SHASS+ Connectivity Fund Projects

The SHASS+ Connectivity Fund is designed to support research that builds bridges between SHASS fields and other fields at MIT. Proposals require a project lead in SHASS and another project lead whose primary appointment is outside of SHASS. The fund awards up to $2 million per year across all projects.

Learn more about the 2025 awardees, including a brief summary of the projects and the principal investigators, below.

Performative Preservations and the Economics of Cool: Building a Global Future for Traditional Crafts

Coolness sells. Especially in today’s globalized world dominated by fast-moving images on social media. For the traditional crafts to flourish today, they need to find ways to be cool without losing their essence. This is the central issue in the economics of cool. To explore what it takes to achieve this coolness, in terms of design innovations, technical modifications and new visual elements and narratives, we have separately been working with textile-artisans in multiple countries. In this project we aim to bring together the learnings from the two streams of work, culminating in an exhibition and a monograph.

Abhijit Banerjee, Ford Foundation International Professor, Economics

Azra Akšamija, Professor, Architecture; Director, Art, Culture, and Technology program; Director, Future Heritage Lab

A Cross-Cultural Study of the Complexity of Legal Language

This project puts together Edward Gibson of MIT Brain and Cognitive Sciences with Tristan Brown of MIT History, to discover the complexity of modern and ancient Chinese legal texts, relative to other Chinese texts. It has been shown by Gibson’s group that English legalese is more complex than control texts. If Chinese legalese is equally complex, this suggests a cognitive basis for the complexity. Otherwise, this suggests English legalese is complex because of an initial accident. There are important public policy applications that can potentially inform us whether and how legal language can be simplified to provide the same meanings.

Tristan Brown, S.C. Fang Chinese Language and Culture Career Development Professor, History

Edward Gibson, Professor, Brain and Cognitive Sciences

Anthro-Engineering: Decarbonization at the Million-Person Scale

We will expand our ongoing collaboration (NSE and Anthropology) to work on low-cost thermal energy storage banks to combat climate change, improve household air quality, alleviate respiratory illness, and increase households’ freedom and agency amidst an increasingly energy- and policy-constrained society. Our field site is Ulaanbaatar (UB), the world’s coldest capital city and one of the most polluted due to coal-burning as the main energy source. Research is keyed to a co-taught class in the fall semester and is followed by an immersive, ethnographic research expedition to Mongolia during IAP.

Manduhai Buyandelger, Professor, Anthropology

Michael Short, Associate Professor, Nuclear Science and Engineering

The Robert R. Taylor Documentary Project  

With filmmaking partners at MIT Video Productions, the team will create a documentary telling the story of Robert R. Taylor, MIT’s first Black graduate and the country’s first accredited African American architect. The film will trace Taylor’s extraordinary journey from his upbringing in Wilmington, NC to his experience and architectural training at MIT to his monumental achievements at Tuskegee University where he spent nearly four decades as a professor and the architect of dozens of campus buildings. The film will also highlight Taylor’s enduring legacy as seen in the collaborative research and exchanges taking place today between MIT and Tuskegee. 

Christopher Capozzola, Elting Morison Professor, History; Senior Associate Dean, Open Learning

Timothy Hyde, Professor and Associate Department Head, Architecture

Workshop for Perspectives on Cybersecurity

The Workshop focuses on the risks and vulnerabilities in the cyber-physical systems of two large-scale distinct, but interconnected domains of global interactions: (i) the complex communication networks of global supply chains; and (ii) the undersea cyber-physical cables for global networks. Operating across jurisdictions, these systems also create environmental damages. The results include: (iii) calls for global responses and governance to manage diverse actors and entities, interests and activities, and address environmental damages. Overall, the goal of the Workshop is to frame an integrative Cybersecurity Perspective, supported by coherence in theory, policy, and practice for managing cyber risks and vulnerabilities.

Nazli Choucri, Professor of Political Science; Senior Faculty, Center for International Studies; Faculty Affiliate, MIT Institute for Data, Science, and Society

Saurabh Amin, Edmund K. Turner Professor in Civil Engineering

Scalable and Ethical AI for Health Diagnostics in Low-Resource Settings

This project will develop equitable AI-based diagnostic tools to scale up access to health screening in low-resource settings. Leveraging a unique dataset linking mobile test results to gold-standard diagnoses from Tamil Nadu, India, we will build a suite of machine learning algorithms that use low-cost inputs to predict risks for non-communicable diseases. We will conduct fairness audits of our predictive models to identify and address disparities in performance across subgroups before deployment, which often arises in machine learning in healthcare. Our goal is to build cost-effective, scalable, and equitable tools to improve healthcare delivery around the globe.

