The interdisciplinary approach has been praised for its ability to break down silos and foster new integrated research methods. Munther Dahleh, the founding director of the MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS), believes that data science and statistics can transcend individual disciplines to address complex societal challenges. Dahleh emphasizes that these areas, including AI and computing, are not exclusive to IDSS but are relevant to everyone. Recently, researchers from MIT and beyond gathered to celebrate the achievements and impact of IDSS since its establishment in 2015. The celebration also served as an opportunity to recognize Dahleh for his leadership as he prepares to step down as director. The event featured talks on various topics, including statistics, AI, automation, and climate change. Notable speakers included Nobel Prize winner Esther Duflo and former MLK Visiting Professor Craig Watkins. Lightning talks by students from the Technology and Policy Program (TPP) explored policy issues. Since its inception, IDSS has accomplished significant milestones, such as establishing statistics as a discipline at MIT, creating a trilingual PhD program in data science and social science, and contributing to effective Covid testing methods during the pandemic. IDSS has also launched initiatives to promote racial equity using big data and continues to address societal challenges through multiple lenses. Dahleh acknowledges the collective effort behind IDSS’s success, praising the commitment and creativity of the leadership team and emphasizing that it takes a village to achieve such accomplishments. Before the establishment of IDSS, Dahleh and other MIT members sought to prepare for the future of systems and data. Recognizing that data science is relevant to everyone, the team proposed building an Institute that transcended traditional departmental boundaries. This vision attracted Caroline Uhler, an MIT professor of computer science, to join the team. Uhler was impressed by Dahleh’s vision for modernizing statistics and saw the opportunity to contribute to its future development at MIT. IDSS’s inclusive and collaborative environment has made it an attractive place for researchers, providing a home for anyone interested in statistics. Another early IDSS hire, Ali Jadbabaie, was brought on board due to his expertise in control theory and network science. Jadbabaie played a vital role in the creation of the doctoral program in social and engineering systems (SES), which aims to educate a new type of PhD student with expertise in information sciences, statistics, and a domain-specific field. The SES program fills a gap by bringing quantitative reasoning to social sciences and their interaction with complex engineering systems. The program has broadened the horizons of students like Manxi Wu, who started in the Master of Science in Transportation program but later joined the SES program. Wu appreciates the program’s ability to create a common ground among students and researchers with diverse interests and applications. The core methodologies taught in the SES program, such as mathematical tools for data science and probability optimization, serve as a shared language among students. In addition to the PhD program, IDSS has brought quality MIT programming to various fields,