The MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing announced its first two named professorships, beginning July 1, to Fredo Durand and Samuel Madden in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). These named positions recognize the outstanding achievements and future potential of their academic careers. “I’m thrilled to acknowledge Fredo and Sam for their outstanding contributions in research and education. These named professorships recognize them for their extraordinary achievements,” says Daniel Huttenlocher, dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing. Fredo Durand, a professor of computer science and engineering in EECS, has been named the inaugural Amar Bose Professor of Computing. The professorship, named after Amar Bose, former longtime member of the MIT faculty and the founder of Bose Corporation, is granted in recognition of the recipient’s excellence in teaching, research, and mentorship in the field of computing. A member of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Durand’s research interests span most aspects of picture generation and creation, including rendering and computational photography. His recent focus includes video magnification for revealing the invisible, differentiable rendering, and compilers for productive high-performance imaging....

Annie Zhang ’20 was nearing the end of an eight-month co-op at Apple in 2018 when she checked her email inbox. An MIT faculty member had just written to say the Department of Architecture would offer students a chance to major in design in the fall. “As soon as I saw it, I said I’m doing that,” says Zhang, at the time a second-semester junior majoring in mechanical engineering with a minor in design. Back on campus, Zhang declared a second major, even though it meant spending an additional year to complete her studies. “This is the major I wish had been available when I was a freshman,” she says. Design — in all its manifestations — permeates every part of MIT. Almost every department offers courses or instruction in design — courses tailored to fit each department’s core curriculum and character. And students from majors including computer science, physics, and biology often enrolled in design studios in the architecture department. It’s a perfect example of MIT’s ethos of “mens et manus” — “mind and hand.” “Linear thinking and holistic thinking are not separate,” says Hashim Sarkis, dean of MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning (SA+P). “Scientific method and design method are not separate. They are enmeshed.”...

In 1965, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore predicted that the number of transistors that could fit on a computer chip would grow exponentially — and they did, doubling about every two years. For half a century, Moore’s Law has endured: Computers have gotten smaller, faster, cheaper, and more efficient, enabling the rapid worldwide adoption of PCs, smartphones, high-speed internet, and more. This miniaturization trend has led to silicon chips today that have almost unimaginably small circuitry. Transistors, the tiny switches that implement computer microprocessors, are so small that 1,000 of them laid end-to-end are no wider than a human hair. And for a long time, the smaller the transistors were, the faster they could switch. But today, we’re approaching the limit of how small transistors can get. As a result, over the past decade researchers have been scratching their heads to find other ways to improve performance so that the computer industry can continue to innovate. While we wait for the maturation of new computing technologies like quantum, carbon nanotubes, or photonics (which may take a while), other approaches will be needed to get performance as Moore’s Law comes to an end. In a recent journal article published in Science, a team from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) identifies three key areas to prioritize to continue to deliver computing speed-ups: better software, new algorithms, and more streamlined hardware....

Recently, a very unique and heavily modified Boeing 707 aircraft arrived at the U.S. Air Force's famous boneyard at Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. For nearly three decades, Lincoln Laboratory had operated this aircraft, most recently nicknamed Shashambre, as a flying testbed for various advanced sensors, electronics, and more, as part of a collaborative effort with the Air Force. Shashambre touched down at the boneyard on Oct. 26, 2020. The Lincoln Laboratory, a Department of Defense-funded research and development center housed within the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and first founded in 1951, had previously announced that the aircraft, which also carried the U.S. civil registration code N404PA and has been referred to in the past as the Lincoln Multifunction Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Testbed, or LiMIT, had flown its last test mission on Sept. 15. The War Zone has now obtained pictures, seen at the top of this story and below, of the aircraft as it appears now at Davis Monthan AFB. One of the jet's two distinctive cheek fairings, which could hold radars, as well as other sensors and payloads during testing, is still prominently visible in the photos....