News Briefs
The commencement speaker for the Class of 2007 will be former MIT president Charles M. Vest, according to Kirk D. Kolenbrander, vice president for institute affairs and secretary of the Corporation.
Iran’s Nuclear Vision Initially Glimpsed at Institute
The young Iranians arrived in Cambridge in the summer of 1975, part of a historic venture between their government and Massachusetts Institute of Technology to train the first generation of Iranian nuclear scientists. The program began as a symbol of friendship but quickly became a lesson in unintended consequences.
UA Election Candidates Discuss UA, ASA, Textbooks
The Undergraduate Association Presidential/Vice Presidential debate drew a small crowd, as three pairs of candidates lobbied for community votes. During the debate, the candidates did not stray far from their platform statements.
Student's Race Complaint Undecided For Princeton
Nearly four months after Jian Li, an Asian student at Yale University, filed a complaint against Princeton University for racial discrimination in the admissions process, a decision remains to be reached by the US Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights regarding Princeton's actions.
Police Log
<i>The following incidents were reported to the MIT Police between Feb. 16 and Mar. 7, 2007. This summary does not include incidents such as false alarms, general service calls, larcenies, or medical shuttles.</i>
Broad Institute Receives Large Gift For Psychiatric Research
The Broad Institute, the genomics powerhouse in Cambridge, Mass., announced Wednesday that it will receive what it believes is the biggest gift ever for psychiatric research to a single US institution: $100 million to decipher the genetics of severe mental illnesses.
E-mail Service Interrupted For 4,000 Users
Over 4,000 community members lost e-mail access early Wednesday morning in an outage that still affects some users.
Faculty Debate Jewish Delicacies
Students and members of the MIT community filled 10-250 Monday night to watch six MIT faculty lecturers and professors argue the superiority of one of two Jewish delicacies the latke, a fried potato pancake, and the hamentash, a triangular fruit-filled cookie.
B-C Kitchen Rumors Spark Dorm Concern
Rumors have cropped up regarding plans to replace Burton-Conner’s kitchens with undergraduate rooms, though administrators claim there are no plans to do so. The rumors surfaced in the week before President Susan Hockfield’s Feb. 13 visit to Burton-Conner, prompting a petition, two bills by the Undergraduate Association, and a small flutter of e-mails across the bc-talk mailing list.
Presbrey Makes Millions With Startup
What with some successful startups making hundreds of millions of dollars these days, $6 million may not seem like a lot. But it is still enough to impress most college students, and Joseph W. Presbrey ’08 earned that very amount back in March 2006 by selling a social networking site for high school students to Alloy, a media and marketing company targeting young consumers.
CME Being Funded Another Year
The Cambridge-MIT Institute is providing funding for the Cambridge-MIT Exchange program in what will be the last year of the CMI. Funding from CMI for the exchange program was originally supposed to last until 2006, and it was uncertain where funding for CME would come from. CMI is expected to fold up in 2008, and other funding sources will need to be found for CME.
In Short
MacGregor House is running another dining pilot program similar to the one held last semester to continue gauging student interest in bringing back MacGregor Dining. Dinners will be held Monday nights for at least four weeks from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The all-you-can-eat dinners will cost $7 without preferred dining and $3.50 with preferred dining. The first dinner was last night.
MacVicar Day Celebrates Learning, MIT Professors
Five professors were honored on Friday, March 2, MacVicar Day, as the 2007 Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellows for demonstrating excellence in teaching. The award includes $10,000 per year for 10 years to be spent on improving teaching methods and course curriculum.
Ronald H. Stowell
Ronald H. Stowell, a postdoctoral research associate in the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center, passed away shortly after 3:30 a.m. on Sunday, March 4, as confirmed by the Somerville Police. He was 36.
CEOs, Faculty Join in Search For MIT Sloan Dean
MIT’s Sloan School of Management is opening a search for a new dean to succeed Richard L. Schmalensee ’65, who is scheduled to step down in June after nine years at the helm of the business school.
News Briefs
Come early April, the Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility will hand off their recommendations on whether MIT should divest from corporations doing business in Sudan to the MIT Corporation’s Executive Committee. In a letter to <i>The Tech</i>, Alan Spoon, the chair of the ACSR, wrote, “We expect to deliver our recommendation on possible courses of action to the Executive Committee for its consideration in early April.”
Letter From Advisory Committee Chair
Knowing that many in the community are deeply concerned about the tragic events on the ground in Sudan, I write to offer an update on the work of the Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility, which has been asked to make a recommendation to the Executive Committee of the MIT Corporation about whether any action should be taken with regard to MIT’s investments in multinational companies that may be doing business in Sudan, and if so, what that action should be.
Charges Against MIT Students Eliminated
Felony charges against three MIT students who set off a burglar alarm in the E52 Faculty Club last October were dropped Wednesday by the Middlesex County district attorney's office. The students contend that they were hacking when found by the police. The case will now be handled within the Institute by the Committee on Discipline.