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{{redirect|MIT}}
{{Infobox University
|name = Massachusetts Institute of Technology
|image = [[Image:MIT Seal.svg|200px]]
|motto = ''Mens et Manus''
|mottoeng = Mind and Hand<ref name="seal">{{cite web | title = Symbols: Seal | work = MIT Graphic Identity | publisher = MIT | url = http://web.mit.edu/graphicidentity/symbols/seal.html | accessdate = 2008-06-18}}</ref>
|established = 1861 (opened 1865)
|type = [[Private university|Private]]
|calendar = 4-1-4
|president = [[Susan Hockfield]]
|chancellor = Phillip Clay
|provost = [[L. Rafael Reif]]
|city = [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]]
|state = [[Massachusetts]]
|country = U.S.
|students = 10,220<ref name="Enrollments">{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/facts/enrollment.html |title=MIT Facts 2008: Enrollments 2007-2008 |accessdate=2008-07-22 |publisher=MIT}}</ref>
|undergrad = 4,172<ref name="Enrollments"/>
|postgrad = 6,048<ref name="Enrollments"/>
|faculty = 1008<ref name="Faculty and Staff">{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/facts/faculty.html |title=MIT Facts 2008: Faculty and Staff |publisher=MIT |accessdate=2008-07-22}}</ref>
|campus = [[urban area|Urban]], {{convert|168|acre|km2|1}}<ref name="Campus">{{Cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/facts/campus.html |title=MIT Facts 2008: The Campus |publisher=MIT |accessdate=2008-07-22}}</ref>
|mascot = [[Beaver]]<ref>{{cite web | title = Symbols: Mascot | work = MIT Graphic Identity | publisher = MIT | url =http://web.mit.edu/graphicidentity/symbols/mascot.html | accessdate = 2008-06-18}}</ref>
|athletics = [[Division III]]<br/>41 [[varsity team]]s
|free_label = Nobel Laureates
|free = 72<ref name="Faculty Awards">{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/ir/pop/awards/ |title=Awards and Honors |publisher=Institutional Research, Office of the Provost |accessdate=2008-07-22}}</ref>
|website = [http://web.mit.edu web.mit.edu]
|colors = Cardinal Red and [[Grey|Steel Gray]]{{ref_label|a|a|none}}<br/>{{color box|#993333}}{{color box|#666666}}
|endowment = [[United States dollar|US $]]9.98 [[1000000000 (number)|billion]]<ref name="Financial">{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/facts/financial.html |title=MIT Facts 2008: Financial Data |accessdate=2008-07-22 |publisher=MIT}}</ref>
|logo = [[Image:MIT logo.svg|center|85px|MIT Logo]]
|affiliations = [[New England Association of Schools and Colleges|NEASC]], [[Association of American Universities|AAU]], [[The Consortium on Financing Higher Education|COFHE]], [[National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges|NASULGC]]}}
{{Portal|University|Platopainting.jpg}}
The '''Massachusetts Institute of Technology''' ('''MIT''') is a [[private university|private]] research university located in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]], [[Massachusetts]], United States. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological research. MIT is one of two private [[land-grant university|land-grant universities]]{{ref_label|b|b|none}} and is also a [[sea grant colleges|sea-grant]] and [[space grant colleges|space-grant]] university.

Founded by [[William Barton Rogers]] in 1861 in response to the increasing [[Technological and industrial history of the United States|industrialization of the United States]], the university adopted the [[History of European research universities|German university model]] and emphasized laboratory instruction from an early date.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |year=1911 |encyclopedia= Britannica |volume=4 |pages=292 |quote=[MIT] was a pioneer in introducing as a feature of its original plans laboratory instruction in physics, mechanics, and mining.}}</ref> Its current {{convert|168|acre|km2|1|adj=on}} campus opened in 1916 and extends over {{convert|1|mi|km|1}} along the northern bank of the [[Charles River|Charles River basin]].<ref name="Campus"/> MIT researchers were involved in efforts to develop [[whirlwind (computer)|computers]], [[radar]], and [[inertial navigation system|inertial guidance]] in connection with [[Technology in World War II|defense research]] during [[World War II]] and the [[Cold War]]. In the past 60 years, MIT's educational programs have expanded beyond the physical sciences and engineering into social sciences like [[economics]], [[linguistics]], [[political science]], and [[management]].<ref name="1995 NRC">{{cite web|url=http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc1.html |title=NRC Rankings |accessdate=2008-10-09}}</ref>

MIT enrolled 4,172 undergraduates, 6,048 postgraduate students, and employed 1,008 faculty members in the 2007/08 school year. Its endowment and annual research expenditures are among the largest of any American university.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mup.asu.edu/research_data.html|title=American Research University Data|publisher= The Center for Measuring University Performance |year=2007 |accessdate=2008-07-21}}</ref> 72 [[Nobel Prize|Nobel Laureates]], 47 [[National Medal of Science]] recipients, and 31 [[MacArthur Fellow]]s are currently or have previously been affiliated with the university.<ref name="Faculty and Staff"/><ref name="Faculty Awards"/>

The Engineers compete in the [[NCAA]] [[Division III]]'s [[New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference]] and sponsor 41 sports, the largest varsity program in the United States. While students' irreverence is widely acknowledged due to the traditions of [[MIT hacks|constructing elaborate pranks]] and engaging in esoteric activities, the aggregated revenues of companies founded by MIT affiliates would make it the twenty-fourth largest economy in the world.<ref>{{cite web |title=MIT: The Impact of Innovation |url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/founders/Founders2.pdf |format=PDF|month=March | year=1997 |publisher=Bank of Boston |accessdate=2006-10-04}}</ref>

==History==
{{main|History of MIT}}
===Foundation and early years (1861–1915)===
[[Image:MIT Killian Court.jpg|right|thumb|200px|MIT's Great Dome and Killian Court]]
As early as 1859, the Massachusetts State Legislature was given a proposal for use of newly opened lands in [[Back Bay, Boston, Massachusetts|Back Bay]] in Boston for a museum and Conservatory of Art and Science.<ref>{{cite web|last=Kneeland |first=Samuel |url=http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/mithistory/pdf/house260.pdf |format=PDF|title=Committee Report:Conservatory of Art and Science |publisher=Massachusetts House of Representatives, House No. 260 |month=March | year=1859}}</ref> In 1861, The Commonwealth of Massachusetts approved a charter for the incorporation of the "Massachusetts Institute of Technology and [[Boston Society of Natural History]]" submitted by [[William Barton Rogers]]. Rogers sought to establish a new form of higher education to address the challenges posed by rapid advances in science and technology during the mid-19th century with which [[liberal arts college|classic institutions]] were ill-prepared to deal.<ref>{{cite web |title=MIT Facts 2008: Mission and Origins |url=http://web.mit.edu/facts/mission.shtml |accessdate=2008-08-14 |publisher=MIT}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Rogers |first=William |publisher=The Committee of Associated Institutions of Science and Arts |url=http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/mithistory/pdf/objects-plan.pdf |format=PDF|title=Objects and Plan of an Institute of Technology: including a Society of Arts, a Museum of Arts, and a School of Industrial Science; proposed to be established in Boston |year=1861}}</ref>
The Rogers Plan, as it came to be known, reflected the German research university model emphasizing an independent faculty engaged in research as well as instruction oriented around seminars and laboratories. Rogers proposed that this new form of education be rooted in three principles: the educational value of useful knowledge, the necessity of “learning by doing”, and integrating a professional and liberal arts education at the undergraduate level.<ref name="Lewis Report">{{cite book |title=Report of the Committee on Educational Survey (Lewis Report) |year=1949
|url=http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/mithistory/pdf/lewis.pdf |format=PDF|pages=8 |last=Lewis |first=Warren K. |coauthors=Ronald H. Rornett, C. Richard Soderberg, Julius A. Stratton, John R. Loofbourow, et al |publisher=MIT Press |location=Cambridge, MA |accessdate =2006-10-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/exhibits/MIT-birthday/index1.html |title=The Founding of MIT |publisher=MIT Archives |accessdate=2008-08-12 |quote=Barton's philosophy for the institute was for 'the teaching, not of the manipulations done only in the workshop, but the inculcation of all the scientific principles which form the basis and explanation of them;'}}</ref>

{{rquote|left|...a school of industrial science [aiding] the advancement, development and practical application of science in connection with arts, agriculture, manufactures, and commerce.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/corporation/charter.html |title=Charter of the MIT Corporation |accessdate=2007-03-22}}</ref>|Act to Incorporate the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, ''Acts of 1861, Chapter 183''}}

Because open conflict in the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] broke out only weeks after receiving the charter, MIT's first classes were held in rented space at the Mercantile Building in downtown [[Boston]] in 1865.<ref>{{cite web |last=Andrews |first=Elizabeth |coauthors=Nora Murphy and Tom Rosko |year=2000 |url=http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/exhibits/wbr-visionary/ |publisher=MIT Archives |title=William Barton Rogers: MIT's Visionary Founder}}</ref> Though it was to be located in the middle of Boston, the mission of the new institute matched the intent of the 1862 [[Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act]] to fund institutions "to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes." Although the Commonwealth of Massachusetts founded what was to become the [[University of Massachusetts]] under this act,{{ref_label|d|d|none}} MIT was also named a designee and became one of only two privately-chartered institutions to be designated to receive land grants.{{ref_label|b|b|none}} Proceeds from these grants facilitated construction of the first buildings in Boston's [[Back Bay (Boston)|Back Bay]] in 1866 causing MIT to be known as "Boston Tech." During the next half-century, the focus of the science and engineering curriculum drifted towards vocational concerns instead of theoretical programs. [[Charles William Eliot]], the president of [[Harvard University]], repeatedly attempted to merge MIT with Harvard's Lawrence Scientific School over his 30-year tenure: overtures were made as early as 1869 with other proposals in 1900 and 1914 ultimately being defeated.<ref>{{cite news |title=Harvard-Tech Merger. Duplication of Work to be Avoided in Future. Instructors Who Will Hereafter be Members of Both Faculties |publisher=Boston Daily Globe |date=1914-01-25 |page=47}}</ref>{{ref_label|c|c|none}}

===Development (1916–1965)===
[[Image:George Eastman plaque.jpg|thumb|right|200px|A plaque of [[George Eastman]], founder of [[Eastman Kodak]], in Building 6. His nose is rubbed by students for good luck.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2002/eastman-0522.html |title="Students hope 'Eastman moment' proves lucky as they head into final exams" |date=2002-05-22 |accessdate=2008-03-12 |publisher=MIT News Office}}</ref>]]
The attempted mergers occurred in parallel with MIT's continued expansion beyond the classroom and laboratory space permitted by its Boston campus. President [[Richard Maclaurin]] sought to move the campus to a new location when he took office in 1909.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=17435 |title=The "New Tech" |date=September 8, 2006 |accessdate=2006-12-01 |publisher=Technology Review}}</ref> An anonymous donor, later revealed to be [[George Eastman]], donated the funds to build a new campus along a mile-long tract of swamp and industrial land on the Cambridge side of the Charles River. In 1916, MIT moved into the handsome new [[Neoclassical architecture|neoclassical campus]] designed by [[William W. Bosworth]].

