competition

Forbes reporter Nili Peretz spotlights MIT Sloan School of Management researchers who suggest that moments of silence in negotiations can lead to a better outcome for both parties. “We often perceive negotiation as a daunting task or fierce competition between two sides that always leaves one a winner and the other a loser,” says Peretz. “However, a brief pauses and silence can be incredibly effective in empowering negotiators to shift from a fixed pie mentality to a more reflective state of mind.”

Laney Ruckstuhl of The Boston Globe writes about “Calculated Imagination,” the Course 2.007 Willy Wonka-themed robot competition based on “creativity and innovation.” Students are graded on their work leading up to the competition. “You can earn an ‘A’ with a robot that scores zero points but that demonstrates good engineering and design skills,” Prof. Amos Winter explains.

MIT’s Course 2.007 Design and Manufacturing I hosted its annual robotic competition with a Willy Wonka-themed course. The event, which involves five “sudden death” rounds, is about “more than just taking home first place,” says WBZ’s Lisa Hughes. “I cannot even explain…how much opportunity this class has given us,” a student shares.

Kerri Corrado of 7 News Boston reported live from this year’s Course 2.007 robot competition, where students put their homemade robots to the test on a Willy Wonka-themed course. The competition “gets the students into the design process, the manufacturing process, the building process and gets their ideas to reality,” said mechanical engineering student John Taylor Novak.

In a piece for Scientific American, Amanda Baker writes about the MIT Science Olympiad Invitational Tournament, which brought together more than 60 teams of high school students from 14 states. The event was organized by a group of MIT undergraduates dedicated to improving the experience of science competitions for high school students. 

Stav Ziv of Newsweek writes about the “Dance your Ph.D.” contest, which challenges Ph.D. students to explain their research through dance. MIT graduate student Hans Rinderknecht, winner of the physics category, submitted video of a live performance at MIT’s Simmons Hall in April, in which dancers depict how light is used to create nuclear fusion. 

Nidhi Subbaraman of BetaBoston writes about the annual MADMEC competition hosted by the Department of Materials Science and Engineering: “[T]eams presented their projects Friday afternoon, and judges from MIT, MIT-spinoff Ambri, and materials giants Saint-Gobain and Dow Chemical, picked the winning trio.”