MIT’s Hayden Library held an event celebrating the 25th anniversary of Wikipedia, reports Dana Gerber for The Boston Globe. “It’s fun and it’s funny, and it often chronicles the totally ridiculous corners of the world, but we also take it super seriously,” says MIT librarian Pheobe Ayers. “I hope people realize that Wikipedia is imperfect. It's always in progress. It’s not finished. But we’re trying really hard to make it good.”
Boston Globe reporter James Sullivan spotlights the annual MIT Mystery Hunt, “a weekend-long gaming tournament” dating back to 1981. “Created as a humble pastime for like-minded problem solvers, the hunt has grown into a multi-layered, internationally renowned competition, spawning dozens of imitators around the globe,” writes Sullivan.
MIT has been named the top college in the country in the latest Best Salaries ranking by the Wall Street Journal and College Pulse. The annual roundup identifies universities with the largest impact on graduates’ salary outcomes, reports Kamaron McNair for CNBC.
Undergraduate student Kendree Chen has been named one of the 2025 U.S. Presidential Scholars, reports Michael T. Nietzel for Forbes. “This year’s group, the 61st in the program’s history, consisted of 161 outstanding high school seniors, who were selected for their accomplishments in academics, the arts, and career and technical education fields as well as for commitments to community service and leadership,” explains Nietzel.
Undergraduate student Mason Estrada was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2025 MLB Draft, reports Jesse Borek for MLB News. “Pro baseball was never really on Estrada’s radar until his freshman year at MIT when he reared back, fired and got a radar gun reading of 95 mph,” writes Borek. “There aren’t many humans walking the earth capable of that, let alone ones that willingly enlist in a thermodynamics course.”
MIT Open Space will host The Modular Troupe, an “artist collective that will be bringing live hip-hop and R&B sounds,” to the area on Wednesday, May 14, reports Marianna Orozco for The Boston Globe. “In collaboration with the Cambridge Hip Hop Collective, the Midday Music event will turn lunch hour into a dance party with high-energy performances and on-site food trucks selling local eats,” explains Orozco.
WCVB spotlights MIT course 2.984: The Art and Science of Time Travel, taught by Prof. Seth Llyod and lecturer Michele Reilly, which explores time travel and other physical paradoxes. “The course idea came from both knowing science fiction authors and understanding what physicists can do when they try to think in an artistic way,” says Reilly.
As part of MIT’s Artfinity festival - a new festival of the arts at MIT featuring 80 free performing and visual arts events, celebrating creativity and community – this month’s After Dark event on Thursday, March 13th at the MIT Museum will be free and open to the public, reports Marianna Orozco for The Boston Globe. Attendees will be able to enjoy “a night of activities, including a ‘Flash Portrait’ drawing and textile design, as well as live DJ sets, open exhibits by faculty, and a talk from Behnaz Farahi, the interdisciplinary designer behind ‘Gaze to the Stars,’ which has brought the MIT dome to life,” explains Orozco.
MIT’s Artfinity festival kicked off with a performance of “SONIC JUBILANCE” at the newly opened Edward and Joyce Linde Music Building, reports Maddie Browning for WBUR. The campus-wide festival, which runs through May 2, is open to the public and features student, faculty and staff participation in “concerts, augmented reality experiences, exhibitions, films and more,” writes Browning. Artfinity is an opportunity "to show that the arts are very important and very central to the lives of people at MIT,” said Prof. Marcus Thompson, festival co-lead.
MIT’s Artfinity Festival kicks off on Saturday, February 15th with a celebration of the new Edward and Joyce Linde Music Building and Thomas Tull Concert Hall featuring a free afternoon open house and evening concert, writes A.Z. Madonna for The Boston Globe. “What this building brings to us is support for performance of all different types of music, whether it’s classical or jazz or world music, and then the ability to support various functions with our students,” says Keeril Makan, associate dean of SHASS.
Cambridge Day reporter Susan Saccoccia spotlights the new Edward and Joyce Linde Music Building, which opens to the public on Saturday, February 15th, with a celebratory concert called “Sonic Jubilance,” the start of a “monthslong festival of 80 events across the campus, free and open to the public.” Prof. Marcus Thompson notes: “The extent of art-making on the MIT campus is equal to that of a major city. It’s a miracle that it’s all right here, by people in science and technology who are absorbed in creating a new world and who also value the past, present and future of music and the arts.”
Boston Globe reporter Malcom Gay spotlights the new Edward and Joyce Linde Music Building, a “new hub for music instruction and performance” for MIT’s 30 on-campus ensembles and more than 1,500 students enrolled in music classes each academic year. Gay notes that: “The more than 35,000-square-foot structure offers a variety of classroom, performance, rehearsal, and studio spaces.” He adds that there will be “more than 25 concerts at Tull Concert Hall that are open to the public this spring.”
Arthur Musah '04, MEng '05 and Philip Abel '15 speak with GBH “Under The Radar” host Callie Crossley about Musah’s documentary, “Brief Tender Light,” which follows the life of four African-born students on their personal and academic experiences at MIT. “The takeaway for me is about how we all belong in all spaces all around the world,” says Musah. “For me, the film has always been about celebrating the lives of African students and Black people at institutions like MIT.”
Chronicle of Higher Ed reporter Karin Fischer spotlights “A Brief Tender Light,” a documentary created by Arthur Musah '04, MEng '05 that follows four African undergraduates at MIT on their journey as international students studying and working in Boston. Musah’s “dream scenario is that such screenings could facilitate dialogue between groups represented in the documentary, such as international and African students, students of color, and gay and lesbian students,” writes Fischer.
“Brief Tender Light,” a documentary by Arthur Musah '04, MEng '05, spotlights four African-born MIT students and their experiences with adapting to the culture and challenges in and out of the classroom, reports Celina Colby for The Bay State Banner. “The story of international students, or specifically African students, in the U.S. hadn’t really been told,” says Musah. “Stats that I’ve learned more recently say there are about a million international students in any given year studying in the U.S., of which about 40,000 are African. That seems like a substantial portion of the fabric of American society.”