Fall 2011 – MIT Spectrum

From the President

A Letter from the President

Nanoscale Innovation

Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology — which emerged as a field about 25 years ago — now has an impact that will one day rival that of electricity, transistors, antibiotics, and the Internet — thanks in part to MIT research.

Joel Dawson is working on an inexpensive sensor the size of a grain of rice that could be implanted in patients with Parkinson's disease to monitor their tremors. Photo: Len Rubenstein

Minuscule Medical Monitors

Moungi G. Bawendi envisions uses for quantum dots as alternatives to fluorescent organic dyes and proteins for labeling, imaging, and monitoring biological systems and for better understanding and battling cancer. Photo: Len Rubenstein

Smarter Quantum Dots

New Material May Revolutionize Electronics

Krystyn Van Vliet is at the forefront of a relatively new field called chemomechanics. Photo: Len Rubenstein

Applications Abound for Nano Field

Judy Hoyt's work could impact a wide range of applications, such as increasingly jaw-dropping capabilities for consumer electronics. Photo: Len Rubenstein

Faster, More Energy Efficient Digital Electronics

Feng Zhang is engineering nano-sized materials to change brain activity in animal models of psychiatric disease. Photo: Len Rubenstein

Nanotools to Examine the Brain

Yang Shao-Horn is tackling the world's energy problems. Photo: Len Rubenstein

Exploring Surfaces of Nanomaterials

Michael Strano is working on applications that include new approaches to solar energy, novel water purification systems, and a tattoo that could change how diabetics monitor the disease. Photo: Len Rubenstein

Tinkering on the Atomic Scale

Smooth Sailing

A major gift from Terry Kohler will allow for smooth sailing this spring as the Institute celebrates the 75th anniversary of MIT Sailing.

Prof. Craig Wilder is teaching history to inmates. Photo: Richard Howard

Freeing the Mind

Prof. Craig Wilder teaches American Colonial History to inmates at a maximum-security prison in upstate New York.

Daniela Yuschenkoff — who has worked at the San Francisco Zoo for six years — has a chance to fulfill a dream, thanks to donors Jacque and John Jarve. Yuschenkoff is shown here with a Harris Hawk. Photo: Marc Longwood

Saving Wildlife

Donors make it possible for Daniela Yuschenkoff, a sophmore and six-year volunteer at the San Francisco Zoo, to fulfill a dream.

John and Jacque Jarve live in Atherton, California, a long distance from Northern Ohio and the life John long ago left behind. Photo: Marc Longwood

Gift to Others

John and Jacque Jarve of Atherton, California, who established a scholarship to change lives, are a long distance from the life John long ago left behind.

Kristin Forbes, a founder of Deworm the World, has seen firsthand

Deworming the World

Kristin Forbes, co-founder of Deworm the World, is helping to boost school populations in developing countries.

Sensing the Unseen

Heather Paxson and Stefan Helmreich offer a yearlong seminar on sensing the unseen world — from invisible toxic chemicals to echoes to fleeting tastes.

Elisha Goodman is enabling people to grow their own food, not only fostering a sense of community, but also allowing them to become more self-reliant, healthy, and whole. Photo: Richard Howard

A Wish to Heal the World

Elisha Goodman is enabling people to grow their own food, allowing them to become more self-reliant, healthy, and whole.

Portia Jones grew up in Queens, NY, climbing fences and trees, roller skating, playing tag and hide-and-seek, dancing hip hop, and running track. Photo: Cliff Owen

Front Runner

Portia Jones is the most talented athlete in the history of MIT Women’s Track and Field

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