Graduate students Martin Nisser and Marisa Gaetz co-founded Brave Behind Bars, a program designed to provide incarcerated individuals with coding and digital literacy skills to better prepare them for life after prison, reports Morgan Radford for MSNBC. Computers and coding skills “are really kind of paramount for fostering success in the modern workplace,” says Nisser.
The Boston Globe Editorial Board spotlights The Educational Justice Institute at MIT (TEJI), which offers educational opportunities to incarcerated individuals. “The two worlds of corrections and education really don’t understand each other well,” says Lee Perlman, co-director of TEJI and a lecturer at MIT. “There’s a real culture clash between them.”
Prof. Gilbert Strang received a standing ovation after delivering his last lecture after over 60 years of teaching at MIT, reports Saleen Martin for USA Today. “Teaching has been a wonderful life,” wrote Strang in the comments section of his last lecture on YouTube. “I am so grateful to everyone who likes linear algebra and sees its importance. So many universities (and even high schools) now appreciate how beautiful it is and how valuable it is. That movement will continue because it is right.”
Boston.com reporter Eli Curwin spotlights how after 63 years of teaching and over 10 million views of his online lectures, MIT Prof. Gilbert Strang received a standing ovation after delivering his last lecture. Prof. Michel X. Goemans, head of the Department of Mathematics, notes that Strang “has had a tremendous impact on the teaching of mathematics to tens of thousands of students at MIT through his lectures, to countless of students at other academic institutions through his textbooks, and to millions of people all over the globe.”
Prof. Anna Stansbury and her colleagues have found that economics PhD recipients are more likely to have a parent with a graduate degree, reports Andrew Van Dam for The Washington Post. “This study is one of the first to describe academia’s struggles with economic diversity, but its racial diversity issues have been well documented,” explains Van Dam. “They’re particularly pronounced in economics, which has fewer underrepresented minorities among its PhD graduates (about 6 percent) than any other major field.”
Prof. Cynthia Breazeal, the MIT dean of digital learning, speaks with Education Week reporter Alyson Klein about the importance of ensuring K-12 students are AI literate. “The AI genie is out of the bottle,” says Breazeal. “It’s not just in the realm of computer science and coding. It is affecting all aspects of society. It’s the machine under everything. It’s critical for all students to have AI literacy if they are going to be using computers, or really, almost any type of technology.”
According to the US Department of Education, MIT is among the least expensive American universities for undergraduate students receiving federal financial aid, reports Justin Fox for Bloomberg.
Forbes reporter Matt Symonds spotlights Prof. Sanjay Sarma’s professional and academic career as he prepares to begin his role as President, CEO and Dean of Asia School of Business. At MIT, Sarma “conceived and then led the launch of the MicroMasters, a new type of credential that allows working professionals to pursue master’s-level courses online,” writes Symonds.
Inside Higher Ed reporter Susan Greenberg highlights how MIT is participating in the Small Town and Rural Students (STARS) College Network, which “aims to build new pathways to college for students who might not otherwise recognize all their options.”
Senior lecturer Jason Jay speaks with Financial Times reporter Sarah Murray about the positive impact of online sustainability courses. “What it means to put a tax on carbon feels very different for wealthy communities in Northern Europe than it does for people in India,” says Jay. “A global community of learners can challenge things and bring in their own perspectives.”
Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Dean Daniel Huttenlocher, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt explore how generative artificial intelligence “presents a philosophical and practical challenge on a scale not experienced since the beginning of the Enlightenment.” Huttenlocher, Kissinger and Schmidt make the case that “parameters for AI’s responsible use need to be established, with variation based on the type of technology and the context of deployment.”
MIT has been named one of the best U.S. universities for physical science degrees, according to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023. Times Higher Education highlights how MIT students in physics “take a range of core classes such as classical mechanics and quantum mechanics.”
Prof. Cynthia Breazeal discusses her work exploring how artificial intelligence can help students impacted by Covid, including refugees or children with disabilities, reports Ryan Heath for Politico. “We want to be super clear on what the role is of the robot versus the community, of which this robot is a part of. That's part of the ethical design thinking,” says Breazeal. “We don't want to have the robot overstep its responsibilities. All of our data that we collect is protected and encrypted.”
Prof. Joshua Angrist speaks with CNBC about how his research on schooling and education has helped shaped government policy. “We don’t make specific policy recommendations, but we do encourage policy makers to look at the evidence,” says Angrist. “Whenever there is something on the public docket that is related to education policy, we always encourage both voters and politicians to look at the evidence.”
Alumna Anurupa Ganguly SB ’07, MNG ’09 speaks with Forbes contributor Rod Berger about Prisms of Reality, a virtual reality platform she founded that provides math learning through movement, experience and discovery. “We envision a dramatic re-engagement of our students with their education,” says Ganguly. “Our students, many for the first time, will find a profound sense of purpose in their math learning and their lives.”