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Duane Boning named vice provost for international activities
With extensive international outreach experience as a faculty member and program leader, Boning brings a spirit of curiosity and collaboration to his new role.
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The complex effects of colonial rule in Indonesia
The areas of Indonesia where Dutch colonial rulers built a huge sugar-producing industry in the 1800s remain more economically productive today than other parts of the country, according to a study co-authored by an MIT economist. The research, focused on the Indonesian island of Java, introduces new data into the study of the economic effects […]
3 Questions: Kang Zhou on the lessons of Chinese calligraphy
Kang Zhou is a lecturer in Chinese in MIT Global Languages. His class, 21G.111 (Chinese Calligraphy), teaches the fundamentals of one of the best-known traditional arts during the Institute’s Independent Activities Period in January. Students taking this class may be learning Chinese as a second language but are not required to speak the language to […]
MIT monitoring 2019 novel coronavirus
On Dec. 31, 2019, the World Health Organization learned about a number of cases of pneumonia of unknown origin in Wuhan City, in the Hubei Province of China. On Jan. 7, Chinese authorities identified the cause as a novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) — a member of the coronavirus family that had never been encountered before. Common […]
3 Questions: Professor Kenda Mutongi on Africa, women, power — and human decency
MIT Professor Kenda Mutongi teaches courses in African history, world history, and gender history, and serves on the MIT Africa Working Group. She is the author of two award-winning books: “Matatu: A History of Popular Transportation in Nairobi” (University of Chicago Press, 2017) and “Worries of the Heart: Widows, Family, and Community in Kenya” (University of Chicago Press, 2007). […]
A new way to irrigate crops year-round
Toward the end of 2019, startup Khethworks began selling what the team refers to internally as “version one” of its 320-watt solar-powered water pump. The pump allows farmers in India who rely on crop harvests to feed their families to farm year-round instead of being limited to the four-month monsoon season. In just a couple […]
Jeanne Guillemin, biological warfare expert and senior advisor at MIT, dies at 76
Jeanne Guillemin, a medical anthropologist and biological warfare expert, died on Nov. 15, 2019, at her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She was 76. Guillemin received her bachelor’s degree in social psychology from Harvard University in 1968 and her doctorate in sociology and anthropology from Brandeis University in 1973. She was a professor of international relations […]
Tracking emissions in China
In January 2013, many people in Beijing experienced a multiweek period of severely degraded air, known colloquially as the “Airpocalypse,” which made them sick and kept them indoors. As part of its response, the central Chinese government accelerated implementation of tougher air pollution standards for power plants, with limits to take effect in July 2014. […]
Storing medical information below the skin’s surface
Every year, a lack of vaccination leads to about 1.5 million preventable deaths, primarily in developing nations. One factor that makes vaccination campaigns in those nations more difficult is that there is little infrastructure for storing medical records, so there’s often no easy way to determine who needs a particular vaccine. MIT researchers have now […]
Anoushka Bose: Targeting a career in security studies and diplomacy
Anoushka Bose arrived at MIT in 2016 intent on pursuing problems related to climate change and energy. But two years later, she found herself discussing arms control and international security with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov during a policy forum connecting American and Russian students. “It was eye-opening for me,” says Bose, a double major […]
3 Questions: Shola Lawal on human rights and social justice
It’s been a banner year for Nigerian journalist Shola Lawal. The young reporter, who focuses on human rights and social justice issues, was selected as the 2019 International Women’s Media Foundation’s Elizabeth Neuffer Fellow. The fellowship brought her to MIT this fall as a research associate at the Center for International Studies and provides further journalistic […]