MIT Spectrum

image of three people working in a makerspace

Fall 2019

Making has always been at the heart of an MIT education. The Institute’s motto, “mens et manus” (mind and hand), reflects this educational ideal, which harnesses creativity, intellect, and craftsmanship for practical application. Today, MIT is embracing the mission of making with more fervor than ever.

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Collage of students in makerspaces. Photos: Sarah Bastille

What Are You Making?

Student makers on what is inspiring them

Architecture student Daniel Landez ’21 works on a set design in W97, the new Theater Arts Building. Photo: M. Scott Brauer

Setting the Scene

Student designers learn about architecture, engineering—and themselves

Protein structures divide the genetic material of yeast in this composite image, which shows cells dividing over a fivehour period, spiraling out from the center. Photo: Ian Winsten Campbell, Courtesy of Koch Institute

Taking Aim at Cell Dysfunction

Angelika Amon tackles big questions, including those centered on Down Syndrome, aging

Sofia Leon ’22 makes an electric scooter in MITERS, a machine shop in Building N52. Photo: Sarah Bastille

Fostering Creativity

Makerspaces across campus invite tinkering and spark joy

Latest stories

L. Rafael Reif is President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Making the Future

Image: Courtesy of Sertac Karaman (Virtual Interior Building)

What a Drone Sees

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Popular stories

Neri Oxman’s Krebs Cycle of Creativity

Prof. Sherry Turkle says if you don’t teach your children how to be alone, they only know how to be lonely. Photo: Richard Howard

Alone Together

Sherry Turkle’s new book Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other reveals that we’re so busy communicating that we neglect each other.

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Discovery Science

MIT Radiation Lab. Courtesy MIT Museum

To Fuel the Future, a Look Back

An excerpt from Jump-Starting America

MIT researchers have used volcanic locations, such as this acidic stream in the Andes, as Mars analogs to test their DNA sequencer. Photo: C.E. Carr

ET Genome

Genetic testing for life on Mars

Artist’s rendering of the Green Building with the planned Earth and Environment Pavilion. CONCEPTUAL RENDERING: ELLENZWEIG

A Major Expansion for the Green Building

An artist’s illustration of the possible surface appearances of some of the Earth-size planets of TRAPPIST-1, based on properties calculated as of February 2018. IMAGE: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt, T. Pyle (IPAC)

Like This World of Ours

An MIT science writer traces the hunt for extrasolar planets

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Health of the Planet

The latest research from the MIT Energy Initiative outlines the value of including nuclear power in any plans to decarbonize the energy sector. Photo: Zhonguo

Power Forward

MIT Energy Initiative plans for low-carbon future

Patrick White (photographed in the Plasma Science and Fusion Center) is focused on the policy questions that will arise from the new SPARC technology. Photo: Bryce Vickmark

Looking Forward to Fusion

Technical policy scholar Patrick White joins the SPARC project to ask: what comes after success?

Wood was a panelist at 2017 (pictured) and 2018 MIT Media Lab events titled “Beyond the Cradle: Envisioning a New Space Age.” Photo: David Silverman

Down to Earth

How can technologies invented for space advance sustainable development goals?

Leila Pirhaji PhD ’16 spoke at the MIT Intelligence Quest launch about her startup, ReviveMed, which uses AI technology developed at MIT to leverage data from metabolomics (the study of small molecules) to expedite drug discovery. Pirhaji created the company with support from MIT programs including delta v, iTeams, StartMIT, StartIAP, the $100K Entrepreneurship Competition, and the Sandbox Innovation Fund. Photo: Gretchen Ertl.

Implications, Discoveries, Applications

A sampling of MIT research underway in the realm of human and machine intelligence

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Human Health

Gregory Ekchian works with oxygen-sensitive silicone in his lab at MIT. Photo: Ken Richardson

Sensor Boosts Cancer Fight

MIT-engineered tech to guide radiation therapy

Photo: Bryce Vickmark

Chemistry for a Cure

Ronald Raines applies fundamental science to target disease

Photo: David Robert Elliott

A Partnership of Interests and Opportunity

Claire and Ralph ’70 Brindis

Photo: Trong Nguyen

Food Process

Professor Deborah Fitzgerald examines the history of mass-produced food

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Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Xiao Liu, right, a community organizer with Roots Studio, looks over a print with an artist from Guizhou, China. Photo: 心奕

From Idea to Execution

Trust Center helps myriad startups make the leap

GelSight Mobile, the company’s handheld instrument, visualizes and measures the 3-D topography of surfaces such as fabric, diamond, and hair. Image: Courtesy of GelSight Mobile

A Helping Hand

MIT’s entrepreneurial ecosystem boosts sensor tech startup

Nick Montfort

From Vision to World Wide Web

An excerpt from Nick Montfort’s The Future

Researchers studying how machine learning will impact future employment have found that, in most occupations, humans and machines will need to work together because they provide different skills. Illustration: Niki Hinkle

Reinventing Jobs

Researchers measure the suitability of machine learning in the workplace

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Teaching Learning and Living

Students in 4.657 learn that all chairs are not created equal and that not everyone fits the “Josephine” and “Joe” standards that were created for 20th-century furniture. Image: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum/ Art Resource, NY

A Deep Dive into Design

Class brings perspective to the creative process

Photo: Jose Mandojana

Met Warehouse Renovation to Include Maker Hub

Map illustrating makerspaces on MIT campus. Illustration: Adam Simpson

Maker Map

Hands-on project spaces span campus

Neil Gershenfeld, left, works with graduate student Jake Read in the fab lab at MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms. Photo: M. Scott Brauer

Making (Almost) Anything

Neil Gershenfeld outlines the impact of fab labs

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