#MIT Instrumentation Laboratory

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

COMPUTER-SOFTWARE ENGINEERING RISING IN THE AMERICAN SPACE PROGRAM.

PIC INFO: Spotlight on American computer programmer Margaret Hamilton (b. 1936), at the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, during her time as lead flight software engineer for the Apollo space mission, c. 1969.

MINI-BIO: "She and her team wrote the code for the inflight software of the spacecraft, and her work contributed to the safe landing of Apollo 11 on the moon in 1969."

Sources: www.thenation.com/article/archive/peoples-history-of-personal-computing-joy-lisi-rankin-review-silicon-valley-bros & X.

[blondebrainpowered]

Margaret Hamilton is shown standing beside listings of the software developed by her and the team she was in charge of, the LM [lunar module] and CM [command module] on-board flight software team.

According to Hamilton, this now-iconic image (at left, above) was taken at MIT in 1969 by a staff photographer for the Instrumentation Laboratory — later named the Draper Laboratory and today an independent organization — for use in promotion of the lab’s work on the Apollo project.

[mindblowingscience]

MIT physicists and colleagues report new insights into exotic particles key to a form of magnetism that has attracted growing interest because it originates from ultrathin materials only a few atomic layers thick. The work, which could impact future electronics and more, also establishes a new way to study these particles through a powerful instrument at the National Synchrotron Light Source II at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Among their discoveries, the team has identified the microscopic origin of these particles, known as excitons. They showed how they can be controlled by chemically "tuning" the material, which is primarily composed of nickel. Further, they found that the excitons propagate throughout the bulk material instead of being bound to the nickel atoms.

Continue Reading.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Rocks collected on Mars hold key to water and perhaps life on the planet. Bring them back to Earth.

Only Earth-based analysis of sediments gathered by rover can retrieve clues to Mars' water history

Over the course of nearly five months in 2022, NASA's Perseverance rover collected rock samples from Mars that could rewrite the history of water on the Red Planet and even contain evidence for past life on Mars.

But the information they contain can't be extracted without more detailed analysis on Earth, which requires a new mission to the planet to retrieve the samples and bring them back. Scientists hope to have the samples on Earth by 2033, though NASA's sample return mission may be delayed.

"These samples are the reason why our mission was flown," said paper co-author David Shuster, professor of earth and planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley, and a member of NASA’s science team for sample collection. "This is exactly what everyone was hoping to accomplish. And we've accomplished it. These are what we went looking for."

The critical importance of these rocks, sampled from river deposits in a dried-up lake that once filled a crater called Jezero, is detailed in a study to be published Aug. 14 in AGU Advances, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.

"These are the first and only sedimentary rocks that have been studied and collected from a planet other than Earth," said paper co-author David Shuster, professor of earth and planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley, and a member of NASA’s science team for sample collection. "Sedimentary rocks are important because they were transported by water, deposited into a standing body of water and subsequently modified by chemistry that involved liquid water on the surface of Mars at some point in the past. The whole reason that we came to Jezero was to study this sort of rock type. These are absolutely fantastic samples for the overarching objectives of the mission."

Shuster is co-author of the paper with first author Tanja Bosak, a geobiologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge.

"These rock cores are likely the oldest materials sampled from any known environment that may have supported life," Bosak said. "When we bring them back to Earth, they can tell us so much about when, why and for how long Mars contained liquid water, and whether some organic, prebiotic and potentially even biological evolution may have taken place on that planet."

Significantly, some of the samples contain very fine-grained sediments that are the most likely type of rock to retain evidence of past microbial life on Mars — if there ever was or is life on the planet.

"Liquid water is a key element in all of this because it is the key ingredient for biological activity, as far as we understand it," said Shuster, a geochemist. "Fine-grained sedimentary rocks on Earth are those that are most likely to preserve signatures of past biological activity, including organic molecules. That's why these samples are so important."

NASA announced on July 25 that Perseverance had collected new rock samples from an outcrop named Cheyava Falls that also might contain signs of past life on Mars. The rover's scientific instruments detected evidence of organic molecules, while "leopard spot" inclusions in the rocks are similar to features that on Earth are often associated with fossilized microbial life.

In a statement, Ken Farley, Perseverance project scientist at Caltech, said, “Scientifically, Perseverance has nothing more to give. To fully understand what really happened in that Martian river valley at Jezero crater billions of years ago, we’d want to bring the Cheyava Falls sample back to Earth, so it can be studied with the powerful instruments available in laboratories.”

Sediments hold the answers

Shuster noted that Jezero and the fan of sediments left behind by the river that once flowed into it likely formed 3.5 billion years ago. That abundant water is now gone, either trapped underground or lost to space. But Mars was wet at a time when life on Earth — in the form of microbes — was already everywhere.

"Life was doing its thing on Earth at that point in time, 3.5 billion years ago," he said. "The basic question is: Was life also doing its thing on Mars at that point in time?"

"Anywhere on Earth over the last 3.5 billion years, if you give me the scenario of a river flowing into a crater transporting materials to a standing body of water, biology would have taken hold there and left its mark, in one way or another," Shuster said. "And in the fine-grained sediment, specifically, we would have a very good chance of recording that biology in the laboratory observations that we can make on that material on Earth."

Shuster and Bosak acknowledge that the organic analysis equipment aboard the rover did not detect organic molecules in the four samples from the sedimentary fan. Organic molecules are used and produced by the type of life we're familiar with on Earth, though their presence is not unequivocal evidence of life.

"We did not clearly observe organic compounds in these key samples," Shuster said. "But just because that instrument did not detect organic compounds does not mean that they are not in these samples. It just means they weren't at a concentration detectable by the rover instrumentation in those particular rocks."

To date, Perseverance has collected a total of 25 samples, including duplicates and atmospheric samples, plus three "witness tubes" that capture possible contaminants around the rover. Eight duplicate rock samples plus an atmospheric sample and witness tube were deposited in the so-called Three Forks cache on the surface of Jezero as a backup in case the rover suffers problems and the onboard samples can't be retrieved. The other 15 samples — including the Cheyava Falls sample collected July 21 — remain aboard the rover awaiting recovery.

Shuster was part of a team that analyzed the first eight rock samples collected, two from each site on the crater floor, all of which were igneous rocks likely created when a meteor impact smashed into the surface and excavated the crater. Those results were reported in a 2023 paper, based on analyses by the instruments aboard Perseverance.

