# MIT welcomes Sally A. Kornbluth, 18th President of MIT

Data: 11-01-2025 21:42:06

## Lista de Vídeos

1. [Inauguration Ceremony of Sally Kornbluth, 18th President of MIT](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK7obpl3k3o)
2. [Academic Symposium: Where Big Ideas Come From — and Why They Matter Live Webcast](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba-D44kZCok)
3. [We Are the Forest—Music of Resilience and Activism](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7xW4dWVzqE)
4. [Hello, MIT!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJO-HDWY4cg)
5. [Dr. Sally A. Kornbluth named MIT’s 18th president (full press conference)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0XCBFP6Oh0)
6. [MIT Community Introduction: President-elect Dr. Sally A. Kornbluth](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhBkuWo4tks)
7. [L. Rafael Reif welcomes president-elect Dr. Sally Kornbluth to MIT](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jph0eHRkdzU)
8. [Chair of the faculty Lily Tsai welcomes the new president-elect to MIT](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIa4bhnJshw)
9. [President-elect Sally A. Kornbluth addresses the MIT community](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqfXUb5L3u0)
10. [Chair of the MIT Corporation Diane Greene introduces MIT's 18th president-elect](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U948Rt0max8)

## Transcrições

### Inauguration Ceremony of Sally Kornbluth, 18th President of MIT
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK7obpl3k3o

Idioma: en

[DRUMMING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
SPEAKER: Please welcome
the inaugural procession.
[APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Please welcome President
Sally Kornbluth
accompanied by Diane Green,
chair of the MIT Corporation.
[APPLAUSE]
DIANE GREENE: President Emerita
Hockfield, President Emeritus
Reif, President Kornbluth,
distinguished guests,
good afternoon and welcome
to the historic inauguration
of Sally Kornbluth as the 18th
president of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.
[APPLAUSE]
OK, we're honored to have
esteemed elected officials,
distinguished representatives
of the city of Cambridge,
and respected members of the
neighboring communities joining
us for this auspicious occasion.
We extend a warm welcome
to the revered guests
from the academy, distinguished
members of learned societies,
and delegates from national and
international organizations.
We also gratefully
acknowledge the presence
of MIT trustees, faculty,
staff, students, alumni,
and our valued friends
both here in Killian Court
and joining us via livestream
from all corners of the world.
The 162-year-old Massachusetts
Institute of Technology
is one of the most important
organizations in the world.
MIT educates, trains, and sends
into the world, some 4,000
plus undergrads, grads,
and postdocs every year.
And MIT'S research has a
continual and global impact.
Today's inauguration
celebrates and solemnized
the beginning of a new era.
It provides a
symbolic transition
from one leader to
another and demonstrates
the continuity of governance.
Let us now begin the
inauguration ceremony
for Sally Kornbluth as
MIT's president and leader.
Please rise for the
invocation by chaplain
to the institute, the
Reverend Thea Keith-Lucas.
And remain standing for
the star-spangled banner,
which will be sung by
Jodie-Marie Fernandes, MIT
class of 2009.
THEA KEITH-LUCAS:
Good afternoon.
It is my honor to invoke the
spirit of this great occasion
to welcome our new president and
to celebrate the curiosity that
brightens our community.
I wanted to tell
you that curiosity
is a powerful and
constant force, not
at all like a firefly
coming and going, flitting
in and out of our view with
little pulses of light.
And then I wondered, how does
a firefly turn its beam on
and off so quickly.
So I learned that
the firefly produces
a quick pulse of
nitric oxide, which
binds to the mitochondria in
the light organ releasing oxygen
to start the
bioluminescent reaction.
The enzyme involved is called
luciferase from the Latin
for bearer of light.
Isn't that interesting?
Down South, the woods are
thick with lightning bugs.
You have to look
harder for them here
in the lands of
the Massachusetts
and the Wampanoag, but
those who search will still
find their twinkling light.
And do you know why
they blink like that?
The young ones are flashing a
warning that they taste awful.
The brightness is
a bit of bravery,
a way of announcing I am here,
and I will find my own way
in this world.
I will not be a snack
for some lizard or bat
just like you glow with
your own sense of purpose
and refuse to be swallowed by
the old unquestioned stories.
And the grown ones
prove their strength
to their mates by the intensity
and rate of their light
as much as we are
drawn toward people
who ask bold questions, who
don't assume they know anything
about us, who are discovering
us at this moment.
There is a Hebrew blessing
for the first time
we lay eyes on a great wonder.
[HEBREW]
You stand before me today, and I
want to bless the sight of you.
Each and every one, what an
amazing surprise you are.
Do you mind if I ask
you all did they have
fireflies where you grew up?
Did you stand outside
on a warm summer
evening and watch the woods
turn magical with tiny flashes,
yellow edging into green?
What questions burst so
brightly into your mind
that you wanted to append your
life and follow them here?
Could we light up
the world together?
[APPLAUSE]
(SINGING) Oh, say can you see
by the dawn's early light,
what's so proudly we hailed at
the twilight's last gleaming.
Whose bright stripes and bright
stars through the perilous
fight for the
ramparts we watched
were so gallantly streaming.
And the rocket's red glare,
the bombs bursting in air
gave proof through the night
that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that
star-spangled banner yet
wave over the land of the free
and the home of the brave.
[APPLAUSE]
DIANE GREENE: Please be seated,
and thank you, Ms. Fernandes
and Reverend Keith-Lucas for
offering an inspiring opening
to this momentous ceremony.
It is now my honor to introduce
President Kornbluth's very good
friend and distinguished
President of the University
of Maryland Baltimore County
Dr. Valerie Sheares Ashby.
President Ashby
will offer greetings
on behalf of the
academic community.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you so very much, Madam
Chair, for that introduction.
I bring greetings
and gratitude to you
and to the members of the MIT
Corporation, MIT faculty, staff
students, alumni, and community
members to distinguished guests
and to my dear friend, Sally.
What a joyous occasion.
I am honored to be here today
to share with you a little
about your president
Sally Kornbluth.
I believe she embodies exactly
what higher education needs
in leadership at this
critical moment in the nation
and in the world, clarity,
vision, courage, and humility.
I first met Sally in 2015
during my interview for the role
as Dean of Trinity College
of Arts and Sciences at Duke
University.
It was clear from that
very first meeting
that this was a person
for whom I could work,
from whom I could learn,
and with whom there
would be a joyful partnership.
I have no doubt that you all
felt the same when you first
met Sally and you
knew very early
on what a terrific fit she
would be to lead in MIT now.
These roles, as
you might imagine,
are all about fit and timing,
about finding the place where
who you are and who they
are will work together
in such a way that each is
transformed for the better.
It is about finding
the people who
will champion with you the
fundamental principles on which
we advance knowledge, educate
students, and create solutions
for the benefit of society.
It is about finding
shared values that
create a solid foundation for
vigorous, productive debate
and essential
transformation and progress.
When I reflect on your motto,
mens et manus, mind and hand,
I know that you have
found the right person
and that she has found
the place, the people,
and the values that
make this a perfect fit.
In Sally, you have a leader.
She knows excellence in
science and engineering
and how to foster and
sustain the environment that
makes it possible for the
best scientists and engineers
to focus their energies on
the most vexing problems.
And she also understands
that in order
to take brilliant and
parallel concepts and ideas
to relevant and
effective solutions,
diversity is not just desired.
It is required.
She moved Duke University
forward in faculty diversity
not just with increased numbers
but with true culture change,
building excellence
through diversity.
Then she took the
all important step
of providing resources that
clearly underlined her values.
She knew that without
brilliant faculty
from diverse backgrounds across
all disciplines generating
knowledge together that
perceived solutions may not
advance or serve
the very communities
or the people for whom
they were intended.
Her clarity was critical
to that culture change.
You also have a
leader who understands
that mind and hand requires
full liberal arts and sciences
approach.
There are my
humanist right there.
As a cancer biologist and
a liberal arts college
with a liberal arts
college background,
she is clear that
solutions needed
to address the world's
increasingly complex challenges
require the insight
and understanding
that the humanities and
social sciences bring.
They are necessary not only
to generate the knowledge that
leads to solutions but also to
help in the all important work
of re-establishing what is
truth and garnering trust in it
so that dissemination
of research findings
is possible and productive.
From mind to hand also requires
heart and, in particular,
a willingness to ask
the human questions.
She will ask what
communities are affected,
and what do they need.
She will ask where have
we not invested, and why.
She will ask what unintended
consequences are we not seeing.
She will ask what or who is
at risk if we do not act.
She will ask these
questions and care deeply
about the answers
never forgetting
that leadership is a privilege.
So when she led the provost
forum at Duke on policing
and another on free speech,
when she led the Duke Science
and Technology Initiative,
when she navigated
all of the complexities
of Duke Kunshan University
in China, when she led the
University through COVID
and the racial reckoning of
2020, in all of these and more,
we witnessed mind, hand,
and heart on full display.
A brilliant scientist, scholar,
and teacher and inspiring
transdisciplinary vision coupled
with bold action and a heart
for people and the
human condition,
this is your president, MIT.
Finally, in Sally, you
have a person of courage.
In this era of leadership
as performance,
she understands that
principles without courage
are simply platitudes.
It has been written
that courage is
the value that is required to
live all of your other values
consistently.
Her courage begins with
her genuine humility
and willingness to
listen and learn.
And it continues with
her genuine humility
and willingness to
make tough decisions
and to create clear pathways
for the success of others.
This is who she is
every day, and it
is how she built trust and
inspired us to believe and join
in her vision.
And so I celebrate
MIT's profound wisdom
in choosing Sally Kornbluth
as its next president.
And Sally, I thank
you for the lessons
that I learned from
you in leadership
that I think of often and
I carry with me in my work
today at UMBC.
Mind, hand, and heart--
I'll say it again,
mind, hand, and heart.
You nailed it.
Congratulations
MIT, congratulations
to higher education, and
congratulations to you, Sally.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you.
Dr. Sheares Ashby.
That was affirming and uplifting
minded manus at core, I guess.
Thank you.
It is now my pleasure to
introduce a special performance
and tribute from Ricky
Richardson MIT class
of 2012 and friends.
They will honor
President Kornbluth
with the premiere performance of
his original composition Chase
Fire.
[APPLAUSE]
RICKY RICHARDSON: Good
afternoon, everybody.
This song is about
the power of ambition
and the responsibility
that comes with it.
So my hope is that as
we cultivate ambition
within ourselves,
within one another,
and we do so in
humility and in love.
The song goes like this.
(SINGING) What do you
do when the frost inches
toward you nipping at your
heels, freezing you in place?
Fan the embers deep inside.
Oh, chase fire.
How do you grow when
the shadows loom
and linger covering the Earth,
stealing from the lives?
Be Purified.
Chase Fire.
Will you be moved when the
cries of the unheard desperate
for relief echo in your mind?
Trust love to be your guide.
Chase fire.
Chase fire.
What makes you come alive?
Chase fire.
What is the nature
of your ambition?
[RICK RICHARDSON, "CHASE FIRE"]
Chase fire.
Chase fire.
Fire.
Fire.
Chase fire.
Chase fire.
Don't you stand out in the cold.
Fire.
Chase fire.
Chase fire.
Fire.
Chase fire.
Chase fire.
[VOCALIZING]
Fire.
Chase fire.
[VOCALIZING]
Chase fire.
What is the nature
of your ambition?
Chase fire.
Let us lay down our pride.
Chase fire.
[VOCALIZING]
So when the night comes pressing
in and the land needs purified
and when you can't
shake winter's chill
and the love is hard
to find, fan the embers
deep within, yeah,
oh, chase fire.
[APPLAUSE]
DIANE GREENE: Thank you, Ricky
Richardson, and your friends.
[APPLAUSE]
So at this time,
it is my pleasure
to invite our presidents
emeriti, Susan Hockfield
and Rafael Reif, and
President Kornbluth
to join for the investiture
ceremony after which President
Kornbluth will deliver
her inaugural address.
[APPLAUSE]
SUSAN HOCKFIELD: May the
great global family of MIT
have the vision and
ingenuity to seize
fresh opportunities and
the courage and compassion
to help humanity solve
the hardest problems.
May we thrive as a
community of people
who value both rigorous
work and exuberant
play, who share a passion
for exploration, discovery,
and innovation and a deep
respect for one another.
RAFAEL REIF: May we
venture after knowledge
for its own sake
and seek to harness
that knowledge with
wisdom in the great MIT
tradition of mind and hand.
May we never forget
that each of us
has something to teach
and much to learn.
And may be work
together in service
to the nation and the world
with humility, integrity,
and curiosity unbounded.
DIANE GREENE: Sally
Kornbluth by the authority
of the corporation and witnessed
by this distinguished assembly,
I present into your keeping the
Charter of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology
and invest you
with the authority
privileges and responsibility
of the office of president.
May you serve the
institute and dignify us--
to dignify its office of the
president with all the skill,
wisdom, and dedication, which
our confidence accords to you.
And may you be steadfast
and vigorous in serving
the greatest good of MIT.
SALLY KORNBLUTH: Chair Greene--
[APPLAUSE]
--I accept this
charter as the symbol
of the office of the
president of the Massachusetts
Institute of
Technology and do so
with the full sense of the
magnitude of my responsibility.
I am deeply grateful
for your trust
that the corporation, faculty,
alumni, staff, and students now
place in me.
And I pledge to
do all in my power
to help the MIT community
fulfill its mission of service
to the nation and to the world.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you, Madam Chair,
President Hockfield,
President Reif for
everything you've
done to foster the strength,
spirit, and potential of MIT.
Thank you.
I aspire to build on what you
achieved for the Institute.
President Sheares Ashby,
Valerie, my old friend,
I'm a little overcome by the
kindness of your remarks,
and I can't believe
you even managed
to be here with your
own inauguration
barely in the rearview mirror.
To our dear distinguished guests
from across higher education,
the warmest welcome and hello.
And to all those
who may be watching
remotely, near and far, from
our neighbors in Cambridge
and Boston to the great global
family of MIT, including
our alumni 145,000 strong, to
our entire campus community,
this small city of
intrepid problem-solvers,
and my family and friends
and all of you gathered here
in Killian Court under the
world's largest umbrella,
which, thankfully,
we did not need,
I'm so grateful
that you chose to be
part of this solemn
ancient ceremony.
And this afternoon, I hope
to inspire you to join us
in something important and new.
So I hope that I've
piqued your curiosity.
Now please hold on
to that sensation,
that wanting to know while
I offer a few observations.
I'll venture my opinion on
what university leaders are
good for.
I'll talk about why I came
to MIT and what I found.
I'll sketch out
how we can fulfill
our potential,
our opportunities,
and our obligations,
and I'll ask
you to join me in meeting
this moment together.
So to my fellow
university leaders,
I'm starting with a
question that may feel
a little bit close to home.
But don't worry.
I've got you.
What are university
leaders good for?
So I got my first inkling
about 30 years ago.
Before I was a vice dean or
a provost or a president,
I was a cancer
biologist, a hands
on, pipette and centrifuge,
buckets and buckets
of frog eggs biologist.
My lab had maybe
12 people, and we
did the most fundamental
curiosity-driven research
you can imagine,
tinkering and tinkering
with biological systems to
understand the deep cell
biology and biochemistry
that go wrong
when cells turn cancerous.
It was fascinating,
and I loved it.
There's nothing
like the pleasure
of being part of a team
when an experiment shows
you something new, something no
one else has ever seen before.
And on the days when
you're in that flow,
you never want to leave the lab.
But there were also
other kinds of days.
On those days, I was frustrated
because I needed things
I could not get on my own.
I needed the
institution to transform
the way it recruited
young researchers,
so we could get the
best graduate students.
And I needed it to invest in
sophisticated core facilities,
so I could sequence all of
those proteins we purified.
In other words selfishly
to do the science I loved,
I needed the collective to work.
So I took my first job in
academic administration.
