Tech Talk Ann Graybiel Honored for Parkinson’S Work Undergraduate
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Volume 50 – Number 29 Wednesday – June 7, 2006 TechTalk S ERVING T HE M I T C OMMUNITY MIT gears up for 140th Commencement Sarah H. Wright lence and a commitment to public service chair of economics at Princeton from 1996 in the MIT Sloan School of Management. News Office — and I can think of no one who can bet- to 2002. Admission for ticketed guests begins at ter inspire our new graduates to use their Hockfield will deliver the traditional 7:30 a.m. Graduates will robe and assem- talents to serve the nation and the world,” charge to the graduates. Other Com- ble on the first floor of Johnson Athletic Macroeconomist Ben S. Bernanke, said President Susan Hockfield. mencement speakers will include Emilie Center, beginning at 7:30 a.m. Between 8 chair of the Federal Reserve and an MIT A former chair of the President’s Coun- Slaby, president of the Graduate Student a.m. and the beginning of the academic alumnus (Ph.D. 1979), will deliver the prin- cil of Advisors and a member of the Fed’s Council, and Kimberley Wu, president of procession, families and guests may enjoy cipal address at MIT’s 140th Commence- Board of Governors since 2002, Bernan- the Class of 2006. a live view of the graduates robing and ment exercises, to be held Friday, June 9, ke was appointed by President Bush and Miriam Rosenblum, MIT Jewish chap- assembling via television feed to Killian at 10 a.m. in Killian Court. approved by the U.S. Senate to assume lain, will deliver the Invocation. Court. During the ceremony, 2,109 undergrad- leadership of the Federal Reserve on Feb. Hockfield will also present the follow- Following the exercises, a reception uates and graduate students are scheduled 1, 2006. The head of the Fed sometimes ing degrees: bachelor of science; bach- will be held for graduates and their guests to receive 1,036 bachelor’s degrees, 1,048 known as the nation’s “banker in chief” elor of science/master of science; bach- on the West Campus Plaza. master’s degrees, 270 doctorates and nine — is widely considered to be the world’s elor of science/master of engineering; and A special hooding ceremony for Ph.D. engineer degrees. most powerful economist. advanced degrees in the School of Science, recipients will take place on Thursday, “Bernanke’s presence at the podium Bernanke, 52, is a native of Dillon, S.C. the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution June 8, at 1 p.m. in Rockwell Cage. Chan- will have a special resonance given MIT’s He received the B.A. in economics from and the Whitaker College of Health Sci- cellor Phillip L. Clay will preside. role as a wellspring of innovation in today’s Harvard in 1974, followed by the Ph.D. in ences and Technology. Commencement exercises require knowledge-based economy. His career economics from MIT. Bernanke was visit- Provost L. Rafael Reif will award complex and precise planning and the has exemplified values that are central to ing professor of economics at MIT in 1989, advanced degrees in the Schools of MIT — personal integrity, analytical rigor, an associate professor of economics at Architecture and Planning; Engineering; See PREVIEW an uncompromising drive toward excel- Stanford and a professor and department Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences; and Page 4 What a LIFE! 50th reunion class was on mag’s cover Sasha Brown News Office Fifty years after being highlighted by Life magazine for future promise, the MIT Class of 1956 — which celebrates its 50th reunion this week — has more than lived up to the honor, producing such success- ful alumni as an astronaut and a communi- cations revolutionary, among many others. In the 1950s, MIT was being noticed on a national level, in large part due to the Institute’s many contributions to World War II technology. Life magazine recognized the class and MIT in general on the cover of its May 7, 1956, issue with an article titled “The Need for Better Scientists and MIT’s Answer.” The article featured 27 photos by Life photographer Gjon Mili (S.B. 1927), fol- lowed by a three-page story by then-MIT President James R. Killian titled “A Bold PHOTO / DONNA COVENEY Strategy to Beat Shortage.” Graduating senior Eric Mibuari used some of the skills he learned here at MIT to start a computer center in his hometown, Laare, Kenya. The largest photo was of the Class of 1956 in the lobby of Building 7. “Pursued by industry and government, they are being offered average starting salaries of Kenyan grad shares what he’s learned $425, 10 percent higher than offers a year ago,” the article said. The feature in Life was a thrill for Sasha Brown dents take, Mibuari took information tech- the idea to start a community computer many members of the class, according to News