Esther Duflo, Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics

Marzyeh Ghassemi, Germeshausen Career Development Professor at MIT, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science:

Building social science-engaged climate & sustainability infrastructure at MIT 

Perspectives from the social sciences and humanities are central to understanding and rectifying the most serious climate and sustainability problems facing humanity, yet integration of this expertise into MIT’s burgeoning climate research and implementation infrastructure has proven challenging. Our project builds critical capacity for this engagement by convening cross-institute conversations on MIT research, and a series of expert-led workshops to establish guidelines and best practices for inter-disciplinary and inter-paradigmatic collaboration. Through these activities, this project will foster the connections, awareness and tools necessary for substantive SHASS engagement with climate and sustainability initiatives across MIT, including the flagship campus-wide Climate Project.

Laura Frye-Levine, Research Scientist, Anthropology Living Climate Futures Lab

Jennifer Morris, Principal Research Scientist, Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy

Socio-culturally Aware AI 

GenAI has ushered in an era of more open-ended computer systems. Trained to learn patterns from vast datasets of human cultural expression, these technologies exhibit tremendous flexibility in the kinds of input they can parse; they can also produce output that is far more contextually responsive to open-ended interactions with users. Through the interdisciplinary integration of linguistic anthropology and human-computer interaction (HCI), we aim to develop a human-centered approach to designing socio-culturally aware AI agents. Such systems could more successfully co-produce meaning in open-ended use scenarios, suggesting more expansive conceptions of socially responsible and culturally sensitive design.

Graham Jones, Professor of Anthropology

Arvind Satyanarayan, Associate Professor of Computer Science:

The Biomechanics of Assimilating a New Piano Skill

Musical expression at the piano demands sophisticated motor skills developed through years of dedicated practice. We seek to develop a biomechanical understanding of musical expression and skill development. We hypothesize that the efficiency and perceived fluency of an expert pianist’s movements comes from harnessing the body’s inherent elastic mechanisms. By studying elastic tissues – skin, muscles, and associated connective tissues – during piano playing in both expert and student pianists, we aim to develop mechanistic insights that could transform how we understand and teach piano technique, reduce performance-related injuries, and bridge the gap between artistic expression and biomechanical efficiency.

Mi-Eun Kim, Lecturer, Music

Praneeth Namburi, Research Scientist, Institute for Medical Engineering and Science

Mathematical Analysis of Inequality in U.S. Legislative and Lobbying Networks

This collaborative project between political science and mathematics aims to study U.S. legislative and lobbying networks using mathematical models. Following the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, interest groups have disclosed extensive details on their activities, influencing various political actors. Our project addresses gaps in robust methods for analyzing these complex networks. By modeling networks as tensors, we aim to identify key actors and assess their policy impact, exploring how these dynamics might perpetuate inequalities and impact democracy. We will use novel tools to reveal which interests dominate legislative outcomes, offering new insights into political network dynamics.

In Song Kim, Associate Professor, Political Science

Jörn Dunkel, MathWorks Professor, Mathematics 

MIT Consciousness Club

The MIT Consciousness Club seeks to foster interdisciplinary research on consciousness, a fundamental yet elusive phenomenon, by bridging philosophy and cognitive (neuro)science. This initiative organizes monthly events featuring expert talks, Q&A sessions, and receptions to spark collaborative discussions on topics such as the neural correlates of consciousness, unconscious perception, or consciousness in non-human animals and AI systems. Led by Matthias Michel and Earl Miller, the Consciousness club unites MIT’s SHASS and scientific disciplines to position MIT as a leader in the field while also engaging the Boston area’s academic community to advance consciousness research.

