Section 1 Facts and History

Fields of Study 11 Research Laboratories, Centers, and Programs 12 Digital Learning 13 Academic and Research Affiliations 14 Education Highlights 16 Research Highlights 21 Faculty and Staff 31 Faculty 31 Researchers 33 Postdoctoral Scholars 34 Awards and Honors of Current Faculty and Staff 35

MIT Briefing Book 9 MIT’s commitment to innovation has led to a host of Facts and History scientific breakthroughs and technological advances. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is one of Achievements by the Institute’s faculty and gradu- the world’s preeminent research universities, dedi- ates include the first chemical synthesis of penicillin cated to advancing knowledge and educating students and vitamin A, the development of inertial guidance in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship systems, modern technologies for artificial limbs, that will best serve the nation and the world. It is and the magnetic core memory that enabled the known for rigorous academic programs, cutting-edge development of digital computers. Today MIT is research, a diverse campus community, and its long- making a better world by focusing its strengths in standing commitment to working with the public and research, innovation, and education in such areas as: private sectors to bring new knowledge to bear on the the secrets of the brain and mind and the origins and world’s great challenges. evolution of life; practical solutions for environmental sustainability, clean energy, and water and food William Barton Rogers, the Institute’s founding presi- security; the convergence of disciplines in tackling dent, believed that education should be both broad human health challenges, from disease prevention and useful, enabling students to participate in “the to personalized medicine to affordable health care; humane culture of the community” and to discover improved innovation and entrepreneurship systems and apply knowledge for the benefit of society. His that speed ideas to impact; and pedagogical innova- emphasis on “learning by doing,” on combining tion on campus and online thanks to new avenues in liberal and professional education, and on the value the science of learning and cutting-edge digital tools. of useful knowledge continues to be at the heart of MIT’s educational mission. University research is one of the mainsprings of growth in an economy that is increasingly defined by technology. A study released by MIT in December 2015 estimated that MIT graduates had founded at least 30,000 active companies. These firms employed approximately 4.6 million people, and generated annual world sales of $1.9 trillion, or the equivalent of the tenth-largest economy in the world in 2014.

MIT has forged educational and research collabora- tions with universities, governments, and companies throughout the world, and draws its faculty and students from every corner of the globe. The result is a vigorous mix of people, ideas, and programs dedicated to enhancing the world’s well-being.

MIT's founder, William Barton Rogers, 1879 Courtesy MIT Museum

10 MIT Briefing Book Facts and History Fields of Study Sloan School of Management Management MIT supports a large variety of fields of study, from science and engineering to the arts. MIT’s five School of Science academic schools are organized into departments Biology and other degree-granting programs. In addition, Brain and Cognitive Sciences several programs, laboratories, and centers cross Chemistry traditional boundaries and encourage creative Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences thought and research. Mathematics Physics School of Architecture and Planning Architecture Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Programs Media Arts and Sciences Computer Science and Molecular Biology Urban Studies and Planning Humanities Center for Real Estate Humanities and Engineering Humanities and Science School of Engineering Aeronautics and Astronautics Interdisciplinary Graduate Programs Biological Engineering Computation for Design and Optimization Chemical Engineering Computational and Systems Biology Civil and Environmental Engineering Computational Science and Engineering Data, Systems, and Society Computer Science and Molecular Biology Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Design and Management (Integrated Design and Materials Science and Engineering Management & System Design and Management) Mechanical Engineering Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Nuclear Science and Engineering Technology Program Joint Program with Woods Hole School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Oceanographic Institution Anthropology Leaders for Global Operations Comparative Media Studies/Writing Microbiology Economics Operations Research Global Studies and Languages Polymers and Soft Matter History Social and Engineering Systems Linguistics and Philosophy Supply Chain Management Literature Technology and Policy Music and Theatre Arts Transportation Political Science Science, Technology, and Society

MIT Briefing Book 11 Research Laboratories, Centers,
Laboratory for Financial Engineering
Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems and Programs
Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity In addition to teaching and conducting research
Laboratory for Nuclear Science within their departments, faculty, students, and staff
Legatum Center for Development work in laboratories, centers, and programs. and Entrepreneurship
Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship Some of these include:
Materials Processing Center
McGovern Institute for Brain Research
Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab
Media Lab
Center for Archaeological Materials
Microsystems Technology Laboratories
Center for Collective Intelligence
MIT Center for Art, Science, and Technology
Center for Computational Engineering
MIT Energy Initiative
Center for Computational Research in Economics
MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative and Management Science
MIT Innovation Initiative
Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research
MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics
Center for Environmental Health Sciences and Space Research
Center for Global Change Science
MIT Professional Education
Center for International Studies
MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology
Center for Materials Science and Engineering
MIT Sea Grant
Center for Transportation and Logistics
Nuclear Reactor Laboratory
Clinical Research Center
Operations Research Center
Computer Science and Artificial
Picower Institute for Learning and Memory Intelligence Laboratory
Plasma Science and Fusion Center
Concrete Sustainability Hub
Research Laboratory of Electronics
Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation
Simons Center for the Social Brain
Division of Comparative Medicine
Sociotechnical Systems Research Center
Haystack Observatory
Transportation@MIT
Initiative on the Digital Economy
Women’s and Gender Studies Program
Institute for Medical Engineering and Science

Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies http://web.mit.edu/research/
Institute for Work and Employment Research
Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change
Knight Science Journalism Program
Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research

12 MIT Briefing Book Facts and History Digital Learning Initiative is a cross-disciplinary, Institute-wide effort that will foster rigorous, quantitative Since the advent of digital computing, MIT has been research on how people learn, investigate what at the forefront of innovation in educational tech- methods and approaches to education work nology. Individual faculty initiatives, departmental best for different people and subjects; and im- projects, or Institute-wide programs have helped prove learning and teaching from K-12 through transform education at MIT and around the world. In college through continuing education. the last few years, technology-enabled change in how we teach and learn has been accelerating. Remarkable In 2012 MIT established the Office of Digital Learning educational experiments throughout higher education (ODL). The mission of ODL is to transform teaching are resulting in unprecedented breakthroughs: and learning at MIT and around the globe through the innovative use of digital technologies. ODL focuses on the following strategic priorities: • New pedagogies and tools. Digital technologies enable students to do more outside the class: 1. Residential Education. Collaborate with consume lecture content, get rapid feedback, faculty to instigate, test, and institutionalize and access adaptive hints to foster learning. This pedagogical models that enhance MIT’s unique means that class time can focus on discussion, brand of education through digital and learning hands-on experiments and other forms of active technologies and practices. learning. Technologies, such as the Residen- 2. Open Education. Enable global access to MIT via tial MITx platform, provide flexibility in course MITx MOOCs on edX and course materials and delivery, enabling students to access content other teaching/learning resources through MIT anytime, anywhere. New tools such as inter- OpenCourseWare. net labs, gaming, and other resources provide adaptive learning aids that present educational 3. Strategic Education Initiatives. Undertake open materials according to students’ varying needs education experiments and implementation and learning styles. driven by MIT’s strategic priorities.

• Scalable and open teaching. The open educa- 4. Professional Education. Support and enhance tion movement, pioneered in large part by MIT’s MIT’s capacity to serve businesses, executives OpenCourseWare project—and since joined by and professionals in lifelong learning. hundreds more institutions worldwide—lowers financial, geographical, and political barriers to 5. Digital Learning Research. Encourage and sup- accessing quality educational content. Robust port learning research across MIT, and seek learning management platforms like edX (origi- opportunities to exchange data, research, and nally an MIT-Harvard alliance) make it possible to lessons about digital learning. increase student cohort size from a campus class- room to tens of thousands around the globe via 6. Support the Task Force. Collaborate across MIT the Internet. MITx brings MIT faculty and their to implement recommendations for the Future MOOCs to thousands of learners everywhere via of MIT Education that pertain to digital learning. the edX platform. 7. Infrastructure and Support. Provide infrastruc- • Digital learning research and learning analytics. ture, tools and related services that support Online learning systems have the ability to digital teaching and learning at MIT. amass huge volumes of data on student use 8. Resources and Stewardship. Attract enthusiastic and assessment as they work their way through fiscal and organizational support for ODL initia- courses. In the aggregate, these data can be tives and services from colleagues and funding used to model student learning approaches. sources at MIT and beyond. Launched in 2016, the MIT Integrated Learning http://odl.mit.edu/