The new paper is an analysis of seven more samples, three of them duplicates now cached on Mars' surface, collected between July 7 and November 29 of 2022 from the front of the western sediment fan in Jezero. Bosak, Shuster and their colleagues found the rocks to be composed mostly of sandstone and mudstone, all created by fluvial processes.

"Perseverance encountered aqueously deposited sedimentary rocks at the front, top and margin of the western Jezero fan and collected a sample suite composed of eight carbonate-bearing sandstones, a sulfate-rich mudstone, a sulfate-rich sandstone, a sand-pebble conglomerate," Bosak said. "The rocks collected at the fan front are the oldest, whereas the rocks collected at the fan top are likely the youngest rocks produced during aqueous activity and sediment deposition in the western fan."

While Bosak is most interested in possible biosignatures in the fine-grained sediments, the coarse-grained sediments also contain key information about water on Mars, Shuster said. Though less likely to preserve organic matter or potential biological materials, they contain carbonate materials and detritus washed from upstream by the now-vanished river. They thus could help determine when water actually flowed on Mars, the main emphasis of Shuster's own research.

"With lab analysis of those detrital minerals, we could make quantitative statements about when the sediments were deposited and the chemistry of that water. What was the pH (acidity) of that water when those secondary phases precipitated? At what point in time was that chemical alteration taking place?" he said. "We have this combination of samples now in the sample suite that are going to enable us to understand the environmental conditions when the liquid water was flowing into the crater. When was that liquid water flowing into the crater? Was it intermittent?"

Answers to these questions rely upon analyses of the returned materials in terrestrial laboratories to uncover the organic, isotopic, chemical, morphological, geochronological and paleomagnetic information they record, the researchers emphasized.

"One of the most important planetary science objectives is to bring these samples back," Shuster said.

TOP IMAGE: Red hexagons mark the four sites where the Perseverance rover collected rock samples around the sediment fan in Jezero crater in 2022. Credit NASA

LOWER IMAGE: NASA’s Perseverance rover puts its robotic arm to work around a rocky outcrop called “Skinner Ridge” in Mars’ Jezero Crater. Composed of multiple images, this mosaic shows layered sedimentary rocks in the face of a cliff in the delta, as well as one of the locations where the rover abraded a circular patch to analyze a rock’s composition. Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

[sarkariresultdude]

Madras Institute of Technology: Excellence in Academics and Result Analysis

 The Madras Institute of Technology (MIT), positioned in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, is certainly one of India's most excellent engineering establishments. Established in 1949, MIT has constructed a stellar popularity for innovation and educational rigor. The institute has produced splendid alumni, consisting of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, India's former President and a celebrated aerospace scientist. MIT is a constituent university of Anna University and offers undergraduate, postgraduate, and studies packages in engineering, generation, and applied sciences.

Madras Institute Technology Result

One of the important thing aspects that outline MIT is its emphasis on high academic standards. Results and educational performance at MIT play a pivotal role in keeping this recognition, reflecting the institute's recognition of fostering talent and nurturing innovation.

Academic Programs at MIT

Before delving into the results, it is important to understand the instructional packages that MIT gives. The institute specializes in engineering disciplines which include:

Aeronautical Engineering

Electronics and Communication Engineering

Computer Science and Engineering

Mechanical Engineering

Automobile Engineering

Instrumentation Engineering

Production Technology

MIT also gives applications in contemporary domains like Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, and Robotics, ensuring that scholars are equipped to address contemporary demanding situations in technological know-how and era.

Academic Structure and Examination Process

MIT follows a semester-based totally academic calendar, with two foremost terms: the atypical semester (July–November) and the even semester (January–May). Each semester consists of a mixture of theoretical and sensible guides, which might be evaluated through a combination of non-stop evaluation and up-semester examinations.

Continuous Assessment:

Assignments, quizzes, and mid-time period tests contribute to the inner assessment marks.

Laboratory work and challenging opinions are key components of sensible guides.

Internal exams generally account for forty–50% of the entire marks.

End-Semester Examinations:

Conducted under Anna University’s pointers, those tests compare students' know-how of the whole syllabus.

The exams usually span two weeks, overlaying all enrolled courses.

A minimum pass percentage is required in each inner and external test.

Result Declaration Process

The end result declaration technique at MIT is a systematic and transparent manner aimed toward ensuring accuracy and fairness. The key steps involved include:

Evaluation and Grading

Answer scripts from the cease-semester examinations are evaluated by experienced faculty individuals under strict supervision.

Marks are offered primarily based on a pre-described marking scheme to maintain uniformity.

Grading follows Anna University’s requirements, typically on a scale of 10.

 Internal Moderation    

Before finalizing effects, moderation committees evaluate borderline cases and cope with discrepancies.

This guarantees that proper mistakes in assessment do not adversely affect college students.

 Publication of Results

Results are posted online at the respectable Anna University portal. Students can access their grades using their registration numbers.

Results encompass details along with direction-sensible grades, overall credits earned, and the Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA).

Revaluation and Supplementary Exams

Students upset with their outcomes can apply for revaluation or photocopies of their solution scripts.

Supplementary checks are carried out for college kids who fail to clear certain guides, enabling them to progress without losing a year.

Factors Affecting Results at MIT

Academic achievement at MIT depends on numerous factors:

Rigorous Curriculum:

The difficult syllabus needs constant attempt from college students.

Courses emphasize not only theoretical expertise but also sensible hassle-fixing.

Student Resources:

MIT offers sizeable resources, which include advanced laboratories, study facilities, and a properly-stocked library, which support educational excellence.

Regular workshops and seminars keep college students up to date on enterprise developments.

Faculty Expertise:

The institute boasts fairly certified faculty participants who guide college students via their educational adventures.

Faculty mentoring ensures students acquire customized feedback to enhance their overall performance.

Peer Competition:

The competitive surroundings at MIT pushes college students to attempt for excellence.

Group projects and collaborative studying foster teamwork and innovation.

Notable Trends in MIT Results

Over the years, sure tendencies have emerged in MIT's instructional effects:

High Pass Percentage:

Due to rigorous practise and the supply of assets, MIT commonly facts a excessive bypass percentage across disciplines.

Consistent Toppers:

Students from MIT regularly stable pinnacle rank in Anna University’s consolidated outcomes, reflecting the institute’s instructional nice.

Focus on Core and Emerging Areas:

Students excel in core engineering disciplines while also reaching commendable outcomes in new-age fields like AI and IoT.

