Cause of death of Professor Seth Teller is released
Professor Seth Teller’s death last Tuesday has been ruled a suicide, according to Terrel Harris, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Chief Medical Examiner’s Office. The cause of death was listed as “blunt trauma to head and torso.”
John King, physics professor emeritus, dies at 88
Professor emeritus John G. King ’50, PhD ‘53, an experimental physicist, transformative physics educator, and leader of the MIT Molecular Beams Laboratory in the Research Laboratory for Electronics for 42 years, died on June 15 at his summer house in Wellfleet, Mass. A longtime resident of Cambridge, King was 88. The cause of death was congestive heart and renal failure.
Irwin Oppenheim passes away
MIT professor emeritus of chemistry Irwin Oppenheim, 84, of Cambridge, passed away on June 3 from complications following cardiac surgery.
Possible new gender options on MIT app
In an effort to be more inclusive, the undergraduate admissions office is considering adding to the gender options on its freshman application. Currently, the only choices available are “female” and “male.”
Seth Teller, EECS professor, mourned
Seth Teller, a professor of computer science and engineering at MIT who was well known for his efforts to advance human-robot interactions, died last Tuesday. He was 50, and he had been a member of the MIT faculty since 1994.
Library books now automatically renewed
Loans from MIT Libraries are now automatically renewed three days before the due date, so long as there are renewals available and no requests. MIT Libraries hopes that this new policy, which took effect May 15, will save patrons effort and time.
Frosh who choose Maseeh will no longer be locked in
This fall, when freshmen are exploring dorms and living groups and taking part in Residence Exploration (REX) activities, they’ll have one more dorm to consider: Maseeh. Starting this September, Maseeh Hall will join the list of dorms that participate in First Year Residence Exchange (FYRE), allowing 15 freshmen to switch in and out at the end of REX.
Addresses, phone numbers to be taken down from online directory
By the start of the fall semester, MIT students’ permanent home addresses, term phone numbers, and term addresses will no longer be displayed in the online MIT people directory.
Architecture graduate student Kaitlin Goldstein dies in India
Kaitlin R. Goldstein was an academic standout. Studying architecture and engineering, she earned a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a master’s from the University of Texas at Austin before pursuing a doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she was part of a team that twice won a White House competition on energy efficiency research.
Institute names interim math department head
MIT named Professor Tomasz S. Mrowka ’83 the interim head of the Department of Mathematics this June.
Paul Uche, recent alum, dies after leukemia battle
Paul U. Uche ’13 passed away on June 19 at the age of 23 following a two-year battle with leukemia.
MIT student set to complete solo flight around the world
Rising MIT sophomore Matthew L. Guthmiller ’17 is on his way to becoming the youngest person ever to fly solo around the world. On May 31, he took off from El Cajón, California, beginning a 26,600-mile journey that will take him to five continents and possibly secure him the world record.
State officials release causes of graduate student deaths
The deaths of graduate students Hadi Kasab and Eliana Hechter, whom MIT lost this spring, have since been ruled suicides.
New leadership style in China complicates American diplomacy
BEIJING — As Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew, joined by a large group of U.S. officials, meet with senior Chinese leaders here this week, they will face an American-Chinese relationship riven by a strategic rivalry not seen before, a situation that neither side appears in the mood to improve.
Shorts (left)
KABUL, Afghanistan — After hours of pitched political drama that sent President Barack Obama and other officials scrambling to calm a surge of Afghan factional hostility, the presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah walked a perilous line Tuesday, threatening to declare his own government even while urging his frenzied supporters to give him time to negotiate.
Tanker hijackings add to tensions in South China Sea
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Add another problem to the rising tensions in the South China Sea this year: a mysterious spate of tanker hijackings since late April, as armed bands of men have boarded and commandeered the ships, siphoned their cargos of diesel and gasoline onto barges or other tankers, and fled into the night.
Holder urges Europeans to step up anti-terrorism tactics
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Tuesday implored more European countries to adopt U.S.-style counterterrorism laws and tactics, including undercover stings to prevent potential terrorists from traveling to Syria.
Ukraine rebels are retreating for last stand
KIEV, Ukraine — Separatist rebels retreated Monday from positions in eastern Ukraine, apparently blowing up bridges, and began building barricades in the two largest cities, Donetsk and Luhansk, in anticipation of a final stand against advancing government troops.
Pleasant weekend ahead
The hot and humid weather of the last several days will continue today, with a chance of thunderstorms today. Thunderstorms are a common summertime occurrence, but it is important to take the treat of severe weather carefully. On Monday afternoon, a mesocyclone passed just north of MIT, and had a tornado warning associated with it. Although no actual tornadoes were reported, there was a confirmed microburst (with straight line winds of 90–100 mph) that caused wind damage in Bedford. Although the threat of severe weather looks to be minimal in our area the rest of the week, it is good practice to stay informed by checking the National Weather Service (weather.gov) for severe weather watches and warnings.
Obama to nominate new deputy secretary of energy
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama announced Tuesday that he is nominating Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, the National Security Council’s top nuclear proliferation and defense policy official, to be deputy secretary of energy.
Shorts (right)
JERUSALEM — The call came to the cellphone of his brother’s wife, Salah Kaware said Tuesday. Kaware lives in Khan Younis, in southeast Gaza, and the caller said that everyone in the house must leave within five minutes, because it was going to be bombed.
Sacrificing economics for politics
On June 10, David Brat, an unknown professor of economics at Randolph-Macon College in Virginia, shocked the American political establishment by defeating House majority leader Eric Cantor in the Republican primary for Virginia’s seventh Congressional district.
The USA might be there for you … depending on the circumstances
A few weeks ago, three Israeli friends and I were planning a trip to Rome, but none of them had passports. When they finally excitedly received them in the mail, we all sat down to compare. Looking at my passport, my friend, Noy, turned to me and said, “What I would do for an American passport!” At first I sarcastically suggested that she must be jealous of the pretty pictures of landscapes from around the country that U.S. passports have on each page. When I asked what she meant, she said, “It must be nice to have the United States of America behind you.”
Surprise, suspense, and disappointment at 2014 FIFA World Cup unite soccer fans worldwide
I believe the Champions League is the pinnacle of competitive soccer.
