The MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS) announced the creation of a new endowed chair made possible by the generosity of IDSS professor post-tenure and “MIT lifer” Richard “Dick” Larson. Effective July 1, the fund provides a full professorship for senior IDSS faculty: the Distinguished Professorship in Data, Systems, and Society. “As a…
Gitanjali Rao, a rising junior at MIT majoring in biological engineering, has been named the first-ever recipient of the Stephen Hawking Junior Medal for Science Communication. This award, presented by the Starmus Festival, is a new category of the already prestigious award created by the late theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author Stephen Hawking and the…
MIT has again been named the world’s top university by the QS World University Rankings, which were announced today. This is the 14th year in a row MIT has received this distinction. The full 2026 edition of the rankings — published by Quacquarelli Symonds, an organization specializing in education and study abroad — can be…
The MIT Press announces the acquisition of textbook publisher University Science Books from AIP Publishing, a subsidiary of the American Institute of Physics (AIP). University Science Books was founded in 1978 to publish intermediate- and advanced-level science and reference books by respected authors, published with the highest design and production standards, and priced as affordably as possible. Over…
The long-term aspirational goal of the Paris Agreement on climate change is to cap global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, and thereby reduce the frequency and severity of floods, droughts, wildfires, and other extreme weather events. Achieving that goal will require a massive reduction in global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions across all…
MIT has an unparalleled history of bringing together interdisciplinary teams to solve pressing problems — think of the development of radar during World War II, or leading the international coalition that cracked the code of the human genome — but the challenge of climate change could demand a scale of collaboration unlike any that’s come…
“My wife, Erin Tevonian, and I both graduated last week with our PhDs in biological engineering, a program we started together when we arrived at MIT in fall 2019. At the time, we had already been dating for three years, having met as classmates in the bioengineering program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign…
“Class of 2025, are you ready?” This was the question Hashim Sarkis, dean of the MIT School of Architecture and Planning, posed to the graduating class at the school’s Advanced Degree Ceremony at Kresge Auditorium on May 29. The response was enthusiastic applause and cheers from the 224 graduates from the departments of Architecture and…
“MIT Sloan was my first and only choice,” says MIT graduate student David Brown. After receiving his BS in chemical engineering at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Brown spent eight years as a helicopter pilot in the U.S. Army, serving as a platoon leader and troop commander. Now in the final year of…
The Knight Science Journalism Program (KSJ) at MIT has announced that Usha Lee McFarling, national science correspondent for STAT and former KSJ Fellow, will be joining the team in August as their next director. As director, McFarling will play a central role in helping to manage KSJ — an elite mid-career fellowship program that brings…
