Semester kicks off with heat wave
The “fall” semester has officially begun at the Institute, but the weather has remained decidedly summer-like. Unusually hot weather has gripped the Boston area this week, as the last three days have been the top three warmest days of the year to date. In fact, Tuesday’s high temperature of 96°F (36°C) and Wednesday’s high of 93°F (34°C) were each all-time records for their respective days.
MIT professors and US Rep. Kennedy talk STEM education
MIT faculty and U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III met at the Media Lab on Sept. 3 for an event that highlighted technology’s potential to improve the quality of and access to STEM education. Called “Scaling STEM,” the event featured opening remarks by MIT President L. Rafael Reif, followed by presentations from Kennedy, Dean of Digital Learning Sanjay E. Sarma, and four professors from MIT.
MIT, BU will offer legal advice for free to student founders
MIT student entrepreneurs will soon be able to get independent legal advice from two law clinics opening on campus.
Toyota invests $50 million for car AI research at MIT, Stanford
To advance computer-assisted driving technology, Toyota is committing $50 million toward research at MIT and Stanford, the company announced last Friday.
Effectiveness of student wiki tested in GIRs
Crosslinks, a student resource “authored by MIT student for MIT students,” is running an experiment within GIR classes to find out how students interact with online material to achieve learning goals.
CORRECTIONS
The Daily Confusion: 2015 FSILG Edition, published last Thursday, has been updated online to include events from several independent living groups that were omitted in error. Note: The Daily Confusion only includes events submitted to The Tech and is not a comprehensive guide to rush and recruitment. The Interfraternity Council provides a more complete rush schedule.
DSL grant bails out UA, allows student group spending to rise
The Division of Student Life has granted $70,000 to the Undergraduate Association in response to the UA’s recent budget crisis. With these funds, and the implementation of new policies, the UA is on its way to recovering from last year’s budgeting errors that left the organization more than $50,000 in debt.
MindHandHeart expected to improve access to resources
In a letter sent to the MIT community Tuesday, Chancellor Cynthia Barnhart PhD ’88 and MIT Medical Director William Kettyle released a set of planned changes aimed at bolstering the Institute’s mental health resources. These changes come as a response to the results of the Healthy Minds Study, a mental health survey that was sent to all MIT undergraduate and graduate students last spring.
Rare hurricane hits Cape Verde
Although Tropical Storm Erika dissipated before coming close to the United States mainland, the Atlantic hurricane basin is not entirely quiet. Earlier this week, Hurricane Fred became the first known tropical cyclone to strike the Cape Verde Islands while at hurricane strength in over 100 years. Fred passed through the group of islands in the eastern Atlantic on Monday with sustained winds of 75 mph (120 km/h)—strong enough to be considered a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale. Thus, Fred became the first known hurricane to impact Cape Verde since 1892.
DormCon organizes student-led training for Allied Barton workers
Students were invited to apply to lead trainings for dorm security workers, the first of which is set to take place this afternoon. The trainings, which will focus on “MIT culture and undergraduate needs” are expected to “alleviate past tension with Allied Barton and … build a better relationship between our student body and the security staff,” Kyle S. Saleeby ’17, Dormcon Housing Co-Chair, wrote in an email sent to dorm leaders.
CORRECTIONS
An article about the closing of the Metropolitan Storage Warehouse printed in last week’s issue of The Tech said that customers were to remove belongings from the building by Oct. 30; in fact, the majority of customers were not affected by the closing and do not need to move their belongings by that date.
New sorority opens on campus
This semester, Delta Phi Epsilon will open a new chapter at MIT and become the seventh sorority on campus. Its recruitment will begin after MIT’s existing six sororities hold their bid nights.
Nu Delta fraternity receives IFC sanctions
MIT fraternity Nu Delta faces two sanctions by the Interfraternity Council (IFC) after hosting an unregistered event last Friday that violated Pre-Orientation rules.
The Daily Confusion: 2015 FSILG Edition
CORRECTION TO THIS ARTICLE: The Daily Confusion: 2015 FSILG Edition does not represent a comprehensive list of events hosted by every FSILG. Every FSILG was allowed to submit up to ten events by our publication deadline. FSILGs that did not meet our deadline were not included. The official and complete guide, provided by the IFC, is linked in the sidebar. The article has also been updated to include several omitted events from ILGs, which were received before the publication deadline.
Tropical Storm Erika threatens U.S.
Tropical Storm Erika is currently impacting the Antillean islands, and it could become the first tropical cyclone to strike the continental United States this year. Erika became the fifth named storm of the 2015 Atlantic hurricane season on Tuesday, just a few days after Hurricane Danny became the first storm of the year to attain hurricane strength. After passing near Puerto Rico later today, Erika is expected to track to the north of Hispañola and Cuba in the coming days. By the weekend, the storm could be strengthening as it encounters warm waters in the vicinity of the Bahamas. While it is very hard to predict the motion — and especially the intensity — of a tropical cyclone several days in advance, there is a distinct possibility that Erika could impact the southeastern U.S. coast by the beginning of next week.
Suspect charged with murder after shooting
On Monday, Roosselin Altidor of Medford was arraigned on a charge of murder for the Aug. 12 shooting of 31-year-old Rasaun Nichols near MIT’s campus.
MITx grants to fund digital learning projects
Eight projects have received MITx grants from the Office of Digital Learning to produce content and tools that will be hosted on MITx for the benefit of MIT students and others around the world. The purpose of the grant program is to encourage professors to use the technology in new ways, according to the MIT News Office.
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).