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Loren Graham, professor emeritus of the history of science, dies at 91

Loren R. Graham, professor emeritus of the history of science who served on the MIT faculty for nearly three decades, died on Dec. 15, 2024, at the age of 91.

Graham received a BS in chemical engineering from Purdue University in 1955, the same year his classmate, acquaintance, and future NASA astronaut and moon walker Neil Armstrong graduated with a BS in aeronautical engineering. Graham went on to earn a PhD in history in 1964 from Columbia University, where he taught from 1965 until 1978. 

In 1978, Graham joined the MIT Program in Science, Technology, and Society (STS) as a professor of the history of science. His specialty during his tenure with the program was in the history of science in Russia and the Soviet Union in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. His work focused on Soviet and Marxist philosophy of science and science politics.

Much of Graham’s career spanned the Cold War. He participated in one of the first academic exchange programs between the United States and the Soviet Union from 1960 to 1961 and marched in the Moscow May Day Parade just weeks after Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space. In 1965, he received a Fulbright Award to do research in the Soviet Union.

Graham wrote extensively on the influence of social context in science and the study of contemporary science and technology in Russia. He also experimented in writing a nonfiction mystery, “Death in the Lighthouse” (2013), and making documentary films. His publications include “Science, Philosophy and Human Behavior in the Soviet Union” (1987), “Science and the Soviet Social Order” (1990), “Science in Russia and the Soviet Union: A Short History” (1993), “The Ghost of the Executed Engineer” (1993); “A Face in the Rock” (1995); and “What Have We Learned About Science and Technology from the Russian Experience?” (1998).

His publication “Science, Philosophy and Science in the Soviet Union” was nominated for the National Book Award in 1987. He received the George Sarton Medal from the History of Science Society in 1996 and the Follo Award of the Michigan Historical Society in 2000 for his contributions to Michigan history.

Many former colleagues recall the impact he had at MIT. In 1988, with fellow faculty member Roe Merrett Smith, professor emeritus of history, he played a leading role in establishing the graduate program in the history and social study of science and technology that is now known as HASTS. This interdisciplinary graduate Program in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology, and Society has become one of the most selective graduate programs at MIT.

“Loren was an intellectual innovator and role model for teaching and advising,” says Sherry Turkle, MIT professor of sociology. “And he was a wonderful colleague. … He experimented. He had fun. He cared about writing and about finding joy in work.”

Graham served on the STS faculty until his retirement in 2006.

Throughout his life, Graham was a member of many foundations and honorary societies, including the U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation, the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Russian Academy of Natural Science.

He was also a member on several boards of trustees, including George Soros’ International Science Foundation, which supported Russian scientists after the collapse of the Soviet Union. For many years he served on the board of trustees of the European University at St. Petersburg, remaining an active member on its development board until 2024. After donating thousands of books from his own library to the university, a special collection was established in his name.

In 2012, Graham was awarded a medal by the Russian Academy of Sciences at a ceremony in Moscow for his contributions to the history of science. “His own life as a scholar covered a great deal of important history,” says David Mindell, MIT professor of aeronautics and astronautics and the Dibner Professor of the History of Engineering and Manufacturing.

Graham is survived by ​​his wife, Patricia Graham, and daughter, Meg Peterson.

Richard Locke PhD ’89 named dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management

Richard Locke PhD ’89, a prominent scholar and academic administrator with a wide range of leadership experience, has been named the new dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management. The appointment is effective July 1.

In becoming the school’s 10th dean, Locke is rejoining the Institute, where he previously served in multiple roles from 1988 to 2013, as a faculty member, a department head, and a deputy dean of MIT Sloan. After leaving MIT, Locke was a senior leader at Brown University, including seven and a half years as Brown’s provost. Since early 2023, he has been dean of Apple University, an educational unit within Apple Inc. focused on educating the company’s employees on leadership, management, and the company’s culture and organization.

“I am thrilled to be returning to MIT Sloan,” says Locke, whose formal title will be the John C Head III Dean at MIT Sloan. “It is a special place, with its world-class faculty, innovative research and educational programs, and close-knit community, all within the MIT ecosystem.”

