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On view in the Hayden Library Loft (Floor 1M) May 12 - September 30, 2025Throughout her life, Katharine Dexter McCormick widened the horizons of what was possible for women. A suffragist, philanthropist, and scientist, she broke boundaries from an early age, becoming one of the first women to graduate from MIT. She later went on to fund McCormick Hall, the first on-campus dormitory for women at MIT. Learn more about the exhibit

Writing Together Online offers the structured writing time to help you stay focused and productive during the busy fall months. Join our daily 90-minute writing sessions and become part of a community of scholars who connect online, set realistic goals, and write together in the spirit of accountability and camaraderie. We offer writing sessions every workday, Monday through Friday. The program is open to all MIT students, postdocs, faculty, staff, and affiliates who are working on papers, proposals, thesis/dissertation chapters, application materials, and other writing projects.Please register for any number of sessions:Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 9:00–10:30am (EST) Tuesday and Thursday, 8:00–9:30am and 9:30-11:00am (EST)For more information and to register, go to this link or check the WCC website. Please spread the word and join with colleagues and friends. MIT Students and postdocs who attend at least 5 sessions per challenge will be entered into a gift-card raffle.

Janet Echelman's Remembering the Future widens our perspective in time, giving sculptural form to the history of the Earth's climate from the last ice age to the present moment, and then branching out to visualize multiple potential futures.Constructed from colored twines and ropes that are braided, knotted and hand-spliced to create a three-dimensional form, the immersive artwork greets you with its grand scale presiding over the MIT Museum lobby.This large-scale installation by 2022-2024 MIT Distinguished Visiting Artist Janet Echelman, was developed during her residency at the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST). Architect, engineer and MIT Associate Professor Caitlin Mueller collaborated on the development of the piece.The title, Remembering the Future was inspired by the writings commonly attributed to Søren Kierkegaard: "The most painful state of being is remembering the future, particularly the one you'll never have."As the culmination of three years of dedicated research and collaboration, this site-specific installation explores Earth's climate timeline, translating historical records and possible futures into sculptural form.Echelman's climate research for this project was guided by Professor Raffaele Ferrari and the MIT Lorenz Center, creators of En-ROADS simulator which uses current climate data and modeling to visualize the impact of environmental policies and actions on energy systems.Learn more about Janet Echelman and the MIT Museum x CAST Collaboration.Learn more about the exhibition at the MIT Museum.

Speaker: Daoyuan Qian (Fiete Lab)Title: How (much) can we make use of chaos?Abstract: Randomly organised neural networks exhibit chaotic dynamics, while the brain is capable of generating highly coherent activities using this substrate. The reservoir computing paradigm explores how a chaotic ‘reservoir’ can be efficiently utilised to produce desirable sequences. In this talk, I will explain high-level ideas behind training of reservoir computing systems, and present new insights into distinct performance bounds that arise from different mechanistic origins. Understanding these limits of reservoir computers can guide their design and implementation, while also providing intuition behind the interplay between reservoir properties and performance.Speaker: Josefa Scherrer (Fee Lab)Title: Single-Neuron Learning using Closed-Loop NeurofeedbackAbstract: Many of the most complex behaviors that humans perform involve sequences of precisely timed muscle movements that are learned through trial and error. How is this motor learning process accomplished by the neural circuitry in our brains? We explore this question by studying one of the most precise learned motor programs in the animal kingdom, the song of the zebra finch. Zebra finches learn to sing a stereotyped song through a process of vocal experimentation and comparison to an internal template that resembles reinforcement learning. The learning process requires a basal ganglia-thalamocortical loop called the AFP that biases the motor system through its cortical output region, LMAN. Existing evidence suggests that the AFP learns a time-dependent bias signal that shifts motor output to avoid vocal errors, but little is known about the neural code in LMAN that underlies this bias signal or how this neural code is learned and generated. We address these questions by building a neural feedback system that allows us to impose correlations between the activity of individual LMAN neurons and a dopaminergic reward signal. Using this system, we demonstrate that birds can learn to activate individual LMAN neurons at precise points in time, driving neurons to fire at up to 200 Hz within a 10 millisecond window in song. This learned bias signal is remarkably temporally precise, with single millisecond jitter relative to the rewarded time. Learned bias is specific to LMAN neurons correlated with reward, and neighboring uncorrelated neurons exhibit no change in firing rate during learning. These observations imply narrow STDP rules in corticostriatal synapses and cellular-resolution targeting precision in the long-range projections of the AFP circuit. Finally, we show that learned bursts in individual LMAN neurons consistently perturb song output in a narrow window following the burst time. Taken together, these observations confirm our central hypothesis that LMAN drives song learning by independently activating LMAN neurons at precise points in time in order to bias vocal output and avoid vocal errors.