The new campus triggered some changes in the stagnating undergraduate curriculum, but in the 1930s President [[Karl Taylor Compton]] and Vice-President (effectively [[Provost (education)|Provost]]) [[Vannevar Bush]] drastically reformed the curriculum by re-emphasizing the importance of "pure" sciences like physics and chemistry and reducing the work required in shops and drafting. Despite the difficulties of the [[Great Depression]], the reforms "renewed confidence in the ability of the Institute to develop leadership in science as well as in engineering."<ref name="Lewis Report"/> The expansion and reforms cemented MIT's academic reputation and it was elected to the [[Association of American Universities]] in 1934.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aau.edu/aau/members.html |title=Member Institutions and Years of Admission |publisher=Association of American Universities |accessdate=2008-08-14}}</ref>

MIT was substantially changed by its involvement in military research during World War II. Bush was appointed head of the enormous [[Office of Scientific Research and Development]] and directed funding to only a select group of universities, including MIT.<ref>{{cite book |last=Leslie |first=Stuart |title = The Cold War and American Science: The Military-Industrial-Academic Complex at MIT and Stanford |publisher=Columbia University Press |date=2004-04-15 |isbn=0-231-07959-1 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Zachary|first=Gregg |title=Endless Frontier: Vannevar Bush, Engineer of the American Century |publisher= Free Press |date=1997-09-03 |isbn = 0-684-82821-9 }}</ref> MIT's [[Radiation Laboratory]] was established in 1940 to assist the [[Military history of the United Kingdom during World War II|British]] in developing a [[cavity magnetron|microwave]] [[radar]] and the first mass-produced units were installed on front-line units within months. Other defense projects included [[gyroscope]]-based and other complex [[control system]]s for [[gun sight|gun]] and [[bombsight]]s and [[inertial navigation]] under [[Charles Stark Draper]]'s [[Instrumentation Laboratory]], the development of a [[digital computer]] for flight simulations under [[Project Whirlwind]], and [[high-speed photography|high-speed]] and [[Espionage balloon|high-altitude]] photography under [[Harold Edgerton]]. By the end of the war, MIT employed a staff of over 4,000 (including more than a fifth of the nation's physicists) and was the nation's single largest wartime R&D contractor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ieee-virtual-museum.org/collection/event.php?id=3456978&lid=1 |title=MIT's Rad Lab |publisher= IEEE Virtual Museum |accessdate=2008-07-25}}</ref> In the post-war years, [[Research funding|government-sponsored research]] such as [[Semi Automatic Ground Environment|SAGE]] and guidance systems for [[ballistic missile]]s and [[Project Apollo]] combined with surging student enrollments under the [[G.I. Bill]] contributed to a rapid growth in the size of the Institute's research staff and physical plant as well as placing an increased emphasis on graduate education.<ref name="Lewis Report"/> As the Cold War and Space Race intensified and concerns about the [[Sputnik crisis|technology gap]] between the U.S. and the Soviet Union grew more pervasive throughout the 1950s and 1960s, MIT's involvement in the [[military-industrial complex]] was a source of pride on campus.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www-tech.mit.edu/archives/VOL_078/TECH_V078_S0008_P001.pdf |format=PDF|title=More Emphasis on Science Vitally Needed to Educate Man for A Confused Civilization |date=February 14, 1958 |publisher=The Tech |accessdate=2006-11-05}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www-tech.mit.edu/archives/VOL_078/TECH_V078_S0030_P001.pdf |format=PDF|title=Iron Birds Caged in Building 7 Lobby: Missiles on Display Here |publisher=The Tech |date=February 25, 1958|accessdate=2006-11-05}}</ref>

Following a comprehensive review of the undergraduate curriculum in 1949 and the successive appointments of more [[Humanities|humanistically oriented]] Presidents [[Howard W. Johnson]] and [[Jerome Wiesner]] between 1966 and 1980, MIT greatly expanded its programs in the humanities, arts, and social sciences.<ref name="Lewis Report"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Johnson |first=Howard Wesley |url=http://www.google.com/books?id=9qpmDJQPEZEC&printsec=frontcover |title=Holding the Center: Memoirs of a Life in Higher Education |publisher=MIT Press |year=2001 |ISBN=0262600447}}</ref> Previously marginalized faculties in the areas of economics, management, political science, and linguistics emerged into cohesive and assertive departments by attracting respected professors, launching competitive graduate programs, and forming into the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences and Sloan School of Management in 1950 to compete with the powerful Schools of Science and Engineering.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/mithistory/histories-offices/sch-hum.html |title=History: School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences |publisher=MIT Archives |accessdate=2008-07-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/mithistory/histories-offices/sch-sloan.html |title=History: Sloan School of Management |accessdate=2008-07-25 |publisher=MIT Archives}}</ref>

===Recent history (1966–present)===
[[Image:MIT Media Lab.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The [[MIT Media Lab]] houses researchers developing novel uses of computer technology. An expansion is under construction.]]
In late 1960s and early 1970s, student and faculty activists protested against the [[Vietnam War]] and MIT's [[Military funding of science|defense research]].<ref name="Ins and outs">{{cite news|title=The 'Ins' and 'Outs' at M.I.T. |publisher=The New York Times |date=May 18, 1969 |last=Todd |first=Richard}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,900700,00.html |title=A Policy of Protest |date=February 28, 1969 |accessdate=2008-08-13 |publisher=TIME Magazine}}</ref> The [[Union of Concerned Scientists]] was founded on March 4, 1969 during a meeting of faculty members and students seeking to shift the emphasis on military research towards environmental and social problems.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ucsusa.org/ucs/about/founding-document-1968-mit-faculty-statement.html |title=Founding Document: 1968 MIT Faculty Statement |accessdate=2008-08-12 |publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists, USA}}</ref> Although MIT ultimately divested itself from the [[Charles Stark Draper Laboratory|Instrumentation Laboratory]] and moved all classified research off-campus to the [[Lincoln Laboratory]]SUCKY SUCKY FIVE DOLAS facility in 1973 in response to the protests,<ref>{{cite news|title=Tension Over Issue Of Defense Research |first=Fred |last=Hechinger |date=November 9, 1969 |publisher=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| title=MIT Curb on Secret Projects Reflects Growing Antimilitary Feeling Among Universities' Researchers |first=William |last=Stevens |date=May 5, 1969 |publisher=The New York Times}}</ref> the student body, faculty, and administration remained comparatively unpolarized during the tumultuous era.<ref name="Ins and outs"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/1999/johnson-0609.html |title=A tribute to MIT's Howard Johnson |first=David |last=Warsh |publisher=Boston Globe |date=June 1, 1999 |accessdate=2007-04-04 |quote=At a critical time in the late 1960s, [[Howard Wesley Johnson|Johnson]] stood up to the forces of campus rebellion at MIT. Many university presidents WERE ALL PHASDFASDGGOTS were destroyed by the troubles. Only [[Edward Levi]], [[University of Chicago]] president, had comparable success guiding his institution to a position of greater strength and unity after the turmoil.}}</ref>

In addition to developing the predecessors to modern computing and [[computer network|networking]] technologies,<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel4/85/3898/00145317.pdf |format=PDF|title=The beginnings at MIT |publisher=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing |coauthors=Lee, J; McCarthy, J; Licklider, J |accessdate=2008-08-13 |volume=14 |issue=1 |year=1992}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.computerhistory.org/internet_history/ |title=Internet History |publisher=Computer History Museum |accessdate=2008-08-13}}</ref> students, staff, and faculty members at the [[Project MAC]], [[MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory|Artificial Intelligence Laboratory]], and [[Tech Model Railroad Club]] wrote some of the earliest interactive [[computer game]]s like ''[[Spacewar!]]'' and created much of modern [[hacker (computing)|hacker]] [[Jargon File|slang]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/hacker-history/ar01s02.html |title=A Brief History of Hackerdom |first=Eric S. |last=Raymond |accessdate=2008-08-11}}</ref> Several major computer-related organizations have originated at MIT since the 1980s; [[Richard Stallman]]'s [[GNU Project]] and the subsequent [[Free Software Foundation]] were founded in the mid-1980s at the AI Lab, the [[MIT Media Lab]] was founded in 1985 by [[Nicholas Negroponte]] and Jerome Wiesner to promote research into novel uses of computer technology,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.media.mit.edu/?page_id=16 |title=The Media Lab - Retropective |publisher=MIT Media Lab |accessdate=2008-08-12}}</ref> the [[World Wide Web Consortium]] [[standards organization]] was founded at the [[MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory|Laboratory for Computer Science]] in 1994 by [[Tim Berners-Lee]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.w3.org/Consortium/history |title=About W3C: History |accessdate=2008-08-11 |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium}}</ref> the [[MIT OpenCourseWare|OpenCourseWare]] project has made course materials for over 1,800 MIT classes available online free of charge since 2002,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm |title=MIT OpenCourseWare |accessdate=2008-06-12 |publisher=MIT}}</ref> and the [[One Laptop per Child]] initiative to expand computer education and connectivity to children worldwide was launched in 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.laptop.org/en/vision/mission/ |title=Mission - One Laptop Per Child |publisher=One Laptop Per Child |accessdate=2008-08-11}}</ref> Upon taking office in 2004, President Hockfield launched an Energy Research Council to investigate how MIT can respond to the interdisciplinary challenges of increasing global [[energy consumption]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.mit.edu/erc/ |title=Energy Research Council homepage |accessdate=2006-10-24 |publisher=MIT}}</ref>

MIT was named a [[sea-grant college]] in 1966 to support its programs in oceanography and marine sciences and was named a [[space-grant college]] in 1989 to support its aeronautics and astronautics programs.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/masgc/www/index.shtml |title=Massachusetts Space Grant Consortium |accessdate=2008-08-26 |publisher=Massachusetts Space Grant Consortium}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://seagrant.mit.edu/about_us/index.php |title=MIT Sea Grant College Program |accessdate=2008-08-26 |publisher=MIT Sea Grant College Program}}</ref> Despite diminishing government financial support over the past quarter century, MIT launched several development campaigns to significantly expand the campus: new dormitories and athletics buildings on west campus, the [[Campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology#Tang Center for Management Education|Tang Center for Management Education]], several building in the northeast corner of campus supporting research into [[Campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology#Koch Biology Building|biology]], [[Campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology#Brain and Cognitive Sciences complex|brain and cognitive sciences]], [[Broad Institute|genomics]], [[Whitehead Institute|biotechnology]], and [[Campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology#Kock Center for Integrative Cancer Research|cancer research]], and a number of new "backlot" buildings on Vassar Street including the [[Stata Center]].<ref name="Campus">{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/facts/campus.html |title=MIT Facts 2008: The Campus |publisher=MIT |accessdate=2008-07-22}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | first=O. Robert| last=Simha| title=MIT Campus Planning,: An Annotated Chronology| year=2003 | publisher=[[The MIT Press]] | isbn=978-0-262-69294-6}}</ref> Construction on campus continues to expand the Media Lab, Sloan's eastern campus, and graduate residences in the northwest.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/facilities/construction/ki/index.html |title=MIT Facilities: In Development & Construction |publisher=MIT |accessdate=2008-07-22}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/09/14/mit_will_accelerate_its_building_boom/ |title=MIT will accelerate its building boom: $750m expansion to add 4 facilities |last=Bombardieri |first=Marcella |date=September 14, 2006 |publisher=Boston Globe |accessdate=2008-08-13}}</ref>

==Organization and administration==
[[Image:MIT Lobby 7.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Building 7 (also 77 Massachusetts Avenue) is regarded as the entrance to campus]]
MIT is chartered as a non-profit organization and is owned and governed by a privately-appointed [[board of trustees]] known as the MIT Corporation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/corporation/about.html |title=MIT Corporation |accessdate=2007-03-18 |publisher=MIT Corporation}}</ref> The current board, with 74 members drawn from scientific, engineering, industry, education, and public service leaders, is chaired by [[Dana G. Mead]]. The corporation approves the budget, new programs, degrees, and faculty appointments as well as electing the President to serve as the chief executive officer of the university and presiding over the Institute's faculty.<ref> {{cite web |title=A Brief History and Workings of the Corporation |url=http://web.mit.edu/fnl/volume/185/mead.html |accessdate=2006-11-02 |publisher=MIT Faculty Newsletter}}</ref><ref name="BO">{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/catalogue/overv.chap1.shtml |title=MIT Course Catalogue: Overview |publisher=MIT |accessdate=2008-07-16}}</ref> [[Susan Hockfield]] is the 16th president and has served since December 2004.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/hockfield/biography.html |title=Susan Hockfield, President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Biography |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology |accessdate=2008-09-19}}</ref> MIT's [[financial endowment|endowment]] and [[pension|other financial assets]] are managed through a subsidiary MIT Investment Management Company (MITIMCo).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mitimco.org/ |title=MIT Investment Management Company |accessdate=2007-01-08 |publisher=MIT Investment Management Company}}</ref>

MIT is "a university polarized around science, engineering, and the arts."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/exhibits/inaugurations/killian.html |author=James R. Killian |title=The Inaugural Address |date=1949-04-02 |accessdate=2006-06-02}}</ref> It has five schools ([[MIT School of Science|Science]], [[MIT School of Engineering|Engineering]], [[MIT School of Architecture and Planning|Architecture and Planning]], [[MIT Sloan School of Management|Management]], and [[MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences|Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences]]) and one college ([[Whitaker College of Health Sciences and Technology]]), but no schools of law or medicine.<ref name="Schools">{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/facts/academic.shtml |title=MIT Facts 2008: Academic Schools and Departments, Divisions & Sections |accessdate=2008-07-22}}</ref>{{ref_label|e|e|none}} The chair of each of MIT's 32 academic departments reports to the dean of that department's school, who in turn reports to the Provost under the President. However, faculty committees assert substantial control over many areas of MIT's curriculum, research, student life, and administrative affairs.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.mit.edu/annualreports/pres05/17.00.pdf |format=PDF|author=Rafael L. Bras |title=Reports to the President, Report of the Chair of the Faculty |date=2004-2005 |accessdate=2006-12-01 |publisher=MIT}}</ref>

