Biology Prof. Tyler Jacks, director of the MIT Center for Cancer Research, says the path to truly major inroads against the disease “won’t be easy; but I do think we’re turning the corner.” Photo: Ed Quinn

New Strategies for Saving Lives

Are we turning the corner against cancer? Thanks in significant part to some remarkable new discoveries and technologies emerging from MIT, the outlook is getting steadily brighter.

Good Energy

Ron Crane establishes a professorship in the School of Engineering to support energy-related research.

Larry and Jan Birenbaum recently pledged $500,000 to support a scholarship that supports immigrant students at MIT.

Gift of a Scholarship

Larry and Jan Birenbaum establish a scholarship to promote the country’s diverse citizenship, because Larry says, “My heart goes out to immigrants.”

Prof. Neil Gershenfeld, inventor of Fab Lab, says that personal fabricators are about to revolutionize the world. Soon, he says, it will be possible for us to create any object we desire -- from a toy to a gadget to even another personal fabricator -- right on our desktop.

Fab Lab

Prof. Neil Gershenfeld says the day is coming when we will produce our own products at home with a device called a personal fabricator.

Elizabeth Cox, a teacher of creative writing at MIT since 2001 and author of five books - including <em>The Ragged Way People Fall Out of Love</em>, <em>The Slow Moon</em>, and the short story collection <em>Bargains in the Real World</em> - has garnered an armful of honors.

Awakening Others

Elizabeth Cox, a teacher of creative writing at MIT and the author of five books, has garnered an armful of honors.

What if a computer could read your heart? What if it could detect your annoyance, apologize to you, and change its behavior? Prof. Rosalind Picard, a pioneer in the field of affective computing, says it's only a matter of time before the computer gets the skills of emotional intelligence.

Emotional Intelligence

Prof. Rosalind Picard is teaching machines to sense and respond more intelligently to our emotions.

Xiaomin Mou participated in seven MISTI internships. MISTI prepares students to live and work across the globe by offering internships. After two years of intense instruction in the language, culture, history, and politics of a country, students spend two to 12 months of hands-on work in labs and offices across the world.

Global Connection

Xiaomin Mou participates in MIT’s MISTI program, which offers students the chance to work across the globe. So far, Mou has participated in seven internships.

Orian Welling is shown in La Linea, a small village in southern Peru, elevation, 14,000 feet.

One Year Cycle

Sophomore Orian Welling recently rode his bicycle from Alaska to Argentina — a 15,000-mile trip.

Natural Connection

Kate Broadbent, an MIT freshman, is one of the top equestrians in the country.

Winners Deliver

Joe Gavin supports cancer research at MIT, because he says, MIT’s researchers are winners.