Energy Special
As you may have noticed, MIT is full of people who are highly committed to energy and sustainability issues, from President Susan Hockfield with the Energy Initiative to numerous student groups involved in almost every imaginable aspect of environmentally-conscious action and innovation. Add to that the professors who have made it their business to pursue research related to sustainability issues, and the Facilities staff who oversee MIT’s own energy use, and you begin to get an idea of just how unlikely it would be that we could cover all the worthwhile projects happening on campus.
And Would You Like a Garden With That?
MIT's new Solar Decathlon Team is currently preparing for the construction of Solar 7, an 800-square-foot completely solar-powered house. The seventh solar-powered house to be built on MIT campus, this house, which will be near Technology Square, will have several unique features, including an interactive energy-monitoring system and the ability to be taken apart and shipped to any new location. It will also participate in an event that none of the other houses have ever attended: the Solar Decathlon Competition held in Washington D.C.
Man Behind the Scenes
Peter Cooper is the manager of sustainability engineering and utility planning in the Department of Facilities. He has worked closely with student groups on a number of sustainability projects, some of which arose from the Generator events and are currently in progress. He's the go-to man for everything you never knew you wanted to know about how MIT's physical plant is run.
Discipline Director Quits To Be Near Home, Family
Ten months after assuming her role as director of the Office of Student Mediation and Community Standards, Veronica Mendoza '96 will be leaving MIT at the end of May to resume practicing law in California. She is the third person to leave this post in the past four years. The position was redefined last year to exclude the function of risk management.
Big Screw Money Goes to Make-A-Wish
This year's Big Screw candidate Maureen R. Lynch, Design and Manufacturing I (2.007) course administrator, amassed over $1,500 in the final day of the competition to claim the 2007 title. During the week-long contest, national service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega collected $2,919.09, including $1,920.67 submitted on behalf Lynch.
Privacy Laws Restrict Mental Illness Disclosure to Parents
Federal privacy and antidiscrimination laws restrict how universities can deal with students who have mental health problems.
News Briefs
Construction for a new Thai restaurant that will fill the last spot in Lobdell Food Court is slated to begin over the summer, according to Richard D. Berlin III, The new Subway restaurant is scheduled to open next month.
Virginia Tech Shooting Takes 33 Lives, Shocks Academic Community
The police identified Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old student, as the killer of 32 people in the shooting rampage at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, releasing new information on Tuesday about the troubled mind of a young man few people on campus knew.
Science Should Influence Policy, Says Sen. Kennedy
Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D) spoke to an MIT audience recently about the Bush administration's current science policy, including the restrictions it places on stem cell research and its handling of global warming. Kennedy, who is the 2007 Karl Taylor Compton Lecturer, drew a crowd to a packed Kirsch Auditorium last Friday, April 13.
MIT Police, Family Search For Missing Senior Daniel Barclay
Undergraduate Daniel J. Barclay '07 has been missing since Sunday, April 8. Barclay, 5'11", has brown hair and blue eyes, and may be wearing a dark fleece jacket, according to an MIT News Office press release. Barclay, 22, who is a former Opinion staff columnist for <i>The Tech</i>, was last seen in his Ashdown House residence.
Police Log
<i>The following incidents were reported to the MIT Police between April 5, 2007 and April 16, 2007. This summary does not include incidents such as false alarms, general service calls, larcenies, or medical shuttles.</i>
Mass. Colleges Send Out Record Numbers Of Rejection Letters
Many Massachusetts colleges that had long accepted students unlikely to make the cut for an Ivy League school are sending record numbers of rejection letters this year.
Prefrosh Explore MIT at CPW
Nearly 1,000 prospective freshmen are on campus for this year's Campus Preview Weekend. The weekend, which runs through Sunday, will offer over 600 activities at all hours for prospective freshmen and parents.
News Briefs
The Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility has passed its recommendations regarding whether MIT should divest from corporations that are involved with the Sudanese government on to the MIT Corporation's Executive Committee. Michael Baenen, staff to the ACSR, wrote in an e-mail that the Executive Committee is now considering the recommendation report and "is aiming to bring its deliberations to a close in early May."
Lender to Pay So Students Can Learn Loan Options For Finaid
Sallie Mae, the nation's largest lender to college students, agreed Wednesday to pay $2 million to settle an investigation by the New York attorney general's office and said it would close down student call centers it has run for college financial aid offices.