From the Nominator

The MIT School of Engineering redesigned its flagship website, engineering.mit.edu, as a comprehensive reimagining of how the school presents its academic offerings, research impact, and public mission in a rapidly changing higher education and societal landscape. The goal was to create a world-class digital front door for diverse audiences—especially prospective and current students—while also serving faculty, staff, alumni, donors, and the broader public. The previous site, launched in 2016, no longer reflected the scale or interdisciplinary nature of engineering at MIT. Academic programs, research, and student opportunities were distributed across disconnected sites, making it difficult for users to understand the full breadth of engineering. At the same time, the school recognized an opportunity to more clearly articulate the value of engineering and higher education, particularly in strategic research areas shaping the world today, including AI, climate and sustainability, health, and manufacturing. Partnering with the firm Upstatement, the project built on several years of engagement with student advisory groups, reinforced by 24 stakeholder interviews, two in-person workshops, and Vision Share that aligned stakeholders around shared goals. The team restructured the site to elevate academic pathways, interdisciplinary connections, and real-world impact. Launched in late 2025, the site features improved navigation, dark mode and light mode design, as well as an expanded role for public-facing science communication through a reimagined “Ask an Engineer” series, helping audiences understand how engineering shapes everyday life. The result is a future-ready platform that serves students, supports institutional strategy, and advances public understanding.

From the Judges

This website effectively achieves the strategic goal of presenting all academic options in one place, using meaningful and impactful storytelling devices. The mini student videos on the main page, under the "Learn about MIT from the students who are living it," are a highly effective way to draw users into the website and encourage them to spend more time there.