MIT students refer to both their majors and classes using numbers or acronyms alone.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/learning/majors_minors/index.shtml |title=Majors & Minors |publisher=MIT Admissions Office |accessdate=2008-08-13 |quote=MIT is organized into academic departments, or Courses, which you will often hear referred to by their Course number or acronym.}}</ref> Majors are numbered in the approximate order of when the department was founded; for example, Civil and Environmental Engineering is Course I, while Nuclear Science & Engineering is Course XXII.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mit.edu/education/ |title=MIT Education |publisher=MIT Office of the Registrar |accessdate=2008-08-13}}</ref> Students majoring in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, the most popular department, collectively identify themselves as "Course VI." MIT students use a combination of the department's course number and the number assigned to the class to identify their subjects; the course which many American universities would designate as "Physics 101" is, at MIT, simply "8.01."{{ref_label|f|f|none}}

===Collaborations===
[[Image:MIT Kresge Auditorium.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Eero Saarinen]]'s [[Kresge Auditorium]] is a classic example of the [[Mid-Century modern|post-war architecture]]]]
The university historically pioneered research collaborations between industry and government.<ref>{{cite journal |title = A Survey of New England: A Concentration of Talent |journal=The Economist |date=August 8, 1987 |quote=MIT for a long time… stood virtually alone as a university that embraced rather than shunned industry.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=MIT: Shaping the Future |first=Edward B. |last=Roberts |chapter=An Environment for Entrepreneurs |publisher=The MIT Press |year=1991 |location=Cambridge, MA |isbn=0262631451 |quote=The war made necessary the formation of new working coalitions… between these technologists and government officials. These changes were especially noteworthy at MIT.}}</ref> Fruitful collaborations with industrialists like [[Alfred P. Sloan]] and [[Thomas Alva Edison]] led President Compton to establish an Office of Corporate Relations and an Industrial Liaison Program in the 1930s and 1940s that now allows over 600 companies to [[technology transfer|license research]] and consult with MIT faculty and researchers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ilp-www.mit.edu/display_page.a4d?key=P2a |title=MIT ILP - About the ILP |accessdate=2007-03-17}}</ref> Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, American politicians and business leaders accused MIT and other universities of contributing to a [[Late 1980s recession|declining economy]] by [[technology transfer|transferring]] taxpayer-funded research and technology to international —especially [[Economy of Japan|Japanese]]— firms that were competing with [[Business cycle|struggling]] American businesses.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www-tech.mit.edu/V109/N62/corporate.00n.html |title=MIT corporate ties raise concern |publisher=The Tech |year=1990 |accessdate=2007-03-04}}</ref><ref name="MIT Deal">{{cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEEDB153FF93AA25751C1A966958260&scp=1&sq=M.I.T.+Deal+with+Japan+Stirs+Fear+on+Competition&st=nyt |title=MIT Deal with Japan Stirs Fear on Competition |last=Kolata |first=Gina |date=December 19, 1990 |accessdate=2008-06-09 |publisher=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite news||title=MIT Criticized for Selling Research to Japanese Firms |publisher=The Washington Post |Date=June 14, 1989 |first=William |last=Booth |accessdate=2008-07-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=How Japan Picks America's Brains|url=http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1987/12/21/69996/index.htm |publisher=FORTUNE Magazine |first=Joel |last=Dreyfuss |date=December 21, 1987 |accessdate=2008-07-16}}</ref>

MIT's extensive collaboration with the federal government on research projects has also lead to several MIT leaders serving as [[President's Science Advisory Committee|Presidential scientific advisers]] since 1940.{{ref_label|j|j|none}} MIT established a Washington Office in 1991 to continue to [[lobbying|lobby]] for research funding and national [[science policy]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/dc/ |title=MIT Washington Office |accessdate=2007-03-18 |publisher=MIT Washington Office}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|publisher=Worcester Telegram & Gazette |date=February 11, 2001 |title=Hunt Intense for Federal Research Funds: Universities Station Lobbyists in Washington}}</ref> In response to MIT, eight [[Ivy League]] colleges, and 11 other institutions holding "Overlap Meetings" to prevent bidding wars over promising students from consuming funds for need-based scholarships, the [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] began an antitrust investigation in 1989 and in 1991 filed an [[Sherman Antitrust Act|antitrust suit]] against these universities.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE2DC1E3CF933A2575BC0A96F948260 |title=Price-Fixing Inquiry at 20 Elite Colleges |publisher=The New York Times |date=Agust 10, 1989 |accessdate=2008-12-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE2DB173DF930A25750C0A967958260 |title=23 College Won't Pool Discal Data |last=Chira |first=Susan |date=March 13, 1991 |accessdate=2008-12-16 |publisher=The New York Times}}</ref> While the Ivy League institutions [[consent decree|settled]],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE3D81E38F930A15756C0A967958260 |title=Ivy Universities Deny Price-Fixing But Agree to Avoid It in the Future |publisher=The New York Times |last=DePalma |first=Anthony |date=May 23, 1991 |accessdate=2008-12-16}}</ref> MIT contested the charges on the grounds that the practice was not anticompetitive because it ensured the availability of aid for the greatest number of students.<ref name="Overlap">{{cite news|title=MIT Ruled Guilty in Anti-Trust Case |publisher=The New York Times |date=September 2, 1992 |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE1DC1439F930A3575AC0A964958260 |last=DePalma |first=Anthony |accessdate=2008-07-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE0DE1E38F935A15755C0A964958260 |title= Price-Fixing or Charity? Trial of M.I.T. Begins |last=DePalma |first=Anthony |date=June 26, 1992 |accessdate=2008-08-13 |publisher=The New York Times}}</ref> MIT ultimately prevailed when the Justice Department dropped the case in 1994.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/1994/settlement-0105.html |title=Settlement allows cooperation on awarding financial-aid |publisher=MIT Tech Talk |year=1994 |accessdate=2007-03-03}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE5DC113BF932A15751C1A965958260 |title=MIT Suit Over Aid May Be Settled |first=William |last=Honan |date=December 21, 1993 |accessdate=2008-07-16 |publisher=The New York Times}}</ref>

MIT's proximity to [[Harvard University]]{{ref_label|i|i|none}} has created both a quasi-friendly rivalry ("the other school up the [[Charles River|river]]") as well as a substantial number of research collaborations such as the [[Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology]], [[Broad Institute]], [[Center for Ultracold Atoms]], and Harvard-MIT Data Center.<ref>{{cite web |quote=The US has the world’s top two universities by our reckoning — Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, neighbours on the Charles River. |url=http://www.thes.co.uk/worldrankings/ |title=Times Higher Education Supplement World Rankings 2005 |accessdate=2006-10-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hmdc.harvard.edu/ |title=Harvard-MIT Data Center |accessdate=2007-01-08}}</ref><ref name="EdPart"/> In addition, students at the two schools can [[cross-registration|cross-register]] without any additional fees, for credits toward their own school's degrees.<ref name="EdPart"/>

[[Image:MIT Walker Memorial.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Walker Memorial is a monument to MIT's 4th president, [[Francis Amasa Walker]]]]
A cross-registration program with [[Wellesley College]] has existed since 1969 and a significant undergraduate exchange program with the [[University of Cambridge]] known as the [[Cambridge-MIT Institute]] was also launched in 2002.<ref name="EdPart">{{Cite web |title=MIT Facts 2008: Educational Partnerships |url=http://web.mit.edu/facts/partnerships.shtml |accessdate=2008-08-13}}</ref> MIT has limited cross-registration programs with [[Boston University]], [[Brandeis University]], [[Tufts University]], [[Massachusetts College of Art]], and the [[School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]].<ref name="EdPart"/>

MIT maintains substantial research and faculty ties with independent research organizations in the Boston-area like the [[Charles Stark Draper Laboratory]], [[Whitehead Institute|Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research]], and [[Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution]] as well as international research and educational collaborations through the [[Singapore-MIT Alliance]], MIT-[[University of Zaragoza|Zaragoza]] International Logistics Program,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/zlc/ |title=MIT-Zaragoza International Logistics Program |accessdate=2007-03-17 |publisher=MIT}}</ref> and other countries through the MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI) program.<ref name="EdPart"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/misti/ |title=MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives |accessdate=2007-03-17 |publisher=MIT}}</ref>

Students, faculty, and staff are involved in over 50 educational outreach and public service programs through the [[MIT Museum]], Edgerton Center,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/edgerton/ |title=MIT Edgerton Center |accessdate=2007-03-17 |publisher=MIT}}</ref> and MIT Public Service Center.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/mitpsc/ |title=MIT Public Service Center |accessdate=2007-03-18 |publisher=MIT}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=MIT Outreach Database |url=http://ideas.mit.edu/~pscadmin/browsehome.php |accessdate=2006-10-07 |publisher=MIT}}</ref> Summer programs like [[MITES]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/mites/www/ |title=Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science Program |publisher=MIT |accessdate=2008-08-11}}</ref> and the Research Science Institute<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cee.org/rsi/ |title=Research Science Institute |publisher=MIT |accessdate=2008-08-11}}</ref> encourage minority and high school students to pursue science and engineering in college. Project Interphase accelerates incoming freshman whose educational backgrounds did not fully prepare them for MIT coursework.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/ome/programs-services/interphase/ |title=Project Interphase |accessdate=2007-07-23 |publisher=MIT}}</ref>

The mass-market magazine ''[[Technology Review]]'' is published by MIT through a subsidiary company, as is a special edition that also serves as the Institute's official alumni magazine. The MIT Press is a major university press, publishing over 200 books and 40 journals annually emphasizing science and technology as well as arts, architecture, new media, current events, and social issues.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mitpress.mit.edu/mitpress/history/default.asp |title=History - The MIT Press |accessdate=2007-03-18 |publisher=MIT}}</ref>

==Campus==
{{main article|Campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology}}
[[Image:MIT McDermott Court.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[I.M. Pei]] designed several buildings bordering on McDermott Court]]
MIT's {{convert|168|acre|km2|1|sing=on}} Cambridge campus spans approximately a mile of the north side of the [[Charles River]] basin. The campus is divided roughly in half by [[Massachusetts Avenue (Cambridge)|Massachusetts Avenue]], with most dormitories and student life facilities to the west and most academic buildings to the east. The bridge closest to MIT is the [[Harvard Bridge]], which is marked off in a non-standard unit of length &ndash; the [[smoot]] (named for [[Oliver R. Smoot]], later Chairman of the [[American National Standards Institute]], the length of a Smoot is five feet and seven inches (1701 mm) , equal to Oliver's height).<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.technologyreview.com/article/20983/ |title=Smoot's Legacy: 50th anniversary of famous feat nears |accessdate=2008-08-13 |publisher=MIT Technology review |last=Durant |first=Elizabeth}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=The Measure of This Man Is in the Smoot; MIT's Human Yardstick Honored for Work |publisher=The Washington Post |date=December 8, 2005 |last=Fahrenthold |first=David}}</ref> The [[Kendall/MIT Station (MBTA)|Kendall]] [[Red Line (MBTA)|MBTA Red Line]] station is located on the far northeastern edge of the campus in [[Kendall Square]]. The Cambridge neighborhoods surrounding MIT are a mixture of high tech companies occupying both modern office and rehabilitated industrial buildings as well as socio-economically diverse residential neighborhoods.<ref name="BO"/>

MIT buildings all have a number (or a number and a letter) designation and most have a name as well.<ref name="Numbering system">{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/mindandhandbook/history/numbering_system.html |title=Building History and Numbering System |publisher=Mind and Hand Book, MIT |accessdate=2008-08-13}}</ref> Typically, academic and office buildings are referred to only by number while residence halls are referred to by name. The organization of building numbers roughly corresponds to the order in which the buildings were built and their location relative (north, west, and east) to the original, center cluster of Maclaurin buildings.<ref name="Numbering system"/> Many are connected above ground as well as through an extensive network of underground tunnels, providing protection from the Cambridge weather as well as a venue for [[roof and tunnel hacking]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mit.edu/facilities/maps/tunnelMap.pdf |format=PDF|title=MIT Campus Subterranean Map |publisher=MIT Department of Facilities |accessdate=2008-08-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title='Hackers' Skirt Security in Late-Night MIT Treks |publisher=Boston Globe |last=Abel |first=David |date=March 30, 2000}}</ref>

