MIT Projects That are Making a Better World: Highlights from Tech Day 2016 talks on Education and Health of the Planet Initiatives

Can our brains show us when we’re ready to learn? That’s the question that professor John Gabrieli ’87 posed to the audience at the Tech Day program in June as he joined members of the MIT faculty to talk about problems in education and the environment that are being addressed here in Cambridge and around the globe.

In this Slice of MIT podcast, hear audio from several talks given by alumni faculty at Tech Day, which focused on two of the themes from the MIT Campaign for a Better World, a $5 billion comprehensive fundraising initiative that launched in May. The first is teaching learning and living, and the second, the health of the planet.

AeroAstro Professor Karen Willcox ’96, PhD ’00, an innovator in education, discusses her fly-by-wire project, an app which uses digital technology to help students and teachers similar to the way the system works in an airplane.

Professor John Gabrieli ’87 use his understanding of the brain to figure out how learning works.

Professor John Fernández ’85 talked fabout the drastic rise in urban development and its impact on the use of resources and energy throughout the world.

Professor Elsa Olivetti PhD ’07, says making the world a better place starts with a better understanding of the ordinary materials that are used and thrown out daily.

Learn more: http://slice.mit.edu/2016/07/29/listen-making-a-better-world-through-education-and-environmental-research/.

Music:
"Pamgaea"
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
"Out of the Skies Under the Earth"
Chris Zabriskie