Aeronautical and astronautical engineering

How computers can learn betterWith a recently released programming framework, researchers show that a new machine-learning algorithm outperforms its predecessors.

Planes, trains and automobiles: faster, stronger, lighterNew technique advances carbon-fiber composites.

MIT Global Founders’ Skills Accelerator announces 2013 student teamsStartup accelerator includes eight MIT student teams as well as teams from six international universities.

Saurabh Amin to be chief scientist on multi-institutional NSF grantProject aims to improve security and operations of civil and environmental engineering structures and systems

New research could let vehicles, robots collaborate with humansResearchers are developing systems that can analyze people’s needs to determine the best way to achieve their goals.

Professor emeritus Harold Wachman dies at 85Wachman chaired AeroAstro grad program

A mighty windThrusters powered by ionic wind may be an efficient alternative to conventional atmospheric propulsion technologies.

New rankings acclaim MIT’s graduate programs in engineering, businessMIT leads in seven engineering disciplines and three business fields, says U.S. News & World Report.

How numbers can reveal hidden truths about sportsMIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference brings professionals and statistics-savvy fans together to study the games people play.

Humans and robots work better together following cross-trainingSwapping of roles improves efficiency as well as robots’ confidence and humans’ trust.

MIT engineers elected to national academyThree engineers are among this year’s 69 new National Academy of Engineering members.

Daniel Hastings to step down as dean for undergraduate educationFollowing seven years of administrative leadership, Hastings will return to the MIT faculty.

AIAA honors David Mindell for ‘Digital Apollo’MIT professor’s book earns Gardner-Lasser Aerospace History Literature Award.

All that is solid melts into air: Tomás Saraceno visits MITCAST visiting artist creates inflatable and airborne biospheres: speculative models for alternate ways of living.

Driving drones can be a dragStudy shows distractions may alleviate boredom and improve drone operators’ performance.

Paintballs may deflect an incoming asteroidWith 20 years’ notice, paint pellets could cause an asteroid to veer off course.

Researchers examine health impacts of more U.K. runwaysStudy: An expanded Heathrow Airport would lead to 100 more pollution-related early deaths annually in the U.K. by 2030.

MIT alums recount their Martian experiencesSeveral AeroAstro alumni return to campus to describe landing the Curiosity rover on Mars.

Department snapshot: Aeronautics and AstronauticsAeroAstro takes off in new directions — prompting a 50 percent spike in new undergraduate enrollments.

Open Education on the Move: An Interview with Vijay KumarDirector of MIT's Office of Educational Innovation and Technology (OEIT) discusses some of the key concepts propelling the open education movement.

Inauguration festivities off to a stimulating startInnovation symposium touches on a dizzying array of topics, with themes of interdisciplinary collaboration, energy and innovation for the developing world.

NASA-JPL director Charles Elachi talks about latest Mars missionCuriosity is the most ambitious planetary rover mission ever, but it’s just one of the many exploratory projects JPL is undertaking.

MIT's Man Vehicle Laboratory turns 50Celebrating anniversary with daylong symposium on Sept. 14

MIT-developed ‘microthrusters’ could propel small satellitesAs small as a penny, these thrusters run on jets of ion beams.

Research update: SPHERES to get powerful magnets and gogglesNew wireless power and camera setups will expand the mini-satellites’ vision and navigation capabilities.

New aircraft capable of fast, accurate and repeatable flightCSAIL's Robot Locomotion Group unveils new computer-controlled aircraft that can perform knife-edge turns.

AeroAstro’s Greitzer to receive Baker Teaching Award