The emotional rollercoaster of literature review
Imagine this: you have a brilliant idea, a question that no one has ever dared asked, a new way to study the cosmos, a ground-breaking theory.
Why are humans so special?
Ask A-theist is a new column by Aaron Scheinberg, an atheist, and Stephanie Lam, a Christian, which uses contrasting worldviews to explore questions and misconceptions about philosophy and religion. This week, Stephanie chose a question from your lovely submissions. Send us the burning questions you have always wanted answered by an atheist or Christian (or both), and we’ll tackle them!
Events Mar 12- Mar 18
Events Mar. 12 – Mar. 18 Tuesday (12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.) Artists Beyond the Desk presents Amanda Casale — 14W-111 (4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) From memory to inspiration: A remembrance of Aaron Swartz — E14-674 Wednesday (9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.) Irish Fest — Student Center Lobby (5:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.) Innovation Series Event: Big Ideas, Big Solutions — How can we solve more big problems? — 32-123 Thursday (4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.) The Soul of Anime book launch with author Ian Condry — E51-149 (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) Beyond the 3/11 Touhoku disaster — talks and reception (RSVP at http://goo.gl/DeTUJ) — W20-407 Friday (11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.) Johnny Cupcakes@MIT: Retail Entrepreneurship & Building a Cult Brand — E62-262 (7:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m.) LSC shows Beasts of the Southern Wild — 26-100 (8:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Roadkill Buffet Presents: The Sequester Cut The Pope’s Budget By One Pope — 6-120 Saturday (7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) Edgerton Ides of March Party, Roman themed — NW-10 (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) MIT WInd Ensemble Concert with Don Byron — Kresge Auditorium Sunday (4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Pianist Yukiko Sekino in recital — 14W-111 (6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) MIT Muslim Student’s Association goodwill baking — McCormick Country Kitchen Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
Religion and secularism unite!
Ask A-thiest is a new column by Aaron Scheinberg, an atheist, and Stephanie Lam, a Christian, which uses contrasting worldviews to explore questions and misconceptions about philosophy and religion. Send us the burning questions you have always wanted answered by an atheist or Christian (or both), and Aaron or Stephanie will tackle them!
Events Mar 5 - Mar 11
Events mar. 5 – mar. 11 Tuesday (4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.) Syria, Two Years into the Revolution — E51-395 (5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.) Literature in the Digital Age, author Bessora presents novel Cyr@no — E51-057 Wednesday (12:00 p.m.) CAST Music and Technology: Victor Gama — 14w-111 (4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.) Fitness during feast and famine: How error-prone DNA polymerases influence physiology and evolution in E. coli — 48-316 Thursday (5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) Angels of Death: David Foster Wallace and the Battle against Irony, Letterman and Leyner? — E14-633 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Urban Films: The World of Buckminster Fuller (1974) — 66-110 Friday (12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.) 100 Years of Service: Snapshots of the MIT Women’s League — 10-340 (6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) Emerson Scholar Student Recital: Carl Lian ‘15, piano — 14w-111 Saturday (7:30 p.m. – 11:55 p.m.) MIT Ballroom Dance Team March Social — W20, La Sala (9:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.) Jews on Ice — Johnson Ice Rink Sunday (2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.) Figure Skating Club Exhibition — W34 (7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) Egyptian Culture Night — Sidney-Pacific MP room Monday (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) ACT Lecture: Karim Ainouz: I Travel Because I Have To, I Come Back Because I Love You — E15-001 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
Head in the clouds
As undergraduates at MIT, we whispered under our breaths as we passed the Green Building about the lonely, mysterious graduate students who worked there — “The lights never go off! There is always someone there.” As a graduate student, I’ve had the privilege to meet some of those nocturnal souls. This is one of their stories. —Emily A. Moberg
Events Feb 26- Mar 4
