Transistors, the building blocks of modern electronics, are typically made of silicon. Because it’s a semiconductor, this material can control the flow of electricity in a circuit. But silicon has fundamental physical limits that restrict how compact and energy-efficient a transistor can be.

MIT researchers have now replaced silicon with a magnetic semiconductor, creating a magnetic transistor that could enable smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient circuits. The material’s magnetism strongly influences its electronic behavior, leading to more efficient control of the flow of electricity. 

The team used a novel magnetic material and an optimization process that reduces the material’s defects, which boosts the transistor’s performance.

The material’s unique magnetic properties also allow for transistors with built-in memory, which would simplify circuit design and unlock new applications for high-performance electronics.

“People have known about magnets for thousands of years, but there are very limited ways to incorporate magnetism into electronics. We have shown a new way to efficiently utilize magnetism that opens up a lot of possibilities for future applications and research,” says Chung-Tao Chou, an MIT graduate student in the departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) and Physics, and co-lead author of a paper on this advance.

Chou is joined on the paper by co-lead author Eugene Park, a graduate student in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE); Julian Klein, a DMSE research scientist; Josep Ingla-Aynes, a postdoc in the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center; Jagadeesh S. Moodera, a senior research scientist in the Department of Physics; and senior authors Frances Ross, TDK Professor in DMSE; and Luqiao Liu, an associate professor in EECS, and a member of the Research Laboratory of Electronics; as well as others at the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague. The paper appears today in Physical Review Letters.

Overcoming the limits

In an electronic device, silicon semiconductor transistors act like tiny light switches that turn a circuit on and off, or amplify weak signals in a communication system. They do this using a small input voltage.

But a fundamental physical limit of silicon semiconductors prevents a transistor from operating below a certain voltage, which hinders its energy efficiency.

To make more efficient electronics, researchers have spent decades working toward magnetic transistors that utilize electron spin to control the flow of electricity. Electron spin is a fundamental property that enables electrons to behave like tiny magnets.

So far, scientists have mostly been limited to using certain magnetic materials. These lack the favorable electronic properties of semiconductors, constraining device performance.

“In this work, we combine magnetism and semiconductor physics to realize useful spintronic devices,” Liu says.

The researchers replace the silicon in the surface layer of a transistor with chromium sulfur bromide, a two-dimensional material that acts as a magnetic semiconductor.

Due to the material’s structure, researchers can switch between two magnetic states very cleanly. This makes it ideal for use in a transistor that smoothly switches between “on” and “off.”

“One of the biggest challenges we faced was finding the right material. We tried many other materials that didn’t work,” Chou says.

They discovered that changing these magnetic states modifies the material’s electronic properties, enabling low-energy operation. And unlike many other 2D materials, chromium sulfur bromide remains stable in air.

To make a transistor, the researchers pattern electrodes onto a silicon substrate, then carefully align and transfer the 2D material on top. They use tape to pick up a tiny piece of material, only a few tens of nanometers thick, and place it onto the substrate.

“A lot of researchers will use solvents or glue to do the transfer, but transistors require a very clean surface. We eliminate all those risks by simplifying this step,” Chou says.

Leveraging magnetism

This lack of contamination enables their device to outperform existing magnetic transistors. Most others can only create a weak magnetic effect, changing the flow of current by a few percent or less. Their new transistor can switch or amplify the electric current by a factor of 10.

They use an external magnetic field to change the magnetic state of the material, switching the transistor using significantly less energy than would usually be required.

The material also allows them to control the magnetic states with electric current. This is important because engineers cannot apply magnetic fields to individual transistors in an electronic device. They need to control each one electrically.

The material’s magnetic properties could also enable transistors with built-in memory, simplifying the design of logic or memory circuits.

A typical memory device has a magnetic cell to store information and a transistor to read it out. Their method can combine both into one magnetic transistor.

“Now, not only are transistors turning on and off, they are also remembering information. And because we can switch the transistor with greater magnitude, the signal is much stronger so we can read out the information faster, and in a much more reliable way,” Liu says.

Building on this demonstration, the researchers plan to further study the use of electrical current to control the device. They are also working to make their method scalable so they can fabricate arrays of transistors.

This research was supported, in part, by the Semiconductor Research Corporation, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Army Research Office, and the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports. The work was partially carried out at the MIT.nano facilities.

Article about the bigfin squid.

As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered.

Blog moderation policy.

MIT graduate students are working with leaders from the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia to explore strategies for economic development, infrastructure, and innovation during wartime conditions.

