Wednesday, December 12, 2001

MIT's Media Lab Will Lay Off About 30 Staff Members in 'Belt-Tightening' By JEFFREY R. YOUNG The Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Laboratory -- known for its unusual approach to conducting and paying for cutting-edge research -- plans to lay off about 30 staff members this week because it has been taking on new expenses faster than it can win money to support them, officials said Tuesday. Leaders of the high-profile lab, which employs about 500 people, said the layoffs would not stall any of its research projects or the creation of its overseas outposts. "We just need to do a little belt-tightening, like much of the rest of the world," Walter Bender, executive director of the Media Lab, said in an interview. "We've had exponential growth in expenditures and we've got linear growth in revenues, and we need to bring them in line with one another." Mr. Bender would not say precisely how many people would be let go, although he said it would be "on the order of magnitude" of 30. Alexandra Kahn, press liaison for the lab, said that the number of layoffs "is hovering at about 30." The final decision is expected later this week. The cuts will be made only in management and support positions, said Mr. Bender, adding that none of the lab's 35 faculty members will be laid off. The Media Lab has been creating a small empire in the past two years -- setting up Media Lab Europe, which opened in Dublin last year, and Media Lab Asia, which is being built in India, and proposing outposts in South Korea and Latin America. The lab has been growing at home as well, with a second building scheduled to open in 2004 that will be twice the size of the current facility. The new building is estimated to cost $115-million. Mr. Bender said all those projects would continue as planned. "I think the future of the lab remains growth," he said. "I think we're doing some restructuring, but I think the restructuring is going to result in more strength and more growth." Then why the layoffs? To support its expansion, Mr. Bender said, the laboratory has been seeking support from new sectors -- such as foreign governments and nongovernmental organizations -- but that support is taking longer than expected to secure. Until now, the Media Lab has relied on corporate sponsors to pay most of its $38-million yearly budget. "Companies can make decisions much more quickly than governments," said Mr. Bender. "It's moving forward, but it's just moving slower than we expected." "We don't have any plans to cut down any research programs or anything like that," he added. "We're expanding, we're not contracting." Randy Pausch, co-director of the entertainment-technology center at Carnegie Mellon University, said that as long as the Media Lab's revenues were not drying up, the layoffs were hardly cause for concern -- especially given the current state of the economy. "It would be hard to imagine that the MIT Media Lab is somehow exempt from economic conditions that are going on all over the country," he said. "It's neither surprising nor a black mark on the Media Lab if the economic conditions are affecting them like they're affecting everyone else." The Media Lab has built a kind of brand name by its mix of media savvy and influential research. It is also known for its unusual support mechanisms. While most university research facilities get money from private or public grants, or by doing specific research projects for individual companies, the Media Lab receives more than 90 percent of its annual budget from a diverse group of 170 corporate sponsors that include many of the world's best-known companies. The sponsors, which are required to give at least $100,000 a year for at least three years, have little say in the laboratory's research agenda. Nor can one sponsor get exclusive rights to what's created there -- any company that is a member can license any invention in the lab for use in products. The Media Lab's inventions include items both playful and practical. Robotic Lego blocks, for instance, are intended to help children learn about computers. Designs for wearable computers could one day allow people to check their e-mail or surf the Web through devices embedded in their clothing and eyeglasses. The lab also developed standards for digital video that are widely used. Background article from The Chronicle: MIT's Media Lab, a Media Darling, Seeks Global Role and New Missions (10/12/2001) Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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