Alumna runs for city council seat, joins slate
Mariko Davidson MCP ’13, who earned a master’s degree in city planning at MIT, is running for Cambridge City Council. Two other MIT alumni are currently up for reelection.
Dissolve 'Unconference' seeks to address inequality
The Dissolve “Un-conference” — which despite the name is hosted in collaboration with the ongoing Solve — will tackle questions of global inequality Thursday.
Clear Columbus Day weekend in store
Just over a week ago, forecast models remained uncertain about an intensifying Category 3 hurricane near the Bahamas. Luckily, Joaquin scooted harmlessly into the Atlantic and out of our weather forecast. By now the former hurricane has weakened into a non-tropical system, and it is expected to bringing gusty winds and rain to Spain.
MIT alum awarded Nobel Prize for work on DNA repair
Paul L. Modrich ’86, who earned his bachelor’s in biology from MIT, was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in chemistry on Wednesday for his work on DNA mismatch repair.
Solve conference gathers ‘change agents,’ takes on global problems
Leaders from academia and business alike gathered this week for the Solve conference, hosted by MIT to address key challenges in four fundamental areas: education, healthcare, energy, and infrastructure.
New MIT master's program will be half online, half on campus
MIT introduced a pilot program Wednesday in which professionals can receive a master’s degree in supply chain management (SCM) by taking the online equivalent of a semester’s worth of classes and following it up with a semester on campus.
MIT Connect uses algorithm to pair grad students for lunch
MIT Connect is a new initiative aimed at strengthening the sense of community among graduate students. Each week, the program pairs graduate students for one-on-one platonic lunches and provides each student with a $10 TechCash deposit they can redeem at local restaurants or on-campus dining halls.
Climate rally unfurls banner near MIT board meeting
The MIT Climate Countdown ended Oct. 2 with a rally attended by more than 100 MIT students, staff, faculty, alumni, and local community members.
Islam and the West
Last month, the MIT Center for International Studies hosted a talk by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Raised a Muslim, she witnessed abuse of women in Muslim communities. She renounced her religion and became an activist for women’s rights. Her criticisms of Islam led to death threats, and her courage was recognized by several awards. Her latest book, Heretic, calls for a fundamental reformation of Islam.
CORRECTIONS
Due to an editing error, the headline to the weather forecast last Thursday read, “Developing Hurricane Joaquin is unlikely to affect Massachusetts,” though forecasts at the time indicated that the hurricane might have impacted Massachusetts this week. (Since then, the hurricane has in fact veered away from the U.S. east coast.)
Artist and theoretical physicist present kinetic sculpture
This past Monday, Kim Bernard, artist in residence at Harvard, visited the MIT List Visual Arts Center to speak on her sculpture, which had been inspired by the “predictable patterns in matter and motion.” Jacob Barandes, a physics lecturer from Harvard, accompanied Bernard to provide a physicist’s perspective on her artwork. Bernard and Barandes presented as part of the Catalyst Conversations lecture series, which hosts speakers who explore the intersection of visual art with science and technology.
Heroes Reborn offers a compelling second chance for disillusioned viewers
I was about 50 percent excited and 50 percent nervous about Heroes Reborn. I had watched the show here and there when it was in its first season back in 2006, but it wasn’t until sophomore year of college (when I bought my very own Netflix account) that I got hooked on the series. I spent a week binge-watching the first and second season, but I gave up on the third and fourth, understanding what people meant when they said the show was going downhill. I liked the comic-book feel to the show: overused tropes aside, who doesn’t like a story packed with superpowers?
BSO opens 135th season with an all-Russian program
The Boston Symphony Orchestra opened its first concert of the season in a fashion that reflected the all-Russian program: quick and to the point. Upon entering, conductor Andris Nelsons was greeted with a standing ovation; however, the audience barely had time to sit down before the BSO began Shostakovich’s playful Ninth Symphony. It was easy to appreciate the lightness of the strings and winds juxtaposed with the fanfare of the brass. I found myself captivated by Nelsons’ conducting, which conveyed excitement and scrutiny to detail, and the way the orchestra responded in kind. Navigating through Shostakovich’s bright Allegro, his eerie Moderato, and his loud Presto, the musicians demonstrated their versatility in both technical and emotional depth.
Electronic lyricism
I jump late onto most bandwagons — many of my favorite artists are inactive, and for a year or two, Metric belonged to that unfortunate club. Their unique blend of electronic and traditional rock instruments, as well as their profound and relatable lyrics, captivated me. Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? (2003) was one of the first albums I listened to in its entirety, and I was surprised to find that I loved every single track. Since the group seemed to have disappeared, I was stuck cycling between the same few albums. My musical limbo ended Sept. 18, 2015, with the release of Pagans in Vegas.
If only NASA had funding
Big-budget science fiction is experiencing something of a renaissance. Director Ridley Scott’s The Martian follows a string of commercially minded, studio-backed sci-fi movies, including Interstellar and Gravity, which play out small-scale personal dramas on a big-scale stage (outer space).
MIT participates in Westchester Triathlon in NY
On Sunday, Sept. 27, the MIT triathlon team finished the 2015 Northeast Collegiate Conference Season with the Olympic-distance Westchester Triathlon in Rye, New York. Over 130 collegiate athletes from the region competed in the three-sport race: the 0.9-mile swim, 25-mile bike, and 6.2-mile run.
Frisbee season opens with 1 win, 3 losses
The men’s ultimate frisbee team opened their season on Sept. 26 with a win against Northeastern at home. The rest of the day brought three losses for the young MIT team. MIT entered into the tournament hoping to get its rookies some valuable gameplay experience by competing with top teams from Brandeis, Stonehill, Boston University, and Northeastern.
Football earns first win in home opener
Fans, immersed in gray and cardinal, flooded the stands of Steinbrenner Stadium to cheer on the MIT football team in its first home game of the season. The Engineers notched their first win of the season by an impressive 51-26 score line over Maine Maritime on the back of a dominant performance from running back Adis T. Ojeda ’19, who ran for a mammoth 262 yards including 3 touchdowns.
Escape the dome: pset stalling and Boston Calling
There are times when I can forgive myself for unleashing my inner music fangirl. Even rarer are the occasions when I can allow myself to release her in public. During Boston Calling, two days before my first hell week, was one such occasion. In that period of pre-hell week, I saw armies of deadlines and tests march toward my slapdash barricade — namely, the weekend — but it was too early for a call to action. All I could do was sit quietly in a corner and hope that if I ate enough chocolate, I would survive the trials to come.
Learning to take rain by storm
This was it. This was the day I had been dreaming of for the past few months, the day I had been fantasizing about in my mind over and over again since my official enrollment into MIT, the day I thought might never come: today was the first rain.
Institute Double Take
For those unfamiliar with the MIT Sailing Pavilion, every time the moon is full the pavilion stays open past sunset and allows members of the MIT community to sail Lynx Catboats until midnight. On Sunday, Sept. 28, the full moon was made even more impressive by coinciding with a total lunar eclipse. I brought a Nikon D800 down to the pavilion dock and set up a series of long exposure shots. Green and white running lights on the boats made for wispy light trails as boats came and went from the dock, with the Boston skyline providing the backdrop. The 30-second exposure time allows for a low ISO of 400 and f/stop of 8, which prevents distant objects from appearing overly blurry or noisy.
‘I am an enthusiastic foodie’
This is the first in a series of MIT application essays submitted by students who were later admitted to the Institute. The following prompt is from the 2013-14 admissions season.
