Computer science and technology

Department snapshot: Electrical Engineering and Computer ScienceEECS places renewed emphasis on interdisciplinary research, partnerships with alumni and industry, and experiential learning.

‘Rising Stars in EECS’ convene at MIT

Speeding algorithms by shrinking dataA new approach to processing ‘big data’ creates succinct representations of huge data sets, so that existing algorithms can handle them efficiently.

Dropbox CEO Drew Houston will be MIT’s 2013 Commencement speakerMIT alumnus and co-founder of popular file-transfer service will address the Class of 2013 on June 7.

It pays to cooperateYeast cells that share food have a survival edge over their freeloading neighbors — particularly when there is bacterial competition.

Zue awarded Okawa PrizeHonored for work in speech science and spoken-language systems

EECS celebrates the launch of SuperUROP

Predicting what topics will trend on TwitterA new algorithm predicts which Twitter topics will trend hours in advance and offers a new technique for analyzing data that fluctuate over time.

Mining physicians’ notes for medical insightsA new approach to algorithmically distinguishing words with multiple possible meanings could help find useful data in electronic medical records.

MIT's CSAIL launches new center to tackle the future of wireless and mobile technologiesWill address major technical challenges facing wireless field, bring together academia and industry

A novel ultracapacitorEnergy when and where you need it.

Probing the mysteries of cracks and stressesAnalysis of molecular-level fracture and stress mechanisms could have broad implications for understanding materials’ behavior.

Deciphering the language of transcription factorsA new method identifies the precise binding sites of transcription factors — proteins that regulate the production of other proteins — with 10 times the accuracy of its predecessors.

Researchers identify biochemical functions for most of the human genomeNew map provides a reference for interpreting function of disease-associated regions.

Mapping neurological diseaseNew algorithm can analyze information from medical images to identify diseased areas of the brain and connections with other regions.

Connoisseur of chaosWhere other roboticists try to suppress the complex dynamics of mechanical systems, Russ Tedrake exploits them, to make control more efficient and versatile.

Making crowdsourcing easierA new system for crowdsourcing database operations spares the user from worrying about the computational details but improves cost effectiveness.

New nanoparticles shrink tumors in miceParticles that shut off cancer genes could also allow researchers to screen potential drug targets more rapidly.

New router enhances the precision of woodworkingHandheld device precisely follows a digital plan with minimal guidance from a user.

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

UC Berkeley joins edXUC Berkeley joins Harvard and MIT not-for-profit online-learning collaborative; edX broadens free course offerings into public health, computer science and solid-state chemistry; opens registration

Research update: Chips with self-assembling rectanglesNew technique allows production of complex microchip structures in one self-assembling step.

Berger named ISCB fellowApplied mathematics, computer science professor honored for contributions in computational biology and bioinformatics.

Searching genomic data fasterBiologists’ capacity for generating genomic data is increasing more rapidly than computing power. A new algorithm will help them keep up.

IEEE honors MIT milestones in computing and navigationWorld’s first real-time digital computer and electronic navigation system are commemorated in Boston.

Communication scheme makes popular applications ‘gracefully mobile’New MIT software keeps tens of thousands of people logged into remote computers from mobile devices, but the underlying technology could improve a host of other programs.

New technique allows simulation of noncrystalline materialsMultidisciplinary team develops mathematical approach that could help in simulating materials for solar cells and LEDs.

Aircraft engineered with failure in mind may last longerNew design approach tailors planes to fly in the face of likely failures.