🚀 Big ideas. Bold ventures. 10 years of innovation.
Join us Thursday, May 21 for MITdesignX Demo + Pitch Day as a new cohort of startups takes the stage to showcase ventures shaping the future of cities, technology, sustainability, and the human environment. See venture demos from the teams and hear pitches from all the new startups.
This year’s event celebrates 10 years of MITdesignX—turning design-driven ideas into real-world impact.
This event is free and open to the public, registration is encouraged.
📍 MIT Media Lab, 6th Floor
📅 Thursday, May 21
⏰ 1pm: Demos, 2pm: Pitches
🔗 Register & learn more at the link in bio
What if the calmness of your mind could become visible through water, light, and vibration?🧘🏽♂️🧘🏽♀️✨ Grateful to Geshe Tenley from Kurukulla Center for Tibetan Buddhist Studies to be part of this project.
#meditation #vibration #mindandmatter #mindfulness #reflectiveart 📸 @yuxiang.step@realxdd44
Bravo to 2026 MAD Design Fellow Yuki Gray, MArch ’27, and Sam Grunebaum of Bench Space 👏
repost @artsatmit
Congratulations to Bench Space (Yuki Gray MArch ‘27 and Sam Grunebaum) on winning the 2026 MIT Arts Startup Incubator! The platform connects makers and artists to short-term studio and workshop rentals, and took home the $15,000 first prize.
Five finalist teams each had five minutes to pitch their creative ventures to a panel of expert judges at the MIT Welcome Center on April 30. Alongside Bench Space, the finalists included an AI-powered interior design procurement tool, an interactive jazz practice platform, a virtual user-testing system for app designers, and a trust infrastructure for the contemporary art market. The four other semifinalist teams received $2,500 each.
Launched in 2013, the Arts Startup Incubator is a yearlong program that gives students the structure, mentorship, and peer feedback to turn arts-based business ideas into viable ventures.
🔗 Read more about all five teams at the link in bio�
📸 Credit HErickson/MIT
Spotlight on this year’s MAD in Dialogue speakers ✨
At MAD in Dialogue held on April 21, five previous MAD Design Fellows shared their perspectives on the role of design across disciplines and demonstrated their research from the time of their Design Fellowship and beyond!
Featured speakers:
Lauren “Ren” Ramlan—2025 MAD Fellow (@laurenramlan )
Genetic Engineer and Biodesigner
Zane Schemmer—2025 MAD Fellow (@zane.schemmer )
Civil and Environmental Engineer
Rebecca Lin—2025 MAD Fellow (@rebeccayelin )
Researcher and Artist
Ganit Goldstein—2022 MAD Fellow (@ganitgoldstein )
Computational Designer and Textile Researcher
Dení López—2024 MAD Fellow (@denilopezlopez )
Urban Planner
The research topics touched upon modular clothing, synthetic biology, fashion, disaster justice, concrete 3D printing, and more. Discussions following the talks were moderated by MIT MAD curator-director and lecturer, Roi Salgueiro Barrio.
Following the talks, MAD founding director John Ochsendorf announced the new 2026 cohort of MAD Design Fellows. Learn more about the new Design Fellows at the link in bio.
Thank you to our speakers, and congratulations to the 2026 Design Fellows.
📸 photos by Qingyang Xie
Did your invite to the MET Gala get lost in the mail?
Don’t worry! Sunday, May 10, is your chance to join us for the MIT Gala—a fashion show of student-created looks!
Where fashion meets fabrication, the MIT Gala (@the_mitgala ) returns as a one-of-a-kind celebration of creativity at the intersection of art, science, and design.
This event is open to the MIT community, and is sponsored by the Council for the Arts at MIT, the Department of Architecture, and the MIT Morningside Academy for Design (MAD).
🗓️ Sunday, May 10 | Runway 8–10pm
📍MIT Media Lab, 6th Floor
🎟️ Tickets $8
🔗 Learn more & Register: link in bio
(registration requires MIT login)
slide 1: The battery-operated Blade Bird designed by Robin Liu and modeled by Miho Koda. 2024 MIT Gala. Image: Daka
slide 2: Emily Pan’s rib skirt, modeled by Anna Chan, closely resembles human ribs, with a sternum and spine. 2024 MIT Gala. Image: Michelle Xiang
slide 3: Ball gown, modeled by Yihong Amy Chen, presented by Chris Schmidt-Hong on the runway at the 2024 MIT Gala. Image: Michelle Xiang
slide 4: Corset designed by Layla Stanton and sleeveless black dress by Aarushi Mehrotra at the 2024 MIT Gala. Image: Michelle Xiang
@the_mitgala | @mitsap | @artsatmit
👏 We’re excited to introduce the 2026 MAD Design Fellows!
The ten Design Fellows are MIT graduate students working at the intersection of design and multiple disciplines. Fellows pursue a research project and participate in seminars bridging perspectives in design across the institute.
