Volume 52, Number 25 TechTalk Wednesday, May 7, 2008 S e r v i n g Th e MIT Co mm u n i t y Early treatment Singin‘ in the brain of stomach Baby birds babble like human babies learning to talk infection may prevent cancer

Prompt treatment of a microbe that causes stom- ach ulcers and other ailments can reverse damage to the lining of the stomach and ultimately prevent one of the most lethal forms of cancer from developing there, MIT researchers have concluded. In the May 1 issue of Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, the scientists say their study results should lay to rest any question about whether—and when—antibiotic treat- ment of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) can eliminate or reduce risk of developing gastric, or stomach, cancer. The findings are important, the researchers say, because stomach cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death worldwide and approximately half of the world’s population is infected with H. pylori. Although H. pylori infection is now recognized as the major cause of both peptic ulcers and gastric cancer, and has been classified as a group I carcinogen by the World Health Organization, physicians are not sure whom to screen and treat with costly antibiotics, aside from first-degree relatives of gastric cancer patients and those with peptic ulcer disease. Since it typically takes several decades for gastric cancer to develop in those who are susceptible— which is estimated to be up to 3 percent of infected people—researchers also do not know when to treat uPlease see STOMACH, PAGE 7

IMAGE / AARON ANDALMAN

Cathryn Delude the ubiquitous exploratory behavior that we often call McGovern Institute play but that is essential for trial-and-error learn- ing,” comments Michale Fee, the senior author of the study and a neuroscientist in the McGovern Institute oung songbirds babble before they can mimic for Brain Research at MIT and associate professor in an adult’s song, much like their human counter- MIT’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. Yparts. Now, in work that offers insights into how Early on, baby zebra finches produce a highly vari- birds—and perhaps people—learn new behaviors, MIT able, babbling song. They practice incessantly until scientists have found that immature and adult bird- they can produce the stereotyped, never-changing song songs are driven by two separate brain pathways, rather of adults. “This early variability is necessary for learn- than one pathway that slowly matures. ing, so we wanted to determine whether it is produced The work is reported in the May 2 issue of Science. by an immature adult motor pathway or by some other “The babbling during song learning exemplifies uPlease see BIRDSONG, PAGE 5

New emergency notification program for campus alerts To improve MIT’s ability to MIT community for whom we had communicate rapidly with members information. As part of the test, a of the community during an emer- broadcast e-mail was also sent to the gency, MIT emergency planners entire campus. are asking students, faculty and staff follows the testing last August of a “Based on what was learned to enter or update their emergency new emergency notification system from the test, we are implementing notification information at http:// designed to alert students, faculty and changes and, in particular, work- web.mit.edu/mitalert. This infor- staff of an emergency via phone, text ing to collect more cell-phone data mation will only be used to alert message and e-mail. The system— from students and staff to facilitate students, faculty and staff of a life- part of the comprehensive MIT future testing and enhancements of safety or public-health emergency. Alert emergency communications the MIT Alert system,” said David PHOTO / DONNA COVENEY The impetus to gather complete program—dispatched phone calls Barber, Emergency and Business MIT Facilities gardener Kathy Coletti plants red azaleas information for everyone on campus and text messages to members of the uPlease see ALERT, PAGE 6 by the Landau building near East Campus as spring begins to bloom on campus. PEOPLE RESEARCH NEWS Boyce named DME head Debunking a job-testing myth China Forum lecture series begins

Mary Boyce will take the helm of the Pioneering study by David Autor shows that job test- MIT will kick off new monthly lecture series on May Department of Mechanical ing increases productivity not at the expense of minority 14 with a talk from Yingyi Qian, dean of the school of Engineering starting on July 1. hiring. economics and management at Tsinghua University.

PAGE 3 PAGE 6 PAGE 6 PAGE 2 May 7, 2008 u PEOPLE MIT Tech Talk Three of MIT’s thinkers named to 7 from MIT top 100 intellectuals list elected to Patrick Gillooly computing, nanotech- News Office nology and personal the NAS fabrication,” the maga- zine’s citation notes. Seven MIT faculty members are Three of MIT’s thinkers—Noam Readers will now among the 72 newly elected members Chomsky, Esther Duflo and Neil Gershen- vote on their choice and 18 foreign associates of the National feld—have been named among 100 “global for “top global public Academy of Sciences in recognition intellectuals” by Prospect Magazine. intellectuals”—for the of their distinguished and continuing The three are cited in the web-exclusive first time since Chom- achievements in original research. portion of the British monthly magazine’s Noam Esther Neil sky won the title in Election to the NAS—a private orga- web site for their work on foreign policy, nization of scientists and engineers dedi- Chomsky Duflo Gershenfeld 2005—until May 15 at poverty and quantum computing. http://www.prospect- cated to advancing science and its use Chomsky, a professor of linguistics, is Economics, was noted for her work on magazine.co.uk/ for the general welfare—is considered a cited as being “a groundbreaking linguist “health, poverty and credit issues in the intellectuals/. top honor for those in the science and and a prominent critic of U.S. foreign developing world.” Prospect touts itself as a monthly that is engineering fields. Established in 1863, policy” as well as the winner of the maga- Gershenfeld, director of the Center “more readable than the Economist, more the NAS acts as an official adviser to the zine’s 2005 global intellectuals poll. for Bits and Atoms at MIT and associate relevant than the Spectator, more romantic federal government, upon request, in any Duflo, the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor professor of media arts and sciences, “takes than the New Statesman,” according to its matter of science or . of Poverty Alleviation and Development an interdisciplinary approach to quantum web site. The new NAS members from MIT are: Arts, sciences • Edward A. Boyle, professor of ocean geochemistry, Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. Boyle’s research focuses on trace fellows named metals and trace metal isotope ratios Eight MIT faculty members are among in the oceans, estuaries, rivers, and ice the 212 new fellows recently elected to the cores. American Academy of Arts & Sciences, one • Stephen L. Buchwald, Camille of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious Dreyfus Professor of Chemistry, honorary societies and independent policy Department of Chemistry. Buch- research centers. wald’s research combines techniques “For 228 years, the Academy has served of organic synthesis, physical organic the public good by convening leading chemistry and organometallic chemis- thinkers and doers from diverse perspec- try to devise catalytic processes of use tives to examine—and provide practical to organic synthesis. policy solutions to—the pressing issues • Edward F. DeLong, professor of of the day,” said Academy Chief Execu- civil and environmental engineering tive Officer and William T. Golden Chair and biological engineering, Depart- Leslie Berlowitz. “I am confident that this ment of Civil and Environmental distinguished class of new members will Engineering. Delong’s research continue that tradition.” is currently focused on applying The academy will welcome this year’s contemporary genomic technolo- new fellows at its annual induction cere- gies to dissect complex microbial mony in October at its Cambridge, Mass., assemblages. headquarters. • Marc A. Kastner, dean of the School PHOTO / KAVEH MILANINIA of Science and Donner Professor of Dr. Ahmed Zewail receives a lifetime achievement award from MIT Arab Students The new MIT fellows are: Science. Kastner’s research interests Organization’s President Iman Kandil ‘09 during the group’s fifth annual Science include studying the motion of elec- and Technology Awards Banquet on Saturday, April 26. • Tobias Colding, professor of trons in nanometer-size semiconduc- mathematics tor structures and in transition-metal MIT Arab students honor engineering and computer science, was • Christopher Cummins, professor of oxides. given a young professional award; Loai chemistry • Frank T. Leighton, professor of Nobel laureate, others Naamani, an MIT doctoral student in • Alan D. Grossman, Praecis Professor applied mathematics, Department of civil and environmental engineering, of Biology Mathematics. Leighton is one of the The MIT Arab Students Organiza- was given a graduate student award; • Timothy L. Grove, professor of world’s preeminent authorities on tion honored Nobel laureate Ahmed and Ibrahim Kanan, an MIT senior in geology algorithms for network applications. Zewail at its fifth annual Science and mechanical engineering, was given an • Jonathan Gruber, professor of He holds numerous patents involving Technology Awards Banquet on Satur- undergraduate student award. economics cryptography, digital-rights manage- day, April 26. “Every spring, the MIT Arab • Klavs F. Jensen, chemical engineer- ment and algorithms for network. Zewail, a professor at Caltech who Students Organization celebrates excep- ing department head, Warren K. Lewis • Timothy M. Swager, head of the won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in tional Arabs and Arab-Americans who Professor of Chemical Engineering Department of Chemistry and John 1999, was presented with the organiza- have made noteworthy contributions and professor of materials science and D. MacArthur Professor of Chem- tion’s lifetime achievement award. to science, technology and other areas engineering istry. Swager’s research looks into The organization presented several of scholarship that will best serve • Marc A. Kastner, Donner Professor of supramolecular and materials chem- other awards at the ceremony, held at the nation and the world in the 21st Science; dean, School of Science istry with an emphasis on the synthe- the Sheraton in Boston. Dina Katabi, century,” said Iman Kandil, president of • Henry I. Smith, professor of electrical sis and construction of functional MIT associate professor of electrical the MIT Arab Students Organization. engineering assemblies. • Jack L. Wisdom, professor of plan- etary sciences, Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. The Department of Mathematics The Clay Research Awards will be Wisdom’s research includes long- Clarification presented at 2 p.m. on May 12. This year’s term evolution of the orbits and spins hosting Clay Research recipients are Claire Voisin of the Centre In the April 30 edition of of the planets and natural satellites, Tech Talk, the web site for more Conference May 12-13 National de la Recherche Scientifique in qualitative behavior of dynamical information on the new admin- MIT professor Thomas Mrowka and France, and Cliff Taubes, chair of Harvard’s systems, chaotic behavior and dynam- istrative officer program being seven other speakers will present a variety mathematics department. ics of planetary rings. run by human resources was of topics, ranging from quantum gravity The conference will be held at Bartos mistakenly left out. Info can be and its connection with probability theory, Theatre in the MIT Media Lab (Building Last week’s election brings the total obtained at http://hrweb.mit.edu/ to the solution of two recent conjectures, E15). For the schedule, visit http://www. active number of NAS members to aodevelopment/. the Kodaira conjecture and the Weinstein claymath.org. Graduate and undergraduate 2,041, with 397 active, nonvoting foreign conjecture. students are encouraged to attend. associates.

