The MIT MechE Colloquium Series offers a space for faculty, students, and staff to engage with leading voices in mechanical engineering. These talks highlight current research, emerging technologies, and interdisciplinary collaborations shaping the field today. Open to members of the MIT community, the series fosters dialogue, connection, and inspiration across labs, classrooms, and departments.
While we won’t be live-streaming the events, recordings will be made available afterward on MechE’s Lectures & Colloquia YouTube channel.
Except where noted, all colloquia are at 3:30 - 4:30pm in 3-270.
Fall 2026
| DATE | SPEAKER |
|---|---|
| Sep 18 | Professor Kait Becker on "Fabrication-Integrated Design for Mechanical Systems Made from Unconventional Materials" |
| Sep 25 | Professor Sherrie Wang on "Learning to Measure the Earth" |
| Oct 9 | Professor Jeehwan Kim on "One Technology to Power Them All: Monolithic 3D for AI, Photonics, XR, and Sensing" |
| Oct 16 | Professor Mathias Kolle on "Squishy Material Mechanics for Edible Structural Color, Butterfly Scale Secretion, and Whales" |
| Oct 23 | Professor Wei Chen (Northwestern University) on "Integrating Physical Intelligence with Artificial Intelligence: Autonomous Design and Manufacturing of Emerging Material Systems" |
| Nov 13 | Professor Carlos Portela |
| Nov 20 | Professor Faez Ahmed |
| Dec 4 | Professor Vikas Srivastava (Brown University) |
Spring 2026
| DATE | SPEAKER |
|---|---|
| April 10 | Ioannis Yannas Lecture: Brendan Harley (UIUC) on "Regenerative biomaterials and engineered tissue models" |
| April 17 | Paynter Lecture - Richard Murray (Caltech) on "One in a Billion: How to Make Sure Autonomous Systems Are Safe (Enough)" |
| April 24 | Den Hartog Lecture - Thomas Hughes (UT Austin) on "The Finite Element Method and Isogeometric Analysis: Past, Present, Future" |
| May 8 | Razi Epsztein (Technion – Israel Institute of Technology) on "Targeting solute-solute selectivity in membrane separation" |
Fall 2025
| Date | Speaker |
|---|---|
| September 26 | Professor Navid Azizan on "Reliable AI for Autonomous Systems" |
| October 3 | Professor Ritu Raman on "Tissue Engineering Biological Actuators for Regenerative Medicine and Biohybrid Robotics" |
| October 10 | Professor Gio Traverso on "Engineering for Extremes: Materials, Medicines, and Machines for the Gastrointestinal Tract" |
| October 17 | Professor Ming Guo on "Pushing Multicellular Living Systems to Extreme: Reality and Virtual World" |
| October 24 | Professor Betar Gallant on "Mastering complexity at reacting electrode interfaces: from better batteries to high-performing CO₂ capture-conversion" |
|
October 31 |
Professor Karthik Ramani on "Ghosts in the Machine: When Physical AI Comes Alive" |
| November 14 | Professor Shorya Awtar (University of Michigan) on "Precision engineering and surgical robotics" |
| November 21 | Professor Sili Deng on "Combustion, energy conversion, and nanomaterials" |
| December 5 | Professor Wim van Rees on "Bio-inspired fluid-structure interaction and soft robotics" |