The Spring Meeting will be held on-site at the MIT Media Lab with sessions livestreamed on Monday, April 3 + Tuesday, April 4, 2023.

The meeting features updates from all Media Lab research groups, focusing on current and future work that reflects the lab's five research themes. As always, there will be many opportunities to meet our researchers and discuss their latest work. 

Registration

Explore the agenda below, and be sure to register!  This is an invitation-only event, and in-person attendance is limited. If you are an employee of a member company or another organization that helps to fund the Lab, please talk to your company liaison before registering to attend in person.

Lodging + Transportation

Several hotels are within walking distance of the Media Lab and Kendall Square's dynamic, innovation-focused neighborhood. Many more are accessible via public transit, taxi, or rideshare.  

Detailed Agenda

Schedule is subject to change. All times are U.S. Eastern Time.

Virtual: A live stream of the event's main stage will be hosted on this page.

As this is an invitation-only event, the live stream will be password-protected. Virtual attendees will receive this password closer to the event.

Virtual Open House sessions will be held over Zoom.
–  April 3, 4:30 PM (US Eastern): mit.zoom.us/j/97731843826
–  April 4, 4:30 PM (US Eastern): mit.zoom.us/j/93654700730

Virtual Attendees will receive passcodes for each Zoom event before the start of the Zoom meeting.

DAY 1:  Monday, April 3

8:00am – 8:45am:  Registration + Breakfast

Registration in E14 Lobby; Breakfast on the 6th floor in Winter Garden

8:45am – 9:00am:  Welcome in Multi Purpose Room

Dava Newman Opening Remarks

Research Futures:

9:00am – 10:00am:  Discover 

• 9:00 – 9:10  Pattie Maes, Fluid Interfaces
• 9:10 – 9:20  Hiroshi Ishii,  Tangible Media
• 9:20 – 9:30  Deblina Sarkar - Nano-Cybernetic Biotrek
• 9:30 – 9:40  Joseph Paradiso, Responsive Environments
• 9:40 – 9:50  Andrew Lippman, Viral Communications
• 9:50 – 10:00  Zach Lieberman, Future Sketches

10:00am-10:15am:  Break

10:15am – 11:15am:  Create

• 10:15 – 10:25  Canan Dagdeviren, Conformable Decoders
• 10:25 – 10:35  Mitchel Resnick,  Lifelong Kindergarten
• 10:35 – 10:45  Ramesh Raskar, Camera Culture
• 10:45 – 10:55  Ekene Ijeoma, Poetic Justice
• 10:55 – 11:05  Kent Larson, City Science
• 11:05 – 11:15  Tod Machover, Opera of the Future

11:15am – 12:00pm:  Research Theme Update Panel

A unique panel discussion moderated by Dava Newman with audience interaction.

The research themes include:

• Life with AI:  AI-focused on people—especially how novel AI technologies and applications can improve the human experience. 
• Decentralized Society:  Designing a more resilient, equitable, secure, participatory, and open future—focusing on Web3 and digital currency
• Future Worlds:  Energy, food, and security for sustained life on Earth and beyond

12:00pm – 1:00pm:   Lunch

1:00pm – 2:00pm:  Cultivating Creativity (Part 1)

The accelerating disruptions and disconnections in today’s society highlight the urgency for us all to become more inventive, empathetic, and - especially - creative in everything we do. In this deep-dive session, Media Lab faculty and grad students will join renowned leaders from the arts, education, business, and government sectors to explore strategies, practices, and technologies to catalyze a global creativity movement. Through panel discussions, demonstrations, and hands-on creative activities, we’ll explore how everyone can unlock and unleash their creative potential to spark a more joyful, meaningful, and equitable future.  Principals include:

• Tod Machover:  Opera of the Future - Extending expression, learning, and health through innovations in musical composition, performance, and participation
• Mitchel Resnick: Lifelong Kindergarten - Engaging people in creative learning experiences
• Ekene Ijeoma: Poetic Justice - Exploring new forms of social justice through art
• Zach Lieberman: Future Sketches - Exploring the essence of code as a creative medium
• David Kong: Community Biotechnology - Working at the intersection of community organizing and movement building, collective intelligence and social sciences, and accessible biotechnology tool development to activate the global movement around grassroots-driven life sciences.

