Add up the commitments from the Paris Agreement, the Glasgow Climate Pact, and various commitments made by cities, countries, and businesses, and the world would be able to hold the global average temperature increase to 1.9 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, says Ani Dasgupta, the president and chief executive officer of the World Resources Institute (WRI). While that is well above the 1.5 C threshold that many scientists agree would limit the most severe impacts of climate change, it is below the 2.0 degree threshold that could lead to even more catastrophic impacts, such as the col ..read more

It’s a question that occupies significant bandwidth in the world of nuclear arms security: Could hypersonic missiles, which fly at speeds of least five times the speed of sound, increase the likelihood of nuclear war? Eli Sanchez, who recently completed his doctoral studies at MIT's Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE), explored these harrowing but necessary questions under the guidance of Scott Kemp, associate professor at NSE and director of the MIT Laboratory for Nuclear Security and Policy. A well-rounded interest in science Growing up in the small railroad town of Smithvill ..read more

While decades of discriminatory policies and practices continue to fuel the affordable housing crisis in the United States, less than three miles from the MIT campus exists a beacon of innovation and community empowerment. “We are very proud to continue MIT's long-standing partnership with Camfield Estates,” says Catherine D'Ignazio, associate professor of urban science and planning. “Camfield has long been an incubator of creative ideas focused on uplifting their community.” D’Ignazio co-leads a research team focused on housing as part of the MIT Initiative for Combatting Systemic Racism (ICS ..read more

As of 2015, about one-third of all 15-year-old students in Latin America lacked rudimentary literacy and math skills, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Those students may have been enrolled in school, but they were not getting an education. “They’re essentially condemned to a life of unskilled jobs,” says MIT professor of political science Ben Ross Schneider, who calls those cases “a quiet, ongoing tragedy in the region.” This seems like an obvious area for civic improvement, since more education is strongly associated with better economic outcomes. For in ..read more

Evan Lieberman is the Total Professor of Political Science and Contemporary Africa at MIT, and is also director of the Center for International Studies. During a semester-long sabbatical, he’s currently based at the African Climate and Development Initiative at the University of Cape Town. In this Q&A, Lieberman discusses several climate-related research projects he’s pursuing in South Africa and surrounding countries. This is part of an ongoing series exploring how the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences is addressing the climate crisis. Q: South Africa is a nation whose ..read more

MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and Department of Economics have announced an expansion of their jointly administered Master of Applied Science in Data, Economics, and Design of Policy (DEDP) program. This expansion adds a new public policy track to complement the existing international development track, opening up new avenues for student learning and research.  Designed to tackle poverty alleviation and other pressing policy challenges in the United States and other high-income countries, the curriculum of the new track spans a diverse set of issues, from domestic co ..read more

A new ruling from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), known as the Cybersecurity Risk Management, Strategy, Governance, and Incident Disclosure, went into effect last fall. The ruling requires public companies to disclose whether their boards of directors have members with cybersecurity expertise. Specifically, registrants are required to disclose whether the entire board, a specific board member, or a board committee is responsible for the oversight of cyber risks; the processes by which the board is informed about cyber risks, and the frequency of its discussions on this topic ..read more

Anna Russo likes puzzles. They require patience, organization, and a view of the big picture. She brings an investigator’s eye to big institutional and societal challenges whose solutions can have wide-ranging, long-term impacts. Russo’s path to MIT began with questions. She didn’t have the whole picture yet. “I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life,” says Russo, who is completing her PhD in economics in 2024. “I was good at math and science and thought I wanted to be a doctor.” While completing her undergraduate studies at Yale University, where she double majored in economics and appl ..read more

In the halls of MIT, a distinctive thread of compassion weaves through the fabric of education. As students adjust to a postpandemic normal, many professors have played a pivotal role by helping them navigate the realities of hybrid learning and a rapidly changing postgraduation landscape.  The Committed to Caring (C2C) program at MIT is a student-driven initiative that celebrates faculty members who have served as exceptional mentors to graduate students. Twenty-three MIT professors have been selected as recipients of the C2C award for 2023-25, marking the most extensive cohort of honore ..read more

If you’re a resident of Hull, Lynn, Salem, or other Massachusetts towns currently exposed to noise from aircraft approaching Boston Logan Airport, you may notice the skies getting a little quieter this year. Over the last decade, improvements to aircraft navigation technology have allowed departing and arriving aircraft to follow highly precise routes in the sky. These new routes, known as Area Navigation (RNAV) flight procedures, were implemented at Boston Logan Airport between 2012 and 2013 and have allowed aircraft to navigate more efficiently and predictably in the airspace around Boston ..read more