Events Feb. 26 – Mar. 4 Tuesday (12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.) Artists Beyond the Desk presents Gabriel Zucker’s piano sonatas — 14W-111 (3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.) Cory Doctorow: “A World Made of Computers: Why Getting It Wrong Matters” talk on technology regulation — E14-633 Wednesday (12:00 p.m.) CAST Music and Technology: Eric Singer, concert of robotic musical instruments — 14W-111 (7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.) South Asian Women Resist: Religious Fundamentalism, Imperialism, and The State in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan — 4-231 Thursday (4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Skoltech & MIT Russia Distinguished Lecture Series: Reset 2.0: Prospects and Possibilities? — 56-114 (6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Women in the MA Game Industry: A Discussion of Diversity, Challenges and Progress — Microsoft NERD Center, 1 Memorial Drive Friday (7:00 p.m.) LSC shows Argo — 26-100 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.) ORCHIDS: an intersex adventure, film screening — 6-120 Saturday (2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Jai Bhim Comrade documentary by Annd Patwardhan — 26-100 (7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.) Debut concert by EVIYAN Iva Bittova, violinist/vocalist; Gyan Riley, guitarist; and Evan Ziporyn — Kresge Auditorium Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
Becoming a mentor
“True education does not consist merely in the acquiring of a few facts of science, history, literature, or art, but in the development of character.”
A Lunar New Year celebration
Lunar New Year celebrations generally evoke images of fireworks, mountains of delicious food, and a table surrounded by family. In most East Asian countries, Lunar New Year is the largest and most important holiday of the year. Unfortunately, on Lunar New Year’s Eve this year, Cambridge was engulfed by the snowstorm Nemo, and students were trapped within the confines of their residences. Yet on this dreary February 9th evening, Ashdown House was hosting a Lunar New Year celebration, co-sponsored by ARCADE (Assisting Recurring Cultural And Diversity Events).
Events Feb. 19 - Feb. 25
Events Feb. 19 – Feb. 25 Tuesday (3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.) Contrasting Secular & Religious Agenda Terror and Guerrilla Warfare: From Che Guevara to Osama bin Laden — E40-496 (5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) Convergence Journalism? Emerging Documentary and Multimedia forms of News panel — E14-633 Wednesday (5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.) Kevin Jerome Everson: “Recent Practice” multimedia presentation — 5-135 (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) FILM + improvisation=FiLmprov!, live improvisational music — 14W-111 Thursday (5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.) Steve Pinker: The Evolutionary Psychology of Religion lecture series — 32-155 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Urban Films: Street Fight — 66-110 Friday (10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.) Using big data to discover tacit knowledge and improve learning DUE Education talk — 3-270 (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) An Evening with Jim Gaffigan — W16 Saturday (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Mocha Showcase 2013 — Kresge Little (8:00 p.m.) Queen Esther’s Ball — Walker Memorial Morss Hall Monday (4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.) Simulating adulthood: Junior republics and the invention of modern youth — E51-095 (5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.) India’s Urban Transformation: The Full Story — E40-496 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
Events Feb. 12 - Feb. 18
Events feb. 12 – feb. 18 Tuesday (5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.) Under Pressure: A Forum on Student Stress — 10-250 (7:00 p.m.) Is the Man Who is Tall Happy?: An Animated Conversation with Noam Chomsky — 26-100 Wednesday (5:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.) Innovation Series Event: Practical tips for successful exits — 34-101 Thursday (4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Starr Forum: The Fate of the Reset, discussion of US-Russian relations — 66-110 (7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.) Valentine’s Day Concert: Love Songs from the Great American Song Book — 14W-111 Friday (6:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.) MIT-CAST Chinese Spring Festival Party — W20-307 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Chocolate, Cheese, and Wine Night, 21+ — NW86, Multipurpose room Sunday (4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Eastgate Presents The Wizard of Oz — Eastgate Penthouse Lounge (7:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.) ATS Lunar New Year Festival — W20-208 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
Barnacle eggs and mangroves
As Dr. Jesus Pineda leapt off the side of the boat, knife in hand, I had the analogous scientific feeling of “Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” I was out of my depth — literally — since the tide had come in and the water was several meters deep. But let me back up and tell you how I, a graduate student who prefers pixels to petri dishes and MATLAB to measuring, ended up on a boat with a renowned scientist jumping overboard.
