In Short
The 2008–2009 ASA Executive Board was elected at the General Body Meeting last night. Student groups in the Association of Student Activities elected Keone D. Hon ’11 president, Shan Wu G treasurer, Rishi V. Gupta ’10 secretary, Nan Gu G and Roberto J. Perez-Franco G graduate members-at-large, Gillian M. Grogan ’10 and Rachel E. Meyer ’10 undergraduate members-at-large, and Kevin A. Riggle ’08 student member-at-large. All positions were uncontested.
Decrease in High School Graduates Will Increase College Admission Rates
High school seniors nationwide are anxiously awaiting the verdicts from the colleges of their choice later this month. But though it may not be of much solace to them, in just a few years the admissions frenzy is likely to ease. It’s simply a matter of demographics.
Fin. Aid Boosted; No Tuition For Families Earning Under $75K
MIT announced on Friday that students whose families earn less than $75,000 per year — approximately 30 percent of the student body — will no longer pay tuition. To cover these and other new policies, MIT’s financial aid budget will rise to $74 million, a $7 million increase over last year’s budget.
MIT Names MacVicar Fellows For Excellence in Undergrad Teaching
Five MIT faculty members were named MacVicar Fellows for their excellence in undergraduate teaching last Friday during this year’s MacVicar Day, a celebration which recognizes contributions to undergraduate education at MIT. The program began in 32-123 with a lecture on science education by Nobel Laureate in Physics Carl E. Wieman ’73. The lecture was followed by an MIT faculty reception hosted by President Susan Hockfield at Gray House, where the five fellows were announced.
Student Triumphs Despite Socioeconomic Pressures
Eric Delgado is what those in research call an outlier — an anomaly, a deviation from the typical.
House Democrats Steer Their Own Path on Warrantless Wiretaps
In continued defiance of the White House, House Democratic leaders are readying a proposal that would reject giving legal protection to the phone companies that helped in the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping program after the Sept. 11 attacks, congressional officials said Monday.
Bomber Kills 5 U.S. Soldiers On Patrol in Iraq’s Capital
A man walked up to a group of American soldiers on foot patrol in an upscale shopping district in central Baghdad on Monday and blew up the explosives-filled vest he was wearing, killing four of the soldiers and wounding three others and an Iraqi interpreter who accompanied them. A fifth soldier died later of his wounds.
Talks, But No Truce, Accompany Lull in Gaza Violence
A senior Israeli official and leaders of Gaza militant groups have held talks with Egyptian officials in recent days, but Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel denied on Monday that Israel was engaged in talks to broker a truce, despite several days of relative quiet near the Gaza border.
Spitzer Hired High-Priced Prostitutes, Apologizes
Gov. Eliot Spitzer was a client of a high-end prostitution ring broken up last week by federal authorities, according to law enforcement officials, a development that threatened to end the governor’s career and turned the state’s political world upside down.
Shorts (right)
Celebrated buyout firms like the Blackstone Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., hailed only a year ago for their dealmaking prowess, are seeing their profits collapse as the credit crisis spreads through the financial markets.
Powered by Ocean Waves, Boat To Sail From Hawaii to Japan
On Sunday, a boat will sail from Honolulu on a planned voyage of 3,780 nautical miles, powered just by the wave action of the sea.
Trust Me, I’m a Meteorologist
Given all the sources of weather forecasts online and in the media these days, you might wonder, who should you trust: The Weather Channel, your favorite weather character on TV, or your friendly neighborhood staff meteorologist at <i>The Tech</i>? This is actually a much harder question to answer than by simply pointing a finger at myself and humbly saying, “I’m the best!” Perhaps a better question to ask is: how far out can you trust any weather forecast?
Corrections
The March 4, 2008 article on the birthday of Random Hall incorrectly referred to the death of Elizabeth H. Shin ’02 as occurring six years ago. Shin died in 2000, eight years ago.
Support Graduate Pass/D/Fail
The MIT Mission states: “The Institute is committed to generating, disseminating, and preserving knowledge, and to working with others to bring this knowledge to bear on the world’s great challenges.” Many of the challenges facing the world today, ranging from curing diseases to tackling energy issues, from harnessing information technology to understanding brain and mind, require solutions that span multiple disciplines. As a result, scientists and engineers increasingly face the need to be versatile in their knowledge, and also the need to work with colleagues from different backgrounds.
Pier Places Fifth in Giant Slalom at Nationals
After leading the alpine skiing team to one of its best seasons in recent memory, Timothy F. Pier ’08 performed well last weekend, this time as an individual. Pier placed fifth overall in the giant slalom at the U.S. Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association National Championship, held at Sunday River, Maine.
The Tech’s Athlete of the Week: Amy R. Magnuson ’10
Amy R. Magnuson ’10 added yet another record breaking performance to her impressive season at the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships, re-setting the Institute record in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 8.04 seconds.
Institute Records Fall as Track And Field Competes at ECACs
The women’s track and field team recorded its best finish ever at the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III Championships this weekend, finishing second overall out of 51 scoring teams. Moravian College topped the standings with 56 points, followed by MIT with 42.5, and Bates College came in third with 42.
Rants & Raves
When I first arrived at MIT, I went to a few graduate student orientation events to meet my new schoolmates and find out more about what other students at MIT were up to. While many were already too inebriated to speak or understand anything coherently, I did talk to quite a few new faces. The conversations went mostly like this.
It’s a Big, Big World
Every morning in Bangalore, my host father, Prabhakara, awoke at 6 a.m. to select fruits and vegetables from a freshly stocked sidewalk stand on the main road of Thyagarajanagar, his residential neighborhood. Afterward he stopped by a local restaurant to pick up warm idli (a white rice cake) or masala dosas that were neatly packaged in one sheet of thin wax paper, newspaper, and string. After his morning exercises and prayers, he prepared breakfast: sliced apples and carrot sticks, idli and chutney (think Indian salsa), homemade roti (flat bread) and curry, or my favorite — scrambled eggs packed with chopped vegetables and spices. Each morning I was greeted with a cup of chai tea and a food-filled circular metal plate with a vertical rim that I used to wipe away excess food from my eating hand.
Brouhaha Rhythms
Decorating my dorm room poses a peculiar problem. On the one hand, I don’t trust myself to nail anything to the wall that won’t bleed. On the other, the surfaces in my dorm, for some cosmic reason, are incompatible with duct tape and render it completely unsticky — which, if what you’re trying to hang is a) above your head, and b) heavy, is bad.