In a wide-ranging live conversation, MIT President Sally Kornbluth joined Jim Braude and Margery Eagan live in studio for GBH’s Boston Public Radio on Thursday, February 5. They talked about MIT, the pressures facing America’s research enterprise, the importance of science, that Congressional hearing on antisemitism in 2023, and more – including Sally’s experience as a Type 1 diabetic.
Reflecting on how research and innovation in the treatment of diabetes has advanced over decades of work, leading to markedly better patient care, Kornbluth exclaims: “This is science!”
With new financial pressures facing universities, increased competition for talented students and scholars from outside the U.S., as well as unprecedented pressures on university leaders and campuses, co-host Eagan asks Kornbluth what she thinks will happen in years to come.
“For us, one of the hardest things now is the endowment tax,” remarks Kornbluth. “That is $240 million a year. Think about how much science you can get for $240 million a year. Are we managing it? Yes. Are we still forging ahead on all of our exciting initiatives? Yes. But we’ve had to reconfigure things. We’ve had to merge things. And it’s not the way we should be spending our time and money.”
Watch and listen to the full episode on YouTube. President Kornbluth appears one hour and seven minutes into the broadcast.
Following Kornbluth’s appearance, MIT Assistant Professor John Urschel – also a former offensive lineman for the Baltimore Ravens – joined Edgar B. Herwick III, host of GBH’s newest show, The Curiosity Desk, to talk about his love of his family, linear algebra, and football.
On how he eventually chose math over football, Urschel quips: “Well, I hate to break it to you, I like math better… let me tell you, when I started my PhD at MIT, I just fell in love with the place. I fell in love with this idea of being in this environment [where] everyone loves math, everyone wants to learn. I was just constantly excited every day showing up.”
Prof. Urschel appears about 2 hours and 40 minutes into the webcast on YouTube.
Coming up on Curiosity Desk later this month…
Airing weekday afternoons from 1-2 p.m., The Curiosity Desk will welcome additional MIT guests in the coming weeks. On Thursday, Feb. 12 Anette “Peko” Hosoi, Pappalardo Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Jerry Lu MFin ’24, a former researcher at the MIT Sports Lab, visit The Curiosity Desk to discuss their work using AI to help Olympic figure skaters improve their jumps.
Then, on Thursday, Feb. 19, Professors Sangeeta Bhatia and Angela Belcher talk with Herwick about their research to improve diagnostics for ovarian cancer. We learn that about 80% of the time ovarian cancer starts in the fallopian tubes and how this points the way to a whole new approach to diagnosing and treating the disease.
