U.S. Secretary of Commerce visits the Institute
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker toured MIT’s campus and delivered a speech on Sept. 18 at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. Her address was followed by a Q&A session with President L. Rafael Reif, in which they discussed the challenges in academic research when long-term projects are only backed by short-term investments.
Frank Urbanowski, longtime head of MIT Press, dies at 79
The MIT Press mourns the loss of Frank Urbanowski, who served as director of the press for an unprecedented 27 years, building it into one of the largest and most successful scholarly publishers in the world. Urbanowski passed away after a long illness on Sept. 19 in Essex Junction, Vt. He was 79.
Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship hosts annual Demo Day
Fourteen startup teams pitched their ideas to an audience of over 300 people, including investors, families, and friends, at the annual Demo Day hosted by the Martin Trust Center in 10-250 last Saturday.
After shooting just off campus, vice president apologizes for misleading alert
At around 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, a 25-year-old woman was shot at the corner of Main and Portland Streets, sustaining non-life-threatening injuries.
Maseeh is most popular choice in housing lottery for freshmen
Maseeh Hall was the first-choice dorm for 277 students in this year’s freshmen housing lottery, a 92 percent increase from last year. Approximately 60 percent of the Class of 2019 opted for one of three dorms — Maseeh, Baker, or Simmons — as their top choice, according to data released by MIT’s Residential Life & Dining.
Senior House is last to receive an RLAD
After several years of negotiations between residents and MIT administrators, Senior House has now become the last dormitory to get a Residential Life Area Director.
Residents speak out on FSILG village proposal
MIT 2030, a plan to restructure much of MIT within the next 15 years, has a significant portion devoted to changing west campus. One of these changes stands out: the FSILG village.
Weather
A broad high pressure system will bring above-normal temperatures back to the Institute this week. With its center to our south, the high pressure system will bring clear skies and offshore winds to the Boston area for the next few days. Temperatures will near the 90°F (32°C) mark today as 10 mph westerly winds will keep cooler ocean temperatures literally at bay. Temperatures over the weekend will be slightly cooler as cloudiness increases ahead of an incoming cold front. The frontal passage will likely occur sometime on Sunday, ushering in a much colder start to the week on Monday. After the cold front passes, another high pressure system is expected to move in, resulting in a return to sunny skies for at least the first part of next week.
Whyte named new Course 22 department head
Professor Dennis G. Whyte was named the new head of the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering yesterday, effective immediately. This announcement comes after Professor Richard Lester, the former department head, was named associate provost for international activities in May.
Semester kicks off with heat wave
The “fall” semester has officially begun at the Institute, but the weather has remained decidedly summer-like. Unusually hot weather has gripped the Boston area this week, as the last three days have been the top three warmest days of the year to date. In fact, Tuesday’s high temperature of 96°F (36°C) and Wednesday’s high of 93°F (34°C) were each all-time records for their respective days.
MIT professors and US Rep. Kennedy talk STEM education
MIT faculty and U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III met at the Media Lab on Sept. 3 for an event that highlighted technology’s potential to improve the quality of and access to STEM education. Called “Scaling STEM,” the event featured opening remarks by MIT President L. Rafael Reif, followed by presentations from Kennedy, Dean of Digital Learning Sanjay E. Sarma, and four professors from MIT.
MIT, BU will offer legal advice for free to student founders
MIT student entrepreneurs will soon be able to get independent legal advice from two law clinics opening on campus.
Toyota invests $50 million for car AI research at MIT, Stanford
To advance computer-assisted driving technology, Toyota is committing $50 million toward research at MIT and Stanford, the company announced last Friday.
Effectiveness of student wiki tested in GIRs
Crosslinks, a student resource “authored by MIT student for MIT students,” is running an experiment within GIR classes to find out how students interact with online material to achieve learning goals.
CORRECTIONS
The Daily Confusion: 2015 FSILG Edition, published last Thursday, has been updated online to include events from several independent living groups that were omitted in error. Note: The Daily Confusion only includes events submitted to The Tech and is not a comprehensive guide to rush and recruitment. The Interfraternity Council provides a more complete rush schedule.
DSL grant bails out UA, allows student group spending to rise
The Division of Student Life has granted $70,000 to the Undergraduate Association in response to the UA’s recent budget crisis. With these funds, and the implementation of new policies, the UA is on its way to recovering from last year’s budgeting errors that left the organization more than $50,000 in debt.
MindHandHeart expected to improve access to resources
In a letter sent to the MIT community Tuesday, Chancellor Cynthia Barnhart PhD ’88 and MIT Medical Director William Kettyle released a set of planned changes aimed at bolstering the Institute’s mental health resources. These changes come as a response to the results of the Healthy Minds Study, a mental health survey that was sent to all MIT undergraduate and graduate students last spring.
Rare hurricane hits Cape Verde
Although Tropical Storm Erika dissipated before coming close to the United States mainland, the Atlantic hurricane basin is not entirely quiet. Earlier this week, Hurricane Fred became the first known tropical cyclone to strike the Cape Verde Islands while at hurricane strength in over 100 years. Fred passed through the group of islands in the eastern Atlantic on Monday with sustained winds of 75 mph (120 km/h)—strong enough to be considered a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale. Thus, Fred became the first known hurricane to impact Cape Verde since 1892.