As part of the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP) spring course 11.S941 (Innovating in Ukraine), DUSP hosted a delegation of five Ukrainian leaders from Vinnytsia, a city region of 400,000 people located approximately 280 kilometers from Kyiv in central Ukraine. The course, taught by professor of the practice Elisabeth Reynolds, is a practicum in which students work with a “client” for the semester on specific projects or issues the city would like to address and provide a final report or deliverable.

The city of Vinnytsia, which had two representatives on the trip, has focused on building out its “innovation ecosystem” across key parts of its economy. Amid the ongoing war with Russia, the country has accelerated its long-time expertise in information technology in both civilian and military contexts. Examples include the digitalization of government services, such that many services are accessible by cellphone through the e-governance app Diia, as well as the development of a rapidly evolving drone industry.

The 13 graduate students, who draw from the School of Architecture and Planning and the MIT Sloan School of Management, as well as Harvard University’s Kennedy School and Graduate School of Design, have worked with members of the city government and Vinnytsia National Technical University on a range of projects focused on the city’s future growth. The projects include developing an agro-food cluster to facilitate Ukraine’s integration into the European Union; transportation and logistics to support economic growth in the city and enhance its role as a regional hub; improving the city’s and country’s electronic waste management; and developing the city’s creative and entrepreneurial talent to retain and attract workers.

While in Cambridge for the week, the visitors and students toured a number of places and organizations that engage in innovation. A trip to Boston City Hall to meet with Kairos Shen, Boston’s chief city planner and a former professor of the practice at the MIT Center for Real Estate, highlighted the ways in which the built environment can facilitate activities and interactions to foster a more innovative city. Tours of the Cambridge Innovation Center in Kendall Square, Greentown Labs in Somerville, and MassChallenge in Boston provided examples of the myriad ways the region supports entrepreneurs through shared workspace, incubators, and network development.

“We are very interested in partnering with some of these organizations,” said Dmitry Sofyna, CEO and co-founder of WINSTARS.AI, an R&D center in Ukraine focused on AI applications. “We want to transform Ukraine from a major player in engineering and scientific outsourcing into a hub for creating large-scale tech companies in defense, medicine, and energy.” Vinnytsia is currently building Crystal Technology Park, one of the largest technology parks in Ukraine.

Usually during a practicum, students travel to the host location to spend a week during Independent Activities Period (IAP) or spring break learning about the city or region. In the case of the collaboration with Vinnytsia — an outgrowth of the MIT-Ukraine initiative and the Ukraine Community Recovery Academy, with which DUSP has been working for two years — the students are unable to travel to Ukraine due to the war. With the help of a generous alumnus, DUSP instead brought the Ukrainian delegation to Cambridge so that there could be in-person exchange between the students and the Vinnytsia partners.

“It’s been an amazing trip,” said Yanna Chaikovska, director of Vinnytsia’s Institute for Urban Development. “We are planning for the future because that is what we must do. Ukraine has faced many challenges in the past and always worked in small and big ways to move forward. MIT is helping us do this.”

Nick Durham, a joint DUSP/MIT Sloan master’s student, added: “I am continually inspired by the resilience of the Ukrainian people and how they are finding creative ways to build a better future. In many ways, Ukrainian innovation is serving as a model for reimagining industries and complex economic systems.”

The collaboration reflects a broader effort within DUSP to engage with cities facing complex economic and geopolitical challenges through applied, practice-based research. Hashim Sarkis, dean of the School of Architecture and Planning, spoke of this effort during a panel discussion with the Ukrainian visitors, noting that “with so much conflict in the world today, SA+P must create new ways to help cities rebuild, whether in Ukraine or elsewhere.” 

That there is tremendous potential for nanotechnology to transform cancer detection and treatment is a vision that has guided faculty at the Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine through its first 10 years. 

On April 9, the center gathered researchers, entrepreneurs, clinicians, industry collaborators, and members of the public at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research galleries to celebrate a milestone anniversary and reflect on its journey.

“Our purpose has always been clear: to empower discovery and community in nanomedicine at MIT,” said Sangeeta Bhatia, faculty director at the Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine and the John J. and Dorothy Wilson Professor of Health Sciences and Technology and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT.

“A decade in, we are seeing that vision materialize not just in publications, but in our community, our startups, and ultimately, in patients whose lives are being changed,” Bhatia told an audience of about 150 gathered in person for the celebration.

The event featured an overview of the Marble Center by Bhatia and a perspective on nanomedicine by Robert S. Langer, the David H. Koch (1962) Institute Professor and faculty member at the Marble Center. 

