Save the Date for the MIT Human Insight Collaborative (MITHIC) Annual EventThis distinguished event will feature a full day of engaging presentations, panels, and updates from MITHIC-funded projects.Remarks will be offered by President Sally Kornbluth and Provost Anantha Chandrakasan, and the keynote address will be delivered by Richard M. Locke, John C. Head III Dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management.The program and registration is forthcoming.

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.

International food trade has become essential for global food security, with over 40% of staple foods traded internationally. However, interconnected food networks are vulnerable to climatic, economic, and geopolitical shocks. This event will discuss the new MIT Jameel Index for Food Trade and Vulnerability, a comprehensive index linking food trade exposure to national resilience. Developed to inform evidence-based policymaking, the Jameel Index offers new insights into which countries are most at risk from disruptions in food trade and how global food systems can be strengthened. The seminar will present findings from projections of economic, population, and climate change impacts on food trade vulnerability for 2035 and 2050, and discuss their policy implications for addressing growing food insecurity in a volatile geopolitical and climate landscape.Kenneth Strzepek, PhD, is a Climate, Water, and Food Specialist and a Research Scientist at the MIT Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy. He is also Professor Emeritus of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Boulder at Colorado. He has worked for a range of national governments as well as the United Nations, the World Bank, and the USAID. Additionally, he holds research appointments at the International Food Policy Research Institute and at the University of Pretoria, South Africa.Gregory Sixt, PhD, directs the Food and Climate Systems Transformation (FACT) Alliance, an MIT Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS)-led global network of leading research institutions and stakeholder organizations working to shorten the link between research and action. He also serves as Research Manager for Food and Climate Systems on various J-WAFS projects. Previously, he worked at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.This seminar will be held in E53-482 (Millikan Room). Lunch will be available. Please RSVP here.Contact Kate Danahy at kdanahy@mit.edu with any questions.This event is part of the CIS Global Research & Policy Seminar Series and is co-sponsored by the Abdul Latif Jameel Water & Food Systems Lab (J-WAF). Join our mailing list here to learn about upcoming seminars in the series.

Speaker: Alice Brown, Director of Environmental Quality, City of Boston + Michelle Danila, Director of Engineering Operations, Toole Design North AmericaRespondent: Chris Zegras, Professor of Mobility and Urban Planning, Department Head, MITThis lecture is part of the CDD / LCAU lunchtime lecture series. Lunch will be provided.

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

TBD

"The Role of Tax Preparers in Individual Tax Optimization” | Katarzyna Bilicka

Speaker: Oren Yakir (MIT)Title: Charge fluctuations in the hierarchical Coulomb gasAbstract:The two-dimensional Coulomb gas model describes electrically charged particles embedded in a uniform background of the opposite charge, interacting through a logarithmic potential. A celebrated prediction from the physics literature, made by Jancovici, Lebowitz and Manificat in 1993, describes probabilities of observing large charge fluctuations in the system. From the mathematical standpoint, the JLM law is only proved in a very special 'solvable' case, with only partial results known in general. A few years ago, Chatterjee introduced a hierarchical version of the Coulomb gas inspired by Dyson's hierarchical model for the Ising ferromagnet. In the talk, I will present a joint work with Alon Nishry, in which we prove that the JLM law holds for this hierarchical model.

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: Akhil Mathew (University of Chicago)

Alon Eizenberg (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

International Spillovers of Industrial Policy in the Global Semiconductor Sector

Join us on Monday, November 17 to learn about MIT’s combined engineering and management master’s degree!In this session, we’ll give you an overview of our unique integrated core course and the curriculum that lets you take classes at MIT’s School of Engineering and Sloan School of Management. Program staff will answer your questions about the application process. Current students will also join us to share what it’s really like to be a student at MIT. Our engineering and management degree provides you with tools to help you solve real-world problems as a leader in any organization.

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.