Ambassador Meera Shankar discusses Indian economy
Indian Ambassador to the United States Meera Shankar visited MIT Wednesday to speak about the Indian government’s goal of maintaining a high economic growth rate. Shankar’s talk came as part of the B&K Securities MIT India Forum, a series of lectures by prominent Indians.
New Course X major allows concentration in ChemEng fields
A new flexible Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering as recommended by the chemical engineering department was approved during Wednesday’s faculty meeting. According to Course 10 Executive Officer Paula T. Hammond ’84, the new 10-ENG degree was designed over the past 2.5 years to allow students to focus on a sub-topic in chemical engineering.
Steve Leeb wins Big Screw; proceeds to go to Pine Tree Inn
From April 4â8, APO collected over $2,600 in the annual Institute Screw Competition fundraiser. Steven B. Leeb â87, Professor of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering and a MacVicar Faculty Fellow, took the top spot, raising $1,376. All Big Screw proceeds will be donated to Leebâs charity of choice Ââ Pine Street Inn, a homeless shelter in Boston. Organizers also raised C$0.07, â¬0.02, 1000 Korean won, and a copy of a drop form for 18.100B.
Lobby 7 design winners announced
The winners of the Lobby 7 Design Competition were publicly announced last Friday. Frederick C. Kim ’11 and Kayla C. Manning ’11, competing as a team, and Benjamin J. Peters ’11 won first place prizes in the undergraduate competition, while Florence N. Doughty G, Nadine M. Volicer G, and Ann C. Woods G won in the graduate section, also as a team. The competition, launched in May of last year, asked students to design creative adornments for the four empty plinths of Lobby 7.
Dinner will be served by Bon Appétit
Bon Appétit Management Company will be the provider for the new House Dining, effective next semester. Bon Appétit is the current provider for residential dining.
France crafts ‘new university’
Valérie Pécresse, the French Minister for Higher Education and Research, visited Harvard University Monday to give a public lecture and question-and-answer session on “The New French University: An Opportunity to Cooperate with American Academics?” Pécresse has held prior government positions as regional councillor and as a member of the French National Assembly. On Tuesday, the Minister discussed with The Tech and other media the “new French university” and what the concept means for French and American academics.
MIT-China agreements established
On Wednesday, Chinese State Councilor Yandong Liu met with President Susan J. Hockfield for the signing of two important documents that will further strengthen MIT’s partnership with China. The first document confirmed the agreement between MIT and China to establish the China Scholarship Council Graduate Fellowship Program, a program that will be offered to MIT graduate students who are also citizens of the People’s Republic of China. The second document was a letter of intent calling for collaboration between MIT and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU).
DormCon, Senate will live on
The Dormitory Council voted yesterday against the proposed student government restructuring brought forth by Undergraduate Association President Vrajesh Y. Modi ’11 in late March. DormCon voted 57 percent in favor of 42 UAS 14.2, the Bill to Unify the Undergraduate Student Voice at MIT — 18 points below the amount required to pass and 11 points below the previous April 3 vote on the measure. The setback may end the potential for any dramatic UA changes in the near future.
UA holds hearing ahead of overhaul
The Undergraduate Association (UA) held an open session yesterday evening to collect feedback and student input on a proposed student government restructuring. The Ad-Hoc Committee on the Implementation of Potential Restructuring (CIPR), which was created at the UA Senate meeting on April 4, met over the past week to hash out details on representation in a new UA Council and the transition process from the current UA structure. The Dormitory Council and the Senate are expected to vote on a measure to enact a new constitution — as recommended by CIPR — this Thursday.
MIT150 celebrated at Next Century Convocation
The 150th anniversary convocation of the signing of MIT’s charter took place Sunday at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. It proceeded much like an MIT commencement ceremony, right down to the framing of the huge stage with imitation Killian Court columns.
CORRECTIONS
Last Friday’s spread on MIT dormitories omitted photographer attributions. Greg Steinbrecher, Jessica L. Wass, Jessica Liu, Jeremy E. Deguzman, Yuanyu Chen, Vivek Dasari, Nicholas Chornay, and Jaswanth Madhavan contributed photography.
Miliband speaks on East Asia
Former British Foreign Secretary David W. Miliband SM ’90 kicked off a week-long visit to MIT with a roundtable discussion yesterday hosted by the Department of Political Science. Entitled “Contemporary East Asia,” the discussion featured Course XVII Professors Taylor M. Fravel, Richard J. Samuels PhD ’80, and Edward S. Steinfeld. Miliband will continue to meet with Institute faculty and students for the remainder of the week as part of his brief tenure as a Robert E. Wilhelm Fellow in Residence.
Unconfirmed gunshots heard near Central
Shortly after 9:30 p.m. on April 2, Cambridge police officers reportedly heard gunshots in the vicinity of Pearl and Green Streets in Central Square. A search of the area revealed no evidence of gunshots.
Red Sox have 0-6 season start
The long, cruel winter is over. The maple sap is running. The Swan Boats soon will grace the Public Garden. And Boston’s beloved Red Sox, forever the symbol of spring’s renewal in New England, will open their home schedule Friday at Fenway Park as the preseason favorites to win the World Series.
Earl Lee
“OMG” was the response I received from my father when I texted him that MIT’s CPW events last until 4 a.m. It is almost midnight during my first night of CPW, and I already feel like I just ran a marathon while indulging in a three-Michelin star buffet. CPW, quite simply, is a sensory overload. Where else can you experience a smorgasbord of offerings ranging from liquid nitrogen ice cream to East Campus hacking culture? My body aches and yearns for sleep, but I know that there are still four exciting hours of molecular gastronomy cooking and Firehose Lectures — events which I have been looking forward to partaking in ever since MIT posted the CPW schedule online. After those four hours, I have an equal amount of time to recharge before beginning another propane-charged day of activities. After tomorrow, I have yet another full day of events until I can relax on the plane ride home.
Cosmos Darwin
The sheer magnitude of MIT’s Campus Preview Weekend is as awesome as it is frankly ridiculous. Its schedule — a document the size of a novel — lists over 750 events slated to take place over the next four days. One rapidly realizes that there is much more to do than could ever be possible for an individual more or less bound by the laws of physics.
Stephanie C. Liu
Hello! My name is Stephanie, and I am a senior at Phillips Academy in Andover, MA. When I first drove over the Charles River this afternoon, I had my first glimpse of MIT — a fleet of at least fifteen sailboats gliding smoothly down the river, the dome in the background, the setting sun gleaming off its top. On the other side of the bridge, I was startled to find a combination of city and campus life, with restaurants and strolling students on one block, and labs on the next.
British publisher enhances search technology with video
The line between cyberspace and the physical world is blurring with a new search technology being demonstrated by Autonomy, a British software publisher.