A panel on translational nanomedicine followed the talks. It was moderated by Susan Hockfield, president emerita and professor of neuroscience at MIT, and included Noor Jailkhani, former MIT postdoc in the laboratory of the late MIT professor of biology Richard Hynes and CEO, co-founder and president of Matrisome Bio; Peter DeMuth ’13, chief scientific officer at Elicio Therapeutics; Vadim Dudkin, founding chief technology officer at Soufflé Therapeutics; and Viktor Adalsteinsson ’15, co-founder of Amplifyer Bio and director of the Gerstner Center for Cancer Diagnostics at the Broad Institute.

A decade of impact in nanomedicine

Established in 2016 through a generous gift from Kathy and Curt Marble ’63, the Marble Center brings together leading Koch Institute faculty members and their teams to focus on grand challenges in cancer detection, treatment, and monitoring through miniaturization and convergence — the blending of the life and physical sciences with engineering, a core concept fueling multidisciplinary research at the Koch Institute. 

At the center’s founding, Bhatia and Langer were joined by five additional faculty members: Daniel G. Anderson, professor of chemical engineering and member of the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science; Angela M. Belcher, the James Mason Crafts Professor in the departments of Biological Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering; Michael Birnbaum, professor of biological engineering; Paula T. Hammond, Institute professor and dean of the School of Engineering; and Darrell J. Irvine, who is now professor and vice-chair at the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California.

“Over the past decade, the center and its member laboratories have trained close to 500 researchers. Among them, 109 have become faculty in 79 clinical and research universities. We also have worked in close collaboration with clinical and industry partners to produce the results you are seeing today,” said Tarek Fadel, associate director of the Marble Center and director of strategic alliance at the Koch Institute. 

“Twenty-three startup companies have emerged from Marble Center laboratories during that time with companies such as Cision Vision, Soufflé Therapeutics, Orna Therapeutics, Matrisome Bio, Amplifyer Bio, Gensaic, among several others that hold so much promise for the early detection of disease and drug delivery,” Fadel added.

The Marble Center has launched several topical programs aimed at trainee development and industry engagement. At monthly seminars, trainees at the Marble Center lead an open forum on emerging issues in their fields. The Convergence Scholars Program, which was originally launched in 2017 to further the development of postdocs beyond the laboratory bench, is now a competitive award program offered to postdocs at the Koch Institute. Through an industry affiliate program, the center worked closely with several key players in the field of nanoscience. Industry collaborators mentor trainees and participate as judges in an annual poster symposium. 

More recently, MIT-wide grants have catalyzed new collaborations: In 2023, the Global Oncology in Nanomedicine grant supported a project on leveraging AI-based approaches to speed the development of RNA vaccines and other RNA therapies. The project was led by Giovanni Traverso, the Karl Van Tassel (1925) Career Development Professor and a professor of mechanical engineering.

From lab to clinic: Lessons in nanomedicine translation

Panelists at the anniversary event shared candid reflections on the often messy, but exhilarating process of turning their ideas into commercial technologies. 

DeMuth described how Elicio Therapeutics, whose core technologies originated from his graduate research in Irvine’s group, harnesses the natural power of the lymph nodes to generate enhanced immune responses against tumors. The amphiphile platform uses the body’s natural albumin transport system to “shuttle” medicines into the lymph nodes, boosting immune cell activation. Elicio is now advancing their platform through a Phase 2 trial in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and colorectal cancer.  

Jailkhani co-founded Matrisome Bio with Bhatia and Hynes. Matrisome Bio is pioneering a new class of therapies, small protein binders called nanobodies that deliver potent payloads directly to the extracellular matrix of tumors and metastases while sparing normal tissues. Matrisome Bio is currently testing radioligand modalities with their targeting platform for the treatment of cancer. 

Adalsteinsson co-founded Amplifyer Bio with Bhatia and J. Christopher Love, the Raymond A. (1921) and Helen E. St. Laurent Professor of Chemical Engineering and associate director of the Koch Institute, with the goal of developing priming agents for liquid biopsy. Priming agents injected before a blood draw transiently slow the clearance of cell-free DNA from the bloodstream, thus allowing up to 100-fold more tumor DNA to be recovered for liquid biopsy applications. While injection for medical diagnostics has been done for decades in the context of imaging scans, Amplifyer Bio’s approach would be the first of its kind in the field of liquid biopsy.

Dudkin described Soufflé Therapeutics’ vision to enable targeted delivery with receptor-mediated uptake to any type of cell in the human body. Soufflé Therapeutics is working to engineer cell-specific ligands to deliver siRNA-based medicines that are precise and transferred across the cell membrane to their target, by combining proprietary technologies for identification of cell-specific receptors, ligand optimization, and potent siRNA engineering. 

