MIT Kendall plans spark debate
MIT’s latest rezoning petition, which would bring commercial and residential developments as well as new academic buildings to east campus, prompted concern from students and drew criticism from faculty and staff at a forum about Kendall Square plans on Wednesday. The topics discussed included the future of graduate housing and the broader question of how the petition would serve MIT’s interests.
New York’s mayor builds an empire in London
LONDON — It is the biggest development in this city’s buzzing financial district, and even Olympics-jaded Londoners call it grandiose: two bronze-and-stone towers, connected by sky-bridges atop the ruins of a 2,000-year-old Roman temple.
Alexander Wang, Samsung partner
The fashion designer Alexander Wang is joining forces with Samsung to create a new print based on doodles, sketches
New faces in the Division of Student Life hired this year
The MIT Division of Student Life (DSL) has undergone a slew of hiring in the last two years. These additions have been focused in three major areas: student development and support, the Student Activities Office (SAO), and residential life.
Winter storm Nemo finds its way to Boston
A major snowstorm is expected to hit MIT today, as winter storm Nemo makes its way across the coast. MIT announced last night that it would be closed today — the second campus closure due to weather this year, after Hurricane Sandy shuttered the Institute on Oct. 29, 2012. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has declared a state of emergency that will be effective today starting at noon. Community members should check emergency.mit.edu for the most up-to-date information.
A vision of OCW for the future
OpenCourseWare’s (OCW) goal for the next decade, as presented on their website, is unapologetically bold: to reach a billion minds by the year 2021. But since the announcement of MITx and edX over a year ago, there understandably has been some confusion about how OCW will fit into the picture. All three share a common goal — to make an MIT-caliber education freely available to the world — and much of MIT’s material on edX (developed through MITx) is already available on OCW. With these seeming overlaps, what is the future of OCW?
Editor’s note
The world may not have ended in 2012, but it was still a year full of news for MIT and the world. In this special issue of The Tech, we look back on the biggest headlines at the Institute.
Alacator C-Mod remains operational
MIT’s tokamak, Alcator C-Mod, has faced the threat of losing all of its federal funding throughout 2012. The experimental fusion reactor, which relied on $24 million from the Department of Energy for operation in 2012, was unexpectedly slated to lose all federal support in March in the President’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2013. The loss of these funds, nearly the entire budget of C-Mod, would force the closure of the experiment, one of just three such devices in the U.S.
Changes to the freshman experience
For freshmen, the MIT experience begins as soon as they are admitted. A record-low 8.9 percent of applicants were admitted to the Class of 2016, and 70 percent of those admitted accepted their offer of admission. Because of the record high yield rate, no one was admitted from the waitlist for the first time in seven years.
Seven dorms receive RLADs this year
This year saw the implementation of Residential Life Area Directors (RLADs) into most west campus dormitories. The RLADs — an extension of the previous Residential Life Associates (RLA) position — are meant to provide support for students, housemasters, and Graduate Resident Tutors (GRTs). They joined the communities of Maseeh, McCormick, MacGregor, Burton-Connor, New House, Next House, and Simmons at the start of the Fall term.
Reif takes the reigns of the Institute
It took MIT less than 86 days to pick a new president. If that sounds like a short amount of time to whittle down, interview, and vet a list of dozens of candidates, consider that the MIT Corporation’s final pick was somebody who the Institute already knew quite well. Somebody, in fact, who was already as close to the presidency as he could possibly get.
MIT 2030 plans continue to develop
Twenty years ago, MIT’s campus looked vastly different. Maseeh Hall was a graduate dorm called Ashdown House, planning for Simmons Hall had yet to begin, Kendall Square was a quiet area recently abandoned by manufacturing companies, and the Edgerton Center had just opened.
Three student deaths hit MIT in 2012
In 2012, the MIT community was saddened by the deaths of three members: Brian G. Anderson ’13, Heng “Nikita” Guo G, and Allison Tovo-Dwyer G. Guo’s death was ruled a suicide, Anderson’s was due to an opiate overdose, and Tovo-Dwyer passed away after a year-long battle with cancer.
HarvardX & MITx merge under edX
They’re called MOOCs, and it was the M for Massive that really started turning heads.
Forces of nature converge on campus
Despite the blatant lack of the anticipated apocalypse, 2012 was a good year for disasters. Last year saw several out-of-the-ordinary occurrences, including a hurricane, two major power outages, and a small earthquake.
Annual MLK exhibits opens
Tonight marks the opening of the Lobby 10 installation from the Martin Luther King Jr. Design Seminar (17.920), an IAP course where students learned about the Civil Rights Movement and discussed topics like race and identity. The installation will be up until the night of Jan. 14.
Gaggle cops 133rd Managing Board elections
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s the V133 managing board!