Graduate student Kaitlin Goldstein dies after falling off cliff in India
The fourth-year architecture student had traveled to India to participate in an energy workshop and install solar panels at a Buddhist monastery.
Professor Seth Teller, roboticist, dies at 50
Professor Seth Teller, who made robots that work with people, died on Tuesday, MIT has announced. He was 50.
CORRECTIONS
A Campus Life article published last Friday on Mary Rowe’s retirement from her role as one of MIT’s two ombudsman incorrectly stated that she was head of the MIT Ombuds Office. Instead, she and fellow MIT ombudsman Toni Robinson are coequals. DEC was also incorrectly spelled DEQ in the list of companies which had ombudsman-like positions. A clarification was added to the “Drafting a Letter” process, indicating that the letter could be sent either to the offender or a supervisor.
Math department head appointed new dean of science
Professor Michael Sipser, the head of the math department since 2004, will serve as the new dean of the School of Science, MIT announced last week.
MIT fusion reactor is focus of power play in Washington
CAMBRIDGE — Senator Elizabeth Warren placed her hand atop a large red button and pressed firmly, restarting a nuclear experiment that MIT believes could help save the planet — but which the Obama administration considered superfluous and tried to kill year after year.
MIT’s board elects its next chairman
The MIT Corporation named its next chairman, Robert B. Millard ’73, at last Friday’s elections. He will assume his new role as the head of MIT’s board of trustees in October.
Iraqi Kurds take oil city as militants push forward
ERBIL, Iraq — Iraq’s fracturing deepened Thursday as Kurdish forces poured into the strategic northern oil city of Kirkuk after government troops fled, while emboldened Sunni militants who seized two other important northern cities this week moved closer to Baghdad and issued threats about advancing into the heavily Shiite south and destroying the shrines there, the holiest in Shiism.
Cantor forgot Virginia roots, voters contend
GLEN ALLEN, Va. — Here in the place that Rep. Eric Cantor calls home, few voters seemed to recognize him as one of their own. Despite Cantor’s rise to the second-most powerful member of his party in the House and for a time a leader of its angry right flank, Republicans here seemed in agreement with Cantor’s challenger who toppled him from power by tarring him as insufficiently conservative on issues including immigration, the federal budget and crony capitalism.
Storms to soak Boston area
The Institute will get wet today as a storm system that caused wind damage in several locations in the Mid-Atlantic moves northward over our region. Rain showers will move through the area throughout this morning and this afternoon, bringing with them the occasional heavy downpour, gusty wind, or rumble of thunder. Fortunately, these storms have weakened since striking the Mid-Atlantic on Wednesday, so significant damage or dangerous conditions are not expected. In all, less than an inch of rain should accumulate today — a much more manageable amount than was received on this day in 1998, when intense storms drenched eastern Massachusetts in over 5 inches of rain, and caused over 5 million dollars in property damage.
In Brazil, jeers and cheers for government and FIFA
SÃO PAULO — Protests erupted on the streets of Brazil’s largest city Thursday just hours before the opening of the World Cup soccer tournament, with the police dispersing demonstrators with tear gas and rubber bullets near the stadium where Brazil was to play against Croatia.
Shorts (right)
Jill Abramson, the former executive editor of The New York Times, will teach undergraduate courses in narrative nonfiction at Harvard this fall, the university announced Thursday.
Private health care exchanges enroll more than predicted
Employers are moving more quickly than forecasted to offer health insurance to their workers through private exchanges, according to new data from Accenture, a consulting firm.
Law and Order in the skies
On Tuesday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that it has approved oil company BP to perform drone flights to survey roads, pipelines, and other equipment in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. This is the first commercial drone authorization and is a step forward in the effort to spread the commercial use of unmanned aircraft. It does not, however, represent a viable approach to regulating these aircraft. Alaska’s remoteness is unrepresentative of the lower 48. Moreover, the drones approved for Alaska are adaptations of military fixed-wing models, and the approval is layered with restrictions pertinent to specifics of the vehicles and the territory.
It takes Argentinian steak to ta
The quest for the perfect steak may take you places: you might have to go on a pilgrimage to unfamiliar faraway lands, cross a language barrier with the chef to find your favorite cut, or spend a late night at someone’s grandma’s kitchen. Tango was all of that to us — a virtual trip to Argentina, a mine of perfect cuts, and a table for home-cooked meals.
Sometimes titles are deceptive
Sometimes, contemporary art is inaccessible. It can be excessively abstract or seemingly absurd. Some of the art in the List Visual Arts Center’s current exhibition, 9 Artists, falls into this category. But on the whole, however, this exhibition brings together an interesting and diverse group of contemporary artists in a very powerful presentation.
