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The Weather MIT’s Today: Sunny becoming cloudy, 43°F (6°C) Oldest and Largest Tonight: Cloudy, 33°F (1°C) Newspaper Tomorrow: Sunny, 46°F (8°C) Details, Page 2 Volume 126, Number 13 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Tuesday, March 21, 2006 Admit Rate for 2010 Smaller Than Usual, One in Eight Gets In By Angeline Wang Harvard last year and Stanford ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR this year have also announced plans Only 13 percent of MIT’s appli- for increasing financial aid for stu- cants got in this year — a recent low dents from low income families. for the Admissions Office, which ex- The 1,474 acceptances includes pects that an even higher percentage 377 applicants admitted early, as of admitted students will enroll this well as 107 international students. fall than last. There were a total of 2,575 interna- Out of 11,373 applicants to the tional applications. Institute, only 1,474 have been ac- All 50 states and the District of cepted, but MIT hopes to admit stu- Columbia are represented, as well as dents from its waiting list as well, 61 foreign countries and territories, something it hasn’t done for the last Schmill said. This year’s admitted three years. Last year, 14 percent of class is 52 percent male and 48 per- the applicants were accepted, and in cent female, according to Dean of 2003 and 2004, 16 percent were ac- Admissions Marilee Jones. Twelve cepted. percent of the deferred applicants OMARI STEPHENS—THE TECH Of those accepted, the percentage from the early applicant pool were Barry Kelly, along with Keith Klefsted, George Howell, and Bill Peterson (not pictured), of Bartlett who actually come to MIT, known as accepted during regular admissions. Tree Experts prune trees in the vicinity of Building 2. During Spring Break, Bartlett Tree Experts the yield, has steadily increased in The Institute also raised the ad- will remove a Great American Elm tree, located near the Killian Court entrance to Building 3, which the last few years. It hovered around mission of under-represented minor- has reached its life expectancy. 55 percent in the late 1990s, but ities back up to 19 percent, which is jumped to 60 percent in 1999 and hit close to the 20 percent accepted for a high of 67 percent in 2005 for the the Classes of 2006 through 2008. Class of 2009. According to e-mail from Jones “We are planning for an increased after Early Action decisions were Scholarship to be ’06 Senior Gift yield [of 68 percent] this year, and sent, the Admissions office “redou- therefore we did admit fewer stu- bled our recruitment efforts for this Annual Reward to Senior Will Be Based on Contribution to Community dents,” Senior Associate Director of cycle” after getting only 14 percent Last night, the Class of 2006 50 percent donates, down to $5,000 ties, Department of Athletics, Physi- Admissions Stuart Schmill said. under-represented minorities for the unveiled its Senior Gift: an annual if between 20 and 30 percent par- cal Education and Recreation/Sports “The key for us is doing two Class of 2009. scholarship for a senior who contrib- ticipate. “I’m interested in helping at MIT, another designation of their things: admitting students who are a Instead of waiting for the decision utes to the MIT the senior class” build their fund, choosing, or Institute Unrestricted great match for MIT, who are inter- letters which were mailed out Friday, community, said and providing “extra motivation,” he funds. ested in the things we do here, and a majority of the applicants checked News Ryan F. Allard said. Allard said the choice of senior not letting finances drive their deci- for their decision online Saturday. ’06, Chair of In a departure from the usual Fi- gift was based on a senior survey car- sions,” Schmill said. “If we do those “Within two hours of the deci- the Senior Gift bonacci Challenge, where seniors do- ried out in November. He anticipates two things, students will choose to sions going live, approximately Brief Committee. nate $10, then $10, $20, $30, etc., the that the scholarship will amount to come. For students who want an ana- 7,000 of the 11,373 applicants had Fo l l ow i n g theme this year is the 5.0 challenge, about four percent of the funds do- lytical education, there is no better checked the site,” Schmill said. tradition, the current alumni asso- where students who donate $50 or nated to that category, though it may place than MIT.” “More have been checking through ciation president is the challenger, more are part of the “5.0 club.” As vary from year to year. Another lure for prospective stu- the weekend.” encouraging Class of 2006 members usual, seniors are not limited to