And over a number of
years with the help
of lots and lots
of people, I helped
make those changes happen.
For my lab, the new talent and
core facilities were terrific.
And it turned out they
were also terrific
for many other labs
in the med school
and across the whole
campus, and that
was when I began to understand
what university leaders are
good for.
I started to see that
leadership makes a difference.
That I could lead
the way to changes
that accelerated progress
way beyond the narrow band
of my own research.
So I took on new
leadership roles.
And each time by
listening to Voices
from across the community,
I found new ways
that I could help
the whole, things
like improving the quality of
life for all of our students,
developing staff
leaders at every level,
building a more diverse
faculty and more.
So 30 years on, what are
university leaders good for?
Picture a place like MIT.
In effect, every day we send
out thousands of expeditions
to explore the mountain range
of new knowledge and innovation,
curiosity unbounded.
For the faculty, researchers,
and students involved,
it's exhilarating
and exhausting,
fascinating and frustrating,
unpredictable and very,
very hard.
You rarely know for sure
if you're on the right path
or you're heading for
yet another dead end.
The people who
succeed are guilty
of an outrageous persistence
against all of the odds.
So in that high risk,
high reward picture,
what are university
leaders good for?
Three things that add up
to something very big.
First, we can help provision
the trip, the right resources
and the right talent.
Second, we can clear away
the bureaucratic boulders
that block the trail.
And finally, we can
scout out the best routes
for scaling the toughest
peaks and build and inspire
the right teams to get there.
This capacity to link
vision and action,
that may be the greatest
accelerant of all.
Now if we do these
three things right,
we create an environment in
which every individual has
the freedom and support
to flourish and grow
and in which we all have
a sense of community,
connection, and shared
purpose, those human bonds
that allow us to go farther and
faster together than any of us
could go alone.
Striving for that ideal
of university leadership,
that is what gets me out
of bed in the morning.
Well, actually,
technically, it's
my dogs that get me out
of bed in the morning,
but that is what
gets me to my desk.
And I love this work.
So last fall when MIT's
presidential search committee
came knocking, I
was happily settled
at a school I loved
in a role that still
held interesting challenges.
I was not in a mood to leave.
But frankly, when
the MIT offer came,
I could not possibly say no.
Not because I dreamed
of living where winter
is five months and spring
is five days, not because
of some alluring new title
but because there is simply
no place like MIT.
[APPLAUSE]
Dozens of great
research universities
are represented here today.
Yet even in this
distinguished company,
MIT has a distinctive recipe
for impact, this community's
signature ability
to foster the very
best in fundamental research
and harness it to confront
society's hardest problems.
As humanity struggles
with so many
interlocking global
crises, it has never
needed the people of MIT
more than it does now.
For those of us who are called
to the challenge of leadership,
the world always offers
lots of opportunities
but very few could be more
compelling than the chance
in this moment to lead a MIT.
Since I arrived in January,
I've spent nearly all of my time
on a listening tour.
I've met with dozens of
people across the institute
in every role, and I have to
say as a longtime fan of novels,
that leap between past, present,
and future getting to know MIT
has felt like a
kind of time travel.
In four months, I've flown over
the whole course of MIT's 162
year history, including
momentous achievements, times
of great pride, and great
struggle and many acts
of delightful irreverence,
including one at my office
this morning.
You all know if
you were involved.
I've been beamed into
these past controversies.
I've visited the good old days.
I've heard MIT student
tales from 50 years ago,
and I've talked with seniors
who graduate next month.
I've seen a mighty grow from a
scrappy little technical school
to its present
scope and stature.
And most important in
exploring MIT's past
and present, I've
gotten tantalizing
glimpses of the future.
My first week on
the job included
reviewing young faculty
who are up for promotion,
three long days back to back.
And honestly, you cannot
imagine a more intoxicating
introduction to the
human potential of MIT.
One candidate after
another, each somehow
more impressive than the
last, and each one of them
a window into the future of
knowledge and the future of MIT
reviewing these
incredible talents
was a preview of one
of the striking aspects
of this community, that the
fuel for what gets done here
is the brilliant creativity
of each and every individual.
It's like a night sky impossibly
dense with stars, each one
particular and beautiful.
And in the darkness
when we look up,
we naturally look for
patterns and connections.
That is the pleasure of
picking out a constellation.
It doesn't dim the
stars within it,
but it holds our attention
because it creates a larger
meaning.
In my listening
tour conversations,
that image has come to me again
and again because everywhere,
in every setting I've heard
an intense desire to see
the people of MIT come
together in meaningful ways
to meet all of the great
challenges of our time
and, above all and most
urgently, to marshal
a bold, tenacious response to
the runaway crisis of climate
change.
[APPLAUSE]
I have found a community
of people who to a person
treasure the best aspects
of MIT's history and culture
and take great pride
in its achievements.
Yet I've found a place always
decentralized and further
fragmented by the pandemic that
is still finding its way back
to a shared center.
There is a palpable craving for
reattachment and connection.
If you'll allow me,
what I hear in all this
is a craving for
new constellations.
In coming to MIT, I found
something magnificent
in its history, culture,
character, and achievements,
in its people and
their clear-eyed focus
on the hardest problems.
In short, like many
of you before me
in coming here in a
wonderful new way,
I have found my people, and
I have truly found paradise.
[APPLAUSE]
Yet I have also learned from
MIT's unstoppable engineers
that even paradise
can be optimized.
So let me talk a
little bit about what
that might look like.
So since I'm still trying to
unlock minor local mysteries
like how MIT numbers its
buildings and its courses,
for me to bring forth today
some detailed strategic vision
would be arrogant
in the extreme.
Instead I want to take
you on a little trip
through time to the future
a decade or so from now.
So setting the dial
for the year 2033,
we can see an MIT that
is important weighs
deeply the same, just as
quirky, nerdy, unconventional,
and bold, an MIT that is true
to its fundamental purpose.
But we also see
an institute that
has built up its
core strengths to be
ready for whatever comes next.
The MIT of 2033 has unraveled
daunting intellectual puzzles
from mathematics to material
science, urban planning
to economics, neuroscience
to nuclear engineering,
physics to philosophy
to finance.
It has cleared away
internal boulder's
freeing its people to
make important discoveries
and innovations.
In 2033, our
undergraduates are thriving
with an ambitious new take on
MIT'S core curriculum, which
is setting the standard for
what tomorrow's leaders need
to learn.
And MIT has truly
become a place of
inclusive excellence and
enthusiastic diversity, where
everyone feels that they
matter and that they belong.
[APPLAUSE]
I'm also proud to tell
you that the MIT of 2033
has helped humanity
come to grips
with the tectonic forces
of artificial intelligence
containing its risks and
harnessing its power for good.
The music building
isn't new anymore,
but it's central to new
flowering of the humanities
and the arts at
MIT, the fields that
tell us why it matters that we
are human beings, fields that
must be equal
partners in inventing
a just, humane, and
equitable future.
[APPLAUSE]
By forging new synaptic links
between engineering and life
science, including synthetic
biology, the MIT of 2033
has helped invent the future of
making, the future of healing,
the future of
biomedicine itself.
And it has made
greater Boston the hub
of the next biotech
revolution too.
In 2033, the Met warehouse
is a bustling hub
of making and design, sparking
new ways of seeing and solving
old problems.
The people of MIT have used
the power of entrepreneurship
to propel profound solutions
out to the communities
around the world from
preventing pandemics
to cleaning up plastic waste.
And the MIT of 2033 is proud
that a decade earlier, it
helped lead a powerful
cross-sector coalition
and placed big bets
on big solutions
to dramatically
accelerate progress
against climate change.
[APPLAUSE]
I hope that you all can
see yourself in that future
because it will
call on all of us
together to explore and commit
to new ways of concentrating
our strength and quickening
the pace of progress.
To be clear, we want every one
of our 1,000 bold expeditions
to succeed.
And there are many
deeply significant areas
where we can do more together
from the bioeconomy to AI.
In fields like these,
the world is crying out
for courageous
thought leadership
and practical solutions.
For a mind in hand place
like MIT, answering that call
is an opportunity and
frankly an obligation.
But as so many of you have
told me, one subject above all
demands our shared attention.
Today, at least
20% of MIT faculty
work on questions related to
climate change, the greatest
scientific and societal
challenge of this or any age.
The people of MIT are
pioneering crucial fields
from nuclear fusion to
grid scale batteries
to climate policy.
They're decarbonizing
everything from steel production
to supply chains to
computing, from architecture
to agriculture.
That is fantastic.
But I believe that with all
that talent and imagination,
we can and, honestly, we must
find new ways to work together
and to work with other
sectors and other institutions
to achieve even more, much more.
We need to ask
ourselves, what is
MIT's contribution going to be?
Would we feel satisfied
if the answer was, well,
MIT contributed to
the knowledge base?
Would we?
Is that enough?
What could we do that would
really move the needle
and break the dial?
Wouldn't it make
you proud to be part
of the team that went
all in on the most
important question of our time?
[APPLAUSE]
The people of MIT have done this
before, and now in this moment
we can do it too.
So many of MIT
signature achievements
have been triumphs of
concerted collaboration--
the LIGO program, whose
thousands of contributors
from dozens of institutions
together found a way
to detect gravitational
waves from outer space,
the Human Genome Project, where
MIT scientists contributed
a third of all of the
sequencing, the Apollo guidance
systems that put humans on
the moon, the work of MIT's
legendary Rad Lab whose 3,500
members developed the radar
systems that helped
to end World War II.
At the time, MIT's ninth
president, Carl Taylor Compton,
called the Rad Lab the
greatest cooperative research
establishment in the
history of the world.
And the scientific miracles
it achieved at record speed
were mostly done by
very young researchers
across a wide range of fields
with an extraordinary sense
of purpose.
To meet the
challenges of climate,
it is time for the people of
MIT to engage in Rad Lab level
thinking and commitment again.
[APPLAUSE]
I want you and I
need you to help
me imagine what that should look
like and how it can succeed,
the kind of grand
creative enterprise
in which the energy
you release together
is greater than you each
put in, a nuclear fusion
of problem-solving
and possibility.
[APPLAUSE]
I, certainly, would
not presume to lay out
all of the new details of
this new climate endeavor.
That is work we will do
together starting now.
We need energy and expertise
from every MIT school
and the college, from
every lab and every center,
from every member of the faculty
and from every one of you.
To our students
and postdocs, you
are among our most
brilliant stars.
Help us focus unflinchingly
on the horizon of your future
and the urgent need
for action now.
To our faculty and researchers,
let's do everything
we can as fast as we can.
Let's have the
courage to venture
the impossible for our
students, for our children
and their children,
for the world.
To MIT's incredible
staff, you are
critical to this Institute's
success, its unsung heroes.
As we take on this
great shared challenge,
we will need every
ounce of your expertise,
institutional knowledge,
and principled leadership.
And to our alumni and friends
and our steadfast partner
partners on the corporation, you
know without my saying it that
we cannot do this work as well
or at all without your support,
encouragement, and inspiration.
To our neighbors in
Cambridge and Boston
and to leaders across
the Commonwealth,
let's find ways to support
each other in this work
so we can move as fast
as the moment demands.
And to my fellow
University leaders,
this problem will
require that we all
enlist our galaxies of stars.
Let's do this together
and remind the world
that so many of the
thorniest problems
are solved at universities.
[APPLAUSE]
But let me be clear, we are
not going to wait around
for a perfect vision.
We need to start
trying new things
because I am absolutely certain
that this urgent project is
the singular effort that
needs our shared attention.
We can only meet this
crisis if we're brave enough
to lower our shields, reach out
and work together in new ways.
And we cannot be satisfied
with the normal academic tempo.
There simply is not time.
You'll hear more from
me soon about how
this effort will take shape.
I hope many of you will want
to participate directly.
Please think about how
you can answer the call.
How will your work make
the whole of our efforts
on climate greater than the sum
of the parts, a multiplication
of our talent and our capacity?
And whatever your role at MIT,
I want you to feel part of this.
Every member of this
community is an essential part
of the ecosystem that makes
breakthroughs possible.
I want us all to take pride
in how this community comes
together to meet the existential
challenges of humankind.
I know I will take great
pride in joining you.
[APPLAUSE]
So I started this speech with
a little bit of intrigue.
I asked you to hold
on to that sensation
of wanting to know why.
Because it only takes a
few hours on this campus
to learn that what propels
MIT is an irresistible force,
the sheer motive
power of curiosity.
On every subject,
at every scale,
across disciplines, and without
limits, curiosity unbounded.
It is the passion to
understand how things work
and why and how they
can work better.
In this perilous
moment, I believe
that curiosity can give us
the hope and the courage
to do what needs to be done.
Importantly, curiosity is
also the one and only path
to understanding one another,
to empathy and appreciation
and mutual respect.
In fact, curiosity is the
indispensable first step
in both collaboration
and community.
Today, the problems before us,
the problems of human society
and its only planet
so far require
that we harness our curiosity in
exceptionally productive ways.
The people of MIT have always
wanted to know how things work
and how we can be
part of big solutions.
Now it is imperative
that we know
and that we help lead
the world to action.
[APPLAUSE]
In some fleeting way,
the world may attend
to what I say here today.
But I know the world will
be watching what we do next.
Let's give them
something to talk about,
something to cheer
for, something to join,
something worthy of MIT.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
DIANE GREENE: I'll
just say, Sally,
we're so glad you
found your people.
Yeah.
Thank you for that
rousing and promising
18th presidential
inauguration speech.
And now we will move towards
the closing of this ceremony.
On behalf of the MIT community,
I thank our speakers.
I thank our performers.
And thank all of you for
joining for the inauguration
of MIT'S 18th president,
President Sally Kornbluth.
[APPLAUSE]
So now for a little
joy, please--
more joy, additional
joy-- please
rise now and join the
corollaries of MIT
as we raise our voices
to sing the school
song in praise of MIT.
That will be followed by
"Take Me Back to Tech",
which will complete the
inauguration ceremony.
And afterwards please all join
our community reception here
in the back of
Killian Court's tent.
Thank you very much.
[APPLAUSE]
[JOHN B. WILBUR, "ARISE YE SONS
 OF MIT"] Arise all ye of MIT,
in loyal fellowship.
The future beckons unto ye
and life is full and rich.
Arise and raise
your glass on high.
Tonight shall ever
be a memory that
will never die for ye of MIT.
Thy sons and daughters, MIT,
return from far and wide
and gather here once more to
be renourished by thy side.
And as we raise our glasses high
to pledge our love for thee,
we join all those of the days
gone by in praise of MIT.
(SINGING) Oh, I wish that I were
back again at tech on Boylston
Street dressed in my dinky
uniform so dapper and so neat.
I'm crazy after calculus.
I never had enough.
It was hard to be
dragged away so young.
It was horribly, awfully tough.
Hoorah for technology,
ology, ology, oh.
Glorious, old technology,
ology, ology, oh.
Back in the days that we're free
from care in the ology varsity
shop.
With nothing to do but analyze
air in an anometrical top.
The differentiation of
the trigonometric powers.
The constant pi that made sigh
in those happy days of ours.
Hoorah for technology,
ology, ology, oh.
Glorious, old technology,
ology, ology, oh.
Take me back on a special train
to the glorious institute.
I yearn for the inspiration
of the technological toot.
Toot toot.
I'd shun the quizzical physical
profs the chapel and all that.
But how I'd love to go
again on a scientific bat.
[VOCALIZING]
Oh, M-A-S-S-A-C-H-U-S-E-T-T-S
I-N-S-T-I-T-U-T-E-O-F-T-E
and then it's C-H-N-O-L-O-G
and Y comes after G.
It's the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, hey.
[APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]

