Tufts University School of Engineering

The Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions, a major research institute for which Tufts is a key partner, has received renewed support from the National Science Foundation.

The renewal marks a new phase for the institute, which explores how artificial intelligence can open new ways of doing physics and how physics can help shape better AI systems. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4xw4suk

A remarkable quality of bioengineering is that scientists can take biological processes honed by millions of years of evolution and use them to efficiently create drugs, chemicals, and other products to improve our lives.

SOE researchers have found new ways to expand the potential for using bacterial spores as catalysts for chemical reactions, biofuel production, or breaking down pollutants. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4uGMjYf

Professor Josephine Wolff recently reflected on the challenge of choosing a research question and that often times, research requires you to trust yourself.

"But it is an act of faith, to believe in the research process, as well as in yourself, that, in the end, you’ll have something that will be worth having done." Read more: https://bit.ly/3SmQNWj

Congratulations to Professor and Dean of Research Matt Panzer, who was recently named the inaugural E Ink Professor of Engineering.

The E Ink Professorship in Engineering was established in 2026 to support a full professorship in the School of Engineering. The Chairman and CEO of E Ink Holdings, Inc., is alumnus Johnson Lee, A98. In addition to supporting the professorship fund, E Ink Holdings has also made generous commitments to establish a new makerspace on campus. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4uOI1Pd

Take a look back on the graduate commencement ceremony! The full video is now available to view here: https://bit.ly/4uo025V

A new study from the Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture explores how terminology influences consumer perceptions of cultivated meat products in the United States and Germany. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4fHsf4d

Professor and Dean of Graduate Education Karen Panetta recently joined The Change Leader, Inc. podcast to discuss how AI procurement in higher education can scale bias and what presidents and boards should ask about data, validation, ethics, and human oversight. Listen here: https://bit.ly/4afzmgt

“In high school, I liked math and was good at math and thought that I was going to be a mathematician: a weird thing to want to be as a teenager, but there it is. But I went to college with some people who were a lot better at math than I was. I started to understand if I worked as hard as I possibly could, maybe I could major in math, but I was never going to be a great mathematician. I was good enough at math to appreciate and enjoy it, but I wasn’t good enough to come up with original math. It’s like the ability to appreciate great classical music while also knowing that you’re never going to perform it at that level.

In theoretical math, the thinking is that we’re going to perfectly prove everything—there will be no exceptions. In some ways, cybersecurity’s the opposite: there’s no way to actually finish this job. Instead, we’re going to perfectly prove how secure this encryption algorithm is, and then we’ll implement it … but then someone’s got to manage the encryption keys, someone else has to install the update … and 1,000 things are going to go wrong.

The question I’ve found most interesting about cybersecurity research is: How do you marry the rigorous technical part with the imperfect human part? How do you characterize accurately what happens in that combination, and do that in a way that’s not all about blaming humans?

Part of my career has been about coming to terms with the fact that I was not going to be, as the great mathematicians are, perfect in that very specific way of ordering my thoughts rigorously, carefully, and beautifully. I still think mathematical proofs are beautiful, but I’ve come to enjoy solving other kinds of problems.

At the same time, I’ve realized that one of the things that I should be doing is thinking about some of these messier pieces of life, where that kind of rigor and that kind of structure is not necessarily as productive or applicable. There’s a lot that’s interesting and valuable in the parts of life that are not as perfectly ordered and as completely provable as Fermat’s last theorem—and there are great problems to be solved.”

—Josephine Wolff, professor of cybersecurity policy, The Fletcher School at Tufts University

is a series of personal stories shared by members of the Tufts community.

[📸: Andy Kwok/Tufts University]

Backed by an NCAA-high four team national championships, the Tufts University athletics department had one of its most successful years in school history, which resulted in a second place finish in the 2026 Learfield Directors' Cup standings for NCAA Division III out of more than 300 colleges and universities.

Read more: https://brnw.ch/21x3dxv

[📸: John Mrakovcich, Keith Lucas, Stephen Blue, and Stanton Photo for Tufts Athletics]

Former Tufts Runner Breaks Speed Record on Everest Former Tufts runner and engineering alum breaks speed record on Mount Everest