After 19% investment return, endowment climbs to $12.4 billion
MIT’s primary investment pool generated a return of 19.2 percent in the 2014 fiscal year, during which the Institute’s endowment rose to $12.4 billion, the MIT Investment Management Company announced last Friday.
With ‘eduroam,’ MIT offers remote access to MITnet
MIT recently joined the network-access service eduroam and began broadcasting the “eduroam” SSID on Aug. 19, adding to the more familiar “MIT,” “MIT GUEST,” and “MIT SECURE,” according to a news article on MIT IS&T’s website.
Lawyers spar over jury in Tsarnaev case
Lawyers representing Dzhokar Tsarnaev, on trial for allegedly detonating two bombs at the 2013 Boston Marathon and later killing MIT Police officer Sean Collier, called for charges against him to be dismissed on the grounds that grand and trial juries in Massachusetts do not fairly represent the population, violating a constitutional requirement.
Privacy concerns arise over tech in classrooms
At a New York state elementary school, teachers can use a behavior-monitoring app to compile information on which children have positive attitudes and which act out. In Georgia, some high school cafeterias are using a biometric identification system to let students pay for lunch by scanning the palms of their hands at the checkout line. And across the country, school sports teams are using social media sites for athletes to exchange contact information and game locations.
CORRECTIONS
An article about MIT’s BitComp in the Tuesday, Sept. 9 issue of The Tech mistakenly said Nelson Liu was an MIT senior. He is in fact a current high-school senior.
MIT campus upgrades wireless network
Just in time for the beginning of the new school year, MIT upgraded its wireless network to include a new Distributed Antenna System (DAS) as part of a push to strengthen wireless coverage on campus, according to a press release by AT&T.
Profs Danheiser and Poonen awarded School of Science Teaching Prizes
The MIT School of Science recently awarded its annual Teaching Prizes for Graduate and Undergraduate Education to two faculty members. The honor is for excellence in the classroom.
Plans for academic entity move forward
Provost Martin A. Schmidt PhD ’88 announced last week plans to move forward to create a new institutional entity at MIT. The entity will incorporate values from several programs, including the Engineering Systems Division (ESD) and Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS), to create a new center focused on complex and socio-technical systems, information and decision systems, and statistics.
Faneuil Hall under major renovations
The operator of Faneuil Hall Marketplace, one of Boston’s most visited yet dated landmarks, is proposing a dramatic overhaul of the historic property that would create a new boutique hotel and shake up a shopping experience that has changed little since the 1970s.
Students discuss their concerns with nuclear energy industry leaders and policy-makers
The 2014 Nuclear Engineering Student Delegation (NESD), a 17-member body including MIT graduate students Daniel J. Curtis and Jake M. Jurewicz from the department of nuclear science and engineering and Matthew C. Ellis of the MIT Lincoln Laboratory, met last Thursday with various nuclear energy leaders and industry representatives. They also met with executive and legislative offices, according to the MIT News Office.
MIT Professor wins $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize
Sangeeta N. Bhatia SM ’93, PhD ’97, the John J. and Dorothy Wilson Professor of Health Sciences and Technology & Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, has been awarded the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize for her work in applying small-scale technologies to create clinical solutions that can be implemented on a global scale. The annual prize is awarded to mid-career inventors who develop products that have societal value.
All-FSILG ban is for rush fairness
When Boston decided to impose a 49-person limit on gatherings at MIT fraternities, sororities, and independent living groups in the city last week, MIT extended the restriction to those in Cambridge and Brookline to “maintain equity among the FSILGs during new member recruitment,” according to Matthew D. Bauer, a spokesman for the Division of Student Life.
IN SHORT
September 15 is the last day to sign the 2014-2015 waiver for MIT health insurance if you are using your family’s insurance plan. Be sure to waive individual coverage through the MIT Student Extended Health Plan. You can waive coverage for just the fall semester or the full academic year. Go to http://medweb.mit.edu/healthplans/student/waiver.html.
Sacra recovering from Ebola
Dr. Richard A. Sacra, the Massachusetts physician infected with Ebola while working at a hospital in Liberia, has taken major steps toward recovery, a doctor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center said Thursday.
BitComp projects aim to encourage students to spend their bitcoin
MIT’s BitComp, a summer-long competition to incentivize bitcoin-related development to correspond to an upcoming distribution of the cryptocurrency to undergraduates, announced its winners last week.
Analysis: US schools that enroll both rich and poor
Vassar has taken steps to hold down spending on faculty and staff. Amherst and the University of Florida have raised new money specifically to spend on financial aid for low-income students. American University reallocated scholarships from well-off students to needy ones. Grinnell set a floor on the share of every freshman class — 15 percent — whose parents didn’t go to college.
Austin Travis, grad student in chemistry, dead at age 26
President L. Rafael Reif emailed the MIT community last Friday afternoon to announce that chemistry graduate student Austin L. Travis, 26, had died Wednesday, Sept. 3.
Apple expands Kendall Square space
Apple is quietly expanding its Kendall Square research office, according to an article in BetaBoston, a website operated by the Boston Globe.
Graduate student Austin Travis dead
President L. Rafael Reif emailed the MIT community Friday afternoon to announce that chemistry graduate student Austin Travis, 26, had died Wednesday.