• What it is like to study at the University of Cambridge? • What GPA do you need? • How do you apply? • What programmes are on offer? • Are there scholarships available?Join Nathan Lamb from the University of Cambridge for a session on all things Cambridge admissions. This event is open to MIT undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs, alumni, staff and faculty.Registration is required. Please register here.

Two part participatory workshop for researchers and scholars of climate, sustainability, and energy Led by PD Dr. Bianca Vienni-Baptista, ETH Zurich Register here abstract:As interdisciplinary collaborations become central to addressing complex challenges in climate, energy, and sustainability, the role of the social sciences and humanities (SSH) is more crucial—and more contested—than ever. This participatory workshop, hosted as part of the SHASS Sustainability Lunch series, invites SSH and STEM researchers to co-develop practical strategies for more effective engagement with scientists and engineers.Building on the insights from SHASS Sustainability's February 2025 workshop, this workshop will validate and deepen the collective articulation of the challenges SSH scholars face in interdisciplinary work. Participants will engage hands-on with selected tools from the SHAPE-ID Toolkit, which was designed for the integration of social sciences and humanities in interdisciplinary research. We will explore actionable approaches to knowledge integration and collaboration design.Through collaborative activities and focused dialogue, we will begin drafting a tailored guidance document that reflects the lived experiences of SSH researchers at MIT. The goal is to identify a set of practices, and strategic tools to strengthen SSH leadership in sustainability research. A follow-up session will consolidate these contributions into a practical toolkit to support future SSH-led interdisciplinary research.Who Should Attend: Researchers interested in shaping the future of interdisciplinary collaboration at MIT and beyond.bio:Bianca Vienni-Baptista, PhD, is Group Leader of Cultural Studies of Science and Technology and lecturer at the Transdisciplinarity Lab at ETH Zurich (Switzerland). Her research focuses on the study of inter- and transdisciplinary knowledge production processes. She is interested in methods and research tools as well as concepts and theories as means of achieving transformative and developmental change. With her team, she implements transdisciplinary research processes for sustainable development, fostering integration of the humanities and social sciences. Her books include, "Institutionalizing lnterdisciplinarity and Transdisciplinarity Collaboration across Cultures and Communities," co-edited with Julie Thompson Klein (2022, Routledge); "Foundations of Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Research: a Reader" (2023, Bristol University Press); and “Interdisciplinary Practices in Higher Education: Teaching, Learning and Collaborating across Borders” (2024, Routledge). Presented by SHASS Sustainability, funded by MITHIC grant

An online mini course for the MIT community with Peter Krause (PhD '11). Krause is an associate professor of political science at Boston College and a research affiliate with the MIT Security Studies Program.This webinar is hosted by the MIT-MENA program at the MIT Center for International Studies.Please note that you will need an MIT email address to register for this event.September 29: US Foreign Policy in MENA under TrumpRegister here for session 1 on September 29.October 27: US, Gaza, and the Future for PalestiniansRegister here for session 2 on October 27.November 24: Past, Present, and Future of Iran-Israel relationsRegister here for session 3 on November 24.December 8: Abraham Accords and Arab-Israeli relationsRegister here for session 4 on December 8.About the speaker: Peter Krause is an associate professor of political science at Boston College. His research and teaching focus on international security, Middle East politics, terrorism and political violence, nationalism, and rebels and revolution. He currently teaches courses on Middle East politics, terrorism and political violence, research methods, and international relations. He is a faculty associate in the International Studies Program and the Islamic Civilization and Societies Program at Boston College, as well as a research affiliate with the MIT Security Studies Program.This is for the MIT community only.Sponsored by MIT-MENA.

