Undergraduate

MIT placed fifth in U.S. News & World Report’s 2018 best college rankings, reports CBS This Morning. 

WBUR’s Zeninjor Enwemeka reports that MIT has been named one of the top schools in the country for entrepreneurs. Enwemeka notes that, “for undergraduate schools that produce venture-backed entrepreneurs, MIT ranks third with 907 entrepreneurs and $16.1 billion raised.”

Recent MIT graduate Charlie Andrews-Jubelt completed the Los Angeles finals round of NBC’s reality competition series, “American Ninja Warrior.” He will now advance to the next round of the competition, which will be held in Las Vegas. 

Boston Globe reporter Steve Annear spotlights how MIT students have transformed the walls of a pedestrian tunnel that runs underneath Ames Street into a giant work of art. Annear notes that, “in true MIT fashion, they rolled out an app that makes some of the work come to life when it’s viewed through a smartphone screen.”

Writing for The Mercury News, Tatiana Sanchez spotlights the story of Alejandro Diaz, a graduate of Christopher High School in Gilroy, California, who plans to attend MIT in the fall. Sanchez notes that Diaz’s plans to attend MIT, “mark an odds-defying achievement for a family of recent immigrants who embody the promises of the American dream.”

Boston Globe reporter Steve Annear writes that a replica “Star Wars” X-wing Starfighter made an appearance in Lobby 7 on Monday. The replica was originally created for the annual 2.007 robot competition, during which students navigate robots that they designed and built themselves through a “Star Wars”-themed course. 

WCVB reporter Mike Wankum visits MIT to learn about a device, developed by MIT students, that converts text to braille. Undergraduate Charlene Xia explains that, “it’s not just enough to make something cool,” adding that she and her teammates want to make a device that "actually makes a difference in the world.”

Fox 25’s Kacie Yearout reports that a team of MIT students has developed a portable tool that converts text to braille in real-time. The students were awarded a Lemelson-MIT prize for their invention, which “uses a small camera with optical character recognition software to scan any printed material and convert it into a braille cell.”

Boston Globe reporter Steve Annear spotlights an MIT Admissions video that shows “Iron Man” superhero Riri Williams building her iconic suit on campus. Stuart Schmill, dean of admissions, says the Admissions Office videos, which are created as a lighthearted way to announce when admissions decisions will be available, “capture the spirit of this place and what students love to do.”

Tiera Guinn, a senior at MIT, speaks with FOX 25 reporter Elizabeth Hopkins about her work at MIT and with NASA’s rocket launch program. “Since I was 11 years old, I've had the passion of designing airplanes and rockets," Guinn explains. Nowadays, being part of the team building and designing rockets “keeps me going each day."

MIT senior Lilly Chin, winner of the 2017 Jeopardy! College Championship, speaks to Paris Alston of WGBH about her experience on the competition. “I wasn’t expecting to get in, I just wanted to have some fun with it,” Chin says about initially trying out for the quiz show. 

Lilly Chin, a senior at MIT majoring in electrical engineering and computer science, won the 2017 Jeopardy! College Championship, reports Kenneth Singletary for The Boston Globe. Singletary notes that “for her efforts, Chin won $100,000 and a chance to play on the Tournament of Champions.”

A team of MIT students has developed a device that can convert text to braille in real-time, reports Devin Thorpe for Forbes. Undergrad Jialin Shi explains that the team hopes the device “will be able to increase the braille literacy rate, and in turn, increase the employment rate of adults with significant vision loss.”

Washington Post reporter Nick Anderson writes that four MIT students - Matthew Cavuto, Zachary Hulcher, Kevin Zhou and Daniel Zuo - have been named recipients of the prestigious Marshall scholarships. The MIT group is “the largest delegation of Marshall Scholars named this year from a single school.”

MIT has been named one of the top 10 universities in the country by U.S. News & World Report, writes Dylan McGuiness for The Boston Globe.