2:00pm – 2:15pm:  Break

2:15pm – 3:10pm:  Cultivating Creativity  (Part 2)

3:10pm – 3:20pm:  Closing Remarks for Day 1

Hiroshi Ishii

3:20pm – 6:15pm:  Media Lab Open House:

        4:30pm: Virtual Open House on Zoom
        mit.zoom.us/j/97731843826
        Passcode to be sent closer to the event.

6:15pm – 7:45pm: Reception

DAY 2: Tuesday, April 4

8:00am  – 8:30am:  Registration + Breakfast

Registration in E14 Lobby; Breakfast on 6th floor in Winter Garden

8:30am – 8:45 am - Welcome in Multi Purpose Room

Andrew Lippman

Research Futures:

8:45am – 9:45am  Evolve 

• 8:45 – 8:55  Kevin Esvelt, Sculpting Evolution
• 8:55 – 9:05  Rosalind Picard, Affective Computing
• 9:05 – 9:15  Hugh Herr, Biomechatronics
• 9:15 – 9:25  Cynthia Breazeal, Personal Robots
• 9:25 – 9:35  Joseph Jacobson, Molecular Machines
• 9:35 – 9:45  Deb Roy, Center for Constructive Communication

9:45am – 10:00am:  Break

10:00am – 11:00am:  Explore 

• 10:00 – 10:10  Danielle Wood, Space Enabled
• 10:10 – 10:20  Neha Narula, Digital Currency Initiative
• 10:20 – 10:30  Alex Pentland, Human Dynamics
• 10:30 – 10:40  Ariel Ekblaw, Space Exploration Initiative
• 10:40 – 10:50  David Kong, Community Biotechnology
• 10:50 – 11:00  Fadel Adib, Signal Kinetics

11:00am – 12:00pm:  E14 Pitch Session

12:00pm – 1:00pm:  Lunch | All Liaison Meeting in E14-245

1:00pm – 2:00pm:  Connected Mind + Body (Part 1)

The MIT Media Lab's Connected Mind+Body Initiative aims to shape the future intersection where technology meets the human body and mind.  Creating new kinds of sensing and interfaces, affective AI, and completely new ways to make technology ultra-tiny, we are enabling new ways to influence health and experiences daily and nightly, to see and know things about ourselves that were not visible before, and even to go directly into the brain and change how it is healed.  Beyond understanding the normal mind-body connection, we seek to improve human health and experience in ways never before achievable.  Principals include:

• Rosalind Picard: Affective Computing - Advancing human wellbeing by developing new ways to communicate, understand, and respond to emotion.
• Pattie Maes: Fluid Interfaces - Designing systems for cognitive support.
• Cynthia Breazeal: Personal Robots - Building intelligent personified technologies that collaborate with people to help them learn, thrive, and flourish.
• Canan Dagdeviren: Conformable Decoders - Converting the patterns of nature and the human body into beneficial signals and energy.
• Deblina Sarkar: Nano-Cybernetic Biotrek - Inventing disruptive technologies for nanoelectronic devices and creating new paradigms for life-machine symbiosis.
• Moderator:   David Kong
  

2:00pm – 2:15pm:  Break

2:15pm – 3:10pm:  Connected Mind + Body (Part 2)

3:10pm – 3:20pm:  Closing Statement for Day 2

Ramesh Raskar

3:15pm – 6:15pm:  Media Lab Open House

        4:30pm: Virtual Open House on Zoom
        mit.zoom.us/j/93654700730
        Passcode to be sent closer to the event.

6:15pm – 7:45pm:  Reception

------------------------------------------------------------

DAY 3: Wednesday, April 5

Office Hours for members - contact your External Relations Manager to make arrangements.

Possible Workshop by Ramesh Raskar.  Details TBD.