In a comprehensive live conversation, MIT President Sally Kornbluth joined Jim Braude and Margery Eagan live within the studio for GBHs on Thursday, February fifth. They talked about MIT, the pressures facing America's research enterprise, the importance of science, the 2023 congressional hearing on anti-Semitism, and more – including Sally's experience as a kind 1 diabetic.
When he reflects on how research and innovation within the treatment of diabetes has advanced over many years of labor and led to significantly higher patient care, Kornbluth exclaims, “That’s science!”
With latest financial pressures facing universities, increasing competition for talented students and students from outside the U.S., and unprecedented pressure on university leaders and campuses, co-host Eagan Kornbluth asks what she thinks will occur in the approaching years.
“One of essentially the most difficult things for us now’s the muse tax,” notes Kornbluth. “That's $240 million a yr. Think about how much science you may get for $240 million a yr. Are we doing it? Yes. Are we still making progress on all of our exciting initiatives? Yes. But we've needed to reconfigure things. We've needed to bring things together. And that's not the best way we must be spending our money and time.”
Watch and hearken to this full episode on YouTube. President Kornbluth appears one hour and 7 minutes into the printed.
After Kornbluth's appearance, MIT Assistant Professor John Urschel – also a former Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman – spoke with Edgar B. Herwick III, host of the newest GBH show, about his love of his family, linear algebra and football.
Urschel jokes about why he ultimately selected math over football: “Well, I hate to interrupt it to you, I like math higher… Let me inform you, after I began my PhD at MIT, I just fell in love with this place. I fell in love with the concept of being on this environment where everyone loves math and everybody desires to learn. I used to be just excited on daily basis I showed up.”
Prof. Urschel appears on YouTube roughly 2 hours and 40 minutes after the webcast begins.
Coming later this month on Curiosity Desk…
The show airs weekday afternoons from 1 to 2 p.m. and can welcome additional MIT guests in the approaching weeks. On Thursday, February 12, Anette “Peko” Hosoi, Pappalardo Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Jerry Lu MFin '24, a former researcher on the MIT Sports Lab, will visit to debate their work using AI to assist Olympic figure skaters improve their jumps.
Then, on Thursday, February 19, Professors Sangeeta Bhatia and Angela Belcher will speak with Herwick about their research to enhance ovarian cancer diagnostics. We are learning that ovarian cancer begins within the fallopian tubes in roughly 80% of cases and that this points the method to a totally latest approach to diagnosing and treating the disease.
