Fusion breakthrough + reflecting on 9/11 + welcome home to MIT

MIT Weekly September 11, 2021 Greetings! Here’s a roundup of the latest from the MIT community.  Want a daily dose of MIT in your inbox? [Subscribe to the MIT Daily](. Fusion Breakthrough # On Sunday, a large high-temperature superconducting electromagnet at MIT reached a field strength of 20 tesla — paving the way for the creation of practical carbon-free power, project leaders say, by surmounting a key hurdle to a fusion power plant. [Full story via MIT News]( | [Watch the video]( → Top Headlines Reflecting on September 11, 20 years later Steven Simon, the Robert E. Wilhelm Fellow at the MIT Center for International Studies and an expert on U.S. strategy and the war on terror, weighs in on the events of 9/11 and where we can go from here. [Full story via MIT News →]( [MIT Heat Island]( How safe are outdoor activities now? MIT Medical provides the latest guidance on outdoor activities with Delta as the predominant SARS-CoV-2 variant in the U.S. [Full story via MIT Medical→]( [MIT Heat Island]( A new hub for MIT innovation and entrepreneurship InnovationHQ in Kendall Square is home to several entrepreneurial support organizations and features space for startup activities, networking, and education. [Full story via MIT News →]( [MIT Heat Island]( MIT welcomes nine MLK Visiting Professors and Scholars for 2021-22 A record number of honorees will engage in the life of the Institute through teaching, research, and other interactions with the MIT community. [Full story via MIT News →]( [MIT Heat Island]( A universal system for decoding any type of data sent across a network New chip eliminates the need for specific decoding hardware, could boost efficiency of gaming systems, 5G networks, the internet of things, and more. [Full story via MIT News →]( [MIT Heat Island]( #ThisisMIT # [Follow @MITDiversity on Twitter →]( In the Media Opinion: Why nation-building failed in Afghanistan // Project Syndicate “In viewing nation-building as a top-down, ‘state-first’ process, U.S. policymakers were following a venerable tradition in political science,” writes Institute Professor Daron Acemoglu of why the U.S. and its allies never reconsidered a top-down state-building strategy in Afghanistan. “The assumption is that if you can establish overwhelming military dominance over a territory and subdue all other sources of power, you can then impose your will. Yet in most places, this theory is only half right, at best; and in Afghanistan, it was dead wrong.” [Full story via Project Syndicate→]( Opinion: Good news: There’s a labor shortage. // The New York Times Professor David Autor explores how the current labor shortage provides a chance to improve the quality of jobs in the U.S. “The period of labor scarcity, then, is an opportunity to catalyze better working conditions for those who need them most,” Autor writes. [Full story via The New York Times→]( Texas cold crisis early this year linked to melting Arctic sea ice // New Scientist A study led by visiting scientist Judah Cohen finds climate change is likely causing more extreme winter weather in North America and Eurasia. “This is an unexpected impact from climate change that we didn’t appreciate 20 years ago,” Cohen says. [Full story via New Scientist→]( How Covid-19 changed MIT’s global hackathon program and others for the better, forever // Forbes Postdoc Freddy Nguyen, former co-director of the MIT Hacking Medicine hackathon, discusses how transitioning to virtual programming during the Covid-19 pandemic shed light on how to improve hackathons going forward. [Full story via Forbes→]( Welcome Home # Despite the pandemic, the MIT community has continued teaching, learning, and supporting the Institute’s mission, and investigating the world and finding new ways to make it better. To those arriving on campus for the first time, and to those returning: Welcome home. [Watch the video→]( Digit 1,184 Number of students in the MIT Class of 2025, representing 48 U.S. states and 66 countries [Full class profile via MIT Admissions→]( Scene at MIT # The newly renovated [Hayden Library and Building 14 courtyard]( are now open to the MIT community. The spaces were re-envisioned to provide areas for collaborative work, exploring collections, a teaching and event space, a new cafe, and areas to unwind, surrounded by greenery and natural light. “So much of our vision for libraries has been given new urgency by the pandemic — the need for equitable digital access to information, adapting to hybrid modes of teaching and learning, and the essential role of physical space, including outdoor space, on a campus,” says MIT Libraries Director Chris Bourg. “With this renovation, the design and features of Hayden and the courtyard meet that new urgency with an almost uncanny prescience.” [Full story via MIT News→]( Did You Know? # Walking around the MIT campus, you might come across a plaque marking Danny Lewin Square at the corner of Main and Vassar Streets. The honor commemorates Danny Lewin SM ’98, who was one of nearly 3,000 people who died in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Lewin was killed onboard American Airlines Flight 11, and is credited with trying to stop the plane from crashing into the World Trade Center. Although his life was cut short at 31, Lewin made an indelible mark on the field of computer science. He was co-founder of Akamai Technologies and a doctoral candidate at MIT at the time of his death. His master’s thesis included some of the fundamental algorithms that make up the core of Akamai’s services, which revolutionized the way internet content is delivered. In 2017, Lewin and his Akamai cofounder, MIT Professor Tom Leighton, were [inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame]( for applying algorithms to solve web congestion. “He was a very, very bright fellow, and a great leader, inspirational fellow, and really a unique human being,” [Leighton told MIT News]( in 2011. “Anyone that extraordinary when they’re lost you never replace that.” [Learn more via Slice of MIT→]( This edition of the MIT Weekly was brought to you by [a very fine place for your shoes](. 👠Have feedback to share? Email mitdailyeditor@mit.edu. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! —MIT News Office [Forward This Email]( [Subscribe]( [MIT Logo] Massachusetts Institute of Technology This email was sent to {EMAIL} because of your affiliation with MIT, or because you signed up for our newsletters. 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