Burchard Scholars
The Burchard Scholars Program is accepting applications for the 2026 cohort. The Burchard Scholars experience offers students a chance to expand their intellectual and social horizons. Burchard Scholars meet once a month with MIT SHASS faculty for a delicious dinner and seminar, followed by a stimulating discussion. All MIT sophomores and juniors in good standing are eligible to apply. We are looking for breadth and commitment to studies beyond the MIT requirements. The application deadline is November 21.
How to Build a Hip-Hop Deep-Space Monument
Presentation summary: The Hip-Hop Deep-Space Monument / Mission (HHDSM) is a planned time capsule consisting of 50-100 of the culture’s musical masterworks; the recordings with which, if the world was destroyed, one could perhaps start the culture over again.
The objective, in 2029 — the 50th anniversary of “Rapper’s Delight’s release — is to launch this archive on an interstellar journey toward a nearby exoplanet.
In Harry’s talk, he will discuss the reasoning behind the HHDSM. Harry will explain the early and ongoing experiences which led him to become fascinated with hip-hop, outer space, and, especially, the time capsule as a unique form of spatio-temporal communication and monument-making. Also, Harry will elaborate on the unique challenges the project faces.
Finally, though hip-hop has gone from relative insignificance to planetary dominance, he will reason on the need for it to claim its most expansive territory yet: The universe.
Register here
Take an IAP class or workshop with EAPS!
12.S594: Special Seminar in EAPS — Auditory Perception of Natural Data, Part I (Direct Sonification of Oscillatory Signals)
Most of the wave-like phenomena in nature are far outside of the range of our direct perception, above and below, in spatial and temporal scales. Data representing such processes comes from sensors with often sparse, incomplete information. Usually, as scientists, we look at these signals and then design processing schemes to make inferences. However, our visual perception is not necessarily optimized for extracting meaning from waves. Often, we can gain significant, complementary or deeper insight by listening to it. So why don’t we? Sonification is the process of turning data of any kind into an audible representation. Any oscillatory signal can be frequency-shifted into our audible range and played as a sound. Our auditory perception has better temporal resolution than our visual perception, and is particularly attuned to interpretation of dynamics, including cause and effect, forcing and response. Combining visual and auditory representations of data can help us understand complex spatial-temporal interactions among events.
In this short, project-based course, we will first provide methods for sonification of oscillatory data (in python), and discuss simple to increasingly complex implementations (filtering, time compression/expansion), and spatialized audio for listening to multiple sensors simultaneously. We will also discuss when these methods break down (for non-oscillatory, non-stationary data). During the first two class sessions, we will explain and illustrate these methods with some of our current work on the wide range of length and time scales of earthquakes in a range of settings (including volcanoes, geothermal heat mines, tectonic faults, and the laboratory). Most of the class (days 3-5) will be for student projects. Please bring ideas for your own datasets to sonify, from your research or otherwise, from any domain. I can also provide datasets. At the end of the week, everyone will present their sounds, explain the phenomenon, the sensing method, and the research questions being explored through their sonification, and discuss questions generated in the process of making and listening.
Instructor: Ben Holtzman
Level: G(undergrads welcome, check with instructor)
Schedule: January 12-16, 2026; 2:00-5:00 pm
Units: 2
Asteroid Impact Alert! A Planetary Defense Simulation Workshop
(Non-credit | Open to all MIT students | Prerequisite: Basic Python coding ability)
An asteroid is on a collision course with Earth — can you help save the planet?
In this interactive IAP workshop, participants will simulate a real planetary defense mission: assessing asteroid impact risks, designing a spacecraft to deflect it, and calculating what happens if the mission fails. Along the way, you’ll explore orbital mechanics, impact physics, and spacecraft imaging — and maybe even avenge the dinosaurs.
Schedule:
- Wed, Jan 14 | 9:30–11:30 AM
- Fri, Jan 16 | 2:00–4:00 PM
- Wed, Jan 21 | 9:30–11:30 AM
- Fri, Jan 23 | 2:00–4:00 PM
Lecturer: Dr. Saverio Cambioni
Format: Short lectures and collaborative coding exercises
💫 No credit, no stress — just science, strategy, and saving the world. Sign up here.
Thanksgiving Shuttles From Campus
The Parking & Transportation Office will once again provide shuttle service to Logan Airport for Thanksgiving break. Shuttles will be available on Monday, November 24th, Tuesday, November 25th, and Wednesday, November 26th, at specific scheduled departure times.
Advance reservations are required.
Please refrain from making multiple reservations as it reduces the availability for others to find a time slot.
Visit the Parking & Transportation website shuttle page to reserve a seat at a cost of $15.00. All reservations will be processed via the website, and the shuttle fee will be billed to the student bursar account or via employee payroll deduction.
Shuttles will depart from the Chapel shuttle stop on Amherst Street at the scheduled times. Please make sure you arrive on time as the shuttles need to maintain the posted scheduled departures. The average trip to Logan Airport is about a half-hour, however you should allow up to an hour as traffic, construction, and airport security delays should be expected.
ChemE Ten Talks: Prof. Brandon DeKosky – Functional Screening Technologies to Engineer Adaptive Immune Proteins
For this undergraduate focused seminar series, we invite a ChemE Professor to speak in the fall, and this year we are delighted to welcome Professor Brandon DeKosky, presenting “Functional Screening TecHnologies to Engineer Adaptive Immune Proteins.” Lunch will be provided so please RSVP here.
11/7
12-1pm
66-360
MISTI Latin America Open House
Discover transformative international experiences in Mexico, Chile, Brazil, and more! Speak to program managers to learn about program requirements, examples of projects with partners across Latin America, and more. RSVP at bit.ly/misti-latam-fall25
- 11/13
- 12 – 1:30pm
- Bust Room (10-105)
- Register Here!
MISTI Global AI Info Session
Join ALL MISTI country programs’ AI-involved & interested students! • Learn about MISTI Global AI opportunities for summer 2026. • Make the world a better place through responsibly applied AI. Understand the complex nature of fast-evolving AI technologies so that you are best positioned to apply them globally in a highly effective, responsible manner.
- 11/12
- 5-6:30pm
- 4-163
- Register here
MechE Career Expo
Explore internship and career opportunities! Join us Friday November 7th for the MechE Career Expo. This annual event presents an incredible opportunity for you to connect with leading companies and organizations to explore a wide range of career options. Open to all first-year students, MechE undergraduates, masters, and PhD students. Stop in the Bush Room (10-105) if you’re interested in learning more about grad school. The Grad Office team will be providing advice to anyone interested. The Undergraduate Office team will also be in that space to answer any questions you may have about Course 2. Register here
MITEI Presents: Advancing the Energy Transition with Emily Reichert
Making Massachusetts the world’s climate innovation lab Please join the MIT Energy Initiative as we welcome Emily Reichert, CEO of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. This seminar will explore why state-level climate leadership is more important than ever, how innovative programming is driving climate progress, and what climatetech means for local economies in Massachusetts. Massachusetts’ leaders want to cement the state as the global leader in climate technology by building a connected network–a climate corridor–of testing and demonstration sites, accelerators, companies, manufacturing facilities, and research institutions from the Berkshires to Cape Cod. Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, the state’s clean energy and climatetech economic development agency, is leading the 10-year strategy to bring this vision to life as the federal administration cuts support for entrepreneurs and researchers. Reichert will present as part of the MITEI Presents: Advancing the Energy Transition speaker series for the fall 2025 semester. This event is for the MIT Community. Please register with an MIT.edu email address.
Nov 12
5:15-6:15pm
45-230