MIT Department of Chemistry

“Congratulations – and warmest best wishes to you for a happy life and fulfilling career!” Sally Kornbluth to the Class of 2026.

“Technology itself does not decide what the future looks like,” Lisa Su ’90, SM ’91, PhD ’94, chair and CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, told the Class of 2026. https://news.mit.edu/2026/commencement-address-lisa-su-0528

Sally Kornbluth asked graduates help the world understand the importance of curiosity — “our intellectual rocket fuel” — to society as a whole. https://news.mit.edu/2026/sally-kornbluth-charge-class-2026-0528

JoAnne Stubbe, Novartis Professor of Chemistry, Emerita, was one of eight distinguished individuals to receive an honorary degree at Yale University’s 325th graduation ceremony this spring.

The awarding of honorary degrees—a Yale tradition since 1702—recognizes pioneering achievement and exemplary contributions to the common good.

“The eight individuals we honor this morning serve as examples to you, our graduates, to encourage you to aspire to excellence and to value those elements of human character that they embody: creativity, curiosity, discipline, integrity, and a passion for public service,” said Yale President Maurie McInnis. “Their presence here also honors you who graduate today, and all of us who are here to salute you.”

Stubbe was awarded a Doctor of Science degree in recognition of her groundbreaking science, elegant research, and inspirational teaching and mentorship.

“You have transformed our understanding of how life operates and evolves at the molecular level and reshaped how we think about the chemistry of living systems,” McInnis noted when awarding the degree. “Your deep and elegant research has revealed how enzymes harness the reactivity of free radicals—unstable entities often associated with damage and disorder—to carry out the precise chemistry required for life, enabling new targets for therapeutic development.”

Read more via the link in the comments.

Congratulations to Professor Keith Nelson, who is one of six MIT faculty recognized by their peers for their outstanding contributions to research in the natural and social sciences.

Professor Nelson's distinguished career has been recognized with numerous honors, including the William F. Meggers Award, the Bomem-Michelson Award, and the Frank Isakson Prize for Optical Effects in Solids. Research in the Nelson Group focuses on the time-resolved optical study and control of collective transformations in condensed matter, using pulses of light in the THz, optical, and X-ray spectral ranges and laser-generated strain waves to drive the modes of motion through which these changes occur.

Membership in the National Academy of Sciences is one of the highest honors a scientist can receive in their career. The NAS is a private, nonprofit institution that was established under a congressional charter signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. It recognizes achievement in science by election to membership, and — with the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine — provides science, engineering, and health policy advice to the federal government and other organizations.

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On Wednesday, May 13, 2026, the Undergraduate Recognition Banquet was held in the R&D Common Area of the Stata Center. Chemistry faculty, staff, and students gathered to celebrate the Course 5 and Course 5-7 graduating class of 2026, alongside other outstanding members of the undergraduate community.

Over the course of the event, each graduating senior was recognized for their accomplishments by a member of the Chemistry faculty, and various undergraduate and senior awards were presented.

Congratulations to all award recipients, and to the Senior Class of 2026!

To read more about each award, visit the link in the comments.

The Haystack 37m Telescope has been a landmark in radio astronomy and radar studies of the solar system since its first light in 1964. Over the following four decades, it supported NASA’s Apollo landings on the moon, made planetary radar maps of the surface of Venus, contributed to experimental tests of Einstein’s general relativity, supported the development of VLBI, and conducted foundational studies of quasars and star-forming regions.

Recently, the Haystack 37m Telescope — a 37-meter radio and millimeter-wavelength antenna at MIT Haystack Observatory in Westford, Massachusetts — made its return to front-line astronomical research following an extended period of system upgrades. These observations reconnect this instrument with its long tradition of scientific discovery and open a new chapter.

The upgraded Haystack 37m Telescope opens multiple new lines of research. At MIT, Saverio Cambioni and Richard Teague of the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) plan to use the instrument within MIT’s Planetary Defense Project to measure asteroid sizes and shapes, characterizing objects that could pose a hazard to Earth and deepening our understanding of the solar system’s formation. Associate Professor Brett McGuire of the Department of Chemistry plans to search for complex organic molecules in space, work that speaks to the question of how the chemical precursors to life arise.

Read more via the link in the comments.

Originally from the DC metropolitan area, Jonah Horowitz is currently in his fourth year at MIT, where he is a member of Professor Moungi Bawendi‘s research group. Jonah’s work in the Bawendi Lab considers the properties of heavy-metal-free semiconductor nanocrystals that might be used in next-generation TVs. The team is trying to identify stable and bright materials that emit very pure colors. Along the way, Jonah has been working on developing new spectroscopic tools that could make these kinds of studies easier for others in the research community.

“I chose to pursue a PhD because I wanted opportunities to be creative in my work,” said Jonah. “I like chemistry as a field because it can have a broad scope. My research in the Bawendi lab focuses on physical and materials chemistry, but it also touches on improving LEDs and designing scientific equipment. I think that variety makes my day-to-day more interesting.”

As the subject of this Graduate Student Spotlight, Jonah reveals a small thing that makes him smile, the skill he’d love to master, the funniest TV show he’s seen, and more!