News Office Staff HOW TO REACH US Tech Talk is published by the News Office on Wednesdays during term time except for Writer...... David Chandler most Monday holiday weeks. See Production Schedule at web.mit.edu/newsoffice/ News Office Assistant Director/Photojournalist ...... Donna Coveney techtalk-info.html. The News Office is in Room 11-400, Institute of Editor Operations/Financial Administrator ...... Myles Crowley Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Telephone: 617-253-2700 Greg Frost Web Developer/Editor...... Lisa Damtoft Executive Director ...... Pamela Dumas Serfes Postmaster: Send address changes to Mail Services, Building WW15, Massachusetts E-mail: [email protected] Administrative Assistant II ...... Patti Foley Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. web.mit.edu/newsoffice Photojournalist News Manager...... Greg Frost Subscribers may call 617-252-1550 or send e-mail to [email protected]. Donna Coveney Editorial & Production Asst...... Patrick Gillooly Administrative Assistant II ...... Mary Anne Hansen Tech Talk is distributed free to faculty and staff offices and residence halls. It is also avail- Office of the Arts Media Specialist...... Teresa Herbert able free in the News Office and the Information Center. Production Communications Assistant...... Jen Hirsch web.mit.edu/arts Director, Media Relations...... Patti Richards Domestic mail subscriptions are $25 per year, nonrefundable. Checks should be made Patrick Gillooly Senior Science & payable to MIT and mailed to Business Manager, Room 11-400, MIT, 77 Massachusetts Engineering Editor...... Elizabeth Thomson Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Printed on recycled paper Writer...... Anne Trafton Periodical postage paid at Boston, MA. Senior Writer...... Sarah Wright MIT Tech Talk u PEOPLE May 7, 2008 PAGE 3

PHOTO / DONNA COVENEY Mary Boyce, the newly appointed Boyce to head Department of head of the Department of Mechanical Mechanical Engineering Engineering Mary Boyce, the Gail E. Kendall Profes- of Solids. sor of Mechanical Engineering, has been Although a woman has served as associ- named the next head of the Department of ate department head in the Department of Mechanical Engineering effective July 1, Computer Science and Electrical Engineer- School of Engineering Dean Subra Suresh ing, Boyce will be the first woman depart- announced last week. ment head in MIT’s School of Engineering. Boyce, who received her bachelor’s “I am confident we will all benefit from degree from the Virginia Polytechnic her energy, her insight and her dedication Institute and State University and her to engineering and the engineer- master’s and doctoral degrees from MIT, is ing profession,” Suresh said. renowned for her research in the mechan- The dean thanked the faculty advisory ics of polymers, networks and soft tissues committee, chaired by Roger Kamm, and for her dedication to engineering Germeshausen Professor of Mechanical and education. The impact of her research has Biological Engineering. Other members of been recognized through the many awards the panel included professors Gang Chen, she has received, which include election Martin Culpepper, Carol Livermore, Tony as a fellow of the American Academy of Patera, Nick Patrikalakis, Ian Waitz and Arts and Sciences, the American Society Kamal Youcef-Toumi. of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the Suresh also thanked Rohan Abeyaratne, American Academy of Mechanics. Quentin Berg (1937) Professor in Mechani- For her innovation in education she was cal Engineering, for his “extraordinary and named a MacVicar fellow and received dedicated service” as head of mechanical the Joseph H. Keenan Award for Innova- engineering since 2001, and as associ- tion in Undergraduate Education. She has ate head, a position he held for four years served MIT and her professional field in before becoming department head. numerous capacities, including chair of the “I hope and expect to have an oppor- Executive Committee for Applied Mechan- tunity in the near future to thank Rohan ics at ASME, membership on the U.S. more formally and to elaborate on his National Committee on Theoretical and contributions,” Suresh said. “I look forward Applied Mechanics and the editorial board to a continued and close collaboration with of the Journal of the Mechanics and Physics him.”

