Electrical engineering and computer science (EECS)

New Scientist reporter Alex Wilkins spotlights how MIT researchers have created a “computer that can be stitched into clothes, made from chips that are connected in a thread of copper and elastic fiber.” U.S. Army and Navy members will  be testing the use of the fiber computer to help monitor health conditions and prevent injury during a monthlong mission to the Arctic. Prof. Yoel Fink explains: “We’re getting very close to a point where we could write apps for fabrics and begin to monitor our health and do all kinds of things that a phone, frankly, cannot do.” 

Research Assistants Maisy Lam and Laura Dodds speak with Tech Briefs reporter Andrew Corselli about their work developing MiFly, a new approach that “enables a drone to self-localize, or determine its position, in indoor, dark, and low-visibility environments.” Dodds explains: “Our high-level idea was we can place a millimeter wave sensor on the drone, and it can localize itself with respect to a sticker that we place on the wall, a millimeter wave tag. This would allow us to provide a localization system in these challenging environments with minimal infrastructure.”

Researchers at MIT have developed a new chip-based system capable of improving “how terahertz (THz) waves pass through silicon chips,” reports Rupendra Brahambhatt for Interesting Engineering. The researchers “applied a principle called matching, which involves reducing the difference between silicon (dielectric constant is 11) and air (dielectric constant is 1) so that more waves can travel through,” writes Brahambhatt. 

Varun Mohan '17, SM '17 and Douglas Chen '17 co-founded Codeium, an AI-powered coding startup designed to help users write code in a faster and more efficient manner, reports Marina Temkin for TechCrunch. “Codeium tries to distinguish itself from competitors by targeting companies rather than individual developers,” writes Temkin. 

Prof. Sarah Millholland, Prof. Christian Wolf, Prof. Emil Verner, Prof. Darcy McRose, Prof. Marzyeh Ghassemi, Prof. Mohsen Ghaffari and Prof. Ariel Furst have received the 2025 Sloan Research Fellowship for “being among the most promising scientific researchers currently working in their fields,” reports Michael T. Nietzel for Forbes. “Sloan Research Fellows are chosen in seven scientific and technical fields—chemistry, computer science, Earth system science, economics, mathematics, neuroscience, and physics,” explains Nietzel. 

Nature reporter Elizabeth Gibney spotlights QuEra, an MIT spinout that uses atoms and lasers to encode quantum bits or “qubits.” Gibney notes that in the QuEra system, “physicists trap an array of rubidium atoms using laser light and store quantum information in the energy levels of their electrons.”

MIT physicists have measured kinetic inductance for two layers of stacked and twisted graphene and found that the superconducting current is much “stiffer,” meaning it resists change more than predicted by any conventional theory of superconductivity, reports Karmela Padavic-Callaghan for New Scientist. The findings could do more than “shed light on why graphene superconducts – they could also reveal key properties required for room-temperature superconductors.”

In this interview (in Spanish), graduate students Suhan Kim and Yi-Hsuan (Nemo) Hsiao speak with Telemundo correspondent Miriam Arias about their work developing insect-sized robots to assist with agricultural needs. “There might be one year where you have a lot of bees in the field that help you pollinate everything. Maybe the next year, it might be affected by the temperature or something [and] you just don’t have enough bees to help you do so,” explains Hsiao. 

Graduate students Suhan Kim and Yi-Hsuan (Nemo) Hsiao speak with Tech Briefs reporter Andrew Corselli about their work developing insect-sized robots capable of artificial pollination. “Typical drones use electromagnetic motors plus propellers. But, our system is a little different in that we are primarily using an artificial muscle,” explains Kim. 

Shiv Bhakta MBA '24, SM '24 and Richard Swartwout SM '18, PhD '21 co-founded Active Surfaces, a solar tech company that has developed “a new kind of solar collector so thin and flexible it can be attached to anything under the sun,” reports Hiawatha Bray for The Boston Globe. “The company prints solar cells onto a plastic sheet, using methods not too different from those used to print newspapers,” explains Bray. “The resulting cells can generate electric power nearly as efficiently as today’s heavy, thick silicon panels.” 

Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have develop insect-sized robots that could one day be used to help with farming practices like artificial pollination, reports Alice Rizzo for Reuters. "These type of robots will open up a very new type of use case," says graduate student Suhan Kim. "We can start thinking of using our robot, if it works well, for tools like indoor farming."

Drew Houston '06, founder and CEO of Dropbox, speaks with NBC Boston reporter Ashton Jackson about his work creating and developing the cloud storage platform. "I started Dropbox more out of just personal frustration," says Houston. "It really felt like something only I was super interested in as far as file syncing, and focusing on one customer, which was myself." 

Researchers at MIT have developed an insect-like, flying robot capable of performing acrobatic maneuvers and hovering in the air for up to 15 minutes without failing, reports Alex Wilkins for New Scientist. “By having a hugely increased [flying] lifetime, we were able to work on the controller parts so that the robot can achieve precise trajectory tracking, plus aggressive maneuvers like somersaults,” says graduate student Suhan Kim. 

MIT engineers have developed “two new control techniques that have enabled them to achieve a world-record single-qubit fidelity of 99.998 percent using a superconducting qubit called fluxonium,” reports Aman Tripathi for Interesting Engineering. “This breakthrough marks a significant step towards the realization of practical quantum computing,” Tripathi notes. 

Stever Robbins '86 shares his tips for organizing college application essays with Forbes contributor Dr. Marlena Corcoran. “There are two main ways that you would want to find the essays that you write,” says Robbins. “One is you're going to want to find the essay that you wrote for a particular school. The other way is you're going to want to find an essay you wrote on a particular topic.”