Dear members of the MIT community,

Welcome to the Fall issue of the Infinite. Our faculty, students, and staff continue to drive exciting research and education. I am constantly inspired by our community of passionate, curious, and ambitious innovators.

Several weeks ago, we celebrated the 40th anniversary of MIT’s Society of Women Engineers, a global organization dedicated to supporting women interested in, or pursuing careers in, engineering and technology. Over the summer, the world celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing. That “moonshot” spirit lives on at MIT, as you can read in this issue’s roundup of how researchers are working toward the next giant leaps — ones that could propel humans to parts still unknown.

Students are drawn to MIT by a desire to learn and to tackle hard problems. Some join us in the summer months for Professional Education short programs, while others attend the Beaver Works Summer Institute or the Women’s Technology Program. I invite you to watch an inspiring video about the Office of Engineering Outreach Programs, which opens our doors to underserved and underrepresented middle and high school students with a passion for STEM. A majority of these promising students will go on to study here and at other top-tier schools, enriching our collective future with their talents and inexhaustible energy.

At MIT, our kind of engineer views praise as an invitation to tackle the next problem — the harder, the better. Here’s to another year of amazing discoveries, and witnessing our students make a better world. 

Sincerely,