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Student evaluations of teaching (SETs) are a prevalent method for gauging teaching effectiveness, significantly influencing decisions on promotion, tenure, contract renewal, and merit-based pay. However, increasing research indicates that SETs often capture students’ perceptions and emotions rather than the actual quality of course design or instructional effectiveness, raising doubts about their objectivity as measures of…

Have you recently been tasked with evaluating a resume or guiding students in resume preparation? When was the last time you refreshed your own resume? The term “résumé” comes from the French word “résumer,” which means “to summarize” (Burdick, 2023). This document can be crucial for securing an interview or passing up a chance. Although…

At a gathering of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on May 5, 2026, a tribute to Akira Iriye was recorded in their permanent records. Iriye, born on October 20, 1934, passed away on January 27, 2026, at 91. A significant figure in the field of 20th-century international history, Iriye, a Charles Warren Professor of…

Martin Karplus, the Theodore William Richards Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus, at Harvard University, passed away on December 29, 2024, at 94. A Nobel Laureate in Chemistry in 2013, his pioneering work in computational modeling advanced the understanding of molecular systems across chemistry, physics, and biology. His career spanned over half a century and included nearly…

A tribute to Dennis Frank Thompson, aged 84, was officially recorded by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on May 5, 2026. Thompson, who passed away on March 30, 2025, was born on May 12, 1940, in Hamilton, Ohio. He was the first in his family to attend university, graduating summa cum laude from the…

For around 60 years, immigrant doctors have played a crucial role in supporting healthcare in underserved urban and rural areas of the U.S., amid a shortage of primary care providers and the growth of government medical programs. Eram Alam explored this in her 2025 book “The Care of Foreigners: How Immigrant Physicians Changed U.S. Healthcare,”…

A study reveals that suicide rates among young adults and teens dropped following the federal agency’s simplification of the national crisis hotline phone number and an increase in resources. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, managed by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, replaced the previous 1-800-273-Talk number in 2022. This change…

Cognitive scientists Earl K. Miller from MIT and Lisa Feldman Barrett from Northeastern University argue that categorization is an intrinsic predictive mechanism the brain employs to address sensory overload efficiently. Their article in Nature Reviews Neuroscience questions longstanding beliefs about how the brain processes sensory information. Categories, defined as groups of similar items, are traditionally…

Lidar technology utilizes infrared light pulses to gauge distance and create detailed 3D maps, enabling self-driving cars to swiftly respond to obstacles. However, traditional lidar sensors are costly and cumbersome, with numerous moving parts that wear down over time, restricting their deployment. MIT researchers have introduced a breakthrough that could lead to the development of…

While automation and AI are often thought to broadly replace jobs, an MIT economist’s study highlights distinct patterns in the U.S. since 1980. Rather than maximizing productivity, companies have frequently used automation to target workers with a “wage premium,” those earning more than peers with similar qualifications. This has predominantly impacted non-college-educated workers who had…