Civil and Environmental to offer flexible degree program
Starting Fall 2014, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (Course 1) will be offering a new, flexible undergraduate degree program named 1-ENG. Current students may switch to the program in the fall or stay with their current 1-C (Civil) or 1-E (Environmental) track.
February FNL released
The January/February Edition of the MIT Faculty Newsletter opens strongly with Prof. Hal Abelson PhD ’73, Nathan Matias G, and Ethan Zuckerman’s open letter to President L. Rafael Reif regarding Tidbit alongside Reif’s response.
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?
Aaron Swartz found dead Friday
Internet activist Aaron H. Swartz died by suicide in his Brooklyn apartment on Friday, Jan. 11, according to his uncle, Michael Wolf, in a comment to The Tech. Swartz was 26.
Schmill urges students to work through self-doubt
When you’re living on three hours of sleep, your self-esteem is lower than your GPA, and you’re just starting to slog through the p-set for the class that you haven’t been to in a month, it’s easy to feel like you don’t belong.
Freshmen move using FYRE
For the first time in two years, Baker lost its spot as the most popular choice for incoming freshmen in the summer housing lottery. Maseeh, MIT’s newest dorm, overtook Baker this year as the most popular dorm — 303 people, or 26 percent of the freshmen class put down Maseeh as their top choice, while a staggering 66 percent (753 people) ranked the dorm in their top four. Baker had the second highest number of first choice votes, but came in fourth overall in terms of top four rankings, with 667 votes, slightly behind Burton-Conner (711 people) and Simmons (703).
RLAD proposal stirs policy debate
This fall, many dorms will see new faces in their house teams in the form of Residential Life Area Directors (RLAD). RLADs will live in the dorm and assist housemasters and Graduate Resident Tutors (GRT) with administrative and operational tasks. These changes were revealed last week, when an anonymous source leaked a letter, written by Chancellor W. Eric L. Grimson PhD ’80 to MIT housemasters, that spoke of imminent changes in residential life. The information caught many students and GRTs off-guard, sparking campus-wide controversy and debate.
Course 6 develops new “Super” UROPs
Starting Fall 2012, juniors and seniors in Course 6 will have the option to participate in the Advanced Undergraduate Research Program, also known as the “Super” UROP. Students in the program commit to a full year of research with their chosen lab or group, as well as two semesters of the six-unit 6.UAR (Preparation for Undergraduate Research) class, which focuses on topics such as choosing and developing a research topic, industry best practices, and presentation skills.
Startups: a hidden lifestyle at MIT
“Sleep, friends, p-sets — choose two,” is a common mantra at the Institute. But what happens when you add your own startup into the mix?
Celebrating 150 years of Technology
MIT turned 150 last year, celebrating to the tune of “inventional wisdom,” a phrase coined by the MIT150 Steering Committee to convey a blend of entrepreneurship and quest for knowledge.
Prototype for $1K house has final price tag of $6K
What can you build for $1,000? Last summer, Professor Yung Ho Chang in the Department of Architecture and Ying chee Chui ’11 — then a graduate student in the department — designed and built a house in Sichuan, China using local materials for that much.
Tech startups take to MIT for Bootcamp
Hundreds of people from the MIT and Boston community flocked to Kresge Auditorium last Saturday as the founders of Dropbox, Quora, Foursquare and seven other tech companies took the stage at the 3rd annual Startup Bootcamp at MIT. The event featured a marathon of talks and presentations from well-known figures in the high-tech startup industry.
45 student teams compete for $15K
Forty-five teams competed for $15,000 last night in the final round of MIT’s Innovation, Development, Enterprise, Action and Service (IDEAS) Competition, spelling out their vision to make the world a better place. The annual competition focuses on innovation in the realm of public service. Teams entered projects in fields ranging from health care and education to food production, with many focusing on the challenges of world poverty and international development.
Fact or fiction?
Have you been wondering what “Fact or Fiction” means, or what Gossip Girl, Glee, and BU have to do with women at MIT? Jessica L. Trudeau, Fact or Fiction committee head and program administrator at the MIT Community Development and Substance Abuse Center (CDSA) describes Fact or Fiction as a media campaign — created by the CDSA — to “challenge MIT undergraduate women to think about female identity at the Institute.”
In response to complaints, tweaks made to dining
Dean for Student Life Chris Colombo and the House and Dining Advisory Group (HDAG) updated the dining plan yesterday with lunch options as well as a cheaper $2,500 plan to appease upperclassmen wary of mandatory dining.
More unrest over new dining plan
Student opposition to the proposed House Dining Advisory Group continues this week. A major new petition launched on Wednesday evening has amassed over 1,298 signatures from undergraduates as of early Friday morning. On Thursday, students held an “eat-in” protest at Baker House to show that they could cook for themselves.
Two new petitions fight dining process
Two more student petitions against the new dining plan have sprung up this past week, one at Next House and another at Baker.
HDAG releases new dining plan fact sheets
The House Dining Advisory Group (HDAG) has released new fact sheets this past week explaining the pricing, hours, and choices of the new dining plan, which is planned to begin next academic year 2010-2011. HDAG also released a fact sheet on “student engagement and transparency” and the logistics of the Request for Proposal process.
Dining reform to continue
In spite of the emergency UA bill last week, which urged the House Dining Advisory Group (HDAG) to reform their proposal in light of “overwhelming student opposition,” HDAG decided yesterday that it will move forward with its plan to implement a mandatory seven-day, all-you-care-to-eat breakfast and dinner program in the current dining halls for fall 2011.
Four Bexleyites on 2014 class council
Four of the seven new officers in the freshman class council hail from Bexley this year, the UA announced on Saturday.
Microsoft Research offers 3-D
Imagine you wanted to buy a gift for your aunt. You might ask her for a wish list, bring the paper into a store and spend a dull afternoon browsing.
MIT prestige key at Career Fair
MIT students remained in high demand with recruiters at yesterday’s Career Fair, where more than 330 companies came to campus, up 50 from the previous year.