Electrical engineering and computer science (EECS)

American Kahan spotlights Prof. Anantha Chandrakasan, MIT’s chief innovation and strategy office and dean of MIT’s School of Engineering, who was recently named the Institute’s new provost. “As Chandrakasan prepares to guide MIT through this evolving landscape, he remains grounded in the principles that have shaped his career: excellence, innovation, and collaboration,” writes American Kahan. 

Prof. Daniela Rus, director of CSAIL, speaks with Newsweek reporter Marni Rose McFall about the impact of AI on entry level jobs. “We need a strong pipeline of talent that starts with entry-level roles, internships, and hands-on learning opportunities," says Rus. "These early experiences remain essential stepping stones, helping people build technical confidence, domain fluency, and problem-solving skills. And soon, the skills companies will be looking for in entry-level workers is how well they can make the most of AI tools."

The Press Trust of India spotlights how Anantha Chandrakasan, dean of the MIT School of Engineering and MIT’s chief innovation and strategy officer, has been named the Institute’s new provost. In announcing Chandrakasan’s new role, President Sally Kornbluth noted that he “brings to this post an exceptional record of shaping and leading important innovations for the Institute.” 

Prof. Anantha Chandrakasan, MIT’s chief innovation and strategy officer and dean of MIT’s School of Engineering, has been named the Institute’s new provost, reports The Hindu. “As MIT’s chief academic officer, Prof. Chandrakasan will focus on three overarching priorities: understanding institutional needs and strategic financial planning, attracting and retaining top talent, and supporting cross-cutting research, education, and entrepreneurship programming.”

Katie Rae, Engine CEO and managing partner, Smyon Dukach SM '92 and Brian Halligan MBA '05 have been named to the 2025 Boston Globe list of Tech Power Players in the venture capital sector, reports Aaron Pressman for The Boston Globe. 

Aman Narang '04, Meng '06, co-founder of Toast, has been named one of the 2025 Boston Globe Tech Power Players for his work in the software and cloud sector, reports Aiden Ryan for The Boston Globe. 

Prof. Dirk Englund, co-founder of QuEra, has been named one of the 2025 Boston Globe Tech Power Players for his work focused on quantum computing sector, reports Aaron Pressman for The Boston Globe. Pressman notes that at QuEra, “researchers are working to advance quantum computing from the theoretical to the practical.”

Sloan lecturer Mikey Shulman, Colin Angle '89, SM '90, Tye Brady SM '99, Laira Major SM '05, Dharmesh Shah SM '06 have been named to the 2025 Boston Globe Tech Power Players list for their work in the applied AI sector, reports Hiawatha Bray for The Boston Globe. 

Boston Globe reporter Emily Spatz spotlights how a number of key technologies – including the internet and the first widely used electronic navigation system – were developed by MIT researchers with the support of federal funding. The development of the internet has “MIT’s fingerprints all over it,” Prof. John Guttag emphasizes. Prof. David Mindell explains: “Federal funding for these ecosystems has been enormously important over a long time period.” Mindell adds that GPS alone probably “generated more economic value” over a 40-year period than the budgets of the government agencies that helped launch the navigational system.

Prof. Daniela Rus, director of CSAIL, and research affiliate Ramin Hasani have been named to The Boston Globe’s 2025 list of Tech Power Players working in the foundational AI sector, reports Aaron Pressman for The Boston Globe. Rus and Hasani are co-founders of Liquid AI, a startup that has developed “an AI technique with fewer software ‘neurons’ than large language models of OpenAI and others,” explains Pressman. This means “Liquid AI requires less computing power (and electricity.)” 

MIT researchers have developed Boltz-2, an AI algorithm “that unites protein folding and prediction of small-molecule binding affinity in one package,” reports Laura Howes for Chemical & Engineering News. “The researchers say their new AI model approaches the level of accuracy achieved by traditional computational chemistry—such as methods involving free-energy perturbation calculations—but much more quickly and cheaply,” explains Howes. 

Researchers at MIT and elsewhere have developed Boltz-2, an open-source generative AI model that can help researchers find new medicines faster, reports Alex Knapp for Forbes. The tool “can not only predict the structure of proteins, it can also predict its binding affinity–that is, how well a potential drug is able to interact with that protein,” explains Knapp. “This is crucial in the early stages of developing a new medicine.” 

Wall Street Journal reporter Angelina Torre spotlights “Letterlocking: The Hidden History of the Letter,” a new book by MIT Libraries Conservator Jana Dambrogio and King’s College London Senior Lecturer Daniel Smith that explores the history and art of “folding a letter so it serves as its own envelope.” The book “calls on scholars to ‘read the folds’ of written correspondence – to peer into the historical, social or personal circumstances that might not be explicitly stated,” explains Torre. 

Writing for The Boston Globe, graduate students Manuj Dhariwal SM '17 and Shruti Dhariwal SM '18 highlight new efforts to reframe the language used to describe the ways humans are interacting with AI technologies. “It is a subtle reframing, but one that we urgently need as AI systems become interwoven with our creative, social, and emotional worlds,” they write. “The point is not necessarily to choose one over the other — but to clearly distinguish one from the other.” 

Prof. Daniela Rus, director of CSAIL, speaks with Financial Times reporter Michael Peel about ongoing efforts to balance autonomous vehicles’ “efficient operation with the need for them to minimize damage in collisions.” Rus notes that a new framework offers a “potential path towards AVs that can navigate complex, multi-agent scenarios with an awareness of differing levels of vulnerability among road users,” says Rus.