White House nominates AeroAstro Professor for top NASA position
Dava Newman PhD ’92, Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Housemaster of Baker House, was recently nominated by President Obama to be NASA’s deputy administrator.
Close races mark freshman elections
The Undergraduate Association released the results of the 2018 Class Council elections in an email sent to all freshmen on Friday. The class elected Colin O. Webb ’18 as president and Daysi N. Gomez ’18 as vice president.
More mental health visits
In the wake of recent campus deaths, students have been seeking mental health services in greater numbers, part of a general increase in mental health-related visits over the last five years, according to Alan E. Siegel, Chief of MIT’s Mental Health Service.
ASE pass rates up for most GIRs, especially biology
The Advance Standing Exam (ASE) takers, mostly students from the Class of 2018, generally did well on the tests during orientation this year, garnering an overall pass rate of 54.9 percent. This pass rate is slightly higher than last year’s 54.2 percent and 52-53 percent in recent years.
MIT Medical director steps down
After 14 years as the medical director of MIT Medical, William Kettyle, M.D., will be stepping down. According to MIT News, the announcement was made by Executive Vice President and Treasurer Israel Ruiz SM ’01 on Oct. 14 in an email to faculty and staff.
CORRECTIONS
An article about Kendall Square plans in the Friday, Oct. 17 issue of The Tech misstated the provost’s class year. He is Martin A. Schmidt PhD ’88. The article also misstated the name of a Graduate Student Council committee. It is the Housing & Community Affairs committee, not the Housing Community Activities committee.
Department of Chemical Engineering establishes new professorship
The Department of Chemical Engineering has recently announced the creation of the Raymond F. Baddour (1949) Chemical Engineering Professorship, a title meant for a distinguished faculty member within the department.
IN SHORT
MIT Medical will be administering flu shots tomorrow, Oct. 22 in Walker Memorial Lobby from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The clinic is walk-in — no appointment is needed. Children 9 and under are not eligible for the walk-in clinic in Cambridge and should schedule an appointment for their immunizations.
MIT and MGH distribute grants aimed towards supporting projects in clinical medicine
MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have recently allotted up to $3 million over a two-year period to fund research projects in clinical medicine, according to the MIT News Office. The projects will address in improving clinical diagnostics, treating infectious/autoimmune diseases, and diagnosing and treating major neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases.
IN SHORT
MIT Medical will be administering flu shots next Wednesday, Oct. 22 in Walker Memorial Lobby from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The clinic is walk-in — no appointment is needed. Children 9 and under are not eligible for the walk-in clinic in Cambridge and should schedule an appointment for their immunizations.
Students from China differ on Hong Kong’s protestors
Some Chinese MIT students are working to raise awareness of the protests for democracy in Hong Kong, even as others see the protestors as too disruptive.
CORRECTIONS
A sub headline of an article in the Tuesday, Oct. 14 issue of The Tech about the MIT women’s soccer team’s win over Wheaton incorrectly refer to the team as the field hockey team.
MIT alumnus wins Nobel Prize in economic science
WASHINGTON — The French economist Jean Tirole PhD ’81, a student of imperfect markets, has spent decades dissecting the many industries where competition does not fulfill the textbook promise that prices will be low and quality will be high.
East campus plans seem to ease worries about grad housing
Some graduate student leaders say they are optimistic about big plans to revamp east campus now that MIT has signalled that it will make up for the beds that will be lost in Kendall Square after the Eastgate graduate family housing building is demolished.
Three MIT research teams receive Department of Energy awards
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy University Programs (NEUP) awarded five million dollars to an integrated research project led by Professor Charles W. Forsberg ScD ’74 of the department of nuclear science and engineering. Forsberg, NSE Professor Lin-wen Hu, and collaborators from University of California at Berkeley and University of Wisconsin at Madison received extended funding for their commercial high-temperature salt-cooled reactor, according to the MIT News Office.
Doctors confirm Braintree facility patient does not have Ebola virus
Fears about the deadly Ebola virus spread to Massachusetts this Columbus Day weekend, prompting holiday press conferences and reverse 911 calls to reassure a jittery public after two Ebola-related scares.
CORRECTIONS
An article in the Friday, Oct. 10 issue about Maseeh Hall and DormCon incorrectly stated that Maseeh’s residents would pay a total of $10,000 per year to DormCon in taxes if the dorm were a member of the body. In fact, it would pay $5 per resident per semester, or about $5,000 per year. This is not one third of Maseeh’s budget.
With growing edX role, some students skeptical
Some MIT classes, using edX, have moved toward a blended model of education, integrating in-person and online learning. According to both students and instructors, this effort has made students’ college experience more flexible, but not without other flaws.
News Briefs
This past weekend, several MIT groups hosted engineering and hackathon events on campus. While HackMIT and Hacking Arts were returning annual events, this year marked the first appearance of MIT’s Maker Faire. Although independent from one another, the gatherings were all centered around building and sharing technical projects.