4 MacVicar recipients
Last Friday, four MIT professors were announced as this year’s MacVicar Fellows; William Broadhead, Class of 1954 career development associate professor of history; Leslie P. Kaelbling, Panasonic professor of computer science and engineering; David Kaiser, Germeshausen professor of the history of science; and Nancy L. Rose, Charles P. Kindleberger professor of applied economics. The MacVicar Fellowship recognizes MIT professors for outstanding contributions to undergraduate education. These professors will hold their fellowships for a 10-year term, during which they will receive $10,000 annually for educational activities and other scholarly expenses.
Alcator C-Mod’s funding might be cut
Alcator C-Mod — MIT’s tokamak, a toroidal plasma confinement fusion device — is currently facing the possibility of getting all of its federal funding cut.
Kendall Biogen back
Joining the growing biotechnology industry presence in Cambridge, in 2013 Biogen Idec, the third largest biotechnology company in the world, will move its executive office from its location in Weston, Mass. to Kendall Square. The move reverses the company’s relocation two years ago, when Biogen Idec’s headquarters (including sales and marketing) moved from Cambridge to Weston, leaving its Research and Development (R&D) division in Cambridge.
Course 11 professor passes away at 68
Alice H. Amsden, an expert in economic development who served as the Barton L. Weller Professor of Political Economy in MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning, died suddenly on March 15 at her home in Cambridge. She was 68.
Forum discusses USPS future
USPS Inspector General David C. Williams came to MIT last Thursday to discuss the future of the United States Postal Service as part of MIT’s Communication Forum. The talk touched upon important issues that the Postal Service must face in order to survive the current economic climate.
Google expansion approved
Cambridge City Council voted Monday night to approve a plan for Google Inc. to increase its Kendall Square office in an expansion that would halve a public rooftop garden.
Agarwal is leaving CSAIL to direct MITx
Anant Agarwal, director of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), announced yesterday that he would step down from his role as director to fully devote himself to the Open Learning Enterprise (working title), which runs theMITx initiative. Since its announcement last December, MITx has caught the eye of MIT faculty, the world of higher education, and 120,000 people who signed up for the pilot course, 6.002x.
Presidential search team holds student forums
The Graduate Student Council/Undergraduate Association student advisory group to the Presidential Search Committee have initiated a series of public forums with the intent of getting student input on the search for MIT’s next president. The first of these forums was held on Tuesday evening in Ashdown House’s Hulsizer Room.
Fire leaves Back Bay ashen, powerless
The Boston skyline went dark Tuesday evening after a major transformer failure in Boston’s Back Bay, causing a three-alarm fire that destroyed the parking garage of the Back Bay Hilton and left over 21,000 people without power. The outage left large swaths of Boston dark; from Kenmore and the CITGO sign all the way to the Public Gardens. MIT fraternities, sororities, and independent living groups (FSILGs) lost power from Tuesday night until late Wednesday or Thursday evening. As of press time, NStar, the power company, reports that most of Boston has had power restored though the lights; the Prudential Center was the last skyscraper to regain power at 11 p.m. All living groups have had their power restored except Sigma Nu and Fenway House.
1,620 students admitted to Class of 2016
On Pi Day at Tau Time (March 14 at 6:28 p.m.), MIT granted admission to 1,620 eager applicants. This year’s acceptance rate of 8.9 percent was a record low, with a record high of 18,109 applications overall. 6,008 of these applications were early action, a decrease from last year, and 680 of these students were accepted early. Last year, a total of 1,742 students were admitted. Dean of Admissions Stuart Schmill ’86 said that one of the factors that may have affected this year’s high application pool and decrease in early applications was the fact that Harvard and Princeton reopened their single-choice early action programs. This meant that students could only apply early to one school of their choice, resulting in fewer early action applications to MIT and more regular action applicants.
MIT tops US News and World Report rankings once again
It doesn’t come as a surprise that U.S. News and World Report has once again ranked MIT as the overall best graduate engineering school in the country. MIT has held this title since 1990, the year U.S. News began ranking engineering programs. Notably, the following engineering departments — chemical, materials, computer, and electrical (the latter two tied with Stanford University) — were given first-place ratings. Other specialties with a top-five rank were aeronautics and astronautics (No. 2), mechanical (No. 2), nuclear (No. 2), and biological (No. 5).
State drops charges against Swartz; federal charges remain
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has dropped all six charges against Aaron H. Swartz, the computer activist who allegedly downloaded millions of academic journal archives from JSTOR via a laptop housed in network closet in MIT’s Building 16 running “keepgrabbing.py.”
RecycleMania starts
The UA wants all students to become RecycleManiacs! For the next two weeks, the UA Committee on Sustainability will be promoting a competition between dorms to see which can recycle the most. The competition will run March 12–23, and progress will be measured from information provided by Facilities on how material is recycled in the dorms.
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: Veritas Forum inspires discourse
Over 500 attendees congregated in Kresge Auditorium last Friday at 6 p.m. to ponder a single question: “Will Technology Save the World?”
Additional search advisory group members named
With the Presidential Search Committee announced last Thursday, the Graduate Student Council (GSC) and the Undergraduate Association (UA) have formed a joint task force of undergraduate and graduate students (see below), six of which are part of the task force’s Executive Team. The group is responsible for gathering student input and advising the Presidential Search Committee as the MIT Corporation selects the next MIT President.
US officials debate speeding up Afghan withdrawal
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is discussing whether to reduce U.S. forces in Afghanistan by at least an additional 20,000 troops, possibly more, by 2013, reflecting a growing belief within the White House that the mission there has reached the point of diminishing returns.
New fraternity establishes MIT interest group
A new fraternity may be coming to MIT. Alpha Sigma Phi, or “Alpha Sig,” the nation’s 10th oldest fraternity, has been trying to stake its claim as a colony among MIT’s current 24 existing chapters. Currently, it is attempting to recruit “founding fathers.”