Dear members of the MIT Community,

Thank you for the enthusiastic commentary inspired by last month’s question, “Which areas of energy research do you think hold the most promise for global impact?” Your responses emphasized the need to mitigate climate change, to master the storage of renewable energy, and to make commercialized fusion a widespread reality.

This edition of The Infinite focuses on energy. Our offerings include articles on:

• Growing interest on campus in an MIT-led effort to make commercialized fusion a reality.
• MechE faculty developing technologies that tackle storage and management of greenhouse gases.
• A look at an annual symposium where women discuss solutions to pressing energy issues led by the U.S. Department of Energy in collaboration with the MIT Energy Initiative and others.
• Podcast from the MIT Energy Initiative featuring Vladimir Bulović on what’s coming in solar and how MIT.nano is changing how startups launch from MIT.

I look forward to your ongoing input. Next month we look at transportation. Researchers across the Institute are conducting transportation research in nearly every area of study from motor vehicles to urban infrastructure planning to aviation efficiency to adaptive technologies and their influence on personal behavior. My question for you: “How could MIT positively impact the transportation of the future?”