Challenges inside the Result Process

Despite its sturdy device, some challenges from time to time arise up in MIT’s result declaration procedure:

Revaluation Delays:

The revaluation system now and again reports delays due to the high extent of packages, causing tension among college students.

Technical Glitches:

The online end result portal may additionally face technical troubles at some point of top traffic intervals, mainly due to accessibility worries.

Exam Stress:

The rigorous educational surroundings can result in stress among college students, impacting their performance.

Initiatives for Improvement

MIT constantly works to beautify its end-result procedure through numerous projects:

Digital Solutions:

The adoption of AI-pushed assessment tools guarantees faster and more correct consequences.

Online portals are being upgraded to deal with better visitor volumes.

Student Counseling:

Regular counseling sessions assist college students deal with exam strain and consciousness of their strengths.

Enhanced Feedback Mechanisms:

Faculty provide certain comments on internal assessments, helping college students cope with their weaknesses before the very last assessments.

[jcmarchi]

Francis Fan Lee, former professor and interdisciplinary speech processing inventor, dies at 96

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/francis-fan-lee-former-professor-and-interdisciplinary-speech-processing-inventor-dies-at-96/

Francis Fan Lee, former professor and interdisciplinary speech processing inventor, dies at 96

Francis Fan Lee ’50, SM ’51, PhD ’66, a former professor of MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, died on Jan. 12, some two weeks shy of his 97th birthday.

Born in 1927 in Nanjing, China, to professors Li Rumian and Zhou Huizhan, Lee learned English from his father, a faculty member in the Department of English at the University of Wuhan. Lee’s mastery of the language led to an interpreter position at the U.S. Office of Strategic Services, and eventually a passport and permission from the Chinese government to study in the United States. 

Lee left China via steamship in 1948 to pursue his undergraduate education at MIT. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering in 1950 and 1951, respectively, before going into industry. Around this time, he became reacquainted with a friend he’d known in China, who had since emigrated; he married Teresa Jen Lee, and the two welcomed children Franklin, Elizabeth, Gloria, and Roberta over the next decade. 

During his 10-year industrial career, Lee distinguished himself in roles at Ultrasonic (where he worked on instrument type servomechanisms, circuit design, and a missile simulator), RCA Camden (where he worked on an experimental time-shared digital processor for department store point-of-sale interactions), and UNIVAC Corp. (where he held a variety of roles, culminating in a stint in Philadelphia, planning next-generation computing systems.)

Lee returned to MIT to earn his PhD in 1966, after which he joined the then-Department of Electrical Engineering as an associate professor with tenure, affiliated with the Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE). There, he pursued the subject of his doctoral research: the development of a machine that would read printed text out loud — a tremendously ambitious and complex goal for the time.

Work on the “RLE reading machine,” as it was called, was inherently interdisciplinary, and Lee drew upon the influences of multiple contemporaries, including linguists Morris Halle and Noam Chomsky, and engineer Kenneth Stevens, whose quantal theory of speech production and recognition broke down human speech into discrete, and limited, combinations of sound. One of Lee’s greatest contributions to the machine, which he co-built with Donald Troxel, was a clever and efficient storage system that used root words, prefixes, and suffixes to make the real-time synthesis of half-a-million English words possible, while only requiring about 32,000 words’ worth of storage. The solution was emblematic of Lee’s creative approach to solving complex research problems, an approach which earned him respect and admiration from his colleagues and contemporaries.

In reflection of Lee’s remarkable accomplishments in both industry and building the reading machine, he was promoted to full professor in 1969, just three years after he earned his PhD. Many awards and other recognition followed, including the IEEE Fellowship in 1971 and the Audio Engineering Society Best Paper Award in 1972. Additionally, Lee occupied several important roles within the department, including over a decade spent as the undergraduate advisor. He consistently supported and advocated for more funding to go to ongoing professional education for faculty members, especially those who were no longer junior faculty, identifying ongoing development as an important, but often-overlooked, priority.

Lee’s research work continued to straddle both novel inquiry and practical, commercial application — in 1969, together with Charles Bagnaschi, he founded American Data Sciences, later changing the company’s name to Lexicon Inc. The company specialized in producing devices that expanded on Lee’s work in digital signal compression and expansion: for example, the first commercially available speech compressor and pitch shifter, which was marketed as an educational tool for blind students and those with speech processing disorders. The device, called Varispeech, allowed students to speed up written material without losing pitch — much as modern audiobook listeners speed up their chapters to absorb books at their preferred rate. Later innovations of Lee’s included the Time Compressor Model 1200, which added a film and video component to the speeding-up process, allowing television producers to subtly speed up a movie, sitcom, or advertisement to precisely fill a limited time slot without having to resort to making cuts. For this work, he received an Emmy Award for technical contributions to editing.

In the mid-to-late 1980s, Lee’s influential academic career was brought to a close by a series of deeply personal tragedies, including the 1984 murder of his daughter Roberta, and the subsequent and sudden deaths of his wife, Theresa, and his son, Franklin. Reeling from his losses, Lee ultimately decided to take an early retirement, dedicating his energy to healing. For the next two decades, he would explore the world extensively, a nomadic second chapter that included multiple road trips across the United States in a Volkswagen camper van. He eventually settled in California, where he met his last wife, Ellen, and where his lively intellectual life persisted despite diagnoses of deafness and dementia; as his family recalled, he enjoyed playing games of Scrabble until his final weeks. 

He is survived by his wife Ellen Li; his daughters Elizabeth Lee (David Goya) and Gloria Lee (Matthew Lynaugh); his grandsons Alex, Benjamin, Mason, and Sam; his sister Li Zhong (Lei Tongshen); and family friend Angelique Agbigay. His family have asked that gifts honoring Francis Fan Lee’s life be directed to the Hertz Foundation. 

[mit]

The first asteroid sample returned to Earth

Richard Binzel describes how asteroid dirt and dust delivered by OSIRIS-Rex, with help from MIT, may reveal clues to the solar system’s origins.

Jennifer Chu | MIT News

On Sunday morning, a capsule the size of a mini-fridge dropped from the skies over western Utah, carrying a first-of-its-kind package: about 250 grams of dirt and dust plucked from the surface of an asteroid. As a candy-stripedparachute billowed open to slow its freefall, the capsule plummeted down to the sand, slightly ahead of schedule.

The special delivery came courtesy of OSIRIS-REx, the first NASA mission to travel to an asteroid and return a sample of its contents to Earth. Launched in 2016, the mission’s target was Bennu, a “near-Earth” asteroid that is thought to have formed during the solar system’s first 10 million years. The asteroid is made mostly of carbon and minerals, and has not been altered much since it formed. Samples from its surface could therefore offer valuable clues about the kinds of minerals and materials that first came together to shape the early solar system.

