Asu Ozdaglar appointed head of EECS
Prof. Asu Ozdaglar PhD ’03 was appointed head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, effective Jan. 1, 2018. Ozdaglar has been the interim department head since July 1 and will become the first woman to head the EECS department in MIT’s history.
Have you seen these newspapers?
Friday evening, Tech staffers noticed that approximately 3,050 copies of the paper were missing from many of the most popular distribution locations on campus, including the Infinite Corridor and the student center. We do not know where the papers went or who took them. This incident has been reported to the MIT Police. If you have any information about this incident or the whereabouts of these newspapers, please contact general@tech.mit.edu.
Papers disappear, Tech Exec responds
No one joins The Tech because they are bored and looking for a way to kill time; no one at MIT adds an activity to their busy schedules under those conditions. We do it because we have a profound desire to serve the community, present and future, with and accurate, fair, and holistic records of the days we spend at the Institute. This week, nearly half our distribution was taken Friday, and this undermines The Tech’s mission of making timely news easily accessible to the MIT community.
Weekend could be cold and clear, or warm with precipitation
While Thursday and Friday promise to be pleasant and sunny, there is a chance that we could experience snow or rain during the weekend. The large scale flow over New England will be southwesterly over the coming days, and Boston will be on the edge between the cold inland air and the warmer ocean air during the weekend. The precipitation will occur in this transition region, and whether or not we get snow and/or rain will depend on which side we end up on. One extreme is cold temperatures (low 30s) and clear skies, while the other is warm temperatures (high 40s) and lots of precipitation. We will most likely end up somewhere between the two, with temperatures around 40°F and intermittent rain during the day or snow during the evening.
New UA program to fund conference expenses for undergraduates
The UA has allocated $30,000 towards this program as part of its annual budget, treasurer Jonathan Coden ’19 said in an interview with The Tech Tuesday.
SwipeShare will transfer donated guest swipes to students facing food insecurity
The Undergraduate Association and Division of Student Life recently launched a program called SwipeShare, aimed at alleviating food insecurity issues at MIT. The program allows students who are on meal plans to donate their guest swipes for usage by students who are facing food insecurity problems.
Tuition waiver taxes unlikely to make it into final Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, admins say
Goldston said that generally there was “reason for optimism about the graduate student tax” because it is only present in the House, not Senate, version of the bill.
Preregistration, subject evaluations, Finboard funding
Subject evaluations open now until Monday December 18.
Pokerbots Competition cancelled this IAP
This six unit undergraduate class allowed teams of up to four students to build autonomous poker players and concluded with a final competition and prizes of over $25,000 from technology and finance firms.
Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, to be 2018 commencement speaker
Graduate Student Council President Sarah Ann Goodman told MIT News that she is “thrilled that Sheryl Sandberg was selected as the Commencement speaker. The MIT community will benefit immensely from the insights of this trailblazing and resilient woman in the tech industry.”
Four-alarm fire damages MIT-owned apartment complex
A four-alarm fire damaged two apartment complexes in Central Square fire on Auburn Street and Magazine Street around 1 a.m. last Thursday.
Student organization funding process to be restructured
“Career fairs, in general, shouldn’t be used to fund student groups because it really is the wrong incentive structure. It incentivizes those companies that can pay a lot to come to a career fair to come, and those that might not be able to pay a lot of money not to come,” Nelson said. “We’re aiming for a kind of decoupling of the Career Fair proceeds from the funding of groups.”
Sophomore self-funds popular class-picking guide Firehose
Fan reports that during the two-week span of Aug. 27 to Sept. 9, 6,545 unique devices visited Firehose for a total of 22,140 page hits. Apart from a small ProjX grant, he has paid for all costs related to Firehose.
Help Cambridge decide how to spend $800,000 in participatory budgeting
The City of Cambridge has allocated $800,000 for participatory budgeting, a democratic process in which residents vote on various proposed capital expenditures meant to benefit the public.
‘Designing the Freshman Year’ course will pilot in spring
“Designing the First Year at MIT” is a new 12-unit course that will open to undergraduate and graduate students this spring. It will count as HASS-E credit and towards a design minor.
California is students’ top externship destination
The most popular externships included opportunities at IBM, Hudson River Trading, Microsoft, Quizlet, Five Rings Capital, Twitch Interactive, Inc., and NASDAQ OMX, with IBM receiving applications from 280 students and set to host 31.
Remembering Sam Bauman ’17
A memorial service and remembrance will be held this Sunday, Dec. 3, 11 a.m.–12 p.m. in the MIT chapel, followed by a reception in W11.
PE registration open, IAP and spring pre-registration opens Friday
IAP Physical Education registration opened for undergraduate students on Wednesday, Nov. 29 at 8 p.m. It will close on Wednesday, Dec. 6 at 1 p.m.
Committee on Discipline releases annual report
The Committee on Discipline (COD) report for the 2016-17 academic year, released earlier this month, breaks down the 279 complaints that were brought before the COD this year by several metrics, including the type of misconduct, the method of resolution, and the outcome.
A great start to December
Following yesterday’s brief excursion around 60°F, a weak cold front continues to progress eastward across the Northeast and will move offshore early tomorrow. In its wake, we will experience more seasonable weather with highs in the 40s, lows in the 30s, and no precipitation over the weekend and early into next week. No major weather systems are expected to impact the US before perhaps the middle of next week so enjoy the calm weather and cool, sunny start to December!