Alumni Home > News & Events > Noteworthy > News & Features

Alumni Parents Revisit College Life at Family Weekend

The Wilkens family attended a number of Family Weekend events. From left: Lucie CH '77, Chris '07, and John CH '77. All photos this page: Ming-Tai Huh

Alumni parents may have experienced total recall at MIT's 2005 Family Weekend. By attending any of 108 undergraduate classes, they could measure their memories of MIT against today's reality. Open classes included 2.009, the product engineering process course, organic chemistry, rocket propulsion, and the history of the Middle East. Indeed, the weekend was full of tours, lectures, concerts, panels, and receptions that entertained and educated the more than 2,400 people, including 873 students, representing more than 750 participating families on October 14 and 15. Parents weren't the only family members in attendance, either. Siblings, grandparents, aunts, and uncles also visited campus. Families came from 46 states and 16 countries, from as far away as Kazakhstan, Singapore, and Cameroon.

Special sibling activities, such as juggling and science workshops, catered to younger children, while tours of the new brain and cognitive sciences building satisfied those curious to view campus enhancements first hand. Some of the most popular events involved opportunities to meet President Hockfield, such as the community meeting with senior administrators and a reception enlivened with music from the MIT Concert Band.

Creative expression was an important component of the weekend and many students danced, harmonized, and sang in several concerts. Guests enjoyed everything from a cappella music to traditional Indian folk dances to the MIT wind and jazz ensembles playing the likes of Aaron Copland and Charlie Parker. Professor Hockfield and her husband, Dr. Thomas Byrne, narrated Copland's Lincoln Portrait during the annual concert.

Stuart Rossen '08 (far left) enjoyed the Nobel Laureate luncheon with his family: (from left) his mother, Anne; twin sister, Chloe; grandfather Myles Elias; and father, Elliot Rossen '79.

Guests attending Friday's sold-out Nobel laureate luncheon and book signing heard Frank Wilczek present "The Universe Is a Strange Place," a talk about the behavior of matter and some of the findings that led to his Nobel Prize in Physics. On Saturday, Philip Gschwend, professor and associate department head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, delivered the keynote address, "Engineering and Earth Systems: Can We Educate a New Breed of Engineers?" He discussed the drive for engineers to develop sustainable solutions to society's problems.

Parents also heard faculty describe new research across the Institute. Professor Steven Leeb '87 discussed dual-use communications systems under development, such as a transceiver that allows fluorescent lights to transmit audio, graphic, and position information. Professor Lorna Gibson explained how the strength of forms found in nature, such as trees and plants, aids engineering design. And Professor Hugh Herr ME '93 detailed his advances in biomechatronics, ways of using machines and devices to improve human rehabilitation, such as gait-adaptive knee prostheses for amputees.

All in all, alumni, parents, and students were energized by the breadth and depth of programming offered, truly something for everyone.