CLUB CONNECTION What’s your beef?
Step aside, small fries! Mooove over, chicken! Beef is where it’s at, at least according to mitBEEF, MIT’s one-and-only beef appreciation club. To see whether that was true or just a load of bull, I headed over to Random Hall to do some “investigative journalism” at the first Miscellaneous Cow Part Competition, where a plethora of unusual beef cuts were laid out for us to taste and identify.
Events: Apr. 22 - Apr. 25
Events apr. 22 – apr. 25 Friday (10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.) iFair, sponsored by the International Students Association — Kresge Oval (12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.) Good Friday service with reading of the Passion, sponsored by the Lutheran Episcopal Ministry — MIT Chapel (12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.) Emerson Scholar Student Recital: Emily L. Jackson ’11, flute — Killian Hall (3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.) Good Friday service — MIT Chapel (3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.) Making MAJOR Decisions: What you need to know about yourself when choosing a major — 4-145 (5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Emerson Fellow Student Recital: Adrianna L. Tam ‘11, mezzo-soprano — Killian Hall (7:00 p.m. – 1:00 a.m.) Steer Roast Music Festival — Senior House (8:30 p.m. – 11:30 p.m.) Dhoom, MIT Sangam’s dance party — W20 Lobdell Saturday (9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.) LIVERight 5K Run/Walk — Memorial Drive (Dorm Row) (10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.) Course 5 2011 Undergraduate Research Symposium — 56-154 (10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.), 56-114 (12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.) (2:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.) Emerson Scholar String Student Recitals — Killian Hall (6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Inspirasian: Boston Asian Performing Arts Festival — Kresge Auditorium (8:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.) MIT Muses Spring Concert 2011: “Elevator Music” — 6-120 (8:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.) Holy Saturday/Easter Vigil Mass — MIT Chapel (9:30 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.) Easter Party — W11 Sunday (4:00 a.m. – 6:00 a.m.) Easter Sunrise Worship Service — E62 Courtyard (6:30 a.m. – 8:00 a.m.) Easter Breakfast — E62 Dining Hall (9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.) Easter Mass — W15 Monday (6:00 p.m.) Comparative Media Studies 13th Annual Media Spectacle — 32-155 (7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.) Democracy in the Middle East? A talk followed by a Q&A session — 56-154 (7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.) Is Eating Meat Ethical: PETA VP Bruce Friedrich vs. MIT Debate Team — 10-250 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
QUARKINESS Free food fixations
When I first came to MIT about four years ago, I got the bright idea that I would live on free food as much as possible. I attended info sessions and club meetings, and I kept my eyes peeled for free food emails and free food lying around.
MIT Sexual Assault Awareness Week
Editor’s Note: Readers are advised that this article contains discussion of the circumstances of sexual assault.
CPW 2011 Eric Grimson: From Course VI head to chancellor
The Tech’s Campus Life department invited MIT Chancellor W. Eric L. Grimson PhD ’80 to speak with prefrosh during CPW. Grimson became chancellor on March 1, previously serving as head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Grimson told The Tech about his new job, the reasons why he chose his undergraduate institution, and why prefrosh should come to MIT.
Events: Apr. 12 - Apr. 18
Events apr. 12 – APR. 18 Tuesday (5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.) Coordination, Switching Costs and the Division of Labor in General Medicine: An Economic Explanation for the Emergence of Hospitalists in the United States — E62-650 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) A Conversation with Sherry Turkle — 66-110 Wednesday (2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.) From biology to robots: the iCub project — 32-G449 (5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Emerson Scholar Student Recital — Vineet Gopal ’14, flute — Killian Hall Thursday (11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.) Spring Career Fair 2011 — W20, Sala de Puerto Rico (5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) David W. Miliband SM ’90, British Labour Party politician and member of Parliament, speaks about “The State of Europe” — 4-370 Friday (12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.) Emerson Fellow Student Recital — Paulina A. Sliwa G, mezzo-soprano — Killian Hall (3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.) Lisa P. Jackons, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, speaks at the 11th Annual Henry W. Kendall Memorial Lecture and Reception — W20-202 (4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) iCampus Student Prize Final Round Competition — E52, East Dining Room (5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) Emerson Fellow Student Recital — Bina Y. Choi ’11 — Killian Hall (7:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m.) LSC shows True Grit — 26-100 Saturday (7:00 p.m.,10:00 p.m.) LSC shows Black Swan — 26-100 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Grains of Rice banquet sponsored by the MIT Asian American Association — Walker Memorial (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) Mark Harvey & the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra — Kresge Auditorium Sunday (7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) AXO 23rd Lip Sync: Evolution — Kresge Theatre (7:00 p.m.) LSC shows True Grit — 26-100 (10:00 p.m.) LSC shows Black Swan — 26-100 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
Institute Double Take
MIT is like an onion — it’s got layers. This image captures three spatial and two temporal layers of the Institute. In the foreground is part of the Stata Center, completed in 2004; in the middleground, Buidling 56 (1965); and the background, the Green Building (1964). Stata and its funky architecture were part of a recent wave of campus expansion, while Building 56 and Green went up at a time when Stata’s design would be inconceivable. But today, all three stand as important centers of research, and for the busy undergraduate, useful landmarks.
Afterhours with Woodie Flowers
Woodie C. Flowers PhD ’73 is best known as one of the founding members of the FIRST Robotics Competition, a high school science and technology competition. He is also an Emeritus Pappalardo Professor of Mechanical Engineering here at MIT. I got a chance to talk with Flowers over the phone, as he’s currently on the road for various FIRST competitions. He told me about the MIT class that started the competition and tells potential freshmen how to succeed at the Institute.