Panelists stressed that successful translation requires complex choices. While platform technologies can theoretically address many cancer problems, startups must focus on specific indications and clinical modalities to succeed in resource-limited, commercial settings. While the academic lab offers freedom to explore multiple applications, commercialization demands strategic narrowing of scope. 

Reproducibility during scale-up emerged as another critical consideration: Founders building platform companies must demonstrate not only that their technology works, but that their underlying discovery is reproducible and robust enough to support a business. All panelists agreed that thinking about manufacturability early in research, rather than as an afterthought, significantly improves a startup’s path to the clinic. Highlighting tension between selecting cutting-edge approaches and managing their inherent regulatory risks, they recommended minimizing risk by leveraging established processes and chemistries that have already been validated in approved drugs.

Finally, panelists highlighted the importance of institutional collaborations, particularly with centers like the Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine. These partnerships offer access to collaborative, mission-driven researchers who can push technological boundaries, while startups maintain focus on narrow clinical applications. Panelists emphasized that faculty collaborators, such as at the Marble Center, often provide “big sky thinking” that explores new directions and applications that complement the company’s core mission.

The next chapter in nanomedicine at MIT

As the Marble Center enters its second decade, the community is focused on expanding collaborations, leveraging advances in computation and other intersecting disciplines, and exploring new disease indications. 

“The next 10 years will be defined by our ability to leverage insights gained at the nanoscale to push the boundaries of precision medicine. The Marble Center is in a unique position to do just that, as we evolve this incredible community at MIT to be a global hub for nanomedicine research,” said Bhatia. 

Bhatia also announced that in June, the Marble Center will launch a new grant, Integrated Nanoscale Sensing, Imaging, and Health Technologies (INSIHT), aimed at advancing new imaging and sensing technologies for precision medicine. 

Similarly, panelists expressed optimism about nanomedicine’s transformative potential, centered on precision medicine. The field, they argued, will focus on minimizing side effects while opening previously unavailable therapeutic windows — enabling treatments that are fundamentally more targeted and effective. This precision could render many currently untreatable diseases manageable, or even curable, while also enabling in some cases the repurposing of drugs that failed in earlier clinical contexts. 

“Ten years ago, Sangeeta, Tyler Jacks, and the Marble Center community had a vision” said Matthew Vander Heiden, director of the Koch Institute and Lester Wolfe (1919) Professor of Molecular Biology. 

“Today, that vision is creating a place where bold ideas turn into transformative advances that can help cancer patients and non-cancer patients as well. It is exciting to see this momentum in nanomedicine at MIT and what will happen in the coming decade.” 

One day after the announcement of a ceasefire between the United States and Iran, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) outlined the implications of the war in the Middle East on the global energy system and the world’s economy, offering his expertise to an MIT audience.

“This is the largest energy crisis we’ve ever had in the world,” Fatih Birol, the executive director of the IEA, said at the MIT Energy Initiative’s (MITEI) Earth Day Colloquium on April 8. Birol put the current disruption of the world’s energy markets into historical perspective, shared what he believes will be the long-term impacts of this war — even in the best-case scenario where the ceasefire paves a path toward peace — and emphasized the need to create a more sustainable, resilient system moving forward.

In 1973, and again in 1979, there were oil crises that led the world economy into recession, with many countries — especially those with developing economies — spiraling into debt. More recently, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led to a natural gas crisis. “The current crisis, the amounts of oil and gas we’ve lost, is bigger than all those three put together,” Birol stated. According to data received two hours before the seminar, Birol confirmed that 80 energy facilities in the Middle East had been damaged, with over one-third of those having been severely damaged.

The IEA has played a significant role in the global response to the war. “Our job is to have a real-world impact,” said Birol. Earlier in the conflict, after making clear to policymakers and members of the press the scale of the problem at hand, the IEA turned to its member countries — which are required to have significant oil stock reserves — to bring their reserves to the market. “Since the disruption was so big, we brought all the countries together, which is not easy,” Birol said. “We released 400 million barrels of oil, which is the highest we have ever done. This calmed markets and put downward pressure on prices.” The IEA also released a suite of recommendations for conserving oil quickly, many of which countries around the world are already implementing, said Birol.

The implications of this crisis are far-reaching, and will vary in severity depending on how long the war lasts and how quickly normal operations resume afterwards — which could take some time, considering the extent of the damage to the Middle East’s energy infrastructure, Birol said.

Birol explained the more immediate impacts of the war on the gas industry. Although the natural gas industry has presented itself as a reliable, affordable, and flexible energy source, Birol highlighted that the two major gas crises in the last four years have brought that assertion into question.

“Is [natural gas] still reliable? Is it still flexible? Is it still affordable? After these two big crises, the natural gas industry needs to work hard to regain its brand,” he said.

