Education, teaching, academics

Researchers for MIT and Google are providing a free “Generative AI for Educators Course,” with the aim of helping middle and high school teachers use generative AI tools in the classroom. “MIT RAISE believes knowledge of generative AI is a key factor in creating a more equitable future for education,” says Cynthia Breazeal, director of MIT RAISE. “We’re thrilled to collaborate with Google to offer the Generative AI for Educators Course – providing middle and high school teachers with no-cost AI training. This course empowers educators to confidently integrate AI into their teaching, creating richer and more accessible learning experiences for all students.”

MIT and Google are offering a free Generative AI for Educators course “designed to help middle and high school teachers learn how to use generative AI tools to personalize instruction, develop creative lessons and save time on administrative tasks,” reports Jack Kelly for Forbes.

Boston Globe reporter Malcolm Gay spotlights the “AI: Mind the Gap” exhibition at the MIT Museum, “which explores the social, cultural, and political implications of deepfakes and other forms of generative AI.” The exhibit is “meant to address the idea that technology can manipulate what we perceive as true or false,” said Lindsay Bartholomew, exhibit content and experience developer for the MIT Museum. “But you also need to appreciate what you can do as a human, you have some agency here.”

TechCrunch reporter Ron Miller highlights MIT’s role as a driving force behind the Greater Boston area’s success as a hub for startups. Emily Knight, president of The Engine Accelerator, notes that universities are breeding grounds for new ideas. “There is a lot of research and a lot of infant innovation being translated into companies coming out of these [Greater Boston area] universities,” Knight explains.  

Jonathan Levin PhD '99 has been named the next president of Stanford University, reports Stephanie Saul for The New York Times. Levin’s “research has been wide-ranging, covering topics such as early admissions at selective colleges, subprime lending and the impact of financial incentives on health and health care delivery,” writes Saul. “As dean, Dr. Levin has promoted educating business entrepreneurs in developing countries through a program called Stanford Seed.”

Writing for Fast Company, Jeff Karp, a Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology affiliated faculty member, shares insights into handling professional and personal setbacks and failures. “When we feel burned by such things, it’s often because there’s the heat of emotional attachment,” writes Karp. “But when that cools, it’s possible to emerge with valuable insights and often more of a laser focus to use on the next venture. If you can take humbling first tries in stride, distill their lessons, and move on to the next thing, your chance of success becomes much greater.”

U.S. News & World Report reporter Cole Claybourn spotlights Amar Gopal Bose '51, SM '52 ScD '56, a former MIT faculty member, as one of fifteen famous Fulbright scholars. Bose, founder of Bose Corporation, “studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on a full scholarship, earning his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering,” writes Claybourn.

The MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics (CTL) topped the list of Supply Chain Digital’s best places to pursue an education in supply chain logistics and management, reports Tom Chapman. “Over the years, MIT CTL has made significant contributions to supply chain and logistics and has helped numerous companies gain a competitive advantage thanks to its cutting-edge research,” writes Chapman.  

Boston Globe reporter Aaron Pressman spotlights the Perkins School for the Blind Hackathon held at MIT. “The students divided into 10 teams, named after colors, and picked one of eight challenges Perkins had crafted, such as assisting a blind person to navigate an indoor space or to pick up non-verbal cues in video conference conversations,” writes Pressman. “But before writing a line of code, the teams met with people with a disability relevant to the challenge they had selected.”

Prof. Abhijit Banerjee shares advice with Nature reporter Helen Pearson for those in science careers looking to find “satisfaction from their work – and make a difference to the world.” Banerjee attributes “his own career to a series of happy accidents,” writes Pearson. Banerjee says, “a lot of it is accidents that make us who we are…sometimes we learn something about ourselves as a result of them.”

Prof. Erik Demaine speaks with Boston Globe reporter Cate McQuaid about how combining the art of origami with computer science has enhanced his work in both fields. “We get stuck on a science problem and that inspires a new sculpture, or we get stuck trying to build a sculpture,” says Demaine, “and that leads to new science.”

MIT has been named to the number two spot in Times Higher Education’s world reputation rankings, reports Times Higher Education. MIT is “dedicated to the teaching of science and technology. The sheer number of Nobel laureates affiliated with the institution – an impressive 101 – reveals the caliber of MIT graduates,” Times Higher Education notes. “Scientific discoveries and technological advances to come out of the college include the first chemical synthesis of penicillin, the development of radar, the discovery of quarks and the invention of magnetic core memory, which aided the development of digital computers.”

Christian Science Monitor reporter Ira Porter spotlights undergraduate Subin Kim and his experience transferring from community college to MIT through the Transfer Scholars Network, which is aimed at helping community college students find a path to four-year universities. “Every student that we admit, we’re looking for academic excellence and personal excellence,” says Stuart Schmill, dean of MIT admissions and student financial services. “And the students that we’ve brought in from the Transfer Scholar Network and in general from community colleges are remarkable individuals.”

Cipher News editor Amy Harder spotlights the MIT Renewable Energy Clinic, a new course developed by Prof. Larry Susskind aimed at training students to be mediators in conflicts over clean energy projects. Harder notes that the course is focused on creating “collaboration that may slow down projects initially by incorporating more input but ultimately speed them up by avoiding later-stage conflicts.”

As MIT’s fall semester was starting, President Sally Kornbluth spoke with Ben Wildavsky, host of the Higher Ed Spotlight podcast, about the importance of incorporating the humanities in STEM education and the necessity of breaking down silos between disciplines to tackle pressing issues like AI and climate change. “Part of the importance of us educating our students is they’re going to be out there in the world deploying these technologies. They’ve got to understand the implications of what they’re doing,” says Kornbluth. “Our students will find themselves in positions where they’re going to have to make decisions as to whether these technologies that were conceived for good are deployed in ways that are not beneficial to society. And we want to give them a context in which to make those decisions.”