Speaker: Rosalyn Negron, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston Respondent: Karolyn Crockett, Assistant Professor of Urban History, Public Policy & Planning, MITPart of the CDD / LCAU lunchtime lecture seriesThis presentation will examine social resilience as a dimension of climate adaptation capacity, defined through the processes of connection and collaboration among diverse actors. Drawing on a stakeholder mapping and engagement project in Metro-Boston, Dr. Negrón explores how collaboration among stakeholders shapes (or thwarts) more innovative, inclusive, and equitable approaches to climate adaptation planning.Lunch will be provided

This event is open to all.Lennon Michelle Hernandez Wolcott, of Indigenous (Yaqui)/Mexican American and Euro American descent, is an artist, curator, educator, and administrator whose work engages topics such as memory, loss, ethnic tradition, and multiculturalism, community activation, and decolonial thinking, embodied in research, storytelling, performance, and symbolism. Through a presentation of her work and her contemporaries, Lennon will discuss the structures of decolonial values through centering tradition, while elevating craft to fine art.Afterwards, learn how symbols intersect to represent and unite through alter art. Lennon Hernandez Wolcott will discuss historical and cultural elements to create an Ofrenda (an Offering), through personally crafted mini ofrenda shadow boxes (Nichos) and review the elements for Día de los Muertos (water, wind, earth, fire). Each participant will be shown how to make elements of a Nicho box and then assemble them to create their own.Food will be provided.Add to Google Cal | Add to Outlook CalThis event is co-sponsored by WXGS

Ten minutes for your mind@2:50 every day at 2:50 pm in multiple time zones:Europa@2:50, EET, Athens, Helsinki (UTC+2) (7:50 am EST) https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88298032734Atlantica@2:50, EST, New York, Toronto (UTC-4) https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85349851047Pacifica@2:50, PST, Los Angeles, Vancouver (UTC=7) (5:50 pm EST) https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85743543699Almost everything works better again if you unplug it for a bit, including your mind. Stop by and unplug. Get the benefits of mindfulness without the fuss.@2:50 meets at the same time every single day for ten minutes of quiet together.No pre-requisite, no registration needed.Visit the website to view all @2:50 time zones each day.at250.org or at250.mit.edu

