2025 Investiture Information

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May 05, 2025   |   by Betsy Vereckey

Alumni Portrait: Jim Becker '69 Th'70 Tu'75 Th'76

Jim Becker is the CEO of LightHawk, a nonprofit that helps to advance conservation efforts through the perspective of flight.

MIT Sloan Management Review

Apr 10, 2025

How to Structure a B2B Marketplace Venture

Professor Geoff Parker co-authored this piece about how companies preparing to launch platform-based marketplaces must think through the implications of organizational and governance choices.

Science News

Apr 09, 2025

New Computer Chips Do Math With Light

Professor Anthony Rizzo is quoted in an article about the development of new computer chips that use laser light to process information. The processors could soon solve specific real-world problems faster and with lower energy requirements than conventional computers. Rizzo noted that these devices have shown that light-based, or photonic, components "can do things that we care about, and that they can do them better than electronic chips that we already have."

El Mundo America

Apr 04, 2025

They create a pacemaker smaller than a grain of rice, disposable, and activated by light

Professor Wei Ouyang is mentioned as one of the researchers on a Northwestern University-developed prototype of the smallest pacemaker in the world, that can be inserted with a syringe and dissolves when it is no longer needed. Its size is very suitable for babies with heart defects.

Forbes

Mar 29, 2025

Active Pixel Sensors Came From NASA

The technology pioneered by Professor Eric Fossum, Director of the PhD Innovation program, is featured in a story about the active pixel sensor built into smartphone systems. The CMOS sensor was originally developed by Fossum at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in 1993.

Research Quick Takes

Clement Nyanhongo

May 01, 2025

Understanding AI Behavior

PhD students Clement Nyanhongo '17 Th'18 and Bruno Miranda Henrique, and Professor Gene Santos co-authored "Reward Distance Comparisons Under Transition Sparsity" published in Transactions on Machine Learning Research. "Traditional reward comparison methods rely on behavioral simulations, which can be costly and pose safety risks. Our method is specifically designed to operate in more realistic and practical settings, recognizing real-world constraints, and outperforms existing approaches across a range of domains," says Santos.

Hixon Lab members in Chicago

Apr 24, 2025

Tissue Engineering on Display

The Hixon Lab had a strong showing at the Society for Biomaterials 50th Annual Meeting & Exposition in Chicago earlier this month. PhD student Amritha Anup Th'23, MS-MD student Jewelia Durant, Jack Flaggert '26, Daniel Kang '25, Kristine Suritis '25, and Kate Wasacz '25all presented posters showcasing their work, and Emma Kerimo '25 was invited to deliver an oral presentation.

Journal of Clinical Lipidology

Apr 24, 2025

Machine Learning + Human Expertise

Professors Vikrant Vaze and Peter Chin are co-authors of "Implementation of a Machine Learning Model and Direct-to-Patient Outreach Program for Targeted Screening for Familial Hypercholesterolemia​​​​​​​" published in Journal of Clinical Lipidology. "Machine learning by itself may not make a big difference," says Vaze. "The difference is what you do with the results. Ultimately, the combination of expert knowledge and careful operationalizing of machine learning can make a major practical impact."