Author: Ms. R.

Eliza Wells wrestles with deep ethical questions that have implications well beyond her field. A fourth year student in MIT’s philosophy PhD program, Wells studies morality and facilitates discussions at the Institute about ethics and technology. “I believe that philosophy can change lives. I want to help people interrogate their values so that they can make their own lives and others’ better,” she says. Her interest in philosophy research stems from her two core values. The first one is……

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It’s highly unusual for MIT students to be encouraged to throw one another to the floor, but that’s exactly what was happening during a lab that met in the Wrestling Room at the duPont Athletic Center at MIT in November.  After learning some basic judo moves and pairing off, students were instructed to shift their body weight and apply force all the way from their feet to their hands. “Your goal is to take your opponent down without hurting……

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On Monday, Dec. 5, at around 1 a.m., a tiny sphere of deuterium-tritium fuel surrounded by a cylindrical can of gold called a hohlraum was targeted by 192 lasers at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California. Over the course of billionths of a second, the lasers fired, generating X-rays inside the gold can, and imploding the sphere of fuel. On that morning, for the first time ever, the lasers delivered 2.1 megajoules……

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As senior vice president for the Institute’s real estate group, the MIT Investment Management Company (MITIMCo), Steve Marsh has worked closely with the senior administrations of the past three MIT presidents to lead game-changing real estate efforts that helped attract countless industry collaborators to Kendall Square, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  With a keen ability to strategize on innovation cluster development combined with a deep focus on investment execution, he oversaw some of the most complex land transactions and developments in……

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When Peter Williams was taking 2.002 (Mechanics and Materials II) this past semester, he won a trophy whose height is approximately equal to the width of three human hairs. Rather than feeling short-changed over his minuscule prize, the senior in mechanical engineering considered it a fitting award for a contest in which he and his classmates were asked to design a nanoscale material able to withstand compression. The design challenge represents an innovative new part of the undergraduate class……

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Robert W. Balluffi, professor emeritus in the MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE), died Dec. 8 at his home in Ithaca, New York. He was 98 years old. Described by colleagues as the last of an era of materials scientists with a holistic understanding of the field, Balluffi was renowned for both his expertise and publications in a broad range of topics, including crystal defects, solid-state diffusion, and crystalline interfaces. “He represents a way of thinking about……

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On Oct. 16 and 17, 14 MIT graduate students and one postdoc joined by five students from the University of the District of Columbia traveled to Washington to speak to representatives from several federal executive agencies. The trip served as an opportunity for participants to discuss issues related to science and technology policy and the role the federal government plays in addressing these issues. The group of participants met with seven federal agencies: the National Science Foundation, Environmental Protection……

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