Strandbeests walk MA beach, Media Lab demo is upcoming
Theo Jansen’s wind-powered strandbeests (Dutch for “beach animals”) roamed the beach in Ipswitch last Saturday, Aug. 22. It was their first stop on a tour that will take them through Boston, to MIT, and that will culminate in an exhibition of the artist’s work at the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM).
Educators discover new ways that students cheat on MOOCs
While the proliferation of massive open online courses (MOOCs) has expanded learning opportunities for individuals around the world, the digital classroom is also subject to many of the same issues as the traditional one, such as cheating.
Metro storage set to make way for dorm
The Metropolitan Moving & Storage Warehouse, located on the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Vassar Street, will be closing after around 120 years of business. The Institute did not renew the moving company’s lease because it plans to renovate the building as part of the MIT 2030 capital projects.
Man fatally shot in car on Main Street
A male passenger was shot in a black sedan near Central Square around 8:41 p.m. on August 12. He was later found near the Kendall MBTA Station and pronounced dead at a local hospital, Cambridge police said.
Break-in at Senior House
An as-yet unidentified suspect broke into Senior House around midnight the morning of August 3, according to a campus-wide email.
Cooler weather follows strong storm
A period of cooler temperatures is poised to begin after a severe thunderstorm passed on Tuesday afternoon. The storm, which arrived shortly after 4 p.m. on Tuesday, brought heavy downpours, strong winds, and a barrage of hailstones to MIT’s campus. At Boston’s Logan airport, the storm brought nearly half an inch of rainfall in less than an hour, with recorded wind gusts of up to 51 miles per hour (82 km/h). Golf ball-sized hail was reported in Harvard Square, while hailstones 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter were observed in nearby Jamaica Plain. The storm capped off an especially severe weather day in Massachusetts, in which supercell thunderstorms resulted in multiple tornado warnings being issued by the National Weather Service.
3 of New House’s 6 houses will remain closed next semester
Up to 140 MIT students will be given the option of moving into the Cambridge Hyatt Regency hotel for the fall semester, following a sprinkler pipe burst in New House.
‘FSILG village’ plan gets tepid response
Fraternities, sororities, and independent living groups affiliated with MIT are spread over a much larger region of Boston and Cambridge than the campus alone, but a proposal to move multiple FSILGs onto campus may shrink their range considerably.
Kendall Square Initiative advances with permit applications filed
MIT has taken another step in its six to 10 year plan for the development of the East Campus and Kendall Square area, recently filing its Project Review and Planned Unit Development special permit applications with the Cambridge Planning Board.
CORRECTIONS
A news article published July 9 misstated the name of an MIT department. It is the department of Music and Theater Arts, not the Music department.
Belcher receives teaching award for work with TEAL
John W. Belcher has been awarded the 2015 Hans Christian Oersted Medal of the American Association of Physics Teachers, in recognition of his “tireless work with TEAL (Technology Enabled Active Learning) and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).”
Forbes Café in Stata will reopen in time for fall semester after remodel
The popular Forbes Family Café located in the Ray and Maria Stata Center is slated to reopen the first week of September after renovations are complete, according to site superintendent Chris Luongo.
Fall housing to debut gender-inclusive opt-in
Beginning this fall, all undergraduate and graduate dormitories will offer gender-inclusive housing.
Prof. Mujid Kazimi dies at 67
Mujid S. Kazimi, the TEPCO Professor of Nuclear Engineering and one of the world’s foremost educators and researchers in nuclear technology, died suddenly on Wednesday in China.
Nobles named dean of SHASS
Melissa Nobles is the new dean of MIT’s School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS), effective July 1.