Looking back and moving forward
The room lacked character. A single barred window, which overlooked the students’ courtyard, was the only thing interrupting the bare dominion of bleach white walls.
The power of inspiration
I grew up in Caracas, Venezuela, the youngest of four brothers: Elias, Benjamin, Isaac, and me. When Elias was a baby, my parents fled from Eastern Europe in the late 1930s, just before World War II.
Chancellor discusses future of education with students
Around 50 undergraduate students gathered Wednesday evening to brainstorm the future of MIT’s education at an event hosted by the UA Committee on Education with Chancellor Cynthia Barnhart PhD ’88.
Leaving the MIT whirlwind
My first two years of college, I found myself getting caught up in a flurry of so many obligations and classes that I couldn’t even remember how many organizations I was a part of.
An excerpt from a student’s reflection on the technical education
In February, I attended a discussion with Chancellor Barnhart regarding the future of the MIT education. Our guiding questions: What bold experiments in education should MIT pursue? What should a college education entail? I was prompted by the discussion to reflect on the character of the education I have received. Intent on understanding the most fundamental aspects of nature, I came to MIT seeking an education in physics. I will certainly leave knowing much more physics than when I arrived. However, I have received, or more accurately, stumbled into a second education—one that I did not seek because I was not aware I needed it. I now believe this second education, which I will call my “human education,” is significantly more important than my technical one; and moreover, that it has benefited me in a deeper and more serious way. My motive for writing, then, is to clarify what I mean by this human education and to explain why it is particularly needful at MIT. I hope my peculiar experience may help others address the questions Chancellor Barnhart posed.
School of engineering to pilot interdisciplinary course roads
Dubbed “threads,” this new course structure aims to provide an alternative to the existing format of majors, minors, and concentrations. Central themes of the two threads to be introduced this fall include "real world robots" and "gut on a chip," respectively.
The need for a more nuanced understanding of technology
At a school like MIT, a global leader in technological innovation, students and faculty should work not only to promote technology’s advancement, but also to understand and craft comprehensive solutions to the issues it creates. One such problem is automation’s ability to displace many middle-class laborers by mechanizing their work.