NOT RELATED TO TIGER Thinkers Anonymous
It all started when I was using StumbleUpon and came across a satire. It was modeled after an Alcoholics Anonymous pamphlet and began:
Hung up on MIT: The Game
This February, MIT: The Game was unleashed on the public. Now boasting an user base of over five thousand players, the Facebook application is an addicting and entertaining experience — in other words, don’t start playing until you’re done with your psets. Victor Hung ’14, the programmer behind the game who dedicated about two hundred hours to its creation, and Chris Peterson, the admissions officer who recruited Victor, sat down to talk with The Tech about the inspiration behind the game, ghost roller coasters, and those players masterful enough to hack its code.
QUARKINESS Colorful strands
It’s kind of a thing at MIT to dye your hair unusual colors. Okay, I clarify: the colors are unusual by outside world standards, but not by MIT standards. Many people at the Institute have their hair dyed in an interesting assortment of colors, including hot pink, fire-truck red, construction-sign orange, Lady Gaga yellow, neon green, bright blue, deep purple, and ultraviolet (kidding about this one … I think) — it’s enough to make a rainbow, maybe even a double rainbow.
Institute Double Take
Most of us are familiar with 77 Massachusetts Avenue (Building 7) — it’s our gateway to the Infinite Corridor. We just hurry on through without looking around or thinking too much about the place. I was the same way until I decided to take a midnight walk after a long day and looked up. The lighting and contrast reminded me of the various effects that can be achieved with long-exposure photography and inspired me to try it out.
WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU MIT Not your typical spring break
Spring break is always a highly anticipated time, and this year’s break could not have had a better start: record-high temperatures and beautiful sunny weather. But like any break from classes, spring break is tragically ephemeral, and like any weather system in New England, the spring weather is not here to stay. So why not live vicariously through various MIT courses and student groups who used the week off as an opportunity for fieldwork and service projects? The Tech profiled seven MIT students representing five MIT groups that traveled off campus over spring break.
MAY CONTAIN NUTS How to save a life
If you’ve ever seen Mrs. Doubtfire, you will understand why I love the movie so much — after all, a man dressed as an endearing old lady … what’s not to love? But when I saw the movie for the 30th time, I realized that it was also instructional. In a pivotal scene, Robin Williams’s character — disguised as the congenial Mrs. Doubtfire — saves his ex-wife’s lover from choking on a horrible piece of chicken by using the Heimlich maneuver. Though “Mrs. Doubtfire” reveals his true identity in the process, the scene demonstrates the importance of knowing basic life support techniques.
Events: Apr. 5 - Apr. 11
Events Apr. 5 – Apr. 11 Tuesday (12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.) Brain and Cognitive Sciences Undergraduate Poster Session — Building 46, third floor atrium (1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.) Empowering Women: How to Impress when Interviewing and Networking — 4-231 (3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.) Science, Technology and the Future of International Development: A Conversation With USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah — 10-250 (3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.) CSAIL Research Information Session. Learn about summer UROP opportunities — 32-G449 (Stata Center, Kiva Conference Room) Wednesday (5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Free Russian Folk Puppet Show — 36-156 Thursday (9:00 a.m.) CPW registration begins — Student Center (W20), La Sala de Puerto Rico (Student Center second floor) (9:30 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.) CPW Welcome Festival — Johnson Athletics Center Friday (10:00 a.m. — 11:30 a.m.) CPW’s President’s Welcome and Featured Faculty Speakers — Kresge Auditorium (3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.) The Tech invites prefrosh to interview Chancellor W. Eric L. Grimson PhD ’80 in a Q&A that will be printed in next Tuesday’s issue of The Tech — W20-483 (8:00 p.m.) LSC shows Good Will Hunting — 26-100 Saturday (10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.) MIT Recreational Sports Annual Dodgeball Tournament — duPont Basketball Courts (1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.) CPW Student Activities Fair — Johnson Athletics Center (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) CPW Closing Remarks and Variety Show — Kresge Auditorium Sunday (2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.) Next Century Convocation — Boston Convention and Exhibition Center (transportation provided from Audrey Street, Ashdown House, and Hayward Street) Monday (3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.) Contemporary East Asia: A Roundtable Discussion with former UK Foreign Secretary David W. Miliband SM ’90 — E40-496 (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) Two Sense, a cello/piano duo featuring Ashley Bathgate and Lisa Moore, perform — Killian Hall Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
Gotta be fresh…which room do you pick?
With over 1000 bathrooms on campus to explore, The Tech went out of its way to show you the best of the best. From antibacterial flushers to Dyson Airblades and automatic doors, MIT hosts a cornucopia of places to do your business.
Events: Mar. 29 - Apr 4
CORRECTION TO THIS ARTICLE: This events calendar indicates the incorrect time for a talk by Jonathan E. D. Richmond PhD ’91 on corruption in developing countries. The talk will begin at 12:30 p.m., and lunch will begin at 12:15 p.m (W20-307). This calendar also incorrectly states that LSC will show The King’s Speech this weekend; Good Will Hunting will still be shown on Friday and Sunday.
Hacking the curve: do less, but do it better
I step into the office of MIT postdoc Calvin C. Newport PhD ’09, and his dog Bailey greets me with a couple of excited, energetic yips, prancing back and forth between the open door and the room’s strange intruder. Newport watches with amusement from behind a thermos full of coffee. So here’s the man behind How to Win at College, written while he was still an undergraduate at Dartmouth, and Study Hacks, a study skills blog () with over 19,000 readers. Here’s the man who preaches “less is more, even when it comes to school,” and I get the sense that he applies this generously to his own life. He pursues his interests passionately, saying, “My friends and I had an N64, so we tried to master every level of Mario Kart.” He gives himself enough free space to create an enjoyable life.