MIT Grad Crowned Miss MA

MIT’s The Weather Oldest and Largest Today: Partly Cloudy, 76°F (24°C) Tonight: Showers 64°F (17°C) Newspaper Tomorrow: Rain, 75°F (23°C) Details, Page 4 Volume 124, Number 29 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Wednesday, July 7, 2004 MIT Grad Kerry Picks Edwards Crowned As His Running Mate By David M. Halbfinger major rival in the Democratic nomi- THE NEW YORK TIMES nating contests. After a surprisingly Miss MA PITTSBURGH strong second-place finish in the Sen. John Kerry named John Iowa caucuses — some Kerry aides By Beckett W. Sterner Edwards as his running mate Tues- say they believe Edwards would EDITOR IN CHIEF day, turning to the youthful North have won had the caucuses occurred Erika Ebbel ’03 became MIT’s Carolina senator whose nimble cam- two days later — Edwards held on first Miss Massachusetts on June 26. paign skills, engaging personality until the first week of March as oth- This was her third try at winning and evident appeal across different ers, like Howard Dean and former the pageant, which Ebbel said she regions of the country made him the Gen. Wesley K. Clark, once thought had initially decided to enter after top choice of many Democratic to have more star power fell behind. seeing the competition on television leaders. “I was humbled by his offer and and being encouraged by a friend. “I have chosen a man who thrilled to accept it,” Edwards said She said she is now preparing for understands and defends the values in a statement before joining his the Miss America pageant, which of America,” Kerry told a roaring wife and children to fly to Pitts- will take place in Atlantic City on crowd at a morning rally at Market burgh to spend the evening with the Sept. 18. Square here, minutes after an Kerry family at Teresa Heinz Ebbel majored in Chemistry and announcement of his choice had Kerry’s estate near here. minored in music at MIT. She also been e-mailed to hundreds of thou- The Kerry campaign orchestrat- participated in the MIT Dancetroupe sands of supporters. ed the selection for maximum expo- and the varsity co-ed pistol team. “A man who has shown courage sure, managing to keep it a secret She competed on the platform of and conviction as a champion for across the holiday weekend, making “Encouraging Middle and High middle-class Americans and for both a traditional rally announce- School Students to Participate in those struggling to reach the middle ment as well as one by e-mail and Math and Science,” and has started class,” Kerry added, citing the putting off the ticket’s first joint a tax-exempt organization called the themes that Edwards had made his appearance for a day. The two men WhizKids Foundation to help orga- own in the Democratic primaries. and their wives were to embark nize science fairs and programs in “A man who has shown guts and Wednesday on a four-day tour Massachusetts and California determination and political skill in through the battleground states of schools. his own race for the presidency of Ohio, Florida, West Virginia and According to the Miss Massa- the United States.” New Mexico before ending the chusetts Web site, Ebbel won pre- DANIEL BERSAK—THE TECH In the 51-year-old Edwards, week with a homecoming rally in liminary interview, swimsuit, and A member of the US Navy waves a flag during Boston’s Fourth Kerry, who is 60, chose a relatively North Carolina on Saturday. of July Celebration at the Hatch Shell. new face to American politics, and a Ebbel, Page 4 man who was his longest-lasting Kerry, Page 4 Dennis D. Dillon Mullainathan To Leave for Harvard By Beckett W. Sterner he said. One example might be a all cost dramatically, still causes a Dennis D. Dillon ’05, 23, died in a paraglider accident on Mon- EDITOR IN CHIEF small change in the terms of a loan, day, June 28. His father also died in the crash. Economics Professor Sendhil which, while not affecting the over- Mullainathan, Page 4 “He remains the funniest and most interesting person I’ve ever Mullainathan will be leaving MIT known,” Grace A. Chou ’05, Dillon’s girlfriend, wrote in an e-mail. this year to accept an appointment at “He could do everything from operating a tractor to horseback riding Harvard. to bartending.” After coming to MIT, Dillon became “perhaps the Mullainathan said that the prima- first Montana rancher to learn how to rave to trance and to enjoy Lol- ry reason for his decision was “hav- licup,” she wrote. ing more access to the psychology “The biggest thing that really stands out to me about him is that he department” at Harvard, which has a was the one person who always lived for what made