MIT Briefing Book 13 Academic and Research Affiliations Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center Collaborative Partnership The Massachusetts Green High Performance edX Computing Center (MGHPCC) is a collaboration of five A not-for-profit enterprise of its founding partners of the state’s most research-intensive universities— Harvard University and the Massachusetts Insti- Boston University, Harvard University, MIT, North- tute of Technology, edX is focused on transforming eastern University, and the University of Massa- online and on-campus learning through ground- chusetts—the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, breaking methodologies, game-like experiences, and Cisco Systems, and EMC Corporation. The MGHPCC cutting-edge research on an open source platform. is a datacenter dedicated to providing the growing research computing capacity needed to support Engineering Biology Research Consortium breakthroughs in science. “The Engineering Biology Research Consortium, or http://www.mghpcc.org/ EBRC, aims to be the leading organization bringing together an inclusive community committed to ad- Northeast Radio Observatory Corporation vancing biological engineering to address national and The Northeast Radio Observatory Corporation global needs.” EBRC is a network including biotechnol- (NEROC) is a nonprofit consortium of educational and ogy firms and over a dozen U.S. institutions, includ- research institutions that was formed in 1967 to plan ing MIT, Cornell University, University of California at an advanced radio and radar research facility in the Berkeley, and Harvard University. Northeast. NEROC consists of nine educational and https://www.ebrc.org/ research institutions, these are MIT, Boston Univer- sity, Brandeis University, Dartmouth College, Harvard Idaho National Laboratory University, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astro- The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is dedicated to physics, University of Massachusetts, University of supporting the U.S. Department of Energy’s missions New Hampshire, and Wellesley College. in nuclear and energy research, science, and national http://www.haystack.mit.edu/hay/neroc.html defense. The INL established a National Universi- ties Consortium (NUC) of universities from around Major Collaborator the nation to engage in collaborative research in Broad Institute the nation’s strategic nuclear energy objectives. The The Broad Institute seeks to transform medicine by NUC consists of MIT, Oregon State University, North empowering creative and energetic scientists of all Carolina State University, The Ohio State University, disciplines from across the MIT, Harvard, and the and University of New Mexico. Harvard-affiliated hospital communities to work to- https://www.inl.gov/inl-initiatives/education/nuc/ gether to address even the most difficult challenges in biomedical research. Magellan Project http://www.broadinstitute.org/ The Magellan Project is a five-university partnership that constructed, and now operates, two 6.5-meter Charles Stark Draper Laboratory optical telescopes at the Las Campanas Observatory Since 1973, The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, in Chile. The telescopes allow researchers to observe Inc. has created premiere guidance, navigation and planets orbiting stars in solar systems beyond our control technologies, the expertise it became known own and to explore the first galaxies that formed near for when it was the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory. the edge of the observable universe. Collaborating Expanding its scope over the decades, Draper uses with MIT on the Magellan Project are Carnegie Insti- multidisciplinary approaches in designing, developing tute of Washington, Harvard University, University of and deploying advanced technological solutions for Arizona, and University of Michigan. the world’s most challenging and important prob- lems, spanning national security, space, biomedical solutions and energy. http://www.draper.com/

14 MIT Briefing Book Facts and History

Howard Hughes Medical Institute an internationally-recognized Ph.D. degree awarded The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is a by both institutions. The Joint Program is organized scientific and philanthropic organization that conducts within five sub-disciplinary areas, each adminis- biomedical research in collaboration with universities, tered by a Joint Committee consisting of MIT faculty academic medical centers, hospitals, and other research and WHOI scientists: Applied Ocean Science and institutions throughout the country. Seventeen HHMI Engineering, Biological Oceanography, Chemical investigators hold faculty appointments at MIT. Oceanography, Marine Geology and Geophysics, and http://www.hhmi.org/ Physical Oceanography. http://mit.whoi.edu/ Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard The Ragon Institute was established at Massachu- Naval Construction and Engineering setts General Hospital, MIT, and Harvard in 2009. The graduate program in Naval Construction and The Institute brings scientists and clinicians together Engineering (Course 2N) is intended for active duty with engineers in an interdisciplinary effort to better officers in the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, and understand how the body fights infections and, foreign Navies who have been designated for special- ultimately, to apply that understanding against a ization in the design, construction, and repair of naval wide range of infectious diseases and cancers. The ships. The curriculum prepares Navy, Coast Guard, dual mission of the Institute is to contribute to the and foreign officers for careers in ship design and discovery of an HIV/AIDS vaccine and the collaborative construction and is sponsored by Commander, Naval study of immunology. Sea Systems Command. Besides providing the officers http://ragoninstitute.org/ a comprehensive education in naval engineering, the program emphasizes their future roles as advocates Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research for innovation in ship design and acquisition. The Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research is http://web.mit.edu/2n/ a nonprofit, independent research institution whose research excellence is nurtured by the collaborative Reserve Officer Training Corps Programs spirit of its faculty and the creativity and dedication Military training has existed at MIT since students of its graduate students and postdoctoral scientists. first arrived in 1865. In 1917, MIT established the na- Whitehead’s primary focus is basic science, with an tion’s first Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) emphasis on molecular and cell biology, genetics and unit. Today, Air Force, Army, and Naval ROTC units genomics, and developmental biology. Specific areas are based at MIT. These programs enable students to of inquiry at Whitehead include cancer, transgenic become commissioned military officers upon gradu- science, stem cells, regenerative biology, genetics, ation. More than 12,000 officers have been commis- genomics, membrane biology, vertebrate develop- sioned from MIT, and more than 150 have achieved ment, and neurological disorders. Whitehead is affili- the rank of general or admiral. ated with MIT through its members, who hold faculty https://due.mit.edu/rotc/rotc-programs/ positions at MIT. A small number of junior investiga- tors also hold positions at Whitehead Institute as part Study at Other Institutions of the Whitehead Fellows program. MIT has cross-registration arrangements with several http://wi.mit.edu/ area schools. At the undergraduate level, students may cross-register at Harvard University, Wellesley College, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Other Affiliation and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. At the MIT-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint graduate level, qualified students may enroll in cours- Program in Oceanography and Applied Ocean es at Harvard University, Wellesley College, Boston Science and Engineering University, Brandeis University, and Tufts University. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) A selection of international study opportunities are is the largest independent oceanographic institu- described on pages 108-110. tion in the world. The MIT/WHOI Joint Program provides a high quality doctoral education leading to

MIT Briefing Book 15 Education Highlights 1974 The Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science (MITES) program is established to provide MIT has long maintained that professional compe- a rigorous six-week residential, academic summer tence is best fostered by coupling teaching with program for promising high school juniors who are research and by focusing education on practical prob- interested in careers in science and engineering. lems. This hands-on approach has made MIT a consis- tent leader in outside surveys of the nation’s best 1977 Whitaker College of Health Sciences, Tech- colleges. MIT was the first university in the country nology, and Management is established to to offer curriculums in architecture (1865), electrical strengthen MIT’s ability to engage in health related engineering (1882), sanitary engineering (1889), research and education. naval architecture and marine engineering (1895), aeronautical engineering (1914), meteorology (1928), 1977 MIT organizes the Program in Science, Tech- nuclear physics (1935), and artificial intelligence nology, and Society to explore and teach courses on (1960s). More than 4,000 MIT graduates are profes- the social context and consequences of science and sors at colleges and universities around the world. technology—one of the first programs of its kind in MIT faculty have written some of the best-selling the United States. textbooks of all time, such as Economics by Paul A. 1981 MIT-Japan Program is created to send MIT Samuelson and Calculus and Analytic Geometryby students to Japan for internships. In 1994, the George Thomas. The following are some notable MIT program becomes part of the MIT International teaching milestones since 1968. Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI). Today, the 1968 MIT and Woods Hole Oceanographic Insti- program also fosters research collaboration between tute create a joint program for graduate studies faculty at MIT and in Asia through the MISTI Hayashi in oceanography. This is the first higher education Seed Fund. partnership of its kind. 1981 MIT launches Project Athena, a $70 million 1969 MIT launches the Undergraduate Research program to explore the use of computers in educa- Opportunities Program (UROP), the first of its kind. tion. Digital Equipment Corporation and IBM each The program, which enables undergraduates to contribute $25 million in computer equipment. work directly with faculty on professional research, 1981 The MIT Sloan School of Management launches subsequently is copied in universities throughout its Management of Technology program, the world’s the world. first master’s program to focus on the strategic 1970 The Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences management of technology and innovation. and Technology is established to focus advances 1983 MIT establishes the Center for Real Estate and in science and technology on human health and to the first Master of Science in Real Estate Develop- train physicians with a strong base in engineering ment (MSRED) degree program in the U.S. and science. 1983–1990 MIT language and computer science 1970 Department of Mechanical Engineering initiates faculty join in the Athena Language Learning Project the course 2.70 (now 2.007) design contest, created to develop interactive videos that immerse students in by professor Woodie C. Flowers. The competition the language and character of other cultures. The work was to build a mechanical device, out of a set of rela- pioneers a new generation of language learning tools. tively simple wooden and metal parts, that would roll down a ramp at a precisely controlled rate. 1984 MIT establishes the Media Laboratory, bringing together pioneering educational programs in 1971 MIT holds its first Independent Activities Period computer music, film, graphics, holography, lasers, (IAP), a January program that emphasizes creativity and other media technologies. and flexibility in teaching and learning.

