IDSS

"My own work has drawn heavily on a number of normally distant disciplines," says Richard Nielsen, MIT assistant professor of political science. "I’m convinced that ... despite the tendency for scholars to remain in our own disciplinary silos, the big breakthroughs on complex issues will come at the intersections of fields, from researchers and teams that are willing to bridge disciplinary divid...

3 Questions with Richard Nielsen: How political science helps combat terrorism

Assistant Professor Richard Nielsen explores why some Muslim clerics adopt the ideology of militant jihad while most do not.

February 3, 2017

“There’s no question that carbon dioxide is the biggest contributor to human-caused climate change, so that’s the big focus of mitigation efforts. But there are a number of others that are also significant,” says Jessika Trancik, the Atlantic Richfield Career Development Associate Professor in Energy Studies at MIT’s Institute for Data, Systems, and Society.

Explained: Greenhouse gases

Carbon dioxide isn’t the only one that matters, and the gases vary widely in potency and duration.

January 30, 2017

An MIT-led study finds that technological advances alone will not bring about dematerialization, or the reduction of the amount of materials needed to produce goods and services.

Study: Technological progress alone won’t stem resource use

Researchers find no evidence of an overall reduction in the world’s consumption of materials.

January 19, 2017

“Compared to the developed world, the state of transportation systems in China is less well-understood, and because it’s such a large, populous country, unrestricted or poorly guided growth could lead to significant negative consequences for the environment and climate,” says Paul Kishimoto, a recent recipient of a fellowship from the Martin Family Society of Graduate Fellowships in Sustaina...

Rethinking how we get around

Paul Kishimoto, a PhD student in IDSS, probes the future of transportation in China.

January 4, 2017

A new study estimates that, since 2008, access to mobile-money services — which allow users to store and exchange monetary values via mobile phone — increased daily per capita consumption levels of 194,000, or roughly 2 percent, of Kenyan households, lifting them out of extreme poverty (living on less than $1.25 per day).

Study: Mobile-money services lift Kenyans out of poverty

Greater access to services raises daily spending, especially among female-headed households.

December 8, 2016

Left to right: Robert Stoner, deputy director of the MIT Energy Initiative and director of the Tata Center for Technology and Design; Maria Zuber, MIT vice president for research; Joi Ito, director of the MIT Media Lab; and John Fernandez, professor of architecture and director of MIT's Environmental Solutions Initiative.

Forging ahead on climate action

At UN Climate Change Conference, MIT researchers share insights on implementing climate commitments.

November 22, 2016

Seeking to inform India’s climate policy choices

Tata Center graduate fellow Arun Singh shares energy-economic modeling research at UN Climate Change Conference.

November 16, 2016

Ali Jadbabaie is the JR East Professor of Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the associate director of the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS), and the director of one of its parts, the Sociotechnical Systems Research Center. “Our focus is on addressing large societal problems, whether they be power systems and energy systems, or social networks, or...

Tackling society’s big problems with systems theory

Ali Jadbabaie seeks to optimize large-scale systems, from social networks to teams of people or devices.

November 14, 2016

Glen Merfeld, product science leader at GE Global Research, points to almost 40,000 wind turbines installed globally during the 2016 Materials Day Symposium at MIT.

Battery challenges: cost and performance

Industry speakers and MIT faculty offer solutions to problems ranging from small portable devices to large fixed installations.

November 2, 2016

First row (left to right): Matteo Bucci, Tal Cohen, and Ali Jadbabaie. Second row (left to right): Zachary P. Smith, Stefanie Mueller, Adam Belay, David Sontag, and Virginia Vassilevska Williams. Third row (left to right): Max Shulaker, Jennifer Rupp, Ryan Williams, Carmen Guerra-Garcia, and Zachary Hartwig

New engineering faculty for 2016-2017

The School of Engineering welcomes 13 new professors.

October 27, 2016

Why have solar energy costs fallen?

MIT team awarded U.S. Department of Energy grant to investigate cost reductions in solar energy systems.

October 26, 2016

Asu Ozdaglar, the Joseph F. and Nancy P. Keithley Professor of Electrical Engineering

Asu Ozdaglar named associate department head of EECS

Expert in optimization theory to join the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science leadership.

October 25, 2016

Fotini Christia (left), associate professor of political science; and Ali Jadbabaie, the JR East Professor of Engineering.

3Q: Fotini Christia and Ali Jadbabaie on researching the dynamics of sociopolitcal change

MIT faculty discuss how a multidisciplinary, multi-university collaboration helps us understand the mechanics of social and political change.

October 14, 2016

Geoffrey Supran PhD ’16 says “there are a lot of myths floating around about hybrid and electric cars,” for example concerning the manufacture of those vehicles, or their reliance on conventional electricity sources. This often leads people to claim that “they’re no better than your average gasoline vehicle. Our study shows that’s just not true.”

Study: Low-emissions vehicles are less expensive overall

Detailed look at 125 U.S. auto models finds those emitting less carbon are the least expensive to drive.

September 27, 2016

President L. Rafael Reif speaks at the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS) showcase. In his remarks, Reif noted that IDSS is “a unit that can magnify individual talents through collaborations, a unit that aspires to generate groundbreaking ways to understand society’s most difficult problems and lead us to badly-needed solutions.”

How data can help change the world

At IDSS celebration, speakers explore how data can be brought to bear on global challenges.

September 26, 2016

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