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Our annual Open House returns! Whether you're brand new to MIT, just new to the League or one of our oldest friends, come and join us! This is a chance to connect with colleague, make new friends and discover our Fall programming, interest groups and events.

The Nano Summit is MIT.nano's flagship conference, showcasing groundbreaking advancements in nanoscience and nanotechnology. The conference is ideal for researchers, industry professionals, entrepreneurs, and students interested in the latest developments in cutting-edge research, emerging technologies, and real-world applications.The 2025 summit will feature sessions that highlight the importance of nanoscience and nanotechnology across MIT's special initiatives. Below is an overview of the agenda:Opening Remarks — Sally Kornbluth, MIT PresidentFuture of health and life sciences — Chaired by Angela Koehler, Faculty Director, MIT Health and Life Sciences Collaborative; Associate Director, Koch Institute; Professor of Biological Engineering, MITManufacturing at the nanoscale—Chaired by A. John Hart, Faculty Co-Director, Initiative for New Manufacturing; Department Head, Mechanical Engineering, MITNano solutions for climate resilience—Chaired by Benedetto Marelli, Mission Director, MIT Climate Project; Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, MITPicotalks about nano: A glimpse of ecosystems inside the lab—Chaired by Anna Osherov, Associate Director, Characterization.nano, MIT.nano and Jorg Scholvin, Associate Director, Fab.nano, MIT.nanoHonoring visionaries of nanoscience and nanotechnology—L. Rafael Reif, MIT President Emeritus and Professor of EECSThe Nano Summit reception at MIT.nanoSee the full agenda and register: https://mitnano.mit.edu/events/nano-summit-2025

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.

On view October 1 -- December 11, 2025This exhibition draws on archival materials from the Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT (AKDC) to explore a century of cultural heritage preservation in Aleppo, Syria. It takes as its point of departure the work of Kamil al-Ghazzi (1853–1933), the pioneering Aleppine historian whose influential three-volume chronicle, Nahr al-Dhahab fī Tārīkh Ḥalab (The River of Gold in the History of Aleppo), was published between 1924 and 1926.Ink, Stone, and Silver Light presents three modes of documentation—manuscript, built form, and photography—through which Aleppo’s urban memory has been recorded and preserved. Featuring figures such as Michel Écochard and Yasser Tabbaa alongside al-Ghazzi, the exhibition traces overlapping efforts to capture the spirit of a city shaped by commerce, craft, and coexistence. At a time when Syria again confronts upheaval and displacement, these archival fragments offer models for preserving the past while envisioning futures rooted in dignity, knowledge, and place.

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: Benedict Paten (UC Santa Cruz)Title: Furthering our understanding of human genetic variation: the human pangenome reference project second releaseAbstract: Human genomics has relied on a single reference genome for the last twenty years. This reference genome is a corner stone of much of what we do in genomics but it can not, by definition, represent the variation present in the human population, and as a reference introduces a pervasive bias into genomic analyses. I will survey our recent efforts, through the Human Pangenome Reference Consortium, to build and use a reference pangenome – a collection of extremely high-quality reference genomes related together by a consensus genome alignment that we intend as a replacement for the reference genome.Biography: Dr. Benedict Paten is a professor in the department of Biomolecular Engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is also associate director of the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute. He received his Ph.D. in computational biology from the University of Cambridge and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory. Dr. Paten’s work is broadly focused on the growing field of computational genomics. He is involved in a number of large-scale efforts, currently he is a PI of the Human Cell Atlas Data Platform, the NHGRI AnVIL, HuBMAP, GENCODE, and the Human Pangenome Reference Consortium. Through these efforts he is helping to develop methods to further our ability to assay and understand genomes.In person or on Zoom at https://mit.zoom.us/j/93513735220

ORSEL presents concerts each month, holding space in the Chapel for stillness and reflection. Drop in anytime and enjoy tasty mORSELs after each concert!UPCOMING:Evan Ziporyn: More Sonic Holograms (October 1)Evan Ziporyn, Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor of Music at MIT & Faculty Director of MIT CAST, weaves live clarinet, bass clarinet, wind synth, effects boxes and loop pedals into a multidimensional, immersive and meditative auditory journey.TBA: (November 5)Christine Southworth: Snowflake Sonification (December 3)

All MIT faculty, students, and staff can visit and borrow from Harvard simply by registering. The MIT Libraries have arranged for on-site registration here on campus to help streamline the process.Come to Hayden Library on one of our registration days on Septmber 17 or October 1:1) Bring your MIT ID and government-issued ID2) Log into Borrow Direct via Touchstone. DUO authentication is required; please have your mobile phone set up with DUO.3) Then you can go to the Harvard card office (Smith Center) to get your borrowing card.Smith Campus Center 1350 Massachusetts Ave., 8th floor Phone: 617.496.7827 Mon-Fri: 10am-4pm; Closed Sat, Sun, and university holidaysAlready have Harvard access and need to renew? Bring your Harvard ID (you must still have this) to Hayden Library on one of our registration days and follow steps 1&2 above to reactivate.Can't come to Hayden on one of these dates? You can also apply online and confirm your affiliation via a Zoom appointment. You can then pick up your card at Harvard's Smith Center ID office at your convenience. Learn more about using Harvard's libraries at libraries.mit.edu/harvard.