16 MIT Briefing Book Facts and History

1990 MIT initiates an artist-in-residence program 1995 MIT’s Political Science Department establishes to provide students with opportunities to interact the Washington Summer Internship Program to with nationally and internationally recognized artists provide undergraduates the opportunity to apply their through master classes, lecture-demonstrations, scientific and technical training to public policy issues. performances and workshops. 1997 The MIT-Germany Program is created within 1991 The Department of Mechanical Engineering’s MISTI to send MIT students to Germany for internships. course 2.70 (2.007) design contest goes interna- tional, with students competing from Japan, England 1998 MIT teams up with Singapore’s two leading and Germany. research universities to create a global model for long-distance engineering education and research. 1992 MIT establishes the MacVicar Faculty Fellows This large-scale experiment, the first truly global Program, named in honor of the late Margaret A. collaboration in graduate engineering education and MacVicar, to recognize outstanding contributions research, is a model for today’s distance education. to teaching. MacVicar, a professor of physics, had conceived of, designed, and launched UROP (see 1998 MIT-India Program is created within MISTI to 1969, above). send MIT students to India for internships.

1992 MIT launches the Laboratory for Advanced 1998 The Division of Bioengineering & Environ- Technology in the Humanities to extend its mental Health (BEH) begins operation with the pioneering work in computer- and video-assisted mission of fostering MIT education and research language learning to other disciplines. Its first venture fusing engineering with biology. was a text and performance multimedia archive for 1998 The School of Engineering establishes the studies of Shakespeare’s plays. Engineering Systems Division (ESD), focused on the 1992 MIT Faculty approves the M.Eng. program in development of new approaches, frameworks, and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, an inte- theories to better understand engineering systems grated five-year program leading to the simultaneous behavior and design. award of a bachelor’s and a master’s degree. 1999 MIT-Italy Program is created within MISTI to 1993 In recognition of the increasing importance send MIT students to Italy for internships. of molecular and cell biology, MIT becomes the 1999 The University of Cambridge and MIT estab- first college in the nation to add biology to its lish the Cambridge-MIT Institute, whose programs undergraduate requirement. include student and faculty exchanges, an integrated 1994 The MIT International Science and Technology research program, professional practice education, Initiatives (MISTI) are created to connect MIT and a national competitiveness network in Britain. students to internships and research around the 1999 MIT establishes the Society of Presidential world. MIT’s primary international program, MISTI Fellows to honor the most outstanding students is a pioneer in applied international studies—a worldwide entering the Institute’s graduate distinctively MIT concept. programs. With gifts provided by lead donors, presi- 1994 The MIT-China Program is created within MISTI dential fellows are awarded fellowships that fund first to send MIT students to China for internships. year tuition and living expenses.

1995 The School of Engineering and the Sloan School 2000 MIT Faculty approve the Communication of Management join to create a graduate program Requirement (CR). The CR integrates substantial in system design and management (SDM), in which instruction and practice in writing and speaking into students can complete most course requirements at all four years and across all parts of MIT’s undergrad- their job sites through interactive distance-learning. uate program. Students participate regularly in activi- ties designed to develop both general and technical communication skills.

MIT Briefing Book 17 2001 Studio Physics is introduced to teach freshman 2003 MIT’s Program in Computational and Systems physics. Incorporating a highly collaborative, hands-on Biology (CSBi), an Institute-wide program linking environment that uses networked laptops and desktop biology, engineering, and computer science in a experiments, the new curriculum lets students work systems biology approach to the study of cell-to- directly with complicated and unfamiliar concepts as cell signaling, tissue formation, and cancer, begins their professors introduce them. accepting students for a new Ph.D. program that will give them the tools for treating biological entities as 2001 MIT launches OpenCourseWare, a program complex living systems. that makes materials for nearly all of its courses freely available on the web and serves as a model for 2004 The MIT-Mexico Program is created within sharing knowledge to benefit all humankind. MISTI to send MIT students to Mexico for internships.

2001 The MIT-France Program is created within MISTI 2005 Combining courses from engineering, math- to send MIT students to France for internships and ematics, and management, MIT launches its master’s enhance research collaboration between faculty at program in Computation for Design and Optimiza- MIT and in France through the MIT-France Seed Fund. tion, one of the first curriculums in the country to focus on the computational modeling and design of 2001 MIT establishes WebLab, a microelectronics complex engineered systems. The program prepares teaching laboratory that allows students to interact engineers for the challenges of making systems remotely on the Web with transistors and other ranging from computational biology to airline sched- microelectronics devices anywhere and at any time. uling to telecommunications design and operations run with maximum effectiveness and efficiency. 2001 MIT’s Earth System Initiative launches Terra- scope, a freshman course in which students work 2006 MIT creates the Campaign for Students, a fund- in teams to solve complex earth sciences problems. raising effort dedicated to enhancing the educational Bringing together physics, mathematics, chemistry, experience at MIT through creating scholarships and biology, management, and communications, the fellowships, and supporting multidisciplinary education course has enabled students to devise strategies for and student life. preserving tropical rainforests, understand the costs and the benefits of oil drilling in the Arctic National 2006 The MIT-Spain Program is created within MISTI Wildlife Refuge, and plan a mission to Mars. to send MIT students to Spain for internships.

2002 To give engineering students the opportunity 2007 MIT makes material from virtually all MIT courses to develop the skills they’ll need to be leaders in available online for free on OpenCourseWare. The the workplace, MIT introduces the Undergraduate publication marks the beginning of a worldwide move- Practice Opportunities Program (UPOP). The program ment toward open education that now involves more involves a corporate training workshop, job seminars than 160 universities and 5,000 courses. taught by alumni, and a 10-week summer internship. 2008 The MIT-Israel Program is created within MISTI 2003 MIT Libraries introduce DSpace, a digital reposi- to train and send MIT students to Israel for internships; tory that gathers, stores, and preserves the intel- strengthen collaborations between MIT and Israel; lectual output of MIT’s faculty and research staff, and organize workshops, conferences, symposia and and makes it freely available to research institutions lectures at MIT and in Israel. worldwide. Within a year of its launch, DSpace mate- rial had been downloaded more than 8,000 times, 2009 MIT launches the Bernard M. Gordon-MIT and more than 100 organizations had adopted the Engineering Leadership Program. Through interaction system for their own use. with industry leaders, faculty, and fellow students, the program aims to help undergraduate engineering students develop the skills, tools, and character they will need as future engineering leaders.

18 MIT Briefing Book Facts and History

2009 The MIT-Brazil Program is created within MISTI 2012 MIT and Harvard University announce edX, a to send MIT students to Brazil for internships and transformational new partnership in online educa- encourage research collaboration between faculty at tion. Through edX, the two institutions will collabo- MIT and in Brazil through the MIT-Brazil Seed Fund. rate to enhance campus-based teaching and learning and build a global community of online learners. An 2009 MIT introduces a minor in energy studies, open open-source technology platform will deliver online to all undergraduates. The new minor, unlike most courses that move beyond the standard model energy concentrations available at other institutions, of online education that relies on watching video and unlike any other concentration at MIT, is designed content and will offer an interactive experience for to be inherently cross-disciplinary, encompassing all of students. The University of California at Berkeley later MIT’s five schools. It can be combined with any major joins edX. The three institutions offer the first edX subject. The minor aims to allow students to develop courses in fall 2012. expertise and depth in their major disciplines, but then complement that with the breadth of understanding 2012 Lincoln Laboratory debuts a new outreach offered by the energy minor. program—a two-week summer residential program for high-school students. The program, Lincoln Labora- 2010 MIT introduces the flexible engineering degree tory Radar Introduction for Student Engineers, focuses for undergraduates. The degree, the first of its kind, on radar technology. The project-based curriculum is allows students to complement a deep disciplinary based on a popular class offered during MIT’s Inde- core with an additional subject concentration. The pendent Activities Period (IAP) and taught by Labora- additional concentration can be broad and interdisci- tory technical staff. While the instructors adapted the plinary in nature (energy, transportation, or the envi- IAP course to suit high-school students, they retained ronment), or focused on areas that can be applied to the challenging nature of the original class. The goal multiple fields (robotics and controls, computational of the program is that students take away not only an engineering, or engineering management). understanding of radar systems but also the realiza- tion that engineering is about problem‐solving and 2011 MIT announces MITx, an online learning initia- applying knowledge in innovative ways. tive that will offer a portfolio of free MIT courses through an online interactive learning platform. The 2012 MIT announces the launch of the Institute for Institute expects the platform to enhance the educa- Medical Engineering and Science (IMES). IMES brings tional experience of its on-campus students and together research and education efforts at the nexus serve as a host for a virtual community of millions of engineering, science, and clinical medicine to of learners around the world. The MITx prototype advance human health. course—6.002x or “Circuits and Electronics”— debuts in March 2012 with almost 155,000 people 2013 The School of Engineering and Lincoln Labora- registering for the course. tory launch Beaver Works. This initiative facilitates project-based learning by leveraging partnerships 2012 MIT establishes the Office of Digital Learning between faculty and students at MIT and practicing to harness the Institute’s digital learning resources, engineers at Lincoln Laboratory to promote collab- creating more integration and coordination among orative research and to enable the fabrication of formerly independent organizational units related to prototype systems. The initiative’s signature collabo- educational technology. ration is the Beaver Works capstone project in areas such as unmanned aerial vehicles, small satellites, autonomous underwater systems, energy systems, cybersecurity, communications, big data analytics, and advanced devices.