He adds: “All of these assets give MIT Sloan an opportunity to chart the future — to shape how new technologies will reconfigure industries and careers, how new enterprises will be created and run, how individuals will work and live, and how national economies will develop and adapt. It will be exciting and fun to work with great colleagues and to help lead the school to its next phase of global prominence and impact.”

As dean at MIT Sloan, Locke follows David C. Schmittlein, who stepped down in February 2024 after a nearly 17-year tenure. Georgia Perakis, the William F. Pounds Professor of Operations Research and Statistics and Operations Management at MIT Sloan, has been serving as the interim John C Head III Dean since then and will continue in the role until Locke begins.

Institute leaders welcomed Locke back, citing his desire to help MIT Sloan address significant global challenges, including climate change, the role of artificial intelligence in society, and new health care solutions, while refining best practices for businesses and workplaces.

“MIT Sloan has been very fortunate in its leaders. Both Dave Schmittlein and Georgia Perakis set a high bar, and we continue that tradition with the selection of Rick Locke,” says MIT President Sally A. Kornbluth. “Beyond his wide-ranging experience and accomplishments and superb academic credentials, I have come to know Rick as an outstanding leader, both from the years when we were both provosts and through his thoughtful service on the MIT Corporation. Rick has always impressed me with his intellectual breadth, personal grace, and fresh ideas. We’re delighted that he will be rejoining our campus community.”

In a letter to the MIT community, MIT Provost Cynthia Barnhart praised Locke’s “transformative career” and noted how she and the search committee agree “that Rick’s depth of experience makes him a once-in-a-generation leader who will ‘hit the ground sprinting’” as MIT Sloan’s next dean.

Barnhart added: “The committee and I were impressed by his vision for removing frictions that slow research efforts, his exceptional track record of raising substantial funds to support academic communities, and his strong grasp of and attentiveness to the interests and needs of MIT Sloan’s constituencies.”

A political scientist by training, Locke has conducted high-profile research on labor practices in global supply chains, among other topics. His career has also included efforts to bring together stakeholders, from multinational firms to supply-chain workers, in an effort to upgrade best practices in business.

Locke is widely known for a vigorous work ethic, a humane manner around co-workers, and a leadership outlook that blends idealism about civic engagement with realism about global challenges.

His wide-ranging work and interests make Locke well-suited to MIT Sloan. The school has about 115 tenure-track faculty and 1,600 students spread over eight degree programs, with wide-ranging initiatives and academic groups connecting core management topics with more specialized topics relating to the innovation economy and entrepreneurship, the social impact of business and technology, policy development, and much more.

MIT conducted an extensive search process for the position, evaluating internal and external candidates over the last several months. The search committee’s co-chairs were Kate Kellogg, the David J. McGrath Jr Professor of Management and Innovation at MIT Sloan; and Andrew W. Lo, the Charles E. and Susan T. Harris Professor at MIT Sloan.

The committee solicited and received extensive feedback about the position and the school from  stakeholders including faculty, students, staff, and alumni, while engaging with MIT leadership about the role.

“MIT Sloan occupies a rare position in the world as a management school connected to one of the great engineering and scientific universities,” Kellogg says.

She adds: “Rick has a strong track record of bringing faculty from different domains together, and we think he is going to be great at connecting Sloan even further to the rest of MIT, around grand challenges such as climate, AI, and health care.”

Lo credits Schmittlein for “an incredible 17-year legacy of extraordinary leadership,” observing that Schmittlein helped MIT Sloan expand in size, consolidate its strengths, and build new programs. About Perakis, Kellogg notes, “Georgia’s outstanding work as dean has built on these strengths and sparked important new innovations and partnerships in areas like AI and entrepreneurship. She’s also expanded the school’s footprint in Southeast Asia and helped advance key Institute-wide priorities like the Climate Project at MIT and the Generative AI consortium.”

Kellogg and Lo expressed confidence that Locke would help MIT Sloan continue to adapt and grow.

“MIT and MIT Sloan are at inflection points in our ability to invent the future, given the role technology is playing in virtually every aspect of our lives,” Lo says. “Rick has the same vision and ambitions that we do, and the experience and skills to help us realize that vision. We couldn’t be more excited by this choice.”