Lori Ferrins, Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Bouvé College of Health Sciences at Northeastern University, will speak about Global Health at the Crossroads: The Critical Role of Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) Research on Wednesday, October 1st, 2025, at 2:30 PM in the Singleton Auditorium at MIT Building 46. The seminar is part of the Towards a Better World: Enhancing Global Health colloquium series.Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) affect over a billion people worldwide, primarily in low-income regions, yet they remain largely invisible in mainstream global health agendas. The absence of financial incentives has led to an innovation gap, leaving these diseases under-researched and under-treated despite their profound human and societal impact. This talk will explore the critical importance of addressing NTDs as both a scientific and ethical imperative. By highlighting the intersection of equity, innovation, and global collaboration, I will share insights from my own research in drug discovery for NTDs, including work with the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative. The discussion will emphasize the need for interdisciplinary solutions that draw on science, policy, and innovation, and will challenge us to reconsider what it means to build a more equitable world.

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

Speaker: Jialiang Zou (MIT)Title: Godement Jacquet L-function and homological theta lift.Abstract: Let F be a local field of characteristic zero. The general linear groups GLn(F) and GLm(F) act naturally on the space Mm,n(F) of m x n matrices, with associated representation ω = C∞c(Mm,n(F)), the space of compactly supported functions on Mm,n(F). Given an irreducible representation π of GLn(F), a basic problem is to describe the structure of the big theta lift Θ(π), the maximal π-isotypic quotient of ω, as a representation of GLm(F). This may be viewed as a kind of transcendental invariant theory, and the case m = n = 1 already appears in Tate’s thesis. The problem has been studied extensively (by Howe, Mínguez, Fang-Sun-Xue, among others), yet it is still not fully understood.Following ideas of Adams–Prasad–Savin, one can enrich the picture by considering derived theta lifting. In this talk I will discuss some recent progress in this direction, and highlight the phenomenon relating the vanishing of higher theta lifts and the holomorphic of the Godement–Jacquet L-function of π and πv at certain critical points. This is based on joint work with Rui Chen, Yufeng Li, Xiaohuan Long, and Chenhao Tang.

TBD

* Note: unusual time and locationSpeaker: Houcine Ben Dali (Harvard, open nbd seminar)Title: A combinatorial formula for interpolation Macdonald polynomialsAbstract: In 1996, Knop and Sahi introduced a remarkable family of inhomogeneous symmetric polynomials, defined via vanishing conditions, whose top homogeneous parts are exactly the Macdonald polynomials. Like the Macdonald polynomials, these interpolation Macdonald polynomials are closely connected to the Hecke algebra, and admit nonsymmetric versions, which generalize the nonsymmetric Macdonald polynomials. I will present a combinatorial formula for interpolation Macdonald polynomials in terms of signed multiline queues. This formula generalizes the combinatorial formula for Macdonald polynomials in terms of multiline queues given by Corteel–Mandelshtam–Williams. This is based on a joint work with Lauren Williams.

Are you uncertain about how to find an amazing job opportunity in industry? This workshop will help you learn ways to structure and execute your job search in both an active and passive way. After this session, you'll feel more confident about navigating the uncertainty of a job search! This CAPD event is open to MIT undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs, and alumni.Registration is required for this event. Please register here.

On Wednesday nights you are invited to come to The Table for peaceful Christian worship in the Chapel at 5:15 pm and dinner in the Main Dining Room of W11 at around 6:30 pm.We worship with beautiful songs, open conversation about the Scriptures, prayers and a simple sharing of communion around the altar. Then we enjoy dinner together and good company together. Whether you come every week or just drop by once in a while, there is a caring community for you at the Table.You are truly welcome to come as you are: undergrad, grad, or post-doc; sure of your faith or wondering what it is all about; gay, straight, bi, trans, questioning. Please join us for no-pressure worship and fellowship.Hosted by the Lutheran Epsicopal Ministry @ MIT. For more information, or to verify gathering times during holiday and vacation periods, please contact chaplains Andrew Heisen (heisen@mit.edu) and Kevin Vetiac (kvet246@mit.edu).Please note that we will not meet during the week of Thanksgiving nor between Christmas and New Year's Day. Please see our website (le-ministry.mit.edu) for updates on meeting times and locations as well as additional details.

Come join the MIT Women’s Chorale as we experience the joy of making music together! New singers from throughout the MIT community are welcome on Wednesdays evenings, beginning on September 10, from 7 to 9 pm in Building 4 as we practice for our December concert.The Chorale, a concert choir focused on music for treble voice, is led by our talented music director, Nhung Truong, who makes each rehearsal a pleasure.We ask that prospective singers contact us at mitwc@mit.edu to register with us and be placed on an e mail list to receive necessary information. Further details are available on our website.https://web.mit.edu/womensleague/womenschorale/