(TTT) consortium. His work focuses on invent- Two named ing the future of digitally augmented objects and environments. Before coming to the Media Lab, Ishii spent the associate directors majority of his career at NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation), where his research team pioneered video-mediated remote collabora- at MIT Media Lab tion media that created shared workspaces across Two long-term, prominent researchers at the MIT distances. Media Lab, Hiroshi Ishii and Andrew Lippman, have A founding member of the Media Lab, Lippman been named associate directors at the lab, Director has a more than 30-year history at MIT. He estab- Frank Moss announced this week. lished and has directed the Digital Life consortium, In announcing the appointments, Moss emphasized which focuses on the confluence of technical inven- the key roles they will play in helping to realize new tion and human understanding to create a networked directions for the lab. “As the Media Lab explores world where communication becomes fully embed- creative ways for technology to have a lasting impact ded in our daily lives. Lippman heads the lab’s Viral on people and society, we will also be looking for Communications research group, which focuses on deeper collaboration with industry, to bring impor- constructing infrastructure-free, scalable, collabora- tant innovations to the real world,” Moss said. tive systems that permit uncontrolled growth and use Ishii is best known for creating the field of Tangi- minimal power systems that move intelligence “from ble User Interfaces to realize seamless connections the trunk to the leaves.” He also co-directs MIT’s between humans, digital information and the physi- interdisciplinary Communications Futures program. cal world. A faculty member at the Media Lab since While on sabbatical for the 2007-2008 academic year, PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE MEDIA LAB 1995, Ishii holds the Muriel R. Cooper Professorship Lippman is a visiting fellow at Nortel, one of the lab’s LEFT: Hiroshi Ishii of Media Arts and Sciences, heads the Tangible Media corporate sponsors. He will assume his new duties RIGHT: Andrew Lippman research group and co-directs the Things That Think upon his return to the lab in September.

OBITUARIES Theresa M. Roche, veteran of MIT Facilities Get Tech Talk delivered Theresa M. Roche, of Middleboro, Mass., an MIT electronically with RSS feed Facilities employee for 15 Don’t have time to stop by campus and pick up years, died of complications a hard copy of Tech Talk? Readers of Tech Talk T Y from cancer on Monday, April can now get an electronic version of MIT’s official UNI O MM T C 21, at Brigham and Women’s newspaper delivered each week through a new RSS MI THE Hospital. feed set up by the MIT News Office. TeERVING c hTa l k S

Roche, who retired from Moreover, the electronic version of Tech Talk— Volume 52, Number 24 MIT in 2007, worked the delivered as a PDF via the RSS feed—features Wednesday, April 30, 2008 day shift in custodial services. activated hyperlinks within stories, allowing readers Among the buildings she Theresa to go directly to a related web site by clicking on IMAGE / WIKIMEDIA Unraveling A three-dimensional model serviced was Building 68, them. of the chemical makeup of Roche the blood-thinner heparin. A contaminant with a very similar where she was loved by The new feed is among a number of MIT news heparin structure, which made it hard to the detect, caused dozens of deaths. members of the Department of Biology—who also delivery methods, including: held a farewell party for her upon her retirement. mystery She would reach out to everyone with her laughter, • RSS feeds of top news, research news and Team of researchers, led by MIT Professor Ram Sasisekharan, smile and caring ways. Even during her illness, campus news, updated daily. These link explain how tainted heparin got past safety checks - in Anne Trafton Roche maintained an upbeat and positive attitude subscribers directly to the latest stories on the News Office - OSCS can kill—specifically by setting off an allergy-like reac ned and was an inspiration to all who knew her. News Office web site, which are often published tion. The biological effects of the contaminant are outlined re al a report also published online last week in the New England to Journal of Medicine. n, During her time with MIT Facilities, Theresa before Tech Talk comes out. “Sophisticated analytical techniques enabled complete char ed r An international team of researchers led by MIT has explai acterization of the contaminant present in heparin. Further, - received several customer-service awards and was • An option, through third-party services, to how contaminated batches of the blood-thinner heparin we this study also provides the scientific groundwork for critic able to slip past traditional safety screens and kill dozens of improvements in screening practices thatuPlease can seenow HEPARIN, be appliedPAGE 5 s present their- patients recently in the United States and Germany.e contami monitor heparin, thus ensuring patient safety,” said Sasisekhara honored in 2006 with an Infinite Mile Award. receive an e-mail each time a story is added to The team, led by MIT Professor Ram Sasisekharan,edition identifi of senior author of the papers, the Underwood Prescott Professo the chemical structure of the contaminant, known as oversul fated chondroitin sulfate (OSCS). The researcher She was a devoted wife to her husband, Joe; an RSS feed. findings and offer new approaches to detecting th nant in a report that appeared last week in the online New MIT Nature Biotechnology. mother to her two daughters, Donna and Carol; • RSS feeds on specialized topics (cancer research, Another team led by Sasisekharan has shown exactly how study validates and grandmother to her seven grandchildren. energy, arts, etc.) hurricane She enjoyed traveling and shopping and keeping • A regular audio podcast of recent news. prediction in touch with all of her friends. She will be sadly Provides confirmation Mapping Earth’s GRAPHIC / NASA/JPL Professor Dara that climate change missed by all those who knew her. Donations in For more information, go to: http://web.mit. Entekhabi will lead intensifies storms the science team for David Chandler News Office edu/newsoffice/subscribe-rss.html. water cycle NASA’s Soil Moisture memory of Mrs. Roche may be made to Dana- Active-Passive (SMAP) over land. It is the variable that links satellite mission, Entekhabi to lead science teamthese for threeNASA cycles satellite through itsmission control scheduled to launch - Hurricanes in some areas, including Farber Cancer Institute, P.O. Box 55584, Boston, Denise Brehm on evaporation and plant transpira- in December 2012. A tion. Global monitoring of this vari- the North Atlantic, are likely to become- Civil and Environmental Engineering 6-meter deployable able will allow a new perspective on mesh antenna on the more intense as a result of global warm MA 02205-5584. how these three cycles work and vary satellite will gather ing even though the number of such together in the Earth system,” said soil moisture and storms worldwide may decline, accord Professor Dara Entekhabi will lead Entekhabi, the Bacardi and Stock- ing to a new study by MIT researchers. freeze/thaw data the science team designing a NASA holm Water Foundations Professor. Kerry Emanuel, the lead author of across 1,000-kilometer satellite mission to collect global soil “Additionally, because soil mois- the new study, wrote a paper in 2005 swaths, creating moisture measurements and other ture is a state variable that controls reporting an apparent link between ribbons of data seen as key to improving weath- both water and energy fluxes at a warming climate and an increase er, flood and drought forecasts and the land surface, we anticipate that measurements in hurricane intensity. That paper predictions of agricultural productiv- assimilation of the global observa- around the globe and attracted worldwide attention because ity and climate change. tions will improve the skill in numeri- completing the cycle it was published in Nature just three u PAGE 6 At present, scientists have no cal weather prediction, especially for every few days. Please see HURRICANE, network for gathering soil moisture events that are influenced by these data as they do for rainfall, winds, fluxes at the base of the atmosphere,” humidity and temperature. Instead, added Entekhabi, who holds joint that data is gathered only at a few appointments in MIT’s Depart- scattered points around the world. ment of Civil and Environmental NEWS But NASA’s Soil Moisture Active- Engineering and the Department of Passive mission (SMAP), scheduled Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Double major program OK’d to launch in December 2012, aims to uPlease see MOISTURE, PAGE 6 change that. RESEARCH Faculty approves changing the dual degree “Soil moisture is the lynchpin of program to a double major program and the water, energy and carbon cycles A solar revolution makes CMS’s SB offering permanent.