MIT Briefing Book 19 2013 OCW inaugurates “OCW Educator” with the 2015 MIT creates the MIT-Woodrow Wilson Academy first “This Course at MIT” page. This feature offers of Teaching and Learning to advance pre-K through educational ideas, practices, and pedagogical exper- 12 education by combining MIT’s “mind and hand” tise from MIT faculty in order to inspire teachers approach to learning with recent breakthroughs in around the world with innovations that they may use cognitive science and digital learning. The program in their own teaching. develops STEM teachers and school leaders around the world. 2014 MITx on edX registers its one-millionth learner on May 27, 2014. 2015 The Residential MITx platform hosts its 100th course. Nearly 90 percent of MIT undergradu- 2014 The Office of Digital Learning pilots the MITx ates have participated in one or more courses that Global Entrepreneurship Bootcamp, an innovative use the platform. “blended learning” program that combines online education with an intensive, immersive one-week 2015 The Institute for Data, Systems, and Society on-campus experience. (IDSS) is launched. A collaboration among all five of MIT’s schools, IDSS brings together researchers 2014 MIT Professional Education, in cooperation with working in the mathematical, behavioral, and empir- the Office of Digital Learning and edX, begins offering ical sciences to capitalize on their shared interest in online courses designed specifically for industry tackling complex societal problems. and active professionals. Based on research in areas ranging from big data, cybersecurity, and entrepre- 2015 Lincoln Laboratory offered LLCipher, a one-week neurship, these courses enable MIT to disseminate workshop providing an introduction to cryptography. knowledge at scale to professionals around the Lessons provided high-school students the founda- world, in areas critical to industry. The first course tional knowledge to understand a math-based theoret- on big data enrolled more than 7,000 paid enrollees ical approach to securing data. Students constructed from over 100 countries. provably secure encryption and digital signature schemes, and then learned about zero-knowledge 2015 SuperUROP, an amplified version of the proofs and multiparty computation. The workshop’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, success warranted an expansion in future years. is launched in the School of Engineering. First conceived and implemented in 2012 under the lead- 2015 MIT created a new credential for online learners: ership of the Department of Electrical Engineering the “MicroMasters,” granted by MITx to students and Computer Science, SuperUROP is a year-long who participate in a given set of online courses and program that enables students to tackle complex pass a proctored exam. The MITx MicroMasters was problems and affords them the time, training, piloted in the Supply Chain Management program. resources, and guidance necessary for deep scientific Upon attainment of the credential, learners are eligible and engineering inquiry. to apply for an accelerated, one-semester master’s degree program on campus at MIT.

20 MIT Briefing Book Facts and History Research Highlights 1975 The Lincoln Laboratory Experimental Test System (ETS) becomes operational. The ETS is The following are selected research achievements of used for deep-space surveillance, daylight satel- MIT faculty and staff over the last five decades. lite tracking, searching the geostationary belt, and making astronomical measurements. 1967 Joel Moses, William A. Martin, and others develop MACSYMA, a computer program that manip- 1975–1977 Barbara Liskov and her students design ulates algebraic quantities and performs symbolic the CLU programming language, an object-oriented integration and differentiation. language that helps form the underpinnings for languages like Java and C++. As a result of this work and 1968 Radar-based lunar studies are performed by other accomplishments, Liskov later wins the Turing Lincoln Laboratory. The use of radar to map the Award, considered the Nobel Prize in computing. surface of the moon becomes possible when the radar beam is made small enough to discriminate between 1975–1982 Joel Moses develops the first extensive two points on the surface that would contribute computerized program (MACSYMA) able to manipu- echoes at the same range and Doppler shift. Altitude late algebraic quantities and perform symbolic data is added to the two-dimensional radar reflectivity integration and differentiation. data by the use of interferometry. In addition, from the strength of radar reflections, it is estimated that the 1976 H. Gobind Khorana and his research team lunar surface has weight-bearing properties similar to complete chemical synthesis of the first human- that of terrestrial sand. manufactured gene fully functional in a living cell. The culmination of 12 years of work, it establishes 1969 Ioannis V. Yannas begins to develop artificial the foundation for the biotechnology industry. skin—a material used successfully to treat burn victims. Khorana won the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology/ Medicine for other genetics work. 1970 David Baltimore reports the discovery of reverse transcriptase, an enzyme that catalyzes the conver- 1977 Phillip Sharp discovers the split gene structure sion of RNA to DNA. The advance, which led to a Nobel of higher organisms, changing the view of how genes Prize for Baltimore in 1975, provided a new means for arose during evolution. For this work, Sharp shared studying the structure and function of genes. the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine.

1972 Lincoln Laboratory’s Moving Target Detector 1977 Ronald Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard (MTD) achieved a new performance level for the Adleman invent the first workable public key cryp- detection of aircraft in the presence of radar clutter, tographic system. The new code, which is based on such as ground, weather, and birds. It employed an the use of very large prime numbers, allows secret antenna with two fan beams to provide coverage communication between any pair of users. Still from the immediate vicinity of an airport to a distance unbroken, the code is in widespread use today. of 60 nautical miles. The MTD became the world- recognized standard for Airport Surveillance Radar. 1979 The high frame rate required for airborne laser radar demands an array of photomixers, and Lincoln 1973 Jerome Friedman and Henry Kendall, with Laboratory begins a design study in binary optics for a Stanford colleague Richard Taylor, complete a series solution. A hologram is proposed to generate an array of experiments confirming the theory that protons of beams with the amplitude and phase distributions and neutrons are made up of minute particles called necessary to ensure efficient photomixing. quarks. The three receive the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work. 1979 Robert Weinberg reports isolating and iden- tifying the first human oncogene—an altered gene 1974 Samuel C. C. Ting, Ulrich Becker, and Min Chen that causes the uncontrolled cell growth that leads discover the “J” particle. The discovery, which earns to cancer. Ting the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physics, points to the existence of one of the six postulated types of quarks.

MIT Briefing Book 21 1981 Alan Guth publishes the first satisfactory model, 1988 Project Daedalus sets distance and endurance called cosmic inflation, of the universe’s development records for human-powered aircraft in a flight over in the first 10–32 seconds after the Big Bang. the Aegean Sea.

1982 Alan Davison discovers a new class of techne- 1988 Sallie Chisholm and associates report the tium compounds that leads to the development of discovery of a form of ocean plankton that may be the first diagnostic technetium drug for imaging the the most abundant single species on earth. human heart. 1989 The Airport Surveillance Radar (ASR)-9, devel- 1982 Lincoln Laboratory utilizes a new generation of oped at Lincoln Laboratory, provides air traffic digital signal processing chips to develop a compact control (ATC) personnel with a display free of clutter linear predictive coding (LPC) vocoder small and and a telephone bandwidth data stream for transmit- inexpensive enough for wide distribution. A vocoder ting information to ATC facilities. The technology was analyzes and synthesizes speech using parameters later transferred to Westinghouse Corporation, which that can be encrypted and transmitted at a much deployed the ASR-9 at 137 sites in the U.S. for the lower bit rate than the original speech waveform. The Federal Aviation Administration. LPC vocoder is important in the U.S. development of secure voice systems. 1990 Julius Rebek, Jr. and associates create the first self-replicating synthetic molecule. 1985 Susumu Tonegawa describes the structure of the gene for the receptors—“anchor molecules”— 1990 Building on the discovery of the metathesis— on the white blood cells called T lymphocytes, the the process of cutting carbon-carbon double bonds immune system’s master cells. In 1987, Tonegawa in half and constructing new ones—Richard Schrock receives the Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine for devises a catalyst that greatly speeds up the reac- similar work on the immune system’s B cells. tion, consumes less energy, and produces less waste. A process based on his discovery is now in wide- 1985 The Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR) spread use for efficient and more environmentally program is initiated at Lincoln Laboratory to friendly production of important pharmaceuticals, develop an automated system for detecting weather fuels, synthetic fibers, and many other products. hazards in the airport terminal area and to help Schrock shares the 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for pilots avoid them. A successful TDWR prototype led his breakthrough. to the procurement of 47 TDWRs from Raytheon in the 1990s, and there has not been a major U.S. 1991 Cleveland heart doctors begin clinical trials wind-shear-related accident since 1994. of a laser catheter system for microsurgery on the arteries that is largely the work of Michael Feld and 1986 Stephen Benton creates the first free-standing his MIT associates. hologram. In 1985, Benton began generating synthetic holograms from 3D digital databases, 1992 The Lincoln Laboratory Microelectronics Labo- initially creating a 3D image of a green car floating in ratory becomes operational. It is a 70,000 sq ft state- front of the Boston skyline. of-the-art semiconductor research and fabrication facility supporting a wide range of programs: flight- 1986 H. Robert Horvitz identifies the first two genes quality gigapixel charge-coupled device (CCD) imager found to be responsible for the process of cell death, focal planes, photon-counting avalanche photodiode which is critical both for normal body development arrays, and niobium-based superconducting circuits, and for protection against autoimmune diseases, to name a few. The Microelectronics Laboratory cancer, and other disorders. Going on to make many also supports advanced packaging with a precision more pioneering discoveries about the genetics of multichip module technology and an advanced three- cell death, Horvitz shares the 2002 Nobel Prize in dimensional circuit stacking technology. Physiology/Medicine for his work.