OSIRIS-REx journeyed for over two years to reach Bennu, where it then spent another two years circling and measuring its surface, looking for a spot to pick a sample. Among the suite of instruments aboard the spacecraft was an MIT-student-designed experiment, REXIS (the Regolith X-ray Imaging Spectrometer). The shoebox-sized instrument was the work of more than 100 MIT students, who designed the instrument to map the asteroid’s surface material in X-rays, to help determine where the spacecraft should take a sample. REXIS is a joint project between the MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS), MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro), the Harvard College Observatory, the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, and MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

On Sunday, OSIRIS-REx released the capsule to fall through the Earth’s atmosphere, as the spacecraft itself set off on a new course to the asteroid Apophis. The capsule has been transported to Houston’s Johnson Space Center, where Bennu’s dust will be examined and distributed to researchers around the world for further study. The sample’s successful return is a huge milestone for the mission’s members, including MIT’s Richard Binzel, a leading expert in the study of asteroids, and a professor post-tenure in EAPS and AeroAstro. As an OSIRIS-REx co-investigator, Binzel helped lead the development of REXIS and its integration with the spacecraft. MIT News checked in with Binzel for his first reactions following the capsule’s landing and recovery, and what he hopes we might learn from the asteroid’s dust.

Q: First off: What a landing! As someone who’s studied asteroids in depth, and from afar, what was it like for you to see a sample of this asteroid, returned to Earth?

A: I was holding my breath just like everyone else! The parachute opening was a huge exhale, and the soft landing was a release of joy on behalf of the entire team. You work with these people for so long, you become like family, so you feel everything together. Kind of like watching your kid finishing off their balance beam routine and sticking the landing. While I wasn’t at the landing site, many of us were “together” online watching the timeline and all the procedures. What a journey it has been, more than two decades in the making, starting with our telescopic identification of Bennu as a scientifically rich and easily accessible sampling target, and then with the many evolving designs of the mission. MIT student involvement with the REXIS instrument began in 2010. It took six years to reach the launch pad and now, finally, we are seeing the mission literally come full circle in returning the sample to the Earth.

Q: The instruments aboard OSIRIS-REx made measurements of the asteroid while in orbit. What did those measurements in space reveal about the asteroid? And what more do you hope scientists can uncover, now that a sample is back on Earth?

A: Spacecraft instruments, no matter technologically advanced, cannot accomplish nearly as much as the power of laboratories on Earth. Our instruments aboard OSIRIS-REx told us that Bennu is carbon-rich, likely containing some of the earliest chemical records of the ingredients that made the Earth and even life itself. But how do we know that the spacecraft instruments making measurements while flying above the surface are fully correct in what they reveal and how we interpret the data? We can only be sure by securing the “ground truth” provided through actual samples being brought into Earth’s laboratories. The laboratory analysis of these samples, confirming our preliminary findings, will verify our ability to interpret data about asteroids from both telescopes and orbiting spacecraft. Then the laboratory analysis will take us to even greater depths about the chemistry, conditions, and processes for how our own planetary system came to be.

Q: Let’s give a shoutout to all the students who helped to put an instrument aboard the mission. Going forward, how might this asteroid sample — and the spacecraft’s continued trajectory — relate to the work at MIT?

A: It’s a reminder that the sky is no limit for what we do at MIT. MIT’s REXIS instrument represents MIT’s motto, “mens et manus” [“mind and hand”], extended hundreds of millions of miles out in to space, with actual hardware the students both designed and built, that was flown farther into space than any other MIT student project has gone before. I feel it is simply a privilege to have engaged so many students in learning and experiencing the depth of hard work, teamwork, and dedication that it takes to be successful in space exploration.

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[teachersource]

Margaret Hamilton was born on August 17, 1936. An American computer scientist, systems engineer, and business owner. She was director of the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, which developed on-board flight software for NASA's Apollo program. She later founded two software companies—Higher Order Software in 1976 and Hamilton Technologies in 1986, both in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Hamilton has published more than 130 papers, proceedings, and reports, about sixty projects, and six major programs. She is one of the people credited with coining the term "software engineering". On November 22, 2016, Hamilton received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from president Barack Obama for her work leading to the development of on-board flight software for NASA's Apollo Moon missions.

[fred-the-dinosaur]

how has no one added hand woven early computer core memory yet? I bring further evidence of the loom theory!

That's a Loom right there!

They're making early computer RAM, done by hand weaving tiny magnetic cores together. Incredible fiddly and precise work, often done by women. Computers ran on this stuff throughout the fifties and sixties. I'm pretty sure the computers that went to the moon had these woven core memory units.

LOOM!

Sources:

Computers are very simple you see we take the hearts of dead stars and we flatten them into crystal chips and then we etch tiny pathways using concentrated light into the dead star crystal chips and if we etch the pathways just so we can trick the crystals into doing our thinking for us hope this clears things up.

[sunaleisocial]

3 Questions: How to help students recognize potential bias in their AI datasets

New Post has been published on https://sunalei.org/news/3-questions-how-to-help-students-recognize-potential-bias-in-their-ai-datasets/

3 Questions: How to help students recognize potential bias in their AI datasets

Every year, thousands of students take courses that teach them how to deploy artificial intelligence models that can help doctors diagnose disease and determine appropriate treatments. However, many of these courses omit a key element: training students to detect flaws in the training data used to develop the models.

Leo Anthony Celi, a senior research scientist at MIT’s Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, a physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, has documented these shortcomings in a new paper and hopes to persuade course developers to teach students to more thoroughly evaluate their data before incorporating it into their models. Many previous studies have found that models trained mostly on clinical data from white males don’t work well when applied to people from other groups. Here, Celi describes the impact of such bias and how educators might address it in their teachings about AI models.

Q: How does bias get into these datasets, and how can these shortcomings be addressed?

A: Any problems in the data will be baked into any modeling of the data. In the past we have described instruments and devices that don’t work well across individuals. As one example, we found that pulse oximeters overestimate oxygen levels for people of color, because there weren’t enough people of color enrolled in the clinical trials of the devices. We remind our students that medical devices and equipment are optimized on healthy young males. They were never optimized for an 80-year-old woman with heart failure, and yet we use them for those purposes. And the FDA does not require that a device work well on this diverse of a population that we will be using it on. All they need is proof that it works on healthy subjects.

