$100M Gift Establishes New Design Research Center at MIT | Inside Higher Ed

A $100 million gift to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will establish a new interdisciplinary center focused on design research, thinking and entrepreneurship, the institute announced Wednesday.

The gift comes from the Morningside Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the T. H. Chan family.

The new center, known as the MIT Morningside Academy for Design, aims to foster collaboration and innovation across academic disciplines—including engineering, science, management, computing, architecture, urban planning and the arts—to address such pressing global issues as climate change, public health, transportation and civic engagement.

The academy, which will be housed in MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning, is scheduled to launch in September.

“At MIT, we sometimes de​scribe our work as ‘inventing the future,’” said MIT president L. Rafael Reif. “Beyond the institute’s technical, scientific and analytical strengths, that assignment requires profound humanity and imagination—the capacity to listen closely and think broadly, to reframe old problems in unexpected ways, to crystallize bold new visions, to weave the wisdom of different disciplines and voices into fresh, humane solutions. These are essential strengths of design thinking.”

“The MIT Morningside Academy for Design will amplify the impact of MIT’s existing world-class programs in design … We could not be more grateful for this transformative gift.”