---

### Academic Symposium: Where Big Ideas Come From — and Why They Matter Live Webcast
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba-D44kZCok

Idioma: en

SALLY KORNBLUTH:
--to represent MIT,
to represent us to the world.
And a huge thanks to the
moderator, Linda Henry.
And among her many
distinctions, Linda
leads Boston Globe
Media as CEO, serves
as a board member of The
Engine, and, importantly,
holds a master's
degree from MIT.
And to all of you, it's
wonderful to see you here
at the start of an exciting day.
This afternoon, I will be
doing quite a lot of talking,
so I'm going to do just
very little right now.
But let me say that in
cooking up this program,
we wanted to give all of
you here, everyone watching
remotely, everyone
here, a taste of what
it's like to be part of the
MIT intellectual community.
MIT, has a bit more than
1,000 faculty members
spread across dozens of fields.
So you can consider the
brilliant speakers today
a kind of tasting menu
to whet your appetite
to the rich intellectual
environment of MIT.
So I hope you really enjoy.
I'm looking forward to it.
And let me turn it
back over to Anantha.
[APPLAUSE]
ANANTHA CHANDRAKASAN: Thank
you, President Kornbluth.
On behalf of faculty, students,
and staff at the institute,
I want to share my
warmest congratulations
on your inauguration today.
MIT is so fortunate and proud
to have you as our president.
As you have explored MIT
during the past several months,
it's been a pleasure
to collaborate
with you on various projects.
One of the things that
has particularly struck me
has been your emphasis
on inclusivity.
I've seen firsthand how you're
synthesizing and integrating
an overwhelming amount of
input from our community as you
set your strategic vision and
direction for MIT's future.
I continue to be truly
impressed by your leadership,
your compassion, and your
vision for the institute.
I've also been inspired by your
seemingly unbounded curiosity
and your passion for learning.
These two qualities,
which we find so important
in our students,
are reflected in you
and are the ideas that have
helped shape today's session
with MIT faculty.
The title of today's symposium
is "Where Big Ideas Come From
and Why They Matter."
MIT research has
generated or contributed
to some of the biggest
ideas to ever emerge.
These ranged from exploring
the far reaches of the universe
with the LIGO gravitational
wave detector,
to editing the genome
with CRISPR technologies,
to reducing poverty in
developing countries
through policies and programs
developed by MIT's Jameel
Poverty Action Lab.
MIT research and
inventions has had
a broad impact on the world,
such as the world wide web, RSA
security, radar, 3D printing,
and the list goes on and on.
As our global challenge
grows in number
and become increasingly
urgent, now more than ever,
we're in need of big ideas,
which faculty, students,
and staff at MIT and our alumni
are working hard to generate.
For example, in recent
years, MIT researchers
have made significant advances
in climate change mitigation,
including decarbonization
of industries,
using data and science to
forecast climate-related risk,
advanced battery and other
energy storage technologies,
and removing, managing, and
storing carbon dioxide just
to name a few.
Ideas like these are
poised to revolutionize
the world, which brings us to
the second half of the title--
"Why Big Ideas Matter."
And related to this, how
do we get these ideas out
into the real world
to make a difference?
In addition to generating
ideas, research teams and labs
across MIT also work
hard at finding ways
to translate these important
discoveries and breakthroughs
into scalable solutions.
For MIT faculty, one
of the key elements
of success in developing
these solutions
is to take an
interdisciplinary approach.
Problems like climate change
simply cannot be solved unless
researchers from nearly
every discipline collaborate.
Today, we'll hear about big
ideas from some of our faculty
who are generating them
across a range of disciplines.
Their talks will explore ideas
in climate and energy, music,
transportation, cancer
research, and health.
We will hear eight
back-to-back seven-minute talks
and then segue into a
roundtable discussion, which,
as President
Kornbluth mentioned,
will be moderated by
Linda Henry, who is indeed
a prominent and committed
citizen of Boston
and a great friend of MIT.
Linda, you're truly
the perfect person
to moderate today's
discussion about big ideas,
and thank you for doing that.
So before we begin, let me
quickly introduce our faculty
in the order they will present.
First, Cullen Buie,
associate professor
of mechanical engineering;
Andrew Lo, Charles E.
and Susan T. Harris,
professor from Sloan School
of Management; Anne
White, associate provost
and associate vice president
for research administration
and the School of Engineering
distinguished professor
of engineering.
Jinhua Zhao, Edward
and Joyce Linde,
associate professor of City
and Transportation Planning;
Eran Egozy, professor of the
Practice in Music Technology,
who will provide his
remarks through video.
Unfortunately, Professor Egozy
has come down with COVID.
Pablo Jarillo-Herrero,
Cecil and Ida Green,
professor of physics; Dina
Katabi, Thuan and Nicole Pham
professor of
Electrical Engineering
and Computer Science; and
finally, Sangeeta Bhatia,
John J. and Dorothy
Wilson professor
of Health Sciences
and Technology
and Electrical Engineering
and Computer Science.
I'd like to now invite
Professor Buie to come on stage
so we can begin.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
CULLEN BUIE: So
excited to be here.
We live in an
exciting time where
it is now possible to
take a patient's own cells
and engineer those cells
using gene editing tools,
like CRISPR, in order to
eradicate their cancer
or genetic diseases.
As crazy as this sounds,
this is not science fiction.
The woman that you see on
the left is Emily Whitehead.
She was one of the
first patients who
received one of these
CAR T therapies,
and she has now been cancer
free for over 10 years.
The woman on the right
is Victoria Gray.
She had sickle cell
disease, and she
received a therapy
which consisted
of her own edited stem cells.
And they gave them back to
her to cure her disease.
Medicine cannot get more
personalized than that.
These amazing
breakthroughs are ushering
in a new frontier for medicine.
But there's a challenge.
Many patients will never
see these solutions.
Let's assume this graphic
represents the total number
of patients that
could potentially
be cured by these therapies.
This number, if you look in
the top left, less than 1%,
is the number that will
actually receive them.
I asked you the
question, "If a cure
exists but it never gets to
patients, is it really a cure?"
This is where my work comes in.
I am passionate about developing
engineering solutions that
will allow these
life-changing engineered cell
therapies to get
out into the hands
and change the
lives of patients.
I've done this in two ways--
one through my lab
at MIT, but also
through a spin out of my
lab at MIT called Kytopen.
Here, I'm showing
the team at Kytopen.
Kytopen was born
from the observation
that a major
limitation in this area
is the delivery of genetic
material into cells.
In 2015, my co-founder
Paulo Garcia and I
had funding from the
National Science Foundation
to look at commercialization
opportunities for a gene
delivery technology
that we were working on.
As a part of this
funding, we had
to do customer discovery,
where we would interview over
100 customers and
stakeholders in this space
to ask them about their need
for a gene delivery technology.
One of the companies we met
with was out in California.
They were developing high
throughput synthetic biology
solutions.
Synthetic biology is
using engineering in order
to engineer cells for
the benefit of mankind.
During our interview
with them, we
asked them to take us to
the place, their production
facility, where all
the magic happens.
They take us down
there and we just
see rows and rows of automated
liquid handling systems that
were being used for their high
throughput cell engineering.
Then we asked a more specific
question, "How exactly are you
getting the genetic
material into the cell?"
At this point, they walk us
over to a corner of the room
where there were two
full-time PhDs who
took 96 well plates off of
the automated manufacturing
platform, pipetted
cells back and forth,
and then zapped them in order
to do the gene delivery.
At that moment, Paulo and I
looked at each other and said,
that is the problem
we need to solve.
Where do big ideas come from?
They come from
moments like this.
This company had
created something
like a sports car
for cell engineering,
but it was limited
to second gear
because the gene delivery
was too slow and too manual.
Motivated by what we saw, we
went back to my lab at MIT
and then developed
a technology that
would integrate into those very
same automated liquid handling
systems we saw at that company.
Fast forward to 2017,
we had a prototype
of the technology so
compelling we would present it
at technical conferences.
And people would come up
to us afterwards like,
where can we buy this thing?
But of course, you don't
buy things from MIT.
You buy things from companies.
Luckily for us, we ran into
Reed and Katie from The Engine,
and they gave us the seed
funding to start Kytopen.
Kytopen is poised to
really revolutionize
cell therapy manufacturing.
But why is there a manufacturing
challenge in cell therapies?
A big reason is that most
therapies in the clinic
actually use viruses to
deliver the genetic material
into the cell.
This brings up a big problem.
If you're going to
use viruses, you
need two highly regulated
biomanufacturing
systems in order to
deliver to the cells--
one to create the virus
and one to put the virus
into the cells.
This makes the process complex,
time intensive, and expensive.
Further, there's
a limited amount
of viral vector manufacturing
capacity on the planet.
Some companies have to
wait up to two years just
to get their viruses made.
So you might be wondering, OK,
Cullen, the problem is bad.
Why are people using
viruses in the first place?
A big reason for this is
that the original scientific
discovery at many of
these clinical therapies
was done using viruses.
People use viruses at the bench.
As the name suggests,
in cell therapies,
the cell is the therapy.
So there's a lot of
hesitancy to change anything
about the process as you move
from the bench to the clinic
to commercial manufacturing.
So why does manufacturing
use viruses?
It's because bench
scientists use viruses.
Manufacturing challenges
begin at discovery.
So manufacturing solutions
need to also begin a discovery.
This is where Kytopen
is really poised
to have an impact in this field.
We've developed a continuous
flow gene delivery technology
that seamlessly scales from
the bench to the clinic
to commercial manufacturing.
When you need to engineer
cells at the bench scale,
it takes fractions of a second.
When you need to
scale up to the clinic
or commercial manufacturing, it
only takes a couple of minutes.
The reason-- we built scale up
into the physics of the system
by making it continuous flow.
Further, the
technology is nonviral,
so we can eliminate all
those problems with viruses.
Because of this,
Kytopen is poised
to revolutionize this field.
We're going to first
revolutionize the discovery,
and that's how we
will revolutionize
the manufacturing.
So I'm a mechanical engineer.
You might be wondering, what
is a mechanical engineer doing
talking about these things?
I'm motivated for these problems
in many ways, but one of them
is my son, Simeon.
My son, Simeon, has
sickle cell disease,
just like Victoria Gray,
who we showed you earlier.
In sickle cell disease, one
of the challenges you have
is that you experience
something called a pain crisis.
In a pain crisis,
your red blood cells
form these sickle-like
shapes, which
get caught in your
veins and arteries,
and cause something known
as this pain crisis.
There is no cure for a crisis.
If you're in a
crisis, all they can
give you is pain medication.
Adults with sickle cell
disease describe a crisis
as akin to having
shards of glass
flowing through your veins.
One night, my son
went into a crisis
and all I could do was
hold him as he yelled out,
"Daddy, help me.
Daddy, help me."
In that moment, there
wasn't much that I can do.
But the solutions we're
developing at Kytopen
will be able to help.
But it's more than just
sickle cell disease.
It's cancer, it's
autoimmune diseases,
it's many genetic disorders.
The technologies we're
developing at Kytopen
are going to revolutionize
these spaces.
It's not just about my son.
It's about your mother.
It's about your father.
It's about your daughter.
It's about anyone suffering
from one of these debilitating
diseases.
So where do big ideas come from?
They come from you.
They come from me.
They come from anyone
who sees people
like my son, Simeon,
suffering and decides they
want to do something about it.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
ANDREW LO: So I'm a
financial economist
at the Sloan School
of Management,
and I'd like to tell you a
little bit about my research
on applying concepts in
financial engineering
to accelerating
biomedical innovation.
So I've got to begin
with a disclaimer, which
is I am not a biomedical
expert by any means.
But over the course
of the last few years,
having dealt with a number
of friends and family
with various kinds of cancer, I
realized that actually finance
plays a pretty big role in drug
development-- sometimes too
big of a role.
In some cases,
creating bottlenecks
because of the wrong
kind of financing
or not enough financing.
So that's what
I've been spending
some of my research time on.
So I'd like to begin
with an observation,
that biomedicine is at
an inflection point.
We are now able to treat all
sorts of very serious illnesses
with some really
incredible technology.
And a really good example
of that is gene therapy.
This is a particular
treatment that's
targeting single-cell
mutations-- typos in our DNA.
And it turns out that by
taking the correct version
of the gene, inserting it into
a virus, injecting the virus
into a human patient, that virus
will replace the defective gene
with the correct gene.
And presto, you're cured.
In using this
technology, we've been
able to cure diseases like
Leber's congenital amaurosis,
a hereditary form of blindness;
spinal muscular atrophy,
a neuromuscular disease that
causes paralysis and eventually
death; certain kinds of
leukemia; hemophilia;
and so on and so forth.
Now, many of these diseases that
we've cured are fairly rare.
But we are on the
verge of curing
some very common diseases,
including sickle cell and heart
disease and macular
degeneration and so on.
So this is a really big deal.
The problem is that these
cures, they don't come cheap.
There are some
eye-popping numbers
in terms of the prices
of these therapies.
And although health
care economists
have established that
these are actually
bargains because you're
getting a lifetime of health
versus renting health
one pill at a time.
Nevertheless, they're
hitting health care budgets
really hard.
And so the question
is, can we afford them?
And this is not an
academic exercise,
because there are over 200
gene therapies in late stage
clinical trials.
So this is going to be
a very big challenge
in the coming months and years.
So what do we do about it?
Well, currently, the way
these expensive therapies
are being paid for is
through standard health care
plans and reinsurance.
And so let me give
you an example
of how it might work right now.
Imagine a company that's
got about 1,000 employees.
So this company is likely
to be self-insured.
They set aside a certain
budget for their employees--
about $6 million for
1,000 person company.
And what they're concerned
about is if they even
have one patient that
needs a gene therapy, that
could wipe out a third to a
half of their annual budget.
It's not sustainable.
So what they want to do
is to offload that risk,
and they do that
with reinsurance.
The idea is that they pay
this reinsurance company
a certain premium on a
monthly or quarterly basis.
And in exchange, this
reinsurance company
will cover the cost of that
therapy for that worker.
The problem with this model is
that, currently, reinsurance
is way too expensive,
costing upwards
of 800% of the actuarial
fair value of the treatment.
And there are a number of
structural, regulatory, and
competitive reasons why
that figure is not going
to come down any time soon.
So it's unaffordable for a lot
of these self-insured plans.
And by the way, 50% of
all medical spending
comes from these
self-insured health plans.
And so what these health
plans are faced with
is not covering the particular
therapies, lasering them out.
Or if they're lucky
enough to get reinsurance,
they have to fight with the
reinsurance company that
might delay or deny
reimbursement because they'll
tell the health
plan, you should have
your workers focus
on cheaper therapies
and see if that works for us.
Let's wait a year or two
and see what happens.
It sets up a really
unfortunate dynamic
where workers are
pitted against employers
or pitted against these
reinsurance companies.
There's got to be a better way.
And there is.
It's called the
subscription model.
Or, more informally,
the Netflix model.
And let me tell how that works.
So that very same company
will buy reinsurance
through the Netflix model.
But instead of paying for
it to a reinsurance company,
they will instead
get reinsurance
from the lowest cost
provider of reinsurance.
And who might that be?
Who's the lowest cost provider?
The answer is the drug
manufacture itself.
In this example, Novartis.
Because patients, they
care about getting access
to the therapy not money.
And so Novartis can
provide reinsurance,
not with dollars but with drug.
So a subscription model
might work like this.
The health plan would subscribe
to a Novartis's gene therapy
by paying a certain per member
per month subscription fee--
maybe $0.10 per
member per month.
And in exchange, Novartis
agrees to pay for
and to administer the
gene therapy for any
of their patients with
no additional cost.
Novartis is definitely
the lowest cost provider.
Why?
Because any other reinsurer
that wants to get into the game
is going to have to buy
the drug from Novartis,
and they're going to pay
retail plus insurance markups,
whereas Novartis can offer
this at production cost
plus a slight margin
for their profit.
And this particular
subscription model
has a number of other benefits.
For one thing, this
subscription model
provides incentives
for the health plan
to diagnose and treat
every single patient that
needs the therapy.
Why?
Well, it's like an
all-you-can-eat buffet.
Once you pay for
the buffet, you're
going to eat as much as you can.
In contrast to the a la carte
model that we have right now,
where, if the appetizers are
a little too expensive, maybe
you shouldn't do that.
Eat some more bread and
forget about the appetizer.
Second, these subscription
fees, they start at approval
and they get paid to
these drug manufacturers
in a very steady stream.
And if there's one thing
that Wall Street stock
analysts love, it's
predictable cash flows.
So once these companies switch
to a subscription model,
their stock prices will go
up because their earnings
will look a lot smoother.
And finally, we don't have to
do this just with Novartis.
We can do this with
Pfizer, SPARC, Bluebird,
all of the gene therapy
manufacturers can be included
in this Netflix subscription.
And this Netflix-like
company can
offer a menu of gene therapies
to the health plans for one
fee, and they'll take
that fee and split it up
among the various
different health plans,
thereby increasing
efficiency, reducing
the risk, and
therefore the cost,
and increasing access to these
amazing life-saving therapies.
Sounds great, right?
Is it practical?
Well, I'm happy to tell
you that, two years ago, I
co-founded a company called
Quantile Health with Yutong
Sun, formerly lead data
scientist at Oscar Health--
so she's a consummate expert
in health care payment systems.
And as CEO, Yutong has
done an amazing job.
Just over the last
few months, she
signed up a number
of health plans
for this model that covers
about 4 million lives.
And we're in active
discussions now
with various biotech
and pharma companies
to create a pilot program
for a subscription model
later this year or
early next year.
This is happening.
So I'd like to wrap up by
observing that finance doesn't
always have to be a zero-sum
game if we don't let it;
that with the right
kind of financing
and the right scale and
the right business model,
we can actually do
well by doing good.
And together, we can do it now.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
ANNE WHITE: Good morning.
It's an absolute pleasure to
be here with you all today.
I'm a plasma physicist
and I'm a professor
in the department of nuclear
science and engineering.
And I'm here to talk
about fusion energy--
a big idea to change the world.
Fusion is the power
of the stars brought
to Earth, where light elements
combine to create heavier
elements-- in the
stars, hydrogen
to helium to carbon
all the way up to iron.
As a nuclear
reaction, the change
in the structure of the atoms
during a fusion reaction
results in an enormous
amount of energy released.
In fact, if you could
harness the energy released
in fusion reactions from
deuterium and tritium,
you could power a
city like Boston
for a year with just
a pickup truck load
of fuel, powering cities with
small amounts of abundant fuel
sourced from water and rocks.
Fusion reactions do not
lead to air pollution.
There are no greenhouse gas
emissions, no direct carbon
emissions.
There's minimal waste,
little land usage,
small environmental impact.
This is the huge
promise of fusion.
But this promise, this
tremendous value proposition,
that's not the reason why fusion
has been all over the news.
No.
The reason fusion has been
all over the news is because,
for the first time--
for the first time ever--
pieces of a puzzle
have fallen into place.
Piece number one, community
consensus and mature science.
Piece number two, policy and
public private partnership.
Piece number three, large
amounts of private funding.
And piece number four,
long-standing university
leadership.
These four pieces
have come together
to create a totally
unique ecosystem, one
that has accelerated the
timeline to fusion energy.
So this first piece
of the puzzle,
community consensus for a fast
track to fusion electricity.
There are fusion systems we
know about today and work
with all the time that have a
very highly developed physics
basis, meaning low physics risk.
And the US scientific
community has put forth
a series of reports that chart
a new mission for fusion energy
within the Department of Energy.
This community consensus
is very special,
and it has not existed before.
Now, the second
piece of the puzzle
is policy, including
a commitment
to public-private
partnership that aligns
with science and
technology goals
put forth by the community.
A variety of legislation
supports fusion public funding
and clears the path for
regulated fusion power plants.
And the third piece of the
puzzle, private funding.
There are over 38 private
fusion companies now
who've brought in
over $4.7 billion
in declared private
investment in fusion.
So how do these
companies propose
to get to fusion so fast?
Many rely on a concept known
as magnetic confinement.
In these systems, very
strong magnetic fields
hold a very hot plasma
and ionized gas made up
of your fusion fuel,
and these plasmas
are held stable for
many seconds at a time
so that they can be heated up
to temperatures of over 150
million degrees Celsius.
Under these conditions,
enough fusion reactions
occur each second to
provide self-heating
of the plasma, keeping it
hot enough for more fusion
reactions to occur and for more
fusion energy to be released.
This would be a
net energy plasma,
reaching a special state
where fusion power produced
in the plasma exceeds the
external heating power.
Many companies promise
high performance
in compact packages,
and MIT alums
and faculty and scientists
have played key roles
in founding these
companies and leading them.
For the fusion startup company,
Commonwealth Fusion Systems,
or CFS, that spun out
of MIT a few years back,
their unique path to fusion is
to build on the sound physics
basis of a device known as
the tokamak and leverage brand
new superconducting
magnet technology to build
those tokamaks
smaller and faster
and operate them at a
higher magnetic field.
So this company's
tokamak's called SPARC.
CFS was founded by Course
22 alums and faculty
and scientists at
MIT, and the company
has caught the eye of investors.
CFS raised over $2 billion,
and that was $1.8 billion
in series B alone.
Now, the tokamak
that CFS is building
is in Devens, Massachusetts.
It's predicted to
successfully produce
net energy in the plasma core.
And we make those predictions
using the world's most
state-of-the-art simulations,
simulations that have been
validated extensively against
experiments by many scientific
teams around the world,
including students and postdocs
and research scientists in
my own group here at MIT.
Now, the CFS device
is just the first step
to a fusion pilot plant.
A pilot that would
demonstrate electricity?
Well, the company
thinks that could
be realized in about 15 years.
Now, a second fusion
company with MIT connections
is called Proxima Fusion.
This company spun
out of the Institute
for Plasma Physics in Germany,
and their unique path to fusion
is to build upon the physics
basis of another device, called
a stellarator.
Their innovation is not
necessarily technology driven,
but it's rather
about opening a door
to new mathematics and
computational solutions
to find hidden symmetries in
magnetic geometry that can lead
to better particle confinement.
This company has a CEO and a
COO who are both alums of MIT,
recent alums of Course
8 and Course 22.
So the fusion ecosystem
is flourishing.
These pieces have
fallen into place.
Very realistically, we
could be 15 years away
from a demonstration of
electricity from fusion.
Fusion, a very clean, very
safe, nearly unlimited source
of low-carbon energy.
So yeah, fusion could
change everything
and sooner than we think.
But I still have
to answer, why MIT?
What role have we played in the
fourth piece of that puzzle,
university leadership?
MIT has been a place for fusion
to flourish because of MIT's
investment in innovation.
Big ideas don't come
out of thin air.
Big ideas come out of a
long-standing commitment
to investment in people and in
their ideas, ideas that might--
just might-- have a shot
at changing the world.
In 1958 when the Nuclear
Science and Engineering became
an official department
at MIT, they
also established
shortly thereafter
the first fusion energy
program at the institute.
And we've never looked back.
The Plasma Science and Fusion
Center started in 1976.
And in partnership with nuclear
science and engineering, Course
22, and departments at MIT
like physics, Course 8,
the PSFC has helped cultivate
a robust graduate program
in fusion energy and a
really healthy and exciting
undergraduate research culture.
We pursued at MIT
a high-field path
to fusion with a series of
record breaking tokamaks
from the 1970s up to 2016,
setting a plasma pressure
record that won't be
broken until a net energy
device is on the scene.
And in 2021, a full-scale,
high-temperature
superconducting magnet
was designed and built
by Commonwealth
Fusion Systems at MIT,
and that demonstrated
a record breaking
20 Tesla magnetic field,
the strongest fusion
magnet in the world.
So truly, MIT has had a
fusion vision, starting over
60 years ago--
a vision to hire faculty and
to educate fusion students,
faculty, and students who
dreamed about and worked
hard to bring about
fusion energy.
And also MIT had
a vision to invest
in the people and
the teams, experts
who help navigate sponsored
research and technology
transfer.
At MIT, we do not
follow the trends.
We lead.
We take risks.
We make bets.
We're bold.
And this is just a glimpse of
where this big idea came from
and why we are together
here today in a place where,
someday--
maybe not too far off--
we might look back
and say, of course fusion.
And this is where it all began.
So thank you very much.
[APPLAUSE]
JINHUA ZHAO: Good
morning, everyone.
Throughout human history,
we invented a fantastic set
of technologies that helped
us to move from A to B.
But have these technologies
translated into the betterment
of the mobility system?
You live in Boston;
the answer is no.
Steady.
Hopefully, Boston traffic
haven't treat you so badly so
far.
But Boston [INAUDIBLE].
If you look at Beijing,
[INAUDIBLE] same picture,
nothing surprising.
But few of you may have been
to the same city in the 1980s.
What do you see in the picture?
Bicycles?
Pedestrians?
Public transit?
By the way, electrified.
What we call this picture?
In more than planning jargon,
we call this sustainable travel,
low-carbon travel, green
travel, active travel--
all the beautiful
vocabularies that
was associated
with the dream land
of transportation planning.
But in the past
40 years, we have
strived ourselves to move
away from this paradigm.
So as a profession, I think
we're utterly confused.
The artificial intelligence
today, the most important topic
is the alignment problem
between machine and people.
I was in transportation.
We cannot align among ourselves.
Let me ask you a few questions.
The first one-- how many people
died in the road in the United
States in 2021?
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]
JINHUA ZHAO: Very close.
Yeah.
About 42,915 of them.
It's too many?
Too few?
How do we judge that?
Give it a benchmark.
How many people died in the
commercial airline industry?
Zero.
So both in transportation,
both about safety.
Such a difference.
Why?
This is not just a
conceptual question.
With the autonomous vehicle
coming, with urban drones
coming, with the
roadside robotics coming,
along the spectrum
between 0 and 43,000,
where do they position them?
Technology offers
the possibilities,
but social processes
delineate the value trade off.
So we're working at
MIT try to define
how safe is safe enough
both technologically and
sociologically?
Second question, many of
us work in climate change.
Electric vehicle
is the key solution
to this transportation problem.
But let me ask you, who
