Boston Globe reporter Laura Krantz writes that MIT students, faculty and staff gathered on Sunday in response to the Trump administration’s executive order on immigration. “It’s certainly ill-judged and likely counterproductive,” said Associate Provost Richard Lester. “Our community is here because they are contributing research and new knowledge creation that benefits this country.”
Atlantic reporter Robinson Meyer writes about an MIT study that shows greenhouse gases lingering in the atmosphere will cause sea levels to rise for years. “The ocean remembers, and that’s really the key message,” explains Prof. Susan Solomon. “The sea takes a very, very long time to cool down once you’ve heated it up.”
A new study co-authored by MIT researchers finds that methane lingering in the Earth’s atmosphere could cause sea levels to rise for hundreds of years after emissions have been curbed, reports Chelsea Harvey for The Washington Post. “The study underlines the importance of curbing greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible,” Harvey explains.
Hiawatha Bray highlights Prof. Amos Winter’s method for purifying groundwater as part of The Boston Globe's "Game Changers" section, which highlights innovators in a variety of fields. “We want to provide clean water to hundreds of millions of people throughout the developing world,” says Winter, “in a way that’s low enough in cost so it can be scaled up and sustained through free-market mechanisms.”
Scott Malone of Reuters writes that Prof. Lester Thurow, a former dean of MIT Sloan, has died at age 77. Malone writes that Thurow’s, “policy recommendations focused on promoting education and long-term investment in companies and economies.”
Former Sloan School of Management Dean Lester Thurow has died at age 77, the Associated Press reports. “Thurow became a leading public voice in examining the defining features of globalization, including the competitiveness of national economies at a time of industrial change, and worker welfare.”
Prof. Emeritus Lester Thurow, a former dean of MIT Sloan who was known for his research on income inequality, died on March 25, reports Bryan Marquard for The Boston Globe. Marquard notes that Thurow “addressed topics that resonate as loudly in today’s political debates as they did when he was a professor and dean.”
New York Times reporter John Koblin highlights the work of Prof. Lester Thurow, a former dean of MIT Sloan and a prominent economist, who died on March 25. “He was one of the first important economists to suggest that too much inequality is bad for society,” said Jared Bernstein, of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Christian Science Monitor reporter Jack Detsch writes about the “Cambridge 2 Cambridge” hackathon, which brought together students from MIT and Cambridge University to hack websites and discover built-in vulnerabilities. “It’s not a law of nature that machines are insecure,” says CSAIL’s Howard Shrobe. This hackathon “is the first step of piquing curiosity to fix it.”
NBC News reporter Keith Wagstaff writes that MIT will open a new “Innovation Node” in Hong Kong next summer. Wagstaff explains that the goal of the Innovation Node is to help students learn how to bring ideas from lab to market.
Wall Street Journal reporters Wei Gu and Anjanu Trivedi write that MIT will launch an “Innovation Node” in Hong Kong. “Universities in Hong Kong are very strong and the city has significant business expertise,” explains President L. Rafael Reif. “We are here for what Hong Kong has to offer.”
MIT researchers have developed a self-sustaining water-purification system for a remote Mexican village, according to The Guardian. “The villagers are able to operate and maintain the water purification system themselves,” The Guardian reports.
Matt Rocheleau of The Boston Globe reports on how the MIT International Science and Technology Initiative and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have established a new seed fund that will, “help pay for faculty and scientists at the two schools to embark on new research endeavors.”