Birol also outlined three potential outcomes that this shift may bring to the renewable energy sector. First, there is historical precedent for building up nuclear power plants in response to the oil crises of the 1970s. “Around 45 percent of nuclear power plants operating today were built as a response to those crises,” said Birol. He believes there will be another large push for nuclear power, including small nuclear reactors.

Second, renewables may be the biggest beneficiaries of this situation, he said. “In Europe, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the renewable annual installations increased by a factor of three,” he said.

Third, especially in Asia, we will likely see an increase in the market penetration of electric vehicles, Birol said. This is especially important to note because Asia is the center of current oil demand growth, but the adoption of more electric vehicles could have an impact on that, he suggested. Previous crises have also led to car manufacturers improving the fuel efficiency of their cars.

“The energy security premium will be a factor of the energy trade in the future, in addition to the cost of energy,” said Birol, speaking to the longer-term effects on the global energy market. “Countries will be more careful now with whom they are trading.”

Addressing the current crisis also necessitates changes to our energy system going forward, according to Birol. He explained that the entire global economy is being held hostage by the 50 kilometers of the Strait of Hormuz, which is a critical path not only for oil and gas shipments, but for materials used to make fertilizer, which are needed to feed the world’s population, and materials such as helium, which are needed to manufacture products like cell phones.

“I'm afraid that after this is finished, some of the countries will come back faster because they have stronger financial muscles, better engineering capabilities, and better technologies, whereas other countries will suffer,” he said. “It will be, in my view, not easy for the global economy. I believe who will be suffering under this economic damage will be mainly developing countries.”

The burden on developing countries will not only come in the form of energy prices, but also lasting impacts on fertilizer consumption, food security, and food prices, which Birol emphasized is a global problem. “What should be the response to have a more secure, but also more sustainable, future for everybody?” he asked.

Birol suggested the best possible outcome to the current global energy and economic disruption would be if the ceasefire leads to a peaceful settlement of the war. Still, this “best possible outcome” includes significant risk for much of the world.

If there is a settlement of peace, Birol said he expects oil and the gas production in the region to restart. He noted that there are about 200 fully laden oil tankers and 15 loaded liquid natural gas ships that could leave the Gulf fairly quickly if the Strait of Hormuz fully reopens.

“But I don’t think that in a very short period of time we will go back where we were before the war,” Birol said. “And this may keep the prices at elevated levels. This is surely not good news, especially in the emerging world. I would be surprised if we don’t see significant inflationary pressures in Asian developing countries, in Africa, and in Latin America,” Birol said. “In addition to that, the petrochemical industry, fertilizers, we will discover how important those commodities are for the supply chains we have … I expect a bit of volatility in the markets.”

This speaker series highlights energy experts and leaders at the forefront of the scientific, technological, and policy solutions needed to transform our energy systems. Visit the MIT Energy Initiative’s events page for more information on this and additional events. The series will return this fall.

Some AI-based video age-verification checks can be fooled with a fake mustache.

A geoengineering company would use tiny specks of silica to block sun rays — and make billions of dollars.

The companies argue suits by state and local governments are barred by federal law and threaten to impose "ruinous" costs on industry.

The department quietly changed grid operators on the directive in March. But one of the operators said it's not responsible for the plant.

The Trump administration argues automakers can't sell enough EVs to meet the Biden-era standard. EPA is planning a broader rewrite.

In addition to disrupting weather patterns globally, “it increases the chance that we will see a record-breaking global average temperature," said a meteorologist.

Less than half the banks examined had begun climate stress testing work, and none disclosed the results of the exercises, found a new report.

“Where China leads, others follow,” said Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the UNFCCC.

Currently, 6 million Somalis face food insecurity, according to a new report. But aid funding has dropped, and the outlook is "deeply concerning."

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 15 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41558-026-02650-9

The link between temperature and child maltreatment in Africa remains unexplored. This study demonstrates a substantial association, particularly among socio-economically disadvantaged families, driven by behavioural changes, occupational exposure and reduced household resources.

MIT master’s student Sunshine Jiang ’25 and Rupert Li ’24 are recipients of this year’s Knight-Hennessy Scholarship. Now in its ninth year, the highly competitive scholarship provides up to three years of financial support for graduate studies at Stanford University. 

Sunshine Jiang  ’25

Sunshine Jiang, from Hangzhou, China, graduated from MIT in 2025 with a bachelor’s degree as a double major in physics and electrical engineering and computer science, along with minors in mathematics and economics. She will receive her master of engineering degree this month and will start her PhD in computer science at Stanford School of Engineering this fall. 

