REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: Study on urinating dogs wins prize at Ig Nobel ceremony
Six Nobel laureates convened at Harvard’s Sanders Theatre last Thursday for the 2014 Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, presenting ten awards to fellow scientists being recognized for strange research.
Baker, Simmons, Maseeh are freshmen’s top choices
Baker, Simmons, and Maseeh once again topped the residence preferences in this summer’s freshmen housing lottery. MacGregor, on the other hand, saw its lowest numbers in four years, while Next demonstrated a surge in interest during the same period, according to data provided by MIT Residential Life and Dining. This year also marked the first time that Maseeh participated in the First Year Residence Exchange (FYRE), in which students have the option to switch dorms during their first week at MIT.
Wearable ‘Mighty Mom’ takes first prize at breast pump hackathon
The “Make the Breast Pump Not Suck” Hackathon this past weekend drew over a hundred parents, engineers, designers, and healthcare specialists to campus. The organizers, MIT Media Lab students and researchers, were inspired by problems posed by current breast pumps, which they say are uncomfortable, inefficient, and costly.
Biology crowding is alleviated by lottery, additional offerings
Two years after their introduction, the revised introductory biology classes and lottery system associated with the classes were marked as a success by MIT’s biology department administrators.
Catherine ‘Kay’ Stratton, wife of MIT president, dies
Catherine N. “Kay” Stratton — the wife of former MIT President Julius A. Stratton, and for decades a great friend of the arts at MIT — died Sept. 10 at her beloved farm in South Newfane, Vt. She was 100 years old.
Locals in Ireland anticipate first visit from Walsh as Boston mayor
In honor of the homecoming, the family house in Rosmuc, an Irish-speaking village of 500 in the craggy, desolate hills of Connemara, got a new coat of paint. A nearby church planned a special Mass for the return of a man described as “Connemara’s Kennedy.”
EdX launches new high school initiative
In a new initiative for edX, last Tuesday, the online platform spearheaded by MIT and Harvard launched 26 new courses aimed at high school students, according to The Boston Globe.
IN SHORT
Meal plan change period ends tomorrow. It will not be possible to add, remove, or swap meal plans after Sept. 17.Career week continues until the end of this week. Career fair will take place Friday, Sept. 19 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Johnson Athletic Center and Rockwell Cage. (See the schedule of other events on page 13.)
CORRECTIONS
An article published in the Friday, Sept. 9 issue of The Tech erroneously stated that Matthew C. Ellis of the MIT Lincoln Laboratory was a member of the 2014 Nuclear Engineering Student Delegation, citing the MIT News Office. The article should have referred to Matthew S. Ellis of the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, as is reflected in an updated version of the News Office article.
After 19% investment return, endowment climbs to $12.4 billion
MIT’s primary investment pool generated a return of 19.2 percent in the 2014 fiscal year, during which the Institute’s endowment rose to $12.4 billion, the MIT Investment Management Company announced last Friday.
With ‘eduroam,’ MIT offers remote access to MITnet
MIT recently joined the network-access service eduroam and began broadcasting the “eduroam” SSID on Aug. 19, adding to the more familiar “MIT,” “MIT GUEST,” and “MIT SECURE,” according to a news article on MIT IS&T’s website.
Lawyers spar over jury in Tsarnaev case
Lawyers representing Dzhokar Tsarnaev, on trial for allegedly detonating two bombs at the 2013 Boston Marathon and later killing MIT Police officer Sean Collier, called for charges against him to be dismissed on the grounds that grand and trial juries in Massachusetts do not fairly represent the population, violating a constitutional requirement.
Privacy concerns arise over tech in classrooms
At a New York state elementary school, teachers can use a behavior-monitoring app to compile information on which children have positive attitudes and which act out. In Georgia, some high school cafeterias are using a biometric identification system to let students pay for lunch by scanning the palms of their hands at the checkout line. And across the country, school sports teams are using social media sites for athletes to exchange contact information and game locations.
CORRECTIONS
An article about MIT’s BitComp in the Tuesday, Sept. 9 issue of The Tech mistakenly said Nelson Liu was an MIT senior. He is in fact a current high-school senior.
MIT campus upgrades wireless network
Just in time for the beginning of the new school year, MIT upgraded its wireless network to include a new Distributed Antenna System (DAS) as part of a push to strengthen wireless coverage on campus, according to a press release by AT&T.
Profs Danheiser and Poonen awarded School of Science Teaching Prizes
The MIT School of Science recently awarded its annual Teaching Prizes for Graduate and Undergraduate Education to two faculty members. The honor is for excellence in the classroom.
Plans for academic entity move forward
Provost Martin A. Schmidt PhD ’88 announced last week plans to move forward to create a new institutional entity at MIT. The entity will incorporate values from several programs, including the Engineering Systems Division (ESD) and Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS), to create a new center focused on complex and socio-technical systems, information and decision systems, and statistics.
Faneuil Hall under major renovations
The operator of Faneuil Hall Marketplace, one of Boston’s most visited yet dated landmarks, is proposing a dramatic overhaul of the historic property that would create a new boutique hotel and shake up a shopping experience that has changed little since the 1970s.
Students discuss their concerns with nuclear energy industry leaders and policy-makers
The 2014 Nuclear Engineering Student Delegation (NESD), a 17-member body including MIT graduate students Daniel J. Curtis and Jake M. Jurewicz from the department of nuclear science and engineering and Matthew C. Ellis of the MIT Lincoln Laboratory, met last Thursday with various nuclear energy leaders and industry representatives. They also met with executive and legislative offices, according to the MIT News Office.