Volume 51 – Number 7 Wednesday – November 1, 2006 TechTalk S ERVING T HE M I T C OMMUNITY Lander Engineer named one launches review of energy use in of America’s manufacturing ‘best leaders’ Deborah Halber News Office Correspondent U.S. News list of 20 Timothy G. Gutowski’s mission is to includes Stata architect help the manufacturing industry lighten up, energy-wise. Frank Gehry With a grant from the National Science Foundation, the MIT professor of mechan- Sasha Brown ical engineering is reviewing energy use in News Office manufacturing processes such as machin- ing, grinding, injection molding, advanced machining methods and microelectron- ics fabrication methods. The goal is to Professor Eric Lander, founder and PHOTO / NIKOLA KOJIC director of the Eli and Edythe L. Broad compare the environmental performance Institute, is featured as one of America’s MIT researchers hope the golden silk spider will help them figure out how to produce of traditional methods to alternative pro- 20 best leaders in the Oct. 30, 2006, issue strong, durable silk artificially. cesses, alternative product designs and of U.S. News and World Report. proposed new processes. A m e r i c a ’ s The work is important because manu- Best Leaders is Researchers probe spiders’ polymer art facturing plays a big role in U.S. energy use. Industry accounts for around 30 a special section Deborah Halber Fluid Dynamics research group in MIT’s of the weekly percent of the total, and manufacturing News Office Correspondent Department of Mechanical Engineering. magazine, joint- is responsible for around 80 percent of Non-Newtonian fluids behave in strange industrial use. In addition, the manufactur- ly produced by and unexpected ways because their vis- U.S. News and ing industry designs and builds all of the A team of MIT engineers has identified cosity, or consistency, changes with both World Report equipment used in the other major energy two key physical processes that lend spi- the rate and the total amount of strain and the Cen- use sectors. der silk its unrivaled strength and dura- applied to them. ter for Public “Manufacturing processes can be bility, bringing closer to reality the long- Spider silk is a protein solution that Leadership at thought of as products with a huge ener- sought goal of spinning artificial spider undergoes pronounced changes as part of Harvard Uni- gy appetite,” he said. This contributes to silk. the spinning process. Egg whites, anoth- versity’s John F. global warming but is not as visible to the Manufactured spider silk could be er non-Newtonian fluid, change from a Kennedy School public as gas-guzzling SUVs or images used for artificial tendons and ligaments, watery gel to a rubbery solid when heated. Eric Lander of Government. of melting polar ice caps. “Many people sutures, parachutes and bulletproof vests. Spider silk, it turns out, undergoes similar A committee of are not aware of the energy requirements But engineers have not managed to do irreversible physical changes. government, community and private sec- for many manufacturing processes,” said what spiders do effortlessly. tor leaders convened by the center select- Gutowski, who, after extensive work in In a study published in the November Stickiness and flow ed the honorees. U.S. News does not have aerospace materials and composites, issue of the Journal of Experimental Biol- McKinley and Nikola Kojic, a graduate a vote. switched fields seven years ago to satisfy ogy, Gareth H. McKinley, professor of student in the Harvard-MIT Division of Lander, 49, is founding director of the a need “to contribute to society in a bigger mechanical engineering, and colleagues Health Sciences and Technology, studied Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and a way.” examined how spiders spin their native the silk of Nephila clavipes, the golden silk The problem isn’t that industry isn’t silk fibers, with hopes of ultimately repro- See LANDER ducing the process artificially. See SPIDERS See MANUFACTURING Page 6 McKinley heads the Non-Newtonian Page 5 Page 4 MIT survey: Climate change tops Americans’ environmental concerns Nancy Stauffer Herzog, principal research engineer in MIT’s Laboratory Laboratory for Energy and the Environment for Energy and the Environment (LFEE), LFEE research Public opinion about the need for action to address global warming associates Thomas E. Curry and Mark de Figueiredo, and Professor David M. Reiner of the University of Cam- According to a recent MIT survey, Americans now rank bridge. climate change as the country’s most pressing environ- The findings are a result of two surveys, the first admin- mental problem—a dramatic shift from three years ago, istered in September 2003 and the follow-up in September when they ranked climate change sixth out of 10 environ- 2006. Each survey included about 20 questions focusing mental concerns. on the environment, global warming and a variety of cli- Almost three-quarters of the respondents