Jiang researches embodied artificial intelligence and robotics, developing data-efficient, adaptive systems for general-purpose robots that broaden accessibility. She has presented her research at major conferences, including the Conference on Robot Learning, the International Conference on Robotics and Automation, and the International Conference on Learning Representations. 

Jiang led the development of AI-powered systems that provide access to traditional Chinese art in rural classrooms, founded cross-country programs that expand girls’ access to STEM education, and created a Covid-19 documentary amplifying community voices, which was featured on China Daily.

Rupert Li ’24

Rupert Li, from Portland, Oregon, is currently pursuing a PhD in mathematics at Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences. He graduated from MIT in 2024 with a bachelor’s degree, double majoring in mathematics and computer science, economics, and data science. Along with his bachelor’s degree, he also received a master’s degree in data science. Li then traveled to the United Kingdom as a Marshall Scholar, where he earned a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Cambridge.

Li’s research interests lie in probability, discrete geometry, and combinatorics. He enjoys serving as a mentor for MIT PRIMES-USA, a high school math research program, and previously served as an advisor for the Duluth REU, an undergraduate math research program. In addition to the Knight-Hennessy Scholarship and the Marshall Scholarship, he has been awarded the Hertz Fellowship, P.D. Soros Fellowship, and the Goldwater Scholarship, and he received honorable mention for the Frank and Brennie Morgan Prize.

MIT class 2.72/2.270 (Elements of Mechanical Design) offers undergraduate and graduate students advanced study of modeling, design, and integration, along with best practices for use of machine elements like bearings, bolts, belts, flexures, and gears.

“[Students] learn how to use basically everything from the MechE undergraduate curriculum to build hardcore advanced machines,” says Martin Culpepper, the Ralph E. and Eloise F. Cross Professor in Manufacturing and professor of mechanical engineering (MechE) at MIT.

The course employs modeling and analysis exercises based on rigorous application of physics, mathematics, and core mechanical engineering principles, which are then reinforced through lab experiences and a mechanical system design project.

Culpepper, known to students and colleagues as Marty, says one of his main goals in the course is to “make students into stronger engineers.” His methods involve a mix of teaching and coaching techniques that push students to explore the bounds of what’s possible. 

“Marty likes to say that ‘as long as something doesn't break the laws of physics, it’s possible. You just have to figure out how to engineer it,’” says Yasin Hamed, a teaching assistant for the course.

For the system design projects, students build a lathe that can meet repeatability, accuracy, and functional requirements, and that can also “pass ‘Marty’s death test,’” says MechE graduate student Sarah Stoops. “What that means practically,” explains fellow graduate student Amber Velez, “is, at the end of class, Marty takes all our lathes and drops them and hits them with a hammer, and if they explode, you don’t pass the class.”

This final test may seem harsh, but it is an important part of the process and helps build to additional, critical skills: resilience and perseverance.

“The students are very resilient. They learn to persevere and take some time to try and figure things out, and through that process … you learn so much,” says Hannah Gazdus, a teaching assistant for the course.

Before the so-called “death test,” students tackle two other challenges: precision and material removal. “All of our lathes are required to cut to within 50 microns of precision,” explains Velez. In the material removal rate competition, teams compete to see who can turn down a piece of stock by one inch the fastest. Velez’s team completed the later task in approximately 27 seconds.

“The core classes are important — things like mechanics, materials, dynamics, controls — but many of them have a degree of abstraction that separates the content within those courses from the mechanical elements that you use in designing an actual machine,” says Hamed. “I feel like this class serves very well to bridge that [and] inspire that confidence as working engineers.”

When Akorfa Dagadu arrived at MIT, she had a solution in mind: a mobile app to improve recycling and environmental engagement in her home country of Ghana. The project, called Ishara, aimed to make it easier for people to participate in local recycling systems while creating economic opportunities.

“I grew up in what people often call the trash capital of Accra,” she recalls. “I thought I knew what would fix it. So [my Ishara co-founders and I] built a solution — an app — behind some desk in a library … We did what I thought was market research, but looking back, we were basically asking people what they thought about our idea instead of asking how things actually worked … Implementation humbled us very quickly.”

On the ground, Dagadu encountered a reality very different than she anticipated.

“Informal networks of waste pickers and aggregators were already doing the work,” she explains. They’d developed a system that was already working, but it was “invisible, undervalued, and excluded from larger recycling conversations.” 

From technical solutions to systems change 

Soon after arriving at MIT, Dagadu discovered the PKG Center for Social Impact as a place that could help her pivot, taking a step back from her technical solution to understand the systemic context of the problem she was trying to solve.