Additionally, the electronic health record system is in no shape to be used as the building blocks of AI. Those records were not designed to be a learning system, and for that reason, you have to be really careful about using electronic health records. The electronic health record system is to be replaced, but that’s not going to happen anytime soon, so we need to be smarter. We need to be more creative about using the data that we have now, no matter how bad they are, in building algorithms.

One promising avenue that we are exploring is the development of a transformer model of numeric electronic health record data, including but not limited to laboratory test results. Modeling the underlying relationship between the laboratory tests, the vital signs and the treatments can mitigate the effect of missing data as a result of social determinants of health and provider implicit biases.

Q: Why is it important for courses in AI to cover the sources of potential bias? What did you find when you analyzed such courses’ content?

A: Our course at MIT started in 2016, and at some point we realized that we were encouraging people to race to build models that are overfitted to some statistical measure of model performance, when in fact the data that we’re using is rife with problems that people are not aware of. At that time, we were wondering: How common is this problem?

Our suspicion was that if you looked at the courses where the syllabus is available online, or the online courses, that none of them even bothers to tell the students that they should be paranoid about the data. And true enough, when we looked at the different online courses, it’s all about building the model. How do you build the model? How do you visualize the data? We found that of 11 courses we reviewed, only five included sections on bias in datasets, and only two contained any significant discussion of bias.

That said, we cannot discount the value of these courses. I’ve heard lots of stories where people self-study based on these online courses, but at the same time, given how influential they are, how impactful they are, we need to really double down on requiring them to teach the right skillsets, as more and more people are drawn to this AI multiverse. It’s important for people to really equip themselves with the agency to be able to work with AI. We’re hoping that this paper will shine a spotlight on this huge gap in the way we teach AI now to our students.

Q: What kind of content should course developers be incorporating?

A: One, giving them a checklist of questions in the beginning. Where did this data came from? Who were the observers? Who were the doctors and nurses who collected the data? And then learn a little bit about the landscape of those institutions. If it’s an ICU database, they need to ask who makes it to the ICU, and who doesn’t make it to the ICU, because that already introduces a sampling selection bias. If all the minority patients don’t even get admitted to the ICU because they cannot reach the ICU in time, then the models are not going to work for them. Truly, to me, 50 percent of the course content should really be understanding the data, if not more, because the modeling itself is easy once you understand the data.

Since 2014, the MIT Critical Data consortium has been organizing datathons (data “hackathons”) around the world. At these gatherings, doctors, nurses, other health care workers, and data scientists get together to comb through databases and try to examine health and disease in the local context. Textbooks and journal papers present diseases based on observations and trials involving a narrow demographic typically from countries with resources for research. 

Our main objective now, what we want to teach them, is critical thinking skills. And the main ingredient for critical thinking is bringing together people with different backgrounds.

You cannot teach critical thinking in a room full of CEOs or in a room full of doctors. The environment is just not there. When we have datathons, we don’t even have to teach them how do you do critical thinking. As soon as you bring the right mix of people — and it’s not just coming from different backgrounds but from different generations — you don’t even have to tell them how to think critically. It just happens. The environment is right for that kind of thinking. So, we now tell our participants and our students, please, please do not start building any model unless you truly understand how the data came about, which patients made it into the database, what devices were used to measure, and are those devices consistently accurate across individuals?

When we have events around the world, we encourage them to look for data sets that are local, so that they are relevant. There’s resistance because they know that they will discover how bad their data sets are. We say that that’s fine. This is how you fix that. If you don’t know how bad they are, you’re going to continue collecting them in a very bad manner and they’re useless. You have to acknowledge that you’re not going to get it right the first time, and that’s perfectly fine. MIMIC (the Medical Information Marked for Intensive Care database built at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) took a decade before we had a decent schema, and we only have a decent schema because people were telling us how bad MIMIC was.

We may not have the answers to all of these questions, but we can evoke something in people that helps them realize that there are so many problems in the data. I’m always thrilled to look at the blog posts from people who attended a datathon, who say that their world has changed. Now they’re more excited about the field because they realize the immense potential, but also the immense risk of harm if they don’t do this correctly.

[darkmaga-returns]

1. MIT Technology Review:

High atop Chile’s 2,700-meter Cerro Pachón, the air is clear and dry, leaving few clouds to block the beautiful view of the stars. It’s here that the Vera C. Rubin Observatory will soon use a car-size 3,200-megapixel digital camera—the largest ever built—to produce a new map of the entire night sky every three days. Generating 20 terabytes of data per night, Rubin will capture fine details about the solar system, the Milky Way, and the large-scale structure of the cosmos, helping researchers to understand their history and current evolution. It will capture rapidly changing events, including stellar explosions called supernovas, the evisceration of stars by black holes, and the whiz of asteroids overhead. Findings from the observatory will help tease apart fundamental mysteries like the nature of dark matter and dark energy, two phenomena that have not been directly observed but affect how objects in the universe are bound together—and pushed apart. Rubin is the latest and most advanced entrant into the illustrious lineage of all-sky surveyors—instruments that capture, or survey, the entire sky, over and over again. Its first scientific images are expected later this year. In a single exposure, Rubin will capture 100,000 galaxies, the majority invisible to other instruments. A quarter-­century in the making, the observatory is poised to expand our understanding of just about every corner of the universe. (Sources: technologyreview.com, rubinobservatory.org)

(The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, in the final phases of its construction, atop Cerro Pachón in Chile).

2. European scientists have started work on a project to create simple forms of life from scratch in the lab, capitalizing on theoretical and experimental advances in the fast-growing field of synthetic biology. Starting with inanimate chemicals, the researchers aim to produce metabolically active cells that grow, divide and show “Darwinian evolution” within six years. The €13 million “MiniLife” project, which is funded by the European Research Council and involves biologists and chemists from several universities, could be the first in the world to reach the minimum criteria for a synthetic living system. “Success would constitute a landmark achievement in basic science,” said Eörs Szathmáry, director of the Centre for the Conceptual Foundations of Science at the Parmenides Foundation in Germany, who is a principal investigator on the ERC grant. “De-novo creation of living systems is a long-standing dream of humanity.” John Sutherland, who works on the chemistry of early life at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, said the project joins a growing worldwide effort to “create minimal living systems”. (Source: ft.com)

[valkyries-things]

MARGARET HAMILTON // COMPUTER SCIENTIST

“She is an American computer scientist, systems engineer, and business owner. She was director of the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, which developed on-board flight software for NASA's Apollo program. She later founded two software companies—Higher Order Software in 1976 and Hamilton Technologies in 1986, both in Cambridge, Massachusetts.”

