MIT students launched a balloon the size of a small house as part of the Global Space Balloon Challenge last weekend, reports Amanda Hoover for Boston Magazine. The group’s balloon was dedicated to Shriners Hospital for Children in Boston, "flying high to raise support and awareness for the institution and its patients.”
MIT graduate student Maia Majumder speaks with Nidhi Subbaraman of BetaBoston about her digital habits. Subbaraman writes that Majumder, “uses Twitter as a professional tool to discuss her research and to interact with colleagues around the world.”
BetaBoston reporter Nidhi Subbaraman writes about how graduate student Steven Keating's thirst for knowledge may have saved his life. After experiencing phantom odors, Keating urged his doctors to perform a brain scan, which revealed a tumor. Since then, Keating has “open-sourced” his illness, and become a “champion of a movement to provide patients with more information about their health.”
Steve Lohr of The New York Times writes about how allowing patients like brain cancer survivor and MIT graduate student Steven Keating greater access to their medical records can not only improve patient health, but also benefit medical research. The sharing of medical records could be a “huge crowdsourcing opportunity for research,” Keating explains.
Alumna Noramay Cadena writes for WBUR about encouraging Latinas to pursue STEM careers, sharing how an MIT student inspired her. “Here was a successful person who looked like me, who sounded like me, and who truly understood my life experience, telling me I had what it took to go to MIT.”
In a New York Times article, Steve Lohr spotlights how graduate student Steven Keating’s active participation in his medical care led to early detection of a brain tumor. In describing patient access to medical records, Keating explains his belief that “data can heal.”
MIT sophomore Maryann Gong has been named the NCAA Division III Women's Track Athlete of the Year. According to The Boston Globe, “Gong is the fifth Engineer to win the award.”
Steven Rosenbaum highlights PhD student Abe Davis’ TED talk in a piece for Forbes. Rosenbaum writes that Davis “has co-created the world’s most improbable audio instrument.”
Kirk Carapezza of WGBH reports on the MIT Admissions video that depicts what it would be like if MIT could deliver admissions decisions with drones. “We do know that waiting for admissions decisions can be stressful for students and we wanted to lighten the mood a bit,” says Stuart Schmill, dean of admissions.
Eric Randall writes for Boston Magazine about the video created by the MIT Admissions Office to announce that admissions decisions will be available this weekend. The video shows “Dean of Admissions Stu Schmill releasing an army of drones that carry letters all over the world (and solar system) to bring good news to the future MIT class of 2019.”
Boston Globe reporter Steve Annear writes about MIT’s tradition of announcing admissions decisions on “Pi Day,” noting that this year’s date has added significance. “Because Pi Day falls on 3/14/15, it matches up with the first four numbers that follow the decimal point — 3.1415,” explains Annear.
CBS News reports on the video created by the MIT Admissions Office illustrating what it would be like to deliver acceptance letters to applicants by drone. The video simulates “the experience of small drones flying over landmarks like the Grand Canyon to the Taj Mahal to bring the good news to applicants.”
Nidhi Subbaraman of BetaBoston writes about the MIT Admissions video that imagines what it would be like if MIT could deliver admissions decisions via drones. The video features a “montage of various fictitious paths the robotic messengers take around the world, dropping off their cargo."
Nidhi Subbaraman reports for BetaBoston on MakeMIT, “a hardware hackathon that challenges students to produce practical applications for cutting-edge industrial tools.” A group of undergraduates started the event in an effort to provide students with an opportunity to build new products.
Darren Sabedra of San Jose Mercury News writes about incoming freshman Riley Quinn, who plans to double major in math and business and play football at MIT. Quinn, who was born without a left hand and forearm, wrote in his college essay that he leveraged what “others may call a physical disability as my driving force and motivation to excel at everything I do."