Flawed US reactors
WASHINGTON — All 104 nuclear power reactors now in operation in the United States have a safety problem that cannot be fixed and they should be replaced with newer technology, the former chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said on Monday. Shutting them all down at once is not practical, he said, but he supports phasing them out rather than trying to extend their lives.
Texas growers eye immigration laws
Dimmit County onion grower Bruce Frasier spends the pre-dawn hours drawing up spreadsheets balancing the day’s inventories of young plants with orders from big-box retailers, commercial farms and direct-mail buyers across the country. The variable is always labor.
City passes MIT plans for Kendall
The Cambridge City Council voted 7-2 last night to pass MIT’s Kendall rezoning petition, permitting taller, denser development on the east side of MIT’s campus. The rezoning is the first step toward realizing plans to bring new retail to Kendall Square and to replace parking lots along Main Street with three new commercial buildings and a residential tower called “Innovation Landing.”
First UTx classes added; Stanford joins work on edX open-source system
EdX will release the source code of its entire platform on June 1. The source code will contain four parts, according to an edX press release: its Learning Management System; Studio, a course authoring tool; xBlock, an API for integrating third-party learning objects; and machine grading APIs.
Rao/Cornish on plans for UA
This year’s winning ticket of the Undergraduate Association (UA) Presidential/Vice Presidential election is Sidhanth “Sid” P. Rao ’14/Devin T Cornish ’14, who ran unopposed as the other ticket was disqualified when its vice presidential candidate withdrew. As Rao and Cornish prepare to take office, they have decided to create a plan to implement changes in both the UA and the MIT community, all under the paradigm of their campaign slogan: “a vision with a checklist.”
Labor dispute at Le Méridien
At 5 p.m. yesterday evening a crowd of approximately 200 gathered at the steps of the Cambridge City Hall to demonstrate their support for employees of Le Méridien Hotel, located at 20 Sidney Street in Cambridge. At approximately 5:40, the crowd marched from City Hall to Le Méridien where the protest continued as hotel guests looked on from their tables in the hotel restaurant.
Course 20 launches BE-specific writing lab
Biological Engineering students looking to improve their writing now have a new resource: the BE Writing Lab in 56-205. The center, which opened last month, is geared towards helping Course 20 students with lab reports, UROP proposals, grad school applications, and more.
Mechanical Engineering head steps down effective July 1
The head of MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering (Course 2) Mary C. Boyce PhD ’87 will be stepping down in order to become dean of Columbia University’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science effective July 1, 2013.
MIT in favor of redactions in Swartz case documents
On Friday, March 29, MIT filed a legal memorandum to “partially oppose” the March 15 motion by the Estate of Aaron Swartz to publicly release documents related to Swartz’s criminal prosecution. The documents, originally provided to the U.S. Attorney’s Office by MIT for pre-trial discovery, are kept confidential by a Protective Order. According to MIT’s memorandum, the U.S. Attorney’s Office required a Protective Order on the documents beginning November 2011 due to “sensitive information” they contain.
American woman gang-raped in Brazil
RIO DE JANEIRO — An American woman was raped by three men aboard a public van in a six-hour abduction over the weekend that began in the seaside district of Copacabana, the police said.
Health law provision for small business is delayed
WASHINGTON — Unable to meet tight deadlines in the new health care law, the Obama administration is delaying parts of a program intended to provide affordable health insurance to small businesses and their employees — a major selling point for the health care legislation.
Faculty meeting focuses on gunman disruption response
MIT “failed abysmally” in promptly notifying the community after receiving a false Feb. 23 report of a gunman on campus, MIT Chief of Police John DiFava said at the last faculty meeting, following an internal review of the events on the day of the scare. But the police response on the scene was “superb,” DiFava said.
IN SHORT
Still looking for a job or internship? Attend the Spring Career Fair on Thursday, April 4th! The event will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Stratton Student Center (W-20) in La Sala Puerto Rico on the second floor. MIT ID cards will be required for entry to the fair. Register for the fair through CareerBridge with your electronic resume. The Spring Career Fair resume book will be viewable by the employers.
Another body found in the Charles River
Early morning last Wednesday, March 27, Mass. State Police responded to reports of a body in the Charles River under the Harvard Bridge. The body was pulled out of the river around 9 a.m. The Suffolk County DA is investigating the death.
MIT wins 2nd in Putnam math contest
Just behind Harvard, MIT took second place in the 2012 William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, winning $20,000 for the math department and $800 for each of the three team members. The prestigious contest is 12 questions and 6 hours long, and is administered every December to undergraduate students studying in the U.S. or Canada.
Email hoax Wednesday causes stir
A fake email that appeared to be sent by President L. Rafael Reif addressing all of MIT was sent to all MIT dorms around 1 a.m. early Wednesday morning, announcing that all classes would be cancelled that day, due to “threatening requests” regarding the Swartz case. The email followed a letter from Reif on Tuesday to the MIT community laying out the Institute’s plans for releasing evidence from the Swartz case.
Three dorms open for summer housing
Planning on staying on-campus this summer? Three dorms — East Campus (East Parallel), MacGregor, and Senior House — will house undergraduates this summer. Two of them, MacGregor and Senior House, also housed undergraduate students last summer.