School of Engineering

Prof. Linda Griffith speaks with Nature reporter Cassandra Willyard about her work developing lab-made organoids to help study the root causes of endometriosis. Griffith has been working to develop “a model of abnormal endometrial tissue that the researchers can use to test therapies for the condition,” writes Willyard. “Because blood vessels are crucial to maintaining this tissue, Griffith knew she wanted to include them. To do this, she and her colleagues placed the organoid on a microfluidic chip surrounded by cells that form blood vessels.” 

Prof. Xuanhe Zhao and his research group have been named one of the winners of the 2025 Gizmodo Science Fair for their work “creating an atmospheric water harvesting device that could improve access to potable water in the most remote, arid regions of the world,” reports Ellyn Lapointe for Gizmodo. “We are truly proud and excited about this work—and about the potential to help people most in need of safe drinking water,” Zhao said.

Financial Times reporter Melissa Heikkilä spotlights how MIT researchers have uncovered evidence that increased use of AI tools by medical professionals risks “leading to worse health outcomes for women and ethnic minorities.” One study found that numerous AI models “recommended a much lower level of care for female patients,” writes Heikkilä. “A separate study by the MIT team showed that OpenAI’s GPT-4 and other models also displayed answers that had less compassion towards Black and Asian people seeking support for mental health problems.” 

Forbes reporter Geri Stengel spotlights Black Opal Ventures, a women-led venture capital investment firm, founded by Tara Bishop '97 and Eileen Tanghal '97. “Whenever you see venture capital and tech, there are very few women,” says Tanghal. “It’s been my passion to bring more women into the venture capital ecosystem.”

Dishita Turakhia SM '17, SMArchS '17, PhD '24 speaks with Huffpost reporter Brittany Wong to explore how people are using AI technologies. “Early adopters may help expand the creative boundaries of these technologies, but those who enter later, sometimes with more caution, often bring a critical lens that leads to more sustainable applications,” says Turakhia. 

Edwin Chen '08 speaks with Forbes reporter Pheobe Liu about his journey to founding Surge AI, a startup that “helps tech companies get the high-quality data they need to improve their AI models.” 

Boon Uranukul PhD '19 co-founded Terra Oleo, a startup working to “develop microbes that can transform agricultural waste into a variety of oils,” reports Tim De Chant for TechCrunch. “The company selected three yeast species based on the microbes’ abilities to produce certain oils when fed with organic waste, including from agriculture and biodiesel production,” explains de Chant. “It then used genetic and metabolic engineering to boost and tune their ability to produce certain fats and triglycerides.” 

Prof. Anant Agarwal speaks with Fortune reporter Nino Paoli about the benefits of a four-year college degree. “In this environment, learning deeply and building real expertise is more important than ever because the AI roles and applications are in the context of these other fields,” says Agarwal. “Degrees also future-proof your career by preparing you for the next big technology, whatever it might be.”

WBZ NewsRadio reporter Emma Friedman visits the MIT AgeLab to get a firsthand look at the body suit AgeLab researchers developed to replicate what aging feels like. The Age Gain Now Empathy System or AGNES suit “mimics the visual capability, motor ability, and strength of people in their 70s and 80s,” Friedman explains. Graduate student Sophia Ashebir notes that “essentially what AGNES is, is a series of equipment that you can put on to gain empathy for and experience what an older version of yourself might be like.” 

Boston Globe reporter Jon Chesto spotlights the kickoff event for the new MIT-GE Vernova Energy and Climate Alliance, which will “fund research initiatives, fellowships, and other programs with an eye toward improving energy technologies and decarbonization.” GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik emphasized that he has been impressed with the passion and talent for clean-tech among the students at MIT and other universities. “I started these discussions with the objective that we should inspire future leaders to come into our industry and ideally come to our company,” Strazik said. “They’ve probably inspired us more than we’ve inspired them.”

Prof. Regina Barzilay speaks with Newsweek reporter Katherine Fung about the how hospitals around the world around increasingly adopting new technologies. “Countries with a centralized healthcare system, or centralized healthcare records, can do a much better job because they have so much data and so much ability to monitor what AI tools are doing," says Barzilay. 

Forbes reporter Martina Castellanos spotlights Edwin Chen '08, founder of Surge AI, as one of the 10 youngest billionaires on the 2025 Forbes 400 list. After working in machine learning, Chen saw “the lack of quality training data for AI,” and “launched Surge AI in 2020 to fix the problem,” writes Castellanos. 

Researchers at MIT have developed a new self-assembling battery material that could help combat growing concerns about EV battery waste, reports Grace Snelling for Fast Company. The new method “makes it much easier to separate [battery] component parts, leaving them ready for recycling,” writes Snelling. 

To get a better sense of the physical and cognitive experience of aging, Wall Street Journal reporter Amy Dockser Marcus donned the MIT AgeLab’s age-simulation suit, called the “Age Gain Now Empathy System” or Agnes for short, and embarked on a number of activities, including shopping at the grocery store, riding the subway, crossing a busy street, and cooking a meal. Dockser Marcus notes that research at the MIT AgeLab is focused on “finding ways to improve life for the elderly,” and noted that the Agnes suit provided a “greater insight into what it is really like to age—and what I could do to prepare.”

Prof. Andrew Lo speaks with Wall Street Journal reporter Cheryl Winokur Munk about how AI tools could be used to help people with financial planning. Winokur Munk writes that Lo recommends providing “just enough information to get relevant answers. And leave out highly personal details like your name, address, salary, employer or specific assets…as such details put people at risk should the AI be compromised.” Lo also advises “trying several AI platforms,” writes Winokur Munk. And “the advice should be run by a professional, trusted family or friends. Be a bit skeptical and double-check with humans.”