[mmcoe]

How Pune's Engineering Colleges Support Entrepreneurship and Startups?

Pune, often hailed as the educational hub of Maharashtra, is home to some of the finest engineering institutions in the country. These engineering colleges in Pune not only excel in imparting technical education but also play a significant role in fostering entrepreneurship and nurturing startups. This blog explores how the best engineering colleges in Pune are creating an ecosystem that supports budding entrepreneurs and innovative startups.

Encouraging an Entrepreneurial Mindset

The best engineering colleges in Pune are committed to cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset among their students. This is achieved through a combination of curriculum design, extracurricular activities, and real-world exposure. By embedding entrepreneurship into their core values, these colleges ensure that students are not only prepared for traditional career paths but are also equipped to venture into the startup world.

Comprehensive Entrepreneurship Programs

Many top engineering colleges in Pune, such as the College of Engineering Pune (COEP) and Vishwakarma Institute of Technology (VIT), offer comprehensive entrepreneurship programs. These programs include courses on business management, startup financing, and innovation. By integrating these subjects into the engineering curriculum, students gain the necessary skills to transform their technical ideas into viable business ventures.

Incubation Centers and Innovation Hubs

Incubation centers and innovation hubs play a crucial role in supporting startups. The best colleges for engineering in Pune have established these centers to provide resources, mentorship, and networking opportunities to aspiring entrepreneurs.

State-of-the-Art Facilities

Institutions like MIT Pune and Pune Institute of Computer Technology (PICT), known as some of the best computer engineering colleges in Pune, have set up advanced incubation centers. These centers are equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, including co-working spaces, laboratories, and prototyping equipment. Such resources enable students to develop, test, and refine their startup ideas in a supportive environment.

Access to Mentors and Industry Experts

Top engineering colleges in Maharashtra, including COEP and VIT, facilitate regular interactions with successful entrepreneurs and industry experts. These mentors provide valuable guidance on various aspects of startup development, from ideation to market entry. This mentorship is instrumental in helping students navigate the challenges of launching a startup.

Funding and Financial Support

Securing funding is one of the biggest hurdles for any startup. The best engineering colleges in Pune recognize this challenge and provide various avenues for financial support.

Seed Funding and Grants

Colleges like MIT and VIT offer seed funding and grants to promising startup ideas. This financial support helps students cover initial expenses and develop their prototypes. Additionally, these colleges often organize startup pitch competitions, where students can showcase their ideas to potential investors and secure funding.

Collaboration with Venture Capitalists

The top engineering colleges in Pune have strong ties with venture capitalists and angel investors. Through networking events and startup showcases, students get the opportunity to pitch their ideas to potential investors. These collaborations significantly enhance the chances of securing substantial funding for their ventures.

Conclusion

Pune’s engineering colleges are at the forefront of fostering entrepreneurship and supporting startups. Through comprehensive programs, state-of-the-art facilities, financial support, and a focus on emerging technologies, these institutions are shaping the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

NASA's Pandora mission one step closer to probing alien atmospheres

Completion of the spacecraft bus brings Pandora, a mission poised to look for the presence of hazes, clouds and water in exoplanets, closer to launch.

Pandora, NASA's newest exoplanet mission, is one step closer to launch with the completion of the spacecraft bus, which provides the structure, power and other systems that will allow the mission to carry out its work. Pandora's exoplanet science working group is led by the University of Arizona, and Pandora will be the first mission to have its operations center at the U of A Space Institute.  

The completion of the bus was announced during a press briefing at the 245th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society in National Harbor, Maryland, on Jan. 16. 

 "This is a huge milestone for us and keeps us on track for a launch in the fall," said Elisa Quintana, Pandora's principal investigator at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "The bus holds our instruments and handles navigation, data acquisition and communication with Earth – it's the brains of the spacecraft."

Pandora is a small satellite poised to provide in-depth study of at least 20 known planets orbiting distant stars to determine the composition of their atmospheres – especially the presence of hazes, clouds and water. The data will establish a firm foundation for interpreting measurements by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and future missions aimed at searching for habitable worlds. 

"Although smaller and less sensitive than Webb, Pandora will be able to stare longer at the host stars of extrasolar planets, allowing for deeper study," said Pandora co-investigator Daniel Apai, professor of astronomy and planetary sciences at the U of A Steward Observatory and Lunar and Planetary Laboratory who leads the mission's Exoplanets Science Working Group. "Better understanding of the stars will help Pandora and its 'big brother,' the James Webb Space Telescope, disentangle signals from stars and their planets." 

Astronomers can sample an exoplanet's atmosphere when it passes in front of its star as seen from Earth's perspective, during an event known as a transit. Part of the star's light skims the planet's atmosphere before making its way to the observer. This interaction allows the light to interact with atmospheric substances, and their chemical fingerprints — dips in brightness at characteristic wavelengths — become imprinted in the light.

The concept of Pandora was born out of necessity to overcome a snag in observing starlight passing through the atmospheres of exoplanets, Apai said. 

"In 2018, a doctoral student in my group, Benjamin Rackham – now an MIT research scientist – described an astrophysical effect by which light coming directly from the star muddies the signal of the light passing through the exoplanet's atmosphere," Apai explained. "We predicted that this effect would limit Webb's ability to study habitable planets."

Telescopes see light from the entire star, not just the small amount grazing the planet. Stellar surfaces aren't uniform. They sport hotter, unusually bright regions called faculae and cooler, darker regions similar to the spots on our sun, both of which grow, shrink and change position as the star rotates. As a result, these "mixed signals" in the observed light can make it difficult to distinguish between light that has passed through an exoplanet's atmosphere and light that varies based on a star's changing appearance. For example, variations in light from the host star can mask or mimic the signal of water, a likely key ingredient researchers look for when evaluating an exoplanet's potential for harboring life.

Using a novel all-aluminum, 45-centimeter-wide telescope, jointly developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Corning Specialty Materials in Keene, New Hampshire, Pandora's detectors will capture each star's visible brightness and near-infrared spectrum at the same time, while also obtaining the transiting planet's near-infrared spectrum. This combined data will enable the science team to determine the properties of stellar surfaces and cleanly separate star and planetary signals. 

The observing strategy takes advantage of the mission's ability to continuously observe its targets for extended periods, something flagship observatories like Webb, which offer limited observing time due to high demand, cannot regularly do. 

