| Nobel Laureate | | | | | | Andrea Ghez ’87 has been awarded a share of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics. She shares half of the prize with Reinhard Genzel, “for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the center of our galaxy.” The fourth woman to ever win a Nobel in physics, Ghez said in a press conference this week, “I hope I can inspire other young women into the field. It’s a field that has so many pleasures, and if you are passionate about the science, there’s so much that can be done.” |
| Sheila Widnall: A lifetime exploring the unknown During 64 years at MIT, the Institute Professor Emerita has been a trailblazer in aerospace and the U.S. military, and a changemaker for women in STEM. |  |
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| Three MIT alumni awarded 2020 MacArthur “genius” grants Each recipient will receive a $625,000, no-strings-attached award. |  |
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| A step toward a universal flu vaccine With computer models and lab experiments, researchers are working on a strategy for vaccines that could protect against any influenza virus. |  |
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| How we make moral decisions |
In some situations, asking “what if everyone did that?” is a common strategy for judging whether an action is right or wrong. |  |
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| Nanoparticles can turn off genes in bone marrow cells Using these new particles, researchers could develop treatments for heart disease and other conditions. |  |
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| Zoom calls can be too formal. These alternatives encourage casual chatting // Fast Company Minglr, an open-source tool developed by Professor Thomas Malone and his colleagues, is aimed at connecting attendees at virtual conferences for brief video conversations. “If you’re in a group like a conference, one thing people might do is contact people they know,” says Malone. “Other people could contact people they have heard of but not met.” |
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| Ten top business analytics MBA programs // US News & World Report The MIT Sloan School of Management was ranked as the top Business Analytics MBA program in the U.S. News 2021 Best Business Schools rankings. |
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| To protect good jobs, end tax breaks for job-killing technology // Bloomberg A white paper by Professor Daron Acemoglu and graduate student Andrea Mandera finds the U.S. tax code incentivizes companies to invest in automation rather than workers. |
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| MIT grad Andrea Ghez shares Nobel Prize for physics // CBS Boston Andrea Ghez ’87 is one of three scientists awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics for her work discovering a supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. |
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| Rising Stars in Neuroscience | | |
| | | The cutting-edge work of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT depends on hundreds of passionate faculty, postdocs, graduate students, staff, undergraduates, and summer students. Twenty years after its founding, the McGovern Institute is highlighting the work of some of its young scientists. These 20 McGovern “rising stars” — each from one of the institute’s 20 labs — represent the future of neuroscience. |
 | | | | From Malala Yousafzai to Greta Thunberg, we are already witnessing young women step up and take action to address inequities in their communities and around the world. By 2030, my hope is that these young women will be in leadership positions and will have inspired a new generation of changemakers to follow in their footsteps. |
| | —Sara Monteabaro, director of strategic and partner programs at MIT Solve, in a recent interview on lifting up women and girls around the world |
| Lessons From Remote Learning | | |
| | | In transitioning 10.213 (Chemical thermodynamics) to a self-paced mode last spring, ChemE professors discovered ways to make remote learning work — and gained insights into their students. “They are just so genuinely interested in learning,” says Professor Will Tisdale, pictured above, right, with Professor J. Christopher Love. |
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