[[MIT Nuclear Research Reactor|MIT's on-campus nuclear reactor]] is one of the largest university-based [[nuclear reactor]]s in the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/catalogue/overv.chap6-nrl.shtml |title=MIT Course Catalog |publisher=MIT |accessdate=2008-07-14}}</ref> The high visibility of the reactor's containment building in a densely populated area has occasionally caused controversy,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www-tech.mit.edu/V105/N59/nucle.59n.html |title=Cambridge evaluates MIT's nuclear reactor |publisher=The Tech |date=January 29, 1986 |accessdate=2008-07-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/LooseNukes/ |title=Loose Nukes: A Special Report |publisher=ABC News |accessdate=2007-04-14}}</ref> but MIT maintains that it is well-secured.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2005/reactor.html |title=MIT Assures Community of Research Reactor Safety |publisher=MIT News Office |date=October 13, 2005
|accessdate=2006-10-05}}</ref> Other notable campus facilities include a pressurized [[wind tunnel]] and a [[ship model basin|towing tank]] for testing ship and ocean structure designs.<ref>{{cite news|title=Supersonic Tunnel Open; Naval Laboratory for Aircraft Dedicated at M.I.T. |publisher=The New York Times |date=December 2, 1949}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Ship Test Tank for M.I.T.; Dr. Killian Announces Plant to Cost $500,000 |publisher=The New York Times |date=February 6, 1949}}</ref> MIT's campus-wide wireless network was completed in the fall of 2005 and consists of nearly 3,000 access points covering {{convert|9400000|sqft|m2}} of campus.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://senseable.mit.edu/news/on_us/CNN4November2005.htm |title=MIT maps wireless users across campus |date=2005-11-04 |accessdate=2007-03-03 |publisher=MIT}}</ref>

In 2001, the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|Environmental Protection Agency]] sued MIT for violating [[Clean Water Act]] and [[Clean Air Act]] with regard to its [[hazardous waste]] storage and disposal procedures.<ref name="EPA">{{cite web|url=http://www.epa.gov/EPA-WATER/2001/May/Day-03/w11123.htm |title=Notice of Lodging of Consent Decree Pursuant to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Clean Water Act |publisher=Environmental Protection Agency |date=May 3, 2001 |accessdate=2008-07-16}}</ref> MIT settled the suit by paying a $155,000 fine and launching three environmental projects.<ref>{{cite news|title=MIT to create three new environmental projects as part of agreement with EPA |url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2001/epa-0425.html |publisher=MIT News Office |date=April 21, 2001 |first=Robert |last=Sales |accessdate=2008-07-16}}</ref> In connection with capital campaigns to expand the campus, the university has also extensively renovated existing buildings to improve their energy efficiency. MIT has also taken steps to reduce its environmental impact by running alternative fuel campus shuttles, subsidizing [[CharlieCard|public transportation passes]], and a low-emission [[cogeneration]] plant that serves most of the campus electricity and heating requirements.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/environment/commitment/conservation.html |title=The Environment at MIT: Conservation |publisher=MIT |accessdate=2008-08-11}}</ref>

===Architecture===
[[Image:Wfm stata center.jpg|right|thumb|200px|The [[Stata Center]] houses [[CSAIL]], [[MIT Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems|LIDS]], and the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy]]
As MIT's school of architecture was the first in the United States,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://architecture.mit.edu/welcome.html |title=MIT Architecture: Welcome |accessdate=2007-04-04 |publisher=MIT Department of Architecture}}</ref> it has a history of commissioning progressive buildings.<ref name="Starchitecture">{{cite web |title=Starchitecture on Campus |url=http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2004/02/22/starchitecture_on_campus/ |date=2004-02-22 |accessdate=2006-10-24 |publisher=Boston Globe}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=At MIT, Going Boldly Where No Architect Has Gone Before |last=Flint |first=Anthony |date=October 13, 2002 |publisher=Boston Globe}}</ref> The first buildings constructed on the Cambridge campus, completed in 1916, are known officially as the ''Maclaurin buildings'' after Institute president [[Richard Maclaurin]] who oversaw their construction. Designed by [[William Welles Bosworth]], these imposing buildings were built of concrete, a first for a non-industrial — much less university — building in the U.S.<ref>{{Harvard reference|last=Jarzombek |first=Mark |authorlink=Mark Jarzombek |title=Designing MIT: Bosworth's New Tech |place=Boston |year=2004 |publisher=Northeastern University Press |p=50-51}}</ref> The utopian [[City Beautiful movement]] greatly influenced Bosworth's design which features the [[Pantheon, Rome|Pantheon]]-esque Great Dome, housing the Barker Engineering Library, which overlooks Killian Court, where annual Commencement exercises are held. The friezes of the limestone-clad buildings around Killian Court are engraved with the names of important scientists and philosophers.{{ref_label|k|k|none}} The imposing Building 7 atrium along [[Massachusetts Avenue (Cambridge)|Massachusetts Avenue]] is regarded as the entrance to the [[Infinite Corridor]] and the rest of the campus.

[[Alvar Aalto]]'s Baker House (1947), [[Eero Saarinen]]'s Chapel and Auditorium (1955), and [[I.M. Pei]]'s Green, Dreyfus, Landau, and Wiesner buildings represent high forms of post-war [[modern architecture]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Colleges: More Than Ivy-Covered Halls |date=March 2, 1986 |last=Campbell |first=Robert |publisher=Boston Globe}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,889750,00.html |title=Challenge to the Rectangle |publisher=TIME Magazine |accessdate=2008-08-13 |date=June 29, 1953}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,869832,00.html |title=Flagpole in the Square |publisher=TIME Magazine |date=August 22, 1960 |accessdate=2008-08-13}}</ref> More recent buildings like [[Frank Gehry]]'s [[Stata Center]] (2004), [[Steven Holl]]'s [[Simmons Hall]] (2002), and [[Charles Correa]]'s Building 46 (2005) are distinctive amongst the Boston area's staid architecture<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2007/02/11/stained_glass/ |title=Stained Glass? |date=February 11, 2007 |accessdate=2007-04-04 |first=Rachel |last=Strutt |quote=Boston isn’t yet fully embracing contemporary architecture… it’s far riskier to put an unapologetically modern building in the historic Back Bay, not far from the neighborhood’s Victorian town houses and Gothic Revival columns.}}</ref> and serve as examples of contemporary campus "starchitecture."<ref name="Starchitecture"/><ref>{{Cite news|title=Architecture's Brand Names Come to Town |publisher=Boston Globe |date=May 20, 2001 |last=Campbell |first=Robert}}</ref> These buildings have not always been popularly accepted;<ref>{{cite news|title=The Campuses of Cambridge, A City Unto Themselves |last=Paul |first=James |publisher=The Washington Post |date=April 9, 1989}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/23/AR2007112300679_pf.html |title=The Hubris of a Great Artist Can Be a Gift or a Curse |publisher=The Washington Post |last=Lewis |first=Roger K. |date=November 24, 2007 |accessdate=2008-08-13}}</ref> the Princeton Review includes MIT in a list of twenty schools whose campuses are "tiny, unsightly, or both."<ref>{{cite web|title=2007 361 Best College Rankings: Quality of Life: Campus Is Tiny, Unsightly, or Both|url=http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/rankings/rankingDetails.asp?CategoryID=6&TopicID=50"|publisher=Princeton Review|year=2006|accessdate=2006-10-09}} It should be noted in this regard that the size of the campus is considerable.</ref>

===Housing===
{{main article|Housing at MIT}}
[[Image:Simmons Hall, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts.JPG|thumb|right|200px|[[Simmons Hall]] was completed in 2002]]
Undergraduates are guaranteed four-year, [[List of MIT dormitories|dormitory]] housing.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/housing/undergrad/faqs.html#Eligibility |title=MIT Undergraduate Housing FAQ: 19 Frequently Asked Questions |author=MIT Housing Office |accessdate=2006-10-04 |date=August 25, 2005}}</ref> On-campus housing provides live-in graduate student tutors and faculty housemasters who have the dual role of both helping students and monitoring them for medical or mental health problems. Students are permitted to select their dorm and floor upon arrival on campus, and as a result diverse communities arise in living groups; the dorms on and east of Massachusetts Avenue have typically been more involved in [[counterculture|countercultural]] activities. MIT also has five dormitories for single graduate students, and two apartment buildings on campus for families.<ref>{{cite web |title=Graduate Housing Guide - Quick Facts |url=http://web.mit.edu/housing/grad/ghg/quick.html |accessdate=2008-10-10 |publisher=MIT}}</ref>
MIT has a very active Greek and co-op system. Approximately one-half of MIT male undergraduates and one-third of female undergraduates<ref>{{cite web|url=http://people.csail.mit.edu/phw/fsilg/jelke.pdf |format=PDF|title=Consultation Report to Dean Rogers |date=2003-05-23 |accessdate=2006-12-01}}</ref> are affiliated with one of MIT's 36 fraternities, sororities, and independent living groups (FSILGs).<ref>{{cite web
|title=MIT Facts 2008: Housing |url=http://web.mit.edu/facts/housing.html |accessdate=2008-08-12}}</ref> Most FSILGs are located across the river in the [[Back Bay]] owing to MIT's historic location there, but eight fraternities are located on MIT's West Campus and in Cambridge. After the death of Scott Krueger, a new member at the [[Phi Gamma Delta]] fraternity, MIT required all freshmen to live in the dormitory system.<ref>{{Cite news|title=MIT Changes Housing Rules |publisher=The Washington Post |date=August 26, 2002}}</ref> Because the fraternities and independent living groups had previously housed as many as 300 freshmen off-campus, the new policy did not take effect until 2002 after [[Simmons Hall]] opened.<ref>{{cite news|title=For First Time, MIT Assigns Freshmen to Campus Dorms |publisher=Boston Globe |last=Russell |first=Jenna |date=August 25, 2002}}</ref>

==Academics==
{{Infobox US university ranking
| ARWU_W = 5
| ARWU_N = 4
| ARWU_SCI = 6
| ARWU_ENG = 1
| ARWU_LIFE = 2
| ARWU_MED = 33
| ARWU_SOC = 6
| CMUP = T-1
| THES_W = 9
| USNWR_NU = 4
| USNWR_Bus = 4
| USNWR_Eng = 1
| Wamo_NU = 13
| Forbes = 14
| FSPI = 2
}}

MIT is a large, highly residential, majority graduate/professional research university.<ref name="Carnegie">{{Cite web|url=http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/classifications/sub.asp?key=748&subkey=14675&start=782 |title=Institutions: Massachusetts Institute of Technology |publisher=Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching |accessdate=2008-09-18}}</ref> The four year, full-time undergraduate instructional program is classified as "balanced arts & sciences/professions" with a high graduate coexistence and admissions are characterized as "more selective, lower transfer in".<ref name="Carnegie"/> The graduate program is classified as "comprehensive". The university is [[educational accreditation|accredited]] by the [[New England Association of Schools and Colleges]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/facts/accreditation.html |title=MIT Facts 2008: Accreditation |publisher=MIT |accessdate=2008-08-14}}</ref>

Several rankings place MIT among the top colleges and universities in the United States and internationally. The School of Engineering has been ranked first among graduate and undergraduate programs by ''U.S. News and World Report'' since first published results in 1994.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad/sciences.html |title=USNWR's Best Graduate Programs in the Sciences |accessdate=2008-12-31 |publisher=U.S. News & World Report}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad/eng/search |title=USNWR's Best Graduate Programs in Engineering |accessdate=2008-12-31 |publisher=U.S. News & World Report}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Engineering again tops U.S. News graduate rankings |url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/usnews-0328.html |date=March 28, 2008 |publisher=MIT News Office}}</ref> A 1995 [[United States National Research Council|National Research Council]] study of US research universities ranked MIT first in "reputation" and fourth in "citations and faculty awards" and a 2005 study found MIT to be the 4th most preferred college among undergraduate applicants.<ref name="1995 NRC"/><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Avery |first1=Christopher |last2=Glickman |first2=Mark E. |last3=Hoxby |first3=Caroline M |last4=Metrick |first4=Andrew |title=A Revealed Preference Ranking of U.S. Colleges and Universities, NBER Working Paper No. W10803 |date=December 2005 |publisher=National Bureau of Economic Research |url=http://ssrn.com/abstract=601105}}</ref>

