Eastgate evacuated due to penthouse stove fire
Residents in MIT’s Eastgate graduate dorm were forced to evacuate their building on Saturday when a stovetop fire broke out at 1:35 p.m. in the penthouse kitchen on the 29th floor, which is open to all residents. Residents were transported by bus to Sidney-Pacific, where food, childcare, and air conditioning (the temperature was over 92 degrees Saturday afternoon) was available. Most residents were allowed back into the building at 8:30 p.m. (around seven hours after the fire), but MIT had to put up a few residents in the Hyatt overnight. Since this event occurred the week before graduation and summer classes begin on Monday, some residents had moved in just days before the fire.
Viewing Centers
A live stream of the Commencement exercises will be broadcast to the following classrooms. Each number represents a specific room on campus; the number before the hyphen is the building number, the numeral immediately after is the floor number, and the remaining numerals are the classroom number.
One year, 27 schools, 1 million enrollments
It’s been a little more than a year since edX, the nonprofit online learning enterprise founded by MIT and Harvard, first launched with much fanfare and a lot of press. Now, the enterprise encompasses 27 schools from 11 countries. In the past two weeks alone, edX has added more than half of those schools. At the same time, edX has completely overhauled its website design with the intentions of making it more colorful, sleek, and ultimately more appealing to the world. Finally, last Saturday, edX released its entire source code with the hopes of making the learning platform an open source project to which the community can contribute.
Swartz evidence to be released
The 88-day process to make evidence in the Swartz trial public has begun. The government, Aaron Swartz’s lawyers, MIT, and JSTOR submitted a plan last Friday to release certain documents, but identifying information about MIT employees will be scrubbed, among other redactions. The plan was endorsed on Monday by U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton.
MIT president’s compensation up 19 percent from 2010 to 2011
MIT has released the salaries of its highest compensated employees for the calendar year 2011, which are required to be publicly disclosed as part of its tax returns for the fiscal year 2012 (July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012). During her last full year as president, Susan Hockfield was MIT’s highest compensated employee, receiving $1,199,877 in total benefits. This year is only the second time that a MIT president received total compensation exceeding one million dollars, with Hockfield receiving over a million in 2010.
David Cameron stops at Media Lab on US tour British PM speaks with researchers, meets with students to discuss entrepreneurship
Last month, British Prime Minister David Cameron paid a visit to the MIT Media Lab as a part of his weeklong tour of the U.S. to promote the United Kingdom with Prince Harry. Cameron was welcomed by Media Lab director Joichi Ito and MIT president L. Rafael Reif. Policemen stood guard outside the Media Lab throughout Cameron’s visit, with at least one sniper on the roof of Senior House.
MIT visiting scientist died in traffic accident
Kanako Miura, 36, died on May 19 around 3:30 p.m. after being struck by a truck while biking through Kenmore Square. Miura was a visiting scientist in Professor Russ Tedrake’s Robot Locomotion Group in CSAIL.
Accord for a global trove of genetic data
Seventy medical, research and advocacy organizations active in 41 countries and including the National Institutes of Health announced Wednesday that they have agreed to create an organized way to share genetic and clinical information. Their aim is to put the vast and growing trove of data on genetic variations and health into databases — with the consent of the study subjects —that would be open to researchers and doctors all over the world, not just to those who created them.
Drew Houston speaks at 147th Commencement
Over 2,600 students will graduate from MIT today, receiving over 3,300 degrees. Killian Court is expected to be filled with over 13,000 guests at the Institute’s 147th Commencement.
Department Receptions
Receptions take place immediately after the ceremony unless otherwise noted.
Letters for Swartz
This is an update for the MIT community about the analysis President Reif asked me to lead last January on the events concerning MIT and Aaron Swartz. I’m preparing a report together with Institute Professor Emeritus Peter Diamond and Washington, DC attorney Andrew Grosso. We’re being supported by Assistant Provost Doug Pfeiffer. The four of us have been working hard. Given the visibility of the Aaron Swartz case and the controversies surrounding it, it’s important to get the report right and to take the necessary time and effort to do that. My plan is to give my report to President Reif this summer.
Swartz judge sides with MIT on release of case evidence
U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton ordered yesterday that some confidentiality restrictions be removed from evidence MIT had produced for the case against Aaron Swartz, which was dropped after his suicide in January. This is the first order since Swartz’s lawyers’ motion on March 15, which would have made information collected for the trial public. The judge agreed with MIT’s and JSTOR’s March 29 responses, asking that information including the names of employees be redacted.
International students will experience new inspections
Last Wednesday, international students received an email from Danielle Guichard-Ashbrook, director and associate dean of the International Students Office, warning them to be prepared for a new and potentially time-consuming border inspection process when re-entering the U.S. Guichard-Ashbrook stated that the new inspection process is a “direct response” to the Boston Marathon bombings.
IN SHORT
The percentage of admitted freshman choosing to enroll at MIT will be about 72 to 73 percent. Mikey Yang ’05, Associate Director of Admissions, posted the news in a blog post on Monday. This is the highest ever yield for MIT, preceded by 70, 65, and 64 percent in the three previous years, respectively. Twenty transfers were also accepted. No students will be accepted from the wait list. This is only the second time in the past eight years that MIT has not been able to accept students from its wait list. Yang said that they had planned to accept from the wait list before seeing enrollment results.
Residents of Bexley considering housing
Last Tuesday, Dean for Student Life Chris Colombo announced that Bexley Hall would be closed for up to three years for renovations, displacing all residents at the end of this semester. On Friday, the Bexley community collectively voiced their concerns and wishes in a letter addressed to Chancellor Eric Grimson PhD ’80 and Dean Colombo, signed by over 70 students and GRTs. Grimson and Colombo responded to the letter yesterday afternoon. In the meantime, Bexley residents were given the option of entering a housing lottery, which closed yesterday at 5 p.m., if they wanted to remain in on-campus housing next year.
Bomb suspect talked of jihad
KIZLYAR, Russia — It’s not every day that a well-dressed American shows up in this town, where shaggy cows meander over deeply rutted roads, so people remember Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Among the things that made the young visitor stand out, two acquaintances recalled Thursday, was his avid interest in waging jihad.
Plans for mixed-use development at intersection of Mass Ave. and Main St.
Following Normandy Real Estate Partners and Twining Properties’ purchase of properties formally owned by Kathy Fennell and the Fennell Property Trust in January, plans for the area at the intersection of Mass Ave. and Main St. will have a general focus on mixed-use development but remain unspecific. A joint venture between Normandy Real Estate Partners and Twining Properties bought the parcels, including several parking lots and the former Quest Diagnostics building, for a reported $32.4 million. According to Cambridge City Councilor Kenneth Reeves, the Fennel properties constitute “the largest number of parcels to be sold in Central Square in a long time.”
Tsarnaev buried
BOSTON — The mystery surrounding the burial of the body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev has come to an end. The Boston Marathon bombing suspect was buried this week at a small Muslim cemetery in Doswell, Va.
Bexley Hall closing due to structural problems
Bexley Hall, home to 116 undergraduates, will be closed for renovations for up to three years beginning this summer, Dean for Student Life Chris Colombo announced at a meeting with residents on Tuesday.