PEOPLE MIT given $10 million gift by PAGE 7 the Chesonis Family Foundation to help make solar energy Ross named America’s primary carbon-free fuel. CISR director PAGE 8 Jeanne Ross will head the MIT Center for Information Systems Research. PAGE 3 PAGE 4 May 7, 2008 u RESEARCH MIT Tech Talk Study of universal day care paints mixed picture ers who went to work was not enough to Adults benefit, but offset the costs of the child-care subsidies,” says Gruber. Those costs are still borne by children appear to suffer the government. Sarah H. Wright Other costs are borne by the children News Office themselves, Gruber and his colleagues note in their summary of the effects of the Quebec child-care policy. Their analysis of the well-being of Universal day care, the recurring dream children in day care, based on data from of working parents everywhere, benefits Canada’s National Longitudinal Survey of adults economically but may burden young Children and Youth (NLSCY), produced a

children with health and behavior prob- / STOCKXPERT IMAGE dispiriting picture. lems, according to an MIT economist’s The researchers found consistent and study of a highly subsidized child-care robust evidence of negative effects of Gruber, widely known for his work brush taint the whole picture,” he says. program in Quebec. Quebec’s policy on children, parenting on health-care reform, admits the study Gruber conducted the study, “Univer- Working with colleagues at two Cana- and parenting outcomes, they write. Child suggests that day care looks bad for sal Childcare, Maternal Labor Supply dian universities, MIT Professor Jonathan outcomes include hyperactivity, inat- children. and Family Well-Being,” with Michael Gruber studied the impact of Quebec’s tention, aggressiveness and illness, and “But maybe that’s the case for very young Baker of the University of Toronto and child-care program over a decade, begin- parental health and relations deteriorated, children. Maybe it reflects tough adjust- Kevin Milligan of the University of British ning with the provincial government’s according to the study of NLSCY data. ment to day care for them. We can’t let that Columbia. move in 1997 to subsidize universal day care for 4-year-olds and kindergarten for 5-year-olds. By 2000, the program includ- ed infants to 5-year-olds. In their study, which has been issued as ❞ a working paper by the National Bureau We found the number of of Economic Research, the researchers focused on changes in families’ use of day mothers who went to work care, the rate of mothers’ return or entry into the work force and the effects of day was not enough to offset the care on children. “The Quebec Family Policy was a major costs of the child-care subsidies. government innovation. Its ‘five-dollar-a- Economics Professor Jonathan Gruber day’ plan has given us a rare experimental environment for analyzing the effects of publicly financed child care,” says Gruber, professor of economics. Their first finding falls in the “if you build it, they will come” category: The introduction of universal child-care subsidies led to a 14 percent increase in the proportion of 4-year-olds enrolled in government centers. Other age groups’ use of the centers increased as well. The researchers’ second finding presented a puzzle economists relish. The number of married women (the study only used data on married women) participat- ing in the labor force increased by almost 8 percent—a sizable increase but no match for the 14-percent increase in 4-year-olds in day care. So what accounts for the short- fall of workers or the big rush of kids? “The new policy did more than enable some mothers to go to work. It also enabled all families—including those who use day care for lifestyle reasons—to replace informal arrangements with subsi-

dized care. We found the number of moth- / iSTOCK IMAGE MIT researchers find novel way to repair airway injuries Technique could apply to The trachea and other respiratory regained their biological function, they environment with modulated secretion tubes, like most tubes in the body, have need only reside near the injured tissue to of critical factors. They don’t need to be different parts of human body an intricate, three-layer architecture. The enhance overall repair. stacked in one specific fashion to function, inner layer, or epithelium, interacts with Edelman and colleagues achieved but they do need to be healthy and near Anne Trafton whatever is flowing through the tube—in this repair state by delivering a mixture the injured tissue,” said Edelman, who is News Office the case of the trachea, air. The middle of new healthy cells derived from the also a professor at Harvard Medical School layer is composed of muscle that constricts epithelial lining and the nourishing blood and cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s MIT tissue engineers have successfully or relaxes the tube, and the outer layer vessels. The combination of epithelial and Hospital. healed airway injuries in rabbits using a consists of connective tissue that supports endothelial cells take over the biochemi- To get the best results, both epithelial technique they believe could apply to the microvessels and small nerves. cal role lost with cell damage. The healthy and endothelial cells must be replaced in trachea and other parts of the human body. Most attempts at tissue regeneration cells release growth factors and other the injured airway. “One cell type can’t do The work, published in the advance seek to rebuild this complex architecture molecules necessary for healing tissue, and it alone. With this complex disease, each online issue of the Proceedings of the with structural precision. can modulate their delivery in response to regulatory cell offers something unique National Academy of Sciences the week of However, the MIT researchers found physiological feedback control signals. and together they optimize repair,” Edel- May 5, expands researchers’ understand- that it is not necessary to recapture the “Cells are not just an array of bricks man said. ing of the control of tissue repair and could ordered layering to heal injuries. Instead, surrounded by mortar, nor are they passive The cells must also be grown within a lead to new treatments for tracheal injuries, they concentrated on restoring cellular drug pumps. Cells are active elements that 3-D scaffold, otherwise, the two types of such as smoke inhalation and damage from health. When cells are intact and have respond to the dynamic changes of their cells will stay segregated and will not work long-term intubation. as effectively. The new technique heals airway inju- Because of the similarities between the ries by placing new tracheal cells around trachea and other tubes in the body, such the injury site. Two types of tracheal cells, as those of the vascular, genitourinary and embedded within a three-dimensional gastrointestinal systems, the researchers gelatin scaffold, take over the functions of believe their approach could translate to the damaged tissue. other organs. “We can begin to replicate the regula- “We can apply this same approach to tory role cells play within tissues by creat- so many different parts of the body,” said ing engineered constructs with more than Brett Zani, a postdoctoral associate in the one cell type,” said Elazer Edelman, the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences Thomas D. and Virginia W. Cabot Profes- and Technology and lead author of the sor of Health Sciences and Technology and paper. senior author of the paper. Other authors are Koji Kojima and Patents on the technique have been Charles Vacanti of the Laboratory of Tissue licensed to Pervasis, a company co-founded IMAGES / BRETT ZANI Engineering and Regenerative Medicine at by Edelman, which develops cell-based LEFT: A cross-section of a rabbit trachea whose inner lining has been damaged. Brigham and Women’s Hospital. therapies that induce repair and regenera- RIGHT: A cross-section of a rabbit trachea after being treated by adding engineered The research was funded by the National tion in a wide array of tissues. tracheal cells. Institutes of Health. MIT Tech Talk u RESEARCH May 7, 2008 PAGE 5

