Program Impact
Deepening scholarship at MIT
MLK Scholars enhance their scholarship through all kinds of interactions with the MIT community—they lecture and teach, they share offices and lab benches, they exchange ideas and engage in debates. As a group of 10-15 scholars per year, they form a distinguished cohort, collaborate with like-minded researchers, teach and mentor students, and exponentially grow their network during their time at the Institute.
Becoming part of the MIT community also allows scholars to participate in the Institute’s unique culture, which motivates people to make and build solutions to the most complex problems. As visiting scholars, the MLK Scholars open new opportunities for cross-disciplinary work and advance their academic and creative careers.
Scholar Stories
The MLK scholars use their work to advance academic excellence, social justice, and equality for all. Discover the outstanding contributions these scholars make to their fields, while continuing MLK’s legacy through their impact on the Institute community.
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2023 Visiting ScholarTawanna DillahuntWho should influence the design of new technology?
Read more about Tawanna Dillahunt“I’ve been looking at community-based, participatory research approaches, so bringing in community into the design of technology, and asking that question, ‘How can technology amplify what the community is already doing?’”
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2024 Visiting ScholarChristine Taylor-ButlerHow can writing for children drive social change?
Read more about Christine Taylor-Butler“Writing is going to be my act of civil disobedience, because it’s a great way to get information to kids.”
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2024 Visiting ScholarAngélica María Mayolo ObregónHow can traditional knowledge strengthen the response to climate change?
Read more about Angélica María Mayolo Obregón“The traditional knowledge that Indigenous peoples and Afro-descendant communities in the Americas have is very powerful combined with the scientific knowledge that we have in institutions like MIT.”
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2023 Visiting ScholarAngelino ViceiszaHow does eradicating poverty address social justice?
Read more about Angelino Viceisza“Economic justice and social justice are two sides to the same coin.”
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2024 Visiting ScholarJean-Luc PieriteWhat does it mean for Indigenous peoples to have ancestral and cultural ties to our built environments?
Read more about Jean-Luc Pierite“Our first teacher is the land itself. The land teaches us our languages. The land teaches us how to work with it. And so from the land to elders to the younger generation, we have that chain of knowledge that happens within our own communities.”
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2023 Visiting ScholarDenise FrazierWhere does engineering intersect with storytelling?
Read more about Denise Frazier“The Department of Materials Science and Engineering has helped me understand more deeply the entanglements of chemical landscapes, water engineering, and the power of stories to help foster positive change.”
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2023 Visiting ScholarLupe FiascoWhat can a Grammy-award winning rapper learn about language at MIT?
Read more about Lupe Fiasco“If you just roam the halls here, and you’re attentive, and you look, you’ll learn a new word every thirty steps.”
Impact on the Institute community
While at MIT, MLK Scholars are deeply engaged with the Institute community. As part of the program, scholars advance their own research agendas, and they dedicate time to interacting with undergraduate and graduate students, teaching courses, and collaborating with MIT experts in their fields. Because the scholars represent diverse fields, including those beyond MIT’s academic areas, their presence on campus opens up new opportunities for collaboration and learning.