finances the US infrastructure,
transportation structure?
That answer is gas tax.
So if we are successful, we
electrify all the vehicles
at scale, which we
really hope we do,
the whole tax base
will go to zero.
If you are the USDOT, if
it's a private company,
we will be in crisis mode today.
So at MIT, while working
with US Energy Foundation,
tried to design the
post-gasoline transportation
financial system.
More broadly, I expect we'll
see a convergence of three
important transportation
industries--
car insurance company, toll
road company, and a gas tax
collection.
They may converge into one.
Why?
Because they all
share the same trend--
to get more granular
understanding
of individual travel
behavior-- where you are,
what time, how
aggressive you drive,
are you paying attention?
They also share the same
technology foundation--
that of infrastructure, sensing
technology, communication
platform, or
computational platform.
So if you are an
ambitious entrepreneur,
you may take on
all three of them.
Third question.
These are more
personal questions.
What did you have for
dinner last night?
I realize you have to
think about it what.
What did you have for
dinner last night?
By the way, last night,
gala was so lovely.
Thank you,
[INAUDIBLE],, for that.
We had fish or beef, et cetera?
How much does that cost you?
$20, $50, depending
on where you are?
How much time does it take you?
30 minutes or three hours,
as we enjoyed last night?
But how much carbon
does that [INAUDIBLE]??
Most of us have no clue.
We couldn't even
give the [INAUDIBLE]..
So that's my first
call for action.
We want establish money,
time, and a carbon
as the fundamental unit
of societal accounting.
As a society, we developed
a sophisticated system
to track all the activities,
like buying a jacket,
having a dinner, driving
a car, watch a movie.
We know precisely
how much it costs.
We know precisely how
much money you have.
But we do not on carbon.
So for that, I founded
a small company
called TRAM Global with two
MIT alums, Ramiro and Ren,
as the first step to account
for the carbon emission
in the transportation domain.
So when we design for
the future of mobility,
I really think we should
think of three things--
changes, invariance,
and human agency.
What are we changing
in transportation?
Technology, data, and the value.
Technology and data are obvious.
MIT contributes to many of them.
But I would like to drive
our attention to values.
More than solving a
congestion problem today,
transportation is also a climate
change problem, a public health
problem, and social
justice problem.
[INAUDIBLE]
Geometry doesn't change.
Human desire doesn't change.
When the costs get
cheaper, we consume more.
When the cost approaches zero,
we consume new responsibility.
All the transportation
technology today
aim to reduce travel costs.
So what can we do?
What can happen in 30 years?
To change the individual
behavior is hard--
particularly this
type of behavior here.
But we do have an instrument.
They are prices,
rules, and norms.
Prices are the market mechanism.
Rules are the laws
and the policies.
But I want to emphasize norms.
Norms are powerful.
Norm is sticky.
But it can be changed.
It takes about a
generation to do so.
I hope by bringing
the behavior thinking
and the computational
thinking together,
we can accelerate that process
just enough to save our planet.
MIT is a small university in
the best sense of the word.
Fewer boundaries,
fewer conventions.
Universities typically organizes
scholarship by disciplines--
physics, economics, et cetera.
But MIT also innovated,
organized itself by topic
or by social relevance.
MIT's Mobility's
Initiative is such example.
To answer the question,
"Where'd the idea come from?"
I have to teach a class
called how an idea is born.
It's just the MIT
registrar doesn't
allow me to use that name
for the title as a class.
So how are ideas born?
Besides the theories.
The short answer-- the ideas are
born when they kiss each other.
Neurologically, other
neurons reconnect.
Biologically, it happens
when genomes remix.
And sociologically, it
happens when people interact.
MIT is such a place where
ideas kiss each other.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
ERAN EGOZY: This is
what your typical sales
curve looks like for
your average video game.
Basically, after Christmas,
no one cares anymore.
But in 2005, Harmonix-- the
company that I started after
graduating from MIT--
was selling a video game.
And the sales curve
looked like this.
It was bonkers.
We'd never seen
anything like it before.
Every month, we were
selling more and more games
over the previous month.
That video game is
called Guitar Hero.
Perhaps some of you
have heard of it.
For those who need a refresher,
the concept is pretty simple.
The game comes with a
plastic-shaped guitar
controller.
You choose a song,
and then you see
a series of notes
coming down the screen.
And you have to basically
press the right button
with your left hand and strum
in time with your right hand.
And if you do that
successfully, you
recreate the
original guitar solo
so it feels like you're
this amazing guitar
player even though you're
just playing a video game.
Now, I still remember in
those first few months
after December of 2005 being in
total awe of what was going on.
So first of all, we finally
started making some money.
Royalty checks worth
millions of dollars
were hitting our bank accounts.
The Detroit Tigers were in
the American League World
championship.
And one of their star
pitchers, Joey Zumaya,
couldn't play
because of an injury.
Well, it turns out
that injury was not
caused because of baseball.
That injury was
caused because he was
playing too much Guitar Hero.
Guitar Hero appeared in South
Park and on The Simpsons.
And game critics
consider Guitar Hero
to be one of the most
influential games
in the first decade
of the 21st century.
But here's the thing.
My friend Alex and I
started Harmonix in 1995,
whereas Guitar Hero came
out in 2005, 10 years later.
So two very reasonable
questions to ask are--
what made this
game so successful?
And what took you guys so long?
So to answer that,
let's go back a bit.
This is me when I
was 12 years old
and I just started
playing clarinet.
So I'm one of the lucky ones.
I kept playing.
I loved playing.
And I still play to this day.
And, in fact, I just performed
quite a lot, and it's awesome.
But this is unfortunately what
happens to most people who
try to play an instrument.
The problem is that learning
to play an instrument
is really hard work.
It takes years and
years of practice.
And the real problem
with it is that you just
sound really bad for quite a
long time in the beginning.
So unfortunately,
the vast majority
just quit after a few years.
But if you can
overcome this chasm,
if you can get to the point
where you derive real pleasure
from playing your
instrument, you
can launch yourself into this
wonderful and beautiful and
satisfying world
of music making.
And so when Alex and
I started Harmonix,
we had a very clear vision for
what the company should do.
This was our mission statement--
"To let everyone in
the world experience
the joy of making music."
And we believed in
this mission statement
deeply because it was
very personal to us.
We knew what it felt like
to play a musical instrument
or to make music.
And we also knew how difficult
it was for most people
to get there.
Now, as it turns out,
getting from a mission
statement like this to
a successful product
is just as difficult as learning
how to play an instrument.
Harmonix created no
less than 10 products
that you've probably never
heard of in our quest to fulfill
this mission statement.
And the vast majority of them
were commercial failures.
But the thing is
with each attempt,
we learned from our mistakes and
we got better at what we did.
We learned how to
pivot and adjust,
to live another day to make
another product or another game
that was just a little bit
better than the previous one.
But the thing is we also always
kept our eye on the big goal.
Even though things
were not working,
we just so believed that
this mission statement
has got to be true and that a
solution has to be out there.
It was just about
giving ourselves
enough time to find it.
And there's something
else about the company,
is that the vast majority of
our employees were musicians.
Rock bands formed
in the company.
In fact, our office in Central
Square had, in the basement,
a rock band practice room.
And so there was a
certain authenticity
that made its way into
every game that we made.
And so when people started
playing Guitar Hero,
it felt very different than
playing a regular video game.
It was more inclusive.
We noticed that
many more women were
playing our game than average.
Sometimes, the whole family
would get together and play.
And it was a game about being
creative and constructive
as opposed to most
video games, which
are about destroying stuff.
And for a number
of those players,
it became more than
just a video game.
It gave them a taste
of what it must
be like to be a musician but
without all those years of pain
and frustration.
And so as a result,
many people actually
went on to play a real
musical instrument
after playing our game.
And a few years later, we
started hearing stories
of professional
musicians who credit
their professional musical
life to Guitar Hero.
One example is Post Malone,
one of the top 10 best selling
artists of our time.
His first instrument
was Guitar Hero.
And another is this
up-and-coming guitar player
who I just saw in concert
the other day named
Yasmin Williams.
Yasmin, when she was in
the middle of her set,
told us that the way
she got into music
was because her parents
got her Guitar Hero one
year for Christmas.
And then the following
year, she begged
them to get her a real guitar.
And so in a bit of karmic
awesomeness to finish this off,
I'm just going to play
a little clip of Yasmin
in concert doing a
cover of a Post Malone
song called "Sunflower."
[MUSIC PLAYING]
YASMIN WILLIAMS: Thank
you guys so much.
PABLO JARILLO-HERRERO:
Hello, everyone.
It's great to be here.
Sally, congratulations.
I'm an experimental physicist.
And I want to tell you
today about the magic
of moiré quantum matter.
I don't have a company, so I
have to sell these fancy names.
So in my group, we're interested
in the complex emerging
behavior of quantum matter.
But what do I mean by that?
So let's imagine you
take a single particle--
for example, a single electron.
Its behavior is quite simple.
And by that, we mean that we
understand it pretty well.
However, if you take a whole
bunch of particles interacting
with each other,
like many electrons,
we really do not know how to
calculate their properties.
Their behavior is very difficult
and we do not understand it.
In many cases, at all.
However, most of the many--
many of the most
fascinating states
of matter in the universe are
due to strong interactions
between collections
of particles.
And this happens
in all of physics--
even in chemistry and biology,
from the early Big Bang
with the quark/gluon
plasma to neutron
stars when supernovae
explosions happen
to very exotic states of matter
in the fractional quantum
whole regime, which is a highly
entangled, topological state
of matter.
Now, I want to tell you today
about a new platform that has
emerged in the past few years.
But let me tell you first about
what we have been traditionally
using to try to understand these
complex behaviors of quantum
matter-- in particular,
electronic systems.
So the thing that we've been
doing for many, many decades
is just to look at
actual materials
with typical length scales of
an Angstrom of 0.1 nanometers.
And the thing that happens
is that these materials--
once you make one--
you have very limited control
of what you can do with it.
And it's very
difficult to change
the properties, et cetera.
You need to build
another material if you
want to look at something else.
In the past 20 years,
people have figured out
that if you send
lasers at each other,
you can put atoms in
very precise positions
and you can control
exquisitely all
the parameters of the system.
And as a result, you really--
we have a new platform to
investigate strong interacting
electrons.
However, there have been--
this is very difficult and very
technically very challenging,
and there's only a limited set
of phases and states of matter
that we have been
able to investigate.
In the past five
years, a new platform
has emerged that we call
moiré quantum matter.
Now, the length scale typical
is about 10 nanometers,
which is about a factor of 100
from either of these other two
platforms.
We have a lot more control
than our standard quantum
materials, not quite as much as
the cold atoms community has.
But we have been able to realize
many, many phases of matter.
In fact, the thing that
inspired this new platform
was really the wish to
explore uncharted territory
in quantum materials.
We have been able to
do this with something
we call twistronics,
which is the fact that you
can take a material--
for example, graphene.
This is a single
sheet of carbon atoms.
And we can take now another
sheet of carbon atoms,
and we can do something that
is unprecedented in the history
of materials science.
We can change the angle between
these two crystaline planes
completely at will.
So we can do this.
[INAUDIBLE]
We can put these two
sheets on top of each other
with any angle of
rotation that we want--
50 degrees, 27
degrees, 1.1 degrees.
Why not?
And this forms
this moiré pattern,
which effectively works
as a super structure
where new properties
can be investigated.
And, in fact, with
this new platform,
moiré quantum matter--
and we call it moiré
because of the moiré pattern
that forms when you superimpose
these two periodic structures
rotating with each other--
we have enabled-- in just
a span of a few years,
we've been able to
realize pretty much all
of the phases of quantum matter
known in nature, and quite
a few new ones.
We've been able to realize
new correlated insulators,
new types of exotic
superconductors,
topological phases,
magnets, quasicrystals,
new ferroelectrics,
strange metals.
The list keeps
growing every month.
This is something
which is very unique.
Let me just give you
a couple of examples.
Putting graphene
on top of graphene,
we've been able to
realize the strongest
superconductor in the world.
This is something
that happens when
you put graphene
sheets, two or more,
at a very small ankle
on top of each other,
of about one degree.
Electrons in this combined
heterostructures forms pairs--
you can see in this picture.
And the pairing glue
between these two electrons
is the strongest that we know.
This is an experimental
observation.
We don't understand
why it happens.
But if we did, there
is hope that we
would be able to design new,
much more powerful magnets that
would operate at room
temperature for immense number
of applications, including
better magnets for fusion
technology.
Another example I
want to tell you
is about a new type of
ferroelectric materials
called moiré ferroelectrics.
These are quantum devices
where the interactions
between electrons give you
new types of ferroelectricity.
Ferroelectrics are
materials which
are being used in
investigation for
energy-efficient, brain-inspired
neomorphic computing.
And with these moiré systems, we
can realize new ferroelectrics,
where the polarization
of the system
can be changed and
tuned arbitrarily
and we can realize new types
of synaptic transistors
[INAUDIBLE],, which have
new functionalities which
were unknown before.
[INAUDIBLE]
In fact, we can combine this
previous superconductivity
with these new
ferroelectricity to make
ferroelectric
superconductors, something
which was not available before.
Now, I want to
end by emphasizing
that we're doing all of this
with very simple materials.
Graphene is just carbon.
And you can realize all of
these behaviors just using
carbon, for example, and also
a couple of the materials we
have investigated
these moiré structures.
To some extent,
you can put aside
or forget a little bit
of all the complexity
of the periodic table,
all these elements,
all these rare elements
which are hard to get.
There's some underlying
basic principles
which are common to all of
these states of quantum matter.
And if we get to understand
them and control them,
we will be able to realize
a new generation of quantum
technologies for all kinds
of applications as the types
that we're hearing about today.
So with this, I want to end.
Thank you, Sally.
Thank all of you.
And welcome to MIT.
[APPLAUSE]
DINA KATABI: Hello, everyone.
My name is Dina Katabi.
I'm a computer scientist.
So again, you're going
to hear from someone
who doesn't do medicine
or biology about how we're
going to save health care.
But I don't have
to convince you.
Actually, we all know by now
that the future of health care
is data driven, AI powered.
That is, we want to get all
information-- collect data
about patients, their diseases,
their symptoms, their response
to medications all the time use
AI to create insights from that
and inform health.
But how do we collect clinical
data from patients today?
We stab them with a needle
or we strap these devices
on their body and
try to collect data.
Now, on one hand, this
is not a happy experience
with the patient.
On the other hand, you are going
to get data only occasionally.
Like, you get one test.
Then the next test after six
months, one year, and so on.
What if somebody
comes and tells you,
why can't they use
the radio signal
that is around us, that
is bouncing around,
to scan the brain and the body?
And we cannot process that with
AI to extract physiological
signals like your breathing,
your motor symptoms,
your heartbeat,
all of that stuff.
Even diseases.
And we're going
do it all the time
while the people
are in their homes.
So this is exactly what
I'm going to show you
in the next few minutes.
So let me start with
an illustrative video.
So radio signals
spread around and they
traverse walls and occlusions,
and they bounce from our bodies
because our bodies
are made of water.
And some of these signals
come back to our device.
Here, we detect a fall and
can alert the caregiver
via text, email, or phone call.
Now, let me show you a
video with real people
so that you can see
that we can do this.
So the big screen is what the
device, with the radio device
sees.
And then on the
side, you see what
is happening inside the room.
So we are going to
monitor these guys
through a wall because radio
signals traverse walls.
[INAUDIBLE] see how they move.
So when he sits on a chair,
you see him sitting on a chair.
When he stands up, you're going
to see the radio signal tells
us that he's standing up.
When he moves with
his right foot,
we know that he's moving
with the right foot.
When he moves with
the left foot--
we know all of that stuff
without asking people
to wear sensors or to
do anything differently.
And through walls.
And everything, of course, we
compare to the gold standard
to show that everything is
accurate with achieving it
at very high accuracy.
Now, what else can we tell?
Can we tell anything
about the brain?
So when you go to sleep, your
brainwaves change and you
enter different stages--
awake, light sleep,
deep sleep, REM.
And these sleep stages
are related to diseases
and, of course, sleep.
But also sleep is a platform.
For example, REM
impairment [INAUDIBLE]
are related to depression.
Impairment in slow waves
during deep sleep are related
to Alzheimer's.
So how do we get this today?
We send someone to a sleep lab.
This is from MGH.
And they put these electrodes
on their head and body
and they ask them
to sleep like this.
You can tell he's not happy.
Let me show you what we can do.
Here is our device.
Transmit very low
power, wireless signal.
1,000 times lower power
[INAUDIBLE] with AI and
spits out what's
called a hypnogram.
For every 30
seconds, it tells you
whether this person is in
light sleep, deep sleep, REM,
et cetera.
And, of course, everything is
compared to the gold standard,
showing that it is
highly accurate.
So this guy is like
you guys, sitting.
And what you see on
the screen is nothing
but his inhales, exhales.
We asked him to hold
his breath, and you
see the signal stays at a
steady level because he exhaled.
He did not inhale.
And everything is compared
to the gold standard,
showing high accuracy.
So as we are sitting
here and talking,
our devices are with
patients collecting data
in Parkinson's, Alzheimer's,
Crohn's disease,
atopic dermatitis,
and many others.
And I want to show
you that once you
are able to collect
such kind of data,
you start changing medicine.
So I want to talk about
a specific disease--
Parkinson's.
Now, I'm sure all of you guys
have heard of Parkinson's.
Parkinson's actually
is the fastest growing
neurological disease
in the world today.
And a big problem in
Parkinson's is that we
diagnose the disease late.
Sometimes 10 years
after the onset
of the disease in the brain.
Because we rely
on motor symptoms.
We wait for the tremor and
for the stiffness of motion
to diagnose the disease.
But by then, for some
patients, 80% of the brain
is already damaged.
So if we want to
change something,
we need to diagnose
Parkinson's early.
We need to diagnose Parkinson's
without motor symptoms.
But then with what?
So we went ahead and tried to
read with my computer science
studies all the
literature in medicine.
We can't understand
many of the things,
but we understood one
thing, that even James
Parkinson's himself, the
doctor after which we call
the disease, reports
that breathing changes
in Parkinson's.
Today, no doctor can
diagnose Parkinson's disease
from breathing.
Can AI do it?
So we asked this question--
can AI detect Parkinson's
from nocturnal breathing?
I showed you that
we get breathing
from wireless signals.
So if we can diagnose
from breathing,
we also can diagnose just from
the wireless signal around.
So we took many nights
of breathing signal.
We trained the neural network
to answer two questions--
does this person
have Parkinson's?
And if they do, what is the
severity of their disease
according to the gold standard?
This is a large
study with thousands
of patients in MGH, Mayo
Clinic, University of Rochester.
But let me show you the results.
So if you haven't seen
these curves before,
the only number that you have
to look at is this AUC number.
You can interpret it
as, with 90% accuracy,
we can tell from radio
signals whether somebody
has Parkinson's or not during
their sleep when they are not
even tremoring.
Now, of course,
the next question,
can you detect it
early before a patient
is diagnosed by a doctor?
So that's the next
question that we answer.
We don't have that
much data about people
who are not diagnosed yet
and can wait for 10 years
to wait for the diagnosis.
But there is a
small data set that
has two visits from people
with breathing signal separated
by six years.
So let me show you whether
we can take the data from
the first visit and detect
who, six years later,
is going to report Parkinson's.
So the guys who developed
Parkinson's are the guys
in blue, or the people in blue.
And the red are the people who
never reported Parkinson's.
And you can see,
six years earlier,
the machine learning knows
those people with very high
probability are going
to develop Parkinson's.
We have a startup that I
created with my student.
It's called Emerald, and
it's bringing this technology
to the market and enabling this
data-driven, AI-powered health
scan.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
SANGEETA BHATIA: Hi there.
I also want to welcome President
Kornbluth to our community.
The story I want to
share is about how
new inventions emerge from
different fields coming
together.
At MIT, we call
this convergence.
I'll tell you about the fields
of nanotechnology and medicine
coming together to
create inventions
for patients with cancer.
Now, let's start with
nanotechnology, the field
of so-called tiny technologies.
This is a picture
of a microchip.
It's a collection of
integrated circuits inside each
of your smartphones.
You may know that the
features on these chips
have been miniaturized so
aggressively that the nodes are
smaller than 5 nanometers.
That miniaturization has,
of course, sped computation
and made it portable.
It's changed all of our lives.
It has also unveiled new
physics of the nanoscale.
In fact, we know that if we make
materials at the nanoscale--
we just heard about
this from Pablo--
they harbor unique
properties relative
to their bulk counterparts.
Another common example
is a brick of gold.
It looks golden.
A nanoparticle of
gold, it looks red.
Now, this is a fascinating,
important, fast-moving field
in its own right, and it's
made inspiring progress,
as I've said.
Now, if you're trained like me,
as an engineer and a physician,
you wonder, what could
this do for medicine?
It turns out just as
these materials have
unique physical properties
at the nanoscale,
they have unique
biological properties.
The way they traffic inside your
body changes with their size,
and that means that you
can design materials that
speak the language of biology.
A question we've been asking,
is what could these tools
do for patients with cancer?
Now, we know that cancer
kills more patients every year
than HIV, TB, and
malaria combined.
We know that finding it
early is one of the best ways
to prevent those deaths.
And we also know that, just
like the Parkinson's example,
some cancers can quietly grow
8 to 10 years before they
are detectable using screening
technologies that are available
today even despite
all the progress in AI
and other fields.
So the question
we've been asking,
what if we can
use nanotechnology
to make an ultrasensitive
sensor that
could travel through your
bloodstream, look for cancer,
and report it to
the outside world?
Well, we built such a machine.
Let me show you how it works.
In this movie, the blue
objects are 1,000 times smaller
than the width of a human
hair, 100 nanometers.
They can circulate
in the bloodstream.
They leak out of blood
vessels into the tumor.
And they are designed
to detect enzymes.
The yellow objects
here, these are
chemicals that tumors produce in
order to chew out of the tissue
that they're born in
and grow and spread.
The way they send is by
activating a catalytic chemical
reaction.
So one copy makes these
acts like amplifiers,
and it can release 1,000
chemical signals itself.
Each of these is now smaller
than 5 nanometers in size.
And that size in
the body is the size
that the kidney can filter and
concentrate that 5 nanometer
amplified signal into the urine.
So we've made an ultra
sensitive cancer detector
that's completely noninvasive.
We've achieved proof
of concept in the lab
across a wide array
of tumor types.
We have a startup, as many
of my other colleagues
here do today, that are
advancing this to patients.
And that is just the beginning.
Like you heard from Eran in
the invention of Guitar Hero,
invention is an
iterative process.
In fact, I imagine it's a
bit like writing a song.
You start in one direction
and you make it up as you go.
Invention begets invention.
And here at MIT, we
have amazing trainees.
And based on the foundation
that I showed you,
they've been asking questions
about how we could do more.
What if you could make
the urine test better?
Instead of sending it off
to screening for the lab,
what if we could make it like
a pregnancy test on paper?
This is a publication
that came out yesterday.
What if you were
screening for lung cancer?
Could we make a
breathalyzer that gives you
a signal in 10 minutes?
And what if once there
was a positive test,
we could make the nanoparticles
into imaging agents that
could help us visualize
whether tumors have spread?
What if you could make
the nanoparticles carry
therapeutic payloads?
And on and on and on.
Nanotechnology can unlock
a whole new paradigm
in cancer research.
So how does MIT nurture
this kind of convergence?
What is so special here?
Along with all of the
technologies you've seen,
MIT as its core is made
up of curious people,
and we exist in
nested communities.
Here's the core of our
nanomedicine community
in the Marble Center.
We are six faculty.
We represent 200 researchers.
We like and we trust each other.
We live together in
the Koch Institute
for Cancer Research, which is
an entire building of 1,000
researchers in 30 labs,
and it is structurally
built so every floor is
half engineers and half
biologists who interact.
And if you zoom out
and look at where
we are in the middle of
Kendall Square in the middle
of this community of pharma, of
venture, of startup incubators,
you can see that these
nested communities
are designed to have an
enormous collective impact.
The impacts from this community
can be measured in many ways--
trainees, inventions,
publications, patents.
Here's just one more--
startups.
Over the last 15
years, this community
of investigators and
the Koch Institute
has founded 130 startups
to advance their inventions
to patients.
Now, I want to leave you
with a concrete image of what
this convergence
actually looks like.
It's not just the collision
of nanotechnology and cancer
research, but artificial
intelligence and stem cell
biology and genomics and
robotics and wearables.
It's a big, beautiful mess.
And it's accelerating us into
a better future for cancer
patients and beyond, one where
we hope to intercept cancer
while it is curable, harness the
immune system to help us treat
cancer, and make
diagnostics and therapies
available for patients not just
here, but around the world.
That is the unbounded future
we are dreaming about.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
LINDA HENRY: That
was incredible.
Thank you all so much.
I'd like to start with
a round of applause
for our incredible
speakers this morning.
[APPLAUSE]
We live in an era where
innovation is just connected
and so important to what we do.
We're obsessed with it.
Every company has an innovation
and chief innovation officer.
And we are facing
global challenges
now that demand humanity's
best and broadest thinking now
more than ever.
And there have been some
people who have been saying--
who would argue that the flow
of new ideas is drying up.
And I would say that those
people have not had breakfast
on Monday morning at MIT.
[LAUGHTER]
So you've heard in each
of these presentations
that these aren't
ivory tower concepts.
This is the future being
built here, right here,
on this campus and beyond.
And what a time to be alive.
These panelists give us
so much hope for a better
tomorrow for so many.
And while this is an inspiring