2026 FELLOWS: (slide 1, pictured left to right)
— THOMAS HYO-MIN KING: Master, Architecture; Master, City Planning
— YUKI GRAY: Master, Architecture
— TEMUULEN ENKHBAT: Master, Urban Studies and Planning
— JOSEPH MULENGA NTAIMO: PhD, Mechanical Engineering
— ANITA LIN: Master, Architectural Studies
— STEPHEN BRADE: PhD, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
— MAGGIE NELSON: PhD, Materials Science and Engineering
— DANIEL MASSIMINO: PhD, Mechanical Engineering
— LING XU: Master, Mechanical Engineering
— CASSANDRA OVERNEY, PhD, MIT Media Lab
💥 Congratulations to the 2026 Fellows!
🔗 Read the full Introduction to the Fellows, link in bio
📸 photo by Qingyang Xie
@mitarchitecture@mitdusp@mitmeche@miteecs@mitdmse@mitmedialab@cccxmit@mitdesignx
🎶 This Thursday, April 30, come explore the intersection of human and machine creativity at Design Redefined: Music, AI, and Community at the MIT Museum.
— Experience live demos and experiments with MIT researchers exploring through a musical lens
— Use AI tools to generate movement, sound, and ideas, and shape them into a communal performance
— Leave with a sense of community, and a new perspective of what’s possible when humans and AI co-design
🎟️ Free with MIT Museum admission.
🔗 Learn more, link in bio
This event is hosted in collaboration with the MIT Museum (@mitmuseum ) and Innovators for Purpose (@innovatorsforpurpose )
🎥 Join us for a screening of the film “If Only I Could Hibernate” as part of the Living Climate Futures Symposium 2026 on Thursday, April 23, 6:30–8:30pm.
The film follows an academically gifted teenager living in ger districts (outskirt of Ulaanbaatar) who must choose between his future and shelving his studies to help support his siblings in the middle of winter. The film is a powerful representation of many living in poor areas of ger districts. “If Only I Could Hibernate was Mongolia’s Official Entry to the 2025 Academy Awards.
The film screening will be followed by a Q&A session with:
→ Temuulen Enkhbat: urban practitioner, MIT D-Lab alumna, and Master’s in City Planning student at MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning
→ Manduhai Buyandelger: MIT Professor of Anthropology, Director of Women’s and Gender Studies
This event is free and open to all.
🗓️ Thursday, April 23, 2026 ⏰ 6:30–8:30pm
📍MIT Building 45–230, 51 Vassar St, Cambridge
🔗 Learn more and Register, link in bio
@mitsap | @mitdusp | @mitdlab | @mitshass
👟 With the Boston Marathon underway, all eyes—on the course and along the sidelines—turn to a critical piece of design in motion: the running shoe.
While many elite athletes have their footwear individually designed for their needs, most footwear is standardized and doesn’t offer a personalized performance.
Skylar Tibbits—associate professor and MIT MAD assistant director for education— and the MIT Self-Assembly Lab have been developing tests surrounding the phenomenon of granular convection within the midsole of running shoes to create a shoe that evolves over time to provide an individualized product.
This technology has the potential to create adaptive cushioning systems for application in footwear and beyond.
🔗 Read the full story, link in bio
📸 photo courtesy of MIT Self-Assembly Lab
@selfassemblylab | @mitsap | @skylartibbits
What is it actually like to study design at MIT MAD? 💭 Find out firsthand from two MIT students 💡
Hear from Gloria Zhu, a senior studying Computer Science and Design, and Teresa Jiang, a senior double-majoring in Art & Design and Business Management, as they recount their design journeys.
Gloria and Teresa break down the design major requirements and detail what it’s like to study design at MIT, providing an inside look for any student interested in pursuing a design major or minor. Their experiences highlight how flexible the major is, like a “choose your own adventure,” with plenty of room to shape your own path through studios and electives.
🔗 Read the full guide, link in bio
(originally published by MIT Admissions)
slide 1: illustrations by Sam Liang, MIT Admissions
slide 2: Gloria’s project “Thermal Arcade”
slide 3: Teresa’s project “Useless Shelf”
slide 4: Teresa’s 3D powder printed model of the MIT Chapel
slide 5: Photo taken by Gloria for Intro to Photography and Related Media
slide 6: Photo taken by Teresa for Intro to Photography and Related Media
@mitsap | @riazh__ | @_tjiang_
What happens when AI becomes your creative collaborator?
Find out with us while exploring the intersection of human and machine creativity at this hands-on event.
We are bringing together artists, musicians, MIT researchers and technologists to experience live demos and experiments with exploring these questions through a musical lens.
No coding, or technical background required. Just curiosity. Leave with a sense of community, and a new perspective of what's possible when humans and AI co-design.
April 30
4-6pm
Free with Museum Admission | Free for Teens with Registration
Co-hosted by MIT MAD and Innovators for Purpose.
Learn more and register via the link in our bio.
