Graduate, postdoctoral

Matthew Kearney, John “Jack” B. Cook ’22, and Jupneet K. Singh have been named 2023 U.S. Rhodes Scholars, reports NBC Boston 10.

Matthew Kearney , John "Jack” B. Cook ’22, and Jupneet K. Singh  are amongst the 2023 Rhodes Scholars, reports Michael T. Nietzel for Forbes. This year’s Rhodes Scholars "will go to Oxford University in England next October to pursue graduate degrees across the breadth of the social sciences, humanities, and biological and physical sciences,” says Elliot Gerson, American Secretary of the Rhodes Trust. “They inspire us already with their accomplishments, but even more by their values-based leadership and selfless ambitions to improve their communities and the world.”

Parents reporter Tanay Howard writes that “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” offers up powerful role models, in particular Shuri and Riri Williams (also known as Ironheart), who is depicted as an MIT student. “Seeing Shuri and Riri Williams do their thing in Black Panther is not only an exciting dynamic for Marvel comic readers but an inspiration to Black girls and women,” writes Howard.

Postdoctoral fellow Suhas Eswarappa Prameela speaks with Science Careers about how to develop and maintain successful relationships with advisors, mentors, and supervisors. “Faculty members are inundated with multiple administrative, teaching, and service activities, so being proactive, articulating your needs, and clearly communicating hurdles in the lab is key,” notes Prameela.

Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have found that senior citizens in the U.S. are more likely to live independently if there are more immigrants in an area, reports Stuart Anderson for Forbes. “The study found a 10-percentage point increase in the less-educated immigrant population in an area reduces by 29% the probability someone 65 years or older would live in a nursing home or other institutional setting,” writes Anderson.

Graduate students James “Jimmy” McRae and Bert Vandereydt are on a mission to visit every Dunkin’ Donuts in Massachusetts, reports Michael Yoshida and Gladys Vargas for WDHD. “Seeing some older ones, some newer ones. Getting local cuisine on the way,” Vandereydt said. “We had pizza in the North Shore, roast beef in the North Shore ... it’s a lot of fun.”

Graduate students James (Jimmy) McRae and Bert Vandereydt have decided to visit every Dunkin Donuts in Massachusetts, reports Matt Shearer for WBZ. “The two have visited 65 of the Dunkin’s on their list, leaving just 231 to go,” reports Shearer.

Alexander Sludds, a graduate student in MIT’s Research Lab for Electronics, joins Megan Cantwell on the Science magazine podcast to discuss his team’s new method for processing data on edge devices, which are devices that connect two networks together.

Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have found that U.S. senior citizens are more likely to live independently if there are more immigrants in an area, reports Stuart Anderson for Forbes. This study suggests that the supply of immigrant labor "affects caregiving arrangements, and allows more older Americans to age in the community,” write the researchers.

As the early images from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) were revealed in July 2022, astronomers such as Hubble Postdoctoral Scholar Rohan Naidu were able to uncover numerous galaxies within them, reports Jonathan O’Callaghan for Scientific American. Naidu recounts how an algorithm he developed “sifted out an object that, on closer inspection, was inexplicably massive and dated back to just 300 million years after the big bang, older than any galaxy ever seen before,” writes O’Callaghan.

Researchers from MIT’s Research Laboratory for Electronics have developed a portable desalinator that can turn seawater into safe drinking water, reports Ian Mount for Fortune. Research scientist Jongyoon Han and graduate student Bruce Crawford have created Nona Technologies to commercialize the product, writes Mount.

A study co-authored by graduate student Evan J. Soltas finds that illness caused by Covid-19 shrank the U.S. labor force by around 500,000 people, reports Gwynn Guilford for The Wall Street Journal. “If we stay where we are with Covid infection rates going forward, we expect that 500,000-person loss to persist until either exposure goes down or severity goes down,” said Soltas.

Postdoctoral fellow Joshua A. Schwartz and University of Pennsylvania PhD candidate Sabrina B. Arias write for The Washington Post about their research exploring how American cities and towns are taking action to help reduce carbon emissions. “Major urban areas account for about 30 percent of the U.S. carbon footprint,” they write. “This means even relatively narrow efforts focused on those cities could still have a significant impact.”

Graduate student Anna Ivanova and University of Texas at Austin Professor Kyle Mahowald, along with Professors Evelina Fedorenko, Joshua Tenenbaum and Nancy Kanwisher, write for The Conversation that even though AI systems may be able to use language fluently, it does not mean they are sentient, conscious or intelligent. “Words can be misleading, and it is all too easy to mistake fluent speech for fluent thought,” they write.

Prof. Pattie Maes, and graduate students Valdemar Danry, Joanne Leong and Pat Pataranutaporn speak with Forbes reporter Stephen Ibaraki about their work in the MIT Media Lab Fluid Interfaces research group. “Their highly interdisciplinary work covering decades of MIT Lab pioneering inventions integrates human computer interaction (HCI), sensor technologies, AI / machine learning, nano-tech, brain computer interfaces, design and HCI, psychology, neuroscience and much more,” writes Ibaraki.