Thank you, President Reif + season's greetings + paper-thin solar cell

MIT Weekly December 17, 2022 Greetings! This is the final issue of the MIT Weekly for 2022, as we will be going on hiatus through the winter break. It’s also the final issue under [MIT President L. Rafael Reif]( who is [stepping down]( at the end of the month. Thank you for your service to the MIT community, President Reif, and enjoy your sabbatical! Best wishes as well to everyone in the MIT community for a happy and healthy new year. Want a daily dose of MIT in your inbox? [Subscribe to the MIT Daily](. Season's Greetings # In this year’s holiday message from President Reif and Christine Reif — their last official holiday e-greeting to the MIT community — they send wishes for a bright and joyful season: “Thank you for sharing your minds, hands, and hearts with us for the past 10 years.” [Watch the video→]( Top Headlines Paper-thin solar cell can turn any surface into a power source MIT researchers developed a scalable fabrication technique to produce ultrathin, lightweight solar cells that can be seamlessly added to any surface. [Full story via MIT News →]( [MIT Heat Island]( Two from MIT named 2023 Marshall Scholars Rachel Chae and Sihao Huang ’22 will pursue graduate studies in the United Kingdom. [Full story via MIT News →]( [MIT Heat Island]( Scene at MIT: The community gathers for Winterfest The annual campus event provided ample reason to feel holiday cheer — and included a surprise honor for outgoing President Reif. [Full story via MIT News →]( [MIT Heat Island]( Larry Sass wants a tech upgrade for housing The associate professor of architecture envisions construction components that can be printed and shipped. [Full story via MIT Spectrum→]( [MIT Heat Island]( Reframing the first-generation academic experience First-gen MIT graduate students are claiming their identity, forming community, and holding space for one another. [Full story via MIT News →]( [MIT Heat Island]( #ThisisMIT # [Instagram post via @labronic_mike→]( In the Media Department of Energy nuclear fusion breakthrough // USA Today Professor Dennis Whyte, director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, discusses the significance of nuclear fusion energy in light of an announcement that scientists have crossed a milestone in their efforts to develop fusion energy. Whyte explains that, in theory, fusion could “replace all carbon-based energy sources, because it’s scalable in a way that means it can actually power civilization.” [Full story via USA Today→]( Physics World reveals its top 10 Breakthroughs of the Year for 2022 // Physics World Two research advances by teams of MIT researchers have been named to the Physics World list of the Top 10 Breakthroughs of the Year for 2022. Professor Gang Chen and his colleagues were selected for their work “showing that cubic boron arsenide is one of the best semiconductors known to science.” Associate Professor Asegun Henry, graduate student Alina LaPotin, and their colleagues were nominated for “constructing a thermophotovoltaic (TPV) cell with an efficiency of more than 40%.” [Full story via Physics World→]( They’re taking jigsaws to infinity and beyond // The New York Times Jessica Rosenkrantz ’05 and her husband Jesse Louis-Rosenberg are creating laser-cut, wooden jigsaw puzzles whose designs are influenced by the natural world. “Inspired by how shapes and forms emerge in nature, they write custom software to ‘grow’ intertwining puzzle pieces. Their signature puzzle cuts have names like dendrite, amoeba, maze, and wave.” [Full story via The New York Times→]( Opinion: Shrinking airline seats could be unsafe for older travelers, but FAA study excludes them // Forbes Joseph Coughlin, director of the MIT AgeLab, highlights the safety concerns associated with shrinking airlines seats. “Tightening seating is argued to be a threat to a speedy emergency evacuation and even the cause of dangerous health conditions such as blood clots,” he writes. [Full story via Forbes→]( Nobel Celebration # For the first time since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Nobel Prizes were awarded in a grand in-person ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden. Among those honored on Dec. 10 were a number of laureates with ties to MIT — including this year’s winners as well as winners from 2020 and 2021, who were not able to experience the traditional Nobel celebration due to Covid-19 precautions. MIT-affiliated honorees included Ben Bernanke PhD ’79, K. Barry Sharpless, Carolyn Bertozzi, Professor Joshua Angrist, David Julius ’77, and Andrea Ghez ’87. [Full story via MIT News→]( IAP Approaches! # After two years of being mostly virtual, MIT’s [Independent Activities Period]( (IAP) returns to campus in January! For over half a century, IAP has been a period of exploration, connection, and creativity for the entire MIT community — a unique time for students, faculty, staff, and alumni to teach and learn from one another about virtually anything. From Battlecode and glass blowing to American Sign Language and machine learning for weather prediction, there’s something for everyone. Learn more about finding and organizing activities on the [IAP website]( taking for-credit subjects via the [Registrar’s Office]( and exploring the extensive list of non-credit IAP activities on the [MIT Events Calendar](. Verse Lastly, we bring you a unique poem for this special MIT moment in time. Written by [Barry Duncan]( an [MIT Press Bookstore]( staff member and passionate palindromist, the poem, “Presidents,” can be read backward and forward equally. It is dedicated, says Duncan, to outgoing President L. Rafael Reif and to incoming [President-Elect Sally Kornbluth]( “For a pair of presidents, in appreciation and anticipation.” 2. Dual. Is time. Rafael went, so passes. Sally’ll assess a post. New leaf. Are MIT’s. I laud 2. This edition of the MIT Weekly was brought to you by a [keyboard you can wear.]( 🧣 Have feedback to share? Email mitdailyeditor@mit.edu. The MIT Weekly will next publish on Jan. 7, 2023. Thank you for reading, happy holidays, and happy new year! —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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