IN YOUR COMMUNITY Meet Professor Robert Langer
“When I first came here, after a year or two, a lot of people told me I should leave. They said I was never going to even get promoted past assistant professor. A lot of people in the scientific community didn’t believe in the science I was doing; they thought it was wrong. And so I got my first nine grants turned down,” recounted Professor Robert S. Langer ScD ’74.
Events: Dec. 13 - Dec. 15
Events Dec. 13 – Dec. 15 Tuesday (9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.) MIT Student Art Association Ceramics Sale — Lobby 10 (12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.) Large Hadron Collider Higgs Jamboree seminar, status revealed on the research of the Higgs Boson particle — 32-123 Wednesday (5:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Defeating Alzheimer’s: The science and business of solving neurodegenerative disease — 32-123 (8:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Roadkill Buffet Free Comedy Show — 6-120 Thursday (2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.) Cookies with Canines Study Break, take a study break and de-stress with a dog — Hayden and Barker libraries (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) I “Heart” Neutrinos: A Film Screening by Jennifer West — E15 (Bartos Theatre) Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
RANDOM NEURONAL FIRINGS 16 shots of coffee
As MIT students, who’s a better friend than coffee? When the aroma of freshly brewed coffee from Bosworth’s Cafe in Lobby 7 stimulates my olfactory neurons, I often get the urge to know more about coffee’s origin. Here are 16 fun facts about coffee:
TALK WORDY TO ME Deck the balls with jugs of bourbon
People in Boston always seem to be surprised by my affinity to bourbon. Maybe it’s not a girly drink, but I grew up in a town that borders Kentucky, which is all about bourbon. This includes the delightful treat known as a bourbon ball, which people frequently get as stocking stuffers around the holidays. The first time I heard about these was in middle school when my best friend swore she managed to get drunk from eating a box of these. So when I make these, I am very heavy-handed with the bourbon.
Events: Dec. 06 - Dec. 12
Events Dec. 06 – dec. 12 Tuesday (7:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.) Fresh Songs: First-year songwriters at Next House — Next House TFL Wednesday (12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.) Artists Beyond the Desk presents: The Meridian Singers — W15 (MIT Chapel) (5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) Reinventing the City @ MIT: A Planet of Civic Laboratories: The Future of Cities, Information and Inclusion — E14 - 633 Thursday (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.) Visions & Projections — An Evening Celebrating the Legacy of the Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) — E15-001 (MIT Cube, Wiesner Building) Friday (5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) HSA Speaker Series: “Beware of Greeks bearing debt” presented by Professor Miron — E51-315 (7:00 p.m.) LSC shows Elf (free admission) — 26-100 Saturday (6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Association of Puerto Rican Students Christmas Dinner — W20-491 Sunday (12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.) Salsa/Rueda Dance Workshop — Student Center Room 407 (4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Unforgettable: ADT Fall 2011 showcase — W20-La Sala de Puerto Rico (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) MIT Muses Fall Concert — 6-120 Monday (7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Black Students’ Union Study Break — 50-105 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
RANDOM NEURONAL FIRINGS Winter weather for dummies!
The red and yellow leaves beautifying trees around campus not long ago have started falling. Most trees now stand bare, reminding us of the Boston winter that is slowly creeping in. Boston is pretty windy, rainy, and snowy — MIT even closes down sometimes due to snowstorms. But we can’t just lock ourselves in our dorm rooms, right? We need to combat the cold and the wind and finish our p-sets and graduate. Check out the tips below and see if you have everything ready!
Events: Nov. 29 - Dec. 5
Events Nov. 29 – Dec. 5 Tuesday (5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) The Music of Ethiopia and Eritrea — 2-105 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) The Street Just Out of Sight: A reading and talk with Ta-Nehisi Coates, a senior editor at The Atlantic — 6-120 Wednesday (12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.) Lunchtime Gallery Talk by Professor Caroline A. Jones — E15 (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) DISCUSS.it with Pranav Mistry, creator of Sixth Sense — 3-422 Thursday (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) List Visual Arts Center Gallery Talk by Art Historian Martha Buskirk — E15 (6:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.) MISTI Foreign Night Film series: The Green Dumpster Mystery — W31-301 Friday (5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) Thai Festival of Light — 50-100 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) MIT SAAS: Brownies On Ice — W34 (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) MIT Logarhythms Winter Concert — Kresge Auditorium (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) RAMBAX Senegalese Drumming Ensemble — W20 Lobdell Saturday (2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.) 150 Alive: The Most Studied Brain — MIT Museum (8:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.) Trashion Show — Next House TFL Commons (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) MIT Concert Choir, William Cutter, Music Director — Kresge Auditorium Sunday (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) Techiya Fall 2011 Concert — 6-120 Monday (7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Elijah Wald Presents the History & Early Blues’ Traditions — 4-231 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
THANKSGIVING A tale of two turkeys
Once upon a time, there were two turkeys, which I shall refer to as Turkey A and Turkey B, in order to avoid garnering any sympathy for them. Fortunately for them, they lived a charmed life on a small family farm, unlike their debeaked relatives on overcrowded farms. Instead of being the industrial Broad-Breasted White breed, too broad-breasted to reproduce without artificial insemination, they were a slower-growing heirloom variety with a more robust flavor.
