MIT to mark first anniversary of Collier’s death
CAMBRIDGE — A year after MIT police Officer Sean Collier was gunned down on campus, the university is finishing plans for a permanent memorial to honor him. A professor still bakes cookies every month for the university police. And a team, dubbed MIT Strong, is training to run the Boston Marathon in his memory.
New GSC executives to take office in May
The Graduate Student Council elected a new set of executive officers last Wednesday, including President-elect John Kendall Nowocin G. They will assume office in May.
New deadline and procedure for CI-H/CI-HW Subjects
On Wednesday, Dennis Freeman PhD ’86, the Dean for Undergraduate Education, announced in an email to the undergraduate community that a new process for enrolling in Communication Intensive HASS (CI-H/HW) subjects has been established. This new enrollment tool will replace the HASS-D Lottery as a means for selecting CI-H/HW subjects.
Taxi riders don’t fear cold: data
For years, Boston’s Department of Transportation has collected GPS data on every taxi pickup and drop-off throughout the city. It is an astonishing accumulation of raw numbers on how Bostonians get around, ripe with opportunity for analysis.
Late-night T service starts strong
The MBTA’s extended late night hours of service, which began March 28, mean that the T and certain bus routes will now run for nearly 90 minutes longer on Friday and Saturday nights. The final trains from downtown stations will leave at about 2:30 a.m. during extended hours, according to the MBTA’s website.
CORRECTIONS
A quote in an April 4 article about MIT’s performance in the Putnam Mathematical Competition incorrectly attributed a quote about the exam to Travis Hance. The quote was actually from Tianyou Zhou.
Chemical engineering professor appointed associate provost
Karen K. Gleason ’82, a chemical engineering professor, began her appointment as associate provost last Monday.
Harvard College sophomore dies after falling from building
Andrew Sun, a Harvard College sophomore, died 4 a.m. Monday at Massachusetts General Hospital after falling from a building in downtown Boston the day before, The Crimson reported in an online article that morning.
CORRECTIONS
To clarify a Tuesday, April 1 article about the election of the Sharma/Ndengeyingoma ticket to the UA presidency/vice presidency, while Sharma was quoted saying she wanted to re-establish presidential summits in the style of former P/VP Craighead/Walsh, current UA president Sidhanth Rao said in an email to The Tech that similar summits did occur this semester, but did not occur during the Fall 2013 semester.
MIT team wins first in Putnam math contest
MIT took first place in the 2013 William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition this year, only the seventh time the Institute has claimed the top prize of $25,000 since the founding of the competition almost a century ago. This year’s team was composed of Benjamin P. Gunby ’15, Mitchell M. Lee ’16, and Zipei Nie ’15, all of whom placed in the top 25. The team members were designated before the competition from among a larger group of MIT students taking the test.
How Kendall Square became a biotech hub
In the 1970s, if you stood at the corner of Main and Vassar streets and looked out from the edge of the MIT campus, you would see nothing but a vacant lot. Kendall Square had been vacated by the decline of manufacturing and by businesses escaping to the suburbs, leaving only a few scattered outposts, such as Draper Laboratories and the Department of Transportation’s Volpe Center.
NEWS BRIEFS
In an effort to raise capital to fund academic projects, campus development, and research, MIT sold $550 million in Series B Taxable Revenue Bonds, according to MIT News.
Sharma and Ndengeyingoma win election for UA presidency
On March 21, after weeks of campaigns from three tickets, Shruti Sharma ’15 and Billy Ndengeyingoma ’15 emerged as the winners of this year’s Undergraduate Association elections for president and vice president. In preparation for their upcoming administration, Sharma and Ndengeyingoma have described three overarching themes for their tenure on their campaign website: the MIT educational experience, communication and visibility, and the residential campus of the 21st century.
Group urges checks on online learning at MIT
Concerned about the pace of change brought about by online learning, an Institute subcommittee is now preparing to recommend a “face-time” degree requirement, strong oversight of on-campus MITx experiments, and a “conservative initial approach” to awarding credit for edX classes.
High court weighs patents on software
In a case with the potential to reshape the software industry, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday seemed poised to issue fresh limits on patents for computer-based business methods.