===Classes===
Undergraduates are required to complete an extensive core curriculum called the General Institute Requirements (GIRs). The science requirement, generally completed during freshman year as prerequisites for classes in science and engineering majors, comprises two semesters of physics classes covering [[Classical Mechanics|classical mechanics]] and [[electricity and magnetism]], two semesters of math covering [[calculus|single variable calculus]] and [[multivariable calculus]], one semester of chemistry, and one semester of biology. Undergraduates are required to take a laboratory class in their major, eight [[Humanities]], [[Arts]], and [[Social Sciences]] (HASS) classes (at least three in a concentration and another four unrelated subjects), and non-varsity athletes must also take four [[physical education]] classes. In May 2006, a faculty task force recommended that the current GIR system be simplified with changes to the science, HASS, and Institute Lab requirements.<ref>{{cite web | title=Proposed Revisions to GIRs Are Unveiled | url=http://www-tech.mit.edu/V126/N25/25gir.html |accessdate=2006-06-28}}</ref>

[[Image:Infinitecorridor.jpg|left|thumb|200px|The [[Infinite Corridor]] is the primary passageway through campus]]
Although the difficulty of MIT coursework has been characterized as "drinking from a fire hose,"<ref>{{cite book|title=Leadership and Organizational Culture: New Perspectives on Administrative Theory and Practice |editors=Thomas J. Sergiovanni, John Edward Corbally |chapter=Leadership as Reflection-in-Action |last=Schön |first=Donald A. |publisher=University of Illinois Press |year=1986 |isbn=0-252-01347-6 |url=http://books.google.com/books?visbn=0252013476&id=wfjpFezRhuYC&pg=PA59&lpg=PA59&sig=wQV34XQrsLxQh-qzkwXtFTud3Hs |pages=59 |quote=[In the sixties] Students spoke of their undergraduate experience as "drinking from a fire hose." |accessdate=2008-08-13}}</ref> the failure rate and freshmen retention rate at MIT are similar to other large research universities.<ref>{{cite web | title=Common Data Set, Enrollment and Persistence | url=http://web.mit.edu/ir/cds/2006/b.html| accessdate=2006-10-06 }}</ref> Some of the pressure for first-year undergraduates is lessened by the existence of the "pass/no-record" grading system. In the first (fall) term, freshmen transcripts only report if a class was passed while no external record exists if a class was not passed. In the second (spring) term, passing grades (ABC) appear on the transcript while non-passing grades are again rendered "no-record".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/learning/freshman_year_pass_no_record/ |title=Freshman Year Pass / No Record |publisher=MIT Admissions Office |accessdate=2008-07-16}}</ref>

Most classes rely upon a combination of faculty led lectures, graduate student led recitations, weekly problem sets (p-sets), and tests to teach material, though alternative curricula exist, e.g. [[Experimental Study Group]], Concourse, and Terrascope.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/concourse/www/ |title=Concourse Program at MIT |accessdate=2007-02-01 |publisher=MIT}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/terrascope/www/ |title=Terrascope home page |accessdate=2007-01-08 |publisher=MIT}}</ref> Over time, students compile "bibles", collections of problem set and examination questions and answers used as references for later students. In 1970, the then-Dean of Institute Relations, Benson R. Snyder, published ''[[The Hidden Curriculum]],'' arguing that unwritten regulations, like the implicit curricula of the bibles, are often counterproductive; they fool professors into believing that their teaching is effective and students into believing they have learned the material.

In 1969, MIT began the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) to enable undergraduates to collaborate directly with faculty members and researchers. The program, founded by [[Margaret MacVicar]], builds upon the MIT philosophy of "learning by doing". Students obtain research projects, colloquially called "UROPs", through postings on the UROP website or by contacting faculty members directly.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/UROP/ |title=UROP homepage |accessdate=2007-08-05}}</ref> Over 2,800 undergraduates, 70% of the student body, participate every year for academic credit, pay, or on a volunteer basis.<ref>{{cite web|title=MIT Research and Teaching Firsts |url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/special/firsts.html |accessdate=2006-10-06 |publisher=MIT News Office}}</ref> Students often become [[scientific journal|published]], file [[patent application]]s, and/or launch [[startup company|start-up companies]] based upon their experience in UROPs.<ref>{{cite news|title=Use of Undergraduates in Research Is Hailed by M.I.T.; Inventions by Students |publisher=The New York Times |last=Maeroff |first=Gene I. |date=January 11, 1976}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www-tech.mit.edu/V119/N47/UROP_turns_30.47f.html |title=An MIT Original, the Oft Replicated UROP Program Reaches 30 Years |last=Palmer |first=Matthew |date=October 5, 1999 |publisher=The MIT Tech}}</ref>

==Research==
In 2007, MIT spent $598.3 million for on-campus research.<ref name="Carnegie"/><ref name="Research">{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/facts/research.html |title=MIT Facts 2008: Research at MIT |publisher=MIT |accessdate=2008-07-22}}</ref> The federal government was the largest source of sponsored research, with the [[Department of Health and Human Services]] granting $201.6 million, [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] $90.6 million, [[United States Department of Energy|Department of Energy]] $64.9 million, [[National Science Foundation]] $65.1 million, and [[NASA]] $27.9 million.<ref name="Research"/> MIT employs approximately 3,500 researchers in addition to faculty. In the 2006 academic year, MIT faculty and researchers disclosed 487 inventions, filed 314 patent applications, received 149 patents, and earned $129.2 million in royalties and other income.<ref>{{cite web |title= TLO Statistics for Fiscal Year 2007 |url=http://web.mit.edu/tlo/www/about/office_statistics.html |accessdate=2008-06-12}}</ref>

[[Image:Heckert GNU white.svg|right|thumb|150px|The [[GNU project]] and [[free software movement]] originated at MIT]]
In electronics, [[magnetic core memory]], [[radar]], [[single electron transistor]]s, and [[inertial guidance]] controls were invented or substantially developed by MIT researchers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/history_center/rad_lab.html |title=IEEE History Center: MIT Radiation Laboratory |publisher=IEEE |accessdate=2008-06-09}}</ref><ref name="RLE History"/> [[Harold Eugene Edgerton]] was a pioneer in [[high speed photography]]. [[Claude E. Shannon]] developed much of modern [[information theory]] and discovered the application of Boolean logic to [[digital circuit]] design theory. In the domain of computer science, MIT faculty and researchers made fundamental contributions to [[Norbert Wiener|cybernetics]], [[Marvin Minsky|artificial intelligence]], [[Joseph Weizenbaum|computer language]]s, [[Patrick Winston|machine learning]], [[Rodney Brooks|robotics]], and [[Ronald Rivest|public-key cryptography]].<ref name="RLE History">{{cite web|url=http://www.rle.mit.edu/about/about_history.html |title=Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT: History |publisher=MIT |accessdate=2008-06-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Guttag |first=John |title=The Electron and the Bit, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, 1902-2002 |year=2003}}</ref>

Current and previous physics faculty have won eight [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Nobel Prizes]],<ref name="IR Nobel">{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/ir/pop/awards/nobel.html |title=Nobel Prize |publisher=Office of Institutional Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology |accessdate=2008-12-31}}</ref> four [[Dirac Medal#Dirac Medal of the ICTP|Dirac Medals]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/ir/pop/awards/dirac.html |title=Dirac Medal |publisher=Office of Institutional Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology |accessdate=2008-12-31}}</ref> and three [[Wolf Prize|Wolf Prizes]] predominately for their contributions to subatomic and quantum theory. Members of the chemistry department have been awarded three [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prizes]] and one Wolf Prize for the discovery of novel syntheses and methods.<ref name="IR Nobel"/> MIT biologists have been awarded six [[Nobel Prize in Medicine|Nobel Prizes]] for their contributions to genetics, immunology, oncology, and molecular biology.<ref name="IR Nobel"/> Professor [[Eric Lander]] was one of the principal leaders of the [[Human Genome Project]].<ref>{{citation |last=Lander |first=Eric |title=Initial sequencing and analysis of the human genome |publication=Nature |year=2001 |url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11237011 |doi=10.1038/35057062 |journal=Nature |volume=409 |pages=860}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Eric S. Lander |url=http://www.broad.mit.edu/about/bios/bio-lander.html |publisher=Broad Institute |accessdate=2008-06-09}}</ref>

[[Positronium]] atoms,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2002/deutsch.html |title=Martin Deutsch, MIT physicist who discovered positronium, dies at 85 |date=August 20, 2002 |accessdate=2008-06-12}}</ref> synthetic [[Penicillin]],<ref>{{cite news|title=Professor John C. Sheehan Dies at 76 |date=April 1, 1992 |url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/1992/sheehan-0401.html |publisher=MIT News Office |accessdate=2008-06-09}}</ref> [[Julius Rebek|synthetic self-replicating molecules]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://w3.mit.edu/newsoffice/tt/1990/may09/23124.html |title=Self-Reproducing Molecules Reported by MIT Researchers |publisher=MIT News Office |date=May 9, 1990 |accessdate=2008-06-12}}</ref> and the genetic bases for [[Lou Gehrig's disease]] and [[Huntington's disease]] were first discovered at MIT.<ref name="MIT Firsts">{{cite web|title=MIT Research and Teaching Firsts |url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/special/firsts.html |publisher=MIT |accessdate=2008-06-09}}</ref>

In the domain of humanities, arts, and social sciences, MIT economists have been awarded five [[Nobel Prize in Economics|Nobel Prizes]] and nine [[John Bates Clark Medal]]s.<ref name="IR Nobel"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/ir/pop/awards/clark.html |title=John Bates Clark Medal |publisher=Office of Institutional Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology |accessdate=2008-12-31}}</ref> Linguists [[Noam Chomsky]] and [[Morris Halle]] authored seminal texts on [[generative grammar]] and [[phonology]].<ref>{{cite news|title=A Changed Noam Chomsky Simplifies |last=Fox |first=Margalit |date=December 5, 1998 |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D01EEDB113BF936A35751C1A96E958260 |publisher=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4120040,00.html |title=Conscience of a nation |publisher=The Guardian |date=January 20, 2001 |accessdate=2008-08-12 |last=Jaggi |first=Maya}}</ref> The [[MIT Media Lab]], founded in 1985 and known for its unconventional research,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.forbes.com/2002/01/08/0108medialab.html |title=MIT Media Lab Tightens Its Belt |last=Herper |first=Matthew |date=January 8, 2002 |accessdate=2008-08-12 |publisher=Forbes}}</ref> has been home to [[Constructivism (learning theory)|constructivist]] educator and [[Logo (programming language)|Logo]] creator [[Seymour Papert]],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/articles/2008/07/12/in_search_of_a_beautiful_mind/ |title=In Search of A Beautiful Mind |last=Matchan |first=Linda |date=July 12, 2008 |accessdate=2008-08-12}}</ref> [[Lego Mindstorms]] and [[Scratch programming language|Scratch]] creator [[Mitchel Resnick]],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/digicult/shenk2.htm |title=Behold the toys of tomorrow: "Thinking" Toys |last=Shenk |first=David |date=January 7, 1999 |publisher=The Atlantic}}</ref> [[Kismet (robot)|Kismet]] creator [[Cynthia Breazeal]],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9806E0DE1239F933A25755C0A9659C8B63 |title=A Conversation With: Cynthia Breazeal; A Passion to Build a Better Robot, One With Social Skills and a Smile |date=June 10, 2003 |accessdate=2008-08-12 |publisher=The New York Times |last=Dreifus |First=Claudia}}</ref> [[affective computing]] pioneer [[Rosalind Picard]],<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/digicult/dc980429.htm |title=Are we ready for computers that know how we feel? |last=Blume |first=Harvey |date=April 29, 1998 |accessdate=2008-08-12 |publisher=The Atlantic}}</ref> and [[electronic music|hyperinstrumentalist]] [[Tod Machover]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Tod Machover: Looking at 1999 and beyond with influential figures in the world of arts and entertainment; This Does Compute; Music is in the air, and the furniture, for the leader of MIT's Opera of the Future lab. |publisher=Los Angeles Times |date=December 26, 1999 |last=Swed |first=Mark}}</ref>