Matthias Michel, Old Dominion Career Development Assistant Professor, Department of Linguistics & Philosophy

Earl Miller, Picower Professor of Neuroscience, Brain and Cognitive Sciences

MIT-Amazonia Community Alliance Planning Grant

The Amazon rainforest is vital for combating climate change and preserving biodiversity, yet conflicting priorities among policymakers, businesses, and local communities hinder its protection. Rural communities, often underrepresented in development initiatives, face unique challenges. The MIT-Amazonia Community Alliance will establish a multidisciplinary research platform connecting MIT scholars with vulnerable communities and their partners in government, universities, and businesses to jointly develop new knowledge and solutions. We plan to develop a comprehensive Amazonia research program, focusing on four themes: addressing barriers to sustainable development, modeling localized climate impacts, fostering technology co-creation, and enhancing capacity building to bridge knowledge and cultural divides.

Mihaela Papa, Director of Research, Center for International Studies

Bradley D. Olsen, Alexander and I. Michael Kasser (1960) Professor, Chemical Engineering

Material and Acoustic Studies of Historic Musical Instruments 

A collaboration between Music Technology, the Center for Materials Research in Archaeology and Ethnology, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, this project aims to study the materials, construction, and sound of historic musical instruments. Primarily through X-ray computed tomography and vibration and acoustic measurements, in addition to numerical simulations, this research will create state-of-the-art characterizations of the instruments, revealing the bases of their unique and cherished sound. Furthermore, synthesizing their sound and fabricating reproductions in equivalent materials will provide researchers, musicians, students, and the public with first-hand authentic experiences playing and creating music with historically accurate and genre-defining instruments.

Mark Rau, Assistant Professor of Music Technology, Music and Theater Arts, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Research Laboratory of Electronics

Antoine Allanore, Professor of Metallurgy; Heather N. Lechtman Professor of Materials Science and Engineering; Director, Center for Materials Research in Archaeology and Ethnology, Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Bioeconomy and Society

In the next century the convergence of biotechnology and biological engineering promises to transform the production of fuels, food, materials, and medicines though sustainable processes based on bacteria, fungi, algae, and plants, inaugurating a biologically based economy, or bioeconomy, that will move society away from its harmful dependence on petrochemicals. This project sets the basis for interdisciplinary and reciprocal conversations about the bioeonomy across MIT.

Robin Scheffler, Associate Professor, Science, Technology, and Society

Mark Bathe, Professor, Biological Engineering

Living History Theater: Science Theater Performed by Scientists

Retelling Science brings science history to life through scholarly portrayals of notable discoveries performed by modern scientists. Based on the Chautauqua living history theater method, this initiative empowers scientists and audiences to accurately learn and share the process behind scientific discoveries through fact-based, biographical performances. Through a collaboration between STEM on Stage, and the MIT Physics and Theater & Music Departments, the program will produce the digital theater production “Pursuit of Discovery: Lise Meitner and Nuclear Fission,” featuring MIT Professor Anna Frebel. This humanities-based approach offers an innovative way for scientists to portray historic researchers in their field.

Jay Scheib, Class of 1949 Professor and Head, Music and Theater Arts

Anna Frebel, Professor, Physics and Division Head, Astrophysics

The Science of Respect

People desperately want to feel respected, and also want to be respectful, to offer respect. Yet, respect is a complex emotion in human social life, ambiguously poised between positive and negative experiences and entangled uncomfortably with power relations. Surprisingly, given the ubiquity of respect in human social life, there has been very little investigation of how the drive to give and receive respect is implemented neurally in humans or its precedents animals. The goal of this project is to critically examine the process, opportunities, and limits of neuroscience for understanding the rich social phenomena of desiring and delivering respect.

Lily Tsai, Ford Professor of Political Science, Political Science; Director and Founder, MIT Governance Lab

Rebecca Saxe, John W. Jarve (1978) Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience and Associate Dean, Science

Language/AI Incubator

Generative AI is transforming the ways humans write, read, speak, think, empathize, and act within and across languages and cultures. The Language/AI Incubator at MIT offers a response to this development. This initiative envisions a research community rooted in the humanities that will foster interdisciplinary collaboration across the Institute to deepen our understanding of generative AI’s impact on cross-linguistic and cross-cultural communication. Collaborators from diverse fields will come together to share perspectives and address real-world opportunities and challenges posed by AI technologies in areas ranging from world language education and endangered language preservation via the medical humanities to health care.

Per Urlaub, Professor of the Practice in German and Second Language Studies, Director of Global Languages

Leo Anthony Celi, Research Director and Principal Research Scientist, Institute for Medical Engineering and Science