Office nology courses. “I realized that IT had a center in Laare, Kenya, the town where he Guy Spencer (S.B. 1956). “I would say it lot of potential,” Mibuari said. grew up. was like being on some popular national While surfing the Internet, Mibuari “I just thought about how much IT TV show today, perhaps ‘Good Morning Without the Internet, graduating senior found a path to his future. Coming to MIT helped me personally,” Mibuari said. America’ or maybe a guest shot with Jay Eric Mibuari said he would never have was amazing, Mibuari said, calling his four “Many people in Kenya have not even seen Leno. Life was a big thing then,” he said. known about MIT. years here both “challenging and reward- a computer in their lives.” In the 50 years that have passed, mem- “That was a time when the Internet ing.” Basic computer skills — especially word bers of the Class of 1956 have continued to was getting really big in Kenya,” explained Mibuari decided he wanted to share processing — are helpful when young peo- distinguish themselves both nationally and Mibuari, an aeronautics and astronautics those skills back home. ple seek jobs after high school, Mibuari major. After attending Leader Shape at MIT, an See 50th During the gap year between high intensive six-day leadership-development See MIBUARI Page 6 school and college that most Kenyan stu- and community-building program, he got Page 7 RESEARCH NEWS SOLAR POWER GET OXIDED CELEBRATION Students win a World Bank Researchers have created a The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard officially Development Marketplace sensor that can monitor nitric opens its new building at 7 Cambridge Center. grant to develop a solar micro oxide in living cells. Page 2 generator in Lesotho. Page 8 TECH REUNIONS Page 5 A record number of alumni return to campus this weekend for events ranging from the Reunion Row to Technology Day. Page 3 PAGE 2 June 7, 2006 NEWS MIT Tech Talk Ann Graybiel honored for Parkinson’s work Undergraduate Ann Graybiel, the Walter A. Rosenblith another major agency dedicated to Parkin- Graybiel’s scholarships Professor of Neuroscience at MIT and a son’s disease. group is using principal investigator at the McGovern “I am humbled and incredibly honored experimental awarded Institute for Brain Research at MIT, has to receive these awards,” Graybiel said. models of Par- a new professorship to her name, exter- “My hope is that our lab’s work will help kinson’s, addic- Three MIT undergraduates are among nal to MIT, in recognition of her important patients with Parkinson’s disease.” The tion and habit the 323 students recently named Barry contributions to the understanding and NPF described Graybiel as “one of the learning to study Goldwater Scholars. treatment of Parkinson’s disease. world’s leading experts on the basal gan- how animals Goldwater Scholars receive up to The National Parkinson Foundation glia, the complex and inaccessible parts of learn to perform $7,500 per year for each of their remaining (NPF) earlier this year awarded her the the brain affected in people suffering from familiar tasks academic years. The awards are given to first Harold S. Diamond Professorship, PD and related conditions.” and how their sophomores and juniors planning careers created through a donation from New The basal ganglia not only influence neuronal cir- in science and engineering. York real-estate executive Lynn Diamond movement, they also are critical brain cuits respond to Ann Graybiel The winners from MIT are junior Alex- and named for Diamond’s late father. centers involved in motivation. “It’s a drugs that affect ander Bagley, a chemical engineering The appointment comes with a grant of great puzzle,” Graybiel said. “Somehow the dopamine major who plans to obtain an M.D./Ph.D. $150,000 per year for three years. the same or related circuitry that gets system. Two postdoctoral lab members, in biomedicine/tissue engineering; junior In 2004, Graybiel received the Woman damaged in Parkinson’s disease is also Ken-ichi Amemori and Mark Ruffo, will be Jennifer Choy, a nuclear science and engi- Leader of Parkinson’s Science award involved in habit formation, addiction and appointed Selma Diamond and Lynn Dia- neering major who plans to pursue a Ph.D. from the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, procedural learning.” mond research fellows. in nuclear physics; and junior Daniel Kane, a mathematics major who plans to obtain a Ph.D. in mathematics. This year’s Goldwater Scholars include 234 science majors, 47 engineering majors, 32 math majors and 10 computer science majors. They include 182 men and 141 women. Putnam competition Kane was also one of three MIT under- graduates who finished in the top six in the William Lowell Putnam Mathemati- cal Competition, held throughout North America in December 2005.