Established 1881 WEATHER, p. 11 MIT’s Oldest and THU: 61°F | 50°F Largest Newspaper Partly Cloudy. Fri: 67°F | 50°F Rain Showers. tech.mit.edu sat: 60°F | 45°F Partly Cloudy. Established 1881 Volume 135, Number 26 Thursday, October 8, 2015 ‘Dissolve’ Half of meeting new MIT to address master’s inequality Established 1881 program Prof. saw flaws in Solve conference is online By Katherine Nazemi NEWS EDITOR One semester at The Dissolve “Un-conference” — MIT is required which despite the name is hosted in collaboration with the ongoing Solve By Drew Bent VIVIAN HU — ThE TECH — will tackle questions of global in- The Solve Pavilion sits in North Court. The four-day conference addresses global challenges in education, ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR equality Thursday. healthcare, energy, and infrastructure. The conference, which will be MIT introduced a pilot program held in the Solve Pavilion on North Wednesday in which profession- Court, is a way to bring people and als can receive a master’s degree in ideas “at the margins” into the cen- SolveEstablished conference 1881 gathers ‘change supply chain management (SCM) ter, says organizer Ian Condry. by taking the online equivalent of In particular, the conference will a semester’s worth of classes and look at how MIT can “dissolve the agents,’ takes on global problems following it up with a semester on structures of power that produce to- campus. day’s inequalities.” The hybrid model includes a “The goal is to identify common MIT hosts talks and workshops for experts, leaders in business new academic credential, called a themes and to suggest possibilities By Emma Bingham smaller problems. The four-day the Fuel and Learn pillars, held in MicroMaster’s, that students will for driving systemic change,” accord- STAFF REPORTER conference let invited “change MIT Bartos Theater. receive after completing the on- ing to Dissolve’s website. “We will fo- agents” explore these topics in The cost to attend Solve line classes and passing a compre- cus on bottom-up approaches.” Leaders from academia and depth through keynote speakers, ranged from $10,000 to $100,000, hensive exam. The MicroMaster’s Ten-minute discussion sessions business alike gathered this week debates, roundtables, demon- although this fee was either has no admissions process and is led by anthropologists, media theo- for the Solve conference, hosted strations, and workshops. waived or sponsored for some awarded solely based upon stu- rists, community organizers, and ac- by MIT to address key challenges Most Solve events were pri- attendees. This money, billed as dents’ online performance. tivists will touch on topics like gen- in four fundamental areas: edu- vate, and held in various places “membership” fees, will go to- Each of the five MITx courses der inequality, community activism, cation, healthcare, energy, and around campus, such as Kresge ward the costs of the conference in the program will cost $150 if climate change, and DIY health solu- infrastructure. and the MIT Media Lab, and par- and establishing Solve as an an- students pursue the MicroMas- tions. The final hour will be devoted EachEstablished of the four “pillars” of1881 ticularly the glass-walled Solve nual event and as an “ongoing ter’s credential. They will be free, to open discussion. Solve — Learn, Cure, Fuel, and pavilion installed temporarily in movement of exploration and however, for those who just want to Dissolve will be free and open to Make — focused on a central ob- North Court, in front of Building impact,” according to the website. learn the curriculum. jective and asked key questions 76. A few were open to the public, Students who choose to pur- Dissolve, Page 13 to break the challenges down into such as the Roundtable events for Solve, Page 9 sue a full master’s degree will then be able to use their MicroMaster’s credential to strongly supplement Alumna runs for city their application, and upon accep- MIT alum awarded Nobel Prize for tance, will only need to study on MIT’s campus for a semester before work on DNA repair receiving their degree. council seat, joins slate The first MITx course begins on Paul L. Modrich ’86, who PhD from Stanford. As an MIT un- Feb. 10, 2016. The inaugural class of earned his bachelor’s in biol- dergraduate, he was a resident of Campaign prioritizes civic engagement, online students is expected to arrive ogy from MIT, was awarded the East Campus. on campus in 2017 or 2018, depend- 2015 Nobel Prize in chemistry on Modrich shares the 8 mil- affordable housing, responsive Council ing on when the final courses in the Wednesday for his work on DNA lion Swedish kronor prize (about online sequence are released. mismatch repair. $960,000) equally with Tomas Lin- By Katherine Nazemi to bring that experience to bear Modrich is now a biochemis- dahl of Sweden and Aziz Sancar of NEWS EDITOR on community engagement in Masters, Page 13 try professor at the Duke Univer- the U.S. and Turkey. Cambridge. sity