PHOTOS / DONNA COVENEY MIT students work BIRDSONG: on a new kind of solar generator Research finds that employs low-cost materials. that young birds Here they mount the frame of the babble before singing concentrator (which Continued from Page 1 will be mounted circuit,” Fee explains. with mirrors) on the Past research has shown that the zebra base near Tang Hall finch has two distinct brain circuits on Memorial Drive. dedicated to song, one for learning and another—known as the motor circuit— for producing the learned song. Damage to the first circuit while the bird is still learning prevents further learning, so the song remains immature. Yet in an adult that has already learned its song, disabling the learning circuit has no effect on song production. Scientists assumed that the motor circuit is equally important in producing baby birds’ babbling, but surprisingly, no one had done the experiments to find out. First author Dmitriy Aronov and co-author Aaron Andalman, both gradu- ate students in Fee’s lab, adapted existing techniques previously developed in the Fee lab so that they could temporar- ily disable parts of the brain and record from neurons in the singing bird. The results were surprising. When they disabled a part of the motor circuit known as HVC in these very young birds, the babies continued to sing, implying that some other brain region produces the babbling. The authors suspected that a key component of the learning circuit, called LMAN, has a previously unknown motor function. They confirmed this by showing that when LMAN was disabled in very young birds, they ceased babbling. “This tells us that singing is driven by two different motor circuits at different stages of development,” explains Aronov. “We’ve long known that these two path- ways develop physiologically at differ- ent times, so there’s an elegant parallel between our functional findings and what is already known about anatomy.” But what happens to LMAN in adulthood, after birds have learned their song? Contrary to the “use it or Harnessing sunlight on the cheap lose it” assumption, the authors found that LMAN retains its ability to drive MIT student project aims to develop cost-efficient solar power babbling even in adulthood. Disrupting HVC in adults caused the birds to revert David Chandler an eventual large-scale field of such dishes supervision. immediately to babbling, suggesting that News Office would cost. “We’re using all commodity Instead, the systems are designed to LMAN can take over again if the more materials that are all in high production,” be deployed in large, utility-scale fields, powerful signals from HVC are blocked. he says. fenced in to protect anyone from being Fee speculates that these results may For a project that could be on the very That’s in stark contrast to most attempts in the wrong place. But because the beam apply more broadly to other forms of cutting edge of renewable energy, this one to build solar dish concentrating systems, comes to a focus about 12 feet from the immature or exploratory behavior in is actually decidedly low tech—and that’s which have tended to use expensive surface, the danger is strictly localized—no humans as well as birds. “In birds, the the point. custom-made equipment to achieve high risks for adjacent buildings or for planes exploratory phase ends when learning A team of students, led by mechani- efficiency. A few large companies that have flying overhead, Ahrens explains. When is complete,” he says. “But we humans cal engineering graduate student Spencer built such prototypes tend to “turn it into not attended, the dish will be covered can always call upon our equivalent of Ahrens, has spent the last few months an ultimate high-tech, high-end project,” “parked” pointing straight up, and will be LMAN, the prefrontal cortex, to be assembling a prototype for a concentrat- says Jefferson Tester, HP Meissner Profes- mounted 7 feet above ground. innovative and learn new things.” ing solar power system they think could sor of Chemical Engineering, who has been The students working on the project, The NIH and graduate fellowships revolutionize the field. It’s a 12-foot-square advising the student-led group. “Then because of their close proximity, will have from the Hertz Foundation and the mirrored dish capable of concentrating Spencer came along and said, ‘We’re to take precautions, wearing all-white Friends of the McGovern Institute sunlight by a factor of 1,000, built from going to fundamen- clothing, to reflect funded this study. simple, inexpensive industrial materi- tally change this and the light, and als selected for price, durability and ease make this an afford- welder-type goggles of assembly rather than for optimum able technology for ❞ to protect their performance. popular, widespread We want to get something up eyes. Rather than aiming for a smooth deployment.’” Ahrens believes parabolic surface that would bring the Ahrens thinks that will be kind of viral and be that such a design sunlight to a perfect focus, the dish is being that in mass produc- could quickly made with 10-inch-wide by 12-foot-long tion the dishes can copied around the world. produce both hot strips of relatively low-cost, lightweight be competitive in water for space bathroom-type mirror glass. The frame is cost with other Spencer Ahrens heating and elec- assembled from cheap aluminum tubing, energy sources and Mechanical engineering graduate student tricity for the grid at with holes drilled in precise locations using could produce heat prices that would be a simple jig for alignment, so that the struts for space heating competitive today, can be assembled into a framework that and electric power at the same time. unlike conventional photovoltaic systems passively snaps into just the right parabolic The prototype isn’t quite finished yet, that are still far too pricey for baseload curvature. because of delays in getting the mirror glass generation. “In the sunbelt, our dish would The control mechanism, which allows shipped from the factory. And the details of make about 10,000 peak watts of heat and the dish to track the sun automatically assembly and operation could well present 3,500 peak watts of electricity,” he says. across the sky, is also remarkably simple— some unexpected stumbling blocks, as is Deployed in large numbers, the systems photocells mounted on each side of the so often the case with new designs, Tester could make a big difference: “One square dish with opaque baffles, which cast a says. Still, “they’re smart kids, they know meter of concentrator is worth about one shadow on the cell when it drifts out of what they’re doing,” he says. “That’s how barrel of oil per year,” he says. alignment, connect to a simple circuit that you learn.” “It’s designed for long life—we hope turns on small electric motors to push the This is not the kind of thing you’d build they will last more than 30 years with dish back into the right position. for a single-home, backyard power system, good maintenance—and for indigenous “The technical challenge here is to make however. Because the highly concentrated manufacturing in the developing world it simple,” Ahrens explains. The team is sunlight will be so powerful, the team is with minimal tooling,” Ahrens says. “We keeping careful track of all the costs for employing several precautions to safeguard want to get something up that will be kind parts and the time spent on assembly, to against potential safety risks, and the proto- of viral and be widely adopted around the provide a baseline for figuring out what type will not operate in public without world.” IMAGE / AARON ANDALMAN PAGE 6 May 7, 2008 u NEWS MIT Tech Talk Study debunks myth of job testing as race barrier Screening can raise productivity without compromising equal opportunity Sarah H. Wright As part of their research, Autor and times you’re willing to say, ‘May I help you increase in productivity that followed job News Office Scarborough studied hiring and job with that?’ and ‘Have a nice day!’ before testing would surely come at the expense longevity among primarily high school- you run out of patience,” Autor says. of minority hiring,” Autor says. educated workers who were paid hourly An outside firm, Unicru, scored and But the test of insightful research may Conventional wisdom holds that the wages for customer-service jobs in the analyzed the tests, highlighting problem be that very surprise, the moment when standardized tests some employers require private sector. The researchers relied on areas and completing background checks accepted beliefs dissolve in the face of new of job applicants serve as a barrier to equal data from a national and returned them facts. The paradox that job testing did not employment. But a pioneering study shows retail firm whose 1,363 to individual store harm minority workers is resolved quite just the opposite: Screening increases stores switched from managers. Qualified simply, Autor notes. employers’ precision in matching appli- informal, paper-based applicants were then Before the computer test, the retailer cants to jobs and can raise productivity for screening to computer- Consequently, the interviewed. informally screened for the personal- workers of all races—without hindering supported, test-based Consistent with ity traits that are measured by the test. minority hiring. screening over the productivity gains from previous research, Job testing made this screening process “Job testing has the potential to raise course of one year. testing came from improved minority applicants more systematic and precise, but research productivity by improving the quality of “Access to this data performed signifi- showed it did not tip the scales for or matches between workers and firms. But gave us the unique selection among all cantly worse on the against any particular group of applicants. because of the near-universal finding that opportunity to evalu- electronic employ- Consequently, the productivity gains from minorities fare relatively poorly on stan- ate the effects of job applicant groups, not from ment test. But the testing came from improved selection dardized tests, there is a pervasive concern testing on minorities in hiring fewer minorities. researchers detected within applicant groups (e.g., minorities, that better candidate selection comes at a competitive business no change in the racial nonminorities), not from hiring fewer a cost of reduced opportunity for groups environment,” Autor composition of hires minorities. with lower average test scores,” says David says. once electronic screening was installed. Autor is quick to note that discrimina- Autor, associate professor of economics Both paper- and test-based hiring meth- Moreover, the authors found, productivity tion in employment exists and that bias— at MIT who conducted the study with ods used interviews, but the latter relies gains were equally large among minority arising from prior information, interviews David Scarborough of Black Hills State significantly on a personality test adminis- and majority hires. or beliefs about a particular group—can University. tered and scored by computer. The findings are significant, according affect equality in hiring and efficiency in Their study, “Does Job Testing Harm The retailer’s 100-item personality test to Autor, because the outcomes do not the workplace even with electronic testing. Minority Workers? Evidence from Retail ranked attributes such as agreeableness, support the accepted belief that minorities’ For example, if job tests exacerbate Establishments,” was recently published in conscientiousness and extroversion that are relatively low scores on standardized tests an existing bias, testing just increases the Quarterly Journal of Economics. The associated with success—or productivity— mean that such tests harm the job pros- hiring of groups favored by the test. Then paper is available at http://econ-www.mit. in customer service. pects of minority workers. productivity stalls and neither employer edu/faculty/dautor/papers. “These tests basically predict how many “Initially, I was surprised. I expected the nor workers profit.

