Research and Education that Matter
“MIT is where I learned to take big, messy problems and actually do something about them,” says Sterling Anderson SM ’09, PhD ’13. “Everything I needed was there: incredible people, freedom to explore, and a practical outlet to turn research into real-world impact.”
A new, lightweight polymer film is virtually impenetrable to gas molecules. With such a coating, “you could protect infrastructure such as bridges, buildings, rail lines — basically anything outside exposed to the elements,” Michael Strano says.
Physicists observed key evidence of unconventional superconductivity in a special form of graphene. The findings may guide the design of superconductors that work at room temperature, “which is sort of the Holy Grail of the entire field,” Pablo Jarillo-Herrero says.
As president and CEO of the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad, Caren Kraska ’77 helps Americans appreciate the role of trains in the modern economy. Now an Arkansas community leader, she says: “You take that MIT approach with you.”
In a world without MIT, radar wouldn’t have been available to help win World War II. We might not have email, CT scans, time-release drugs, photolithography, or GPS. And we’d lose over 30,000 companies, employing millions of people. Can you imagine?
Since its founding, MIT has been key to helping American science and innovation lead the world. Discoveries that begin here generate jobs and power the economy — and what we create today builds a better tomorrow for all of us.