IT’S ALL GREEK TO ME: Sorority identity
In Alpha Epsilon Phi we spend a lot of time discussing who we are. There are a lot of feelings about identity. But I have given some thought to identity and the meaning of sorority life and have come to a fairly simple conclusion: sororities are defined by the people who make them up, not the letters they bear. I am so proud of the women in my chapter, and even more so to count them among my friends. I debated trying to fit something nice about every single one of them into this article, but decided not to because of space limitation. To that end, I will be talking about a few (with names changed) to represent the content of character of the many. Here are a few:
CAMPUS LIFE IN REVIEW
In 2012, Campus Life saw foreign students documenting their experiences in the uniquely bizarre world of MIT, insightful stories by graduate students showing us that contrary to what we’ve all learned from PhD Comics, graduate school may not actually be an endless cycle of despair, and some generally great advice from your fellow students.
One fish, two fish, fake fish Computer models of marine communications tease out ecosystem management trade-offs
I like to joke that I study imaginary fish. People often remember that or, even better, ask what it means. Then, I get to tell them that I study theoretical ecology; I use mathematical tools to investigate how organisms interact with each other and with their environment. I am studying in the MIT Joint Program with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, so my organisms of interest tend to be marine, but the only places they swim are in my computer, in equations, and, always, in my heart.
Generalist vs. Specialist
The increasingly globalized workforce means that large multinational companies recruit graduates from all over the world. Given that various countries have their own university systems, there will certainly be differences in how students are prepared to meet the challenges of employment. I’m in the fortunate position of having studied in two countries — my first two years of college were spent at Cambridge in the U.K., and I am now at MIT through the Cambridge-MIT Exchange for junior year. My firsthand experience of how both universities teach has shown surprising contrasts.
Events Feb. 5 – Feb. 11
Events Feb. 5 – Feb. 11 Tuesday (10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.) Spring Career Fair — W33 (Rockwell Cage) (4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.) 2013 IROP Summer Reseearch Exchanges Info Session — 56-162 Wednesday (3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.) Science and Action: International Mercury Treaty Negotiations (free Swiss chocolate) — 24-411 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.) 4,000 Years for Choice (Artist Talk) — 6-120 Thursday (5:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.) Greentown Labs’ EnergyBar February (2013 MIT Clean Energy Prize Competition kickoff) — Greentown Labs (6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Egyptian Movie Night - Hassan and Morcos — 35-225 Friday (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) LSC shows Wreck-It Ralph — 26-100 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) MITSSS Chinese New Year Celebration 2013 — NW10 large lounge Saturday (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) MIT’s Musical Theatre Guild presents The Rocky Horror Show — La Sala de Puerto Rico Sunday (7:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) MISTI Foreign film series shows Footnote (soup and popcorn served) — 32-123 Monday (10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.) Boston Aquarium outreach program — W85 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
Bonding beyond college
Have you ever met an MIT alum purely by chance? Maybe on a plane someone asked you about your cardinal and grey sweatshirt. Perhaps you found out an older neighbor once walked through the Infinite to class. We immediately connect to these MIT alumni, trading stories about late nights and tunnel escapades and comparing Brass Rats. We have shared experiences and a common history.
Beauty, brains, and talent
This year, two MIT students will be among the 16 contestants in the Miss Boston pageant on Feb. 10. Both Jacqueline “Chacha” Durazo ’14 and Kira S. Kopacz ’15 are a reflection of the best aspects of the Institute, passionate about their fields of study and dedicated wholly to their passions in life. Perhaps what is most striking about these women are their similar yet different perspectives on the pageant experience, how it reflects the current trends in society, and how it gives them a platform to spread their ideas and inspire others.