International development

With the right business model, solar panels and pumps could be a promising sustainable irrigation approach for smallholder farmers in India.

MIT researchers release evaluation of solar pumps for irrigation and salt mining in India

Study of solar pump technology use in India assesses technical performance and explores innovative business cases to increase user adoption.

November 13, 2017

Members of J-WEL convene on MIT campus to explore new developments in brain science, pedagogy, and digital learning practices.

Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab holds inaugural J-WEL Week

Educators, researchers, policy makers, and technologists from 27 countries gather to spark a global renaissance in education for all learners.

October 9, 2017

Pictured from left: Siqi Zheng, Samuel Tak Lee Associate Professor and faculty director of China Future City Lab; Bin Yang, vice president and provost of Tsinghua University; Martin Schmidt, MIT provost; Richard Lester, MIT associate provost for international activities; Zhengzhen Tan, executive director of China Future City Lab

MIT and Tsinghua University sign urban innovation agreement

Future City Innovation Connector to support projects addressing rapid growth of Chinese cities.

September 19, 2017

Mark Brennan (left) and Prithvi Sundar are graduate students working with MIT’s Comprehensive Initiative on Technology Evaluation to better understand and evaluate the food aid supply chain.

Researchers identify opportunities to improve quality, reduce cost of global food assistance delivery

Research from MIT's CITE program leverages a procurement process to identify opportunities for improving food aid supply chains.

September 13, 2017

In Haiti, Makilene Velnis stands with her family in front of the home she bought with money she earned working at the Apparent Project, a nonprofit artisans’ guild. The documentary "Poverty, Inc.," co-produced by MIT grad student Mark Weber, explores how the foreign aid and charity industry may be doing more harm than good.

Q&A: When is giving to charity the wrong thing to do?

MBA student and film producer Mark Weber describes how the foreign aid and charity industries may be holding developing countries down.

May 15, 2017

(Left to right) L. Rafael Reif, President of MIT; Fady Mohammed Jameel, president of Community Jameel International; and Sanjay Sarma, MIT vice president for open learning

Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab (J-WEL) to spark global renaissance in education through innovation at MIT

Empowering underserved populations will be a guiding focus.

May 2, 2017

Engineers at MIT have found a way to cut the cost of solar-powered drip systems by half, by optimizing the drippers. Furthermore, these new drippers can halve the pumping power required to irrigate, lowering energy bills for farmers. Pictured is an example of a current drip system.

Watering the world

New design cuts costs, energy needs for drip irrigation, bringing the systems within reach for more farmers.

April 19, 2017

A joint team of American, Israeli, and Jordanian students worked together to study possible integrated pumped hydro reverse osmosis (IPHRO) system site locations around the world.

Combined energy and water system could provide for millions

Analysis shows system could economically bring fresh water and renewable energy storage to drought-stricken coastal regions worldwide.

April 18, 2017

Julia Heyman wins 2017 Carroll L. Wilson Award

Award will fund a 12-month project to study the implementation of wheelchair sensors in Indonesia.

March 7, 2017

"One of the principal ways historians contribute to problem-solving work at MIT and elsewhere is by helping to identify what the real problem is in the first place," says Malick Ghachem, an MIT professor of history. "When we understand and articulate the roots and sources of a problem, we have a much better chance of actually solving it."

3 Questions: How history helps us solve today's issues

Professor Malick Ghachem discusses how historians contribute to problem-solving by identifying the roots and sources of a problem.

February 28, 2017

MIT students and CITE research assistants Emily Gooding and Mark Brennan examine a metal post-harvest storage silo as part of a study with the World Food Program in Uganda.

MIT researchers inform World Food Program work to reduce post-harvest losses

Study of post-harvest storage technology use in Uganda assesses potential for farmer adoption, identifies supply chain challenges and solutions.

February 23, 2017

MIT Professor César Hidalgo and his colleagues argue that everything else being equal, the complexity of a country’s exports also correlates with its degree of economic equality: The more complex a country’s products, the greater equality it enjoys relative to similar-sized countries with similar-sized economies.

Income inequality linked to export “complexity”

The mix of products that countries export is a good predictor of income distribution, study finds.

February 16, 2017

A Syrian refugee child in Jordan’s Zaatari refugee camp in June 2015

For refugee camps, a waterless toilet to improve health and safety

As camps swell, change:WATER Labs aims to bring toilets into individual homes.

January 31, 2017

Kevin Kung, a Tata Fellow and PhD candidate in biological engineering, feeds rice husks into the torrefaction reactor in his lab at MIT. A thermochemical process will convert the biomass to a more energy-dense form, making it easier to transport and use as fuel.

Tapping the hidden value of farm waste

MIT researchers are developing mobile torrefaction technology that can convert biomass into clean-burning fuel, unlocking potential income for farmers.

January 25, 2017

Kevin Patrick Simon (left) sets solar panels in place with villagers at a pilot site in Jharkhand, India. Simon, an MIT PhD candidate in mechanical engineering, is studying solar irrigation.

How engineering students are seeking to solve major food and water security problems

Students with a common passion for food and water security share their research at the MIT Water and Food Security Symposium.

January 9, 2017

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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