President L. Rafael Reif speaks with Federico Kukso of El País about the MIT Campaign for a Better World and the need to educate students prepared to tackle society’s most pressing challenges. MIT is “an intellectually explosive, unique place,” says Reif, adding that “we value intelligence, passion, curiosity.”
MIT alumna Margaret Guo was named the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year during a ceremony in Indianapolis, reports Emily McCarthy for The Boston Globe. Guo says the award “reflects the amount of support I’ve had and the people around me who have pushed me to become better than I could have been by myself.”
Michael Rosenwald of The Washington Post writes about John Urschel, an MIT graduate student and Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman, and his love for math and football. “I’m living an amazing quality of life. I get to play football. I get to play math. I get to play chess,” Urschel says.
Erandi Palihakkara writes for The Huffington Post about the Viet Youth Projects Conference, an event held at MIT and co-organized by undergraduate Trinh Nguyen, aimed at bringing together Vietnamese youths focused on developing innovative solutions for social problems. The conference was a “networking and learning opportunity that brings together the emerging leaders of social change,” Palihakkara writes.
AP reporter Collin Binkley writes about Swapfest, an event hosted by the MIT Radio Society, in conjunction with the MIT UHF Repeater Association, the MIT Electronics Research Society, and the Harvard Wireless Club, “where tinkerers from across New England go to buy and sell the gadgets they can't find in stores.”
Researchers at the MIT Media Lab are joining forces with Google to create a program aimed at mentoring the next generation of African-American and Latino computer scientists in Oakland, California, reports Ethan Baron for The Mercury News.
In an article for Inside Higher Ed, Rick Seltzer highlights MIT’s efforts to reduce bias in the college application process by soliciting more information from applicants. “The value of more information is it gives us this opportunity to get a little closer to the student,” explains Lauren Avalos, associate director of admissions.
Researchers involved in the MIT Bitcoin Project have found that students prefer cash and credit cards as their primary forms of payment, writes Deirdre Fernandes for The Boston Globe. While Bitcoin hasn’t caught on, the project has allowed researchers to collect data on how consumers adopt and use new technology, and to examine the technology underlying Bitcoin.
In a study of students offered $100 in bitcoin, MIT researchers found that early users were more likely to not use new technology if there were delays in accessing it, writes Kevin Lewis for The Boston Globe. The researchers found early adopters, “were more likely to cash out of their bitcoin if they had been delayed in getting it.”
A study co-authored by Prof. Susan Silbey found that many women leave engineering because of sexism at school and in the workplace, writes Valentina Zarya for Fortune. The researchers found that “female engineers’ first substantive experiences with sexism occurred in school, with many women describing being treated differently by professors and classmates.”
In an article for The Boston Globe, Sacha Pfeiffer writes that undergraduate Farita Tasnim has been named to Her Campus’ list of 22 Under 22 Most Inspiring College Women. Pfeiffer writes that Tasnim has been “dubbed a ‘STEM goddess’ for captaining her high school robotics team and creating her own electronics lab, among other accomplishments.”
Allie Bidwell writes for the National Medals Foundation about MIT’s “secret sauce for excellence.” Ian Waitz, dean of the School of Engineering, explains that MIT fosters “a strong desire to work on things that have a practical impact. We combine scholarship with having a real, tangible impact in the world.”
Tim Logan writes for The Boston Globe that in a new paper MIT researchers estimate how much the proposed Green Line extension has boosted property values. Graduate student Austin Paul explains that thus far, “we’ve probably only seen prices go up 40 percent” of where they may ultimately end up.
Matt McFarland reports for CNN that MIT researchers have developed temporary, gold-leaf tattoos that serve as wearable devices “that add a personal touch of style.” The tattoos can interface with smartphones, store data like movie or bus tickets, or display moods by changing colors, McFarland explains.
MIT researchers have created temporary wearable gold leaf tattoos that can project a user’s mood and allow them to control nearby devices, writes Haniya Rae for Popular Science. “We wanted to build an output display that allowed for a more aesthetically pleasing look,” says graduate student Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao, of the motivation behind the tattoos.