3.091 experiments with new online learning this semester
At first glance, an MIT class without p-sets, exams, or essays sounds almost too good to be true. For 3.091 Professor Michael J. Cima, it is his semester-long experiment to test whether students learn better when residence-based instruction is combined with online instruction.
Demolition of building next to Random will start within a week
Work is now underway for Random Hall’s future neighbor. The building, to be developed by Forest City Enterprises, will serve as research and office space for Millennium Pharmaceuticals and will include more than 15,000 square feet of retail space facing the street on Massachusetts Avenue.
Kaiser steps down as provost of MIT
Chris A. Kaiser PhD ’87 will step down as MIT’s provost at the end of October, President L. Rafael Reif announced yesterday in an email to the MIT community. Kaiser will return to teaching and research as an MIT faculty member.
MIT endowment rises to 10.9 billion, up seven percent from last year
MIT’s endowment grew in fiscal year 2013 to $10.9 billion, the highest ever, in large part due to investment returns of 11.1 percent, MIT announced Friday.
Exiting provost speaks on braving funding cuts
Researchers at MIT facing funding troubles due to the federal budget sequester can rely on the Institute for “bridge funding” in the short term but may have to downsize their labs or adjust their research programs in the long term, exiting provost Chris Kaiser said in an interview.
UN report confirms rockets loaded with Sarin in Aug. 21 Syrian attack
Rockets armed with the banned chemical nerve agent sarin were used in a mass killing near Damascus, Syria on Aug. 21, U.N. chemical weapons inspectors reported Monday in the first official confirmation by nonpartisan scientific experts, saying such munitions had been deployed “on a relatively large scale” in the Syria conflict.
Shorts (right)
ISTANBUL — Turkey said its fighter planes shot down a Syrian military helicopter on Monday that flew into Turkish airspace, a potentially significant escalation of tensions between the neighbors and former allies, which are now bitterly divided over Syria’s civil war.
Shorts (left)
NEW YORK — It began as just another bizarre Times Square scene, a disoriented man lurching amid traffic, seemingly throwing himself into the path of oncoming cars.
Spain on track to meet budget targets, emerge from recession
MADRID — Spain is on track to meet the 2013 budget deficit target it agreed on with its European Union partners and should emerge from recession before the end of the year, its economy minister said Monday.
More rain expected in as Colorado as rescuers wait for fog to clear out
DENVER — As rain continued to fall Monday along Colorado’s Front Range, officials waited for a clearing in the weather so National Guard helicopters grounded by rain and fog could resume searching for hundreds of people who remain cut off by floodwaters.
High pressure takes hold; sunshine in store
The cold front that brought yesterday’s morning showers has departed to our east, and in its wake has come a strong high pressure system that will take control of our weather for the remainder of the week. This broad anticyclone is poised to remain over the Northeastern United States at least through Friday, resulting in calm, clear weather throughout the region. Sunshine is in store for each of the next few days, and relatively light winds will make the seasonable fall temperatures particularly enjoyable.
MIT needs computer science requirement
Programming lies at the heart of a modern education. Whether it relates to engineering, finance, or even the arts and humanities, computation is used across all fields to achieve what was once unimaginable. Yet, despite its ever-increasing prominence in industry and research, MIT has not instituted introductory computer science as a General Institute Requirement (GIR).
Women’s tennis begins season with a 2-0 start
Playing on the road for the first time this season, the MIT women’s tennis team made it two-for-two on the young season as it took a 6-3 win at Wellesley College in a New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference match. Victoria Tam ’16 and Elysa M. Kohrs ’17 each won in singles and doubles for the Engineers.
MIT Taekwondo places in the top 3 nationally
The MIT Sport Taekwondo Club competed in this year’s National Collegiate Taekwondo Association (NCTA) Championships, and placed top three in the Overall, Novice and Championship (Black Belt) divisions in a series of tough matches that put the team’s skills to the test. Additionally, the team managed to put forth stellar performances at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Tournament (RPI) in NY, coming only second to Cornell in the Division I results out of over 15 schools.
Events Sep 17 - Sep 23
Events Sep. 17 – Sep. 23 Tuesday (5:15 p.m. – 6:15 p.m.) Music, Manuscripts, and Megabytes: Unlocking sound in the ‘Ars Mutandi,’ talk by Professor Michael S. Cuthbert — 14E-304 (8:00 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.) Contra Dance with live music by Forks of Nature — W20-491 Wednesday (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.) Innovation Series Event: From Farm to Tablet: A Food Startup Feast — 32-123 (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.) From MIT to Andy’s Room: the Birth and Evolution of Computer Graphics — MIT Museum (6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Reading the Human Genome, talk by Prof. Eric Lander Thursday (4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Starr Forum: Strange Rebels: 1979 and the Birth of the 21st Century — 66-110 (4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.) Opening Reception for Sidewalk City: Mapping the Unmapped — 7-338 Friday (7:30 p.m.) LSC shows Radical Reels — 26-100 Saturday (11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.) Latin American Independence Day BBQ — Kresge pits (7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival Gala — 50-Morss Hall Sunday (1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.) Eastgate Fall Harvest Festival and BBQ — E55 Monday (2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.) Media Lab Conversations Series: Mark Bauman, Chairman of National Geographic’s Cross Platform Committee — Media Lab 3rd floor (5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.) Moral, Political, Scientific: What is Thoughtful Engineering? — 66-110 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
A week of innovation
Robotic cheetahs, body-heat fueled technology, cameras that operate at the speed of light, and a potential cure for HIV? This compilation of fascinating topics at the cutting edge of research led the conversation at MIT’s t=0 week. Students filled rooms until it was standing room only as some of MIT’s leading professors presented state-of-the-art technologies, ideas, and businesses during this week to kick off entrepreneurship at MIT.
