Students

A number of MIT students, researchers and alumni have been named to Forbes’ annual “30 Under 30” list, which honors rising stars in 20 different sectors. 

Boston Herald reporter Jordan Graham writes about the MIT team working to develop a Hyperloop transportation system. “The Hyperloop would be a system of near-vacuum tubes that sends levitating pods from one place to another at 760 miles per hour,” Graham explains.

BetaBoston reporter Elizabeth Preston writes that MIT graduate students are explaining complex aerospace engineering topics to a class of fifth grader students in Georgia. Teacher Alana Davis says of the MIT students that, “I don’t think they realize what a difference they’re making in these kids’ lives.” 

Writing for The Boston Globe, Karen Weintraub spotlights Prof. Rosalind Picard’s work examining college stress. Research scientist Akane Sano explains that they have been using machine learning techniques to identify the differences in “behaviors between high-stress and low-stress people.”

In an article for Scientific American, Katherine Hamilton writes about the fourth annual Clean Energy Education and Empowerment Symposium (C3E), which highlighted the increasing role women are playing in clean energy. The symposium was started by the U.S. Department of Energy in conjunction with the MIT Energy Initiative. 

In a letter to The Boston Globe, Lisa Arrowood, president of the Boston Bar Association, commends MIT’s decision “to speak out in favor of race-conscious admissions policies in higher education.” Arrowood writes that these policies help foster diversity in higher education.

Washington Post reporter Matt McFarland writes about Sprout, a company that sells pencils with “an attached seed capsule, containing everything from tomatoes to cilantro and lavender.” The idea for the pencils came from three MIT students, who were developing ideas for sustainable office products. 

This CNN Money article explores a new company called Sprout, which develops plantable pencils that grow into vegetables, herbs and flowering plants. Three MIT students conceived the idea for Sprout and began selling the pencils in Europe in 2013. 

Boston Globe reporter Marvin Pave profiles sophomore Jeremy Bogle, who earned All-American honors last year for his work on the water polo team. “Jeremy embraces the sport with the healthiest attitude I have ever seen,’’ says MIT coach Dave Andriole. 

Prof. Tomasz Mrowka, head of the Department of Mathematics, speaks with U.S. News & World Report’s Delece Smith-Barrow about options for graduate students participating in MIT’s mathematics program. "We span the gamut of what happens in mathematics," says Mrowka. 

Amanda Hoover writes for Boston.com about how researchers from the MIT Media Lab demonstrated a drone-based drawing system during HUBweek. “This is more about the idea of how machine and man can be integrated and work together,” says graduate student Sang-won Leigh. “What I want to do is show what kind of future is possible.”

Prof. Jaime Peraire, head of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, spoke with Univision news anchor Jorge Ramos about how to encourage more Latinos to study science, technology, engineering and math as part of Univision’s Education Week coverage. (This interview is in Spanish.) 

Nihdi Subbaraman reports for BetaBoston on the legal clinics MIT and BU have started providing to student entrepreneurs. “The Entrepreneurship and Intellectual Property Clinic is intended to serve as a place where startup founders can seek basic advice about how to register their company or how to distribute ownership to multiple founders,” writes Subbaraman. 

MIT and BU have joined forces to offer students entrepreneurs legal advice, the Associated Press reports. "It's almost like a godsend," says MIT sophomore Isaiah Udotong, who is starting his own company. "We were looking for legal advice and wondering how we were going to make sure everything is legitimate."

In a testimonial for U.S. News & World Report, MIT graduate Yiping Xing shares why MIT was the right school for her. “MIT doesn't simply teach you science or knowledge; it trains you to be a scientist and problem-solver, giving you many opportunities to apply what you learn,” says Xing.