Special events and guest speakers

Reverend Kirstin Boswell-Ford, chaplain to the Institute, delivering the Invocation at the 2018 Commencement ceremony on June 8.

3Q: Reverend Kirstin Boswell-Ford on religion, ethics, and the role of the chaplain at MIT

Chaplains “are here to help guide the MIT community toward being more inclusive, more caring, more supportive, and more ethically minded,” Boswell-Ford says.

September 24, 2018

3 Questions: Richard Lester on the MIT China Summit

Conference will explore possibilities for MIT-China collaboration in applying science and technology to help solve great global challenges.

September 18, 2018

Sheila Widnall, MIT Institute Professor and former secretary of the U.S. Air Force

3Q: Sheila Widnall on sexual harassment in STEM

National Academies report cites need for strong leadership and cultural change; will be focus of upcoming MIT panel discussion.

September 17, 2018

Chancellor Cynthia Barnhart (right) poses with Paint Nite organizers Shaiyan Keshvari (left) and Xueying Zhao.

MindHandHeart plus art at Paint Nite

Social event gives graduate students an opportunity to paint, unwind, and mingle.

August 29, 2018

The Class of 2022, their families, and friends gathered on Kresge Oval August 27 for the President’s Convocation.

“At MIT I found my home!”

President L. Rafael Reif welcomes the Class of 2022 to campus at annual Convocation.

August 28, 2018

"Rising inequality is highly correlated to unequal access to education," Piketty said in an address at MIT. "In the United States, 95 percent of those with parents at the highest income levels attend college, while only about 20 percent of the poorest do, research shows."

At MIT, Thomas Piketty calls for policies and collaborations to reduce income inequality

French economist was a keynote speaker at the 2018 World Economic History Congress.

August 9, 2018

Joan Ilacqua (left), co-chair of the board of directors for The History Project, leads a group of MIT students through the LGBTQ history of Boston.

PKG Summer Series: Documenting, preserving, and sharing Boston’s LGBTQ history

Through the PKG Summer Series, students follow the trail of the first-ever Boston Pride parade and view archives of early LGBTQ activism in Boston.

August 3, 2018

MIT professor of electrical engineering and computer science Dina Katabi (far left) gives a tour of her lab to A.R. Rahman (center) and Anantha Chandrakasan (right), dean of the School of Engineering.

Music as a gateway to shared humanity

Iconic composer A. R. Rahman visits MIT campus to learn more about new technologies.

August 2, 2018

MIT historian Anne McCants, vice president of the International Economic History Association (IEHA), says that research presented at the 2018 World Economic History Congress speaks "directly to the questions the whole world is asking at this moment."

Q&A: Anne McCants on "Waves of Globalization," the 2018 World Economic History Congress at MIT

Congress of leading thinkers in economic, business, and social history convenes in the US for first time in 50 years.

July 30, 2018

An MIT report finds that pre-crisis supply chain mapping and post-crisis visibility may enable better management of resources when hurricanes hit. Seen here is Hurricane Katrina from 2005.

How to improve critical hurricane-related supply chains

MIT Humanitarian Supply Chain Lab reports on supply chains in effect after hurricanes hit, and how they might be better managed.

July 26, 2018

Lydia Villa-Komaroff (center) joins four MIT Summer Research Program students at the Building 68 retreat.

Fighting implicit bias in STEM with increased cognitive control

In a visit with the Department of Biology, Lydia Villa-Komaroff PhD '75 explains how “thinking fast makes changing slow.”

June 25, 2018

Professor Oral Buyukozturk (right) accepts the George W. Housner Medal for Structural Control and Monitoring from ASCE EMI President George Deodatis.

Oral Buyukozturk receives George W. Housner Medal for Structural Control and Monitoring

Prestigious award recognizes contributions to sustainable infrastructure.

June 19, 2018

Prime Minister of Portugal António Costa gave a speech to a full house in the Kirsch Auditorium at the Stata Center, which included many students in the MIT Portugal Program.

Prime Minister António Costa of Portugal champions innovation in MIT talk

Visit follows renewal of popular MIT Portugal Program.

June 11, 2018

Addressing the class of 2018 in MIT’s Commencement address on June 8, Facebook COO and bestselling author Sheryl Sandberg said, “the most difficult problems and the greatest opportunities are not technical, they are human.”

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg tells MIT grads “it’s about people”

Commencement speaker says the greatest opportunities are for humans, not technology.

June 8, 2018

MIT President L. Rafael Reif delivers his charge to the Class of 2018.

President L. Rafael Reif's charge to the Class of 2018

Reif urges graduates to “find your calling. Solve the unsolvable. Invent the future. Take the high road.”