Building 32 takes you behind the scenes at MIT CSAIL, the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. From the foundational technologies we rely on every day to the breakthroughs shaping our future, CSAIL is transforming the way we live, work, play, and learn.
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It’s no surprise that MIT is pretty into numbers. An incoming first-year might select Course 6 as a major (a.k.a. Computer Science). Eager MIT applicants hear about admissions decisions on March 14 at 6:28PM ET (Pi Day is a pretty big deal around here). And do you know how long the Harvard bridge is in smoots?
The MIT Buildings also have assigned numbers. The heart of the MIT CSAIL is the Ray and Maria Stata Center, known to the MIT community as Building 32. It’s 9 floors of research groups studying topics like cryptography, robotics, hardware design, cybersecurity, AI, and more. While Building 32 is our hub and HQ, the 130+ PIs (Principal Investigators: faculty and senior research scientists who lead labs) aren’t limited to Building 32. You’ll find CSAIL members in every school and department of MIT.
When the Stata Center replaced MIT Building 20, a faculty committee chose 32 for its significance in computer science. For years, 32 was a standard number of bits in a typical computing “word,” and, as one MIT professor put it, computer scientists do everything in powers of two. The playful spirit of the address—a wink to computing, technology, and the orderly spirit that drives engineers—was right at home on a campus with a strong sense of play. The MIT Museum’s gallery of hacks is even in Stata!
Just like its real-world namesake, Building 32 is about more than research, technology, and numbers. Building 32 is about the people passionate enough to be creating the future and the stories they have to tell.
Welcome to Building 32.
Karen Given is an award-winning podcast showrunner, story editor and coach. A veteran of public radio, Karen is the former executive producer and host of NPR’s Only A Game. She won the national Edward R. Murrow award twice, in 2007 and 2017. Since leaving public radio, Karen has focused on the podcast space, most notably on Believable: The Coco Berthmann Story, one of The Atlantic’s top 25 podcasts of 2023. Karen’s other projects include, The Afghan Impasse, a special season of The Negotiators, from Foreign Policy and Doha Debates; Before We Go, and What Takes Root: Stories of Resistance and Reclamation. Given teaches narrative storytelling workshops and writes Narrative Beat, a free newsletter for journalists and podcast makers who want to tell better stories.
Tina Tobey Mack is a highly experienced independent audio engineer, sound designer, and radio producer. Tina served as a core audio engineer for The World (WGBH/PRX) and the BBC World Service. Based in Somerville, MA, Tina approaches every project as a storyteller first, ensuring that every transition, ambient sound, and vocal track serves a clear narrative purpose.
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