Kornbluth expresses optimism about budgeting, financial aid, calculus outreach, and MIT-MGB
The Tech interviewed President Kornbluth about how the Institute plans to navigate budget cuts and leverage its brand amidst changes to the federal landscape
Photo courtesy of Gretchen Ertl
On Wednesday, Nov. 9, The Tech interviewed President Sally Kornbluth about how the Institute plans to navigate budget cuts and leverage its brand amidst changes to the federal landscape. Kornbluth also discussed recent developments in special initiatives at the Institute, and shared advice on how university leaders should respond to pressures from the Trump administration.
Budget reductions
Kornbluth estimated that budget reductions will amount to new annual costs of around $300 million, comprising $200 million from the increased endowment tax and $100 million from losses in research grants. According to Kornbluth, the 5-10% budget cuts for academic and administrative units in March 2025 have helped MIT save around $100 million since their inception. Currently, Executive Vice President and Treasurer Glen Shor and Provost Anantha Chandrakasan are leading the Financial Scenarios Working Group to prepare MIT for new financial pressures.
Despite cuts to the Institute’s budget, Kornbluth emphasized that MIT does not plan to reduce financial aid, meaning that students with a family income under $200,000 will still attend MIT tuition-free. Concerning the budget’s impact on graduate school admissions, Kornbluth stated that the question is “difficult” because the number of graduate students is decided by the department, not the central administration. As a result, the number of admitted graduate students last academic year varied significantly across departments.
Although Kornbluth acknowledges that the current funding situation is complex, she reiterated that MIT continues to be committed to the student experience. “We want to make sure that we can have the resources to do that the right way,” Kornbluth said.
MIT’s national brand
Kornbluth believes that MIT has both moral and practical reasons to increase access to and awareness of its resources. She highlighted the MIT for America Calculus Project, which aims to widen access to calculus education for under-resourced high schools in the U.S. According to a 2018 NSF report, only about half of U.S. high schools offer calculus classes. Founded by the MIT Scheller Teacher Education Program (STEP) Lab this fall, the Calculus Project recruits MIT students and alumni as calculus tutors. Kornbluth hopes that more MIT students will sign up to volunteer, and that the program will ultimately help high school students across the country be better prepared for universities like MIT.
Kornbluth admitted that building a broader national brand is important yet challenging, given that many Americans may perceive MIT as an “elite institution” far removed from their daily lives. To address this challenge, Kornbluth stated that the administration has been working on messaging that shows the Institute’s tangible impact on people’s everyday lives, from advances in health to technology. In May, the Institute released a video called “Imagine a world without MIT,” which highlights MIT’s contributions to technological innovations such as radar, as well as the U.S. economy. Kornbluth underscored the administration’s continued emphasis that MIT is not a “distant, elite institution,” but rather an inclusive and hands-on community.
Institute strategic initiatives
Kornbluth began her overview of updates to MIT’s special initiatives with a reflection on the purpose of the Technologist Advanced Manufacturing Program (TechAMP). TechAMP is the workforce and education element of the MIT Initiative for New Manufacturing (INM), which aims to transform the future of manufacturing in the U.S.
The possible return of manufacturing back to the U.S. has become a popular topic in today’s news. In an MIT News article about INM published on Aug. 13, 2025, John Hart, faculty co-director of INM, stated that manufacturing is the “engine of society” and the “backbone of robust, resilient economics.” To reverse the decline in manufacturing employment and innovation, Hart explained that “we need to elevate interest in manufacturing as a rewarding career.”
TechAMP provides a 12-month certificate program to teach technicians and operators how to integrate technologies to optimize whole systems, manage technological advances, and drive innovation. “We’re trying to bring manufacturing back in a more robust way,” Kornbluth explained. “How do you get a workforce and how do you really train people to do that?” In her view, TechAMP is designed to bridge the space between a technician and an engineer.
The conversation then turned to the MIT Generative AI Impact Consortium (MGAIC), a cross-disciplinary research initiative exploring generative AI for real-world impact. MGAIC currently has over 60 projects, $9 million in funding, and 54 distinct departments, labs, centers, and institutes. Kornbluth finds MGAIC exciting not only by “virtue of the topic,” but also because it creates an “industrial consortium.” The initiative aims to bring industry partners “to the table with the people at MIT to decide what questions are most important for them [to address].” Industry founding members include Analog Devices, InterSystems, and OpenAI. Kornbluth believes MGAIC gives MIT an “R&D arm to help advance AI in uses that are concrete and important for industry.”
According to Kornbluth, all of MIT’s initiatives prioritize seed money to fund exciting ideas and student or postdoc fellowships. She mentioned MIT Health and Life Sciences Collaborative (HEALS), and specifically highlighted a new HEALS project, the MIT-Mass General Brigham Seed Program (MIT-MGB). The program was kickstarted by a generous donation from Analog Devices Inc., an American multinational semiconductor company. Kornbluth describes MIT-MGB as “MIT experts in AI, devices, et cetera, on the ground with clinicians,” who articulate clinical problems “in a way that we can use our expertise to address.”
Kornbluth discussed a few MIT-MGB projects, providing the example of tailored tumor treatment plans that use AI to factor in patient characteristics, likening them to science fiction. She pointed out the success of MIT-MGB researcher and Distinguished Professor for AI and Health Regina Barzilay in using AI to detect lung cancer earlier in CT scans. Kornbluth wants to broaden MIT-MGB so more people at MIT can participate and “so we can make these partnerships with clinicians from the ground up.” Funding for MIT-MGB has doubled due to an increase in donations, increasing Kornbluth’s excitement for the seed program’s continued growth.
Advice for university leaders
According to Kornbluth, MIT is not only reaffirming its commitment to research but also emphasizing its values of merit under the current political administration. The Tech asked if Kornbluth had any advice for other university leaders who may experience pressure from the Trump administration. She described MIT’s approach, as outlined in her rejection of the college compact, as clear, calm, and “consistent in articulating what’s important to [MIT],” adding, “MIT select[s] our students and faculty based on merit, and we want to be funded based on the merit of our scientific ideas.”
“As long as we stay true to that and consistent in those principles, I can sleep at night,” Kornbluth said.