EAPS 54-100 Lecture Hall Naming Contest Phase 1 Consolidated Nominations with Narrative Rationales

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EAPS 54-100 Lecture Hall Naming Contest Phase 1 Consolidated Nominations with Narrative Rationales EAPS 54-100 Lecture Hall Naming Contest Phase 1 Consolidated Nominations with Narrative Rationales 1 54-1.5 1.5 degrees C is the ambitious target of the Paris Agreement, limiting global temperature increase. The name both reflects the typical use of numbers for lecture halls at MIT, and serves as a reminder of the magnitude of the climate challenge. It also follows closely upon “54-100” which is what everyone calls that room -- referring to fifty- four-one-point-five would be an easy transition. 1.5 degrees is an ambitious (and some would say impossible) goal, but is a level at which the risks and impacts of climate change would be significantly reduced. Even when (if) 1.5 is in the rear view mirror, the name would also serve as a reminder of the human impact on the planet, the collective goals to mitigate this impact, and the universality of people across the globe working together towards a common ambition. 2 Room 417.07 417.07 ppm is the monthly average CO2 concentration at Mauna Loa, for May 2020. In keeping with MIT’s institutional naming traditions, which honor our collective numeric bent, naming the lecture hall Room 417.07, which is the monthly average CO2 concentration in ppm at Mauna Loa in May 2020 (could be changed to reflect CO2 at time of building or dedication) reflects the specific time and climate we live in, and is a prescient reminder of how we got here, where we’re going, and what we can do about it. 3 Tanya Atwater Tanya Atwater - pioneer in plate tectonics, inspirational woman geophysicist. In the 1970s & 80s Tanya Atwater was a pioneer geophysicist and marine geologist during the time when plate tectonics was a major issue of scientific debate. In addition to being an outstanding scientist, renowned for her research on the San Andreas fault system and the plate tectonic history of western North America, elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1997, she was devoted to science communication and teaching students at all levels. She was active in the public debate, speaking on TV and showing the evidence in the field around the world. She began her studies at MIT and was a Professor in Course XII before joining the faculty of UCSB in 1980. I am one of many, many young women who saw her on TV and thought: “So maybe it is possible for me to be a geophysicist, too.” I was honored to meet her when I came to MIT for graduate school in 1976. 4 Bacon-Bercey Hall June Bacon-Bercey was the first African-American woman to receive a degree in meteorology and to be a televised meteorologist. She was the first woman, as well as the first African-American, to be awarded the AMS’s Seal of Approval. June Bacon-Bercey worked at NOAA, NWS and AEC during her career. She was the first woman, as well as the first African-American, to be awarded the AMS’s Seal of Approval. She dedicated time to increasing the gender and racial diversity in meteorology. In fact, she dedicated money from an award she won to founding a scholarship for women interested in atmospheric sciences, under the auspices of the AGU. She served on several committees for women and minorities including for the AGU and AMS. She was named as a Minority Pioneer for Achievement in Atmospheric Sciences by NASA. 5 Basement It’s Earth-science and nerd humor. The 18 floors of the Green building are like sedimentary layers, so the basement would be the deepest, lowest rock layer. And also it’s funny because if you literally try going to the basement, you’ll just find tunnels and elevators leading elsewhere, and one of the elevators will have a sign pointing UP (Basement that way!) 6 Samuel A. Bowring Hall As a Professor of Geology at EAPS for 28 years with a passion or teaching and an innovative, enthusiastic, and inclusive approach to STEM education, Sam Bowring, who recently passed away, was one of the most beloved EAPS faculty members to undergraduates in EAPS and beyond, and it is fitting to memorialize his contributions to the EAPS undergraduate community in a lecture hall primarily used for undergraduate classes. Samuel A. Bowring’s career was sadly cut short by illness, but he leaves a legacy of cutting-edge science, advancing the state of the art in geochronology and geochemistry and integrating the results from those fields into broader knowledge of the Earth in space and especially time, and educating and mentoring a large number of students at EAPS and across MIT. He was the leading light in convincing his colleagues in academia and at federal research agencies to take a new, more collaborative approach to the pursuit of precisely understanding time from the oldest