| Zooming Through Thesis Defense | | | | | | Thumbs-up emojis, parents and grandparents on Zoom, and kudos from strangers are all part of the new world of online dissertation defenses. For PhD candidate Jesse Tordoff, the “most 2020 moment” was “learning I passed my defense by Zoom emoji.” Full story via MIT News → |
| Letter regarding efforts to chart MIT’s course for the summer, fall, and beyond |
President L. Rafael Reif outlines what to expect in the short term — and the ways in which MIT is thinking through options for the future, with input from the community. Read the letter → |
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| What should reopen first? |
How to reopen the economy during the coronavirus pandemic? A new study looks at risks and benefits of different types of businesses. Full story via MIT Sloan → | |
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| Testing whether uncertified N95 masks are effective Lincoln Laboratory joins MIT and others in testing N95 and similar, imported respirator masks to check how well they keep out particles and blood. Full story via MIT News → | |
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| Making an impact through chemical engineering Hadley Sikes designs simple-to-use diagnostic devices that could benefit patients around the world. Full story via MIT News → | |
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| The changing world of work |
The MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future responds to rapid changes brought by the pandemic. Full story via MIT News → |
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| Five books Bill Gates says you should read in the pandemic summer // Fast Company |
Bill Gates featured “Good Economics for Hard Times” by Professors Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo on his recommended summer reading list. Full story via Fast Company → |
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| Twelve online classes to nurture the mind, body, and soul // The Washington Post In “Speak Italian With Your Mouth Full,” a free class on MIT OpenCourseWare, Experimental Study Group Lecturer Paola Rebusco dishes up a taste of Italian language, culture, and cooking. Participants are encouraged to “come to class hungry for trivia about each dish, plus background about its place in Italian culture.” Full story via The Washington Post → |
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| Graduate student solves decades-old Conway knot problem // Quanta Magazine |
MIT postdoc Lisa Piccirillo, who will join the Department of Mathematics as an assistant professor in July, solved a longstanding question about whether the Conway knot is a slice of a higher-dimensional knot. Full story via Quanta Magazine → |
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| To encourage his students to get outside, Nick Jewell recreated the Patriots’ logo while biking around Boston // Boston.com |
As part of an effort aimed at motivating students to remain active, Nick Jewell, an administrative assistant for club sports at MIT, created the Patriots logo during a bike ride around the Boston area using a GPS-based activity app. Full story via Boston.com → |
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| | | Every four years, MIT administers a Quality of Life Survey to better understand the lives of faculty, staff, students, and postdocs. This year 13,026 individuals answered the most recent survey, for a 50% overall response rate. The results of the 2020 survey are now available from MIT Institutional Research; they represent an important resource in understanding how climate and culture affect our community. View the results → |
| | | Staff with MIT Libraries’ Distinctive Collections are working to document our community’s experiences, reactions, and responses to changes in the community and the world brought by the Covid-19 pandemic. All MIT community members are invited to contribute materials that will help document the diverse experiences of this time. Any form of personal reflection and first-hand account will be accepted through summer 2021 and become part of the historical record of the Institute. Learn more via MIT Distinctive Collections → |
This edition of the MIT Weekly was brought to you by what students miss most. 🏙️
Visit the MIT Covid-19 website for the latest on the Institute’s response to the Covid-19 emergency.
Thanks for reading, and have a safe week.
— MIT News Office |
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