him happy,” said stronger emphasis on behavioral Samuel J. Hwang ’05, who roomed with Dillon last semester. psychology than MIT’s program “Everyone gets caught up with making money, but [Dillon] was just does. planning on going back home and taking over his family’s ranch.” Put together with former MIT “He was a great, great guy. Everyone who met him just really professor Steven Pinker’s depar- liked him. He never really complained or got mad,” Hwang said. ture to Harvard last year for simi- Friends also remembered him for his ability to work with his lar reasons, Mullainathan’s depar- hands, and his skills in the outdoors. A mechanical engineering stu- ture indicates that MIT and dent, “he was able to fix anything,” said Amit K. Gupta ’05, the sum- Harvard are diverging in their mer president for Phi Beta Epsilon, Dillon’s fraternity. He was “an approaches to psychology and cog- extremely dedicated brother” of PBE, and was to take his second nitive science. term as house manager this coming year. While Harvard is stronger in He “loved to work” at his home, the Montana ranch that he died behavioral psychology, MIT has at, Chou wrote. pursued a more microscopic He also loved hunting and “shot his first deer when he was approach, focusing on understand- seven,” Gupta said. He had already been to Africa once, and had been ing the biophysical mechanisms of planning to go back with his family later this month, Gupta said. the mind in its brain and cognitive Dillon was also known as a practical joker. Once, for example, Dil- sciences department. lon caught a mouse in PBE and taped it to the doorknob to the room of The standard economic analysis three PBE brothers, said Gupta. The three brothers, who were all is predicated on the idea that we afraid of mice, were effectively trapped in their room until someone make our decisions rationally, with else came and removed the mouse from their doorknob, he said. the deciding factor being money. Coming from his Montana ranch, Dillon didn’t have “a single suit Behavioral economics runs counter or anything fancy,” Hwang said. When he went to buy a dress shirt, to this orthodoxy by working to take he bought a FUBU brand shirt, not knowing that the brand is targeted into account the sometimes irra- at the black population, Hwang said. tional or emotional decisions we He gradually acquired a suit and a cell phone, and even “eventual- make. ly grudgingly added some Express Men and Banana Republic to his Mullainathan said that a large wardrobe,” Chou wrote. part of his research right now “He was one of those guys who was always having lot of fun,” focuses on how economically minor Hwang said. “He loved rock music and went to a bunch of concerts changes “in the decision environ- PETER R. RUSSO—THE TECH when he was here,” Hwang said. ment can make larger changes” in Economics professor Sendhil Mullainathan sits in his office in building the overall choice a person makes, E52. Mullainathan will leave MIT for Harvard University later this year. The Tech will next publish on Comics NEWS Aug. 4th. Charges dropped against Aimee Opinion . 2 Smith 1 Sports . .3 ⁄2 Page 4 Arts . 5 New evening food truck opens Page 3 Page 4 Page 2 THE TECH July 7, 2004 OPINION Chairman Hangyul Chung ’05 Editor in Chief Beckett W. Sterner ’06 Business Manager Lauren W. Leung ’07 Managing Editor Tiffany Dohzen ’06 NEWS STAFF News Editors: Kathy Lin ’06, Jenny Zhang ’06, Waseem S. Daher ’07, Tongyan Lin ’07; Associate Editors: Ray C. He ’07, Gireeja V. Ranade ’07, Julián E. Villarreal ’07; Staff: Kathy Dobson G, Eun J. Lee ’04, Michael E. Rolish ’04, Jay K. Cameron ’05, Issel Anne L. Lim ’05, Kelley Rivoire ’06; Meteorologists: Cegeon Chan G, David Flagg G, Samantha L. H. Hess G, Vikram Khade G, Robert Lindsay Korty G, Greg Lawson G, Nikki Privé G, William Ramstrom G, Michael J. Ring G. PRODUCTION STAFF Editors: Andrew Mamo ’04, Sie Hendrata Dhar- mawan ’05, Tiffany Dohzen ’06; Associate Editor: Nicholas R. Hoff ’05; Staff: Joel C. Corbo ’04, Joy Forsythe ’04, Kevin Chen ’05, Albert Leung ’06, Jolinta Lin ’06, Jonathan Reinharth ’06, Jennifer Huang ’07, Yaser M. Khan ’07, Y. Grace Lin ’07, EunMee Yang ’07, Sylvia Yang ’07. OPINION STAFF Editors: Vivek Rao ’05, Ruth Miller ’07; Colum- nist: Andrew C. Thomas ’04; Staff: Basil Enweg- bara SM ’01, Gretchen K. Aleks ’04, Ken Nesmith ’04, Atif Z. Qadir ’04, W. Victoria Lee ’06, Daniel Barclay ’07, Chen Zhao ’07. SPORTS STAFF Editors: Phil Janowicz ’05, Brian Chase ’06; Staff: Yong-yi Zhu ’06, Alisha R. Scher ’07. ARTS STAFF Letters To The Editor Editors: Christine R.

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