Social sciences

New SHASS faculty members include: (top row, l-r) Martin Beraja, Dave Donaldson, and Amah Edoh; (middle row, l-r) E. J. Green, Simon Jäger, and Eric Klopfer; (bottom row, l-r) Justin Reich, Miriam Schoenfield, and Lisa Parks.

Nine new faculty join the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

The school welcomes a superb group of scholars.

September 25, 2017

2017 Phi Beta Kappa Society inductees (l-r) Abdullah Alsalloum, Rachel Osmundsen, and Nagisa Taxifar show off their certificates of membership.

High (achieving) society

The MIT chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society inducts 74 distinguished graduates of the Class of 2017.

September 15, 2017

Twenty high school girls from around the country participated in this year’s Women’s Technology Program (WTP), a four-week program that gives girls hands-on engineering experience in the lab and classroom. Pictured here, this summer’s WTP class takes a tour of the Pappalardo Lab.

Closing the gender gap in mechanical engineering

Women make up 49.5 percent of MIT’s undergraduates in mechanical engineering, due to department’s proactive approach, study finds.

July 31, 2017

“We find that patients who go to hospitals that rely more on skilled nursing facilities after discharge, as opposed to getting them healthy enough to return home, are substantially less likely to survive over the following year,” says Professor Joseph Doyle.

Hospitals that spend more on emergency care yield better outcomes

Study: Investing more in inpatient care relative to longer-term nursing facilities reduces mortality rates.

July 9, 2017

“We try to understand how the rules [for firms] should be written in a way that provides members incentives to do research and work hard, and doesn’t yield disproportionate power to an individual,” says economist Alessandro Bonatti.

Modeling innovation

Economist Alessandro Bonatti’s theoretical studies illuminate the behavior of firms and prices.

July 5, 2017

Baltimore, Maryland, is one of three local governments selected to work with J-PAL North America to evaluate solutions to homelessness, recidivism, and other policy challenges.

J-PAL North America partners with local governments to tackle homelessness and reduce incarceration

Selected cities and counties will receive funding and technical support from J-PAL to test innovative strategies in the fight against poverty.

June 30, 2017

“One of the most frequent questions that we get at J-PAL is a version of, ‘So a program worked in one place. Is it likely to work in my context?’” says Mary Ann Bates, the deputy executive director of J-PAL North America.

How J-PAL thinks globally and acts locally

Can an antipoverty program work in different settings? A new report presents a user’s guide to a tough issue.

June 28, 2017

A new study by an MIT-based team of economists has developed a novel way of evaluating Value-Added Models (VAMs), which assess teachers and schools.

Testing the metrics

MIT researchers refine yardstick for measuring schools and teachers.

June 14, 2017

2017 SHASS Infinite Mile Award recipients pose with Dean Melissa Nobles. Left to right: Daniel Irvine, Albert Wang, Luis "Cuco" Daglio, Melissa Nobles, Ana Ludwig, and Barbara Keller.

Melissa Nobles announces recipients of the 2017 SHASS Infinite Mile Awards

Awards presented to five exceptional staff members of the MIT community.

May 12, 2017

MIT researchers have found that Medicaid recipients are 20 percent more likely to wait more than 20 minutes to begin a scheduled appointment, compared to privately insured patients.

Testing their patients

Medicaid patients wait longer to see doctors, study finds.

May 1, 2017

Introducing acclaimed sociologist Arlie Hochschild to MIT, Catherine Gamon, director of the Sloan Student Life Office said, "Hochschild tries to scale an 'empathy wall' to understand her interviewees’ perspectives on the interplay of politics, business, and culture. To me this fits beautifully with MIT's desire to have an impact, and to bring heart into the equation — mind, hand, and heart."

In MIT visit, sociologist Arlie Hochschild discusses U.S. political divisions

At Mens et Manus America event, Hochschild recommends three pillars of action for finding common ground among U.S. voters.

April 10, 2017

MIT graduate programs earn top marks from US News

Graduate engineering and economics programs are No. 1 in the nation; MIT Sloan is No. 4.

March 14, 2017

$“We have a fractured society,” says MIT professor Peter Temin. “The middle class is vanishing.” His new book, “The Vanishing Middle Class: Prejudice and Power in a Dual Economy,” is being published this month by MIT Press.$

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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