do- The 2006 Senior Gift Web site is dents is the Institute’s new financial Earlier this month, the College to participate. Scott P. Marks Jr. ’68 nating to the senior gift. In addition, http://web.mit.edu/senior-gift/index. aid initiative, where MIT will match Board discovered errors in the pro- pledged to donate $25,000 if 60 per- they can designate their donation to html. Federal Pell Grants for all eligible cent of the class donates, $20,000 if Undergraduate Research Opportuni- — Jenny Zhang students, Schmill said. Admissions, Page 11 Nanoknitting Operation Restores Hamster Sight More Testing Required Before Trials on Humans By Carey Goldberg and brain injuries, particularly those THE BOSTON GLOBE whose brain injuries leave them “no In work that may hold promise for longer the person that was before.” victims of spinal cord and brain inju- “Our goal is to try to reconnect ries, researchers report that they have disconnected parts to restore that per- managed to restore sight to blinded son as much as possible,” he said. hamsters using a process they call The researchers injected nanofi- nanoknitting. bers into the gap created by cutting The work represents the first time the neural pathway that enables vi- that nanotechnology - engineering sion. These fibers linked themselves on an ultra-tiny scale - has been used together into a tiny scaffold that ap- to fix brain damage, said Rutledge parently helped heal the brain tissue Ellis-Behnke PhD ’03, a neuroscien- and let axons - the transmission lines tist at the Massachusetts Institute of that connect neurons - regrow. Technology and the lead researcher The knitting technique offers a on the paper. possible way to overcome a formi- It will be years before the knitting dable problem: When neural con- technique can be tried in humans, nections in the brain or spinal cord and it must still prove its worth in are damaged, they don’t tend to other animal experiments. But Ellis- heal, which can result in lifelong PHOTO COURTESY OF VALENTINA LUGO Behnke said he hopes it can someday brain damage and paralysis. When The Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers collaborated serve as part of a multipronged ther- a neuron is cut, Ellis-Behnke said, to organize a Karaoke Night for Charity on Saturday, March 18 in the Student Center Coffeehouse. apy to help regenerate nerve connec- it sprouts a “growth tip,” like a tree Over 100 students attended, and the event raised more than $350 for the Boston Ronald McDonald tions in the millions of people who House. suffer strokes, spinal cord damage, Nanoknitting, Page 14 Comics Students, local CAMPUS LIFE World & Nation . 2 professionals Cassandra R. Hunt describes her Opinion . 4 perform in experience of getting sued by the Campus Life . 5 Juggle Mania II. RIAA. Sports . 16 Page 5 Page 6 Page 8 Page 2 THE TECH March 21, 2006 WORLD & NATION Business Prepares Bush Speech Concedes War For the Possibility of Avian Flu By Melanie Warner THE NEW YORK TIMES Setbacks, Remains Hopeful The deadly strain of avian flu has not been found anywhere in the Western Hemisphere, but Mark Holden, a chicken grower for Tyson By Elisabeth Bumiller as not living in a fantasy world about But Bush recounted how U.S. Foods in Ellijay, Ga., is not taking any chances. THE NEW YORK TIMES the three-year war. and Iraqi forces launched a ma- Every seven weeks a group of his chickens is tested before the birds CLEVELAND “In the face of continued reports jor military offensive against the are sent to be slaughtered. All people who enter or leave the chicken President Bush on Monday held about killings and reprisals, I under- insurgents last fall, including the houses must walk through disinfecting baths. And visitors and workers out the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar stand how some Americans have had construction of an eight-foot dirt must wear plastic booties over their shoes. as an example of U.S. success in the their confidence shaken,” Bush said. wall around the city to cut off es- “Even though we don’t have any outbreak now, we want to take all war, but he also acknowledged in re- “Others look at the violence they see cape routes. After successful com- the precautions we can to protect our product,” said Holden, who has marks that were as grim as they were each night on their television screens bat operations were over, Bush said, been in the chicken business for 10 years and lives across the street hopeful that the city’s improvements and they wonder how I can remain more than 1,000 Iraqi forces were from one of his chicken houses. were not matched in other parts of so optimistic about the prospects of deployed to keep order.

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