Given the scale and reputation of MIT's accomplishments, allegations of [[research misconduct]] or improprieties have received substantial press coverage. Professor [[David Baltimore]], a [[Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine|Nobel Laureate]], became embroiled in a misconduct investigation starting in 1986 that led to Congressional hearings in 1991.<ref name="Baltimore">{{cite news|title=Journal Cites New Evidence ex-MIT Scientist Faked Data |last=Saltus |first=Richard |publisher=The Boston Globe |date=September 28, 1990}}</ref><ref name="Nobel Winner">{{cite news|title=Nobel Winner Is Caught Up in a Dispute Over Study |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE7D8133FF931A25757C0A96E948260&scp=22&sq=Massachusetts+Institute+of+Technology+misconduct&st=nyt |publisher=The New York Times |date=April 12, 1988 |last=Boffey |first=Philip}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Weiss |first=Philip |url=http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/09/20/specials/baltimore-mag.html |title=Conduct Unbecoming |publisher=The New York Times |date=October 29, 1989 |accessdate=2008-01-27}}</ref> Professor [[Ted Postol]] has accused the MIT administration since 2000 of attempting to [[Whitewash (censorship)|whitewash]] potential research misconduct at the Lincoln Lab facility involving a [[ballistic missile defense]] test, though a final investigation into the matter has not been completed.<ref>{{cite news|title=MIT Faces Charges of Fraud, Cover-up on Missile Test Study |publisher=Boston Globe |date=November 29, 2002 |last=Abel |first=David}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Pierce |first=Charles P. |title=Going Postol |publisher=The Boston Globe |date=October 23, 2005 |url=http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2005/10/23/going_postol/ |accessdate=2008-01-27}}</ref>

==Traditions and student activities==
{{main article|Traditions and student activities at MIT|MIT class ring}}
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The faculty and students body highly value [[meritocracy]] and technical proficiency.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/admissions/pdf/MITinstructions.pdf |format=PDF|title=MIT freshman application & financial aid information |first=Marilee |last=Jones |accessdate=2007-01-02 |publisher=MIT Admissions Office |quote=We are a meritocracy. We judge each other by our ideas, our creativity and our accomplishments, not by who our families are.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.federalreserve.gov/boardDocs/speeches/2006/20060609/default.htm |title=2006 Commencement Speech at MIT |first=Ben S. |last=Bernanke |date=2006-06-09 |accessdate=2007-01-02 |quote=Mathematical approaches to economics have at times been criticized as lacking in practical value. Yet the MIT Economics Department has trained many economists who have played leading roles in government and in the private sector, including the current heads of four central banks: those of [[Central Bank of Chile|Chile]], [[Bank of Israel|Israel]], [[Banca d'Italia|Italy]], and, I might add, the [[Federal Reserve System|United States]].}}</ref> MIT has never awarded an [[honorary degree]] nor does it award athletic scholarships, [[ad eundem degree]]s, or [[Latin honors]] upon graduation.<ref>{{cite web|year= 2001 |url = http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2001/commdegrees.html |title = No honorary degrees is an MIT tradition going back to… Thomas Jefferson |publisher = MIT News Office |date = June 8, 2001 |accessdate =2006-05-07 |quote=MIT's founder, [[William Barton Rogers]], regarded the practice of giving honorary degrees as 'literary almsgiving …of spurious merit and noisy popularity…'}}</ref> However, MIT has twice awarded honorary professorships; to [[Winston Churchill]] in 1949 and [[Salman Rushdie]] in 1993.<ref>{{cite news|first=Daniel C.|last=Stevenson |url=http://www-tech.mit.edu/V113/N61/rushdie.61n.html |title=Rushdie Stuns Audience 26-100 |publisher=The Tech}}</ref>

[[Image:Brass Rat 2007 Finger.jpg|thumb|right|A "[[Brass Rat]]" for the Class of 2007]]
Students' passion for their subjects is balanced by the perception that their classes are more rigorous than their "grade inflated" peer institutions{{ref_label|h|h|none}} — a love-hate relationship embodied by the school's informal motto/[[initialism]] IHTFP ("I hate this fucking place," jocularly euphemized as "I have truly found paradise," "Institute has the finest professors," etc.).<ref>{{cite web |last=Bauer |first=M.J. |title=IHTFP |url=http://www.mit.edu/people/mjbauer/ihtfp.html |accessdate=2005-11-23}}</ref>

Current students and alumni wear a large, heavy, distinctive class ring known as the "[[Brass Rat]]."<ref name="Brass Rat">{{cite book|title=Massachusetts Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities, & Other Offbeat Stuff |publisher=Globe Pequot |year=2004 |isbn=0762730706 |last=Gellerman |first=Bruce |coauthors=Erik Sherman |pages=65–66}}</ref> Originally created in 1929, the ring's official name is the "Standard Technology Ring."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://alumweb.mit.edu/classes/1993/brassrat.html |title=Ring History ('93 class webpage) |accessdate=2006-12-26}}</ref> The undergraduate ring design (a separate graduate student version exists, as well) varies slightly from year to year to reflect the unique character of the MIT experience for that class, but always features a three-piece design, with the MIT seal and the class year each appearing on a separate face, flanking a large rectangular bezel bearing an image of a [[American Beaver|beaver]].<ref name="Brass Rat"/>

===Activities===
{{main article|Student activities at MIT}}
{{see also|MIT hacks}}
[[Image:MIT firetruck hack.jpg|thumb|200px|right|A fire truck was placed on the Great Dome by students on September 11, 2006]]
MIT has over 380 recognized student activity groups,<ref>{{cite web|title=MIT Association of Student Activities |url=http://web.mit.edu/asa/resources/group-list.html |accessdate=2006-11-01}}</ref> including a [[WMBR|campus radio station]], ''[[The Tech (newspaper)|The Tech]]'' student newspaper, an annual [[MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition|entrepreneurship competition]], and weekly screenings of popular films by the [[Student life and culture at MIT#Lecture Series Committee|Lecture Series Committee]]. Less traditional activities include the "world's largest open-shelf [[MIT Science Fiction Society|collection of science fiction]]" in English, [[TMRC|model railroad club]], and a vibrant [[Tech Squares|folk dance]] scene.

The [[Student life and culture at MIT#Independent Activities Period|Independent Activities Period]] is a four-week long "term" offering hundreds of optional classes, lectures, demonstrations, and other activities throughout the month of January between the Fall and Spring semesters. Some of the most popular recurring IAP activities are the 6.270, [[6.370 (MIT)|6.370]], and MasLab [[Student life and culture at MIT#Robotics competitions|competitions]],<ref name="Discover">{{cite news|url=http://discovermagazine.com/2005/jun/mit-nerds/ |first=Claudia Glenn |last=Dowling |title=MIT Nerds |date=June 5, 2005 |accessdate=2007-08-17 |work=Discover Magazine}}</ref> the annual [[MIT Mystery Hunt|"mystery hunt"]],<ref name="Globe">{{cite news |url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/01/23/her_mystery_achievement_to_boldly_scavenge_at_mit/ |last=Bridges
|first=Mary |publisher=Boston Globe |title=Her Mystery achievement: to boldly scavenge at MIT |date=January 23, 2005 |accessdate=2007-01-16}}</ref> and [[Student life and culture at MIT#Charm School|Charm School]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F04E7D8113EF935A35751C0A9679C8B63 |title=What, Geeks at M.I.T.? Not With This Class |last=Chang |first=Kenneth |date=February 6, 2001 |accessdate=2008-08-12 |publisher=The New York Times}}</ref>
Many MIT students also engage in "hacking," which encompasses both the [[Roof and tunnel hacking|physical exploration of areas]] that are generally off-limits (such as rooftops and steam tunnels), as well as [[hack (practical joke)|elaborate practical jokes]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Peterson |first=T.F. |title=Nightwork: A History of Hacks and Pranks at MIT |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0262661379 |year=2003}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=These Are Not Your Ordinary College Pranks |publisher=The Boston Globe |date=April 1, 2003 |last=Biskup |first=Agnieska}}</ref> Recent hacks have included the theft of [[California Institute of Technology|Caltech]]'s cannon,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mitcannon.com/ |title=Howe & Ser Moving Co. |accessdate=2007-04-04}}</ref> reconstructing a [[Wright Flyer]] atop the Great Dome,<ref>{{cite news|title=MIT Pranksters Wing It For Wright Celebration |publisher=Boston Globe |date=December 18, 2003 |first=Marcella |last=Bombadieri |url=http://nl.newsbank.com/cgi-bin/ngate/BG?ext_docid=0FF8A4DEBA245CA5&ext_hed=MIT%20PRANKSTERS%20WING%20IT%20FOR%20WRIGHT%20CELEBRATION&ext_theme=bg&pubcode=BG}}</ref> and adorning the [[John Harvard (clergyman)|John Harvard]] statue with the [[Master Chief (Halo)|Master Chief's Spartan Helmet]].<ref>{{cite web|title=MIT Hackers & Halo 3 |publisher=The Tech |url=http://www-tech.mit.edu/V127/N41/graphics/halo3.html |accessdate=2007-09-25}}</ref>

===Athletics===
[[Image:MIT Z Center.jpg|thumb|right|200px| The [[Zesiger sports and fitness center]] houses a two-story fitness center as well as swimming and diving pools]]
The student athletics program offers 41 varsity-level sports, the largest program in the nation.<ref name="Athletics">{{Cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/facts/athletics.html |title=MIT Facts 2008:Athletics and Recreation |publisher=MIT |accessdate-2008-07-22}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/fofdaper/docs/Varsity-sports-facts.html |title=MIT Varsity Sports fact sheet |accessdate=2007-01-06}}</ref> MIT participates in the [[National Collegiate Athletic Association|NCAA]]'s [[Division III]], the [[New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference]], the [[New England Football Conference]], and [[National Collegiate Athletic Association|NCAA]]'s Division I and [[College rowing (United States)#Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges|Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges (EARC)]] for crew.

The Institute's sports teams are called the Engineers, their [[mascot]] since 1914 being a [[American Beaver|beaver]], "nature's engineer." Lester Gardner, a member of the Class of 1898, provided the following justification: {{cquote|The beaver not only typifies the Tech, but his habits are particularly our own. The beaver is noted for his engineering and mechanical skills and habits of industry. His habits are nocturnal. He does his best work in the dark.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://alumweb.mit.edu/classes/1993/brassrat.html |title=MIT '93 Brass Rat |accessdate=2007-03-23}}</ref> }}

[[Image:MITengineerslogo.PNG|left|200px|thumb|Official logo of MIT Athletics]]
MIT fielded several dominant intercollegiate [[Tiddlywinks]] teams through 1980, winning national and world championships.<ref>{{cite news|title=MIT's World Champions
|url=http://www-tech.mit.edu/archives/VOL_092/TECH_V092_S0210_P007.pdf |format=PDF|date=April 25, 1975 |pages=7 |volume=92 |first=Fred |last=Shapiro |publisher=The Tech |accessdate=2006-10-04}}</ref> The Engineers have won or placed highly in national championships in pistol, taekwondo, track and field, swimming and diving, cross country, crew, fencing, and water polo. MIT has produced 128 [[All-America|Academic All-Americans]], the third largest membership in the country for any division and the highest number of members for Division III.<ref name="Athletics"/>

The [[Zesiger sports and fitness center]] (Z-Center) which opened in 2002, significantly expanded the capacity and quality of MIT's athletics, physical education, and recreation offerings to 10 buildings and {{convert|26|acre|m2}} of playing fields. The {{convert|124000|sqft|m2|-2|sing=on}} facility features an Olympic-class swimming pool, international-scale squash courts, and a two-story fitness center.<ref name="Athletics"/>

==People==
===Students===
{| style="text-align:center; float: right; margin-left: 2em;" align="center" class="wikitable"
|+ ''Demographics of MIT student body''<ref name="Enrollments"/><ref name="International Students">{{cite web |url=http://web.mit.edu/facts/international.shtml |title=MIT Facts 2008: International Students and Scholars |publisher=MIT |accessdate=2008-07-22}}</ref>
! !! Undergraduate !! Graduate!!U.S. Census<ref>See [[Demographics of the United States]] for references.</ref>
|-
! [[African American]]
| 6.3% || 1.8% || 12.1%
|-
! [[Asian American]]
| 26.4% || 11.7% || 4.3%
|-
! [[Hispanics in the United States|Hispanic American]]
| 11.6% || 2.9% || 14.5%
|-
! [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]]
| 1.3% || 0.3% || 0.9%
|-
! [[International student]]
| 9.2% || 39.3% || (N/A)
|}

MIT enrolled 4,172 undergraduates and 6,048 postgraduate students in the 2007/08 school year.<ref name="Enrollments"/> In 2007, women constituted 44.5 percent of all undergraduates and 30 percent of graduate students. The same year, MIT students represented all 50 states, the [[District of Columbia]], three [[Incorporated territory#Classification of current U.S. territories|U.S. Territories]], and 113 foreign countries.<ref name="Enrollments"/>