China Forum lecture In Sigma Xi series begins May 14 lecture, Barsoum MIT will kick off a new monthly lecture series called the China Forum with a May 14 talk by Yingyi Qian, to focus on dean of the School of Econom- ics and Management at Tsinghua pyramids University and professor of econom- ics at UC Berkeley. Qian will speak Michel Barsoum PhD ’85, distinguished about China’s recent economic professor at Drexel University, will deliver transformation. the 2008 Sigma Xi Lecture, entitled “The The China Forum is part of a Mystery of the Great Egyptian Pyra- broader MIT effort to look at new mids: The role of materials research in ways of fostering ties with China. A suggesting a partial solution,” at 8:30 p.m., new China strategy working group, Wednesday, May 7, in the MIT Faculty headed by CSAIL Director and Club, 50 Memorial Drive, Bldg. E26. Professor Victor Zue and composed Barsoum earned his BSc degree in of faculty and staff with interests in materials engineering from the American and knowledge of greater China, is University in Cairo in 1977, and an MS charged with identifying new initia- from University of Missouri-Rolla in 1980 PHOTO / DONNA COVENEY before getting his PhD in ceramics from tives and collaborations that MIT the Department of Materials Science and might launch with China in the Good luck, Dean Benedict Engineering at MIT. Barsoum’s research coming years. into the highly controversial subject of The Chinese Dragon (freshmen Cathy Wu and Alice Li in disguise) made a surprise “MIT has a long history of involve- pyramid building stems from his Egyp- ment with China and has attracted appearance on for the Spring Picnic to celebrate Dean for Student tian heritage and his expertise in ceramic top Chinese students to MIT since Life Larry Benedict’s upcoming retirement. Benedict got a personal ‘thank you’ materials science, both of which he has the beginning of the 20th century,” from the dragon. applied to this highly visible research commented Professor Philip S. problem. He will discuss recent electron Khoury, associate provost and head microscopical investigations strongly of strategic planning for international suggesting that ancient Egyptians had education and research. “We want to ALERT: Update your emergency information discovered a cement—based on dolomitic figure out what MIT’s future engage- lime, diatomaceous silica and disaggregated Continued from Page 1 Institute leadership to individual laborato- ment with China might look like, and limestone—that they may have used to cast what kinds of research and educa- Continuity Planner in the Security and ries and residence halls, and is at the heart of emergency planning, communication, in place some of the two-ton blocks used tional programs we might want to Emergency Management Office. “Our goal to assemble the great pyramids of the Giza is to improve our ability to reach members response and recovery efforts. emphasize.” For most localized incidents, the Emer- plateau more than 4500 years ago. Such a Qian was born in Beijing and holds of the community in an emergency in the discovery would have been the first monu- quickest way possible.” gency Response Team—the EHS Manage- degrees from Tsinghua University, ment System network—and Emergency mental use of cementitious material on Harvard, Yale and Columbia. He Until very recently, university emer- such a large scale and could have modern gency management was thought of mostly Preparedness Coordinators are sufficient is a research fellow at the Centre implications for low-cost, low-emissions in terms of mitigation of the potential to mitigate the situation. For larger-scale for Economic Policy Research and emergencies—recall the campus-wide production of building cements made from for fires, laboratory accidents, emergen- indigenous materials in our present world. the William Davidson Institute at cies in campus residence halls and crime power outage in 2004 and the campus- the University of Michigan Busi- wide water outage in 2005—response Sigma Xi, the national scientific research on campus. But the universe of response society, was founded in 1886 as an analogue ness School, a fellow at the Chinese requirements in a university setting has and resources across a broader section Economists Society (USA), and a of campus must be marshaled. In these to Phi Beta Kappa in the fields of science expanded rapidly in the last several years. and engineering research. Its 100,000 nonresident senior research fellow at MIT is actively upgrading its emergency instances, an Emergency Operations members are affiliated with 500 chapters the Stanford Center for International management and response program as Center, consisting of representatives from and clubs throughout the world. The MIT Development. His main research events around the country reveal more and key MIT operational areas, is activated to chapter is the organization’s largest and areas include comparative economics, more dimensions to protecting a campus muster the resources of MIT to oversee annually elects new members from the institutional economics, development community. and resolve impacts of emergencies affect- undergraduate and graduate student bodies economics, economics of transition In recent years, MIT’s Environment, ing multiple portions of campus. and the Institute’s faculty and research staff. and the Chinese economy. Health and Safety Office (EHS), work- Over the next year, all MIT depart- Each year, the chapter honors an outstand- The May 14 lecture is from 2 p.m. ing closely with partner offices such as the ments and offices will be asked to draw up MIT Police and Medical Departments, local emergency communications plans ing academic researcher with MIT connec- to 3 p.m. in The , Room tions who has made important recent G449. Refreshments will be served has been increasing its focus on issues to ensure that the Emergency Operations Center and the Security and Emergency contributions to a scientific research field. starting at 1:45 p.m. For additional related to the Institute’s preparedness for Management Office can communicate with The annual lecture, which is open to information, contact Vicky Palay in extended outages and acute emergencies— from localized outages that affect a single departmental decision-makers, if needed, the MIT community and the greater CSAIL, at [email protected] or by and that all units have methods for keep- Boston area Sigma Xi membership, will phone at 617-253-8924. floor or building (like the fire at One Broadway in December 2006)—to campus- ing in contact with their faculty, staff and be preceded by the Sigma Xi dinner for China Forum lectures will continue wide disasters that might result from a students. By being fully prepared, we can new initiates. Those wishing to attend the on a monthly basis, beginning in hurricane, winter storm, major fire or a ensure a safe and orderly campus response dinner at 6:30 p.m., immediately preceding September 2008. pandemic illness. The emergency structure in any emergency and protect MIT’s most the lecture, should contact Prof. Hobbs at consists of multiple layers connecting the important assets: its people and research. 617-253-6835 or at [email protected]. MIT Tech Talk u NEWS May 7, 2008 PAGE 7