rocks to the processes shaping the world today. He brought the same unselfish instincts to his teaching and his service to the Institute for which he was recognized as a MacVicar Faculty Fellow and earned the MIT Everett Moore Baker Memorial Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. He inspired countless students towards careers in the Earth Sciences by teaching classes, leading field trips, and mentoring undergraduate and graduate research. He believed that everyone should understand how the planet worked and he was willing to put in the effort to teach as many people as he could. From 12.102, to 12.120, to Terrascope, to numerous graduate classes, Sam was always looking for ways to help students experience and learn about their world. Many of these classes involved field experiences that were fully paid for, allowing students from diverse economic backgrounds to experience camping, travel, and field geology. Although Terrascope students are not allowed to vote on this, there is a large number of undergraduate alumni who feel that naming 54-100 after him is an appropriate memorial for his lasting impact on the MIT undergraduate population both within EAPS and beyond at MIT. In addition to his dedication to teaching, Sam rooted for the underdog. He was one of the rare professors who was willing to help students who needed a second chance, a recommendation, a new computer, or a job. Sam exemplified some of the best qualities of MIT; he was an excellent researcher who was not only passionate about science but also passionate about sharing science. 54-100 isn’t a lecture hall just for geologists, or astronomers, or atmospheric scientists, or geophysicists. It’s for all of MIT. Naming the hall after Bowring would represent his unwavering dedication to undergraduate education throughout his career at MIT, and would wonderfully represent the inclusive spirit of Sam’s tenure at MIT. 7 Dixie Lee Bryant Class of 1891 Hall In 1891 Dixie Lee Bryant received the very first degree from MIT’s Course XII, in 1904 the first PhD in geology from Erlangen awarded to a woman, and taught science for 40 years; MIT’s recognition of her trailblazing role is overdue. The first recipient of an MIT degree in Course XII, in 1891, Dixie Lee Bryant, is the perfect person after whom to name 54- 100. Dr. Bryant was an accomplished, pioneering geoscientist and STEM educator, professionally active for 40 years. Dr. Bryant came to MIT from Tennessee as no Southern university would admit women to science degree programs. After graduating from MIT (studying the Charles River), she became an inaugural faculty member at the normal school in North Carolina (now UNC Greensboro), where she led the science department, establishing what we would now call a STEM curriculum and teaching geology and chemistry. In 1901 she took a leave from her position to pursue graduate study. In 1904 she was the first woman to receive a PhD, in geology, from the university in Erlangen, Germany (on the petrography of Spitzbergen). That year, when she returned from leave, an acknowledged expert on science teaching and curriculum and the school’s first PhD-holder, neither her status nor salary (less than that of male colleagues) were changed. The next year she moved to Chicago, where she taught secondary school science until her 1931 retirement. Her accomplishments are well-documented and are all the more impressive in light of women’s status at that time (source: Wikipedia; source: Shrock’s departmental history). There is not a single room or building at MIT named for an alumna! The naming of 54-100 in recognition of the achievements of Dr. Bryant, the department’s first graduate, would change this. 8 Katherine Woodley Carman Lecture Hall This name is fitting because Dr. Katherine Woodley Carman was the first woman to graduate with a PhD from EAPS and she went on to work in the petroleum geology field as an accomplished micropalaeontologist. Dr. Katherine Woodley Carman was the first woman to earn a PhD in EAPS at MIT and went on to be an accomplished micropalaeontologist. She worked in the petroleum geology field and was a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists for 82 years, until she passed away at the age of 102 in 2008. Women in science, and particularly in the geosciences and petroleum geology, are underrepresented and many of their contributions aren’t known by the public; Dr. Carman doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page. I think it would be fitting to honor Dr. Carman, who made significant contributions to both EAPS and petroleum geology, by naming the Shell-funded lecture hall after her. 9 Jule Charney Hall In honor of a leading EAPS researcher, teacher and mentor in Climate Science and lead author of influential NAS Climate Change Report Jule G.
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