The admissions rate for freshmen in 2007 was 11.9% with over 69% of admitted freshmen choosing to enroll. Although graduate admissions are less centralized, they are similarly selective: 19.7% of 16,153 applications were admitted with 61.2% of admitted candidates enrolling.<ref name="Admission">{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/facts/admission.shtml |title=MIT Facts 2008: Admission to MIT |publisher=MIT |accessdate=2008-07-22}}</ref> MIT had a 98% freshman retention rate, with 83% of students graduating in 4 years and 93% in 6 years.<ref name="CN">{{Cite web|url=http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=Massachusetts+Institute+of+Technology&s=all&id=166683 |title=College Navigator: Massachusetts Institute of Technology |accessdate=2008-10-15 |publisher=National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education}}</ref>

Tuition is $37,750 for nine months, although 64% of undergraduates receive need-based financial aid and 87% of graduate students are supported by MIT fellowships, research assistantships, or teaching assistantships.<ref name="Graduate Education">{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/facts/graduate.html |title=MIT Facts 2008: Graduate Education |accessdate=2008-07-22 |publisher=MIT}}</ref><ref name="Tuition">{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/facts/tuition.html |title=MIT Facts 2008: Tuition and Financial Aid |publisher=MIT |accessdate=2008-07-22}}</ref>

MIT has been nominally [[coeducation]]al since admitting [[Ellen Swallow Richards]] in 1870. Richards also became the first female member of MIT's faculty, specializing in [[environmental health|sanitary chemistry]].<ref>{{cite web
|url= http://www.chemheritage.org/classroom/chemach/environment/richards.html |author= Chemical Heritage Foundation |title= Ellen Swallow Richards |year= 2005 |work= Chemical Achievers, The Human Face of Chemical Sciences |accessdate= 2006-11-04}}</ref> Female students remained a very small minority (numbered in dozens) prior to the completion of the first wing of a women's dormitory, [[Katherine Dexter McCormick|McCormick Hall]], in 1963.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=ldq-ZgxszzMC&pg=PA32&lpg=PA32&dq=%22the+woman+at+mit%22&source=web&ots=K4UDoqD3GR&sig=Xr8xe1_uCGW5-YgbkyVM-vRr3u0 |title=MIT Campus Planning 1960-2000 |author=O. Robert Simha |year=2001 |page=32 |publisher=MIT |accessdate=2007-04-09 |quote=In 1959, 158 women were enrolled at MIT.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://alum.mit.edu/ne/noteworthy/news-features/alumnae-ages.html |title=MIT Panel "Alumnae Through the Ages" Reflects on Changes for Women |first=Lauren |last=Clark |accessdate=2007-04-09 |quote=When Drake arrived on campus 50 years ago, she was one of only 16 women in a class of 1,000.}}</ref> Between 1993 and 2006, the number of women undergraduates increased from 34 percent to 47.5% percent, women graduate students increased from 20 percent to 29 percent, and women currently outnumber men in 10 undergraduate majors.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2003/cmv.html |title=Charles Vest to step down from MIT presidency |date=December 5, 2003 |accessdate=2006-06-28 |publisher=MIT News Office}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url= http://www-swiss.ai.mit.edu/~hal/women-enrollment-comm/final-report-ch1.html |title= Chapter 1: Male/Female enrollment patterns in EECS at MIT and other schools |date= January 3 1995 |accessdate= 2006-12-08 |author= EECS Women Undergraduate Enrollment Committee |work = Women Undergraduate Enrollment in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT}}</ref>

A number of student deaths in the late 1990s and early 2000s resulted in considerable media attention to MIT's culture and student life.<ref>{{cite news |last=Healy |first=Patrick |title=11 years, 11 suicides&mdash;Critics Say Spate of MIT Jumping Deaths Show a 'Contagion' |publisher=The Boston Globe |date=February 5, 2001 |pages=A1}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Massachusetts Institute of Technology Looks for Ways to Deal with the INcidence of Student Suicides in Recent Years |publisher=National Public Radio |date=August 29, 2001 |last=Smith |first=Tovia}}</ref> After the alcohol-related death of Scott Krueger in September 1997 as a new member at the [[Phi Gamma Delta]] fraternity,<ref name="Krueger">{{cite news|url=http://chronicle.com/free/v45/i11/11a05701.htm |title= MIT's Inaction Blamed for Contributing to Death of a Freshman |publisher= Chronicle of Higher Education |date=October 6, 1998 |accessdate=2006-10-07}}</ref> MIT began requiring all freshmen to live in the dormitory system.<ref name="Krueger"/><ref>{{cite news|title= Institute Will Pay Kruegers $6M for Role in Death |url=http://www-tech.mit.edu/V120/N42/42krueger.42n.html |accessdate= 2006-10-04 |date=September 15, 2000 |last= Levine |first= Dana |publisher= The Tech}}</ref> The 2000 suicide of MIT undergraduate [[Elizabeth Shin]] drew attention to suicides at MIT and created a controversy over whether MIT had an unusually high suicide rate.<ref name="Shin">{{cite web|url= http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F00EED7113FF93BA15757C0A9649C8B63&sec=health&pagewanted=4 |publisher= New York Times |title= Who Was Responsible for Elizabeth Shin? |date=April 28, 2002 |accessdate= 2006-10-07}}</ref><ref> {{cite news|url=http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/p021001a.html |title= Prevention on Campus |author= Elizabeth Fried Ellen, LICSW |publisher= Psychiatric Times |year= 2002 |accessdate= 2006-06-26}}</ref> In late 2001 a task force's recommended improvements in student [[mental health]] services were implemented,<ref>{{cite news|year= 2001 |url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2001/mhtf-facts.html |publisher= MIT New Office |title= MIT Mental Health Task Force Fact Sheet |date=November 14, 2001 |accessdate= 2006-06-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/03/education/03suicide.html?pagewanted=print&position= |title=Worried Colleges Step Up Efforts Over Suicide |publisher=The New York Times |date=December 3, 2004 |accessdate=2009-01-06 |last=Arenson |first=Karen}}</ref> including expanding staff and operating hours at the mental health center.<ref>{{cite news|url= http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2001/mhtf-1128.html
|publisher= MIT News Office |title= Clay endorses Mental Health Task Force Recommendations |date= November 28, 2001 |accessdate= 2006-06-25}}</ref> These and later cases were significant as well because they sought to prove the negligence and liability of university administrators ''[[in loco parentis]]''.<ref name="Shin"/>

===Faculty===
{{main article|List of Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty}}
[[Image:Ford-MIT Nobel Laureate Lecture Series 2000-09-18.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Institute Professors Emeriti and Nobel Laureates (from left to right) [[Franco Modigliani]] (now deceased), [[Paul Samuelson]], and [[Robert Solow]]]]
MIT has 1008 faculty members, of whom 195 are women and 172 are minorities.<ref name="Faculty and Staff"/> Faculty are responsible for lecturing classes, advising both graduate and undergraduate students, and sitting on academic committees, as well as conducting original research. 25 [[Nobel Prize laureates by university affiliation|MIT faculty members]] have won the [[Nobel Prize]].<ref name="Faculty and Staff"/><ref name="Faculty Awards"/> Among current and former faculty members, there are 51 [[National Medal of Science]] and [[National Medal of Technology|Technology]] recipients, 80 [[Guggenheim Fellow]]s, 6 [[Fulbright Scholar]]s, 29 [[MacArthur Fellow]]s, 5 [[Dirac Medal]] winners, 5 [[Wolf Prize]] winners, and 4 [[Kyoto Prize]] winners.<ref name="Faculty Awards"/> Faculty members who have made extraordinary contributions to their research field as well as the MIT community are granted appointments as [[Institute Professor]]s for the remainder of their tenures.

A 1998 MIT study concluded that a systemic bias against female faculty existed in its college of science,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/fnl/women/women.html |title=A Study on the Status of Women Faculty in Science at MIT |publisher=MIT Faculty News Letter |year=1999}}</ref> although the study's methods were controversial.{{ref_label|g|g|none}} Since the study, women have headed departments within the Schools of Science and Engineering, and MIT has appointed five female vice presidents,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2003/cmv.html |title=Charles Vest to step down from MIT presidency |date=December 5, 2003 |accessdate=2006-06-28 |publisher=MIT News Office}}</ref> although allegations of sexism continue to be made.<ref name="Male Domain">{{cite news|url=http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2007/12/06/tenure_at_mit_still_largely_a_male_domain/ |title=Tenure at MIT Still Largely a Male Domain |last=Wertheimer |first=Linda |publisher=Boston Globe |date=December 6, 2007 |accessdate=2008-07-25}}</ref> [[Susan Hockfield]], a molecular [[neurobiology|neurobiologist]], became MIT's 16th president in 2004 and is the first woman to hold the post.

Tenure outcomes have vaulted MIT into the national spotlight on several occasions. The 1984 dismissal of [[David F. Noble]], a historian of technology, became a ''[[cause celebre]]'' about the extent to which academics are granted [[freedom of speech]] after he published several books and papers critical of MIT's and other research universities' reliance upon financial support from corporations and the military.<ref name="Noble">{{cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE7DF1130F933A2575AC0A960948260&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fOrganizations%2fM%2fMassachusetts%20Institute%20of%20Technology
|title=Professor Sues M.I.T. Over Refusal of Tenure |publisher= The New York Times |date=September 10, 1986 |accessdate=2006-10-03}}</ref> Former materials science professor Gretchen Kalonji sued MIT in 1994 alleging that she was denied tenure because of sexual discrimination.<ref name="Male Domain"/><ref name="Kalonji">{{cite news|title=Ex-MIT professor who was denied tenure files sex bias suit |publisher=The Boston Globe |last=Vaznis |first=James |date=January 15, 1994}}</ref> In 1997, the [[Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination]] issued a probable cause finding supporting James Jennings' allegations of racial discrimination after a senior faculty search committee in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning did not offer him reciprocal tenure.<ref name="Jennings">{{cite news|title=MCAD supports scholar's claim of bias by MIT; University Offered job, but no tenure |date=October 22, 1997 |publisher=The Boston Globe |last=Dowdy |first=Zachary}}</ref> In 2006-2007, MIT's denial of tenure to African-American biological engineering professor [[James Sherley]] reignited accusations of racism in the tenure process, eventually leading to a protracted public dispute with the administration, a brief [[hunger strike]], and the resignation of Professor [[Frank L. Douglas]] in protest.<ref name="Sherley">{{cite web|url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/02/06/professor_accuses_mit_of_racism/|title=Professor accuses MIT of racism |publisher=The Boston Globe |accessdate=2007-12-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/06/04/mit_center_director_resigns_in_protest_of_tenure_decision/|title=MIT center director resigns in protest of tenure decision |publisher=The Boston Globe |accessdate=2007-12-19}}</ref>

MIT faculty members have been often been recruited to lead other colleges and universities; former Provost [[Robert A. Brown]] is President of [[Boston University]], former Provost [[Mark S. Wrighton|Mark Wrighton]] is Chancellor of [[Washington University in St. Louis]], former Associate Provost [[Alice Gast]] is president of [[Lehigh University]], former Dean of the School of Science [[Robert J. Birgeneau]] is the Chancellor of the [[University of California, Berkeley]], and former Professor [[David Baltimore]] was President of [[Caltech]].

===Alumni===
{{main article|List of Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni}}
Many of MIT's over 110,000 alumni and alumnae have had considerable success in scientific research, public service, education, and business. Twenty-six MIT alumni have [[List of Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni#Alumni Nobel laureates|won the Nobel Prize]] and thirty-seven have been selected as [[Rhodes Scholar]]s.<ref> {{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/ir/pop/awards/index.html |title=Awards and Honors |author=MIT Office of Institutional Research |accessdate=2006-11-05}}</ref>

Alumni currently in American politics and public service include [[Chairman of the Federal Reserve]] [[Ben Bernanke]], [[List of United States Senators from New Hampshire|New Hampshire Senator]] [[John E. Sununu]], U.S. [[Secretary of Energy]] [[Samuel Bodman]], [[Massachusetts's 1st congressional district|MA-1]] Representative [[John Olver]], [[California's 13th congressional district|CA-13]] Representative [[Pete Stark]]. MIT alumni in international politics include [[Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs|British Foreign Minister]] [[David Miliband]], former [[U.N. Secretary General]] [[Kofi Annan]], former [[Iraq]]i Deputy Prime Minister [[Ahmed Chalabi]], and former [[Prime Minister of Israel]] [[Benjamin Netanyahu]].