A dream come true

Donna Coveney News Office

he inauguration this week of a new mosque in the Cambodian village of Tramung Chrum will Trepresent a dream come true for residents of the Muslim enclave in the overwhelmingly Buddhist PHOTOS / ELYSE LIGHTMAN country. Adjunct Professor of the Humanities in the Program in Writing Alan Lightman sits in the mosque built by his That dream was brought to life by Alan Lightman, Harpswell Foundation with villagers, Muslim Chams (of the San Cham sect). The mosque (shown below) was MIT physicist and writer who a decade or so ago, with completed in December 2007 and will be inaugurated this week in Tramung Chrum, Cambodia. his wife, Jeanne, made a pact to turn their energies toward humanitarian pursuits. Without a firm direc- the mid-1970s and the genocide perpetrated by the attended college. tion or funding, they formed the nonprofit Harpswell Khmer Rouge, and in spite of that they had hope and Once again, he took on the challenge, found contrac- Foundation in 1999. resilience. “The best expression of that hope for the tors and built the dormitory and leadership center. Within a few years, Lightman, Jeanne and their future,” he says, “was when we arrived, mothers holding But that was only the beginning. Lightman reckons, daughter, Elyse, would attend the opening of a school babies came up and asked for our help to build a school. “One-third of my waking hours I spend on Cambodia built in an impoverished village 50 miles from Phnom They had nothing, lived in abject poverty, but wanted a daily.” From sleeping security guards to the students’ Penh, build and manage a women’s dorm and leader- school, a future. We were so moved.” need for medical procedures, funds for upkeep, teachers, ship center in Phnom Penh and, finally, build the new Funded by donations from family and friends, the food and all life’s issues, Lightman is the go-to guy. His mosque in Tramung Chrum. school was finished in the summer of 2005. Where a daily electronic communications with the dorm repre- Lightman has been entranced by science and the roof of palm fronds had been now stands a concrete- sent the sole exception to Lightman’s personal ban on arts from an early age. Appointed professor of science and-steel-girder school. using e-mail. and writing and senior lecturer in physics at MIT in The impetus for his next project came from Veasna He is presently trying to raise a $500,000 endowment 1989, he went on to head the Program in Writing and Chea, a native of Tramung Chrum who had made it to keep the dorm and all it offers up and running in the Humanistic Studies from 1991 to 1997 and helped through law school in Phnom Penh by living with three future. found the Catalyst Collaborative, a collaboration female classmates in the space on the mud floor beneath As he busied himself managing the dorm and leader- between MIT and the Underground Railway Theatre the school for four years. Male students could live in the ship center, the villagers of Tramung Chrum, thrilled of Boston in 2004. His novel, “Einstein’s Dreams,” Buddhist temples, but in the gritty capital, there were with their school, asked him to build a mosque. To published in 1993, was an international bestseller and few, if any, safe places for women to stay, so few women Lightman, health care seemed a more compelling need, has been translated into 30 languages. but he understood that it had to be what the entire Professor Lightman first heard of Tramung Chrum, a village wanted. So he asked the men and women of tiny Muslim village in Cambodia, in 2003 from the Rev. the village to choose five representatives each, and he Fred Lipp. Lipp, who had been working to keep young met with the two groups separately. The men wanted a girls in school in Cambodia with his own foundation, mosque, the women wanted health care. told Alan of a village whose only school had a roof of A meeting was convened to give the 10 representa- palm fronds. Lightman’s imagination was kindled and in tives the opportunity to address the whole village and December of that year he and daughter Elyse accompa- then vote on which project to take forward. After a civil nied Lipp to Cambodia. discussion, all the men and three women voted for the What they found was a village of about 500 people— mosque. The reason? The mosque represented their mostly Muslim Chams, one of Cambodia’s ethnic spiritual health, which they considered more important minorities. With neither running water nor electricity, than their physical health. Lightman recognized that the the local economy was based on subsistence farming and cultural value and tradition was different than his own menial labor. and that the social fabric of the community depended on “We were overwhelmed with emotion,” Lightman the mosque. says softly, his eyes lighting at the memory. “These “They are so proud,” he says, “so deeply happy with people had gone through tremendous suffering since this mosque.”

