4.0 quake takes New England by surprise
A 4.0-magnitude earthquake shook southern Maine at approximately 7:12 p.m. on Tuesday, resulting in a shockwave felt all across New England. The quake, which was downgraded from its initial estimated magnitude of 4.6, caused no apparent injuries or property damage. Cambridge residents reported experiencing weak shaking.
Buddhism and meditation
On Tuesday, the Dalai Lama spoke about Buddhism in the modern world. In his talk titled “Stages of Meditation: Buddhism for the 21st Century,” His Holiness explained the basic principles of Buddhism and called for respect for all beliefs.
Woman reports sexual assault at MIT
A woman reported to police yesterday that she had been sexually assaulted on the MIT campus on Oct. 14. The call was reported to other police before reaching campus police, but the incident is currently under investigation by the MIT Police.
Graduate student Allison Tovo-Dwyer passes away
Third-year Department of Chemistry graduate student Allison Tovo-Dwyer passed away last Thursday, after a yearlong battle with cancer. She was 25 years old.
EdX announces partnership with Cengage
On Wednesday edX announced a new collaboration with Cengage Learning, a large Connecticut-based provider of educational content and software. The company will both supply content to edX and work with edX to improve pedagogy.
The Dalai Lama arrives
Tenzin Gyasto, the Dalai Lama and foremost figure in Tibetan Buddhism, recently concluded a visit to MIT, home to the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values. The Center organized several events this week with the Dalai Lama and other prominent spiritual and academic figures.
High points of the 2030 report
1. The affected real estate represents “an extremely precious resource.”
More than just people on ballot
Even though Massachusetts will mostly likely vote Democrat in the upcoming presidential election, there are three statewide ballot questions that could change current laws and affect MIT students.
Delayed CityDays sees lower turnout
While previously a community service event involving only freshmen and some upperclassmen leaders during Orientation week, this year’s CityDays was publicized as a service opportunity for the entire undergraduate and graduate community and took place on Oct. 9, the Tuesday of the long Columbus Day weekend.
Entire UT System to join edX
The University of Texas system — nine universities, six health centers, 212,000 students and 19,000 faculty — announced yesterday it would join edX, the MIT-pioneered online learning platform and university consortium. The move sextuples the number of institutions involved with edX, from three to eighteen, and bolsters MIT’s efforts to make online technology a staple of university education.
Boston-area economics Nobel
Two Americans, Alvin E. Roth and Lloyd Shapley, were awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science on Monday for their work on market design and matching theory, which relate to how people and companies find and select one another in everything from marriage to school choice to jobs to organ donations.
Fisher v. UT affirmative action case oral arguments heard
Last Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard the oral arguments from both sides of Fisher v. University of Texas, the affirmative action case for which MIT and 13 other universities, including the eight Ivy League schools, filed an amicus curiae brief defending the right of a university to consider the race of an applicant, among other factors, in its admissions process.
Demolition begins at 219 Vassar
The demolition of the building at 219 Vassar St. began yesterday and is set to conclude by Nov. 15. The site will house the new TCC (Technology Children’s Center) Vassar daycare, which is slated to open by next August.
Upcoming Dalai Lama visit thrills City of Medford
MEDFORD — It is an ordinary working-class neighborhood: clapboard houses, chain-link fences. There is a statue of the Virgin Mary in one front yard; in another, a Halloween ghost waves in the wind.
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: Higgs Boson, explained
Last spring, news of the discovery of proof of the Higgs Boson particle swept MIT’s campus, prompting discussion in classrooms, on social networks and email lists, and in casual conversations among students. During this news blitz, the recurring question on my mind was, what exactly is the Higgs Boson? Since I have no theoretical physics knowledge, I didn’t understand the significance of it at all.
Endowment at $10 bil
In the past few months, several of the richest universities in the U.S. have announced their endowment performances for the 12 months ending on June 30. MIT’s endowment grew to $10.1 billion, the highest value achieved in its history. MIT’s primary investment pool, produced a return of 8 percent, topping returns at other schools, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford, the four private universities with deeper pockets than MIT.
Two dead bodies found in the Charles
Two dead bodies were found in the Charles River this week. On Monday, the unidentified body of a 62-year-old man was found near the Boston University Boathouse. On Tuesday, police identified through dental records the body of 23-year-old Jonathan Dailey, a second-year graduate student at Boston Architectural College. He was discovered at the bottom of the river, chained to a cinder block. Dailey had been missing since Oct. 2 and was taking a semester off from graduate school.