TALK WORDY TO ME 21W @ MIT
When I first came to MIT, I was very insecure of the fact that I wanted to study humanities at a technical school. It didn’t help that I surrounded myself with people that were premed, and these individuals always said I was taking the easy way out. It also didn’t help that my sister majored in writing, and I witnessed firsthand how difficult it was to for her to secure adequate employment without pursuing further graduate studies.
Overheard@MIT
Boy: What’s your shirt say? “OK Go”? What’s that? Girl: Umm, it’s the name of a band. Boy: Oh, so it doesn’t mean you’re easy.
Events: Nov. 15 - Nov. 21
Events Nov. 15 – Nov. 21 Tuesday (2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.) Business Etiquette — Manners, Meals, and Mastering business interactions — 5-217 Wednesday (5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) Mimi Ito: “Fandom Unbound: Otaku Culture in a Connected World” — E14-633 (6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) Jay Keyser discusses Mens et Mania: The MIT Nobody Knows — 14N-118 Thursday (5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Legatum Lecture: Chocolate Symposium with Kopali Organics — E62-233 (7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.) We Still Live Here — Film Screening — 1-190 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Genome Engineering and the Construction of New Genetic Codes — NE20 (Broad Institute Auditorium) Friday (8:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.) Roadkill Buffet’s improv comedy show — 6-120 (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) Chorallaries Fall Concert — 10-250 (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble — W16 (8:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.) MIT Musical Theatre Guild Presents: Chidlren of Eden — W20 La Sala de Puerto Rico Saturday (7:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m.) Captain America: The First Avenger — 26-100 (2:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.) MIT-China Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (MIT-CHIEF) — 32-123 (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) MIT Chamber Chorus, William Cutter, Music Director — W16 Kresge Auditorium Sunday (2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.) MIT Chamber Chorus, William Cutter, Music Director — W16 Kresge Auditorium Monday (4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.) The Returns to Hospital Spending: Evidence from Ambulance Assignment — E51-151 (5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) MTA Composer Forum features John Harbison — 14E-109 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
Institute Double Take
Located at the stairwell of Building 3, Dis(Course)4 is a Festival of Art, Science, and Technology (FAST) installation created by graduate students Craig A. Boney G, James R. Coleman G, and Andrew J. Manto G in Course 4 in April 2011. The structure is composed of hundreds of aluminum pieces that are fastened by zip ties and supported by steel cables. This photo emphasizes the repetition of the elements through the use of point lighting and symmetry. A small aperture is chosen to ensure a large depth of field. The white balance is intentionally skewed to add warmth to the otherwise white installation.
QUARKINESS The big, red “J”
I may not remember as much as I would like from 3.091 (Introduction to Solid-State Chemistry), but I do remember the big, red “J”. And no, J here does not stand for joule.
PUBLIC SERVICE @ MIT In and out of the water
“Success in and out of the water.” That is the motto of Amphibious Achievement, an MIT service group established last January that aims to promote success for area high-schoolers through athletic training, specifically in crew and swimming, and academic instruction, with a focus on college prep in a way that is fun and innovative. The program runs on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. during the school year on campus.
