Summer 2010 – MIT Spectrum

Water: An Urgent Challenge for the 21st Century

Water is one of the greatest global challenges of the 21st century, and now more than 50 faculty members from across the Institute are working to find new solutions to this growing crisis.

Sarah Slaughter is developing innovations that will help safeguard and modernize our critical water infrastructure. Photo: Len Rubenstein

Disaster-Proofing the Tap

Prof. Martin Polz — whose work could predict and prevent outbreaks of pathogenic microbes — studies the bacterium responsible for cholera, a disease that still affects millions around the world. Photo: Len Rubenstein

Wee Denizens of the Sea

John Lienhard says that desalination — removing salt from seawater to make it drinkable — is key to solving thte world's water crisis. Photo: Len Rubenstein

Drinkable Water for All

Dara Entekhabi leads an international NASA science team set to make the first-ever global observations of soil moisture from space. Photo: Len Rubenstein

Measuring Moisture

Prof. James Wescoat is introducing water-conserving designs to be adapted in the developed world. Photo: Len Rubenstein

Water Wisdom

Prof. Evelyn Wang works with tiny crystals of zeolite. Photo: Len Rubenstein

Drinking Seawater

Prof. Judith Layzer is a political scientist who seeks holistic answers to energy and environmental questions. Her approach considers all components of an ecosystem — like humans, animals, and habitats — rather than any one in isolation. Photo: Len Rubenstein

Turning the Political Tide

Prof. Sanjay Sarma and his colleagues are developing an in-pipe mobile acoustic sensor that can detect and localize problems in the water network. Photo: Len Rubenstein

Inefficient Water Systems

This year, 2,700 students qualify for need-based aid. Some are shown at a recent event. Photo: Justin Knight

Campaign for Students Enters Final Year

Philanthropy enables MIT to remain a meritocracy, admitting students without regard to their family’s ability to pay.

Audrey Buyrn and Alan Phillips invite partners to help protect and preserve the Earth. They will match others' contributions dollar for dollar up to $500,000. Photo: Sam Kittner

Allies of Nature

Audrey Buyrn and Alan Phillips — backpackers who have cherished the Earth’s beauty for 40 years — take the lead to preserve the Earth.

Family Tradition

Fort ’85 and Beth Flowers support a graduate fellowship at MIT. Giving back, Fort says, “is a value that our extended family treasures.”

Prof. Richard Hynes provides insight into how cancer spreads. Photo: Richard Howard

Binding Cells

Prof. Richard Hynes, an MIT biologist, provides insight into how cancer spreads.

Collective Brainpower

Prof. Thomas Malone says that collective intelligence is the only hope we have to save the planet.

Erez Lieberman-Aiden's work helps to solve the mystery of how the human genome folds up to fit into the nucleus of a cell. The innovation will help scientists better understand diseases. Photo: Richard Howard

Celebrating Innovation

Grad student Erez Lieberman-Aiden invents a method that will help scientists better understand diseases like cancer.

Energy Club

“Interest level is at a fever pitch,” says Forgan McIntosh of MIT’s Energy Club, the fastest-growing extracurricular organization on campus.

Dr. David Fett and Randi Fett say they feel ‘an ethical obligation’ to give back

A biologically engineered drug once saved Randi Fett’s life. Now, she and her husband, Dr. David Fett ’77, feel an “ethical obligation” to give back.