time in terms of innovation,
this is also a really
complicated time
here and abroad.
I work at a newspaper,
and this is really
a lot of what we're telling
the story of every day.
And now more than
ever, we need leaders
who are willing
to make decisions
based on science and data
and see what comes out
of that happy combination
and introduce policies that
prioritize the health and
well-being of our communities,
our people, and our planet.
We need leaders that can bring
diverse perspectives and voices
to the table to tackle
complex challenges
and create a more just
and equitable future.
In short, we need a little
more MIT in a lot of places,
and Dr. Kornbluth
is up to that task.
And I congratulate the
whole MIT Corporation
on the successful and
comprehensive process
that brought in this
inspired leader.
A round for--
[APPLAUSE]
Dr. Kornbluth has shown
throughout her career
that she is a visionary
and inclusive leader who
understands how to work with
people, science, and technology
to transform the world.
I look forward to
seeing her steer
MIT at this exciting new
chapter that we're all here for,
one where science and innovation
are used to improve lives here
and around the globe.
So now I get to this
incredible all-star panel.
I'm going to start with
questions one by one
for each of you, and
then we'll open up
to a broader discussion.
And Cullen, I want
to start with you.
The cell engineering
innovations you described
have incredible potential
for curing disease
through genetic engineering.
Can you talk about barriers
or limitations that
exist that you're working on?
CULLEN BUIE: Yeah.
I think one of
the big challenges
that we face is patience.
Will the community and the
world be patient enough
for these technologies?
So there's a lot of
interest and excitement
in the therapeutic
solutions, and there's a lot
of economic potential of those.
But what about the
infrastructure, the things
that our company is working on?
But a lot of other--
there's a lot
of people working in this space.
Will there be enough patients to
continue to invest and continue
to wait for that return?
Because it's not a 5-to-7
year type of thing.
It's more like 10 to 20 years.
And so, will the field
have enough patience
to wait for the
infrastructure to be built
to enable these new systems?
LINDA HENRY: I thought you were
first saying "patients" as in--
CULLEN BUIE: Oh, no, no.
LINDA HENRY: [INAUDIBLE]
CULLEN BUIE: We need
patience for patients.
[LAUGHTER]
LINDA HENRY: And that's
one of the things that's
so remarkable, is that you are
working so far in the future.
Is there anything that you're
working on that's nearer term?
CULLEN BUIE: There
are some things.
I think one of the things
we're also looking at--
I talked a lot about
engineering human cells,
but we're doing a lot
of stuff with bacteria
as well, which is something
that I've been fascinated by.
Actually, the company,
when it was founded,
it was originally going
to look at bacteria
and then pivot it
to human cells.
So my lab at MIT has developed
some interesting parallel
technologies that
are allowing us
to do really fast genetic
engineering in bacteria
and microbes, which
have implications
for clean energy, novel,
sustainable materials.
So actually, maybe even broader
than the health care things.
LINDA HENRY: Wow.
Well, I know some
people you might
want to talk to about that.
So Andrew, there are
a lot of organizations
that do self-insure,
and you do have
that moment where
somebody gets sick
and it's that crisis moment.
So what you were describing
was a real and practical need
that so many organizations face.
Are there are other applications
and novel financing methods
that you can see
outside of health care?
ANDREW LO: Well, absolutely.
So about seven or
eight years ago,
I was invited to give
a talk by Dennis Whyte,
the head of the MIT Plasma
Science and Fusion center.
And I was a bit surprised,
but didn't know anything
about fusion, but was quite
excited to learn more about it.
And we were talking about
the ways we can make fusion
a reality by better financing.
And to someone with a hammer,
everything looks like a nail.
And guilty as charged.
And so when I looked at the
landscape of fusion, what I saw
was a portfolio of
intellectual property.
I mean, obviously,
you need to achieve
a certain set of criteria
to get fusion to work,
to ignite the plasma.
But along the way,
there are probably
25 or 30 different technologies
that need to be developed,
engineering problems
that need to be solved.
That's a portfolio that
can be invested in.
And so Dennis and
I worked on a paper
to describe that portfolio.
Some of those ideas
were the basis
of Commonwealth Fusion Systems.
And given the breakthroughs
that Professor Whyte talked
about in fusion over
the last 24 months,
we're seeing the
possibility of applying
some of those
portfolio principles
on a much larger scale.
So we're working on
that as we speak.
LINDA HENRY: And so
that's something-- how far
in the future are you talking?
ANDREW LO: I'm talking
three to five years.
Because while it may take
15 years to achieve fusion,
it's going to be a
lot quicker to develop
a number of those technologies,
like superconducting magnets,
that's going to
have applicability
to all sorts of
areas and industries.
So I think nearer term
investment opportunities
are really attractive.
And, of course, if we
ever achieve fusion
which, obviously, many people
have agreed that we now can
and we have, the fact is that
there's energy transition
that's going to have to happen.
And that's a whole other
set of investments.
So this is a really exciting
time for this field.
LINDA HENRY: It's
really exciting,
and I appreciate the
thoughtfulness that [INAUDIBLE]
had in terms of putting
together this panel
to see all of the different
ways that innovation
and curiosity can take us and
how it's shaping our future.
So I was especially
excited about that.
Anne, speaking of
fusion, the world
Commonwealth Fusion that's
here in Massachusetts,
it is so exciting.
You mentioned in
your presentation
that it was 15 years.
Can you talk to us what
needs to happen in that 15
years and your best estimates?
ANNE WHITE: Sure.
Absolutely.
It's a really good question.
And so we think
in our department
about science,
systems, and society
when we think about how
to get to these kinds
of aggressive time scales
for something like fusion.
And Andrew, thank you.
You already talked about
some of the financial systems
behind it and
societal connections,
so I'll mention something
about science and a little more
on the engineering systems.
One thing that we're going
to need to do as a community
to bridge between where we are
today and where we need to be
is to think about materials--
materials that are
going to take us
from being able to operate a
fusion device for four or five
days a, week three months a
year, in an experimental mode
where scientists like me go
and take data and study it,
bridging from that to where
we're going to be operating
a electricity-producing power
plant that is going to have
to operate 24/7, many,
many months of the year
for many, many years.
So materials are a
big part of that.
What kind of materials
can we use to handle heat?
What kind of materials
help us exhaust the heat?
What are the right
materials to help
us convert the energy
from fusion reactions
into electricity?
And so there's a lot of really
exciting things happening
right here on campus.
Again, at the Plasma
Science and Fusion Center.
Thinking about innovations
in, for example,
molten salt, blankets
that we would
use to convert the kinetic
energy of a neutron,
help us convert that
kinetic energy into heat,
which we then use to
produce electricity.
These are the types of things
that folks are working on,
and they're looking at
different technologies
for these materials, different
options for these materials,
at a variety of technology
readiness levels.
So you've got some that
are really ready to go.
Maybe that's some of the IP in
a three year, five year time
scale.
And some that are a
little farther out
that we want to develop more
on that decadal time scale.
LINDA HENRY: Fascinating.
Jinhua, your research on
the future of transportation
is really exciting.
And I think that one of
the things that I got out
of your presentation is that
when we're talking about
driverless cars, we're
asking the wrong question
because there are all
these programs-- well,
what do you program a car to
do to make a decision between
if hitting a child or
hitting another car or--
what those decision makings.
What should we be looking for
in the future of transportation
here in the US?
JINHUA ZHAO: Thank you.
First of all, I just came
back from Barcelona last week.
I will say that for
anyone who claims
work on transportation
in cities should
live in Barcelona for three
months before seeing anything.
It just offers a
different imagination,
what cities could look like.
Compared to-- we
do these quantum
mechanics, these fusions, to
the health care, et cetera.
US leads the world
in many aspects.
But sadly,
transportation we don't.
So I think we need a
degree of humility here.
There are many parts of the
world are experimenting,
are leading in better models.
I think we should go
and learn from them.
So that's the first
thing I would say.
The second one is we need
to come together and be
clear on what we
mean by success.
As I showed in the
initial picture,
I think that we don't
have a consensus on this.
If you continue to define
success as the number of cars
will pass through
the highways, I
don't think we'll ever
reach a good result here.
So even within MIT,
actually, there
are two contrasting
schools of thought--
how do you manage cities?
One school says, let's treat
cities as just machines.
If only we sense everything,
we measure everything,
we predict everything,
optimize everything,
we solve the problem.
It's a gigantic machine.
But the other school of
thought's saying, no, no, no.
Cities are messy.
Cities are chaotic.
We don't want to just
optimize all the time.
We want the ad hocness.
For a long time, I
thought the two are never
going to reconcile with
each other, just like at MIT
all the debates we had.
But now, I actually
come to a view
that they indeed could be
complementary in the sense
that only certain components
of the system, namely car,
is structured and controlled.
The other part of the
system, namely pedestrian,
can really enjoy
the freedom here.
LINDA HENRY: Interesting.
I had a visual of
Pablo's interacting cells
when you were describing
the city and the chaos.
So Pablo, you were
a physical scientist
and you're focused on basic
research of quantum matter.
Can you talk about
the importance
of basic research and
discovery in these innovations?
PABLO JARILLO-HERRERO: Yeah.
So I really want to throw
a pitch for basic research.
I think many of the innovations
that my colleagues have spoken
about originally
stemmed from scientists
who were doing pure
research without having
these innovations in mind.
And there are many,
many, many examples.
One of them that I like
to point out, for example,
is Einstein's theory
of relativity.
Initially, very
obscure mathematics
which people thought,
well, this may never
be applied for anything.
It turns out our GPS
satellites include corrections
of relativity that
allow us to know
where we are with about
a centimeter accuracy.
If they weren't
there, we wouldn't
know where we are within
about 10 kilometers.
So things that can
take many years, many
more than 15 years--
15 years for me is like
short-term horizon.
When the first
transistors were invented,
it took them about 40
to 50 years until they
revolutionized computing.
So I think that it's
important to invest
in basic curiosity, which
is motivated by something
to understand something.
And then, often, the
most dramatic revolutions
in technology happen from that
curiosity-initiated research.
LINDA HENRY: I love
that, and that's
such a-- it ties in so well
to the theme of this curiosity
unbounded, that following
where the curiosity takes you,
which I know is
President Kornbluth's one
of her major themes for this.
Dina, so you presented a
really fascinating technology
about these wireless sensors.
What are possible
additional applications
for this technology?
And what is the
timeline before we're
able to put this-- and really
deploy this in people's houses.
DINA KATABI: Let me answer
the second part first
because as we are
speaking, we have devices
that are monitoring patients
with Parkinson's, with
Alzheimer's, with Crohn's,
with atopic dermatitis on kids,
older people across all ages.
So they are in
patients' homes and they
are collecting amazing
amount of data,
and that enabled us, like the
Parkinson's stuff, for example.
With some of our
Parkinson's patients,
we have been monitoring
them for two years now.
So it is in patients home.
But, of course, taking
it to another level where
it is like your fire smoke
detector in each home,
I think this is a vision
where we want to move.
Like in every home, there is
something that is continuously
monitoring the health.
And I tell my students--
I imagine that the
future, those devices
would be a platform like the--
like if we have the App
Store for the iPhone.
We can write
applications, develop
things to check on grandma when
she's taking her medications.
But let me go back to
what else can we do
and what we are doing now.
So one of the things--
I mean, of course, everyone
is talking about generative AI
and ChatGPT.
So we talk a lot about
generating text or images.
But how about generating
health data, medical data?
So one of the things
that we are looking at
is, can we generate from simple,
cheap type of medical data,
such as the pulsing that we
all get from wrist devices--
or I showed, you
we get breathing.
Can we, from that, generate
your EEG, for example,
from your breathing.
So much-- or from EEG
generate fMRI data
so that we can get some initial
understanding of a condition
before sending patients to more
expensive a diagnostic test.
LINDA HENRY: So this is
somebody-- maybe this--
Andrew can help you figure out
the financial model for this.
Is this something
that you envisioned
that is covered by
insurance companies
or is this sort of like
a Whoop or an Oura ring
that people just
elect on their own?
DINA KATABI: So currently,
we are looking really
at the science.
Can we generate that data?
Because that synthetic data
will be used in two ways--
would be used to train
machine learning models
because health data, of course,
is very expensive and hard
to obtain.
And also, it will be patient
specific in different modes.
So for the business
part of it, I'm
just going as follows to
your advice [INAUDIBLE]
Andrew whose company is
just on the same floor
as my company in the same
building, and just ask him
how to do that.
LINDA HENRY: Sangeeta, I
thought that the visual you had
on the convergence
that's happening
in engineering and science here
at MIT was really compelling.
Can you talk about what's
on the horizon with regards
to this type of
convergence and other ways
that convergence we can
be really looking forward
to having an impact?
And it was also touched
along before was saying
it's not just discipline.
It's really coming
together on these subjects.
SANGEETA BHATIA: Yeah.
Thanks for that question.
I mean, I think--
as I mentioned,
I'm trained as a physician
as well as an engineer.
And the way I see it, every
major medical challenge
will really benefit from this
kind of convergent thinking.
There are a whole world of
inventions that are coming.
A concrete example that
we're really excited about
is antibiotic resistance.
So this is, of
course, a big problem,
and it comes in part
from antibiotic overuse.
And that happens because
physicians, when they encounter
a patient that might have
a bacterial infection,
don't have enough
information in the moment.
And so what do you do?
You prescribe antibiotics.
So one of the versions
of the technology
that I showed you, the
breathalyzer that we're
working on, allows, we
hope, patients who are--
doctors who are taking care of
pediatric patients-- so a kid
comes in, we've all had
this shortness of breath.
They have pneumonia.
Is it viral or bacterial?
So the breathalyzer would
allow you to just make that cut
and decide in the
moment, do I have
to put this patient
on antibiotics?
And the use case
that we're developing
is for pediatric pneumonia
in low- and middle-income
countries where, in
fact, you often only
have one touchpoint
with the patient.
So that's an example.
I think there's many
more in neuroscience
and aging and
infectious disease,
other infectious diseases.
LINDA HENRY: So as so many
of you talked to this,
I'm going to open it
up to everyone now.
So many of you talked
about how you're
taking this idea from
the lab and turning it
into a company that can
really bring its impact out
into the world.
Can you talk about what the role
of that-- what the role of MIT
has been in helping
that along the support
and the encouragement that
MIT has given along that road?
And then bonus points, because
Dina, Anantha, and I are
on the board of The Engine, and
so compliments to The Engine
are also welcome.
[LAUGHTER]
Do you want to start?
CULLEN BUIE: Yeah.
I feel like I have to.
So our company was
one of the first seven
that was funded by The Engine.
In fact, my co-founder
made a pitch to the--
The Engine put out this
call, like if you're
interested in
interacting with us,
let us know, before
they were founded,
before they had a building.
This was in maybe
the end of 2016.
And my co-founder said, yeah,
we should apply for this thing.
I was like, Adam, what
are you talking about?
I was not paying attention.
I didn't know what
The Engine was.
I wasn't paying attention.
So he fills out this form,
and we hear from Reed
from The Engine
three months later.
Like, hey, I want
to talk to you guys.
I was like, about what?
And so we talked to
him and met with him,
and they were tremendously
supportive early on.
But it hasn't just been that.
We were in a program
called the I-Corps.
We were in the MIT
Venture Mentoring Service.
My postdoc, Paulo, who became
the CEO of the company,
had this translational
fellows postdoc,
where they actually
would pay for one day
a week to allow you to pursue--
independently look at
commercially related things
just with the realization
that many postdocs are not
going into academia.
Many of them are looking
to start a company
or do something else.
And so MIT was
facilitating this.
We took advantage of--
there are a lot of
things out there.
In fact, maybe there's too much,
and it's almost overwhelming
how many resources
there are out there.
But if you can navigate it,
it can be a huge accelerator--
really, for your students-- for
the students and postdocs who
are looking to get
into these areas.
LINDA HENRY: So it's a huge
benefit and strength of MIT
that there are so
many opportunities
to get these ideas from
the lab out in there,
and there's a lot
of support forr it.
Does anyone else want to talk
about forming a company here?
ANDREW LO: One of
the crown jewels
of MIT-- certainly, Engine
has done a remarkable job.
But in addition to
The Engine and prior
to The Engine and part of
the reason for The Engine
is the crown-- one of
the crown jewels of MIT
is the Technology
Licensing Office.
Many universities-- I think
all universities at this point,
have a TLO.
But MIT really blazed
a trail in thinking
about technology
licensing in a very
sophisticated and
productive way.
And so not from a
profit-center perspective,
but rather from facilitating
taking theory into practice.
So I couldn't agree
more with Pablo,
that we have to
support basic science.
Because without
basic science, we
don't get all of
the other stuff.
But if you have the
basic science, in order
to get the other stuff, you need
a mechanism to take that theory
into practice.
And the TLO does an incredible
job of being able to do that.
LINDA HENRY: Can
you explain what
the TLO does for the audience?
ANDREW LO: Sure.
So the Technology
Licensing Office
basically files
patents for discoveries
that are occurring at MIT.
And then they take those
patents and license them
to commercial
entities, companies.
And so all of the companies
that you've heard about today,
at some point or another,
they interact with the TLO.
And so their job is really to
facilitate that translation
from theory into practice.
And MIT, not surprisingly,
has been a leader
in technology licensing.
And to give you one
example-- obviously,
the life sciences has been
a major, major beneficiary
of technology licensing.
But in the case of fusion,
Commonwealth Fusion Systems
was based on a very unique
set of technology licensing
agreements that allowed for
profit and nonprofit entities
to work together hand
in hand and to deal
with all the inherent
conflicts of interest.
So that's something that we
don't really think about,
but I think it's an
incredibly important part
of the ecosystem.
And so they deserve
a lot of credit.
MIT's success and
The Engine's success
really comes from that
technology licensing
over several decades.
LINDA HENRY: That's
great to hear.
And the nonprofit, for-profit
collaboration is always tricky.
Does anyone else want to add
about starting companies?
JINHUA ZHAO: Sure--
DINA KATABI: I think--
JINHUA ZHAO: [INAUDIBLE]
DINA KATABI: I think one
of the things that made it,
particularly in my case,
very much easier and also why
we have a company in health
care in particular-- like,
when we started it, it
was like we were thinking,
oh, like a technology
that we see people's walls
and we can get everything
from radio signals,
like the force in
Star Wars basically.
But basically, MIT is a very,
very collaborative environment.
The ability to really work
with people who are actually
medical doctors at
MIT-- although we
don't have med
school, but we have
many medical doctors even in
our department in [INAUDIBLE]..
We just cross the road
and just [INAUDIBLE]
had all of these amazing
resources and colleagues
that we can just
exchange ideas with.
So that, I think at least
in my case, helped a lot.
The other one is the students.
I can't tell-- I mean, I'm
sure all of my colleagues
here will agree with me
that without the students,
nothing would happen.
Nothing would be possible.
Amazing, amazing,
brilliant minds.
LINDA HENRY:
Jinhua, [INAUDIBLE]..
JINHUA ZHAO: Sure.
Yeah.
I would say it's about the
mentality of the MIT community
here.
Doing a startup,
it's just a norm.
Everybody's doing a startup.
What a big deal.
Just go do it.
Fail three times,
the fourth time,
you'll learn how to do it.
The key thing MIT allows is it
allows us to fail gracefully.
Actually, I didn't appreciate
this privilege we had here.
You made it part of
the world we visit.
They literally ask, how
do you guys do this?
They do not have the
chance to fail gracefully.
I think we have the
privilege to do so.
LINDA HENRY: These
are great things
that we're hearing about-- the
secret ingredients of MIT that
help it to be so successful.
And what are-- from
your perspectives,
what are some of the next
big ideas on the horizon?
And also any advice for
President Kornbluth?
And I'll start with you.
Yeah.
[LAUGHTER]
ANNE WHITE: Well,
you're asking someone
who comes from the
world of nuclear,
so I'm going to say,
wow, climate change.
Climate change is a big one.
And here at MIT,
we've put together
a really exciting action plan
for the decade, which is, yes,
focusing on our students.
We're thinking about
education for climate change.
It's absolutely
focusing on the systems
and working with
society to do this.
So we absolutely have
a policy working group
that's reimagining all of this.
And these are just
some of the pieces
I think that have to come
together for really fostering
innovation.
Because we are going to have
to pull from every discipline,
from every department.
We're going to have to inspire
people through art and music
to think about the
planet and think
about the health of the planet.
But at the same
time, we're going
to have to be combining
life sciences with computing
and using that to connect
back to the climate in really
inventive ways that we probably
haven't even thought of yet.
So I would say, yeah, let's
keep the imagination going
when it comes to
addressing climate change.
LINDA HENRY: Climate change
and keep the curiosity going.
Sangeeta, what do you think?
SANGEETA BHATIA: Yeah.
I was going to say
I think that it's
an important part of
our future that we
are more inclusive than
we have been historically.
And I showed you the plot
of 130 startup companies
out of the one building alone.
What we discovered
is there actually
could have been 40 more.
LINDA HENRY: Wow.
SANGEETA BHATIA: And
that women at MIT
were underfounding companies
in the life sciences.
And it's not just here.
When we discovered that,
we looked around the world.
And it turns out
to be broadly true,
and there's all kinds
of reasons for that.
But I think that if we really
are going to meet the future,
we need to make sure that we
get all the minds at the table.
And I know, Sally,
that's something that's
really important to you, so
I'm excited about working
with you on that.
LINDA HENRY: That's
great to hear.
Pablo, what do you think?
PABLO JARILLO-HERRERO: I think
that in something that is
in the horizon and
that it's also--
it's even in the news--
is quantum.
A lot of the technology
that we have nowadays
stems from what we call the
first quantum revolution when,
basically, transistors
and we learned
the basic properties of matter
[INAUDIBLE] simple type that I
had in my slide.
Many people think that there's
going to be a second quantum
revolution which harnesses,
at a much deeper level,
the complexity of quantum
physics, new materials,
and new technologies.
And that is something that
it's still very early stage.
We require a lot
of basic research,
but would much more dramatically
impact the type of things
that we can do.
And not just in
terms of materials,
but sensors, even
health care, all kinds
of things that we
probably don't even
know yet because, usually,
if you can see it already,
it means you
understand it fully.
It is-- when you start
exploring things that you really
don't understand very well that
then something happens that you
didn't even know
that was so good
and that could change the
world in such a fashion.
So I think that that's
one of the things
that I see in the horizon,
and I think that it's
important to keep in mind.
LINDA HENRY: Andrew, do
you want to add to that?
ANDREW LO: So asking me to give
advice to President Kornbluth
is a bit like asking the local
tennis pro to give advice
to Roger Federer
or Rafael Nadal,
so I hesitate to do that.
But if I had to come
up with something--
and as an economist,
I'm happy to opine--
I think it's the think big.
Think big because we are now at
an inflection point in society
in terms of dealing with some
very difficult challenges.
And if we don't deal
with them successfully,
there won't be any
future generations.
And so that means that
now is the time to act,
and we have the opportunity to
deal with a number of things,
including antibiotic
resistance and health care
issues and climate change.
I think that MIT is
the perfect place.
We are poised to
have that impact,
but we need to be able to
think big and spend big.
And this is the time to do it.
LINDA HENRY: So investing.
Keep on investing.
And I think that's one
of the things that's
been remarkable at MIT
in the, I don't know,
15 or so years that
I've been involved here,
is that the amount of
investment and the willingness
to take risks, the allowing
people to fail gracefully,
and encouragement of that, the
striving towards inclusiveness.
It's a lot better
than it has been,
but there's
definitely more to go.
And this eye towards
the future is just
some of the really
special alchemy
that you all have represented
so well for us here
today on this very, very
special day in MIT's history.
And given my role
beyond MIT, I want
to close with a little context
of that this institution is not
just in of Boston--
in Boston and
Cambridge-- but it's also
of Boston and Cambridge.
And this beautiful view
that those of us in the room
have-- those at home can
use your imagination.
There's this stunning
view of the Charles River
that flows through Boston
and Cambridge and beyond.
There's really something
in the special--
special in the water here.
And Sangeeta's slide showed
just a small touch of that
with the number of
organizations and companies
and bright ideas
that come from that.
And this is one of those
just remarkable places
where the impact is so great.
And the people that come
here to do their life's work
to make the world a better
place are not just choosing MIT.
They're choosing to build their
lives here in this region.
And so I hope that you
continue to think and support
not only these great ideas,
but remember the connection
that you have.
You're solving and thinking
of problems on a global scale,
and the future is truly being
built here in an exciting way
that you just don't
see other places doing.
And so connecting that and
letting Boston and Cambridge
be your lab and be the
place where we figure out
transportation-- you guys
have had these driverless cars
banging around the
seaport for years
now and to these companies
that are starting up.
And your fellow
economist, Larry Summers,
have said, if you were to drop
a pin from where we're sitting
right now and draw a circle,
10-mile radius, there's
more life science talent
here than anywhere
else on the planet.
It's not an accident
that MIT is part of it.
So thank you all for sharing
your dreams, your visions,
and this beautiful future that
you're imagining and building
with all of us today.
Congratulations to
all of you on being
part of this really historic
moment and this very
historic and
meaningful institution.
And thank you, Sally.
We're so excited
and all cheering.
Your success is
all of our success.
So we're all here
rooting for you.
Thank you all.
[APPLAUSE]
[INAUDIBLE] question.
Your presentation
was really good.
ANANTHA CHANDRAKASAN:
Thank you, Linda,
for doing such a brilliant
job with moderating
this discussion.
And I found this really
inspiring and engaging.
So let's give another round
of applause for Linda.
[APPLAUSE]
And I'd like to also thank
our truly remarkable faculty
members who participated today.
So another round of applause.
[APPLAUSE]
And thank you all for joining
us today for this discussion.
And finally,
President Kornbluth.
Once again, congratulations, as
we celebrate your inauguration
as the 18th president of MIT.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]