MIT alumni founded or co-founded many notable companies, such as [[Robert Noyce|Intel]], [[James Smith McDonnell|McDonnell]] [[Donald Wills Douglas, Sr.|Douglas]], [[Cecil Howard Green|Texas Instruments]], [[Robert Metcalfe|3Com]], [[Andrew Viterbi|Qualcomm]], [[Amar Bose|Bose]], [[Vannevar Bush|Raytheon]], [[Fred C. Koch|Koch Industries]], [[Willard Rockwell|Rockwell International]], [[Robert A. Swanson|Genentech]], and [[John Thompson Dorrance|Campbell Soup]]. The annual Entrepreneurship Competition has led to the creation of over 85 companies that have, in aggregate, generated 2,500 jobs, received $600 million in [[venture capital]] funding, and have a [[market capitalization]] of over $10 billion.<ref name="MIT 100K">{{cite web|title=MIT 100K: About |url=http://www.mit100k.org/about.php |publisher=MIT |accessdate=2008-06-09}}</ref> A 1997 study claimed that the combined revenues of companies founded by MIT affiliates would make it the twenty-fourth largest economy in the world.<ref>{{cite web |title=MIT: The Impact of Innovation |url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/founders/Founders2.pdf |format=PDF|month=March | year=1997 |author=[[Bank of Boston]] Economics Department |accessdate=2006-10-04}}</ref>

Prominent institutions of higher education have been led by MIT alumni, including the [[David S. Saxon|University of California]] system, [[Lawrence H. Summers|Harvard University]], [[William R. Brody|Johns Hopkins University]], [[Jared Cohon|Carnegie Mellon University]], [[Larry Bacow|Tufts University]], [[Albert J. Simone|Rochester Institute of Technology]], [[Joseph Aoun|Northeastern University]], [[Shirley Jackson (physicist)|Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute]], [[Eugenio Garza Sada|Tecnológico de Monterrey]], [[Martin C. Jischke|Purdue University]], and [[T. Marshall Hahn|Virginia Tech]].

More than one third of the [[List of NASA missions#Human spaceflight|United States' manned spaceflights]] have included [[List of Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni#Alumni astronauts|MIT-educated astronauts]], among them [[Apollo 11]] [[Apollo Lunar Module|Lunar Module]] Pilot [[Buzz Aldrin]], more than any university excluding the [[United States service academies]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/pulse/notable_alumni/ |title=Notable Alumni |accessdate=2006-11-04}} </ref>

Noted alumni in non-scientific fields include [[Doctor Dolittle]] author [[Hugh Lofting]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Children's Books and Their Creators|first=Anita |last=Silvey|isbn=0395653800|year=1995|publisher=Houghton Mifflin |page=415 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=DzV5M07MZigC&pg=RA4-PA415&as_brr=3&ei=a8qLSL6mBqeSjgGmhKDlAQ&sig=ACfU3U3XwE_cy_yetpkalpvM1pxnXQpJTw}}</ref> [[Boston (band)|Boston]] guitarist [[Tom Scholz]], ''[[The New York Times]]'' columnist [[Paul Krugman]], ''[[The Bell Curve]]'' author [[Charles Murray]], [[United States Supreme Court building]] architect [[Cass Gilbert]], and [[Pritzker Prize]]-winning architect [[I.M. Pei]].

<center><gallery>
Image:Aldrin.jpg|[[Apollo 11]] astronaut [[Buzz Aldrin]], ScD '63 (Course XVI)
Image:Kofi Annan.jpg|Former UN Secretary-General [[Kofi Annan]], SM '72 (Course XV)
Image:Ben Bernanke.jpg|Federal Reserve Bank Chairman [[Ben Bernanke]], PhD '79 (Course XIV)
Image:Benjamin Netanyahu.jpg|Former Israeli Prime Minister [[Benjamin Netanyahu]], SB '76 (Course IV), SM '78 (Course XV)
</gallery></center>

==Notes==
<div class=references-small>

:a. {{note_label|a|a|none}} "We examined and discussed many colors. We all desired cardinal red; it has stood for a thousand years on land and sea in England's emblem; it makes one-half of the stripes on America's flag; it has always stirred the heart and mind of man; it stands for 'red blood' and all that 'red blood' stands for in life. But we were not unanimous for the gray; some wanted blue, I recall. But it (the gray) seemed to me to stand for those quiet virtues of modesty and persistency and gentleness, which appealed to my mind as powerful; and I have come to believe, from observation and experience, to really be the most lasting influences in life and history....We recommended 'cardinal and steel gray.'" (Alfred T. Waite, Chairman of School Color Committee, Class of 1879) <ref>{{cite web | title = Symbols: Colors |publisher= MIT Graphic Identity | url = http://web.mit.edu/graphicidentity/symbols/colors.html | accessdate = 2008-06-18}}</ref>
:b. {{note_label|b|b|none}} The other privately-owned Land Grant institution is [[Cornell University]].
:c. {{note_label|c|c|none}} Maclaurin quoted: "in future Harvard agrees to carry out all its work in engineering and mining in the buildings of Technology under the executive control of the president of Technology, and, what is of the first importance, to commit all instruction and the laying down of all courses to the faculty of Technology, after that faculty has been enlarged and strengthened by the addition to its existing members of men of eminence from Harvard's Graduate School of Applied Science."<ref>{{cite news |title=Tech Alumni Holds Reunion. Record attendance, novel features. Cooperative plan with Harvard announced by Pres. Maclaurin. |publisher=Boston Daily Globe |date=January 11, 1914 |page=117}}</ref>
:d. {{note_label|d|d|none}} The University of Massachusetts was founded as the [[University of Massachusetts Amherst#History|Massachusetts Agricultural College]] in 1863.
:e. {{note_label|e|e|none}} The Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST) offers joint MD, MD-PhD, or Medical Engineering degrees in collaboration with [[Harvard Medical School]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hst.mit.edu/servlet/ControllerServlet?handler=PublicHandler&action=browse&pageid=231 |title=Harvard-MIT HST Academics Overview |accessdate=2007-08-05}}</ref>
:f. {{note_label|f|f|none}} Course numbers are traditionally presented in Roman numerals, e.g. Course XVIII for mathematics. Starting in 2002, the Bulletin (MIT's course catalog) started to use [[Arabic numerals]]. Usage outside of the Bulletin varies, both [[Roman numerals|Roman]] and Arabic numerals being used.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/catalogue/degre.intro.shtml |title=MIT Course Catalogue: Degree Programs |publisher=MIT |accessdate=2008-07-16}}</ref>
:g. {{note_label|g|g|none}} In 1995, faculty member [[Nancy Hopkins]] accused MIT of bias against herself and several of her female colleagues. Hopkins, rather than a third party, investigated her own charges and concluded in 1999 concluded there was "subtle yet pervasive" bias against women at MIT, although no instance of intentional discrimination was found. Despite the study's sealed evidence and its lack of peer review, Vest approved "targeted actions" like the creation of 11 committees and 20% salary increases for women faculty.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uaf.edu/northern/mitstudy/ |first=Judith |last=Kleinfeld |title=MIT Tarnishes Its Reputation with Gender Junk Science |accessdate=2007-04-10}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/nr_comment/nr_comment041001b.shtml |title=Feminist Mythology |first=Kathryn Jean |last=Lopez |date=April 10, 2001 |publisher=National Review |accessdate=2007-04-10}}</ref>
:h. {{note_label|h|h|none}} Although some statistics suggest that MIT pre-medical or pre-law students have lower average [[grade point average]]s than graduates from peer schools with the same [[standardized test]] scores,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/career/www/infostats/preprof.html |title=Preprofessional Stats |publisher=MIT Careers Office |accessdate=2008-07-28}}</ref> a Princeton University study cites MIT granting as many "A"s as [[Ivy League]]-level colleges.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5626583/site/newsweek/ |title=Grade Deflation |month=August | year=2004 |accessdate=2007-01-02 |publisher=Newsweek}}</ref>
:i. {{note_label|i|i|none}} MIT's Building 7 and Harvard's Johnston Gate, the traditional entrances to each school, are {{convert|1.72|mi|km|2}} apart along [[Massachusetts Avenue (Boston)|Massachusetts Avenue]].
:j. {{note_label|j|j|none}} [[Vannevar Bush]] was the director of the [[Office of Scientific Research and Development]] and general advisor to [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and [[Harry Truman]], [[James Rhyne Killian]] was Special Assistant for Science and Technology for [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], and [[Jerome Wiesner]] advised [[John F. Kennedy]] and [[Lyndon Johnson]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2001/ostpside-0502.html |title=Nearly half of all US Presidential science advisers have had ties to the Institute |publisher=MIT News Office |date=May 2, 2001 |accessdate=2007-03-18}}</ref>
:k. {{note_label|k|k|none}} The friezes of the marble-clad buildings surrounding Killian Court are carved in large Roman letters with the names of [[Aristotle]], [[Isaac Newton|Newton]], [[Benjamin Franklin|Franklin]], [[Louis Pasteur|Pasteur]], [[Antoine Lavoisier|Lavoisier]], [[Michael Faraday|Faraday]], [[Archimedes]], [[Leonardo da Vinci|da Vinci]], [[Charles Darwin|Darwin]], and [[Copernicus]]; each of these names is surmounted by a cluster of appropriately related names in smaller letters. Lavoisier, for example, is placed in the company of [[Robert Boyle|Boyle]], [[Henry Cavendish|Cavendish]], [[Joseph Priestley|Priestley]], [[John Dalton|Dalton]], [[Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac|Gay Lussac]], [[Jöns Jakob Berzelius|Berzelius]], [[Friedrich Wöhler|Woehler]], [[Justus von Liebig|Liebig]], [[Robert Bunsen|Bunsen]], [[Dmitri Mendeleev|Mendelejeff]] [sic], [[Sir William Henry Perkin|Perkin]], and [[Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff|van't Hoff]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/exhibits/names/index.html |title=Names of MIT Buildings |publisher=MIT Archives |accessdate=2007-04-10}}</ref>
</div>

==Footnotes==
{{reflist|2}}

==References==
:''See the [http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/bibliographies/mithistory-sources/index.html bibliography] maintained by MIT's [http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/ Institute Archives & Special Collections]

*{{cite book | first=Stuart W.| last=Leslie| title=The Cold War and American Science: The Military-Industrial-Academic Complex at MIT and Stanford | year=1994| publisher=Columbia University Press | isbn=0-231-07959-1}}
*{{cite book | first=William J.| last=Mitchell| title=Imagining MIT: Designing a Campus for the Twenty-First Century | year=2007 | publisher=[[The MIT Press]] | isbn=978-0-262-13479-8}}
*{{cite book | first=Benson R. | last=Snyder| title=The Hidden Curriculum | year=1973 | publisher=[[The MIT Press]] | isbn=978-0-262-69043-0}}
*{{cite book | first=T. F. | last=Peterson| title=Nightwork: A History of Hacks and Pranks at MIT | year=2003 | publisher=[[The MIT Press]] | isbn=978-0-262-66137-9}}
*{{cite book | first=Julius Adams|last=Stratton| authorlink=Julius Adams Stratton|coauthors=Loretta H. Mannix|title=Mind and Hand: The Birth of MIT | year=2005| publisher=[[The MIT Press]] | isbn=978-0-262-19524-9}}
*{{cite book | first=Samuel C.|last=Prescott| authorlink=Samuel Cate Prescott|title=When M.I.T. Was "Boston Tech", 1861-1916 | year=1954| publisher=Technology Press | isbn=978-0-262-66139-3}}
*{{cite book | first=Mark | last=Jarzombek| authorlink=Mark Jarzombek|title=Designing MIT: Bosworth's New Tech | year=2003 | publisher=Northeastern University Press | isbn=1-55553-619-0}}
*{{cite book | first=O. Robert| last=Simha| title=MIT Campus Planning,: An Annotated Chronology| year=2003 | publisher=[[The MIT Press]] | isbn=978-0-262-69294-6}}

==External links==
{{commons|Massachusetts Institute of Technology}}
*[http://web.mit.edu/ Official MIT Website]
*[http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/exhibits/maps/ Early Maps of both the Boston and Cambridge Campuses]
*[http://ocw.mit.edu/ MIT OpenCourseWare] - Free online publication of nearly all MIT course materials
*[http://whereis.mit.edu/map-jpg MIT Maps]

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[[zh:麻省理工学院]]

Revision as of 12:17, 8 January 2009

    
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