RDCOMM-24786 Scholarship Photography photos by Sarah Bastille during 2020 IAP, Bio Bots. Can you grow a robot? Why not!?! In this project you will try making a living, growing, moving "robot" actuated by lab-grown, muscle cells. Living machines leverage the world’s most advanced technology – biology – to create devices that not only better model and integrate with existing biology, but could also transform other areas of technology to become self-assembling, self-healing, and more. In this project, you will explore the exciting fields of biofabrication, tissue engineering, and genetic engineering. Your end result, rings of muscle tissue grown in the lab and hooked up to small, mechanical actuators. The muscle cells are engineered so that their contraction can be controlled by pulses of light. Biobot 1.0! The project is offered as an introduction to tissue culture techniques and basic biomechanics in the new BioMakerspace located in 26-035. Instructed by Justin Buck and Maxine Jonas.
Brilliant graduate students are essential to the Institute’s research enterprise. Fellowships funded during the Campaign give MIT the capacity to retain its competitive edge in attracting the most talented, inventive, and diverse graduate students from around the world, offering remarkable young minds the confidence and freedom to chase big ideas in pursuit of a better world.
A MathWorks Fellow, R’mani Haulcy ’19 is grateful that her fellowship allows her to concentrate exclusively on research. “Because of MIT, I’ve become aware of potential solutions that I never knew existed, and I believe in my ability to solve problems,” she says. Read more →
Shivang Tayal MBA ’22 started a grassroots campaign called Rakshak ki Raksha—Protecting Our Warriors—to assist frontline health care workers in rural India during the Covid-19 pandemic. Tayal, whose studies at MIT Sloan are supported by the Ivy Head Family Fellowship, credits MIT for encouraging him to focus his campaign where it would have the most impact. Read more →
MIT’s Center for Theoretical Physics is the ideal place to investigate the behavior of black holes, says Elba Alonso-Monsalve, recipient of the Frances and Arthur Peskoff Physics Fellowship. “Having a fellowship is very helpful because I’m not restricted to the funding of a specific professor,” she says. Read more →
On the Navajo Nation reservation between Tse Bonito, New Mexico, and Fort Defiance, Arizona, where Alvin Harvey SM ’20 grew up, his grandmother didn’t have running water. He credits the MIT Summer Research Program and support from the Garriott Space Fund and other fellowship funding for making his graduate studies possible. Read more →
Having worked on education infrastructure for the government of Peru, Angeles Martinez Cuba is now investigating the relationship between public schools and their surrounding communities for her MIT thesis. The José Miguel Bejos Fellowship Fund helped bring her to MIT to pursue this work. “I feel beyond grateful for this funding,” she says. Read more →
As Vira begins his doctoral studies, he is grateful that the Carl Shapiro Fellowship Fund brought him to MIT, where he has the chance to work with renowned faculty members. “The faculty have really impactful research designed to improve outcomes for people around the world,” he says. Read more →