Lo adds: “Rick is a first-rate scholar and first-rate educator who really gets our mission and core values and ethos. Dave was an extraordinary dean, and we expect the same from Rick. He sees the full potential of MIT Sloan and how to achieve it.”

Locke received his BA from Wesleyan University and an MA in education from the University of Chicago. He earned his doctorate in political science at MIT, writing a dissertation about local politics and industrial change in Italy, under the supervision of now-Institute Professor Suzanne Berger.

Locke joined the MIT faculty as an assistant professor of international management, was promoted in 1993 to an associate professor of management and political science, and earned tenure in 1996. In 2000, he was named the Alvin J. Siteman Professor of Entrepreneurship, becoming a full professor in 2001.

In 2010, Locke took on a new role at MIT, heading the Department of Political Science, a position he held through 2013; he was also given a new endowed professorship, the Class of 1922 Professor of Political Science and Management. During the same time frame, Locke also served as deputy dean at MIT Sloan, from 2009 through 2010, and then again from 2012 through 2013.

Locke moved to Brown in order to take the position of director of the Thomas J. Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. In 2015, he was named Brown’s provost, the university’s chief academic officer and budget officer.

During his initial chapter at MIT Sloan, Locke co-founded MIT’s Global Entrepreneurship Lab (G-Lab) as well as other action learning programs, helped the effort to double the size of the Sloan Fellows Program, and worked to update MIT Sloan Executive Education programs, among other projects.

Locke has authored or co-authored five books and dozens of journal articles and book chapters, helping open up the study of global labor practices while also examining the political implications of industrial changes and labor relations. For his research on working conditions in global supply chains, Locke was given the Faculty Pioneer for Academic Leadership award by the Aspen Institute’s Business and Society Program, the Progress Medal from the Society of Progress, the Dorothy Day Award for Outstanding Labor Research from the American Political Society Association, and the Responsible Research in Management Award.

His books include “Remaking the Italian Economy” (1995); “Employment Relations in a Changing World Economy” (co-edited with Thomas Kochan, and Michael Piore, 1995); “Working in America” (co-authored with Paul Osterman, Thomas Kochan, Michael Piore, 2001); “The Promise and Limits of Private Power Promoting Labor Standards in a Global Economy” (2013); and “Production in the Innovation Economy (co-edited with Rachel Wellhausen, 2014).

A committed educator, Locke has won numerous awards for teaching in his career including the Graduate Management Society Teaching Award, in 1990; the Excellence in Teaching Award from MIT Sloan, in 2003; the Class of 1960 Innovation in Teaching Award, from MIT in 2007; and the Jamieson Prize for Excellence in Teaching, from MIT, in 2008.

Over the course of his career, Locke has been a visiting professor or scholar at several universities, including Bocconi University in Milan; the Harvard Kennedy School; the Saïd Business School of the University of Oxford; the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; the Universita’ Ca Foscari of Venice, Italy; the Universita Degli Studi di Milano, Italy; Georg-August Universität, in Göttingen, Germany; and the Universita’ Federico II in Naples, Italy.

Locke has remained connected to MIT even over the most recent decade of his career, including his service as a member of the MIT Corporation.

“I loved my time at MIT Sloan because of its wonderful mix of ambition, energy, and drive for excellence, but also humility,” Locke says. “We knew that we didn’t always have all the answers, but were curious to learn more, and eager to do the work to find solutions to some of the world’s great challenges. Now as dean, I look forward to once again being part of this wonderful community.”

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A new way to determine whether a species will successfully invade an ecosystem

When a new species is introduced into an ecosystem, it may succeed in establishing itself, or it may fail to gain a foothold and die out. Physicists at MIT have now devised a formula that can predict which of those outcomes is most likely.

The researchers created their formula based on analysis of hundreds of different scenarios that they modeled using populations of soil bacteria grown in their laboratory. They now plan to test their formula in larger-scale ecosystems, including forests. This approach could also be helpful in predicting whether probiotics or fecal microbiota treatments (FMT) would successfully combat infections of the human GI tract.

“People eat a lot of probiotics, but many of them can never invade our gut microbiome at all, because if you introduce it, it does not necessarily mean that it can grow and colonize and benefit your health,” says Jiliang Hu SM ’19, PhD ’24, the lead author of the study.

