February 19, 2022
Greetings! Here’s a roundup of the latest from the MIT community.
 
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Nanoparticles to Stop Bleeding
 
MIT chemical engineers have performed the first systematic study of how different-sized polymer nanoparticles circulate in the body and interact with platelets to promote blood clotting. Such particles may be used to help stop internal bleeding after traumatic injuries.
Top Headlines
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to speak at MIT’s 2022 Commencement
Director-General of the World Trade Organization and MIT alumna will address the Class of 2022 on May 27.
MIT Heat Island
3 Questions: New changes to MIT’s Covid-19 strategy
Cecilia Stuopis, Peko Hosoi, and Ian Waitz describe a shift in policy that aims for a gradual return to normalcy.
MIT Heat Island
First-ever Climate Grand Challenges recognizes 27 finalists
A subset of the finalists will be announced as multiyear flagship projects this spring.
MIT Heat Island
Senior Aniket Dehadrai represents MIT on Jeopardy!
The course 5-7 (chemistry and biology) major and theater arts minor appeared on the Jeopardy! National College Championship.
MIT Heat Island
Nerdy chocolate for all
Dark Matter Chocolate, the brainchild of MIT Laboratory for Chocolate Science founder Ariel Segall ’04 and led by four MIT alumni, is successfully serving up geeky sweets.
MIT Heat Island
#ThisisMIT
In the Media
This new device can deliver clean drinking water for just $4 // Daily Beast
MIT researchers have developed a solar-powered desalination system that “avoids salt buildup and could provide a family with continuous drinking water for only $4.”
As international participation grows, pickleball could end up at the Olympics // NPR
“I think if pickleball, in its own humble way, can continue to grow its participation and find ways to make the sport a compelling fan product,” says Senior Lecturer Ben Shields, in “10, 20 years it could be a very viable competitor in the global sports industry.”
Susan M. Collins becomes the first woman of color to lead the Boston Federal Reserve Bank // The Boston Globe
Susan M. Collins PhD ’84 has been selected as the next president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, “the first woman of color selected to lead one of the 12 regional Fed branches since the central bank system was created in 1914.”
Are meditation apps effective? // The Economist
MIT research finds that mediation apps may have benefits for users in reducing anxiety and depression. “Access to the app reduced the share of participants with moderate or severe anxiety by 13 percentage points, or 50%, compared to the control group. The share of participants with moderate or severe depression fell by 14 percentage points, or 47%.”
Look Back
Phyllis A. Wallace (center in picture above), the first woman granted tenure at the MIT Sloan School of Management, spent her career fighting against systems that kept, and still keep, marginalized groups from thriving in the labor market. Her work would change the way discrimination was studied and quantified.
Watch This
With MIT’s campus located on the Charles River, the MIT crew teams provide an ideal community for aspiring collegiate rowers. The program has produced over 30 national-team athletes throughout its 100-plus years as a varsity team. “We really have just an amazing team culture,” says junior Andrew Stoddard. “I learn a lot from the people that I’m around.”
Scene at MIT
MIT’s Independent Activities Period is known for hosting events that run the intellectual and spiritual gamut: from poetry slams to coding workshops to lessons in flower arrangement. This year Laura Jaye (seated, above), a lecturer in MIT’s Music and Theater Arts Section, decided to host a short course teaching MIT community members how to play the ukulele. “It was a wild idea: 40-plus beginning ukulele players learning together,” she says. “But I think it was a huge success!”
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