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Suborbital space tourism finally arrives | FCC prepares to run public C-band auction | The big four in the U.S. launch industry — United Launch Alliance, SpaceX, Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman — hope to be one of two providers that will receive five-year contracts later this year to launch national security payloads starting in 2022. | China’s launch rate stays high | The International Space Station is the largest ever crewed object in space.

 
Jonathan Byrnes, MIT Center for Transportation and...
Jonathan L.S. Byrnes, a distinguished senior lecturer at the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics (CTL), passed away peacefully on May 7 after a long battle with cancer, leaving behind a legacy of profound contributions to supply chain education, industry, and the MIT community. He was 75 years old. “Jonathan was not just a brilliant mind in supply chain management,” reflects Yossi Sheffi, director of CTL and the Elisha Gray II Professor of Engineering Systems. “He was a cherished...

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The beauty of biology
When Hanjun Lee arrived at MIT, he was set on becoming a Course 5 chemistry student. Based on his experience in high school, biology was all about rote memorization. That changed when he took course 7.03 (Genetics), taught by then-professor Aviv Regev, now head and executive vice president of research and early development at Genentech, and Peter Reddien, professor of biology and core member and associate director of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. He notes that friends from other schools don’t...

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Navigating longevity with industry leaders at MIT...
How can people better imagine and plan for their future selves? A two-day event hosted at MIT featured two chief executives at the forefront of an emerging industry centered around helping the public prepare for longer lives. Karen Lynch, CEO of CVS, and Penny Pennington, managing partner at Edward Jones, were the opening speakers for an MIT AgeLab symposium highlighting how new technologies, changing consumer preferences, and increasing life expectancy will shift the financial advisory profession into a new...

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Jeong Min Park earns 2024 Schmidt Science...
Physics graduate student Jeong Min (Jane) Park is among the 32 exceptional early-career scientists worldwide chosen to receive the prestigious 2024 Schmidt Science Fellows award.   As a 2024 Schmidt Science Fellow, Park’s postdoctoral work will seek to directly detect phases that could host new particles by employing an instrument that can visualize subatomic-scale phenomena.   With her advisor, Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics, Park’s research at MIT focuses on discovering novel quantum phases of...

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Elaine Liu: Charging ahead
MIT senior Elaine Siyu Liu doesn’t own an electric car, or any car. But she sees the impact of electric vehicles (EVs) and renewables on the grid as two pieces of an energy puzzle she wants to solve. The U.S. Department of Energy reports that the number of public and private EV charging ports nearly doubled in the past three years, and many more are in the works. Users expect to plug in at their convenience, charge up, and...

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2024 MIT Supply Chain Excellence Awards given...
The MIT Supply Chain Management Master’s Program has recognized 35 exceptional students from eight renowned undergraduate programs specializing in supply chain management and engineering across the United States. Presented annually, the MIT Supply Chain Excellence Awards honor undergraduate students who have demonstrated outstanding talent in supply chain management or industrial engineering. These students originate from institutions that have partnered with the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics’ Supply Chain Management master’s program to expand opportunities for graduate study and...

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Faces of MIT: Reimi Hicks
After almost 50 years at the Institute, the MIT Introduction to Technology, Engineering, and Science (MITES) programs for middle and high school students continue to evolve. MITES increases confidence, creates community, and offers a challenging foundation in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) topics for seventh through 12th grade students from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds. Someone who has overseen different aspects of the program over the last nine years is MITES Associate Director of Recruitment and Admissions Reimi Hicks....

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Q&A: Exploring ethnic dynamics and climate change...
Evan Lieberman is the Total Professor of Political Science and Contemporary Africa at MIT, and is also director of the Center for International Studies. During a semester-long sabbatical, he’s currently based at the African Climate and Development Initiative at the University of Cape Town. In this Q&A, Lieberman discusses several climate-related research projects he’s pursuing in South Africa and surrounding countries. This is part of an ongoing series exploring how the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences is addressing...

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The MIT Bike Lab: A place for...
Bianca Champenois SM ’22 learned to ride a bike when she was 5 years old. She can still hear her sister yelling “equal elbows!” as she pushed her off into the street. Although she started young, her love of bikes really materialized when she was in college. Champenois studied mechanical engineering (MechE) at the University of California at Berkeley, but with a first-year schedule comprising mostly prerequisites, she found herself wanting more hands-on opportunities. She stumbled upon BicyCal, the...

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Repurposed beer yeast may offer a cost-effective...
Every year, beer breweries generate and discard thousands of tons of surplus yeast. Researchers from MIT and Georgia Tech have now come up with a way to repurpose that yeast to absorb lead from contaminated water. Through a process called biosorption, yeast can quickly absorb even trace amounts of lead and other heavy metals from water. The researchers showed that they could package the yeast inside hydrogel capsules to create a filter that removes lead from water. Because the...

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Newly discovered Earth-sized planet may lack an...
Astronomers at MIT, the University of Liège, and elsewhere have discovered a new planet orbiting a small cold star, a mere 55 light years away. The nearby planet is similar to Earth in its size and rocky composition, though that’s where the similarities end. Because this new world is likely missing an atmosphere. In a paper appearing today in Nature Astronomy, the researchers confirm the detection of SPECULOOS-3b, an Earth-sized, likely airless planet that the team discovered using a...

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Robotic “SuperLimbs” could help moonwalkers recover from...
Need a moment of levity? Try watching videos of astronauts falling on the moon. NASA’s outtakes of Apollo astronauts tripping and stumbling as they bounce in slow motion are delightfully relatable. For MIT engineers, the lunar bloopers also highlight an opportunity to innovate. “Astronauts are physically very capable, but they can struggle on the moon, where gravity is one-sixth that of Earth’s but their inertia is still the same. Furthermore, wearing a spacesuit is a significant burden and can...

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3 Questions: Technology roadmapping in teaching and...
Innovation is rarely accidental. Behind every new invention and product, including the device you are using to read this story, is years of research, investment, and planning. Organizations that want to reach these milestones in the fastest and most efficient way possible use technology roadmaps.   Olivier de Weck, the Apollo Program Professor of Astronautics and professor of engineering systems, taps into his expertise in systems design and engineering to help company leaders develop their own path to progress. His...

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Five MIT faculty elected to the National...
The National Academy of Sciences has elected 120 members and 24 international members, including five faculty members from MIT. Guoping Feng, Piotr Indyk, Daniel J. Kleitman, Daniela Rus, and Senthil Todadri were elected in recognition of their “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.” Membership to the National Academy of Sciences is one of the highest honors a scientist can receive in their career. Among the new members added this year are also nine MIT alumni, including Zvi Bern...

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Professor Emeritus Jerome Connor, pioneer in structural...
Jerome J. Connor ’53, SM ’54, ScD ’59, professor emeritus in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and a member of the MIT faculty since 1959, died on March 31. He was 91 years old. Over a remarkable career spanning nearly six decades at the Institute, Connor was a prolific scholar and highly respected mentor to several generations of students, many of whom now hold notable positions in academia and industry around the world. His earliest research contributed...

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