School of Engineering

Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have developed an AI model that is capable of identifying 3 ½ times more people who are at high-risk for developing pancreatic cancer than current standards, reports Felice J. Freyer for The Boston Globe. “This work has the potential to enlarge the group of pancreatic cancer patients who can benefit from screening from 10 percent to 35 percent,” explains Freyer. “The group hopes its model will eventually help detect risk of other hard-to-find cancers, like ovarian.”

Prof. Ron Weiss co-founded Strand Therapeutics, a biotech company developing mRNA therapies, reports Emily Mullin for Wired. “The notion is that genetic circuits can really have significant impact on safety and efficacy,” says Weiss. “This begins to really open up the door for creating therapies whose sophistication can match the underlying complexity of biology.”

Undark reporter Sarah Scoles spotlights Matt Jacobs '02 for his work with many California SAR (search and rescue) teams. “In 2015, Jacobs published a paper that took another look at the incident information in the large ISRID database (International Search & Rescue Incident Database),” writes Scoles. “Taking the largest ISRID categories – hikers, hunters, and gatherers – he tried to see how the terrain affected their choices.”

Maya Levy '21 speaks with Boston Globe reporter Steve Annear about “The 24-Hour T Ride,” a play written by Levy and friends as part of their work with the MIT Shakespeare Ensemble group. The group is “known to produce 24-hour shows in which only the title is decided on beforehand,” explains Levy. “You can expect silly incredibly local scenes that would not hold up if you performed it anywhere else. You can expect the actors to be having a wonderful time.”

Carmen Martin-Alonso PhD '23 speaks with Zakiya Whatley on the Science podcast to discuss her recent research focused on developing new methods to improve liquid biopsies for cancer. “I think this is super, super promising for the field of oncology where having more sensitive ctDNA-based liquid biopsies could really transform patient management,” says Alonso. “And in the same way as radio label converse agents have transformed imaging, we think that priming agents could transform the utility of liquid biopsies.”

Javier Ramos '12, SM '14, co-founder of InkBit, and his colleagues have developed a, “3D inkjet printer that uses contact-free computer vision feedback to print hybrid objects with a broad range of new functional chemistries,” reports Ed Brown for Tech Briefs. “Our vision for Inkbit is to reshape how the world thinks about production, from design to execution and make our technology readily available,” says Ramos. “The big opportunity with 3D printing is how to disrupt the world of manufacturing — that’s what we're focused on.”

Graduate student Lt. Col. Jill Rahon, a war veteran and seasoned pilot, discusses her journey from her tours in Afghanistan to her research at MIT on engineering solutions for the enforcement of nuclear nonproliferation accords, writes Sam Cavanaugh for Hoodline. “The path Rahon has blazed is marked by courage and ingenuity, from deftly handling the controls of a Chinook helicopter over the treacherous terrains of Afghanistan to meticulously studying the nuances of resonance analysis to keep nuclear powers in check,” writes Cavanaugh. 

Priyadarshi Panda PhD '11 – founder of International Battery Company, a startup developing lithium-ion battery cells for electric vehicles – is working to “bridge the demand-supply gap in the growing EV market in India,” reports Jagmeet Singh for TechCrunch. “There is a lot of demand in the Indian market, which is satisfied through imports right now,” says Panda. “No cells are being manufactured in India. So, we want to participate in that journey in India.”

Writing for The Boston Globe, Prof. Gang Chen emphasizes the harm caused by the “China Initiative.” Chen notes that “some initiatives by the government, such as the China Initiative and the National Institutes of Health’s investigation into academics’ collaborations with China, weaken rather than strengthen US national security. American scientific prowess has been built on the United States’ ability to attract the best and the brightest minds from around the world.” He adds that the China Initiative has been deterring scientists from pursuing their research and careers in the United States.”

Alicia Chong Rodriguez SM ’17, SM ’18 founded Bloomer Tech, a health tech startup that aims to improve health care diagnostics for women using medical-grade data to develop new therapies and care models, reports Carol Eisenberg for The Washington Post. Rodriguez and her colleagues "developed, patented and tested flexible washable circuits to turn articles of clothing into devices that can relay reams of information to the wearer’s smartphone,” writes Eisenberg.

Arthur Musah '04, MEng '05 and Philip Abel '15 speak with GBH “Under The Radar” host Callie Crossley about Musah’s documentary, “Brief Tender Light,” which follows the life of four African-born students on their personal and academic experiences at MIT. “The takeaway for me is about how we all belong in all spaces all around the world,” says Musah. “For me, the film has always been about celebrating the lives of African students and Black people at institutions like MIT.”

MIT irradiation facilities engineer Andriy Tuz and Prof. Jacopo Buongiorno speak with Jennifer Hiller of the Wall Street Journal about Tuz’s path from Ukraine to MIT. Tuz joined the Institute “through the U.S. government’s Uniting for Ukraine program, which provides a way for Ukrainian citizens displaced by the war to stay temporarily in the U.S.,” writes Hiller.

Lynn Yamada Davis '77, a TikTok creator known as “the internet’s grandma” for sharing her “quirky, educational cooking content,” has died at age 77, reports Morgan Sung for TechCrunch. “Before she was a content creator, Davis was an accomplished engineer — a feat for women of color at the time,” writes Sung.

Lynn Yamada Davis '77, “a TikTok creator who brought joy to millions of people with her zany style and cooking tips on her account, Cooking With Lynja,” has died at 67, writes Claire Moses for The New York Times. Before becoming a TikTok star, Davis “had this whole chapter as a groundbreaking female engineer, and she was very proud of that,” her daughter Hannah Shofet explained. Her son, Sean Davis noted that the final chapter of her life spent travelling the world, meeting people and cooking and eating amazing food was “exactly how she would have wanted it to be written.”

Scientific American reporter Payal Dhar spotlights how MIT engineers developed a beating, biorobotic replica of the human heart that could be used to “simulate the workings of both a healthy organ and a diseased one.” The replica, "which pumps a clear fluid instead of blood, is hooked up to instruments that measure blood flow, blood pressure, and more," writes Dhar. "It’s also customizable: the user can change the heart rate, blood pressure and other parameters, then watch how these changes affect the heart’s function in real time.”