22 MIT Briefing Book Facts and History

1993 H. Robert Horvitz, together with scientists at 1997 MIT physicists create the first atom laser, Massachusetts General Hospital, discover an associa- a device that is analogous to an optical laser but tion between a gene mutation and the inherited form emits atoms instead of light. The resulting beam of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease). can be focused to a pinpoint or made to travel long distances with minimal spreading. 1993 David Housman joins colleagues at other institutions in announcing a successful end to 1998 MIT biologists, led by Leonard Guarente, the long search for the genetic defect linked with identify a mechanism of aging in yeast cells that Huntington’s disease. suggests researchers may one day be able to inter- vene in, and possibly inhibit, the aging process in 1993 Alexander Rich and postdoctoral fellow certain human cells. Shuguang Zhang report the discovery of a small protein fragment that spontaneously forms into 1998 Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) membranes. This research will lead to advances in is developed by Lincoln Laboratory to detect and drug development, biomedical research, and the catalogue near-Earth asteroids that may threaten understanding of Alzheimer’s and other diseases. Earth. Applying technology originally developed for the surveillance of Earth-orbiting satellites, LINEAR 1993 The Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System uses two ground-based electro-optical deep-space (TCAS) is deployed. TCAS reduces midair collisions by surveillance telescopes. sensing nearby aircraft and issuing an advisory to the pilot. Lincoln Laboratory developed the surveillance 1998 An interdisciplinary team of MIT researchers, technology used by TCAS and built and flight-tested led by Yoel Fink and Edwin L. Thomas, invent the the TCAS prototype. Now mandated on all large “perfect mirror,” which offers radical new ways of transport aircraft, TCAS has been in operation for directing and manipulating light. Potential applica- over a decade and has been credited with preventing tions range from a flexible light guide that can illumi- several catastrophic accidents. nate specific internal organs during surgery to new devices for optical communications. 1994 MIT engineers develop a robot that can “learn” exercises from a physical therapist, guide a patient 1999 Michael Cima, Robert Langer, and graduate through them, and, for the first time, record biomedical student John Santini report the first microchip data on the patient’s condition and progress. that can store and release chemicals on demand. Among its potential applications is a “pharmacy” 1995 The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) is developed that could be swallowed or implanted under the skin at Lincoln Laboratory to validate new technologies and programmed to deliver precise drug dosages at that (1) could be utilized in future land-observing specific times. satellites and (2) would reduce mass, size, and power consumption while improving instrument sensitivity 1999 Alexander Rich leads a team of researchers in and image resolution. the discovery that left-handed DNA (also known as Z-DNA) is critical for the creation of important brain 1995 Scientists at the Whitehead Institute for Biomed- chemicals. Having first produced Z-DNA syntheti- ical Research and MIT create a map of the human cally in 1979, Rich succeeds in identifying it in nature genome and begin the final phase of the Human in 1981. He also discovers its first biological role Genome Project. This powerful map contains more and received the National Medal of Science for this than 15,000 distinct markers and covers virtually all of pioneering work in 1995. the human genome. 2000 Scientists at the Whitehead Institute/MIT 1996 A group of scientists at MIT’s Center for Learning Center for Genome Research and their collaborators and Memory, led by Matthew Wilson and Nobel announce the completion of the Human Genome laureate Susumu Tonegawa, use new genetic and Project. Providing about a third of all the sequences multiple-cell monitoring technologies to demonstrate assembled, the Center was the single largest how animals form memory about new environments. contributor to this international enterprise.

MIT Briefing Book 23 2000 Researchers develop a device that uses ultra- 2003 MIT scientists cool a sodium gas to the lowest sound to extract a number of important molecules temperature ever recorded—a half-a-billionth of a noninvasively and painlessly through the skin. They degree above absolute zero. Studying these ultra- expect that the first application will be a portable low temperature gases will provide valuable insights device for noninvasive glucose monitoring for diabetics. into the basic physics of matter; and by facilitating the development of better atomic clocks and sensors 2000 Researchers from the MIT Sloan School of for gravity and rotation, they also could lead to vast Management launch the Social and Economic Explo- improvements in precision measurements. rations of Information Technology (SeeIT) Project, the first empirical study of the effects of information 2004 MIT’s Levitated Dipole Experiment, a collabora- technology (IT) on organizational and work prac- tion among scientists at MIT and Columbia, gener- tices. Examining IT’s relationship to changes in these ates a strong dipole magnetic field that enables them models, SeeIT provides practical data for under- to experiment with plasma fusion, the source of standing and evaluating IT’s business and economic energy that powers the sun and stars, with the goal effects, which will enable us to take full advantage of of producing it on Earth. Because the hydrogen that its opportunities and better control its risks. fuels plasma fusion is practically limitless and the energy it produces is clean and doesn’t contribute to 2001 In a step toward creating energy from sunlight global warming, fusion power will be of enormous as plants do, Daniel Nocera and a team of researchers benefit to humankind and to earth systems in general. invent a compound that, with the help of a catalyst and energy from light, produces hydrogen. 2004 A team, led by neuroscientist Mark Bear, illumi- nates the molecular mechanisms underlying Fragile 2002 MIT researchers create the first acrobatic robotic X Syndrome and shows that it might be possible bird—a small, highly agile helicopter for military use in to develop drugs that treat the symptoms of this mountain and urban combat. leading known inherited cause of mental retardation, whose effects range from mild learning disabilities to 2002–2005 Scientists at MIT, the Whitehead Insti- severe autism. tute for Biomedical Research, and the Broad Institute complete the genomes of the mouse, the dog, and 2004 Shuguang Zhang, Marc A. Baldo, and recent four strains of phytoplankton, photosynthetic organ- graduate Patrick Kiley, first figure out how to stabi- isms that are critical for the regulation of atmospheric lize spinach proteins—which, like all plants, produce carbon dioxide. They also identify the genes required to energy when exposed to light—so they can survive create a zebrafish embryo. In collaboration with scien- without water and salt. Then, they devise a way to tists from other institutions, they map the genomes of attach them to a piece of glass coated with a thin chimpanzees, humans’ closest genetic relative, and the layer of gold. The resulting spinach-based solar cell, smallest known vertebrate, the puffer fish. the world’s first solid-state photosynthetic solar cell, has the potential to power laptops and cell phones 2003 Enhanced Regional Situation Awareness (ERSA) with sunlight. system is developed by Lincoln Laboratory for the U.S. Air Force to provide improved defense of the airspace 2005 MIT physicists, led by Nobel laureate Wolfgang surrounding the National Capital Region (NCR). ERSA Ketterle, create a new type of matter, a gas of atoms capabilities have improved airspace surveillance, that shows high-temperature superfluidity. threat assessment and decision support, distribution of a common air picture to multiple agencies, and new 2005 Vladimir Bulovic and Tim Swager develop lasing ways to respond to aircraft violating the NCR airspace. sensors based on a semiconducting polymer that is able to detect the presence of TNT vapor subparts per billion concentrations.

24 MIT Briefing Book Facts and History

2006 MIT launches the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) to 2008 Mriganka Sur’s laboratory discovers that address world energy problems. Led by Ernest J. Moniz astrocytes, star-shaped cells in the brain that are as and Robert C. Armstrong, MITEI coordinates energy numerous as neurons, form the basis for functioning research, education, campus energy management, and brain imaging. Using ultra high-resolution imaging in outreach activities across the Institute. the intact brain, they demonstrate that astrocytes regulate blood flow to active brain regions by linking 2007 Rudolf Jaenisch, of the Whitehead Institute for neurons to brain capillaries. Biomedical Research, conducts the first proof-of- principle experiment of the therapeutic potential of 2008 A team, led by Marc A. Baldo, designs a solar induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells), using iPS concentrator that focuses light at the edges of a solar cells reprogrammed from mouse skin cells to cure a power cell. The technology can increase the efficiency mouse model of human sickle-cell anemia. Jaenisch of solar panels by up to 50 percent, substantially would then use a similar approach to treat a model of reducing the cost of generating solar electricity. Parkinson’s disease in rats. 2008 Daniel Nocera creates a chemical catalyst that 2007 Marin Soljačić and his colleagues develop a hurdles one of the obstacles to widespread use of new form of wireless power transmission they call solar power—the difficulty of storing energy from WITricity. It is based on a strongly coupled magnetic the sun. The ca­talyst, which is cheap and easy to resonance and can be used to transfer power over make, uses the energy from sunlight to separate distances of a few meters with high efficiency. The the hydrogen and oxygen molecules in water. The technique could be used commercially to wirelessly hydrogen can then be burned, or used to power an power laptops, cell phones, and other devices. electric fuel cell.

