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When I last wrote to you in this magazine, I told you something about MIT Associatesan effort to stimulate new ideas and ways of research and help MIT people solve global problems. Since then, we have launched the first collaboration, grounding it in the human-centered fields represented by our School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (SHASS). We call it MIT Human Insight Collaborative or MITHIC.
More broadly, MITHIC is an affirmation of the quality of our faculty in these fields and an expression of how deeply we value scientific and artistic practices that expand our understanding of the things that make us human.
In practical terms, it is designed to help our scientists in the human-centered disciplines “get ahead.” MITHIC will give them the resources to implement their most innovative ideas within their discipline, create opportunities for them to cooperate with colleagues outside and allow them to explore new approaches to teaching our students.
We celebrated the launch of MITHIC with a showcase of creative excellence. MIT faculty shared research that blends the humanities with technology, MIT students improvised on the jazz saxophone, and in the keynote, acclaimed writer Min Jin Lee spoke about her commitment to putting the human at the center of her work.
MITHIC provides extraordinary energy to our faculty, and more than 100 have already participated in the “Meeting of the Minds” events of this collaboration, organized to connect researchers across the Institute working on similar topics – from cyber security to food security, climate simulations to bioeconomy.
Perhaps there has never been a more important time for society to make humane decisions about new technologies. And I’m thrilled that at MIT we’ve created collaborations powered by human insight to support our scientists, students, researchers, and makers in shaping the future of technology in the service of humanity.
