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The Arts Complement Life at MIT

The cast of Felutopia, from left: Adam Miller '06, Helen McCreery '06, Daniel Chonde '07, and Adam Love '07. Miller also directs this satirical piece, which dissects racial tensions in the United States in part through improvisation and dance techniques. Photo: Hayden Taylor

Physics and theater may seem like strange bedfellows, but graduating senior Adam Miller majored in both at MIT.

Miller, who received the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts this year, has written, directed, and performed in his own play, acted in an improv comedy group on campus, and founded his own theater group. He will bring his play, Felutopia, to stages in Great Britain this summer, as part of The Americans Come to Soliloquise (ACTS) Tour, a cultural exchange initiative with England.

But, in the fall, Miller will study astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Cambridge in England, as a Gates Cambridge Scholar.

It all seems logical to the 21-year-old, who hails from Chicago. "For me, it makes a lot of sense. Through physics, I try to understand the physical world around me. But, physics can't describe human behavior." The stage can fill that void, though, he says.

Making Strides

The arts may not be the first thing you associate with MIT, but neither is linguistics or economics, says Philip S. Khoury, who will become associate provost of MIT on July 1. Khoury is succeeding Professor Alan Brody, who is stepping down as associate provost for the arts to return to teaching and playwriting. Khoury, the Kenan Sahin Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, will oversee the Institute's co-curricular and non-academic arts programs.

Khoury says the arts have made tremendous strides at MIT since the late 1980s, when the Office of the Arts was established, following an internal committee's report that the Institute was perhaps underserving students with increasingly eclectic interests.

MIT's students tend to be hands-on, whether the focus is engineering, science, or the arts, Khoury explains. "Because our students are so good with their eyes and hands, they find the arts at MIT to be attractive."

But if there's one area where the arts may not have been shored up, it's the lack of physical facilities, Khoury points out. "We don't have enough good space, yet MIT doesn't have enough space for lots of things," he says. The land limitations of an urban campus and many competing academic interests are to blame for the dearth of arts facilities.

One of Khoury's main duties will be overseeing the funding for the proposed Music and Theater Arts Teaching Laboratory, which is planned for construction on the corner of Albany Street and Massachusetts Avenue. The proposed facility is still in a preliminary design mode.

The MIT Symphony Orchestra performing Mahler's Sixth Symphony on May 5, 2005. Photo: Omari Stephens

A Thriving Scene

The Institute is home to 50 music, theater, and other arts groups and hosts 500 arts-related events on campus each year. MIT has more composers on its music faculty than many other renowned conservatories, including Institute Professor and Pulitzer Prize winner John Harbison. In the Class of 2009, 60 percent of the enrolling class participated in music while in high school, according to an annual student survey of incoming freshmen.

"The majority of students who enroll at MIT do so because they come to visit the campus," says Marilee Jones, dean of admissions. "The arts are a strong presence here and when students visit, they almost certainly encounter arts activities. If there was once an image of MIT as a school where students had 'no life'," that's not true anymore."

One of the advantages of pursuing arts at a school like MIT, is that what makes it fly below the radar, is what makes it strong, Miller says. For instance, MIT's theater department is small, so each student benefits from individual attention from faculty members. Miller is one of only three graduating theater majors in 2006. "The faculty is always willing to meet and discuss what you are working on. It's an incredible resource."

Jeff Dahmus, a PhD candidate in mechanical engineering, also enjoys photography and furniture design. Photo: Yi Xie

For other MIT students, there's a direct intertwining between the arts and a science discipline. Jeff Dahmus, a PhD candidate in mechanical engineering, also enjoys photography and furniture design. "I take classes on product design and development in engineering. There is an overlap. If you look at the engineering products that are successful, a lot of them—such as the iPod—have a great design," Dahmus says.

The 30-year-old California native received his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University, and his master's in engineering from MIT. He wasn't planning on pursuing the arts at the Institute, but was "pleasantly surprised" by MIT's many artistic outlets. He received an honorable mention in this year's Harold and Arlene Schnitzer Prize in the Visual Arts for his contemporary furniture design (a mix of metals and wood) and his photo collages. During IAP this year, Dahmus secured funding to teach a photo collage class.

Dahmus will complete his doctorate in the fall, and says he is not sure of his career path, although he anticipates it will probably be in product design or development. In the meantime, creating furniture and photography offers a sometimes welcome break from engineering studies. "It's a good change of pace, because my research is more technical," he says.

Regardless of why students at MIT pursue the arts, they strive to excel, just as they do in science, math, or engineering pursuits. As Professor Emeritus of Physics Jerome "Jerry" Friedman says, "You can't have a full life without a full education."

By Amy MacMillan
Jim Smith contributed to this story

June 8, 2006