MIT professor of physics Jeff Gore is the senior author of the paper, which appears today in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution. Matthieu Barbier, a researcher at the Plant Health Institute Montpellier, and Guy Bunin, a professor of physics at Technion, are also authors of the paper.

Population fluctuations

Gore’s lab specializes in using microbes to analyze interspecies interactions in a controlled way, in hopes of learning more about how natural ecosystems behave. In previous work, the team has used bacterial populations to demonstrate how changing the environment in which the microbes live affects the stability of the communities they form.

In this study, the researchers wanted to study what determines whether an invasion by a new species will succeed or fail. In natural communities, ecologists have hypothesized that the more diverse an ecosystem is, the more it will resist an invasion, because most of the ecological niches will already be occupied and few resources are left for an invader.

However, in both natural and experimental systems, scientists have observed that this is not consistently true: While some highly diverse populations are resistant to invasion, other highly diverse populations are more likely to be invaded.

To explore why both of those outcomes can occur, the researchers set up more than 400 communities of soil bacteria, which were all native to the soil around MIT. The researchers established communities of 12 to 20 species of bacteria, and six days later, they added one randomly chosen species as the invader. On the 12th day of the experiment, they sequenced the genomes of all the bacteria to determine if the invader had established itself in the ecosystem.

In each community, the researchers also varied the nutrient levels in the culture medium on which the bacteria were grown. When nutrient levels were high, the microbes displayed strong interactions, characterized by heightened competition for food and other resources, or mutual inhibition through mechanisms such as pH-mediated cross-toxin effects. Some of these populations formed stable states in which the fraction of each microbe did not vary much over time, while others formed communities in which most of the species fluctuated in number.

The researchers found that these fluctuations were the most important factor in the outcome of the invasion. Communities that had more fluctuations tended to be more diverse, but they were also more likely to be invaded successfully.

“The fluctuation is not driven by changes in the environment, but it is internal fluctuation driven by the species interaction. And what we found is that the fluctuating communities are more readily invaded and also more diverse than the stable ones,” Hu says.

In some of the populations where the invader established itself, the other species remained, but in smaller numbers. In other populations, some of the resident species were outcompeted and disappeared completely. This displacement tended to happen more often in ecosystems when there were stronger competitive interactions between species.

In ecosystems that had more stable, less diverse populations, with stronger interactions between species, invasions were more likely to fail.

Regardless of whether the community was stable or fluctuating, the researchers found that the fraction of the original species that survived in the community before invasion predicts the probability of invasion success. This “survival fraction” could be estimated in natural communities by taking the ratio of the diversity within a local community (measured by the number of species in that area) to the regional diversity (number of species found in the entire region).

“It would be exciting to study whether the local and regional diversity could be used to predict susceptibility to invasion in natural communities,” Gore says.

Predicting success

The researchers also found that under certain circumstances, the order in which species arrived in the ecosystem played a role in whether an invasion was successful. When the interactions between species were strong, the chances of a species becoming successfully incorporated went down when that species was introduced after other species have already become established.

When the interactions are weak, this “priority effect” disappears and the same stable equilibrium is reached no matter what order the microbes arrived in.

“Under a strong interaction regime, we found the invader has some disadvantage because it arrived later. This is of interest in ecology because people have always found that in some cases the order in which species arrived matters a lot, while in the other cases it doesn’t matter,” Hu says.

The researchers now plan to try to replicate their findings in ecosystems for which species diversity data is available, including the human gut microbiome. Their formula could allow them to predict the success of probiotic treatment, in which beneficial bacteria are consumed orally, or FMT, an experimental treatment for severe infections such as C. difficile, in which beneficial bacteria from a donor’s stool are transplanted into a patient’s colon.

“Invasions can be harmful or can be good depending on the context,” Hu says. “In some cases, like probiotics, or FMT to treat C. difficile infection, we want the healthy species to invade successfully. Also for soil protection, people introduce probiotics or beneficial species to the soil. In that case people also want the invaders to succeed.”

The research was funded by the Schmidt Polymath Award and the Sloan Foundation.

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