MIT establishes a Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST)

$1.5M grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will launch CAST. MIT has received $1.5 million from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support a new Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST). The Center will advance MIT's leadership in integrating the arts into the curriculum and research of institutions of higher learning. A joint initiative of the Office of the Provost and the Schools of Architecture and Planning (SA+P) and School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS), the proposal was co- sponsored by Philip S. Khoury, associate provost and Ford International Professor of History; Adèle Naudé Santos, dean of SA+P; and Deborah K. Fitzgerald, Kenan Sahin Dean of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. Evan Ziporyn, Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor of Music, will serve as CAST's inaugural director. "MIT is arguably one of the only institutions that can combine internationally recognized excellence in science and engineering with a strong and deep heritage in design and the performing and visual arts," Khoury says. "CAST will expand MIT's commitment to 'learning by doing' and support the Mellon Foundation's commitment to the creative arts and their educational value across the curriculum.