As a first-year student, Dagadu received a PKG Fellowship, which provides funding and mentorship for students to pursue community-engaged research and development. This early support positioned Dagadu to apply to PKG’s IDEAS Social Innovation Incubator to further refine her social enterprise, Ishara. Dagadu was one of few first-year students selected for IDEAS among an applicant pool dominated by MBA and other graduate students. 

“At MIT, there are a lot of opportunities focused on entrepreneurship. But not as many that emphasize how you can do something for the environment or your community,” says Dagadu. IDEAS trains technical founders in systems change for social impact and community-engaged innovation.

Dagadu obtained another PKG Fellowship to iterate on Ishara the following summer, and was accepted to the IDEAS incubator a second time. Eventually, she refined her app from a technical solution the community didn’t need to one that connects existing recycling networks to the broader value chain, in ways that are transparent and fair, using a blockchain-enabled buyback center. 

“The biggest thing PKG has given me is a way of thinking,” Dagadu explains. “The systems thinking mindset really stays with you. You start to see everything as connected. Technical solutions are not just technical; they have social and economic implications. I find myself applying that in all my classes. Whether I am designing a reactor system or working through a materials problem, I am always asking how this fits into the larger system and who it affects.” 

Community-engaged chemical engineering

Dagadu says that “PKG has shaped both how I do research and how I think about it.” She grew to understand the importance of research grounded in local partnerships, and points to her collaboration with Chanja Datti, a recycling company in Nigeria, as a prime example. 

“That collaboration has directly informed my research,” says Dagadu. “What started as a PKG-supported exploration has now grown into a full undergraduate-led research project at MIT, supported by D-Lab, focused on one of the hardest questions in recycling: what to do with multilayer plastic waste.”

“This is where my chemical engineering and materials background comes in,” explains Dagadu, who studies how random heteropolymers can stabilize enzymes for plastic degradation through the Alexander-Katz Lab. “Thinking about polymer structure, processing, and what is actually feasible,” is critical to her work on the ground. “But it is also shaped by everything PKG emphasizes. You cannot separate the material from the system it lives in.”

Dagadu also appreciates the personal community she’s developed through her journey at MIT, especially as her venture evolved and her co-founders stepped away. “I went from being part of a strong team of three to building Ishara largely on my own,” she recalls. “That’s when I understood what people mean by entrepreneurship being lonely. The doubt, the weight of decisions — it became very real, very quickly.”

She drew on relationships developed through PKG and the Kuo Sharper Center for Prosperity and Entrepreneurship, where Dagadu is a student fellow, to ground her and remind her of her personal mission. “It’s not just about having a team,” she realized. “It’s about having a community that can hold you through the moments when things fall apart.” 

The PKG Center’s assistant dean, Alison Hynd, who supported Dagadu through multiple PKG Fellowships, sees Dagadu’s ability to create community as a tremendous asset: “As a first-year student, she came through the door with an intellectual vision and drive to do this work, but at MIT, she’s found her voice to pull other people into it.”

Same question, different scale

Next year, Dagadu will broaden her community still more, as a Schwarzman Scholar at Tsinghua University in Beijing. While the context of her studies will change, her motivation remains the same as when she entered MIT.

“I want to keep asking the same question that’s shaped so much of my work so far,” she says, “not just how we design better materials, but how we design systems where those materials can actually work. That means zooming out and exploring the policy and economics of material flow.” 

Through Ishara, Dagadu’s social enterprise, she’s seen how systems intersect and function on the ground in the case of recycling in Ghana. “Now, I want to understand forces at a much larger scale,” she says, “and I can’t think of a better place to explore this question than in China, the manufacturing hub of the world.”

This is a current list of where and when I am scheduled to speak:

• I’m giving a virtual talk on “The Security of Trust in the Age of AI,” hosted by the Financial Women’s Association of New York, at 6:00 PM ET on May 21, 2026.
• I’m speaking at the Potsdam Conference on National Cybersecurity at the Hasso Plattner Institut in Potsdam, Germany. The event runs June 24–25, 2026, and my talk will be the evening of June 24.
• I’m speaking at the Digital Humanism Conference in Vienna, Austria, on Tuesday, June 26, 2026.
• I’m speaking at the ...

This week, MIT launches a new initiative — titled Science Is Curiosity on a Mission — to make the case for the long-horizon, curiosity-driven science that has powered generations of American innovation. Through stories of scientists pursuing open-ended questions, the project highlights how fundamental discovery research sparks advances in medicine, technology, national security, and economic growth.

MIT News spoke with Alfred Ironside, the Institute’s vice president for communications, about what inspired the effort, what’s at stake for the U.S. research enterprise, and why curiosity remains one of America’s greatest strengths.