2007 David H. Koch ’62, SM ’63 gives MIT $100 million 2009 Lincoln Laboratory develops and demonstrates to create the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative the Lincoln Distributed Disaster Response System, Cancer Research. The Koch Institute opens in 2011. It which enables information from airborne platforms, brings together molecular geneticists, cell biologists, distributed weather stations, GPS-enabled devices, and engineers in a unique multi-disciplinary approach and other sources to be shared by responders at the to cancer research. emergency command centers and by those equipped with ruggedized laptops at the front lines. The 2007 Tim Jamison discovers that cascades of system design initially focuses on fighting a large- epoxide-opening reactions that were long thought scale fire but is also applicable for any large-scale to be impossible can very rapidly assemble the disaster response. Red Tide marine toxins when they are induced by water. Such processes may be emulating how these 2009 A team of MIT researchers, led by Angela toxins are made in nature and may lead to a better Belcher, reports that it is able to genetically engineer understanding of what causes devastating Red viruses to produce both the positively and negatively Tide phenomena. These methods also open up an charged ends of a lithium-ion battery. The battery environmentally green synthesis of new classes of has the same energy capacity as those being consid- complex highly biologically active compounds. ered for use in hybrid cars, but is produced using a cheaper, less environmentally hazardous process. 2007 MIT mathematicians form part of a group of 18 MIT President Susan Hockfield presents a prototype mathematicians from the U.S. and Europe that maps battery to President Barack Obama at a press briefing one of the most complicated structures ever studied: at the White House. the exceptional Lie group E8. The “answer” to the calculation, if written, would cover an area the size of 2009 Researchers at MIT’s Picower Institute for Manhattan. The resulting atlas has applications in the Learning and Memory show for the first time that fields of string theory and geometry. multiple interacting genetic risk factors may influence the severity of autism symptoms. The finding could lead to therapies and diagnostic tools that target the interacting genes.

MIT Briefing Book 25 2009 Gerbrand Ceder and graduate student 2010 MIT releases The Future of Natural Gas report. Byoungwoo Kang develop a new way to manufac- The two-year study, managed by the MIT Energy ture the material used in lithium ion batteries that Initiative, examines the scale of U.S. natural gas allows ultrafast charging and discharging. The new reserves and the potential of this fuel to reduce method creates a surface structure that allows greenhouse-gas emissions. While the report lithium ions to move rapidly around the outside of emphasizes the great potential for natural gas as a the battery. Batteries built using the new method transitional fuel to help curb greenhouse gases and could take seconds, rather than the now standard dependence on oil, it also stresses that it is impor- hours, to charge. tant as a matter of national policy not to favor any one fuel or energy source in a way that puts others 2009 Li-Huei Tsai’s laboratory describes mechanisms at a disadvantage. that underlie Alzheimer’s disease and propose that inhibition of histone deacetylases is therapeutic for 2010 Michael Strano and his team of graduate degenerative disorders of learning and memory. students and researchers create a set of self-assem- Her laboratory also discovers the mechanisms of bling molecules that can turn sunlight into electricity; action of the gene Disrupted-in-Schizophrenia 1 and the molecules can be repeatedly broken down and demonstrates why drugs such as lithium are effective reassembled quickly just by adding or removing an in certain instances of schizophrenia. This research additional solution. opens up pathways to discovering novel classes of drugs for devastating neuropsychiatric conditions. 2010 Lincoln Laboratory developed the Space Surveil- lance Telescope (SST), an advanced ground-based 2010 A new approach to desalination is being devel- optical system designed to enable detection and oped by researchers at MIT and in Korea that could tracking of faint objects in space while providing rapid, lead to small, portable desalination units that could wide-area search capability. The SST combines innova- be powered by solar cells or batteries and could tive curved charge-coupled device imager technology deliver enough fresh water to supply the needs of a developed at Lincoln Laboratory with a very wide family or small village. As an added bonus, the system field-of-view, large-aperture (3.5 meter) telescope. The would remove many contaminants, viruses, and system is installed at the Atom Site on the White Sands bacteria at the same time. Missile Range in New Mexico being evaluated for detection and tracking of microsatellites before being 2010 Yang Shao-Horn, with some of her students, transitioned to Space Surveillance Network. and visiting professor Hubert Gasteiger report that lithium-oxygen (also known as lithium-air) batteries 2011 Elazer Edelman, graduate student Joseph with electrodes with either gold or platinum as a Franses, and former postdoctoral fellows Aaron Baker catalyst have a higher efficiency than simple carbon and Vipul Chitalia show that cells lining blood vessels electrodes. Lithium-air batteries are lighter than the secrete molecules that suppress tumor growth and conventional lithium-ion batteries. prevent cancer cells from invading other tissues, a finding that could lead to a new cancer treatment. 2010 A team at the Media Lab, including Ramesh Raskar, visiting professor Manuel Oliveira, student 2011 The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS)—an Vitor Pamplona, and postdoctoral research associate instrument designed to use the unique environment of Ankit Mohan, create a new system to determine a space to search for antimatter and dark matter and to prescription for eyeglasses. In its simplest form, the measure cosmic rays—is delivered to the International test can be carried out using a small plastic device Space Station. The AMS experiment, led by Samuel clipped onto the front of a cellphone’s screen. C. C. Ting, is designed to study high-energy particles; such study could lead to new theories about the formation and evolution of the universe.

26 MIT Briefing Book Facts and History

2011 A team, including Karen Gleason, Vladimir 2012 Researchers, led by Ian Hunter, have engi- Bulović, and graduate student Miles Barr, develops neered a device that delivers a tiny, high-pressure materials that make it possible to produce photo- jet of medicine through the skin without the use of a voltaic cells on paper or fabric, nearly as simply as hypodermic needle. The device can be programmed printing a document. The technique represents a to deliver a range of doses to various depths—an major departure from the systems typically used improvement over similar jet-injection systems that to create solar cells, which require exposing the are now commercially available. substrates to potentially damaging conditions, either in the form of liquids or high temperatures. 2012 A clinical trial of an Alzheimer’s disease treat- ment developed at MIT finds that a nutrient cock- 2011 By combining a physical interface with tail can improve memory in patients with early computer-vision algorithms, researchers in the Alzheimer’s. Richard Wurtman invented the supple- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences create ment mixture, known as Souvenaid, which appears to a simple, portable imaging system that can achieve stimulate growth of new synapses. resolutions previously possible only with large and expensive lab equipment. The device could allow 2012 Researchers, including Young Lee and PhD manufacturers to inspect products too large to fit graduate Tianheng Han, have followed up on earlier under a microscope and could also have applica- theoretical predictions and demonstrated experimen- tions in medicine, forensics, and biometrics. More- tally the existence of a fundamentally new magnetic over, because the design uses multiple cameras, it state called a quantum spin liquid (QSL), adding to the can produce 3D models of an object, which can be two previously known states of magnetism. The QSL manipulated on a computer screen for examination is a solid crystal, but its magnetic state is described from multiple angles. as liquid: Unlike the other two kinds of magnetism, the magnetic orientations of the individual particles 2011 Researchers, led by Daniel Nocera, have within it fluctuate constantly, resembling the constant produced an “artificial leaf”—a silicon solar cell motion of molecules within a true liquid. with different catalytic materials bonded onto its two sides. The artificial leaf can turn the energy of 2012 Lincoln Laboratory developed a laser commu- sunlight directly into a chemical fuel that can be nications system to demonstrate high-data-rate stored and used later as an energy source. communications between a lunar-orbiting NASA satellite and a ground site in the United States. 2012 NASA’s Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory The Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration (GRAIL) twin spacecraft successfully enters lunar orbit. addresses NASA’s need for very-high-rate, very-long- By precisely measuring changes in distance between distance communications systems small enough the twin orbiting spacecraft, scientists will construct to fly in space. It transmits over 600 megabits per a detailed gravitational model of the moon that will second using only a 4-inch telescope and a 1/2-watt be used to answer fundamental questions about the laser installed on the satellite. The ground receiver moon’s evolution and its internal composition. GRAIL’s is nearly ten times more efficient than any optical principal investigator is Maria Zuber. receiver ever demonstrated at these high rates.