Events: Nov. 8 - Nov. 14
Events Nov. 8 – Nov. 14 Tuesday (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Wall Street in Context: Strategies for restoring the dignity of the 99% — 32-123 (7:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.) Film Screening: Miguel and William — discussion with director Ines Paris follows — 32-141 Wednesday (5:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.) Innovation Series Event: Changing the World: How Innovators are Using the Web for Social Action — 32-123 (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) Life in the Universe: In the Beginning, MIT Museum talk — N51 Thursday (5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) MIT Communications Forum: Cities and the Future of Entertainment — E10-070 (6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) Energy Discussions: Desalination — 4-153 Friday (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Otto Piene Film/Video Screening — E15 (9:15 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) Potluck Shorts: Art of Love (Boston Asian American Film Festival Shorts Program) Saturday (7:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) Bang on a Can All-Stars — W16 Sunday (3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.) Origamido Workshop, seminar on handmade paper (4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) MITHAS Concert — Wong Auditorium Monday (5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.) Lecture: “Unlocking Energy Innovation” by Prof. Richard Lester PhD ’80 — 66-110 (7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Jeff Warner, Music from Appalachia — 14W-111 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
VIDEO INTERVIEW PhD movie cast and crew discuss film, tour
This is a transcript from an interview with Jorge Cham (creator of PhD comics), Margaret “Meg” A. Rosenburg ’07 (producer of the PhD movie), Evans T. Boney ’06 (actor playing Mike Slackenerny), and Scott Elmegreen (composer). The full transcript is at and the video is at .
Institute Double Take
At night, the lights outside the Stata Center bounce off the scales on the metallic walls to create oceanic reflections on the orange brick ground. The watery patterns on the bricks, in addition to the odd angle of Stata’s wall, make this picture appear abstract at first sight. Unfortunately, without a tripod, high ISO was necessary.
Gettin’ down on Friday
Ever wondered what MIT students do on their Friday nights? Well, now you can find out. Whether they’re debating global warming or discussing the best way to top a waffle, MIT students find a way to put away their psets for a night and have some fun … most of the time. We journey from the dark, cold recesses of dorm row to the foreboding inner sanctuary of the Student Center’s study room to determine what exactly it is that these students do on the best night of the week. So strap on your hats and get ready for a crazy ride filled with optimistic prefrosh and fly-infested donuts! Watch the video at .
Events: Nov. 1 - Nov. 7
Events Nov. 1 – Nov. 7 Tuesday (8:00 p.m.) Breaking the Lightspeed Barrier — Fact or Fiction? A Lecture with Alan H. Guth ’69, Edward Farhi, and Peter Fisher — 26-100 Wednesday (12:00 p.m. – 12:30 p.m.) Organ concerts — MIT Chapel (3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.) MacVicar Faculty Fellows Lecture Series: Thoughts on the Future of Engineering Education at MIT – Speaker: Professor Ian A. Waltz — Killian Hall Thursday (6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.) The PhD Movie film screening with Jorge Cham — 26-100 (7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Cambodian Dream: Rebuilding Cambodia by Empowering Its Women — Lecture by Professor Alan Lightman — 32-123 Friday (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Between the Folds, an origami documentary — 6-120 (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) The Rogers Plan directed by Susan Wilson, developed and produced by Dramashop and MIT Theater Arts — Kresge Auditorium Little Theater Saturday (7:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m.) LSC shows Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 — 26-100 (8:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.) MIT Shakespeare Ensemble presents Macbeth — W20-202 Sunday (8:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.) MIT CSC and MIT ACF presents: Tim Be Told Concert — new Media Lab sixth floor MPR Monday (5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) Starr Forum: The Republican Party and American Foreign Policy — E14-674 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.) Society of Biological Engineers presents: how to successfully navigate MIT as a premed — 66-110 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
Events: Oct. 25 - Oct. 31
Events OCT. 25 – Oct. 31 Tuesday (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) Life in the Universe: Are We Alone? — MIT Museum (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.) Talk by famous climber Steve Arsenault — W20-461 (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) The Greg Hopkins & Jeff Galindo Group jazz concert — 14W-111 Wednesday (2:45 p.m. - 3:45) Maximizing MIT Resources to Gain “Real World” Experience — GECD panel event — 24-115 (3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.) Exploring the Majors Fair — Kresge Lobby Thursday (8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.) Legatum Convergence, annual forum on entrepreneurship in emerging markets — E14, 6th floor (5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) MIT Communication Forum: Surveillance and Citizenship — E15-070 (7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.) Film Screening of No Way Out But One — 6-120 Friday (7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) LSC shows Super 8 — 26-100 (7:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.) Nightmarket — Asian cultural festival — Lobdell (8:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.) MIT Shakespeare Ensemble presents Macbeth — La Sala Saturday (7:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m.) LSC shows Your Highness — 26-100 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Faust — silent film with live music — 14W-111 Sunday (12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.) Salsa/Rueda Dance Workshop — W20-407 (7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.) “Sound Waves” concert hosted by Anton Tanonov — W-15 Monday (4:15 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. ) Ending the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: How Science Made a Difference Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.