Honoring the visionary legacy of the MIT Media Lab’s founders
Jerome Wiesner and Nicholas Negroponte founded the MIT Media Lab on a radical belief: that invention happens at the edges, not in silos.
Wiesner, a former MIT provost and presidential science advisor, believed deeply in the power of interdisciplinary research to address real-world challenges. Negroponte brought that vision to life by building a new kind of research community — one that trusted people, encouraged learning across boundaries, and embraced fearless experimentation.
The Wiesner–Negroponte Founders Fellowship honors the founders of the MIT Media Lab by supporting visionary inventors and researchers whose ideas defy boundaries and shape the future. Inspired by their defining qualities — vision, risk, and care — the fellowship celebrates the belief that creativity emerges from difference, that bold experimentation is a duty, and that human connection fuels innovation. Together, Wiesner and Negroponte championed trust, learning, and invention unconstrained by traditional silos. This fellowship continues that legacy by empowering students who imagine audaciously, take risks with purpose, and care deeply about the people their work serves.