In this episode we have two special exceptionally global segments from our staff. First we’ll go to Germany. Falling Walls is a conference and platform for emerging leaders in science, business, politics, arts, and society. It is based in Germany and indeed, coincides with the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Dr. Shawana Tabassum is a sc…

Climate Change is obviously a global issue. And there are organizations, companies, and cities trying to mitigate it through decarbonization, the process of reducing the reliance on fossil fuels and achieving a carbon neutral society. The German American Business Council hosted a panel discussion on Alternative Energy Models for a Low Carbon Transi…

Riding off the major developments of the past few years, including Brexit and the pandemic, Scotland had a major parliament election back in May, which resulted in pro-independence party victories. Now the country may have another independence referendum in the near future. The MIT Center for International Studies had none other than Scottish polit…

On today’s show we have some audio from an event co-sponsored by our MIT-Russia program and the MIT AeroAstro department, featuring a NASA astronaut. You may have remembered a past episode of ours that featured astronaut-turned-investor Bernard Harris. But now we have an astronaut who will share the benefits of learning Russian as a space explorer.…

MIT-India and MIT-Africa were thrilled to team up to host a conversation with MIT alumni, students, and faculty on difficult but necessary topics around diaspora, race, inclusion, and identity. Today we are going to share parts of that conversation. The event featured MG Vassanji, Class of 1974, a Kenyan-born, Tanzanian-raised South Asian who curre…

The shootings of six Asian women in Atlanta in March of this year may have felt like the apotheosis of Anti-Asian violence in the time of Covid. Hate crimes against Asians shot up about 150% in 2020 in the largest American cities. This was connected to the increase of anti-Asian sentiment that emerged from the spread of Covid-19 in the US. Because …

Ari recently had a chance to catch up with Kathleen Schwind, a 2019 MIT graduate from the Urban Studies and Planning program. Kathleen traveled extensively through MISTI while she was a student at MIT, making it to 22 countries by the age of 22. They caught up about her attraction to the world's most intractable problems and the role of water in mi…

On today’s show, we have some clips from the Boston Japan Film Festival. If you don’t know, the Boston Japan Film Festival is a single-day event that connects New England to Japanese culture through cinema. The festival was held online this year, with virtual film showings and discussions. There was a particular short documentary that we wanted to …

The rabeca probably not an instrument many people would be familiar with. If you’ve never seen one before, you could look at it and compare it to a violin, but the comparison kind of stops at the visual similarities. So when the opportunity came to learn more about it, I jumped at the chance of talking about it in an episode. And that’s what we’ll …

The discussion of Universal Basic Income, a program where the government issues cash to its citizens on a consistent basis, is quite contentious in America, coming in and out of the mainstream political discourse through the years. It most recently became a hot issue during Andrew Yang’s presidential run. But it’s not a policy limited to the United…

In 2018, the Broadway hit "The Bands' Visit," won a slew of Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best original score, best actor, and best actress. It also won best orchestration, which was awarded to Jamshied Sharifi, an Iranian-American composer and MIT alum. Sharifi received his degree in Humanities at MIT, then went on to study at Berklee Colle…

Nacho Nwana, a recent MIT grad who double majored in Management and Political Science. As a Nigerian-American, he had looked to travel to Africa through MISTI, but with all trips halted for most of 2020, he couldn’t get there. As a way to get connected to the continent, he interned at a Senegal-based start-up called LOOKA, and launched his own podc…

On this episode, we want to show you the ways telemedicine and energy industries are being transformed around the world. These two sectors may sound disparate, but there is actually something they have in common, and that’s the goal of efficiency. Countries may have trouble catching up with the current era of rapidly-evolving technology. Telemedici…

This year, Global Startup Labs, or GSL, celebrated 20 years sending MIT students abroad to teach other students about entrepreneurship and help realize their startup ideas. GSL managers, students, alumni, and founders congregated via Zoom to commemorate and reflect on their achievements. Over 300 MIT students have instructed thousands of GSL studen…

Every year we send over a thousand students to over 25 countries, and we have a few who really stand out for different reasons. Because of this we have unofficially created the MISTI Radio Hall of Fame, featuring students who have gone on five different MISTI trips. We have two of those students, including Richard Colwell. Through MISTI, Richard ha…

The MIT-India team recently caught up with MIT alum Uma Girkar who founded the Smart Learning, Eating, Exercising and Thinking program also known as SLEET program. It is a public health and education program which Uma and other MISTI participants have conducted in various countries globally. In this interview, Uma speaks with MIT student Enriko Gra…

We have a really cool segment submitted by a student who spoke with students and alumni who traveled to Brazil either through MISTI or Fulbright. But first, we’re going to pick up where we left off on the last episode where Brigid and Ari interviewed Kevi Donat. If you don’t know, Kevi is a French tour guide that mainly focuses on the often overloo…

In this episode, we feature Keví Donat, a French tour guide and founder of Le Paris Noir who provides, quote, “an alternative and authentic vision of” Paris, mainly through the lens of Black history, a perspective that’s often overlooked. In partnership with MIT-France they hosted a discussion on post-colonial France. But the conversation didn’t en…

Today we’re putting a spotlight on two MIT students; Rahul Ramakrishnan, who participated in the MIT-India program, and Mercedes Riley, who presented a philosophy workshop for girls all around the world.

As a whole, MISTI has had to forgo almost all travel for students, staff, and faculty. It was difficult to come to terms with this as a program that centers around traveling. But two staff members made the decision to fly out of America. Matt Burt, Korea Program Manager, and Marco de Paula, Brazil Program assistant, went to… well Korea and Brazil r…

As a whole, MIT is always looking to connect with the rest of the world in innovative ways that bring change. Students are a crucial part of that mission. Today you get to hear from two MIT undergraduates who are committed to inspiring their community to learn more about Africa. Also in the episode, we hear from our own faculty. It’s probably no su…

In this episode, we have our students and partners from the U.K. and Denmark who are addressing inequities related to food and STEM spaces. While these are issues that are prevalent in the U.S., we wanted to share the work others are doing in those countries. What are the similarities? What are the differences? We also have interviews with MISTI al…

On this episode of MISTI Radio Podcast we talked with program partners from India and Denmark. With Covid continuing to spread, how does India adapt to ensure the security and safety of its people? Sloan graduates Hank Levine and Anirudh Sharma discuss how their companies are adapting to keep people employed and provide PPE sustainably in India, re…

On this episode we have a special interview and talk to share; both about how COVID-19 affects things from communications to climate change. Ari Jacobovitz, Managing Director of MIT-Africa, interviews Michala Mackay, the Chief Operating Officer and Director of the Directorate of Science, Technology, and Innovation in Sierra Leone. DSTI seeks to “tr…