Over the course of its yearlong mission, Pandora will observe at least 20 exoplanets 10 times, with each stare lasting a total of 24 hours. Each observation will include a transit, which is when the mission will capture the planet's spectrum. 

Karl Harshman, who leads the Mission Operations Team at the U of A Space Institute that will support the spacecraft's operation once it launches later this year, said: "We have a very excited team that has been working hard to have our Mission Operations Center running at full speed at the time of launch and look forward to receiving science data. Just this week, we performed a communications test with our antenna system that will transmit commands to Pandora and receive the telemetry from the spacecraft." 

Pandora is led by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory provides the mission's project management and engineering. Pandora's telescope was manufactured by Corning and developed collaboratively with Livermore, which also developed the imaging detector assemblies, the mission's control electronics, and all supporting thermal and mechanical subsystems. The infrared sensor was provided by NASA Goddard. Blue Canyon Technologies provided the bus and is performing spacecraft assembly, integration and environmental testing. NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley will perform the mission's data processing. Pandora's mission operations center is located at the University of Arizona, and a host of additional universities support the science team.

TOP IMAGE: An artist's concept of the Pandora mission, seen here without the thermal blanketing that will protect the spacecraft, observing a star and its transiting exoplanet. Credit NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Conceptual Image Lab

LOWER IMAGE: Pandora’s spacecraft bus sits in a thermal-vacuum testing chamber at Blue Canyon Technologies in Lafayette, Colorado. The bus provides the structure, power and other systems that will enable the mission to help astronomers better separate stellar features from the spectra of transiting planets. Credit NASA/Weston Maughan, BCT

[mitcorerbarshi]

Engineering Excellence at MITCORER : Shaping Tomorrow's Engineering

Introduction: In the heartland of Maharashtra, MITCORER stands tall as a beacon of engineering excellence, carving a niche for itself in the realm of railway engineering and research. As a pioneer in the field, MITCORER has consistently striven to shape the future of engineering education, emphasizing not just theoretical knowledge but also hands-on experience and innovation.

Historical Significance: Established with a vision to cater specifically to the railway sector, MITCORER has a unique historical significance. Founded under the umbrella of the renowned MIT Group of Institutions Pune, Maharashtra, the college has been instrumental in addressing the specialized needs of the Civil Engineering,, Computer Science and Engineering, E&tC Engineering and MEchanical Engineering with value added railway industry curriculum, which plays a pivotal role in the country's infrastructure.

Cutting-Edge Curriculum: One of the hallmarks of MITCORER is its forward-looking curriculum, carefully crafted to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving engineering landscape. The college places a strong emphasis on industry-relevant skills, with a curriculum that blends traditional engineering principles with the latest advancements in technology. Students are exposed to a comprehensive range of subjects, ensuring a holistic understanding of railway engineering.

State-of-the-Art Facilities: MITCORER takes pride in its world-class infrastructure, providing students with state-of-the-art facilities to enhance their learning experience. Modern classrooms, well-equipped laboratories, and a specialized research center focused on railway engineering underscore the commitment of MITCORER to fostering an environment conducive to academic and practical excellence.

Industry Integration: To bridge the gap between academia and industry, MITCORER has established strong ties with leading players in the IT, manufacturing, COnstruction, infrastructure and communication sector. Collaborations with industry giants facilitate internships, workshops, and guest lectures, exposing students to real-world challenges and solutions. This industry integration ensures that graduates are not only well-versed in theoretical concepts but are also industry-ready from day one.

Research and Innovation: MITCORER places significant emphasis on fostering a culture of research and innovation. Faculty members and students engage in cutting-edge research projects, contributing to advancements in railway technology. The college's commitment to innovation is reflected in its encouragement of students to participate in national and international competitions, showcasing their prowess on a global stage.

Extracurricular Activities: Engineering education at MITCORER goes beyond the confines of textbooks. The college recognizes the importance of holistic development and offers a plethora of extracurricular activities. Student clubs, cultural events, and sports activities complement the academic curriculum, nurturing well-rounded individuals equipped with leadership and teamwork skills.

Alumni Success Stories: The true measure of an institution's success lies in the achievements of its alumni. MITCORER boasts an impressive array of success stories, with its graduates making significant contributions to the railway industry and beyond. Alumni networks provide current students with valuable insights and mentorship, creating a continuum of success.

Conclusion: MITCORER, with its unwavering commitment to engineering excellence, stands as a testament to the power of focused education in shaping the engineers of tomorrow. Through a blend of innovative curriculum, industry collaborations, and a nurturing environment, the college continues to be a catalyst for change in the ever-evolving field of railway engineering and research. As MITCORER paves the way for future engineers, it leaves an indelible mark on the landscape of engineering education in India. If you are looking for more information about MITCORER please do visit MITCORER campus at Barshi or email us on admissions@mitcorer.edu.in

[jcmarchi]

Coffee fix: MIT students decode the science behind the perfect cup

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/coffee-fix-mit-students-decode-the-science-behind-the-perfect-cup/

Coffee fix: MIT students decode the science behind the perfect cup

Elaine Jutamulia ’24 took a sip of coffee with a few drops of anise extract. It was her second try.

“What do you think?” asked Omar Orozco, standing at a lab table in MIT’s Breakerspace, surrounded by filters, brewing pots, and other coffee paraphernalia.

“I think when I first tried it, it was still pretty bitter,” Jutamulia said thoughtfully. “But I think now that it’s steeped for a little bit — it took out some of the bitterness.”

Jutamulia and current MIT senior Orozco were part of class 3.000 (Coffee Matters: Using the Breakerspace to Make the Perfect Cup), a new MIT course that debuted in spring 2024. The class combines lectures on chemistry and the science of coffee with hands-on experimentation and group projects. Their project explored how additives such as anise, salt, and chili oil influence coffee extraction — the process of dissolving flavor compounds from ground coffee into water — to improve taste and correct common brewing errors.

Alongside tasting, they used an infrared spectrometer to identify the chemical compounds in their coffee samples that contribute to flavor. Does anise make bitter coffee smoother? Could chili oil balance the taste?

“Generally speaking, if we could make a recommendation, that’s what we’re trying to find,” Orozco said.

A three-unit “discovery class” designed to help first-year students explore majors, 3.000 was widely popular, enrolling more than 50 students. Its success was driven by the beverage at its core and the class’s hands-on approach, which pushes students to ask and answer questions they might not have otherwise.