felt the gov- mate-change-mitigation technologies. ernment should do more to deal with global warming, and In designing and administering the surveys, the individuals were willing to spend their own money to help. research team collaborated with Knowledge Networks, a “While terrorism and the war in Iraq are the main company that specializes in Internet-based public opinion issues of national concern, there’s been a remarkable surveys. More than 1,200 people answered each survey increase in the American public’s recognition of global (with no overlap between the two groups of respondents). warming and their willingness to do something about it,” Comparing results from the two surveys provides said Stephen Ansolabehere, MIT’s Elting R. Morison Pro- insights into how public awareness, concern and under- fessor of Political Science. standing have changed—or not changed—during the past The survey results were released Oct. 31 at the sev- three years. enth annual Carbon Sequestration Forum, an international The environment continues to rank in the middle of the list of “most important issues facing the U.S. today.” How- GRAPHIC COURTESY / THOMAS E. CURRY meeting held at MIT that focuses on methods of capturing and storing emissions of carbon dioxide—a major con- The graphic above shows how American attitudes have tributor to climate change. See SURVEY changed from doubt to acceptance of global warming. Ansolabehere’s colleagues on the work are Howard Page 3 NEWS RESEARCH HUMANITIES SOMEPLACE LIKE HOME OIL OF THE FUTURE INSIDE THE BOX Housing Group panelists compare cost, quality of Energy experts predict new fuels will mimic nature CMS’ Machinima stock with ‘ideology of home ownership.’ instead of mine it. Group harnesses Page 2 Page 4 3-D game engines to create ‘in-world’ movie RX: HUMAN RIGHTS GREEN DESIGN characters and action. World health expert equates AIDS treatment with Faculty across disciplines, departments work on Page 8 ethical action. environmental projects. Page 2 Page 4 PAGE 2 November 1, 2006 NEWS MIT Tech Talk Fred Sanders, pioneer storm forecaster, dies DIGITALK: WHERE IT’S AT Frederick Sanders, professor emeritus interacting with students. He influenced Choral Society and more recently with a Forum on E-mail of meteorology and mentor and friend to his field not only through his own research choral group in Marblehead. an entire generation of weather research- but also through nurturing the talents of “I don’t think we will ever see his Migration ers, died on Oct. 6 after a long illness. He his students. Sanders took entire classes equal—not just for his scientific insight, In response to sugges- was 83 and had been a longtime resident for outings on his sailing yacht, Stillwater, but his outgoing nature, his helpfulness, tions from colleagues and of Marblehead. bringing joy as well as knowledge to the his sometimes acerbic wit and without fail customers, IS&T will host Sanders was pre-eminent in the field study of weather. remaining the consummate gentleman at a Community Forum on E-mail Migration of synoptic meteorology, which seeks to Sanders was a passionate sailor and all times,” said his friend and colleague, on Thursday, Nov. 2, in Room W20-307 understand weather systems such as participated in many ocean races, includ- Ed Zipser. from 2 to 3:30 p.m. This forum will give fronts and cyclones by careful analysis and ing the Newport-Bermuda and Marble- Sanders is survived by his wife, Nancy IS&T the opportunity to hear more about interpretation of weather observations. head-Halifax races. He also loved to cruise (Brown) Sanders; two sons, John Sanders customers’ experiences and requirements He made important contributions to the the coast of Maine and the Canadian and Duncan Sanders-Fleming; a daughter, as the e-mail landscape evolves. analysis, understanding, and prediction of Maritimes with his family and friends. An Christopher Sanders; and several grand- Continuing an e-mail migration process fronts, low pressure systems, hurricanes, accomplished tenor, he sang with the MIT children. that began last January, IS&T will retire squall lines, and flood-producing storms, support for the Eudora e-mail application and he coined the term “bomb” to describe effective Dec. 31, 2006. With the support explosively intensifying winter storms. of IT colleagues around campus, IS&T Sanders helped develop one of the strongly endorses migrating from Eudo- first successful computer models for fore- ra to Outlook 2003, Outlook Express or casting hurricane tracks, as well as new Apple Mail. Also, Qualcomm, the vendor techniques for forecasting rain and snow for Eudora, recently announced that it will amounts. He pioneered methods for evalu- discontinue selling a commercial version ating the skill of both human and comput- of Eudora early next year, although MIT’s er weather forecasts, stressing the need existing site license will be honored until it for quantifying the uncertainty of the fore- ends in June 2007.