2012 Researchers, including Jeffrey Grossman, 2013 A new steelmaking process developed by discover that building cubes or towers of solar cells— researchers, Donald Sadoway, Antoine Allanore, and to extend the cells upward in three-dimensional former postdoc Lan Yin, produces no emissions other configurations—generates two to 20 times the power than pure oxygen and carries nice side benefits: The produced by fixed flat panels with the same base area. resulting steel should be of higher purity, and eventually, once the process is scaled up, cheaper.

MIT Briefing Book 27 2013 A research team, led by Yuriy Román, has 2014 Engineers at MIT and Lawrence Livermore devised a cheaper way to synthesize a key biofuel National Laboratory (LLNL) have devised a way to component, which could make its industrial produc- translate that airy, yet remarkably strong, structure tion much more cost-effective. The compound, style of the Eiffel Tower down to the microscale— known as gamma-valerolactone (GVL), has more designing a system that could be fabricated from a energy than ethanol and could be used on its own or variety of materials, such as metals or polymers, and as an additive to other fuels. GVL could also be useful that may set new records for stiffness for a given as a “green” solvent or a building block for creating weight. Nicholas Fang, former postdoc Howon Lee, renewable polymers from sustainable materials. visiting research fellow Qi “Kevin” Ge, LLNL’s Chris- topher Spadaccini and Xiaoyu “Rayne” Zheng are 2013 A system being developed by Dina Katabi and among the researchers involved in the project. her graduate student Fadel Adib, could give us the ability to see people through walls using low-cost 2014 Researchers, including Gang Chen and postdoc Wi-Fi technology. The system, called “Wi-Vi,” is based Hadi Ghasemi, have developed a new material on a concept similar to radar and sonar imaging. But structure—a layer of graphite flakes and an under- in contrast to radar and sonar, it transmits a low- lying carbon foam—that generates steam by soaking power Wi-Fi signal and uses its reflections to track up the sun. The material is able to convert 85 percent moving humans. of incoming solar energy into steam—a significant improvement over recent approaches to solar- 2013 Hydrophobic materials—water-shedding powered steam generation. The setup loses very surfaces—have a theoretical limit on the time it takes little heat in the process, and can produce steam at for a water droplet to bounce away from such a surface. relatively low solar intensity. Researchers, led by Kripa Varanasi, have found a way to burst through that perceived barrier, reducing the 2014 Bryan Hsu PhD ’14 and Paula Hammond, contact time by at least 40 percent. This research could working with Myoung-Hwan Park of Shamyook aid ice prevention, wing efficiency, and more. University in South Korea and Samantha Hagerman ’14, have developed a new drug-delivery system 2014 Lincoln Laboratory develops PANDA (Platform method that could enable pain medication and other for Architecture-Neutral Dynamic Analysis) enabling drugs to be released directly to specific parts of the software analysts to simplify the analysis and under- body. The method uses biodegradable, nanoscale standing of complex software systems for cyber anal- “thin films” laden with drug molecules that are ysis and threat protection. PANDA allows analysts to absorbed into the body in steady doses over a period quickly develop instrumentation that can help answer of up to 14 months. complex questions about software and inform appropriate responses. Software developers and 2014 Researchers at MIT, including John Foster, and analysts can move toward automating tasks that at the University of Colorado, including Daniel Baker, would otherwise be manual, tedious, time-consuming, and elsewhere have found there’s a hard limit to how and costly. close ultrarelativistic electrons can get to the Earth. The team found that no matter where these elec- 2014 Platinum-group metals can be considered unsus- trons are circling around the planet’s equator, they tainable resources that are needed catalysts to enable can get no further than about 11,000 kilometers from renewable energy technologies. Graduate student the Earth’s surface—despite their intense energy. Sean Hunt, postdoc Tarit Nimmandwudipong, and Yuriy Román have devised a process of synthesizing renewable alternative catalysts.

28 MIT Briefing Book Facts and History

2015 Natalie Artzi and Elazer Edelman, working with 2015 Plants achieve efficienct energy transport other researchers, found that a tissue adhesive they by making use of the exotic effects of quantum had previously developed worked much differently in mechanics—effects sometimes known as “quantum cancerous colon tissue than in colon tissue inflamed weirdness.” These effects, which include the with colitis. The finding suggests that scientists must ability of a particle to exist in more than one place take into account the environment in which the at a time, have now been used by engineers to material will be used, instead of using a “one-size fits achieve a significant efficiency boost in a light- all” approach for this sealant, or any other kind of harvesting system. Researchers at MIT, including biomaterial, designed to work inside the human body. Angela Belcher and Seth Lloyd, and Eni, the Italian energy company, use engineered viruses to provide 2015 MACHETE, a state-of-the-art airborne lidar quantum-based enhancement of energy transport system that performs high-resolution, 3D imaging to mimic photosynthesis. at an area collection rate an order of magnitude higher than other lidar systems, was developed by 2015 MIT engineers have designed what may be the Lincoln Laboratory. The system is highly optimized Band-Aid of the future: a sticky, stretchy, gel-like for foliage-penetration applications; it can image material that can incorporate temperature sensors, through dense canopy to reveal structures at and near LED lights, and other electronics, as well as tiny, drug- ground level. The system employs advanced single- delivering reservoirs and channels. The “smart wound photon-counting Geiger-mode avalanche detector dressing” releases medicine in response to changes in array technology, and an ultra-short pulsed laser and skin temperature and can be designed to light up if, gimbaled pointing system to deliver high-altitude, say, medicine is running low. The key to the design is high-resolution 3D imaging. a hydrogel matrix designed by Xuanhe Zhao.

2015 Kimberly Hamad-Schifferli and Lee Gehrke are 2016 A new advance from MIT, Boston Children’s among the researchers that have devised a new Hospital, and several other institutions may offer a diagnostic test that is a simple paper strip similar to better treatment for Type 1 diabetes, which leaves a pregnancy test, that can rapidly diagnose Ebola, as patients without the ability to naturally control well as other viral hemorrhagic fevers such as yellow blood sugar by damaging the pancreas. Replacing fever and dengue fever. Unlike most existing paper patients’ destroyed pancreatic islet cells with healthy diagnostics, which test for only one disease, the new cells is a treatment with one major drawback—the MIT strips are color-coded so they can be used to patients’ immune systems attack the transplanted distinguish among several diseases. cells—requiring patients to take immunosuppres- sant drugs for the rest of their lives. The researchers, 2015 Research conducted by Polina Anikeeva, including Daniel Anderson, have designed a material graduate student Ritchie Chen, postdoc Gabriela that can be used to encapsulate human islet cells Romero, graduate student Michael Christiansen, and before transplanting them without provoking an undergraduate Alan Mohr has developed a method immune response. to stimulate brain tissue using external magnetic fields and injected magnetic nanoparticles—a tech- nique allowing direct stimulation of neurons, which could be an effective treatment for a variety of neurological diseases, without the need for implants or external connections.

MIT Briefing Book 29 2016 Scientists have observed ripples in the fabric of 2016 Scientists at MIT, including Susan Solomon and spacetime called gravitational waves, arriving at the research scientist Diane Ivy, and elsewhere have Earth from a cataclysmic event in the distant universe. identified signs that the Antarctic ozone layer has This confirms a major prediction of Albert Einstein’s shrunk by more than 4 million square kilometers— 1915 general theory of relativity. Physicists have about half the area of the contiguous United States— concluded that the detected gravitational waves are since 2000, when ozone depletion was at its peak. produced during the final fraction of a second of the The team also showed for the first time that this merger of two black holes to produce a single, more recovery has slowed somewhat at times, due to the massive spinning black hole. The first gravitational effects of volcanic eruptions from year to year. The waves were detected on Sept. 14, 2015 at 5:51 a.m. team used “fingerprints” of the ozone changes with Eastern Daylight Time (09:51 UTC) by both of the twin season and altitude to attribute the ozone’s recovery Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory to the continuing decline of atmospheric chlorine (LIGO) detectors, located in Louisiana and Wash- originating from chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). ington, USA. Scientists detected gravitational waves for a second time on Dec. 26, 2015. The LIGO Obser- vatories were conceived, built, and are operated by Caltech and MIT. The discovery was made by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and the Virgo Collaboration using data from the two LIGO detectors.

30 MIT Briefing Book Facts and History

Faculty and Staff Faculty As of October 31, 2015, MIT employs 12,109 The MIT faculty instruct undergraduate and graduate persons on campus. In addition to the faculty, there students, and engage in research and service. are research, library, and administrative staff, and many others who, directly or indirectly, support the Faculty Profile, 2015–2016 teaching and research goals of the Institute. Percent Count of Total Faculty and Staff, 2015–2016 Professors 665 64 Employee Type Count Associate professors 194 19 Faculty 1,036 Assistant professors 177 17 Other academic and instructional staff 1,086 Total 1,036 100 Research staff and research scientists Male 806 78 (includes postdoctoral positions) 3,300 Female 230 22 Administrative staff 2,974 Support staff 1,543 See page 48 for a chart of faculty and students Service staff 829 from 1865–2016. Clinical and Medical staff 144 Seventy-five percent of faculty are tenured. Affiliated faculty, scientists, and scholars 1,197 Total campus faculty and staff 12,109 Faculty may hold dual appointments where they are appointed equally to two departments. Sixteen faculty Faculty and Staff, 2015–2016 members have dual appointments.