For aeronautics and astronautics majors Gabi McDonald and McKenzie Dinesen, coffee was the draw, but the class encouraged them to experiment and think in new ways. “It’s easy to drop people like us in, who love coffee, and, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s this class where we can go make coffee half the time and try all different kinds of things?’” McDonald says.

Percolating knowledge

The class pairs weekly lectures on topics such as coffee chemistry, the anatomy and composition of a coffee bean, the effects of roasting, and the brewing process with tasting sessions — students sample coffee brewed from different beans, roasts, and grinds. In the MIT Breakerspace, a new space on campus conceived and managed by the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE), students use equipment such as a digital optical microscope to examine ground coffee particles and a scanning electron microscope, which shoots beams of electrons at samples to reveal cross-sections of beans in stunning detail.

Once students learn to operate instruments for guided tasks, they form groups and design their own projects.

“The driver for those projects is some question they have about coffee raised by one of the lectures or the tasting sessions, or just something they’ve always wanted to know,” says DMSE Professor Jeffrey Grossman, who designed and teaches the class. “Then they’ll use one or more of these pieces of equipment to shed some light on it.”

Grossman traces the origins of the class to his initial vision for the Breakerspace, a laboratory for materials analysis and lounge for MIT undergraduates. Opened in November 2023, the space gives students hands-on experience with materials science and engineering, an interdisciplinary field combining chemistry, physics, and engineering to probe the composition and structure of materials.

“The world is made of stuff, and these are the tools to understand that stuff and bring it to life,” says Grossman. So he envisioned a class that would give students an “exploratory, inspiring nudge.”

“Then the question wasn’t the pedagogy, it was, ‘What’s the hook?’ In materials science, there are a lot of directions you could go, but if you have one that inspires people because they know it and maybe like it already, then that’s exciting.”

Cup of ambition

That hook, of course, was coffee, the second-most-consumed beverage after water. It captured students’ imagination and motivated them to push boundaries.

Orozco brought a fair amount of coffee knowledge to the class. In 2023, he taught in Mexico through the MISTI Global Teaching Labs program, where he toured several coffee farms and acquired a deeper knowledge of the beverage. He learned, for example, that black coffee, contrary to general American opinion, isn’t naturally bitter; bitterness arises from certain compounds that develop during the roasting process.

“If you properly brew it with the right beans, it actually tastes good,” says Orozco, a humanities and engineering major. A year later, in 3.000, he expanded his understanding of making a good brew, particularly through the group project with Jutamulia and other students to fix bad coffee.

The group prepared a control sample of “perfectly brewed” coffee — based on taste, coffee-to-water ratio, and other standards covered in class — alongside coffee that was under-extracted and over-extracted. Under-extracted coffee, made with water that isn’t hot enough or brewed for too short a time, tastes sharp or sour. Over-extracted coffee, brewed with too much coffee or for too long, tastes bitter.

Those coffee samples got additives and were analyzed using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, measuring how coffee absorbed infrared light to identify flavor-related compounds. Jutamulia examined FTIR readings taken from a sample with lime juice to see how the citric acid influenced its chemical profile.

“Can we find any correlation between what we saw and the existing known measurements of citric acid?” asks Jutamulia, who studied computation and cognition at MIT, graduating last May.

Another group dove into coffee storage, questioning why conventional wisdom advises against freezing.

“We just wondered why that’s the case,” says electrical engineering and computer science major Noah Wiley, a coffee enthusiast with his own espresso machine.

The team compared methods like freezing brewed coffee, frozen coffee grounds, and whole beans ground after freezing, evaluating their impact on flavor and chemical composition.

“Then we’re going to see which ones taste good,” says Wiley. The team used a class coffee review sheet to record attributes like acidity, bitterness, sweetness, and overall flavor, pairing the results with FTIR analysis to determine how storage affected taste.

Wiley acknowledged that “good” is subjective. “Sometimes there’s a group consensus. I think people like fuller coffee, not watery,” he says.

Other student projects compared caffeine levels in different coffee types, analyzed the effect of microwaving coffee on its chemical composition and flavor, and investigated the differences between authentic and counterfeit coffee beans.

“We gave the students some papers to look at in case they were interested,” says Justin Lavallee, Breakerspace manager and co-teacher of the class. “But mostly we told them to focus on something they wanted to learn more about.”

Drip, drip, drip

Beyond answering specific questions about coffee, both students and teachers gained deeper insights into the beverage.

“Coffee is a complicated material. There are thousands of molecules in the beans, which change as you roast and extract them,” says Grossman. “The number of ways you can engineer this collection of molecules — it’s profound, ranging from where and how the coffee’s grown to how the cherries are then treated to get the beans to how the beans are roasted and ground to the brewing method you use.”

Dinesen learned firsthand, discovering, for example, that darker roasts have less caffeine than lighter roasts, puncturing a common misconception. “You can vary coffee so much — just with the roast of the bean, the size of the ground,” she says. “It’s so easily manipulatable, if that’s a word.”

In addition to learning about the science and chemistry behind coffee, Dinesen and McDonald gained new brewing techniques, like using a pour-over cone. The pair even incorporated coffee making and testing into their study routine, brewing coffee while tackling problem sets for another class.

“I would put my pour-over cone in my backpack with a Ziploc bag full of grounds, and we would go to the Student Center and pull out the cone, a filter, and the coffee grounds,” McDonald says. “And then we would make pour-overs while doing a P-set. We tested different amounts of water, too. It was fun.”

Tony Chen, a materials science and engineering major, reflected on the 3.000’s title — “Using the Breakerspace to Make the Perfect Cup” — and whether making a perfect cup is possible. “I don’t think there’s one perfect cup because each person has their own preferences. I don’t think I’ve gotten to mine yet,” he says.

Enthusiasm for coffee’s complexity and the discovery process was exactly what Grossman hoped to inspire in his students. “The best part for me was also just seeing them developing their own sense of curiosity,” he says.

He recalled a moment early in the class when students, after being given a demo of the optical microscope, saw the surface texture of a magnified coffee bean, the mottled shades of color, and the honeycomb-like pattern of tiny irregular cells.

“They’re like, ‘Wait a second. What if we add hot water to the grounds while it’s under the microscope? Would we see the extraction?’ So, they got hot water and some ground coffee beans, and lo and behold, it looked different. They could see the extraction right there,” Grossman says. “It’s like they have an idea that’s inspired by the learning, and they go and try it. I saw that happen many, many times throughout the semester.”