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Tech Connection - A monthly e-newsletter for MIT Alumni

November 2005

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UN Presents Media Lab's $100 Laptop Prototype at World Summit

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan SL '72 and MIT Media Lab Chairman Nicholas Negroponte '66 unveiled the first working prototype of MIT's $100 laptop at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis, Tunisia, on Nov. 16. The Media Lab product is designed to provide low-cost computing and Internet access to schoolchildren and teachers worldwide. OpenCourseWare co-hosted a global education event.

Research News:

• MIT Closes in on Bionic Speed

  Engineers using Professor Sidney Yip's new theory could make robotic muscles 1,000 times faster than human muscles--with virtually no extra energy demands and a simpler design.

• Mapping Communications Technologies Live

  

  MIT's SENSEable City Laboratory has developed a new way to understand the impact of emerging communications technologies--continuously changing electronic maps. Mobile Landscape Graz in Real Time monitors the usage of tens of thousands of cell phones in Graz, Austria. iSPOTS: Living and Working in MIT's Wireless Community, now on view at the MIT Museum, is tracking how wireless Internet is changing life on campus 24/7.

National Medal of Science Honors Lippard CM '65 and Sharp HM

Two of the eight winners of the 2004 National Medals of Science, the nation's highest scientific honor, are MIT faculty. Stephen J. Lippard CM '65 won for contributions to the field of inorganic chemistry now helping to improve cancer chemotherapy. Phillip A. Sharp HM in 1993 discovered RNA splicing, a biological process fundamental to understanding the structure of genes and genomes.

Eric Grimson MA '80 Named Head of EECS

Eric Grimson MA '80, head of the computer vision group of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), is the new head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. His research ranges from navigational surgical tools to the construction of an interactive anatomy browser.

Update Addresses for Holiday Greetings via the Online Alumni Directory

You can quickly update your list of postal and email addresses for holiday greetings by logging into the Infinite Connection and checking Online Alumni Directory information for fellow alumni. And, for something a little different, send an MIT seasonal e-postcard, such as RoboSanta or a campus snow scene, to colleagues.

In the Media:

• Pinkett '98 Makes It to The Apprentice Final Five

  Randal Pinkett EE '98, despite a misstep on marketing materials for a satellite radio song, survived the ninth episode of NBC's The Apprentice 4. A double episode on Thanksgiving will up the stakes. The show airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. EST.

• This Old House Transforms Home of George Mabry '76

  This Old House is featuring George Mabry's 55-year-old modern home in Cambridge, Mass., this fall. Watch the Web cams to see the changes (every five minutes) since June 1, both inside and out. Check your local PBS channels for the next episode.

• Geek TV vs. Networks You'll Want to Pay For

  Comparative Media Studies Professor Henry Jenkins and humanities graduate student Ivan Askwith duke out the future of TV in online essays in Flow, a critical journal on media culture, and Slate magazine.

Katrina Relief Act Extends Deduction Benefits to MIT Donations

Visit the MIT Giving site to learn about the tax benefits of giving before year end, particularly how the Katrina Emergency Relief Act raises cash contribution limits through December 31, 2005. Please make your gift online by Dec. 28 to ensure processing in the 2005 tax year. MIT counts on the regular, annual giving of alumni like you.

Web Exclusives:

• OpenDOOR: Core Mysteries Revealed at the School of Science

  With 18 Nobel Prize winners, the School of Science is working to solve many of life's core mysteries: how the brain works, how to predict deadly storms, and the limits of matter. Discoveries at the school, in fact, are shaping the world.

• Name that Lab from the 1980s!

  

  Help identify photos of MIT labs taken by Scott Globus '84 in the early '80s. Online photos are linked to discussion boards so you can share recollections. Images from the collection, which Globus donated to the MIT Museum, are on display at MIT's Compton Gallery through January 6.

Travel to Washington DC: Perspectives, Policies, and Priorities, April 23-27, 2006

Join fellow alumni on a tour of major Washington DC sites and participate in behind-the-scenes excursions. Program highlights include the newest memorials, the U.S. Botanic Garden, the Supreme Court building, and the National Gallery of Art. Travelers can meet local alumni as well as enjoy private visits to the Library of Congress, the Carnegie Institution, and the Kennedy Center.

Have an Affinity for an Alumni Interest Group?

Affinity groups bring together alumni with similar interests. To find out more, sign up to indicate your interest in these affinity groups: Association of MIT Alumnae (AMITA), Bisexual, Gay, and Lesbian Alumni of MIT (BGALA), Black Alumni of MIT (BAMIT), Chinese Alumni of MIT (CAMIT), and MIT Arab Alumni Association (MITAAA).

About Tech Connection

Tech Connection, a monthly e-newsletter for alumni and friends of MIT, is available in HTML and text-only formats. To receive the text-only format, please email mitalum@mit.edu. Have you missed a Tech Connection? Make sure to add techconnection@mit.edu to your address book.

Please email comments to techconnection@mit.edu.

Cheers!
Nancy DuVergne Smith, editor