---

### We Are the Forest—Music of Resilience and Activism
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7xW4dWVzqE

Idioma: en

[MUSIC PLAYING]
[ANTONIO CARLOS JOBIM,
"ÁGUA DE BEBER"]
[APPLAUSE]
FRED HARRIS: We heard from Isaac
Taylor on the tenor saxophone.
[APPLAUSE]
Ezekiel Daye, right here.
[APPLAUSE]
[INAUDIBLE] on the drums.
[APPLAUSE]
And Axel Vera Sanchez
on the puja drums.
[APPLAUSE]
And last but certainly
not least, Ms. Anat Cohen.
[APPLAUSE]
It gives me great pleasure
to introduce to the stage
the Dean of the School
of Humanities, Arts,
and Social Sciences
at MIT, Augustin Rayo.
[APPLAUSE]
AUGUSTIN RAYO:
Tonight, we celebrate.
[CHEERING]
We celebrate our new president.
[APPLAUSE]
And we celebrate
these three things.
We celebrate the
artistry of our students.
[APPLAUSE]
We celebrate the
power of collaboration
in cultural exchange.
And he celebrate the
unique ability of music
to draw attention to the natural
world and our relationship
to it.
[APPLAUSE]
The title of tonight's concert--
We Are The Forest-- comes
from a song by Djuena Tikuna.
Djuena is an Indigenous musician
from the Brazilian Amazon.
And she has performed with
Ensembles during their trip
to Manaus, Brazil
over spring break.
I'm excited to tell you
that Djuena is here with us
tonight and will be joining
us later in the program.
[APPLAUSE]
But now, the concert continues
with the MIT Festival Jazz
Ensemble featuring Anat Cohen.
Anat joined our students in
Brazil and on a similar trip
to the Dominican
Republic, where they
performed a piece focused
on species extinction
due to climate change.
She is an expert
in Brazilian music.
She is a past MIT
Visiting Artist,
and she is the most
celebrated jazz
clarinetist in the world today.
[APPLAUSE]
Please welcome back to
the stage Anat Cohen.
[APPLAUSE]
ANAT COHEN: Thank you very much.
1, 2, 1, 2, 3--
[ARTHUR HAMILTON, "CRY ME A
 RIVER"]
[APPLAUSE]
FRED HARRIS: Anat Cohen.
[APPLAUSE]
So we're going to have
a slight set change.
And right now, we have 14
MIT Wind Ensemble clarinets
joining us.
That's right.
And with Anat Cohen, we are
so honored to have joined us--
well, first off, a student,
a senior graduating--
Nicholas Ortiz
will come up front.
And our distinguished
Professor of Music,
the incredible Evan Ziporyn
joins us on bass clarinet.
[APPLAUSE]
[CHIQUINHA GONZAGA, "CORTA
 JACA"]
[APPLAUSE]
FRED HARRIS: Evan Ziporyn--
Evan Ziporyn arrangement,
Nick Ortiz, Anat Cohen,
MIT Wind Ensemble
clarinets right here,
and bass clarinet, Richard.
Thank you so much.
At this time, I am thrilled and
honored to welcome to the stage
Mr. Miguel Zenón.
[APPLAUSE]
[SYLVIA REXACH, "ALMA ADENTRO"]
[APPLAUSE]
AUGUSTIN RAYO: Miguel Zenón.
Back in 2013, Fred
brought Miguel to MIT
as a Visiting Artist.
And since then, they've
been doing their magic
with our students.
And a few years into
these collaborations,
they thought that they would
organize a cultural exchange
with Puerto Rico--
a fabulous project.
And then Hurricane
Maria hit the island
so Fred asked Miguel to
write a piece in solidarity
with Puerto Rico.
And the result is
"En Pie de Lucha"--
For the Resilient
People of Puerto Rico.
The Festival Jazz Ensemble
performed this piece
in fundraising concerts
at MIT in New York City.
And after that, they
went to Puerto Rico
to play concerts but
also for our students
to go to high schools
and talk to students
about the things they know.
And in a moment, you're
going to see a short film
about that trip to Puerto Rico.
And after that, you're going to
listen to Miguel's composition,
"En Pie de Lucha."
But first, I want to report
to you tonight that Miguel,
a world-renowned
saxophonist, a composer,
MacArthur Award
winner, musical genius,
will be joining the MIT
faculty in the fall--
[APPLAUSE]
--as Assistant
Professor of Jazz.
[APPLAUSE]
That's the first time ever
we've had such a position.
One last round for Miguel.
[APPLAUSE]
[VIDEO PLAYBACK]
[DRUM MUSIC]
- It's really cool that MIT flew
out an entire 25-piece big band
all the way to Puerto Rico.
When I was a freshman
first joining the Ensemble,
it's not something
I would have ever
imagined-- going on tour with
Miguel Zenón in Puerto Rico.
[SAXOPHONE MUSIC]
[APPLAUSE]
- And now that you saw the
demonstration that they had,
I think [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE].
He wanted to see if
there were any volunteers
to come up and dance.
[CHEERING]
[DRUM MUSIC]
- My parents are Nigerian.
They listen to a lot of
traditional African music.
And in terms of from
a rhythmic standpoint,
it's actually very similar.
[JAZZ MUSIC]
- A big part of MIT'S
vision is to take
all the skills and knowledge
that the students have acquired
and to go forth and
spread it and try
to use those skills for good.
And so I really think that
this trip is very much
an extension of MIT'S
dedication to trying
to change the world positively.
[JAZZ MUSIC]
- My name is Peter.
I'm from Massachusetts.
I go to the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.
Today, we've been
talking to middle school
and high schoolers.
And my goal throughout
this process
is to inspire them to
begin thinking about ways
that they can directly
impact their own communities.
- This area was very affected
by Hurricane Maria with flooding
of a few feet of water that
stayed inside the houses
for 16 days.
And they had no power
for around four months.
- I've seen a remarkable
example of the resiliency
of the human spirit
and people's ability
to recover in any situation.
- Close to 300 schools
have been closed
as a result of the storm.
And the people are now moving
to reclaim these properties
and convert them
into something else,
like a multicultural
art center that
will give students and
artists in the community
a place to rehearse or a place
to perform or just a place
to gather and share their art.
In the school we just visited,
there's no electricity.
And so, right now,
they're trying
to figure out, how can they
take solar panels and batteries
and supply the power required
to run that facility?
- I'm extremely grateful for
you guys being here this week.
I'm sure you know how
much this means to me
and how long we've worked
to make this happen.
This has exceeded
all my expectations.
And, hopefully, you got
something really good from it.
I can assure you
that everyone you
met this week and everyone who
heard you play, heard you speak
got a lot from
it, and it's going
to make a difference
in their life.
So thank you so
much for being here.
I really, really appreciate it.
[PIANO MUSIC]
- I get so much joy out of
seeing this kind of thing
happen.
I mean, it's the greatest
thing that could happen,
and it's the greatest reward
that music could give me.
[UPBEAT JAZZ MUSIC]
[APPLAUSE]
[END PLAYBACK]
[MIGUEL ZENÓN,
"EN PIE DE LUCHA"]
MUSICIANS: Hey!
[APPLAUSE]
FRED HARRIS: Miguel Zenón.
Miguel Zenón, MIT
Festival Jazz Ensemble.
[APPLAUSE]
We are delighted to bring
to the stage at this time
a wonderful vocalist
who was with us
at our very first Hearing
Amazonia concert, Sara Serpa,
joined with Anat
Cohen, Evan Ziporyn,
and our wonderful Director
of the MIT Vocal Jazz
Ensemble, Laura Grill Jaye.
And they will all be
joined for the composition
by Sara with Peter
Godart on piano.
Welcome.
[APPLAUSE]
[SARA SERPA & EMMANUEL
IDUMA, "FOR YOU I MUST
BECOME A TREE"]
SARA SERPA: (SINGING) For
you, I must become a tree.
Every tree is the
opposite of wondering.
For you, I must become a tree.
Every tree is the
opposite of wondering.
For you I must become a tree.
Every tree is the
opposite of wondering.
For you I must become a tree.
Every tree is the
opposite of wondering.
For you I must become a tree.
Every tree is the
opposite of wondering.
[APPLAUSE]
FRED HARRIS: Sara Serpa,
Laura Grill Jaye, Anat Cohen,
Peter Godart, Evan Ziporyn.
[APPLAUSE]
Back in 2010, an
interesting thing
happened with one of our
esteemed institute professors
who just recently retired.
That would be John Harbison.
A student in one of the a
cappella ensembles came to me
and said, Fred, I love singing
in the a cappella group.
But I want to try to sing jazz.
I really-- is there
any ensemble here
at MIT for jazz, a jazz choir?
And I said, well, there isn't.
And there's only
one person I could
think of who could do that,
and he's way too busy.
He's a Pulitzer
Prize-winning composer.
He's writing music all the time.
He's got commissions
from the Boston Symphony.
But I'll ask him.
So I asked him.
And within a year,
they were playing--
they were singing
with the Boston Pops.
They were doing original
arrangements by John.
They were singing
individual songs.
And so he created this
foundation of a vocal Jazz
Ensemble, which was tremendous.
And we were so
fortunate after he
retired to find a very,
very gifted musician,
multi-instrumentalist,
vocalist extraordinaire,
and an incredible human
being and teacher right here.
That would be Laura Grill Jaye.
[APPLAUSE]
So we thought it was
very appropriate-- you're
going to hear from one
of our Visiting Artists
who couldn't be with
us tonight, Luciana
Souza, the great Brazilian
jazz singer, composer.
She has a little message about
the piece you're about to hear.
And we're thrilled to have the
Vocal Jazz Ensemble perform it
for you--
"Canoa, Canoa."
LAURA GRILL JAYE:
This next piece
is called "Canoa,
Canoa," a composition
by Brazilian songwriters Nelson
Angelo and Fernando Brant.
It speaks of the
[NON-ENGLISH] people,
the [NON-ENGLISH] people--
[NON-ENGLISH] meaning men
and also water, "canoa"
meaning canoe--
the people of the water, the
canoe people, the river people.
It is well-known that the
Indigenous people of Brazil
have been massacred
and decimated
since the Portuguese first
set foot in Brazil in 1500.
This piece celebrates the
resilience of the [NON-ENGLISH]
people.
They are also known as the
invisible people of the forest
or the [NON-ENGLISH],,
the black faces.
Over centuries, they've
become completely fragmented.
There was no contact with some
of their tribes until 1970--
we're talking centuries
of isolation and running.
It is known that they
are incredibly strong
and have resisted
extinction by hiding.
They sleep during the day
and move and eat by night.
The few who have
survived hunt and gather
and are seasonably nomadic.
But as the Amazon forest
burns, they perish.
[NELSON ANGELO & FERNANDO BRANT,
"CANOA, CANOA"]
[VOCALIZING]
(SINGING) [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
[CLAPPING, FINGERS SNAPPING]
[APPLAUSE]
FRED HARRIS: We've had
small feats of engineering
on this stage tonight,
if you haven't noticed,
and we're about to have
the biggest one yet,
with students coming on to the
stage, I think momentarily.
I just want to take a moment
to say a few short words
before this next segment,
which is, in fact, the premiere
of a preview of a larger film.
So we couldn't take you all to
the Brazilian Amazon with us,
but we're going to give you a
taste of it in just a minute.
It is such an honor
and inspiring to be
able to share the stage with
these marvelous MIT musicians
and all of our guests.
And we're so honored to be a
part of President Kornbluth's
inauguration weekend.
This project began originally,
as Hearing Amazonia--
The Responsibility of
Existence in 2021, and it
culminated with our most
recent trip to the Amazon.
This trip and the
events leading up to it
are defined by a focus on
cultural and environmental
sustainability and
the power of music
to shine a light on
these important themes.
I think MIT students
are uniquely poised
to bring together their
skills and brainpower
to solve problems and
gifted, as musicians, to tell
the stories which are so
important to draw attention
to marginalized cultures
and the challenges
they and the natural world face.
So much of MIT students over
the years I've been here--
so much of their
work tends to focus
on sustainability or betterment
in one way or the other.
This learning from different
cultures is symbiotic, right?
Cultural exchange
leads to our betterment
and makes students
more capable leaders
in solving seemingly
untenable challenges.
I'm so happy that
President Kornbluth
is making sustainability
and climate
crisis a part of her mission,
her charge as the leader
of this great university.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you.
It's so important.
Central to MIT musicians
are the students.
And all of those see on
the stage and are coming--
this engineering
feat right here--
this dedication
of the students is
exemplified in one of
our graduate students--
I hope she gets out in time--
Rachel Morgan.
Yes, Rachel.
[CHEERING]
Rachel is receiving-- her
defense is January 31 at 11:00,
if you want to come--
AeroAstro PhD.
She is celebrating her final
concert with us tonight--
nine straight years,
nine straight years.
It really is one of the few
things in large ensemble music
where a student can
participate that long and have
so many deep experiences.
Rachel Was on all
three of our trips.
She presented on
AeroAstro topics
in the Dominican
Republic, in Puerto Rico,
and just recently at [? IPA, ?]
the greatest Amazonian research
center in the Amazon, studying
Amazonian environmental issues.
So, Rachel, where are you?
Could you stand up?
Rachel Morgan.
[APPLAUSE]
Nine years.
Behind the scenes are the
wonderful staff of MIT
who make this all possible.
There's many names,
but I just want
to thank one person
in particular
who produced this concert,
which was no easy feat.
And that is Susan Wilson
of Institute of Events--
Susan.
[APPLAUSE]
So now we'll show you this
brief film about our trip.
Each day was overwhelming
in a good way.
Every experience we had was so
inspiring, enriching, and deep.
Just the opportunity
to experience
the natural world and the
people who are part of it--
it was just so
wonderful to connect
to Indigenous musicians,
Amazonian scientists,
including a youth robotics
group, which was unbelievable.
It culminated in a
major sold-out concert
in the Manaus Opera House,
Teatro Amazonas on March 31.
We had a full house.
We actually had
MIT people there.
We found out that
half of Sloan School
was there-- not half, but many.
There were people
from architecture.
Who would have thought?
We had one student,
Talia Khan, who
was the first MIT student two
years ago to go to the Amazon.
And all of a sudden,
everybody's going to Manaus.
It was remarkable.
So the music that we gave--
the music paid respect
to the beauties and the
challenges of the Indigenous
people and all of our
connections to come
and a taste of the experience
this film will give you now.
I want to give huge thanks to--
they turned this around in 2
and 1/2 weeks--
huge thanks to MIT
Video Productions;
their leader,
Clayton Hainsworth;
and the director of the
film, Jean [INAUDIBLE],,
who's out here tonight.
[CHEERING]
Yes, Jean--
[APPLAUSE]
And Jean and Miles Lowry
were on us-- were with us
on the entire trip.
They were on us,
filming us constantly.
And so it was wonderful.
Last, I want to give
great thanks to a person
you'll meet briefly
in a few moments,
and that is Talia Khan,
a graduate student in PhD
mechanical engineering.
And it was really Talia who
was the inspiration for us
to go to Manaus, and she largely
shaped most of our experiences.
So I thanks, deeply, Talia Khan.
So without further ado, here
is a preview of our film.
[VIDEO PLAYBACK]
- [NON-ENGLISH SINGING]
- For Indigenous
people, music is the way
that they express their
feelings about climate change
and about things going on.
- [NON-ENGLISH SINGING]
- Her music and
her art is not just
an expression of herself
but of the entire people
that she tries to represent.
She is a voice to the voiceless.
- [NON-ENGLISH SINGING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
- This trip expands the
scope of what music means.
It's living the piece
of music, and you
don't get to feel that
unless you put yourself
in new experiences
and get yourself out
of your comfort zone.
[CHANTING]
- [INAUDIBLE] music.
[FLUTE MUSIC]
- [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
- So it was first
my grandfather,
then my father was the Chief,
and now I am the Chief of this
tribe-- try to make everybody
working hard to keep
our culture and not let it die.
- That's how they usually
interact with other tribes.
So they do welcoming rituals,
and so they treated us
like another tribe.
And seeing that
they were inclusive,
welcoming us into
their community
was a very nice experience.
- [NON-ENGLISH SINGING]
- [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
[APPLAUSE]
- [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE]
[APPLAUSE]
- These people living in very
rural areas in the Amazon--
they're very similar to us.
They want the same things
as us, and they just
operate in a slightly
different sphere.
And these issues
of sustainability
affect them very directly.
All the things that
they're employing
to preserve their
environment are things
that we could learn from.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
- [NON-ENGLISH SINGING]
- Welcome.
- [NON-ENGLISH]
- To Sao Sebastio village--
- [NON-ENGLISH]
- And to the Nobre
Academy of Robotica.
[APPLAUSE]
We are a startup that
takes this introduction
to this technological world
to the riverine people,
the Indigenous
people, and the ones
that live on the
outskirts of the cities.
- The changes in
temperatures greatly
affects the biodiversity
within the river itself,
and many fish can die if the
temperature gets too hot.
So they want to collect data
on the temperature of the river
in different regions--
so in different depths and also
different areas of the river.
And the technology
that they need for that
is simple Arduino sensors
that we find littered
around hallways of MIT.
So they're looking to get
that material, as well
as solar panels, in order
to preserve the biodiversity
in a preemptive manner.
- [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
- He's saying,
welcome to the jungle.
[LAUGHTER]
No, kidding.
So every design that you
think for the Amazon,
you have to first think
about the conditions,
about the environment.
And this is the environment--
hostile environment
that they found
with no electricity,
with no communication,
no anything.
So everything has to be prepared
because if you don't think
about those little things
that might be not something
to think about when you
live in the city, then
your project is not
going to work, right?
[UPBEAT JAZZ MUSIC]
- I'm actually really
excited for tonight
when we get to interact
with the Amazonas Jazz Band.
- Here's the plan.
We're going to go on
the stage and listen
to them play [INAUDIBLE],, and
then we're going to join them.
- At first, we
thought we were just
going to have a
clinic with them,
and they were going to show
us some of their songs,
just sit in on the rehearsal.
And then, shortly before,
we found out, no, you're
actually playing in
the concert with them.
So that kind of shifted.
- Miles, so you guys
can read their music.
- Just through what little we
could understand through music,
through just our
knowledge of percussion
and different musical
terms that are
the same in every language
or just a musical style,
he'd say, oh, like a tumbao.
Like, we know what that is.
- I know music is a
universal language.
I knew that theoretically.
But that was truly
experiencing it
because I could not
talk to them whatsoever.
- [NON-ENGLISH SINGING]
- What I hope comes
out of this is
that more people think
about going to the Amazon
or think about
ways that they can
help the many, many issues that
need resolving in the Amazon.
- When we leave an
experience like this,
we're all going to be changed.
And we carry a little bit
of each other, everyone
that I met here.
We take it with us, and we
keep spreading this thing.
- Art is a means
for communication.
We use art to tell stories.
We use art to win hearts over.
It's a means of becoming more
empathetic with other people.
- [NON-ENGLISH SINGING]
[APPLAUSE]
[END PLAYBACK]
[APPLAUSE]
FRED HARRIS: Please
welcome to the stage,
for the first time
we've ever had
at Kresge Auditorium
an Indigenous
musician from the Brazilian
Amazon, Djuena Tikuna.
[CHEERING]
[APPLAUSE]
[DJUENA TIKUNA, "NÓS
SOMOS A FLORESTA"]
DJUENA TIKUNA:
[NON-ENGLISH SINGING]
[APPLAUSE]
[CHEERING]
[ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYING]
CHORUS: [VOCALIZING]
DJUENA TIKUNA:
[NON-ENGLISH SINGING]
[APPLAUSE]
FRED HARRIS: [NON-ENGLISH]
David Ortiz, MIT Wind
Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble,
Vocal Jazz Ensemble.
[APPLAUSE]
DJUENA TIKUNA:
[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE]
[APPLAUSE]
FRED HARRIS: Before
we send you off
with two compositions by two
of Brazil's greatest composers,
Antonio Carlos Jobim
and Hermeto Pascoal,
we're going to
bring to the stage
an extraordinary
young individual who,
as I said before, was largely
responsible for shaping
our entire experience in Brazil.
Talia Khan, please.
[APPLAUSE]
TALIA KHAN: So I
can start first by--
there's no way that
I can accurately
translate what Djuena just said
with the emotion that she had.
But just for those people
who don't speak Portuguese
in the audience, what she
was saying is, being here,
being an Indigenous
person here at MIT--
she said it's
reforesting her heart,
reforesting the minds of people
by showing that Indigenous
people are here.
Indigenous people are fighting.
They're fighting
for their forests.
They're fighting
for their rights.
And, for her, to be here
is just such a big deal.
But, of course, the
words that she used--
saying something like
reforesting their hearts,
reforesting minds--
these are things
that it's kind of--
for her, for Indigenous people,
the forest, the land, music--
all of this is intertwined
with everything that they do.
So they were really
beautiful words.
So maybe once the
recording public,
the translation will be better.
But, yes, I am Talia Khan.
I'm a grad student at MIT.
I did undergrad here
in materials science
and engineering and
music, and now I'm
a grad student in
mechanical engineering.
So Fred kind of asked me
to say, what did I do?
Why am I here?
What's the whole
story about this?
So I'll try to say that
as briefly as possible.
But I fell in love with
the Brazilian Amazon
after hearing some
stories from a PhD student
that I was working with.
And I reached out to
[INAUDIBLE] from MIT Brazil who
is here in the audience.
[CHEERING]
So first of all, big
thank you to MISTI--
MISTI and, specifically,
[INAUDIBLE] from MISTI Brazil
because she absolutely changed
my life for, of course,
the better but really just
changed my whole trajectory.
So big round of applause
for MISTI, everybody,
and all of the people
there who do amazing
stuff providing internships
for students to go everywhere
around the world.
But I reached out to [INAUDIBLE]
at MISTI Brazil, and I said,
I've never been to Brazil,
and I want to go to the Amazon
and learn from Indigenous people
about how the materials that
they use--
about the materials that
they use from the forest
and how they use that
to build their houses
and build canoes and
ropes and stuff like that.
And I want to do material
property characterization
of all these materials.
And she was like, OK.
And she was like, I've also
never been to the Amazon,
and we've never sent a
student to the Amazon, but OK.
Let's do it.
And so together,
me and [INAUDIBLE]
spent the whole year
trying to figure that out.
And somehow I made it
to this teeny tiny town
called [? Santarem ?] de
Pará in Brazil-- yeah, anyone
from Pará?
AUDIENCE: Yeah, I'm
from [INAUDIBLE]..
TALIA KHAN: Wow, OK.
[CHEERING]
Wow, OK.
So this is one of the
states in the Amazon
region of Brazil in the north.
And I spent the summer
there for MISTI,
and it was an absolutely
amazing experience.
Nobody spoke English,
so to survive,
I learned Portuguese
quite quickly
via charades and offline
Google Translate.
And then by the
time my senior year
rolled around, I
realized I wanted
to go back to the Amazon,
so I applied for Fulbright.
And I graduated
during COVID, so there
was some delay, et
cetera, et cetera.
But, eventually, I made
my way to a different part
of the Brazilian
Amazon in Manaus,
which is where,
eventually, we all went,
which still feels like a dream.
And I spent six months
there doing research.
I worked with Indigenous people,
Indigenous artisans learning
about how they go through the
forest and collect materials,
and then process the
materials, and then weave them
into baskets and make ropes
and things like that--
so bringing these things
into the lab to see--
they know intrinsically what
are the mechanical and material
properties of these materials,
but nobody's ever brought them
into the lab to show that they
have actual, commercial value
that can help these really
impoverished communities make
some money and help them
use-- and with this money,
protect their land from people
who are illegally deforested
and invading their land.
So that was my goal is to
kind of do this dual science
and community sustainable
development thing in Manaus.
And I also worked with the
Nobre Academy de [INAUDIBLE],,
which you guys saw in the video.
So they work with people in
poor communities in Manaus
and in Indigenous
communities, teaching kids
how to fly drones to monitor
their land to protect--
to monitor if invaders are
coming in to their lands
and also how to code and just
interact with technology,
in general.
So when I came back
here, I told Fred--
I was like, we
absolutely have to go.
I was like, I don't know how,
but everybody needs to go.
There's beautiful music,
amazing food, amazing culture.
And this amazing
man, Fred Harris,
made the impossible happen.
[APPLAUSE]
We've brought 80 students.
Think about that.
Every person on the
stage, pretty much,
went to the middle of nowhere--
like, literally the middle
of nowhere in the Amazon.
If you look on a map, you'll
see there's the Amazon River.
There's the Rio Negro,
the Black River,
and then there's just
green on the map.
And then there's a
teeny tiny little city,
and Fred Harris brought
everybody there.
He worked so hard, and we
just had an amazing time.
We interacted with some
Indigenous musicians
that I had met there,
including Djuena--
amazing, amazing, amazing.
And we did workshops with them.
And, again, as somebody
said in the video,
it was beautiful that
most of the people
here don't speak a
word of Portuguese,
but we communicated
through music.
And even when we were
visiting the community
with Nobre Academy [INAUDIBLE],,
the robotics academy,
we still communicated through
science, through music.
And I thought that
was so beautiful.
And I know I'm going
way too long on this,
but before I finish,
I just want to--
I was talking with
Djuena earlier today,
and she was asking me how--
you're a scientist.
Scientists are in labs.
They're, like,
pipetting or something.
How did you have
this idea or whatever
to have your research
and your focus
be also impacting the
communities and the Amazon
and helping them
support themselves
and generate some sort
of income so that they
can protect their land?
And, for me, it took me a second
to respond to the question
because, for me, it
was very natural.
And I think when I started
thinking about that further, it
was because at
MIT, everybody here
works with both mind and hand--
[LATIN]
And I really think that--
especially these people
here who are doing music.
They're doing
humanities and science.
These things are just so
interconnected for us.
And I think that that's
something so beautiful that
can only happen at MIT
where people really
do use their [LATIN] together.
And, yeah, I just think
that that's so amazing,
and I'm so excited to see
where these collaborations go
in terms of more people
going to the Amazon.
I know actually that some people
are going in the fall, which
is super exciting.
So, yeah, that's me.
Sorry for the long spiel.
[APPLAUSE]
FRED HARRIS: This is so
difficult. Wonderful, Talia.
We bring to the stage Sara
Serpa, fantastic vocalist,
to sing--
thank you, Sara-- to sing one
of the Antonio Carlos Jobim's
wonderful pieces, "Passarim,"
arranged by Guillermo
Klein for all of us.
And, from there, we will
go to "Hermanos Latinos."
Thank you.
[ANTONIO CARLOS JOBIM,
 "PASSARIM"]
SARA SERPA:
[NON-ENGLISH SINGING]
[APPLAUSE]
[HERMETO PASCOAL, "HERMANOS
 LATINOS"]
TALIA KHAN: All right,
so now do you thank yous
to some very important
people-- first of all,
to the amazing MIT Festival Jazz
Ensemble, the MIT Vocal Jazz
Ensemble, directed by Lauren
Grill Jaye, and the MIT Wind
Ensemble, and, of course, our
special guests Sara Serpa, Evan
Ziporyn, Anat Cohen, Miguel
Zenón, our awesome student
soloist, [INAUDIBLE],, Marcus
Sanders on percussion,
everyone.
We also got David Ortiz
from Berklee on percussion.
And all the way from
the Brazilian Amazon,
Djuena Tikuna.
We also want to thank United
Sound Productions, MIT Video
Productions, everybody in the
MIT Institute Events Office,
and Ted Johnson, and Susan
Wilson, the amazing concert
producer.
And, of course, we
have Fred Harris.
And now everybody
get up and dance.
You can't hear this song
and not want to dance.
Come one.
[CHEERING]
SALLY KORNBLUTH: Well,
that was fantastic.
Let me add my thanks
to Talia, to Fred,
to the amazing musicians.
Thank you everyone for sharing
your talents, for sharing
your powerful message with us.
And let's give them all another
great round of applause.
[APPLAUSE]
[HERMETO PASCOAL, "HERMANOS
 LATINOS"]
[CHEERING]
Have a wonderful
evening, everyone.
Good night.
[APPLAUSE]

---

### Hello, MIT!
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJO-HDWY4cg

Idioma: en

[MUSIC PLAYING]
SALLY KORNBLUTH: Hello, MIT.
Starting at a new
institution, I thought maybe
I'd experience
some culture shock.
But actually, it's been great.
It really is like coming home.
Now, I know I have a lot
to learn about you all,
about MIT, about the crazy
Massachusetts rotaries,
about the even crazier
building numbering.
But I couldn't be more
optimistic and enthusiastic.
My husband and I are
thrilled to be living
at the heart of the MIT campus.
And you'll see us
walking around,
so please don't hesitate
to come up and say hi.
And in the meantime, in between
taking sips from the fire hose,
I'll be unpacking
a lot more boxes.
[MUSIC PLAYING]

---

### Dr. Sally A. Kornbluth named MIT’s 18th president (full press conference)
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0XCBFP6Oh0

