MIT entered 2013 expecting to face federal funding cuts for research due to the sequester, and high-level MIT officials searched for ways to keep our research thriving, saying we could handle the cuts better than other affected institutions. The difficulties we could not have anticipated, however, shook our community at many levels as we navigated through an especially turbulent 2013.

Tragedy struck Boston, Cambridge, and MIT this year with the bombing at the 117th Boston Marathon on Monday Apr. 15 and the shooting death of MIT Police Officer Sean Collier that Friday. The events that unfolded halted Boston’s daily operations and thrust the city and Institute into the national spotlight.

Internet activist Aaron H. Swartz committed suicide on Jan. 11, 2013, igniting a firestorm of discussion over the Internet — where he was regarded as something of a folk hero — and triggering questions regarding the prosecution, MIT, and JSTOR’s involvement in United States v. Aaron Swartz.

Will the most innovation square mile on the planet get a mini-golf course?