NEWS BRIEFS
MIT professor named laureate by Franklin Institute
MIT’s Daniel Kleppner was among nine individuals named as laureates by the Franklin Institute on Monday. Kleppner was awarded the 2014 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics “for many pioneering contributions to discoveries of novel quantum phenomena involving the interaction of atoms with electromagnetic fields and the behavior of ultra-low temperatures,” according to a Monday press release published by the Franklin Institute. Kleppner, who is the Lester Wolfe Professor Emeritus of Physics at MIT, conducts research in atomic physics. In addition to his Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics, he is also the recipient of the 2006 National Medal of Science and the 2005 Wolf Prize.
MIT-shared building officially certified platinum green
The Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center (MGHPCC), a new computer research facility located in Holyoke, MA and shared by five area universities including MIT, was granted LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Platinum certification on Oct. 29, according to the MIT News Office.
The building is the first university data center in the U.S. to be LEED Platnium certified. Its power distribution and exhaust systems were designed to use half the power of other systems.
The LEED program, which is run by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), “is a program that provides third-party verification of green buildings,” according to the program’s website. LEED Platinum is the highest level of certification in the program.
—William Navarre