Taking the lead in shaping the future of computing and artificial intelligence

With a box of popcorn in one hand, Hal Abelson, a renowned computer scientist, strolled through the first floor of the Ray and Maria Stata Center studying the machine learning exhibits that surrounded him on the afternoon of Feb. 26. Everywhere he looked he saw evidence of the remarkable things MIT students can do when given access to computing resources. "Computing tools and infrastructure have gotten to a place where students can outperform professional researchers. You are constrained mostly by your imagination. It's just an amazing time," said Abelson, the Class of 1922 Professor of Computer Science and Engineering.