Clinical and Medical staff Other academic and Faculty by School, 2015–2016 1% Affiliated Faculty instructional staff faculty and 8% 9% School Count Percentage Service staff staff 7% 10% Architecture and Planning 84 8 Engineering 378 37 Humanities, Arts, Support staff 13% and Social Sciences 174 17 Research staff Management 117 11 and scientists 27% Science 273 26 Administrative Other 10 1 staff 25% Total 1,036 100

Sixty-three percent of the faculty are in science and engineering fields. Each year, MIT employs about 1,300 graduate students as teaching assistants and 3,800 graduate students as research assistants.

MIT Lincoln Laboratory employs about 3,700 people, primarily at Hanscom Air Force Base in Lexington, Massachusetts. See page 86 for additional Lincoln Laboratory staffing information.

MIT Briefing Book 31 Twenty percent of faculty are members of a U.S. Country of Origin minority group; seven percent of faculty identify with of Internationally Born Faculty, 2015–2016 an underrepresented minority group.

China Faculty by U.S. Minority Group, 2015–2016 10% Female Male India Ethnicity Count Count 8% United All others Kingdom Asian 30 104 38% Hispanic or Latino 7 34 7% African American 8 25 Canada American Indian or Alaskan Native 2 1 7% Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander 1 0 Germany 6% Spain Greece Ethnicity is self-identified, and faculty members may 3% 4% identify with more than one group. South Korea Russia 3% Israel France Italy 4% 4% 3% 3% Forty-three percent of current faculty are internation- ally born. Over seventy countries are represented by these faculty members.

Elapsed Years at MIT of Faculty, 2015–2016 (Excludes time as student)

50

45

40

35

30

25

Number of Faculty of Number 20

15

10

5

0 <1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 4950+ Elapsed Years at MIT

Professor Associate professor with tenure Associate professor without tenure Assistant professor

32 MIT Briefing Book Facts and History

Researchers MIT campus research staff and scientists total 3,300. Campus Research Staff and Scientists, 2015–2016 These researchers work with MIT faculty and students Senior Researchers Principal Researchers on projects funded by government, nonprofits and 2% 3% foundations, and industry. Postdoctoral Fellows Campus Research Staff and Scientists, 2015–2016 14% Employee Type Count Senior Researchers 58 Research Scientists and Principal Researchers 116 Technicians Postdoctoral 34% Research Scientists and Technicians 1,125 Associates 33% Visiting Scientists 454 Visiting Postdoctoral Associates 1,090 Scientists 14% Postdoctoral Fellows 457 Total 3,300

Approximately 2,600 graduate students were research assistants in fall 2015.

Elapsed Years at MIT of Campus Research Staff and Scientists, 2015–2016 (Senior Researchers, Principal Researchers, and Research Scientists and Technicians)

160

140

120

100

80

60 Number of Researchers

40

20

0 <1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 4950+ Elapsed Years at MIT

Research Scientists and Technicians Principal Researchers Senior Researchers

MIT Briefing Book 33 Postdoctoral Scholars International Postdoctoral Scholars Top Countries of Citizenship, 2015–2016 The MIT campus hosts 1,547 postdoctoral associates Country of Citizenship Count and fellows—412 females and 1,135 males. These in- dividuals work with faculty in academic departments, China 197 laboratories, and centers. India 89 South Korea 70 U.S. Citizen and Permanent Resident Germany 67 Postdoctoral Scholars by Ethnicity, 2015–2016 Israel 62 Ethnicity Count Canada 59 Hispanic or Latino 29 Italy 45 African American 7 France 43 American Indian or Alaskan Native 0 Iran 37 Total underrepresented minorities (URM) 36 United Kingdom 34 White 292 Asian 75 Country of Citizenship Two or more races 6 of International Postdoctoral Scholars, 2015–2016 Unknown 127

Total 536 China 19% All Others Ethnicity of Postdoctoral Scholars, 2015–2016 25% Unknown 8% Japan India Two or more races 3% 9% <1% Spain 3% South Korea United 7% White Kingdom 19% 3% Iran Germany 4% France 7% International 4% Israel Asian 65% Italy Canada 5% 4% 6% 6% URM 2% Postdoctoral scholars come from 70 foreign countries.

Years at MIT of Postdoctoral Scholars, 2015–2016 600 500 400 300 Number of 200 PostdoctoralScholars 100 0 < 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Years at MIT Male Female

34 MIT Briefing Book Facts and History

Awards and Honors of Current Faculty and Staff Nobel Prize Nine current faculty members at MIT have received the Nobel Prize. They are: H. Robert Horvitz Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (shared) Wolfgang Ketterle Nobel Prize in Physics (shared) Robert C. Merton Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (shared) Richard R. Schrock Nobel Prize in Chemistry (shared) Phillip A. Sharp Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (shared) Susan Solomon Nobel Peace Prize (co-chair of Working Group One recognized under Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), shared) Samuel C. C. Ting Nobel Prize in Physics (shared) Susumu Tonegawa Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Frank Wilczek Nobel Prize in Physics (shared)

Number of recipients of selected awards and honors current faculty and staff have received Recipients Award Name and Agency 147 American Academy of Arts and Sciences Member 96 American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow 12 American Philosophical Society Member 84 American Physical Society Fellow 20 American Society of Mechanical Engineers Fellow 27 Association for Computing Machinery Fellow 3 John Bates Clark Medal, American Economic Association 3 Dirac Medal, Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics 10 Fulbright Scholar, Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) 8 Gairdner Award, Gairdner Foundation 61 Guggenheim Fellow, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation 17 HHMI Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) 54 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Fellow 1 Japan Prize, Science and Technology Foundation of Japan 3 Kavli Prize, Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters 1 Kyoto Prize, Inamori Foundation of Japan 24 MacArthur Fellow, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation 2 Millennium Technology Prize, Millennium Prize Foundation 64 National Academy of Engineering Member, National Academies 31 National Academy of Medicine Member, National Academies 81 National Academy of Sciences Member, National Academies 9 National Medal of Science, National Science & Technology Medals Foundation 1 National Medal of Technology and Innovation, National Science & Technology Medals Foundation 1 Rolf Nevanlinna Prize, International Mathematical Union (IMU) 33 Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) 4 Pulitzer Prize, Pulitzer Board 2 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Foundation 4 Royal Academy of Engineering Fellow, Royal Academy of Engineering 5 A. M. Turing Award, Association for Computing Machinery 1 Von Hippel Award, Materials Research Society 2 John von Neumann Medal, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. 6 Alan T. Waterman Award, National Science Foundation 3 Wolf Prize, Wolf Foundation

MIT Briefing Book 35 Award Highlights Four MIT faculty win Presidential Early Career Awards 2016 Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) President Barack Obama named four MIT faculty among 105 recipients of the 2016 Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers.

Those from MIT who were honored were:

• Tonio Buonassisi, associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering; • Cullen Buie, associate professor and the Esther and Harold E. Edergton Career Development Chair in the Department of Mechanical Engineering; • William Tisdale, assistant professor and the Charles and Hilda Roddey Career Development Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering; and • Kay M. Tye, assistant professor and the Whitehead Professorship Chair in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences.

http://bit.ly/1QiL4bn

Feng Zhang 2016 Canada Gairdner International Award Feng Zhang, a core institute member of the Broad Institute, an investigator at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, and W. M. Keck Career Development Associate Professor in MIT’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, has been named a recipient of the 2016 Canada Gairdner International Award—Canada’s most prestigious scientific prize—for his role in developing the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing system.

In January 2013 Zhang and his team were first to report CRISPR-based genome editing in mammalian cells, in what has become the most-cited paper in the CRISPR field. He is one of five scientists the Gairdner Founda- tion is honoring for work with CRISPR. Zhang shares the award with Rodolphe Barrangou from North Carolina State University; Emmanuelle Charpentier of the Max Planck Institute; Jennifer Doudna of the University of California at Berkeley and Phillipe Horvath from DuPont Nutrition and Health.

http://bit.ly/1Tna1jO

Mircea Dincă 2016 National Science Foundation’s Alan T. Waterman Award MIT professor of chemistry Mircea Dincă has been selected as the recipient of the National Science Foun- dation’s 2016 Alan T. Waterman Award. This is the 40th anniversary of this prestigious prize, which is the foundation’s highest honor recognizing an outstanding researcher under the age of 35.

“It’s a pleasure to recognize Dr. Dincă as this year’s recipient of the Alan T. Waterman Award,” said National Science Foundation (NSF) Director France Córdova. “His research in microporous solids is revolutionizing how scientists approach this exciting new technology, opening the door for future discoveries.”

http://bit.ly/23Z3xN2

36 MIT Briefing Book