MIT researchers have developed a new system to detect contaminated food by scanning a product’s RFID tags, reports Devin Coldewey for TechCrunch. The system can “tell the difference between pure and melamine-contaminated baby formula, and between various adulterations of pure ethyl alcohol,” Coldewey explains.
Forbes Contributor Steve Banker highlights Prof. Yossi Sheffi’s new book, Balancing Green, which focuses on sustainability in business. As Sheffi explains, “many companies engage in sustainability initiatives to prevent them from having to react to a rising tide of sentiment,” writes Banker. “Getting ahead of these kinds of campaigns can be at the heart of a robust risk management program.”
In a Q&A with The Boston Globe’s Sarah Shemkus, Prof. Yossi Sheffi discusses his new book, Balancing Green, which examines “the challenges and benefits of ‘going green’ in a multilayered global economy.” Sheffi suggests green practices can be advantageous for companies because “certain things also cut costs and increase profit, like energy savings.”
Scientific American reporter Prachi Patel writes that a new study by Prof. Elsa Olivetti found that demand for cobalt, which is critical to electric vehicle batteries, could soon outstrip supply. “The best lithium battery cathodes [negative electrodes] all contain cobalt, and its production is limited,” Olivetti explains.
MIT researchers have developed a system that allows drones to scan and read RFID tags, reports Amy Wallace for UPI. Rather than use the drones to carry RFID readers, researchers found a way to use “the drones to relay signals emitted by a standard RFID reader, allowing for the more effective locating of tags,” writes Wallace.
Inside Higher Ed reporter Carl Straumsheim writes about the results from the first group of students to participate in MIT’s MicroMasters in Supply Chain Management. Sanjay Sarma, MIT’s vice president for open learning, explains that the MicroMasters model has proven to be, “an extraordinary fishing line for talent.”
Writing for CNBC, Ali Montag highlights MIT’s MicroMasters programs and how they offer students around the world a new path to a graduate degree. Montag notes that passing students from the MicroMasters in data, economics and development policy, “are eligible to apply for a master's program on campus at MIT.”
Research associate Matthias Winkenbach speaks with Wall Street Journal reporter Sara Castellanos about how augmented reality could transform how companies manage supply chains. Castellanos explains that Winkenbach “envisions a future where supply chain managers wearing augmented or virtual reality headsets could make quicker decisions, save money and maximize their productivity.”
In an article for the Financial Times, Jayesh Kannan, a graduate student in the Sloan School of Management, discusses how a “beer game” exercise during orientation provided valuable lessons on supply chains and management. The game exemplifies “MIT’s emphasis on education for practical application,” Kannan explains.
WGBH reporter Kirk Carapezza explores MIT’s MicroMasters program in Supply Chain Management, which allows students to complete a master’s degree through online and on-campus courses. Student Danaka Porter explains that the program provides an opportunity to “get education from a fantastic university, as well as be able to continue to keep working.”
Bryan Marquard writes for The Boston Globe about the legacy of Prof. Emeritus Jay Forrester, a computing pioneer who died at age 98. Marquard writes that Forrester was a “trailblazer in computers in the years after World War II,” then “pivoted from computers into another new field and founded the discipline of system dynamics modeling.”
Prof. Emeritus Jay Forrester, whose research on computing and organizations led to the field of computer modeling, died at age 98, reports Katie Hafner for The New York Times. Prof. John Sterman explained that thanks to Forrester’s work, “simulations of dynamic systems are now indispensable throughout the physical and social sciences.”
In an article for U.S. News & World Report exploring MOOC-based credential options, Jordan Friedman highlights the MITx MicroMasters program in supply chain management. “Students who earn the MicroMasters can, if admitted, apply their credential to MIT's supply chain management master's program,” writes Friedman.
Martha White of Money writes about MIT’s MicroMasters program, a pilot that provides students an opportunity to gain a master’s degree through online and on-campus courses. "Experts say this could be a breakthrough because MIT and the other schools rolling out similar graduate degree on-ramp programs have excellent academic reputations,” writes White.
The MicroMasters model MIT launched as a pilot last year to provide students a new path to a master’s degree is being adopted by 13 universities, reports Peter Coy for Bloomberg. President L. Rafael Reif explained that the MicroMasters concept is "an important project for me. I believe in the model of empowering people."