan about her academic trajectory, specific initiatives she is interested in pursuing as Chancellor and how she plans to incorporate student voice in decision-making. “In the Chancellor’s Office, we get to focus on the student experience inside and outside of the classroom, and we can help students grow into their whole selves here at MIT,” says Nobles.
Alyce Johnson, senior adviser to the Vice President for HR on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at MIT, speaks with Emer Moreau of University Times about MIT making Juneteenth a holiday. “For me, as an African American woman, seeing an organization that I’ve been with for 30 years, really shifting and growing and becoming much more inclusive – I’m very excited about [that],” says Johnson. “I do hope that it will spread along.”
Ahead of Juneteenth, Malia Lazu, a Lecturer in the Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management Group at Sloan, speaks with Jeneé Osterheldt of The Boston Globe about what Black freedom looks like. “For myself, Black liberation can be defined as the self determination of Black people,” says Lazu. “Liberation is a culmination of honoring the past, being healthy in the present and curious about the future.”
MIT has announced a new climate action plan aimed at helping the Institute tackle climate change, reports Kristina Chen for The Tech. The plan offers increased opportunities for student involvement and a new organizational structure. Maria Zuber, MIT’s vice president for research, explains that MIT feels “that it’s our responsibility and duty to try to make a genuine difference, and to do that, we’re going to need the help of everyone in the community.”
Boston Business Journal reporter Catherine Carlock spotlights how MIT has submitted plans for the second phase of the Volpe redevelopment in Kendall Square. “The second phase could house a combined 1,400 residential units; 1.7 million square feet of lab, research and office space; a 20,000-square-foot community center; 3.5 acres of open space and other retail, entertainment and cultural facilities,” writes Carlock.
Washington Post reporter Christopher Ingraham spotlights a study co-authored by research affiliate Christos Makridis that finds communities with higher levels of interconnectedness and communal trust experienced less severe Covid-19 outbreaks in 2020. Makridis and his co-authors found “when individuals have a greater concern for others, they are more willing to follow hygienic practices and social distancing.”
Boston Globe reporter Tim Logan writes about how MIT has submitted design plans for the next phase of its proposal to transform the Volpe Transportation Center into a dynamic mixed-use development, including “eight office and residential towers on the 14-acre site north of Broadway.”
In an article for the Cambridge Chronicle, Maya Johnson describes MIT’s efforts to mitigate Covid-19 transmission on campus. “Our main goal is to know where the virus is and make sure that we can prevent our community from getting the virus,” says Suzanne Blake, director of MIT Emergency Management. “Public health and safety is our number one priority for students.”