Boston Business Journal reporter Hilary Burns spotlights the diligent preparation that goes into the reading of graduates’ names and ensuring that MIT’s Commencement ceremony runs smoothly. “We practice. It can be too slow or too fast,” explains Sarah Gallop, one of eight readers. “There is a magic sweet spot in the pace.”
The MIT Chorallaries, a co-ed a cappella group at MIT, compete in WGBH’s Sing That Thing! competition. “I have always been really interested in music, but also really enjoyed doing math and science in school,” explains third-year student Madeline Wong. “I feel like they are both integral parts of my life and I couldn’t have one without the other.”
Yorai Shaoul, a second-year student at MIT, won the men’s triple jump at the NCAA Division 3 Outdoor Track & Field Championships, helping the Engineers secure a second-place finish, reports The Boston Globe.
Graduate student John Urschel appears on Good Morning America to discuss his new book chronicling his career and passion for football and math. “Math is something that I have loved ever since I was very little,” explains Urschel. “I love puzzles, I love problem solving. Math, truly, is just a set of tools to try to solve problems in this world.
In an article for The Boston Globe Magazine, Neil Swidey highlights MIT as a model of “what an athletics-affirming but recruitment-light culture might look like.” “Despite refusing to put a thumb on the scale for athlete applications, MIT has produced a successful sports program that enhances, rather than detracts from, its academic reputation,” explains Swidey.
Boston Globe reporter Ben Volin speaks with graduate student John Urschel about his new book “Mind and Matter: A Life in Math and Football.” “I love solving sort of interesting and tough problems that have to do with our world in some way,” says Urschel of his dreams for after he graduates from MIT. “And I also love teaching.”
CNBC reporter Abigail Hess spotlights how MIT “is one of just a few schools in the country to be considered full-need and need-blind, meaning the school does not consider financial status during acceptance decisions and claims to meet all demonstrated financial need.”
Members of the MIT Spokes team speak with NBC Boston reporter Michael Page about their quest to ride their bicycles across the country this summer, hosting STEM workshops for students along the way. Undergraduate Leah Yost explains that the hands-on workshops provide students with a sense of “what a future in STEM might look like.”
WBUR reporter Pamela Reynolds highlights graduate student Joy Buolamwini’s piece, “The Coded Gaze,” which is currently on display as part of the “Avatars//Futures” exhibit at the Nave Gallery. Reynolds writes that Buolamwini’s piece “questions the inherent bias of coding in artificial intelligence, which has resulted in facial recognition technology unable to recognize black faces.”
WBZ-TV’s Anna Meiler spotlights undergraduate Riley Quinn, who is running the Boston Marathon to raise funds for an organization that provides custom prosthetic devices for amputees. “Knowing I’m raising money for a cause that matters so much to me and will impact the lives of others,” says Quinn, “it’s that extra push where it makes me try a little harder.”
WGBH’s Aaron Schachter explores the new MIT Schwarzman College of Computing with graduate student Marc Aidinoff, a member of the Social Implications and Responsibilities of Computing Working Group. “Our hope,” says Aidinoff, “is that we are able to integrate this into the DNA of the college in a deep and robust way.”
Students from MIT and the University of Michigan will install solar panels for families in Long Beach, California over spring break, reports Marcela Valdivia for NBC 4. “Students will install solar panels for a two-day period for one family and spend the other days spreading awareness about renewable energy in the community,” Valdivia explains.
Boston Globe reporter Janelle Nanos writes about Radian Jeans, an MIT startup developing women’s jeans with functional pockets. Nanos explains that the company was inspired by Wardah Inam’s experience as a graduate student at MIT when “she grew annoyed that she couldn’t easily transport her phone, wallet, keys, and ID between her lab and office.”
Graduate students Stephanie Lee and Ellen Shakespear speak with WBUR’s Hadley Green about Spaceus, a collaborative work and exhibition space they created for artists in the greater Boston area. Lee explains that Spaceus is committed to nurturing artists in the “heart of cities, because local creativity is what makes a place, gives it identity and meaning.”
WCVB-TV’s Mike Wankum visits the Edgerton Center’s Area 51 machine shop to see how MIT students are developing cutting-edge technologies such as solar-powered vehicles, electric racing cars and other innovative devices in a space that Wankum calls “classic MIT.” “It’s really cool,” says third-year student Serena Grown-Haeberl. “You get to see those math equations really come to life.”