MIT enters Phase 2 of reopening
MIT has also initiated regular COVID-19 testing for “everyone who accesses campus.” Compliance with testing requirements is mandatory for maintaining campus access.
Administrators hold town hall to discuss recent Fall 2020 decisions
Barnhart said that she was “confident” that even “if conditions do not get better,” the plan to invite all first years, sophomores, and juniors on-campus in the spring can “remain intact.”
MIT summer programming canceled or virtualized through Aug. 31
MIT’s April 24 guidance on summer programming has been extended through Aug. 31, according to an update on MIT’s COVID-19 Info Center website June 3.
Preliminary results of COVID-related student surveys released
Only 26% of on-campus and 24% of off-campus undergraduate respondents “agree strongly” that they “feel like part of the community at MIT,” compared to 41% of respondents in the 2019 Undergraduate Enrolled Student Survey.
Flexible P/NR policy approved in faculty meeting
The policy allows incoming undergraduates to retroactively designate up to 48 units as P/NR after the first semester and was first proposed by the Committee on the Undergraduate Program (CUP) in the March faculty meeting.
Reif leads second town hall to discuss plans for continuity and reopening campus
Topics covered included evolving knowledge about COVID-19, academic preparations for the fall, staffing, residential continuity, and reopening campus research.
Fall academic COVID-19 preparations discussed at faculty meeting
Vice Chancellor Ian Waitz presented several possibilities for the fall academic term during the April 22 faculty meeting, including remote teaching, in-person classes, socially-distant learning, or a hybrid scenario.
Four more MIT seniors declared 2020 Rhodes Scholars
Woltz, Vasconcelos, and Yamoah are all currently conducting research with the Engineering Quantum Systems Group in the Research Lab for Electronics.
Administrators address budgeting, public health, research at town hall
Provost Martin Schmidt emphasized the role of “collective shared sacrifice” in the preservation of jobs. However, Schmidt also couldn’t “say what we will be able to do” due to the uncertainty surrounding summer and fall.
New Vassar floor plans, dining, and rooming details released
NV will also contain a grocery market, called “Tim’s Market.” Founders’ group member Tingyi Lu ’23 said at a NV info social March 1 that because the NV dining hall will serve only brunch and dinner, the store will serve as a “breakfast marketplace” similar to the pick-a-lunch program in Walker Memorial.
Three seniors and two alums named 2021 Schwarzman Scholars
According to MIT News, the recipients were selected from over 4,700 applicants for a program “complemented by internships, career development mentors, high-profile speakers, and opportunities to travel throughout China.”
Brothers Marketplace opens in Kendall Square
The store offers higher-priced organic and locally-sourced options. The cooked foods section of the store includes a bakery and cafe, a salad bar, a deli, a hot pretzel display, and a sushi display.
BioMakerspace to open this coming IAP in Building 26
A new biology makerspace, called the “BioMakerspace,” is scheduled to open this coming IAP in the basement of Building 26. The space, which is currently under construction, will be open to “the entirety of the MIT community” to be “used for whatever the student users really want to use it for,” said Justin Buck PhD ’12 in an interview with The Tech. Buck is the manager of the BioMakerspace and is currently overseeing its construction.
Global Studies and Languages faculty reassigned to other HASS departments
GSL classes currently taught by lecturers should not change, according to SHASS Dean Melissa Nobles.
Inaugural John M. Deutch Institute Professor Suzanne Berger reflects on her research, MIT
Berger: "That experience of collaborating with engineers and scientists was what really changed my whole direction intellectually. Learning how to see the world through their eyes as well as through the eyes of a social scientist made a great difference in my own work."
Economist Daron Acemoglu named Institute Professor
Acemoglu is the winner of the 2005 John Bates Clark Medal and co-author of the New York Times bestselling book Why Nations Fail.
MIT considering renaming Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day
Two years after Cambridge renamed Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day, students and faculty critical of celebrating Columbus due to his treatment of Native Americans discuss the future of the holiday at MIT.