Idioma: en

AUDIENCE: [CLAPPING]
KIMBERLY ALLEN: Good morning.
I'm Kimberly Allen, MIT's
director of media relations.
And I'd like to thank all of
you for joining us this morning
as we introduce Sally Kornbluth
who we are excited to say
has just been named
18th president of MIT.
We're just about to get
ready to get started,
but a few brief
logistical items up top.
In a moment, we'll be joined by
Diane Greene, chair of the MIT
Corporation who will
introduce Sally.
Following some remarks
from the President-elect,
we'll open for Q&A. For
those journalists with us
here in person, if
you have a question,
please raise your hand, and a
member of the media relations
team will pass the mic to
you, Sarah on that side,
Melanie on that side.
For those of you
joining us virtually,
please raise your
hand using the button
at the bottom of
your Zoom screen,
and you'll be prompted
to open your line when
I call your name.
With that, I'd like to welcome
Diane Greene, chair of the MIT
Corporation.
[APPLAUSE] [CLAPPING]
DIANE GREENE: Welcome everybody
on this wonderful and historic
day for MIT.
As she said, I'm chair
of the corporation.
And our members are
what's essentially
our board of trustees.
In February,
President Rafael Reif
announced he would step down
after 10 years in the role.
And at that point,
the MIT Corporation
launched a search to find
the Institute's next leader.
It's been 8 and 1/2 months
of steady and rigorous work,
an undertaking that
allowed us to sift
through over 250
candidates to listen
to the aspirations of every
MIT Department, student
groups, staff groups,
a great many alumni,
and our corporation, and
some two dozen leaders
at other universities.
That process helped us define
a clear and consistent set
of qualities that seemed
essential for MIT's president.
Even though we had four
exceptional final candidates,
Dr. Sally Kornbluth emerged
as the strong and clear front
runner.
And to our immense
gratification,
the committee reached an
easy and unanimous decision.
Let me say a few words about
Sally before I invite her
to the podium.
A distinguished university
leader, researcher,
and mentor, Dr. Kornbluth
has served as provost of Duke
since 2014 overseeing Duke's
10 schools and 6 institutes.
Her academic honors include
membership in the National
Academy of Medicine, the
National Academy of Inventors,
and the American Academy
of Arts and Sciences.
Dr. Kornbluth is an
extraordinary find for MIT.
She's an exceptional
administrator, widely respected
for her ability to create
an environment that
breaks barriers and importantly
enables every student, faculty,
and staff member to contribute
at their highest levels.
She is known for her judgment,
plainspokenness, and integrity.
Dr. Kornbluth arrives
at the Institute
with a deep understanding
of MIT's strengths.
And she's a widely
respected scientist
who responds to problems
with exceptional creativity
and who comprehends the
considerable importance
of basic science,
technological innovation,
and entrepreneurship.
Her vision and profound
humanity will serve us well
as MIT builds on its
long standing efforts
to confront the challenges faced
by our species and our world.
And now, I'd like to
enthusiastically invite
MIT's next president to the
podium, President-elect Sally
Kornbluth.
A warm welcome from MIT.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
SALLY KORNBLUTH: Thank
you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Madam Chair
for the warm introduction.
I have enormous appreciation
for the thoughtful way
that you, [INAUDIBLE] the
presidential search committee,
and the Student Advisory Council
approached the search process.
It's really always
a good sign when
you leave a job interview
actually wanting the job more.
Now of course, I
could not be more
grateful to all the
members of the MIT
Corporation and its
executive committee
for trusting me with the
profound responsibility
for leading MIT.
As anyone knows who has ever
held a major leadership role,
it would be impossible to do
the job without great support
from your family.
In my case, that's my husband
Danny, a superb scientist
and always my greatest
constructive critic
and sounding board,
and our two children,
Joey, a medical student in
California whom I dearly
hope I can lure to
Boston, and our son Alex,
who happens to be a PhD
student here at MIT studying
probabilistic computing.
But the truth is, I'm here
because of one other person who
will never know it, the
most transformative teacher
of my life, the
late Bill DeWitt.
He was a biology professor at
my undergraduate institution
Williams.
And he taught a
class I only took
because I had to take
some science to graduate.
I was majoring in
political science,
and I desperately needed to
fulfill my science distribution
requirement.
I wound up in his class on
human biology and social issues.
And for me, it
changed everything.
Suddenly, I found
myself fascinated
by how cells function.
I signed up for
every biology class
I could possibly cram
in before I graduated.
And I wound up
getting a fellowship
to study genetics at
Cambridge, the other Cambridge.
Those two years in
England introduced me
to the subjects and the
intellectual obsessions
that would define my career.
And they set me on the path
that has brought me here
to the doorstep of MIT.
So that's how I
became a scientist.
It doesn't explain how I
became a university leader.
I confess that I first got
into academic administration
for entirely
non-altruistic reasons.
I was still early in
my research career.
And I really just wanted
to attract better graduate
students and have
better core facilities.
If I agreed to take an
administrative role,
I thought it might
be able to lead
to some structural
improvements that
would help me do these things.
And in the end, it worked
not only for my lab
but for other labs too.
My career since then has
been all about building
on that idea.
And I learned pretty quickly
that on top of loving science,
I really loved enabling
the success of others.
Over the years, I've
mentored 31 PhD students,
and they've gone on
to successful careers
all across the
country from higher Ed
to the biomedical industry.
Or more broadly I
believe that I have
helped the university lean into
its own excellence as well.
With the support of an
outstanding team at Duke,
we've been able to do a
lot of important work.
We developed and
implemented a strategic plan
for the university.
We substantially
expanded the faculty
and science and engineering.
And we took steps to improve
the environment for our faculty
of color and expanded hiring.
We worked to improve the
quality of life and learning
for graduate students.
We enhanced campus
residential life,
so every undergraduate would
have a social and academic home
in the place that they lived.
And all those ideas emerged
from extensive conversations
with the Duke community.
I want to approach the MIT
community the same way.
I want to spend
time really getting
to know the people
and the institution.
I want to hear the full range
of views and perspectives,
and I want to help the people
of MIT make MIT even better.
I've really loved my life
and my roles at Duke.
I've had lots of reasons to stay
and really no reasons pushing
me to leave, which tells you
the strength of the pull I
felt drawing me to MIT.
It was overwhelming to see how
much people loved the place
and how proud they
were to be part of it.
For someone who enjoys enabling
the success of other people,
it was impossible to
resist the opportunity
to do that for the
extraordinarily
talented people of MIT.
And maybe above all,
I was drawn here
because this is a moment
when humanity faces
huge global problems,
problems that
urgently demand the world's
most skillful minds and hands.
In short, I believe
this is MIT's moment.
I could not imagine
a greater privilege
than helping the people of
MIT seize its full potential.
And I can't wait to get started.
And now I understand that
we'll have a few questions.
Kimberly.
KIMBERLY ALLEN: Thank you
again, Sally and Diane.
So exciting.
So now we'll open the
room to a few questions.
As mentioned before,
for those of you
with here with us in person,
if you have a question,
just raise your hand,
a member of the team
will pass you a microphone.
And just state your
name and outlet
before asking your question.
For those of you
joining us virtually,
raise your hand using the button
at the bottom of your Zoom
screen, and you'll be prompted
to open your line when
I call your name.
Just wait a little
second, and then the room
will hear you ask the question.
Are there any
questions in the room?
Shuli Jones, MIT
admissions blog.
SHULI JONES: Hi there.
Thanks for taking my question.
So MIT is a huge university
with many facets.
But at its heart literally
and metaphorically
are its students who are
known for being unique
and maybe even quirky.
As you transition
into your new role,
how do you plan to learn
about student life and student
concerns on campus?
SALLY KORNBLUTH: So I've always
believed in a very open access
policy.
I've talked to hundreds
of students at Duke,
and I intend to do
the same at MIT.
I really want to make
myself available.
When I first get here, I'm going
to be out and about listening.
I'm going to want student
groups and student
committees to come see me,
talk about their concerns.
I think one of the things
that I've enjoyed most at Duke
has been really
listening to the students
and doing things to improve
their life and both socially
and academically.
And so that's very
exciting to me.
I have to say, though, that
I love a group of students
who think that building roller
coasters and catapults is fun.
This is the center
of intellectual fun.
And so I can't wait to get
here and both see it in action,
participate, and learn a lot
more from the students here.
All about it.
So thank you.
KIMBERLY ALLEN: All right.
Any more questions in the room?
And those of you on the Zoom, if
you hit the Raise Hand button,
we'll see your hand.
Oh, don't be shy.
Zach, MIT News.
ZACH WINN: Thank you.
Yeah, Zack Winn, MIT News.
I'm just wondering
as you've learned
more about MIT's community, what
has really struck you about it
or surprised you that
has gotten you more
excited to start this role?
SALLY KORNBLUTH: So I have to
say, it's been a whirlwind.
MIT has always held
a place in my mind
as just the premiere
science and technology
university in the
world, but obviously,
great strengths in arts and
sciences, in management,
in architecture.
And what has really struck
me is this great potential
for collaboration between
all of these groups.
Most universities, people are
happy and proud to be there.
But everybody I've talked
to affiliated with MIT
has been not only
excited about their place
at MIT but about
their colleagues,
their ability to collaborate,
their ability to interact.
And to me, that's
absolutely the most fun
thing of university life.
So I hope to be able
to continue to leverage
that, to build that
at MIT, so that all
of the great technological
and scientific discoveries
are informed by policy,
informed by humanities.
And you know, I just see it
as this fantastic potential
for those interactions.
KIMBERLY ALLEN: All right, now
we'll take one from the Zoom.
Anemona, New York Times.
ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS: Hi.
It's Anemona.
Can you hear me, Kimberly?
KIMBERLY ALLEN: We can.
You're in the room.
ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS: Great.
So congratulations,
Dr. Kornbluth.
You mentioned taking
steps to improve
the environment for faculty
of color and to extend hiring.
Could you talk about
that a little bit?
This is a kind of a time
of heightened awareness
of those kinds of
issues of diversity.
There's the affirmative action
case before the supreme court.
So if you could just
expand on that a little,
that would be great.
SALLY KORNBLUTH:
Yeah, absolutely.
Let me say upfront that I think
that the best communities tap
into the full range
of human talent,
that a diverse community is the
best community for discovery,
for inquiry.
And so this is going to
be a huge priority for me.
Now, MIT like many of its peers,
have made strides, particularly
in the undergraduate
student space.
And we can talk further
about what a potential court
decision means in that regard.
But let me just
address for a moment
the issue of greater diversity
and inclusion among the faculty
and also graduate students.
So it's not difficult to
understand how recruitment
is difficult when you're
talking to someone,
and they're going to be the
only one in a discipline.
One thing that I've done
in my administrative career
is tap into the broader
expertise of the community,
put out seed money for
faculty, for students
to come up with
programs that they feel
will increase an
inclusive environment.
And so at Duke, we
put out seed money
to create faculty wide programs
across all of the disciplines.
There's a black writing group.
There's a black think tank.
And what that does is
not silo individuals
into their own
small community, it
creates a campus wide
group or multiple campus
wide groups where individuals
feel like, not only do
they belong, but
they have peers.
And they have a broad
inclusive community.
And this has really helped
both retention and recruitment.
I think that it is
going to be critical.
Obviously, MIT will
always follow the law.
But it's going to be critical
to think about ways, regardless
of what comes out
of a court decision,
to maintain a diverse
and vibrant environment
because again, that doesn't
only benefit the individuals.
Now, I will say MIT does not
engage in legacy admissions,
that one in five
of those students
here are first generation.
And those are
things that we have
to lean into going forward.
I'm absolutely
committed to building
a more diverse and
increasingly inclusive
environment here at MIT.
KIMBERLY ALLEN:
Thank you very much.
Katie Mogg, Boston Globe.
KATIE MOGG: Hi there.
Congratulations again.
SALLY KORNBLUTH: Thank you.
KATIE MOGG: My
question for you is
that women, including
students and faculty,
haven't always felt like they've
had the same footing as men
here.
And especially as the second
woman president of MIT
and just a very accomplished
woman in STEM, what do
you think you'll
do to address that.
SALLY KORNBLUTH: So a couple
of things-- first of all,
I think being a role
model is important,
not just me but the other
women faculty at MIT,
other women leaders at MIT.
And I know now that the
president, the provost,
and the chancellor
will all be women.
So I think modeling that
modeling in the classrooms,
in labs, really reaching
out to young women students,
graduate students--
undergrad and graduate
to let them know
that they can have
a robust career in
whatever they want,
and really being encouraging.
In my own case, I had very
encouraging mentors that
made all of the difference.
And you know, I switched
from political science
to science because the
door was open to me.
So another thing I
think is that MIT
has to have open programming
for people who may not
have a background in an area
that could be important to them
going forward and to make
sure that entre is welcoming.
And so that's sort of a
first impression early days,
but I've always
believed that it's
the responsibility
of women who have
had successful careers to help
the next generation come up.
KIMBERLY ALLEN: Again, if
there are any questions,
for those of you participating
virtually, don't be shy.
Hit the Raise Hand button,
and we'll get that question.
And now, we have time
for a couple more.
I think you had just--
oh Zack, in the room.
ZACH WINN: Yes.
Have you gotten any
advice for this new role
that is really stuck
with you and you're
excited to carry out?
SALLY KORNBLUTH: To learn,
I think a colleague here
referred to it as quirky, to
learn the culture of MIT well.
Don't really come in
with suppositions.
Every institution has their own
strengths, their own qualities,
their own characteristics.
And you know, I'll say, just
to reflect many years ago,
I had the task of
overseeing some aspects
of clinical research at Duke.
And I'm not an M.D.
And I wasn't going
to walk in and tell people how
they should treat patients.
I learned, and I listened.
And coming to MIT,
it's the same thing.
The advice is not to
make any quick decisions,
quick moves at first.
Really learn the environment,
talk to a lot of people.
And then use that to inform
a plan going forward.
KIMBERLY ALLEN: Alice
Dragoon, Technology Review.
ALICE DRAGOON: Hi.
Can you hear me?
Can you hear me now?
KIMBERLY ALLEN: Now
we can hear you.
ALICE DRAGOON: Hi.
Sorry, I was muted.
This is Alice Dragoon.
I edit MIT News,
the alumni magazine.
Welcome and congratulations
first of all.
My question is, as
someone who will
be bringing a fresh perspective
to the institute, what
opportunities do you
see for MIT to become
an even better institution?
SALLY KORNBLUTH: Yes, thank
you for that question.
Again, since I've been,
I guess, President-elect
for about 15 minutes, I may
not have a fully formed answer.
But I will say, just alluding
to one of my previous answers,
when I think about some of the
major challenges in the world,
for example climate change,
MIT is one of the few places
where the scientific and
technical expertise can
be brought to bear but
also the humanistic
and social perspectives.
And I think there
are a lot of places
that can do one or
the other, but I
think being able to affect a
change in our course of climate
change, for example, is
going to require both.
It's going to require
new technical solutions,
but it's also going to require
changes in regulatory policies.
It's going to require
changes in the way people
live in the world,
the way people
adapt to the changes, honestly,
that have already taken place.
And so I think MIT can
be a leader in these
and is a leader already in many
ways in these societal problems
that require multiple
collaborative
perspectives to move forward.
And I'm just really
excited about that.
And that's something that I've
already begun thinking about
and will want feedback from
my new colleagues at MIT.
KIMBERLY ALLEN:
Thank you so much.
All right, this is our last
call for questions on the Zoom
and in the room.
Do we have any more?
Wow.
Christina?
Oh, Christina Chen, The Tech.
CHRISTINA CHEN: Hi.
Congratulations again.
SALLY KORNBLUTH: Thank you.
CHRISTINA CHEN: Yeah, I
guess, I had a question.
So MIT is kind of
undergoing a restructuring
with the introduction of
the College of Computing.
And I was wondering
how that factors in, I
guess, to your vision
of academics at MIT,
especially because
you emphasized
all the other great
programs we have.
I guess, how do you see
that working in concert
with the new College
of Computing?
SALLY KORNBLUTH: Yeah, so first
of all, computing going forward
now and going forward is
core to almost everything
that is going on in society.
And you know, I
think the structure,
the creation of the
College of Computing
not only gives a strong
home but also creates
a natural collaboration.
For instance, I know that EECS
straddles both engineering
and the College of Computing.
These kind of
organizations where
people have a foot in
more than one home,
tend to lead to
natural collaborations.
So that's one thing.
The other thing is if I think
about the strengths at MIT,
for instance if you look
at the College of Computing
and folks working on AI,
that has obvious touch
to cognitive neuroscience.
It has obvious touch to ethics.
And so the College of
Computing can actually in a way
be a convener and a nexus
where different disciplines can
interact in the service of
moving computing forward
to address society's
greatest problems.
So this is going
to be important.
I understand that a large
number of the majors at MIT
are computer science majors.
And I want to make
sure that they
learn what they need to be
successful in that field
but also touch on multiple
other fields while they're here.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you.
KIMBERLY ALLEN: Thank you
again to everyone in the room,
all of you on Zoom, for helping
us welcome Sally to MIT today.
If you have any more
questions after this,
just email us at
questions@mit.edu.
We'll try to get you
images and other materials
throughout the day.
Thank you again,
and have a nice day.
SALLY KORNBLUTH: Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]

---

### MIT Community Introduction: President-elect Dr. Sally A. Kornbluth
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhBkuWo4tks

