November 16, 2019
Greetings! Here’s a roundup of the latest from the MIT community.

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Human-Centered Tech
As a high school student, Jaleesa Trapp discovered her love of STEM through a program founded by MIT’s Lifelong Kindergarten group. Today, she’s working toward her PhD in the same group, studying how young people of color interact with technology.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Top Headlines
MIT to receive $260 million from Lord Foundation of Massachusetts
A longstanding supporter of the Institute allows for flexibility in determining how funds will be used.
MIT Heat Island
Using light to generate order in an exotic material
Physics experiment with ultrafast laser pulses produces a previously unseen phase of matter.
MIT Heat Island
Tomorrow Time event helps students tackle procrastination
Campus-wide resources were stationed in Lobby 13 and satellite locations; students report over 600 goals accomplished.
MIT Heat Island
Historian of the hinterlands
In overlooked spots on the map, MIT Professor Kate Brown examines the turbulence of the modern world.
MIT Heat Island
A neurodiverse workforce
At tech startup Ultranauts, co-founded by Art Shectman ’95 and Rajesh Anandan ’95, MEng ’96, 75 percent of employees are on the autism spectrum.
MIT Heat Island
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
#ThisIsMIT
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In the Media
The fusion energy dream is inching toward planet-saving reality // The Washington Post
“Strategic, innovation-aligned U.S. investment would help ensure that this country becomes the home of a world-changing — and potentially world-saving — technology,” writes Professor Dennis Whyte, director of the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center, about the opportunity for the U.S. to help lead the development of fusion energy.
Eating tiny nutrient particles could be better than health supplements // New Scientist
MIT researchers have created a technique to fortify foods by encapsulating micronutrients in small protective particles.
A robot that can grow when it needs some extra reach // TechCrunch
MIT researchers have developed a robot with an extendible appendage that grows like a plant.
The ghosts of ancient hurricanes live in Caribbean blue holes // National Geographic
Graduate student Elizabeth Wallace and her colleagues examined sediment found in blue holes in the Caribbean for clues as to the history of hurricanes in the Bahamas over the past 1,500 years.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Digit
10,000
Approximate number of articles in the MIT Knowledge Base, a collection of information technology support topics by and for the MIT community
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Scene at MIT
The MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering recently hosted its third Rising Stars Workshop, bringing to campus 20 distinguished early-career women interested in civil and environmental engineering careers. The workshop included research presentations, a mentoring discussion with MIT Chancellor Cynthia Barnhart, four panel discussions on building an academic career, and lots of networking. “Meeting women who are leading some of these fields that are very different from my own has been a really wonderful experience,” said Nicole Jackson, a PhD candidate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “We need more events like this.”
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
“
... I knew I was born for this moment. So for everyone wondering how you know you’re meant to be Tim [the Beaver] — the answer is, you’ll feel it deep in your bones. You don’t choose the Suit. The Suit chooses you.
—Sophomore and admissions blogger Veronica M. on how to be MIT's mascot for a day
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