Professor Jesse Thaler has been named director of the MIT Laboratory for Nuclear Science (LNS), effective Aug. 1. He succeeds Professor Bolek Wyslouch, who directed LNS for the past decade. Thaler is a theoretical particle physicist who combines techniques from quantum field theory and machine learning to address outstanding questions in fundamental physics. 'In his research, Jesse has done pioneering work on particle jets at the Large Hadron Collider and is a leader in combining AI and machine learning with fundamental particle physics,' says Nergis Mavalvala, dean of the MIT School of Science and the Curtis and Kathleen Marble Professor of Astrophysics. 'The collaborative nature of his research programs will serve the Laboratory for Nuclear Science as science enters a new era of AI-driven discovery.' Thaler is the William and Emma Rogers Professor of Physics in the MIT Center for Theoretical Physics ' a Leinweber Institute (CTP-LI). Since 2020, he has served as inaugural director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) AI Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions, or IAIFI, which was recently renewed for another five years. Mike Williams, professor of physics, will succeed Thaler as IAIFI director. LNS is also poised to pursue new research projects through the Department of Energy's Genesis Mission, which has a focus on AI-enabled scientific discovery....

After more than 10 years at the helm of the Laboratory for Nuclear Science (LNS), Boleslaw 'Bolek' Wyslouch will step down to continue research in nuclear physics as director of the Bates Research and Engineering Center, a subgroup of LNS. 'LNS scientists, including Bolek himself, are world leaders in particle and nuclear physics,' says Nergis Mavalvala, dean of the MIT School of Science and the Curtis and Kathleen Marble Professor of Astrophysics. 'Bolek has ensured that LNS has flourished during his time as director, supporting our teams' critical large-scale, international, collaborative research.' The largest university-based program of its kind in the country, LNS was established in 1946 to provide support for basic research in the fields of nuclear and high-energy physics. Wyslouch has served as LNS director since 2015. Since Bolek's appointment as LNS director in 2015, he has helped significantly increase the Laboratory's research volume. This growth reflects expansion across many areas of nuclear and particle physics, with LNS supporting several new faculty members. His vision was instrumental in bringing low-energy nuclear physics into the laboratory as a major new research area, the only subfield of nuclear physics in which the laboratory had not previously engaged....

A normal laboratory is already a kind of computer. It has sensors, actuators, memory, protocols, data outputs and error states. But the operating system is usually a human scientist. The scientist decides what to test, transfers samples between instruments, inspects the results, updates their mental model and chooses the next experiment. The basic idea is simple: connect AI to automated experimental hardware, then let the results of each experiment influence what the system does next. The lab is not just running a long queue of prewritten instructions. It is learning while it works. It makes something, measures it, updates a model and chooses the next move. This is the key distinction between automation and autonomy. An automated liquid handler can pipette 10,000 wells according to a script. A self-driving lab can run the first few hundred experiments, notice that most of the remaining design space looks unpromising and redirect itself toward better candidates. Automation executes. Autonomy decides....

On May 28, MIT President Sally Kornbluth and Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey announced plans for a new laboratory to accelerate the development of next-generation quantum technologies that will enable Massachusetts to remain a national hub for quantum innovation. Speaking at the Samberg Conference Center on campus, the leaders introduced the Quantum Systems Laboratory (QSL) at MIT, a shared-use facility that will catalyze quantum development in the region and help keep America at the forefront of a technology seen as critical for a range of industries. 'Quantum technologies have the potential to drive transformative change in fields from computing, security, and navigation to health sciences, defense technologies, and space exploration,' Kornbluth said. 'Greater Boston has the greatest concentration of quantum talent of anywhere in the world, so it has been clear to us for some time that if we could magnify all of that talent with the right facilities ' a shared quantum toolbox ' we could establish Massachusetts as a national hub for quantum innovation and help catalyze the next generation of quantum technologies.'...