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Tech Connection - A monthly e-newsletter for MIT Alumni

June 2006

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COMMENCEMENT & REUNION NEWS

• Bernanke: Translate Technologies into Material Progress
  Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke EC '79 urged the 2,109 undergraduates and graduate students who received degrees at Commencement June 9 to take action.




• What a LIFE! Magazine Featured 50th Reunion Class
  Fifty years after being showcased in LIFE magazine for future promise, the MIT Class of 1956 celebrates lives well lived.

• Tech Day and Giving Highlight Reunions Weekend
  More than 3,300 alumni and guests returned to MIT for camaraderie and activities, to give more than $46 million to MIT, and to learn about educational innovation and global impact at Tech Day. New this year: view and order photos of many reunion activities online.

What Matters: Is Religion Good for You?

MIT Economics Professor Jonathan Gruber '87 has devised a new way to understand whether going to church improves individual prosperity and how income tax deductions impact church attendance.

Comics' Alex Doonesbury Enrolls in MIT

Cartoon character Alex Doonesbury will start college at MIT next fall after a straw cyber-poll was swayed by enthusiastic MIT hackers.

RESEARCH & DISCOVERY

• Comfortable Buildings—Hold the Air Conditioning
  MIT researchers are making computer-based tools to help architects design commercial buildings that cool occupants with natural breezes, a huge potential energy saver.

• MISTI Brings iLabs to China
  Students will join MIT faculty at the first Asian MIT-iCampus Conference in Beijing, an unprecedented effort to introduce China's top universities to iLabs, MIT's free online remote laboratory initiative.

• Sensor Opens Up Study of Crucial Molecule
  MIT scientists have discovered a way to monitor a crucial molecule, nitric oxide (NO), as it goes about its business within the body's living cells.

• Human Activity Linked to Rise in Hurricanes
  Human-induced climate change, rather than naturally occurring ocean cycles, may be responsible for the recent increases in the frequency and strength of North Atlantic hurricanes, according to MIT and Penn State researchers.

Nine Alumni Join MIT Corporation

Nine alumni who are business, academic, and civic leaders were appointed to terms on the MIT Corporation, effective July 1. Martin Y. Tang GM '72, the 2006-2007 Alumni Association president, continues on the Corporation as an ex officio member.

Plan Your '07 Vacation with the MIT Alumni Travel Program

Explore the world with MIT in 2007 with the camaraderie of fellow alumni and enrichment of lecturers and local experts. Select from over 40 trips in 2007 including an in-depth tour of Guatemala, a cruise along the Turkish coastline, helicopter hiking in the Canadian Rockies, and an exploration of Bhutan led by MIT Professor Emeritus Samuel Jay Keyser HM.

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Meet Colorado's SEPT teachers, July 10
  Have dinner with six teachers who just returned from this year's Science and Education Program for Teachers (SEPT) at MIT.

• 'Women Soar' at the Wisconsin Fly-In, July 25
  Share the passion for aviation at the Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture Oshkosh 2006. Graduate student Carl Dietrich, who is developing a flying car, will speak.

• Enjoy the BAMIT NE Annual BBQ, July 22
  Bring a dish and beverage and come celebrate recently tenured Professor Paula Hammond '84.

Last Call: Donors Needed to Break Record

The end of another fiscal year is around the corner and just 1,300 donors are needed to break the Alumni Fund donor record. If you have not yet made your annual gift, it's not too late. Make your gift online by June 30 or call us at 617-253-0129. MIT depends on the regular, annual support of alumni like you. Thank you!

About Tech Connection

Tech Connection, a monthly e-newsletter for alumni and friends of MIT, is available in HTML and text-only formats. Please email mitalum@mit.edu to request the text-only format or to subscribe. Please email comments to tech_connection@mitvma.mit.edu.

Cheers!
Nancy DuVergne Smith, editor