Q: What is “Science Is Curiosity on a Mission,” and why launch it now?

A: Science has been under threat for some time now, and public investment in discovery science has been flagging. We want to remind people in Washington and across the country what curiosity-driven science is all about, and why it matters so much in our individual lives and in the life of the country. 

Science begins with curiosity — someone asking a question and refusing to let it go. History’s most important discoveries did not begin with a commercial objective or a guaranteed outcome. They began because someone wanted to understand how the world works. Think Ben Franklin and his kite: This drive to discover goes back to the beginnings of the United States. 

That’s the story we want to tell, but in today’s terms. We’re spotlighting researchers whose years-long pursuit of core questions has seeded breakthroughs that have changed lives for the better.

We’re launching this storytelling initiative now because public investment is declining, and in all the debates about funding what’s gotten lost is an appreciation for the incredible gifts of curiosity-driven discovery science. 

Over generations, the United States became the world’s scientific leader by investing in research of this kind, especially at universities, where long-term scientific undertakings have time and space to thrive. In turn, those investments have created an extraordinary pipeline of innovation, the envy of the world.

When public investment in basic science falters, the long-term losses start right away — and cascade. Labs close. Young scientists leave the field. Entire avenues of discovery go unexplored. Those losses are not always immediately visible, but eventually we feel them through what’s missing: treatments that never arrive, industries that never emerge, talent that migrates elsewhere.

Other countries understand this. They’re watching us stumble — and they’re growing their research investments aggressively. America’s scientific leadership has been built over decades — and maintaining it requires similar commitment.

It’s important to note that while this initiative to tell the story of discovery science was sparked at MIT, it is not about MIT. We want to spotlight university-based scientists across the country whose work is critical in advancing discovery, educating talent, and fueling innovation that benefits all of us.

Q: Why emphasize the idea of “curiosity”?

A: We start with curiosity for two reasons. First, it’s a human experience we’ve all had, so everyone can relate to it. Everyone knows the feeling of just wanting to know why something happens or how something works. Second, it’s the essential fuel that drives discovery science. 

There’s sometimes a tendency to talk about science in terms of outputs: breakthroughs, startups, commercial applications. Those things matter enormously, but they usually come much later. The beginning is more human. It’s someone wondering why something behaves the way it does, or whether a seemingly impossible problem might have an answer.

Some of the most transformative breakthroughs arose from questions that once appeared disconnected from practical use. MRI technology grew from research on atomic nuclei. The foundations of immunotherapy came from scientists trying to understand how the immune system works. GPS depends on what was once viewed as purely theoretical physics.

Curiosity fuels scientific discovery by pushing people to keep pursuing deep questions because they simply need to know: How does the brain work? How does cancer start? What is the universe made of?

That’s why the second half of the phrase matters: “on a mission.” University researchers are not indulging in idle speculation. They are pursuing knowledge to expand our understanding — and that new knowledge can be the key to startling new solutions.

Universities are uniquely important environments for this work. They bring together people from different disciplines and backgrounds who challenge assumptions and generate new questions. That concentration of talent and openness is extraordinarily productive.

After World War II, the American research university system became one of the most successful engines of discovery in human history. Public investment in university research has helped produce new medicines, computing technologies, communications networks, energy systems, and entire industries that shape modern life.

This effort aims to reconnect all of us with that story.

Q: What’s at stake if the U.S. fails to sustain support for basic research?

A: What’s at stake is not just scientific leadership, but the future pace of American innovation and opportunity.

The innovation pipeline operates across long time horizons. The discoveries powering today’s companies and medical treatments often crystallized 10, 20, or 30 years ago. The breakthroughs that will define the 2040s and 2050s are being explored in laboratories right now.

Basic research is the foundation of that pipeline, and private-sector innovation depends on it. Private investment plays a critical role, but it naturally gravitates toward projects with clearer commercial returns. Public funding supports the earliest, highest-risk stages of inquiry, where outcomes are uncertain but the potential benefit to society is enormous.

If that pipeline dries up, the consequences are stark. Fewer discoveries lead to fewer technologies, startups, and industries. We also risk losing scientific talent to countries that are watching our shifting national priorities — and making larger and more sustained investments in advancing science.

At the same time, there is enormous reason for optimism. The American scientific enterprise remains one of the great achievements of the modern era. It has delivered extraordinary gains in health, prosperity, and quality of life. Millions of people are alive today because of advances rooted in publicly supported research.

This system was built through sustained national commitment across generations. The question now is whether the country will continue investing in curiosity, discovery, and the people pursuing the new knowledge that will allow us to solve the intractable problems of tomorrow.

When curiosity is given room to run, the results can be life-changing for us all.