Engineering Research

The faculty, post-docs, graduate students, undergraduates, and other researchers that comprise the engineering community at MIT are singularly dedicated to the development of ideas, processes, materials, and devices that will improve the lives of people throughout the world. The School of Engineering’s many departments, divisions, labs, and research centers collectively generate nearly $250 million in sponsored research every year—and they define the future of science and technology.

Research News

  • Nanoparticles for gene therapy improve

    About five years ago, Professor Janet Sawicki at the Lankenau Institute in Pennsylvania read an article about nanoparticles developed by MIT’s Robert Langer for gene therapy, the insertion of genes into living cells for the treatment of disease. Sawicki was working on treating ovarian cancer by delivering — through viruses — the gene for the diphtheria toxin, which kills tumor cells.

  • The politics of climate fixes

    Judith Layzer, an assistant professor of environmental policy in MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning, was among the speakers at last Friday’s daylong symposium on “Engineering a Cooler Earth.” She immediately changed the tone of the day’s presentations by dispensing with graphs and charts and speaking only with the aid of her quite expressive gestures.

  • MIT: An engine of energy innovation

    DOE makes awards for transformative energy technologies

  • Secure computers aren’t so secure

    Even well-defended computers can leak shocking amounts of private data. MIT researchers seek out exotic attacks in order to shut them down

  • New methods are changing old materials

    A company that makes steel for bearings used in heavy trucks had a big problem. The trucks travel through harsh, perilous environments such as Siberia, and an unexpected bearing failure on a remote stretch could literally put the driver’s life in danger. Knowing how long the steel would hold up under those conditions was beyond their ability to predict experimentally, so they turned to specialists at MIT.