Mansour Shayegan Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Princeton UniversityDate: September 29, 2025 Time: 3:00 - 4:00 PM ET Location: Grier 34-401A Reception to followRegisterABSTRACTOne of the most remarkable phenomena in physics arises when two-dimensional (2D) electrons are subjected to a strong magnetic field: they exhibit a myriad of fractional quantum Hall states (FQHSs), each marked by a quantized Hall resistance given by (h/e2)/f, where f is a fraction. Arising from an interplay between topology and interaction, these have given rise to an amazing body of new concepts.A large majority of FQHSs have odd denominators and are understood in terms of integer quantum Hall effect of particles called composite fermions. The excitations of these states are neither fermions nor bosons but are “anyons.” The even-denominator FQHSs are predicted to produce even more complex excitations, anyons that obey “non-Abelian” statistics. These fascinating excitations possess non-trivial braiding properties and have been advanced as a potential platform for fault-tolerant topological quantum computing. Until recently, even-denominator FQHSs had been rare, mostly observed in a half-filled excited (N = 1) Landau level for f = 5/2 in GaAs 2D electrons and its analogs in other materials including bilayer graphene. The exception had been a FQHS in the lowest (N = 0) Landau level with f = ½ in wide GaAs quantum wells.Shayegan will show that his group's new ultrahigh-quality GaAs/AlAs samples, which are some of the purest solid-state materials (residual impurity concentration well below 1 per 10 billion atoms), reveal new even-denominator FQHSs at ¾, 3/8, 3/10,1/4, 1/6 and 1/8, thereby tremendously enriching the FQHS physics and expanding the reach of non-Abelian statistics. They also observe an f = ½ FQHS in their wide GaAs wells with a transport energy gap of about 6 K, the highest gap reported for any even-denominator FQHS. These developments also highlight how progress in physics is intimately connected to our ability to grow high quality materials.BIOGRAPHYMansour Shayegan received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Since 1985 he has been a faculty member in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Princeton University where he teaches physics and electrical engineering courses.Shayegan's research is in solid state physics with an emphasis on the fabrication of low-dimensional semiconductor structures and measurements of their electronic properties and collective phenomena. Shayegan has won numerous awards, including an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, and NSP Presidential Young Investigator Award, and IBM Faculty Development Award, and Alexander von Humboldt Prize, a Fullbright Fellowship, and a Princeton University Graduate Student Mentoring Award. He is an elected Fellow of the American Physical Society.The MIT.nano seminar series, organized by EECS Associate Professor Farnaz Niroui, is a monthly lecture on topics related to nanoscience and nanotechnology given by an expert in the field. See the schedule and watch previous seminars: https://mitnano.mit.edu/mitnano-seminar-series

"The Value of Pharmacies" | Theo Caputi (MIT)

Lia Petrose (MIT)

Speaker: Eilon Solan (Tel-Aviv University)Title: Equilibrium in Multiplayer Stopping Games.Abstract:Stopping games generalize optimal stopping to settings with multiple decision makers. We work in discrete time on a filtered probability space. There are $N$ decision makers. For each nonempty subset $S \subseteq \{1,\dots,N\}$ there is an $\mathbb{R}^N$-valued stochastic process $(X_t^S)$. At each stage, each decision maker, given their current information, chooses whether to stop or to continue. The game terminates (for everyone) at the first stage in which at least one decision maker stops; if the set of stoppers at that stage is $S$, then decision maker $i$ receives the $i$-th coordinate of $X_t^S$. Each player aims to maximize the expectation of their payoff.An $\varepsilon$-equilibrium is a profile of (possibly randomized) stopping times such that no decision maker can gain more than $\varepsilon$ by deviating while the others keep their stopping times fixed. When $N \leq 3$, an $\varepsilon$-equilibrium is known to exist (assuming the payoff processes $(X_t^S)$ are integrable). When $N \geq 4$, the existence of $\varepsilon$-equilibria is an open problem.I will describe the model, survey known results, and present intriguing examples.

Come by for snacks, and tea with Literature Section friends, instructors, students, etc. What are you reading? What 21L classes are you taking or hoping to take? This event is specifically geared towards undergrads; but open to friends of the community that engage in the literary and humanities at MIT.

Speaker: Rok Gregoric (Johns Hopkins University)Title: Even periodization of spectral stacksAbstract: In this talk, we will introduce and discuss even periodization: an operation which approximates a spectral stack as closely as possible by affines corresponding to even periodic ring spectra. We will discuss how this recovers and geometrizes the even filtration of Hahn-Raksit-Wilson, and how it gives rise to canonical spectral enhancements of versions of the prismatization stacks of Bhatt-Lurie and Drinfeld, extending the approach to prismatic cohomology via topological Hochschild homology of Bhatt-Morrow-Scholze.

Alejandro Sabal - at Harvard, M-16 in Littauer

Join us on Monday evenings for Argentine tango classes with outstanding instructors. Whether you are completely new to tango, or already have some experience, you will find a friendly environment in which to learn new things and improve your technique. You don't have to bring a partner, since the classes involve rotations with all participants.Full Series: Sep 15, 22, 29, October 6, 13, 20, 27, Nov 3, 10, 17, 24, Dec 1, 8, 15.For all info and registration, visit following link.