Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological research. MIT is one of two private land-grant universities and is also a sea-grant and space-grant university.
Founded by William Barton Rogers in 1861 in response to the increasing industrialization of the United States, the university adopted the European university model and emphasized laboratory instruction from an early date. Its current 168-acre (68.0 ha) campus opened in 1916 and extends over 1 mile (1.6 km) along the northern bank of the Charles River basin.
Burning the midnight oil may go out of fashion at MIT. The Institute is working hard to make its campus more energy efficient—and utilities are a big target, accounting for 90 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions, according to a 2004 survey.
To meet the challenge, MIT is harnessing the minds and hands of faculty, staff, and particularly students, engaging the entire community in the drive toward a more sustainable campus.
The mission of MIT is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.
MIT enrolled 4,232 undergraduates and 6,152 graduate students for the Fall 2009–2010 term. It employs about 1,009 faculty members. Its endowment and annual research expenditures are among the largest of any American university. 75 Nobel Laureates, 47 National Medal of Science recipients, and 31 MacArthur Fellows are currently or have previously been affiliated with the university. The aggregated revenues of companies founded by MIT alumni would be the seventeenth largest economy in the world.
The Engineers sponsor 33 sports, most of which compete in the NCAA Division III's New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference; the Division I rowing programs compete as part of the EARC and EAWRC.
Campus
MIT is located on 168 acres that extend more than a mile along the Cambridge side of the Charles River Basin. The central group of interconnecting buildings, dedicated in 1916, was designed by architect W. Welles Bosworth (Class of 1889) to permit easy communication among schools and departments. Subsequent growth of the campus saw construction of landmark buildings by leading architects such as Alvar Aalto, I. M. Pei ‘40, and Eero Saarinen.
The Institute continues to upgrade and add new buildings to the campus. Completed in the fall of 2007, an "infill" building within the main group of Bosworth buildings houses the Green Center for Physics, providing significant infrastructure renewal and modernization. In the fall of 2008, graduate housing in the northwest section of campus expanded with the addition of Ashdown House, named for longtime housemaster Avery Ashdown and the graduate community that had once occupied the Institute’s oldest graduate residence.
Currently under construction are three new academic and research buildings. An extension of the Media Lab building will open in the summer of 2009. A new cancer research facility, located next to the Koch Biology Building and across from the Broad Institute, is scheduled to open in December 2010. Also scheduled for completion in 2010 is the new home of the MIT Sloan School of Management, which will extend from Memorial Drive to Main Street and serve as an eastern gateway to the MIT campus.
Faculty and Staff
The MIT faculty instructs undergraduate and graduate students, and engages in research. There are 1,009 faculty members (professors of all ranks), including 198 women. Minority group representation among faculty members includes American Indian or Alaskan Native (one woman and two men), Black (10 women and 25 men), Hispanic (two women and 27 men), and Asian (28 women and 97 men); some faculty are members of more than one group. As of October 2008, the Institute's total teaching staff includes:
Professors: 650
Associate professors: 213
Assistant professors: 146
Senior lecturers, lecturers, and professors emeriti: 544
Instructors (including technical instructors): 148
Professors of the practice and adjunct faculty: 24
MIT employs about 11,500 individuals on campus. In addition to faculty, there are research, library, and administrative staff, as well as many others who—directly or indirectly—support the teaching and research goals of the Institute.
Admission To MIT
Admission to MIT is based on academic potential, strong personal qualifications, and outstanding interests, activities, and achievements. In 2008, 13,396 candidates submitted final applications for the freshman class, and 1,589 (11.9 percent) were offered admission. Total first-year enrollment was 1,051; an additional 13 students transferred to MIT from other universities.
Applicants for graduate degree programs are evaluated for previous performance and professional promise by the department in which they wish to register. In 2008, 17,271 candidates applied for graduate study. Of the 3,680 candidates who received offers of admission, 2,300, or 63 percent, registered in advanced degree programs at MIT.
Contact Us:
massachusetts institute of technology
77 Massachusetts avenue
cambridge, ma 02139-4307
tel 617.253.1000
Website: web.mit.edu