Idioma: en

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[APPLAUSE]
DIANE GREEN: Welcome,
everyone on this historic day
for our MIT community.
I'm Diane Green, chair
of the MIT Corporation.
And on behalf of
the corporation,
it's my immense pleasure
to join together
with you to welcome Mit
President-elect Dr. Sally
Kornbluth.
[APPLAUSE]
DIANE GREEN: And
let me just add,
and her husband Danny
and her son Alex.
[APPLAUSE]
DIANE GREEN: Last
February, President Reif
announced his decision to step
down at the end of this year.
Dr. Reif has made remarkable
contributions to MIT
during his 42 years of service.
First, as a faculty
member, then as provost,
and for the past decade
as our president.
And we owe him our
highest gratitude.
Thank you, Rafael.
[APPLAUSE]
DIANE GREEN: OK, thank you.
Given MIT's world stature
and the tremendous challenges
of our times, we
knew from the outset
that the search for
MIT's next president
would need to break new ground.
It was crucial to gain
high quality input
from the entire MIT community,
as well as from the leaders
of our peer universities.
It was a tall order
to coalesce this input
into a set of
attributes and then
questions that would, over
the course of our evaluation
of CVs, posted talks, reports,
interviews, and references,
let us determine if an
individual matched the profile
that we had developed.
In choosing the members
of our search committee,
we worked with the corporation's
executive committee,
corporation members who are
recent MIT graduates, faculty
chair Lilly SCI, and the head
of human resources Ramona Allen.
We selected a 20
person committee
composed of corporation
members, faculty members
from each school and the
college, staff members,
a graduate student,
and an undergraduate.
The rigorous and sustained
process that we went through
gave us an
understanding of elite
higher education's
needs in general
and MIT's needs specifically.
Equally importantly, we
developed great trust
and respect for
one another, which
allowed us to work
constructively,
despite our diverse
backgrounds and views.
And you can imagine
how wonderful
it was to find that we all
agreed on our four finalists.
And then, after we'd
exhaustively interviewed each,
enthusiastically--
an understatement, decide
that Dr. Sally Kornbluth
would be the ideal
18th president of MIT.
Sally was our clear
and obvious choice.
Her selection came easily,
and it was unanimous.
And I'll just add that it was
unanimous at the corporation
this morning when we
took our vote as well.
So why is that?
Sally Kornbluth is an
exceptional administrator.
She's widely respected
for her ability
to create an environment that
breaks barriers and enables
every student, faculty,
and staff member
to contribute at
their highest levels.
She's known for her judgment,
her plainspoken, and integrity.
And we, by the way, checked
innumerable references,
back door and front door,
couldn't uncover any blemishes.
[LAUGHTER]
Dr. Kornbluth's leadership
style is decisive, bold,
and invariably informed
by high moral principles.
Her career has exemplified
a powerful drive
for excellence and a capacity
to appreciate, respect,
and integrate a wide
array of viewpoints.
Sally demonstrates the
leadership qualities
necessary to do justice to
MIT's incredible assemblage
of talent, people who seek
to achieve the seemingly
impossible, who
demand excellence,
and who are driven by a hunger
to make a positive difference
in the world.
Dr. Kornbluth arrives
at the Institute
with a deep understanding
of MIT's strengths.
Her vision, humanity,
and warmth are
evident to all who have
had the good fortune
to come into contact with her.
So it's therefore
within tremendous pride,
on behalf of the
entire MIT community,
that I now invite the
Institute's new President-elect
to join us.
[APPLAUSE]
SALLY KORNBLUTH: Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
SALLY KORNBLUTH: Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
SALLY KORNBLUTH: Thank
you, Madam Chair, Diane,
for the warm introduction.
And thank you, also, for
the careful and thorough way
you led the search process and
for the outstanding questions
you and your colleagues posed.
It's always a good sign when
you leave an interview actually
wanting the job.
So that was good.
[LAUGHING]
SALLY KORNBLUTH: I was so
impressed by John Jarvi and all
of the presidential
search committee
who inspired me to see
the world of opportunities
ahead for the Institute.
And of course, I
could not be more
grateful to the executive
committee and all
of the members of
the MIT Corporation
for trusting me with the
profound responsibility
of leading MIT.
To President and Mrs.
Reif, Raphael and Chris,
thank you so much for
welcoming my family
and me with such warmth
and graciousness.
And a big hello to the entire
MIT community, to all of you
here in this room, and online
students, staff, postdocs,
faculty, alumni, as well
as our Cambridge neighbors.
As anyone knows who has ever
held a major leadership role,
it would be impossible to do
the job without great support
from your family.
In that case, it's my husband
Danny, a superb scientist
and always my greatest
constructive critic
and sounding board.
And our two children,
our daughter Joey,
a medical student in
California who I dearly
hope I can lure to Boston.
And our son Alex, who
is right here at MIT
because he's a fifth
year PhD student in EECS.
That's course six, am I right?
[LAUGHTER]
[APPLAUSE]
But the truth is I'm here
because of one other person who
will never know it.
The most transformative teacher
of my life, the late Bill
Dewitt.
He was a biology professor at
my undergraduate institution
Williams, and he taught
a class that I only
took because I had to take
some science to graduate.
I was majoring in
political science,
and I desperately needed to
fulfill my science distribution
requirement.
I wound up in his class on
human biology and social issues.
And for me, it
changed everything.
As a Polly SCI
major, I should have
been drawn to really the social
issues side of the class.
But suddenly, because of Bill's
brilliant gifts as a teacher,
I found myself fascinated
by how cells function.
I signed up for every biology
class I could possibly cram in
before I graduated, including
an amazing course during winter
study, which is very
similar to IAP here at MIT.
And I wound up
getting a fellowship
to study genetics at Cambridge.
And this time, when
I say Cambridge,
I mean the one in England.
But, from now, on I'll be
talking about this one.
Those two years in
England introduced me
to the subjects and the
intellectual obsessions
that would define my career.
And not incidentally, they
also introduced me to Danny.
And they set me on the
path that has brought me
to the doorstep of MIT.
So for all of you
who are teachers,
from graduate students,
to senior faculty,
never underestimate your impact.
It is amazing what
can blossom when
you sow the seeds of
curiosity and inspiration.
Though I grew up in
the Northeast living
in North Carolina for
nearly 30 years has given me
a real appreciation for
southern hospitality,
but I have to tell you,
the warmth and welcome
I've received from
all of you here at MIT
has been incredible.
Of course, this is not my
first time on the MIT campus,
but each time I've
gotten a glimpse of what
makes MIT so remarkable.
I've been here several
times as an MIT parent,
so I got to have a look at
one slice of the intense world
of MIT research,
as well as a sense
of the amazing creative energy
of your graduate students
and post-docs.
Before that, I
actually came once
as part of a sort of
visiting herd of provosts.
And I'll never
forget looking out
the window at the grand
space of Killian Court,
seeing a huge crowd of
students making something
that looked like go
karts or maybe catapults,
I'm not really sure.
But I'm told I will come to
know this delightful phenomenon
as 2009--
MIT education at
it's hands on best.
So here, as your
President-elect,
I see the most
important thing of all,
this remarkable,
creative community.
I have really, really loved my
life and my many roles at Duke.
I had lots of reasons
to stay there, really
no reasons pushing
me to leave, which
tells you the strength of the
pull I felt drawing me to MIT.
It was overwhelming to see
how much people love the place
and how proud they were
to be a part of it.
I've always felt that my
greatest professional strength
and pleasure is enabling
the success of other people.
So who would not want to do
that for the best of the best
here at MIT?
I wanted to be part
of a place that
celebrates new advances
in science and technology
the same way other schools
celebrate a basketball game.
So 02139, world capital
of intellectual fun,
a place that faces hard
problems with honesty and facts
and comes up with
outstanding solutions.
From MIT's legendary women in
science reports, to the work
you're doing now to
develop shared principles
on the vital importance
of free expression.
I wanted to join
a community that
is leading the way on
educational outreach and access
that has a long, proud tradition
of selecting for potential,
not pedigree, a community
that brings together people
from an incredible diversity
of cultures and backgrounds.
All of you brimming with
curiosity and ingenuity
and united in your drive
to make a difference.
And maybe above all,
I was drawn here
because I believe that
MIT is uniquely poised
to harness the power of
science and technology
all along the continuum.
From fundamental science
to engineering innovations
for society and deeply enriched
by the wisdom and inventive
power of the humanities, the
arts, the social sciences,
management, and design.
From climate change
to pandemic disease
to the ethical use of
AI, this is a moment
when humanity faces huge
global problems, problems
that urgently demand the
attention of the world's most
skillful minds and hands.
In short, I believe
this is your moment.
And I could not imagine
a greater privilege
than helping all of you
seize its full potential.
My mother was an opera singer,
and I am definitely not
an opera singer,
but back in college,
I did sing with an
A cappella group,
and it's still one of
my greatest pleasures.
Now, one thing that experience
has taught me is it's
exciting to sing solo,
to take responsibility
for leading the performance.
But the most exhilarating
feeling in the world
is close harmony.
Those moments when
all of your voices
come together to make something
wonderful that none of you
could have made alone.
That is the spirit I want to
bring to my leadership at MIT,
and I can't wait to get started.
So thank you so, so much.
[APPLAUSE]
DIANE GREEN: Thank you for those
very inspiring, reassuring,
and wonderful remarks.
It's my great
pleasure next to have
Lily Syed, the chair of
the faculty, come up.
She was instrumental
in the search,
and I look forward
to her comments.
[APPLAUSE]
LILY SYED: Thank
you so much Diane.
This is a moment of
great hope and joy
for the Institute as a whole.
When each of the faculty
members of the search committee
agreed to serve, they did
so with the understanding
that the charge was not
to represent ourselves
as individuals, nor as members
of a particular department
school or college, nor based
on our particular areas
of scholarship.
Instead, our task
was to represent
the faculty and the MIT
community as a whole,
reflecting your views, concerns,
and aspirations for MIT
over the next decade.
To do that, we needed
to hear from all of you
about the decisions to be
made, the actions to be taken,
and the ideals that we uphold.
The participation of
hundreds of faculty members
in our engagement
sessions reinforced
the committee's
sense of how deeply
committed the faculty are to
MIT and the long term stake
that the faculty
feel in the health
and future of the Institute.
Staff, student, and corporation
members on the search committee
conducted parallel
processes to collect input.
And as we came together
to compare notes,
we discovered our findings
to be inspiringly similar
and shared across the Institute.
From all of your feedback,
we formulated a rich picture
of where MIT is today, and where
MIT could be in the future.
You told us what the next
Mitt president must accomplish
and how they could lead.
This knowledge and insight drawn
from every corner of the MIT
community shaped the process of
selecting our next president.
It guided the questions we asked
ourselves and of candidates.
It provided the lens through
which we assessed the answers.
Through these comprehensive
and broad reaching efforts,
we created a list of attributes
for our next president
to ensure that they would
have a successful tenure,
be widely embraced
by our community,
and maintain and advance MIT'S
excellence as the world's
leading science and
technology university.
A list of attributes
consistently
emerged for the person
we were seeking--
a bold leader with
exceptional judgment,
an active listener who
seeks all viewpoints
with a genuinely open
mind, an individual who
leads from principles and
integrity who is trusted
by their community, a person
with experience handling crises
with wisdom and calm, someone
who loves MIT'S uniqueness
who will maintain and
advance its excellence,
and someone with
intellectual breadth
who is unendingly curious.
I am here on behalf
of all our colleagues
on the search committee
to say with one voice
that we believe Sally Kornbluth
exemplifies these attributes.
Sally embodies the
values that we espouse
as central to the ethos at MIT.
Sally brings the excellence,
creativity, and spirit
of lifelong learning that
distinguishes great leaders.
Sally felt to us
like someone who
was cut from our
own cloth, someone
who will share the love that
we at MIT have for originality,
quirkiness, and discovery.
Over many, many hours of
meetings and due diligence,
the committee evaluated
over 250 candidates
from a diverse range
of backgrounds,
including every
individual submitted to us
by the community.
But now the search is over.
In the weeks ahead, we
know you will quickly
come to see why
Sally was our choice
to be the next president of
MIT, our first, our only,
and our unanimous choice.
We wholeheartedly commend her to
you with the highest of regard.
And we ask you to
join us in extending
a warm and enthusiastic welcome
to her from our Institute
and from our community.
Now, to wrap up this
wonderful event.
Please join me in
welcoming someone
who has devoted his life to
service at the Institute, MIT'S
17th president, Rafael Reif.
[APPLAUSE]
RAFAEL REIF: Thank you, Lily.
And on behalf of the
whole MIT community,
I want to express
our appreciation
to you Lily to Diane
Green, to John Jarvie,
and to everyone who
worked on the search that
has brought to MIT a truly
outstanding President-elect.
Sally, I hope you
can feel the energy
and anticipation in the room.
This is truly a very special
occasion for every one of us
at MIT.
And I know you need to head
back to Durham shortly.
So before you go, there
is a moment of truth,
I wouldn't like to
present you with two
gifts from our community.
Be strong, be brave, and please
join me here for a moment.
[APPLAUSE]
RAFAEL REIF: So
the first gift is
in anticipation of your
first day as president
when you will come face to face
with one of very serious facts
about your new job.
We call it January.
[LAUGHTER]
SALLY KORNBLUTH: Thank you.
[LAUGHTER]
[APPLAUSE]
SALLY KORNBLUTH: So what
do you call these things?
[LAUGHTER]
SALLY KORNBLUTH:
Thank you very much.
RAFAEL REIF: Well, we
hope these cozy items will
help you avoid
feeling immediately
homesick for North Carolina.
The second -- maybe
you can put this--
maybe we'll give it to Danny.
SALLY KORNBLUTH: Wear them home
RAFAEL REIF: We'll
give it to Danny.
The second gift is a little
bit hard to explain, or harder.
It's not such a useful present.
But we believe it
will help you get
to know certain
qualities of MIT culture.
You may be surprised to learn
this, unless Alex told you,
but the Institute has its
own glass blowing lab.
In fact, the Glass Lab
is not too far from here.
It's here in the basement.
And if you are
particularly fortunate,
you might win a spot
in the annual lottery
to take glassblowing lessons.
I must tell you, my wife
did win that lottery,
and I had to go with her.
And after hours of learning,
we built two wonderful heavy
paperweight.
[APPLAUSE]
[LAUGHING]
So when you open
this box, you will
find something that expresses
the joy this community takes
in making things hands on.
And that also embodies
MIT's signature, spirit
of playful creativity.
As Chris in the
audience would tell you,
it could be described
as a charming example
of material science in action.
Over time, you will see
a lot of this at MIT,
but very few in a
Duke shade of blue.
SALLY KORNBLUTH:
Well, thank you.
[INAUDIBLE]
SALLY KORNBLUTH: Ah.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
SALLY KORNBLUTH:
Thank you so much.
RAFAEL REIF: Don't
give it to me.
We have enough of those.
SALLY KORNBLUTH: I'm going
to have to explain this
to the TSA people.
RAFAEL REIF: Well,
Sally, congratulations.
You really are about to
begin what, in my mind,
is the best job in the world.
And you and Danny are
embarking on a truly wonderful
new adventure.
Chris and I wish
the best of success,
and we truly cannot wait to
see the future you help create
for our really beloved MIT.
So that concludes our
very special event.
Thank you all for joining
us in person or remotely,
and please join me in
expressing, one more time,
how delighted we are to
meet our President-elect.
[APPLAUSE]

---

### L. Rafael Reif welcomes president-elect Dr. Sally Kornbluth to MIT
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jph0eHRkdzU

Idioma: en

SPEAKER: Thank you, Lily.
And on behalf of the
whole MIT community,
I want to express our
appreciation to you, Lily,
to Diane Green, the Joan
Jarvie, and to everyone
who worked on the search
that has brought to MIT
a truly outstanding
President-elect.
Sally, I hope you
can feel the energy
and anticipation in the room.
This is truly a very special
location for every one of us
at MIT.
And I know you need to head
back to Durham shortly.
So before you go, there
is a moment of truth,
I wouldn't like to
present you with two
gifts from our community.
Be strong, be brave, and please
join me here for a moment.
[APPLAUSE]
So the first gift
is in anticipation
of your first day
as president when
you will come face to face
with one of very serious facts
about your new job.
We call it January.
[LAUGHTER]
SALLY KORNBLUTH: Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
So what do you
call these things?
[LAUGHTER]
Thank you very much.
SPEAKER: Well, we hope
this cozy items will
help you avoid
feeling immediately
homesick for North Carolina.
The second gift, maybe
you can put this--
maybe I will give it to Danny.
SALLY KORNBLUTH: Maybe
I'd better wear them both.
SPEAKER: The second gift
is a little bit hard
to explain, or harder.
It's not such a
useful present, but we
believe it will help you get
to certain qualities of MIT
culture.
You may be surprised to learn
this, unless Alex told you,
but the Institute has its
own glass blowing lab.
In fact, the Glass Lab
is not too far from here,
it's here in the basement.
And if you are
particularly fortunate,
you might win a spot
in the annual lottery
to take glassblowing lessons.
I must tell you, my wife
did win that lottery,
and I had to go with her, and
we after hours of learning,
we built two wonderful
heavy paperweight.
[LAUGHTER]
SPEAKER: So when
you open this box,
you will find something
that expresses
the joy this community takes
in making things hands on
and that also embodies
MIT signature,
spirit of playful creativity.
As Chris in the
audience would tell you,
it could be described
as a charming example
of material science in action.
[LAUGHTER]
Over time, you will see
a lot of this at MIT,
but very few in a
duke shade of blue.
SALLY KORNBLUTH:
Well, thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
SPEAKER: [INAUDIBLE]
SALLY KORNBLUTH: Ah.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you.
I'd better take the box.
Thank you so much.
SPEAKER: But you give it to me.
We have enough of those.
SALLY KORNBLUTH: I'm going
to have to explain this
to the TSA people.
SPEAKER: Sally,
congratulations, you really
are about to begin
what, in my mind,
is the best job in the world.
And you and Danny are
embarking on a truly wonderful
new adventure.
Chris and I wish the best of
success and we truly cannot
wait to see the future you help
create for our really beloved
MIT.
So that concludes our
very special event.
Thank you all for joining
us in person or remotely.
And please join me in
expressing one more
time how delighted we are
to meet our President-elect.
[APPLAUSE]

---

### Chair of the faculty Lily Tsai welcomes the new president-elect to MIT
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIa4bhnJshw

Idioma: en

LILY TSAI: This is a moment
of great hope and joy
for the Institute as a whole.
When each of the faculty
members of the search committee
agreed to serve, they did
so with the understanding
that the charge was not
to represent ourselves
as individuals, nor as members
of a particular department,
school, or college, nor
based on our particular areas
of scholarship.
Instead, our task
was to represent
the faculty and the MIT
community as a whole,
reflecting your views, concerns,
and aspirations for MIT
over the next decade.
To do that, we needed
to hear from all of you,
and about the decisions to be
made, the actions to be taken,
and the ideals that we uphold.
The participation of
hundreds of faculty members
in our engagement
sessions reinforced
the committee's sense
of how deeply committed
the faculty are to MIT,
and the long-term stake
that the faculty
feel in the health
and future of the Institute.
Staff, student, and corporation
members on the search committee
conducted parallel
processes to collect input.
And as we came together
to compare notes,
we discovered our findings
to be inspiringly similar
and shared across the Institute.
From all of your feedback,
we formulated a rich picture
of where MIT is today and where
MIT could be in the future.
You told us what the next
MIT president must accomplish
and how they could lead.
This knowledge and insight drawn
from every corner of the MIT
community, shaped the process
of selecting our next president.
It guided the questions we asked
ourselves and of candidates.
It provided the lens through
which we assessed the answers.
Through these comprehensive
and broad reaching efforts,
we created a list of attributes
for our next president
to ensure that they would
have a successful tenure,
be widely embraced
by our community,
and maintain and advance MITs
excellence as the world's
leading science and
technology university.
A list of attributes
consistently
emerged for the person
we were seeking.
A bold leader with
exceptional judgment.
An active listener who
seeks all viewpoints
with a genuinely open mind.
An individual who leads from
principles and integrity, who
is trusted by their community.
A person with experience
handling crises
with wisdom and calm.
Someone who loves
MITs uniqueness,
who will maintain an
advance its excellence.
And someone with
intellectual breadth
who is unendingly curious.
I am here on behalf
of all our colleagues
on the search committee
to say with one voice,
that we believe Sally Kornbluth
exemplifies these attributes.
Sally embodies the
values that we espouse
as central to the ethos at MIT.
Sally brings the excellence,
creativity, and spirit
of lifelong learning that
distinguishes great leaders.
Sally felt to us
like someone who
was cut from our
own cloth, someone
who will share the love that
we at MIT have for originality,
quirkiness, and discovery.
Over many, many hours of
meetings and due diligence,
the committee evaluated
over 250 candidates
from a diverse range
of backgrounds,
including every
individual submitted to us
by the community.
But now the search is over.
In the weeks ahead, we
know you will quickly
come to see why Sally
was our choice to be
the next president of MIT.
Our first, our only, and
our unanimous choice.
We wholeheartedly commend her to
you with the highest of regard.
And we ask you to
join us in extending
a warm and enthusiastic welcome
to her from our Institute
and from our community.

---

### President-elect Sally A. Kornbluth addresses the MIT community
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqfXUb5L3u0

Idioma: en

[APPLAUSE]
SALLY A. KORNBLUTH: Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you, Madam Chair, Diane,
for the warm introduction.
And thank you also for the
careful and thorough way
you led the search process and
for the outstanding questions
you and your colleagues posed.
It's always a good sign when
you leave an interview actually
wanting the job.
So that was good.
I was so impressed
by John Jarve and all
of the presidential
search committee
who inspired me to see
the world of opportunities
ahead for the institute.
And of course, I
could not be more
grateful to the executive
committee and all
of the members of
the MIT Corporation
for trusting me with the
profound responsibility
of leading MIT.
To President and Mrs.
Reif, Raphael, and Chris,
thank you so much for
welcoming my family
and me with such warmth
and graciousness.
And a big hello to the entire
MIT community, to all of you
here in this room and online,
students, staff, postdocs,
faculty, alumni, as well
as our Cambridge neighbors.
As anyone knows who has ever
held a major leadership role,
it would be impossible to do
the job without great support
from your family.
In that case, it's my husband
Danny, a superb scientist,
and always my greatest
constructive critic
and sounding board, and our two
children-- our daughter Joey,
a medical student in
California, who I dearly
hope I can lure to
Boston, and our son, Alex,
who is right here at MIT
because he's a fifth-year PhD
student in EECS.
That's, of course, six.
Am I right?
[LAUGHS]
[LAUGHTER]
[APPLAUSE]
But the truth is I'm here
because of one other person who
will never know it.
The most transformative
teacher of my life--
the late Bill Dewitt.
He was a biology professor at
my undergraduate institution,
Williams.
And he taught a
class that I only
took because I had to take
some science to graduate.
I was majoring in
political science.
And I desperately needed to
fulfill my science distribution
requirement.
I wound up in his class on
human biology and social issues.
And for me, it
changed everything.
As a Poli Sci
major, I should have
been drawn to really the social
issues side of the class.
But suddenly because of Bill's
brilliant gifts as a teacher,
I found myself fascinated
by how cells function.
I signed up for every biology
class I could possibly cram in
before I graduated, including
an amazing course during winter
study, which is very
similar to IAP here at MIT.
And I wound up
getting a fellowship
to study genetics at Cambridge.
And this time when
I say Cambridge,
I mean the one in England.
But from now on, I'll be
talking about this one.
Those two years in
England introduced me
to the subjects and the
intellectual obsessions
that would define my career.
And not incidentally, they
also introduced me to Danny.
And they set me on the
path that has brought me
to the doorstep of MIT.
So for all of you
who are teachers
from graduate students
to senior faculty,
never underestimate your impact.
It is amazing what
can blossom when
you sow the seeds of
curiosity and inspiration.
Though I grew up
in the Northeast,
living in North Carolina
for nearly 30 years
has given me a real appreciation
for southern hospitality.
But I have to tell
you, the warmth
and welcome I've
received from all of you
here at MIT has been incredible.
Of course, this is not my
first time on the MIT campus.
But each time, I've
gotten a glimpse of what
makes MIT so remarkable.
I've been here several
times as an MIT parent.
So I got to have a look at
one slice of the intense world
of MIT research,
as well as a sense
of the amazing creative energy
of your graduate students
and post-docs.
Before that, I
actually came once
as part of a visiting
herd of provosts.
And I'll never forget
looking out the grand space--
out the window at the grand
space of Killian Court
seeing a huge crowd
of students making
something that looked like
go karts or maybe catapults.
I'm not really sure.
But I'm told I will come to
know this delightful phenomenon
as 2009.
MIT education at
its hands-on best.
So here as your president-elect,
I see the most important thing
of all--
this remarkable
creative community.
I have really, really loved my
life and my many roles at Duke.
I have lots of reasons
to stay there, really
no reasons pushing
me to leave, which
tells you the strength of the
pull I felt drawing me to MIT.
It was overwhelming to see
how much people love the place
and how proud they were
to be a part of it.
I've always felt that my
greatest professional strength
and pleasure is enabling
the success of other people.
So who would want--
who would not
want to do that for the best
of the best here at MIT?
I wanted to be part
of a place that
celebrates new advances
in science and technology
the same way other schools
celebrate a basketball game.
[LAUGHTER]
So 02139.
World capital of
intellectual fun.
A place that faces hard
problems with honesty and facts
and comes up with outstanding
solutions from MIT's
legendary women
in science reports
to the work you're
doing now to develop
shared principles on the vital
importance of free expression.
I wanted to join
a community that
is leading the way on
educational outreach and access
that has a long, proud tradition
of selecting for potential,
not pedigree.
A community that
brings together people
from an incredible diversity
of cultures and backgrounds.
All of you brimming with
curiosity and ingenuity
and united in your drive
to make a difference.
And maybe above all,
I was drawn here
because I believe that
MIT is uniquely poised
to harness the power of
science and technology
all along the continuum
from fundamental science
to engineering
innovations for society
and deeply enriched by
the wisdom and inventive
power of the humanities, the
arts, the social sciences,
management and design.
From climate change
to pandemic disease
to the ethical
use of AI, this is
a moment when humanity
faces huge global problems.
Problems that urgently demand
the attention of the world's
most skillful minds and hands.
In short, I believe
this is your moment.
And I could not imagine
a greater privilege
than helping all of you
seize its full potential.
My mother was an opera singer.
And I am definitely
not an opera singer.
But back in college, I did
sing with an a cappella group.
And it's still one of
my greatest pleasures.
Now, one thing that experience
has taught me is it's
exciting to sing solo
to take responsibility
for leading the performance.
But the most exhilarating
feeling in the world
is close harmony.
Those moments when
all of your voices
come together to make something
wonderful that none of you
could have made alone--
that is the spirit I want to
bring to my leadership at MIT.
And I can't wait to get started.
So thank you so, so much.
[LAUGHTER]

---

### Chair of the MIT Corporation Diane Greene introduces MIT's 18th president-elect
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U948Rt0max8

Idioma: en

DIANE GREENE: Welcome,
everyone on this historic day
for our MIT community.
I'm Diane Greene, Chair
of the MIT Corporation.
And on behalf of
the corporation,
it's my immense pleasure to join
together with you to welcome
and MIT president-elect
Dr. Sally Kornbluth.
[AUDIENCE CLAPPING]
And let me just add, and her
husband Danny and her son Alex.
[AUDIENCE CLAPPING]
Last February, President
Reif announced his decision
to step down at the
end of this year.
Dr. Reif has made remarkable
contributions to MIT
during his 42 years of service.
First as a faculty
member, then as provost,
and for the past decade
as our president.
And we owe him our
highest gratitude.
Thank you, Rafael.
[AUDIENCE CLAPPING]
OK.
Thank you.
Given MIT's world stature,
and the tremendous challenges
of our times, we
knew from the outset
that the search for
MIT's next president
would need to break new ground.
It was crucial to gain
high-quality input
from the entire MIT community,
as well as from the leaders
of our peer universities.
It was a tall order
to coalesce this input
into a set of
attributes, and then
questions that would, over
the course of our evaluation
of CVs, posted talks, reports,
interviews, and references
let us determine if an
individual matched the profile
that we had developed.
In choosing the members
of our search committee,
we worked with the corporation's
executive committee,
corporation members who are
recent MIT graduates, Faculty
Chair Lilly Tsai, and the
Head of Human Resources Ramona
Allen.
We selected a 20
person committee
composed of corporation
members, faculty members
from each school and the
college, staff members,
a graduate student,
and an undergraduate.
The rigorous and sustained
process that we went through
gave us an
understanding of elite
higher education's
needs in general,
and MIT's needs specifically.
Equally importantly, we
develop great trust and respect
for one another, which allowed
us to work constructively,
despite our diverse
backgrounds and views.
And you can imagine
how wonderful
it was to find that we all
agreed on our four finalists.
And then after we'd
exhaustively interviewed each,
enthusiastically,
an understatement,
decide that Dr.
Sally Kornbluth would
be the ideal 18th
President of MIT.
Sally was our clear
and obvious choice.
Her selection came easily.
And it was unanimous.
And I'll just add that it was
unanimous at the corporation
this morning when we
took our vote as well.
So why is that?
Sally Kornbluth is an
exceptional administrator.
She's widely respected
for her ability
to create an environment that
breaks barriers and enables
every student, faculty,
and staff member
to contribute at
their highest levels.
She's known for her
judgment, her plainspokeness,
and integrity.
And we, by the way, checked
innumerable references,
back door and front door,
couldn't uncover any blemishes.
Dr. Kornbluth's leadership
style is decisive, bold,
and invariably informed
by high moral principles.
Her career has exemplified a
powerful drive for excellence,
and a capacity to appreciate,
respect, and integrate
a wide array of viewpoints.
Sally demonstrates the
leadership qualities
necessary to do justice to
MIT's incredible assemblage
of talent, people who seek
to achieve the seemingly
impossible, who
demand excellence,
and who are driven by a hunger
to make a positive difference
in the world.
Dr. Kornbluth arrives
at the Institute
with a deep understanding
of MIT's strengths.
Her vision, humanity,
and warmth are
evident to all who have
had the good fortune
to come into contact with her.
So it's, therefore, within
tremendous pride, on behalf
of the entire MIT
community, that I now
invite the Institute's new
president-elect to join us.
[AUDIENCE CLAPPING]

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