August 10, 2019
Greetings! Here’s a roundup of the latest from the MIT community.

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Lifelines After Incarceration
Through her startup, MBA student Brooke Wages seeks to prepare formerly incarcerated citizens for high-skilled trade jobs. After beginning her career as an engineer, “I felt like there was a fire inside to do this work,” she says.
Full story via MIT News →
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Top Headlines
Daniel Freedman wins Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
The MIT professor emeritus shares the $3 million prize with Sergio Ferrara and Peter van Nieuwenhuizen for the discovery of supergravity.
Full story via MIT News →
 MIT Heat Island
Automating artificial intelligence for medical decision-making
A model developed at MIT replaces the laborious process of annotating massive patient datasets by hand.
Full story via MIT News →
 MIT Heat Island
Air travel in academia
Media Lab researchers design a pilot program to offset carbon emissions from air travel among lab affiliates.
Full story via MIT News →
 MIT Heat Island
From dropout to double major (with a few decades in between)
“I was getting to the end of my career, and I’d always regretted the fact that I didn’t get the degree.”
Full story via Slice of MIT →
 MIT Heat Island
Does cable news shape your views?
An MIT study finds partisan news coverage has a bigger impact on viewers without strong media preferences.
Full story via MIT News →
 MIT Heat Island
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
#ThisIsMIT
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In the Media
Richer U.S. households are fueling a hot job sector: “wealth work” // Associated Press
Professor David Autor discusses the steady rise of “wealth work,” a term used to describe jobs that cater “to the whims and desires of affluent households.”
Full story via Associated Press →
The billion-dollar race to invent a wearable air conditioner // Fast Company
MIT startup Embr Labs has developed a wearable device that can help keep users cool. “Cooling individuals could be a lot cheaper and less wasteful than cooling entire buildings.”
Full story via Fast Company →
Neuroscientist Ed Boyden is decoding the brain with the power of light // New Scientist
“I have a deep desire to understand what it means to be human – the meaning of our thoughts and feelings,” says Professor Ed Boyden of the motivation for his research.
Full story via New Scientist →
Synthetic organisms from a $1.4 billion startup will revolutionize manufacturing // Forbes
MIT startup Ginkgo Bioworks aims to “design, modify and manufacture organisms to make existing industrial processes cheaper and entirely new processes possible.”
Full story via Forbes →
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Meow
International Cat Day was this week! With this archival photo from the 1860s, let us all appreciate that pioneering chemist Ellen Swallow Richards, MIT’s first female student and first female instructor, was also a fabulous cat lady. 🐈
More images of Ellen S. Richards via the MIT Museum →
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
“
We need to put a stake in the heart of the hub.
—Christina Cassotis MBA ’14, CEO of the Allegheny County Airport Authority, on her strategy for reshaping the reputation and experience of the Pittsburgh International Airport from hub to major destination
Full story via Pittsburgh Magazine →
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Scene at MIT
MIT hosts a wealth of makerspaces in which community members can work on projects of all kinds. From formal class assignments to Independent Activities Period workshops — like the one seen here, on subtractive manufacturing — to community or personal projects, there’s a makerspace for everyone at the Institute.
Learn more via Project Manus →
Photo of Maia Weinstock
This edition of the MIT Weekly was brought to you by a portrait of a legend. 👩🏾

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—Maia, MIT News Office
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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