Jinhua Zhao named head of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Jinhua Zhao MCP ’04, SM ’04, PhD ’09 has been appointed head of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP), effective July 1. Zhao is the Class of 1941 Professor of Cities and Transportation at MIT. In making the announcement, dean of the MIT School of Architecture and Planning Hashim Sarkis noted that Zhao is a…
When it comes to predicting people’s preferences, it pays to consider “the power of three”
In his 1927 paper, “A law of comparative judgment,” the American psychologist L. L. Thurstone proposed that when people select one option among multiple alternatives, they are picking the one that has the highest value to them, even though they cannot assign a particular number to that choice. Thurstone was a pioneer of “psychometrics” —…
MIT affiliates win 2026 Hertz Foundation Fellowships
The Hertz Foundation announced that it awarded 2026 fellowships to three current MIT students as well as an incoming graduate student. They are: Annika Marschner, Alvin Q. Meng, Zachary S. Siegel, and Matthew Wanta. The prestigious science and technology award provides each recipient with five years of financial support — a stipend and full tuition equivalent — which gives…
Startup’s nuclear-inspired cooling system could make data centers more sustainable
The rise of artificial intelligence is riding on the back of an enormous data center expansion. Data centers are projected to account for anywhere from 9 to 17 percent of total electricity usage in the U.S. by the end of the decade. Today, around a third of data center electricity is devoted to cooling the…
The consequences of relying on AI for accurate news
It’s no secret that the last few years have seen a massive explosion in the use of artificial intelligence for general information-gathering. An even more recent trend, though, is how large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are increasingly being used for verifying and consuming news; reports from the Pew Research Center over the…
How to Reduce LLM Inference Costs
Why it matters: Cut your LLM bill without gutting quality: quantization, batching, routing and distillation that slash inference costs by 50 to 90 percent.
Why AI Pilots Fail to Scale in Enterprises
Why it matters: Most enterprise AI pilots never reach production. Here is why they stall and the data, governance and change moves that let the rare ones scale.
How to Measure AI Agent Performance
Why it matters: Learn how to measure AI agent performance in 2026 with metrics, traces, and a step-by-step pipeline that catches failures before users do.
DeepSeek V4 Pricing and Capabilities
Why it matters: DeepSeek V4 pricing and capabilities explained: tier costs, benchmarks, real production spend, and the privacy risks every buyer should weigh in 2026.
Microsoft Agent 365 Enterprise Agent Governance
Why it matters: Agent 365 gives every AI agent an identity, a registry, and real oversight. See pricing, security architecture, rollout steps, and the gaps it leaves open.