Police Log
Jun 21 Bldg. 44 (51 Vassar St.) 10:30 a.m., Past larceny of a Macbook from locked office. Dispatched sector 3 for report.
Watson puts MIT, Harvard to shame
Yesterday was a bad day for MIT at The IBM Watson Challenge held at Harvard’s Burden Auditorium. Teams of students from the MIT Sloan School of Business and Harvard Business School competed against Watson, IBM’s champion Jeopardy! robot. Representing MIT were Sloan students Ari M. Oxman G, Raymond J. Andrews G, and Gautham V. Iyer G. Harvard Business School was represented by Genevieve Sheehan, Jonas P. Akins, and Jayanth Iyengar. Watson emerged victorious, with a final score of $53,601, trailed by Harvard with $42,399, and MIT with $100.
Watson: Cambridge Challenge accepted
Watson, IBM’s champion Jeopardy! computer, is making its way to Cambridge to compete in a trivia match with students from the MIT Sloan School of Management and Harvard Business School. The competition, dubbed the “IBM Watson Challenge,” will be held at the Harvard Business School’s Burden Auditorium on Monday, Oct. 31. The challenge will be preceded by “The Race Against the Machine: The Future of Tech” Symposium at the MIT Media Lab, which will include a number of talks about Watson’s creation and the future of the technology. Following the symposium, buses will depart from the Media Lab at 2:15 p.m. for those interested in attending the trivia competition at Harvard.
For Romney, Bay State no longer a punch line
WASHINGTON - During his first presidential campaign, Mitt Romney often turned his home state into the butt of jokes, portraying himself as a lone culture warrior in a bastion of gay-marriage activists, scientists experimenting with human embryos, and reckless liberals who had given rise to blighted neighborhoods ruined by poverty.
Baker student robbed
A possibly armed robber stole a laptop from a student on the fifth floor of Baker House yesterday evening at 5 p.m. The student was approached from behind and felt something stuck in his back. The assailant demanded the student’s laptop, acquired it, and then fled the scene. Though no weapon was clearly identified, the victim saw the suspect with “something shiny” as he fled, according to a police bulletin. The suspect was described as a tall black male wearing a dark raincoat and carrying a black backpack. He has not been apprehended, and nobody was injured in the incident.
MacGregor freshman found dead
Satto Tonegawa ’15 was found dead in his MacGregor dormitory room Tuesday evening.
Prototype for $1K house has final price tag of $6K
What can you build for $1,000? Last summer, Professor Yung Ho Chang in the Department of Architecture and Ying chee Chui ’11 — then a graduate student in the department — designed and built a house in Sichuan, China using local materials for that much.
Fifth week flags issued to frosh
Fifth week flags, the annual warnings from instructors that a student is failing or in danger of failing a class, were sent out over a 10-day period beginning Oct. 12. 249 flags were given this year to 215 students, roughly 19 percent of the freshman class — about the average proportion of students flagged every year. Thirty-one students were given two flags, and two students were given three flags.
UCSF trial offers new hope for melanoma patients
Shannon Jimerson, an advanced-stage melanoma patient being treated at UCSF, did a little dance this week while still sitting on the exam table after she got the news she desperately wanted to hear.
MIT has a new EVPT
Israel Ruiz SM ’01 was appointed as executive vice president and treasurer (EVPT) by the MIT Corporation on Oct. 14, a position held for five years by Theresa M. Stone SM ’76. In that position, Ruiz will be among MIT’s senior leadership, working with President Susan J. Hockfield alongside the provost and chancellor. Most members of the MIT community are familiar with the latter three positions — all of whom have direct involvement in academics or student life — but many may wonder, “What exactly does the EVPT do?”
Redline will not function past Harvard on weekends
The MBTA’s Red Line will stop weekend service to stations north of Harvard Square beginning Nov. 5. This change, expected to last until March, will allow workers to make repairs to cracked tunnels and corroded track beds that could pose a safety risk if not addressed. Operation will remain unchanged Mondays through Fridays, and service will not be shut down on the weekends of Christmas and New Year’s. Porter, Davis, and Alewife are the affected stations, which together carry over 20,000 passengers on Saturdays and nearly 15,000 on Sundays. The MBTA will add substitute bus routes to accommodate passengers north of Harvard Square. The repairs will cost $80 million, and the project has received $4.3 million in federal stimulus money. A 2009 report on the MBTA stated that continuing to ignore repairs on the 2.25-mile section could result in a significant danger of derailment. The MBTA is expected to spend a total of $420 million this year on repairs and maintenance throughout the system.
Silbey, former dean of science, dies at 71
Professor Robert J. Silbey passed away Thursday at age 71 after a battle with cancer. Silbey, a faculty member at MIT for 45 years, held several positions, including dean of MIT’s School of Science (2000–2007), director of Materials Science and Engineering (1998–2000) and head of the Chemistry Department (1990–1998).
Freshman Satto Tonegawa, MIT professor's son, found dead yesterday
Satto Tonegawa ’15 was found dead in his MacGregor dormitory room yesterday evening.
Fifty participate in 12-hour fast; over $900 raised by MFWH
For 12 hours, an estimated 50 participants battled an empty stomach during the MIT Fighting World Hunger (MFWH) club’s first campus-wide hunger strike. The fast capped the MFWH-sponsored Hunger Week, held the week following World Hunger Day on Oct. 16. to promote awareness of global food deprivation and malnutrition.
Oracle to purchase cloud-based software firm
Oracle announced plans Monday to acquire RightNow Technologies, a provider of Web-based customer service software, for $1.43 billion, in a move that will expand the technology giant’s footprint in the cloud.
Amgen to pay $780 million to settle suits on its sales
Amgen said Monday that it had set aside $780 million to settle various federal and state investigations and whistle-blower lawsuits accusing it of illegal sales and marketing tactics.
Banerjee delivers keynote address on nutrition deficiency
Last Thursday evening, Professor Abhijit V. Banerjee, co-founder of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, delivered a keynote speech for Hunger Week on nutrition deficiency in developing countries.
Saferide con-artist?
MIT Police issued an informational bulletin via email yesterday warning the MIT community of an unauthorized 18-passenger bus that had been charging students $5 for transportation during overnight hours.