Administration

Melissa Choi, who has served as assistant director of MIT Lincoln Laboratory since 2019 and has decades of experience working across the lab’s different technical areas, has been named the next director of Lincoln Laboratory, reports Isabel Tehan for the Boston Business Journal. “Under Choi’s leadership, the lab will continue to focus on long-term development of defense systems,” writes Tehan, “as well as quick-moving prototyping, both with the goal of protecting the U.S. from advanced threats.” 

An analysis by The Atlantic’s Ronald Brownstein notes despite Republican resistance to electric vehicles, many new production facilities are located in GOP-represented states. MIT Innovation Fellow Brian Deese explains EV companies are simply seeking space and nearby manufacturing and construction capacity, but said “it’s pretty hard to think of a technology where there was a cheaper, better technology to solve a consumer need and consumers prioritized a cultural or political patina over lower costs and higher quality.”

Boston Globe reporter Jon Chesto spotlights how MIT President Sally Kornbluth is “determined to harness MIT’s considerable brainpower to tackle” climate change. During a clean-tech entrepreneurship event hosted by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, Kornbluth highlighted the newly announced Climate Project at MIT, “which commits $75 million and dozens of faculty to solving some of the biggest climate problems.” Kornbluth also noted that MIT’s “culture of entrepreneurship” makes the Institute uniquely positioned to help address the challenges posed by climate change.

Times Higher Education spotlights MIT President Sally Kornbluth in a roundup of top universities led by women. “Kornbluth’s academic background is in cell biology. She obtained a degree in political science from the University of Cambridge, and then pursued a PhD in molecular oncology at Rockefeller University.”

MIT Innovation Fellow Brian Deese speaks with CNBC about how the new class of weight loss drugs will impact American taxes and the federal deficit. “These drugs could touch tens of millions of Americans, that’s the good news,” says Deese. “They have the potential to reduce obesity, address diabetes and reduce the health care costs associated with that. The problem is that the scale and the cost of these drugs is so large, that it could add enormously to the federal budget.”

Prof. Anantha Chandrakasan, dean of the School of Engineering, has been named MIT’s first chief innovation and strategy officer, reports Supriya Singh for New India Abroad. “In his new role, Chandrakasan will work closely with MIT president Sally Kornbluth, key stakeholders across MIT, as well as external partners, to launch initiatives and new collaborations in support of strategic priorities,” explains Singh.

Tech reporters Tina Zhang and Russel Ismael spotlight MIT’s Winterfest celebration, which brought the MIT community together to enjoy tasty treats and revelry. Graduate student Josh Marchant noted that the festivities were “a fun way to destress.” President Sally Kornbluth said that Winterfest is a “wonderful MIT tradition to mark the end of the fall semester and kick off the winter season by gathering with colleagues and friends for a well-deserved break.” Events like this, observed Kornbluth, “where we can be together as a community, are always important, but they are especially meaningful in difficult times.”
 

Brian Deese, an MIT Innovation Fellow, speaks with CNBC host Andrew Ross Sorkin about the state of the U.S. economy. “Perceptions of the economy have gotten increasingly polarized along political lines, and so when you look at that polling around sentiment and the economy one of the things it reflects is that increasing polarization that we are seeing everywhere and reflected in that data,” says Deese. “But number two, we do know historically that as economic data improves it leads to improved sentiment and in general, the incumbents benefit from that.”

Writing for The Washington Post, Brian Deese, an MIT Innovation Fellow, explores the resilience of America’s post pandemic economic recovery and the strength of the labor market. “This economic recovery is defying expectations,” writes Deese. “Enabling more people to work can extend this improbable progress and lay the groundwork for long-term economic growth.”  

Fortune has named Katie Rae, CEO of The Engine, as one of the top 13 seed stage, climate tech VCs to watch, reports Lucy Brewster for Fortune. “Rae tops venture firm The Engine, which beyond being a fund, is an investing arm that spun out of MIT,” explains Brewster. “Yet Rae invests in an array of companies and sources founders from beyond just university walls.”

President Sally Kornbluth spoke with reporters from The Tech about her first months as president of MIT and her vision for her time leading the Institute. “MIT is a pretty decentralized place, so I am taking some time to get to know every nook and cranny,” says Kornbluth. She adds that in terms of her top priorities as president, “there's no question that climate change is at the very top of the list.”

President Sally Kornbluth discusses her goals for her tenure as president of MIT. “We are at an inflection point in many societal problems, particularly climate change but a host of others, where MIT can really make an impact on the world. I hope when people look 5 years, 10 years, 20 years down the line they can look back and say, ‘MIT really helped move the needle on these problems,’” says Kornbluth. “I [also] really hope MIT remains a leader in tapping into the broadest range of human talent.”

Forbes contributor Michael T. Nietzel writes about the STARS College Network, “a new effort to help students from small-town communities and rural America enroll in and graduate from college” that MIT is participating in.

Inside Higher Ed reporter Susan Greenberg highlights how MIT is participating in the Small Town and Rural Students (STARS) College Network, which “aims to build new pathways to college for students who might not otherwise recognize all their options.”

President Sally Kornbluth discusses the importance of seeing more women in leadership positions, noting that universities that tap into the full range of human potential are the ones most likely to elevate the most important questions, and to bring the best minds and talents to answering them. Kornbluth notes that having more women in leadership is “exciting, both for the talent and perspective they bring, and because, as role models, they can help broaden the pool of who can imagine themselves in our classrooms and in our laboratories."