Institute names interim math department head
MIT named Professor Tomasz S. Mrowka ’83 the interim head of the Department of Mathematics this June.
Paul Uche, recent alum, dies after leukemia battle
Paul U. Uche ’13 passed away on June 19 at the age of 23 following a two-year battle with leukemia.
MIT student set to complete solo flight around the world
Rising MIT sophomore Matthew L. Guthmiller ’17 is on his way to becoming the youngest person ever to fly solo around the world. On May 31, he took off from El Cajón, California, beginning a 26,600-mile journey that will take him to five continents and possibly secure him the world record.
State officials release causes of graduate student deaths
The deaths of graduate students Hadi Kasab and Eliana Hechter, whom MIT lost this spring, have since been ruled suicides.
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.
MIT surveys graduates on goals, plans
MIT students are on average well-off and tolerant, but not so service-oriented, suggests a survey administered to this year’s graduating class. Seven in ten graduating seniors participated in the survey, which is administered by MIT once every two years.
CORRECTIONS
An article on the Graduate Student Council’s divestment resolution in the May 13 issue of The Tech quoted a sentence that GSC representatives had previously struck from the resolution. The sentence: “It is unconscionable to finance our education with investments that materially support a path to catastrophic climate change.”
Prayer expunged from graduation after op-ed
Religious prayer, a part of the commencement invocation in previous years, will no longer be included in the ceremony, according to a message from members of MIT’s Commencement Committee sent to undergraduates in May.
Hockfield compensated $1,721,597 in 2012
MIT’s highest-compensated employee in 2012 was outgoing President Susan J. Hockfield, who received a total compensation of $1,721,597, according to MIT’s most recent tax filings. This is an increase from $1,199,877 in 2011.
NEWS BRIEFS
J. Meejin Yoon, the newly appointed head of the Department of Architecture, will be the first woman to fill that position when she assumes the post July 1 according to MIT News.
IFC reinforces roof deck rules while limits stand
Faced with the possibility that assembly limits imposed on MIT’s Boston fraternities in October 2013 may continue through Rush week this September, the Interfraternity Council doubled down last week on a prohibition of the use of roof decks at all MIT fraternities in an attempt to ease tensions with the city of Boston.
CORRECTIONS
An article about Senior House’s planned RLAD in the Friday, May 9 issue of The Tech incorrectly stated that Alina Kononov ’14 is a current Dormitory Council representative. She is actually a former representative, as well as a former Senior House president.