The mission of MIT is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.
The Institute is committed to generating, disseminating, and preserving knowledge, and to working with others to bring this knowledge to bear on the world’s great challenges. MIT is dedicated to providing its students with an education that combines rigorous academic study and the excitement of discovery with the support and intellectual stimulation of a diverse campus community. We seek to develop in each member of the MIT community the ability and passion to work wisely, creatively, and effectively for the betterment of humankind.
The Institute admitted its first students in 1865, four years after the approval of its founding charter. The opening marked the culmination of an extended effort by William Barton Rogers, a distinguished natural scientist, to establish a new kind of independent educational institution relevant to an increasingly industrialized America. Rogers stressed the pragmatic and practicable. He believed that professional competence is best fostered by coupling teaching and research and by focusing attention on real-world problems. Toward this end, he pioneered the development of the teaching laboratory.
Today MIT is a world-class educational institution. Teaching and research—with relevance to the practical world as a guiding principle—continue to be its primary purpose. MIT is independent, coeducational, and privately endowed. Its five schools and one college encompass numerous academic departments, divisions, and degree-granting programs, as well as interdisciplinary centers, laboratories, and programs whose work cuts across traditional departmental boundaries.
Ted Gibson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Bevil R. Conway, National Institutes of Health
People across the globe all see millions of distinct colors. But the terms we use to describe them vary across cultures. New cognitive science research suggests it’s about what we want to communicate.
Jennifer Morris, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
When utilities plan investments, they think decades ahead. A recent study shows why power companies should be spending more on renewables despite the Trump administration’s tilt toward fossil fuels.
Lawrence Vale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Since the 1990s, the supply of deeply subsidized housing has decreased as the US population and need for housing have increased. Trump’s proposed cuts to HUD won’t help.
To get us to Mars and beyond, a team of students from around the world has a plan involving lunar rovers mining ice and a space station between the Earth and the moon.
Timothy Hyde, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
A century before the modern environmental era, experts realized that London’s dirty air was corroding its new Parliament building. This insight led to some of the first air pollution laws.
John Carrier, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
The problems that cause us to be so frustrated we contemplate throwing a computer can be much more serious than a multimillionaire football coach having a minor tantrum on a Sunday afternoon.
Carlo Ratti, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Physical exercise was once primarily an open-air activity, until gym training and monitoring took hold. Digital devices and augmented reality now offer the freedom to head out into the city again.
There are already early warning systems for earthquakes, but advances in seismology provide hope that experts will be able to predict when new ones will occur.
T. Reed Miller, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
In response to disasters like Superstorm Sandy, engineers are developing new building codes and tools to calculate the value of upgrades. National policy should encourage builders to use these tools.
Oz Shy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Regulators trying to keep taxpayers from having to foot the bill for the next wave of bank bailouts are placing too much on emphasis on size and missing the ‘bigger’ picture.
Bien comprendre les séismes est certainement la meilleure manière de vivre avec eux. Ces dernières années, les découvertes ont été nombreuses en sismologie.
Carlo Ratti, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Governments too often hinder change, when instead they should aim to foster an organic innovation ecosystem. This is more about bottom-up innovation than top-down schemas.
Max Tegmark, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Frank Wilczek, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
La visite du président Obama à Hiroshima est l’occasion de poser la question du coût de de la modernisation de la force de dissuasion. Un enjeu à plusieurs milliards qui se pose aussi en France.
Analyzing electronic data from many doctors’ experiences with many patients, we can move ever closer to answering the age-old question: what is truly best for each patient?
David Keith, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Tesla Motors again struck a chord with the sleek Model 3 electric car but it’s still not enough to compete on price and convenience with mass market gas-powered cars, says auto tech researcher.