Wall Street Journal Jason Gay spotlights a new study co-authored by Senior Lecturer Richard Price that explores the physics behind the spiraling flight of a thrown football. “Physicists get interested in stuff that bores other people,” Price explains. “When you combine torque with the gyroscopic effect of the angular momentum, the two work together, so that in an average sense, the spin axis is very close to tangent to the path.”
Graduate student John Urschel speaks with Jamison Hensley of ESPN about his efforts aimed at empowering and encouraging more Black students to pursue careers in STEM fields. “Now more than ever, it’s really important that we highlight some of the diverse areas of mathematics that don’t typically get seen every day,” says Urschel.
Sonia Raman, the MIT women’s basketball coach, has been hired as the new assistant coach for the Memphis Grizzlies, reports Evan Barnes for USA Today. “I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to be part of the Memphis Grizzlies coaching staff. I can’t wait to get to Memphis and get started with Taylor, his staff and the team’s emerging young core,” said Raman. “I must also give a truly special thank you to MIT and the women I’ve had the honor of coaching for the past 12 years.”
Esteban Bustillos of WGBH’s On Campus highlights the work of MIT Director of Athletics Julie Soreiro ahead of her retirement at the end of the fall semester. “Soriero's biggest contribution may be making the school’s athletic mission an extension of its academic one,” says Bustillos. “It’s best summed up in a phrase that’s become something of a mantra for her: ‘We will not apologize for winning.’”
MIT alumna Payal Kadakia speaks with New York Times reporter David Gelles about her startup ClassPass, a platform that allows users to access a myriad of fitness classes. Kadakia explains that she was inspired to attend MIT, as “the curriculum is so mathematical. Everything is numbers. It was this idea of this world that I lived in.”
A new book by graduate student John Urschel chronicles his decision to retire from the NFL and pursue his passion for mathematics at MIT, reports the Associated Press. Urschel explains that through his book, he “wanted to share my love of math and also perhaps train certain peoples’ thinking about math and show them some of the beauty, elegance and importance of mathematics.”
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.
Writing for The New York Times, graduate student John Urschel recounts how his high school football coaches motivated him, noting that similar tactics might encourage more children to study math. “There are many ways to be an effective teacher, just as there are many ways to be an effective coach,” writes Urschel. “But all good teachers, like good coaches, communicate that they care about your goals.”
Graduate student John Urschel speaks with Karen Given of WBUR’s Only a Game about how his mother helped encourage his passion for mathematics. "Most kids get their allowance by, you know, mowing the lawn — things like this," Urschel says. "My mom, because she recognized that I was strong in math, wanted to encourage me with respect to math."
TIME reporter Sean Gregory visits MIT to speak with graduate student John Urschel about his new book, and his passion for both mathematics and football. “The United States, more than any other culture, has the strange marriage of athletics and academics,” Urschel says. “I thought it was important to show that this is something that really can co-exist.”
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.
Graduate student John Urschel discusses his new book and passion for both math and football on Fox and Friends. “Football coaches, they tell their best players to dream big,” says Urschel. “I would love to see math teachers telling their students you can be an elite mathematician, you can be a top physicist, you can even dream to be the next Einstein.”
Graduate student John Urschel visits the Today Show to discuss his new book and what inspired him to pursue a PhD in mathematics. Urschel explains that his mother tried to ensure that “whatever I wanted to be the only thing that would limit me was a lack of talent, bad luck, lack of hard work, but it wasn’t going to be the household I was born into or a lack of resources.”
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.”