Barb Darrow writes for Fortune about the career of Prof. Emeritus Seymour Papert, who died July 31. “In the 1960s, when computers were pricey and huge, Papert saw them as a way to help children learn by doing. He developed the Logo programming language for children, who initially used it to program and animate a small robot turtle.”
Prof. Neil Gershenfeld speaks with Adam Shaw of BBC Horizons about how the fabrication labs he started at the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms have spread around the world. Gershenfeld explains that Fab Labs “are places where ordinary people can go and they can turn data into things and things into data,” adding that they are part of the maker revolution.
Tech reporters Drew Bent and Katherine Nazemi speak with MIT President L. Rafael Reif about the MIT Campaign for a Better World. “We want to be as strong as we can, but for a purpose, and the purpose is to do something good for the world,” says Reif. “That’s very uniquely MIT.”
WBUR’s Bruce Gellerman speaks with Prof. Carlo Ratti and research scientist Bryan Reimer about the potential impact of driverless cars on everything from traffic to the economy. Reimer says using autonomous vehicles will change, “how we move. It changes how packages are moved. It changes how we behave. It changes the future of old age. It changes everything.”
Prof. Edward Boyden speaks with STAT about winning the Breakthrough Prize and his research at MIT. Boyden explains that the technique he developed to examine brain samples is being applied to “bacteria, cancer, biopsies, virology questions. There’s a huge pent-up demand for ways of seeing large objects with nanoscale precision.”
Boston Magazine reporter Madeline Bilis writes about the Reality Editor, an application developed by researchers from the MIT Media Lab. “Users can ‘edit reality’ by drawing virtual lines to and from objects with their smartphone’s camera to alter their uses and capabilities,” Bilis explains.
Erin Baldassari writes for The Cambridge Chronicle about MIT’s plans for six new buildings in Kendall Square. “As a bold new gateway to MIT, Kendall Square opens a new frontier for us to reimagine the relationship between town and gown,” said Hashim Sarkis, dean of the School of Architecture and Planning.
Professor César Hidalgo writes for The Huffington Post about his new book “Why Information Grows: The Evolution of Order, from Atoms to Economies.” Hidalgo explains his view that, “by understanding economies as computers we get much more than a predictive theory of future economic growth.”
MIT celebrated the induction of Robert Robinson Taylor, the Institute’s first African American graduate, into the U.S. Postal Service’s Black Heritage Stamp series. “Robert Robinson Taylor graduated MIT in 1892 and is believed to be the country’s first academically trained black architect,” reports Sara Feijo for The Cambridge Chronicle.
In an article for the Cambridge Chronicle, Sara Feijo writes about the new memorial MIT dedicated in honor of Officer Sean Collier. The memorial’s design was “inspired by the gesture of an open hand to reflect the notion of what it means to be ‘Collier Strong.’”
MIT has unveiled a new memorial to honor Officer Sean Collier, writes Jennifer Switzer for The Tech. “The permanent memorial is intended to be a place of remembrance and reflection, a place that evokes the strength of Collier Strong, a place that reflects the connectedness of our community,” said Executive Vice President Israel Ruiz.
Bernice Corpuz reports for CBS Radio on the construction of a new memorial to honor Officer Sean Collier that was designed to embody the spirit of “Collier Strong.” Prof. J. Meejin Yoon explains that the memorial is made up of “32 unique, solid granite blocks working together to support each other to create an impossibly flat five-way vault.”
WBUR reports on the dedication of a new permanent memorial at MIT created in honor of Officer Sean Collier. “Our goal was to show the best of MIT for Sean Collier. Hopefully he would look at it and say ‘Wow, that’s something really cool,’” explains Professor John Ochsendorf.
On Wednesday, MIT dedicated a new “curving, star-shaped memorial” in honor of Officer Sean Collier, Steve Annear reports for The Boston Globe. The memorial’s architect, Prof. J. Meejin Yoon, explained that she designed the “memorial to not only look strong, but to have a position about that strength,” explains Yoon.
WHDH reporter Byron Barnett reports from MIT on the dedication of a new permanent memorial commemorating the life and legacy of Officer Sean Collier. Barnett reports that the monument is “an MIT engineering marvel: Five granite arches leaning in on each other, held in place by the laws of physics.”