School of Medicine and an in- Over the last four decades, the Mariko Davidson MCP ’13, “Some of the most successful vestigator at the Howard Hughes who earned a master’s degree in ways we’ve found of making civic Medical Institute. He earned his Nobel, Page 13 city planning at MIT, is running engagement engaging is making it IN Short for Cambridge City Council. Two fun,” Davidson said. “Using play, Add date is this Friday, Oct. 9. other MIT alumni are currently using different types of technol- up for reelection. ogy — and even things as basic as Columbus Day, an MIT holiday, Davidson is running on a slate Legos — has encouraged public will be observed Monday, Oct. 12. with four other candidates, one of participation from more than just A Monday schedule will be ob- MIT Connect uses algorithm to whom, Nadeem Mazen ’06, is also your typical constituent.” served the following day, Tuesday, an MIT graduate. To facilitate inclusion, David- Oct. 13. pair grad students for lunch Among Davidson’s campaign son believes there should be an priorities are a $15 minimum online system to complement in- Depression screenings and ther- MIT Connect is a new ini- interests, food preferences, and wage, more affordable housing, person government services. apy dogs will be available on the tiative aimed at strengthening preferred lunch times into ac- protected bicycle infrastructure, “Why should you sit in a public third floor of the Student Center the sense of community among count. An introductory email is and community engagement in planning meeting for four hours (W20) on Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 graduate students. Each week, the sent to matched pairs with some policy-making. after work? Why isn’t there some p.m. program pairs graduate students potential starting points for the “Do you know what your city sort of [webpage] for develop- for one-on-one platonic lunches conversation, as well as a link to councillor is up to?” Davidson ment and public planning meet- The Annual Bike Auction will and provides each student with an experience survey to take after asked. ings where you can comment in take place Thursday Oct. 15 in the a $10 TechCash deposit they can the meetup. As a fellow at the Mayor’s Of- real time?” parking lot at 290 Albany St. Cash redeem at local restaurants or on- The Connect program saw 80 fice of New Urban Mechanics, Da- Davidson and her fellow can- and check will be accepted. campus dining halls. graduate students sign up with- vidson experimented with ways didates comprising Slate for The matching is done by an to involve different segments of Cambridge believe that better Send news information and tips algorithm that takes students’ Connect, Page 9 the community in the political to [email protected]. process, and, if elected, she plans Davidson, Page 13 Will reiF DeciDE Let it rain, let it rain the ultiMate nerD FootBall has SECTIONS Opinion . .4 I’m in Californian heaven. to DIVest? hero its First win Fun Pages . .5 CAMPUS LIFE, p. 12 Climate change activists Matt Damon imbues The After last year’s historic Arts . .6 rallied last week as the Restore islaM’S Greatness Martian’s Watney with season, the team is off Weather . 11 MIT Corporation met. warmth and intelligence. to a slower start this Campus Life . .12 NEWS, p. 13 An MIT chaplain disagrees with Ayaan ARTS, p. 7 year. SPORTS, p. 14 Sports . .14 Hirsi Ali’s assessment. OPINION, p. 4 2 The Tech Thursday, October 8, 2015 Institute Double Take By Alexander C. Bost STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER For those unfamiliar with the MIT Sailing Pavilion, every time the moon is full the pavilion stays open past sunset and allows members of the MIT community to sail Lynx Catboats until mid- night. On Sunday, Sept. 28, the full moon was made even more impressive by coinciding with a total lunar eclipse. I brought a Nikon D800 down to the pavilion dock and set up a series of long exposure shots. Green and white running lights on the boats made for wispy light trails as boats came and went from the dock, with the Boston skyline provid- ing the backdrop. The 30-second exposure time allows for a low ISO of 400 and f/stop of 8, which prevents distant objects from ap- pearing overly blurry or noisy. Aperture: ƒ/8 Exposure Time: 30 sec. Sensitivity: ISO 400 Effective Focal Length: 17 mm Solution to Crossword from page 5 Are you a tetris ninja? Use your powers for good! arts arts arts arts arts arts arts arts arts arts news arts news arts news news news news news newsnews news news news ...by joining the production department at Th e Tech! [email protected] opn opn opn arts opn arts opn arts opn spo spo arts arts opn spo spo arts arts opn spo spo arts arts opn spo spo life arts f u n opn spo spo life arts f u n opn spo spo pandarts f unopn life life life f u n f u n f u n life life life f u n f u n f u n lifelifelife f unf unf un Thursday, October 8, 2015 The Tech 3 Israeli Dance Beginner's Classes! You are invited to attend th Wed.