Brace for a brief blast of cold
The Institute will get its first real dose of chilly fall weather this weekend as an Arctic air mass ushers in some of the coldest temperatures this area has seen in months. The frigid air will begin to make its intrusion after the passage of a cold front tomorrow afternoon. The frontal passage will be accompanied by a shift in the wind from southwesterly to westerly, and an increase in wind speed. After the front moves out, a mass of anomalously cold air will make its way down from Canada through New England over the course of the weekend. The result will be that by Sunday, low temperatures will be below 40°F (4°C) and the high may not even reach 50°F (10°C). The last times that low and high temperatures that cold were recorded in Boston were May 2 and June 2, respectively. By Sunday night, temperatures could even threaten to break the freezing mark for the first time since April 2. The predicted temperatures are also particularly low compared to the normal high and low of 61°F (16°C) and 46°F (8°C) for this time of year. It will likely take until Tuesday of next week to return to warmer, more seasonable temperatures.
Alumna runs for city council seat, joins slate
Mariko Davidson MCP ’13, who earned a master’s degree in city planning at MIT, is running for Cambridge City Council. Two other MIT alumni are currently up for reelection.
Dissolve 'Unconference' seeks to address inequality
The Dissolve “Un-conference” — which despite the name is hosted in collaboration with the ongoing Solve — will tackle questions of global inequality Thursday.
Clear Columbus Day weekend in store
Just over a week ago, forecast models remained uncertain about an intensifying Category 3 hurricane near the Bahamas. Luckily, Joaquin scooted harmlessly into the Atlantic and out of our weather forecast. By now the former hurricane has weakened into a non-tropical system, and it is expected to bringing gusty winds and rain to Spain.
MIT alum awarded Nobel Prize for work on DNA repair
Paul L. Modrich ’86, who earned his bachelor’s in biology from MIT, was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in chemistry on Wednesday for his work on DNA mismatch repair.
Solve conference gathers ‘change agents,’ takes on global problems
Leaders from academia and business alike gathered this week for the Solve conference, hosted by MIT to address key challenges in four fundamental areas: education, healthcare, energy, and infrastructure.
New MIT master's program will be half online, half on campus
MIT introduced a pilot program Wednesday in which professionals can receive a master’s degree in supply chain management (SCM) by taking the online equivalent of a semester’s worth of classes and following it up with a semester on campus.
MIT Connect uses algorithm to pair grad students for lunch
MIT Connect is a new initiative aimed at strengthening the sense of community among graduate students. Each week, the program pairs graduate students for one-on-one platonic lunches and provides each student with a $10 TechCash deposit they can redeem at local restaurants or on-campus dining halls.
Climate rally unfurls banner near MIT board meeting
The MIT Climate Countdown ended Oct. 2 with a rally attended by more than 100 MIT students, staff, faculty, alumni, and local community members.
Random will seek new housemaster
Nina Davis-Millis, Random Hall’s housemaster, announced Monday that she and her husband, Chris Millis, will be leaving the dorm at the end of this academic year. Davis-Millis, who has been housemaster at Random for more than two decades, is also Director of Community Support and Staff Development at MIT Libraries. In an email to the dorm, she called her experience at Random “amazing” and “transformative.”
Hurricane Joaquin developing but not likely to affect MA this weekend
Mild temperatures and a chance of rain will be the norm through the end of the weekend. It will be noticeably cooler than the beginning of the week was, with rain likely at some point over the weekend.
Two MIT affiliates named MacArthur fellows
An MIT alumnus and an MIT economics professor have been selected as 2015 MacArthur Fellows, and both will receive a no-strings-attached reward of $625,000.
More students pass chem & bio ASEs this year
During freshman orientation this year, over 39 percent of the incoming freshman class sat for Advanced Standing Exams to receive credit for a variety of classes. The overall passing rate for ASEs was 59 percent, which is slightly higher than the past two years’ average of 55 percent.
Random Hall eschews Family Weekend security policies
Random Hall will not be compelled to comply with the DSL’s dorm security policy for Family Weekend — parents will not be granted automatic access to the building.
Maker pioneers from Iraq visit MIT campus
Three Iraqi technologists who founded the first makerspace in Basra, Iraq visited MIT on Monday and Tuesday to meet with various labs and student groups as part of a tour hosted by the Media Lab and the Undergraduate Association Innovation Committee.
MIT hackers show support for Ahmed Mohamed
Four days after high school student Ahmed Mohamed was arrested for building a clock that his teachers mistook for a bomb, hackers at MIT showed their support for the 14-year-old by constructing their own digital clock display and hanging it over a banister in Lobby 7 last Friday.