Women in STEM

The computer system and software that controlled the Apollo 11 spacecraft — called the Apollo Guidance Computer and designed by the MIT Instrumentation Lab team — helped push technology forward in many ways. The computer itself was the first significant use of silicon integrated circuit chips.

Behind the scenes of the Apollo mission at MIT

From making the lunar landings possible to interpreting the meaning of the moon rocks, the Institute was a vital part of history.

July 18, 2019

Caring for her community

PhD candidate and co-founder of Graduate Women in Chemical Engineering Lisa Volpatti works to support her fellow graduate students.

July 9, 2019

MIT grad student Steven Gonzalez is showing that the cloud is neither distant nor ephemeral: It’s a massive system, ubiquitous in daily life, that contains huge amounts of energy, has the potential for environmental disaster, and is operated by an insular community of expert technicians.

Communities in the cloud

PhD student Steven Gonzalez studies cloud computing with the eye of an anthropologist.

June 5, 2019

MIT Professor Daniela Rus, director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, kicked off an all-female lineup of speakers at TEDxMIT.

CSAIL hosts first-ever TEDxMIT

Speakers — all women — discuss everything from gravitational waves to robot nurses.

May 31, 2019

Residents of MIT's McCormick Hall celebrate the launch of a new craft studio.

For the women of McCormick, a new space in which to create

MIT residence hall opens a craft studio to promote creativity and belonging.

May 31, 2019

“I try to understand how policy makers and negotiators think, explore current nuclear challenges, and then try to evolve technical frameworks to meet the world as it is,” says Mareena Robinson Snowden PhD '17.

Plotting new paths to a nuclear “yes”

Nuclear science and engineering alumna Mareena Robinson Snowden PhD '17 devises new solutions for problems of arms control and proliferation.

May 28, 2019

The MIT Materials Research Science and Engineering Center hosted 26 Boston-area high school girls for a solar cell building activity during the Science, Engineering, and Technology (SET) in the City program. The girls measured the voltage and current output of their cells with a multimeter.

Local high school girls build dye-sensitized solar cells at MIT

MRL Materials Research Science and Engineering Center encourages studies in science, engineering, and technology.

May 13, 2019

Chemistry professor Laura Kiessling is developing vaccines that interact with cell surface carbohydrates, and exploring ways to disrupt microbes’ ability to assemble the carbohydrates they need to build their cell walls.

The complex world of carbohydrate chemistry

Drawn to MIT by its “amazing women who were doing science,” Professor Laura Kiessling explores sugar-protein interactions that influence cell behavior.

April 24, 2019

An MIT delegation met with 69 offices of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives from 23 states, including staff from the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

Advocating for federal research funding on Capitol Hill

Students and postdocs from MIT's Science Policy Initiative meet with lawmakers on science-engineering-technology Congressional Visit Days 2019.

April 24, 2019

Department of Mathematics Professor Gigliola Staffilani is a pioneering role model, mentor, and advocate for women in mathematics.

Q&A: Professor Gigliola Staffilani on women in mathematics

More than a decade after creating the Celebration of Women in Mathematics at MIT, Staffilani talks about the present and future of women in the field.

April 3, 2019