STOMACH: Early treatment of infection may help prevent cancer CLASSIFIED ADS Continued from Page 1 gastric acid, and this is, in and of itself, a risk seen in uninfected mice. But using antibiot- Members of the MIT community may the infection for maximum benefit. Human factor for development of cancer, but gastric ics at 12 and 22 weeks post-infection did submit one ad each issue. Ads should studies that tested treatment in patients acid also helps protect against commensal not reverse the damaging changes, such as be 30 words maximum; they will be who had already developed tumors had bacterial colonization of the stomach,” Fox inflammation and development of precancer- edited. Submit by e-mail to ttads@mit. edu or mail to Classifieds, Rm 11-400. mixed results, but one previous study says. ous lesions, to the levels seen in uninfected Deadline is noon Wednesday the week showed that giving antibiotics before With increasing age, parietal cells in mice. before ­publication. premalignant lesions develop was success- INS-GAS mice stopped producing gastric “Our mouse model mimics the progressive ful in preventing cancer, said the study’s acid and underwent precancerous changes. process we know occurs in development of lead author, James G. Fox, a professor in By 20 months of age, the mice spontaneously human gastric cancer,” Fox says. “This shows FOR SALE the Department of Biological Engineering, developed invasive gastric cancer. Infec- early intervention provides the maximum director of MIT’s Division of Comparative tion by H. pylori and progression to gastric benefit.” 1998 26’ Fleetwood Wilderness Travel Medicine and member of the MIT Center cancer was accelerated in these mice, the Of added benefit, Fox says, is the associ- Trailer. Sleeps six comfortably. Queen- for Environmental Health Sciences. researchers discovered. ated finding that antibiotic treatment also sized bedroom, 3/4 bath with roomy “We concluded that H. pylori eradica- They then treated the mice with antibiot- reduces the level of other bacterial species shower. http://home.comcast.net/~ko521/ tion prevented gastric cancer to the greatest ics and looked for cellular changes. They that have invaded the stomach. “Gastric rv/rv.htm. Call Kevin 978-569-4036. extent when antibiotics were given at an found that, at every stage of advancing infec- acid is a barrier to bacteria and if there is no Used car for sale: $9,000. 2001 Toyota RAV4 early point of infection, but that eradica- tion, mice that were treated with antibiotics barrier, bacteria can move into the stom- / Automatic / Silver / 89,000 miles / Great tion therapy given at a later time point also had less-severe disease. Treating mice that ach from the lower bowel and colonize it, Condition! Call Jason at 503-523-6134 or delayed the development of severe lesions were eight weeks post-infection reduced producing inflammation and progression to [email protected]. that can lead to cancer,” Fox says. risk of developing cancer to the same level cancer,” he says. “Findings in humans and The current study, which used a new mice now suggest that antibiotic treatment Gail’s Beauty & Medicinal Soaps. May 15 mouse model of gastritis and stomach potentially changes gastric microbiota and &16 at the Craft Fair, Lobby 10. E-mail gf- cancer, examined the effects of treating and may impact gastric carcinogenesis.” [email protected]. eliminating H. pylori at different stages of Eradication ❞therapy given at The first author of this paper is Chung- progression from gastritis, an inflammation Wei Lee. Lee recently received his PhD WANTED of the mucous membrane layer of the stom- a later time point delayed the under the supervision of Fox in the Depart- ach, to the development of gastric cancer. To ment of Biological Engineering. Additional MIT faculty member looking for long-term do this, Fox and colleagues from MIT and development of severe lesions that authors are Barry Rickman, Arlin B. Rogers room rental or studio in the Cambridge Columbia University developed transgenic and Zhongming Ge, all of the Division of area (or anywhere within walking distance “INS-GAS” mice that overexpressed gastrin, can lead to cancer. Comparative Medicine, and Timothy C. of red line stop) for $400-500/mo or less. a hormone that controls secretion of gastric Wang of Columbia University. Room/studio will only be occupied two- James G. Fox acid by the stomach’s parietal cells. “If you This work was funded by the National three nights per week starting September lose these cells over time, they stop secreting Biological engineering professor Institutes of Health. 2008. Contact [email protected]. PAGE 8 May 7, 2008 u ARTS MIT Tech Talk Engineering an award-winning TV program

MIT faculty, students’ perspective employed in PBS’s ‘Design Squad’

Lois Slavin content. He also helps to identify educa- Engineering Systems Division tional opportunities and crafts explanations of engineering concepts that are accurate

PHOTOS / MIKA TOMCZAK and meaningful, yet still kid-friendly. He Several MIT faculty and students were develops the animation storyboards and LEFT: Urban tornado installed on site at recently delighted to learn that Design provides technical advice to the animation the museum. The tornado remained on exhibit for one year. Squad, the PBS series created to attract team. CENTER: Blue team working on set, fabricating the sculpture. boys and girls in their ’tweens and teens to Because he is passionate about design RIGHT: The storyboard for the Urban Tornado project. consider engineering as a profession, was and education, holding an undergraduate named a winner of the prestigious George degree in industrial design and undergrad- Foster Peabody Award. From hosting uate and advanced degrees in mechanical Design Squad takes the show to advising behind the scenes, engineering, Wallace says he jumped at the members of the MIT community have opportunity to work on the series. “It is a systems-based played an important role in developing chance to reach a wide audience and hope- and implementing this popular series. fully help to inspire the next generation of approach to attracting It began in 2002, with Associate technical innovators,” he says. future engineers Professor of Mechanical Engineering Other members of the MIT community and Engineering Systems Daniel Frey, involved in Design Squad include Pappa- According to the National Science who served as the show’s first adviser. In lardo Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Foundation, the United States faces collaboration with series producers at Engineering Woodie Flowers, MechEng a daunting challenge: College-bound WGBH-TV Boston, he created Design graduate students Ben Powers, Helen Tsai students’ interest in engineering majors Squad’s curriculum. Later, under Frey’s and Mika Tomczak, and several UROP are decreasing and statistics show an guidance, MIT students (including students. The oldest honor in electronic even greater decline in interest among Design Squad host Nate Ball ’05, SM media, the Peabody Award recognizes minority and female students. ’07) participated in the show as part of distinguished achievement and meritorious PHOTOS / MIKA TOMCZAK Design Squad aims to help address the university’s Undergraduate Research public service by media organizations and this situation and attract a larger, more- ABOVE: Members of red team rest Opportunities Program. Frey, who holds professionals. diverse talent pool of future engineers their prototype ‘summer sled’ for a dual appointment with Mechanical “What distinguishes WGBH’s chil- who can create future technological L.L. Bean. BELOW: The storyboard for Engineering and MIT’s Engineering dren’s programming is that our format is innovations and help the United States the ‘summer sled’ expains its ‘roller Systems Division, played a central role in curriculum-based, developed with lead- remain competitive in the global concept.’ developing the design challenges during ing educators from across the U.S. MIT’s marketplace. Its holistic, systems-based the program’s piloting phase and first own Dave Wallace, Dan Frey and Woodie approach involves partnering season—he and the students conceptual- Flowers are perfect examples of this,” says with engineering ized the challenges, tested their feasibility Maria Wolsky, Design Squad’s executive societies, industry, and formulated kits of materials. producer. universities, middle- Frey notes that the National Science and high-school Foundation Career Development Award teachers to produce he received during that time facilitated his not just the TV series, thinking about experimentation, the devel- but also a web site, opment of a systems perspective through after-school program teamwork and the importance of engineer- and public events across ing systems to the future of the engineer- the country to demon- ing profession. strate just how creative “Design Squad helps young people go and exciting the engineer- beyond the stereotype of engineering ing profession can be, and being staid and analytic and demonstrates also to provide a model for ways that it can be both creative and teamwork. socially engaging. A hope is that it will Major funding for encourage more young people to enter Design Squad comes from engineering,” he explains. the National Science Foun- David Wallace, Esther and Harold dation and the Intel Foun- E. Edgerton Associate Professor of dation. The project is also Mechanical Engineering and Engi- supported by Tyco Electron- neering Systems, has been involved ics, The Harold and Esther with creating the series’ design chal- Edgerton Family Founda- lenges for two competing teams of tion, Noyce Foundation, Intel aspiring teenage engineers. During Corporation, IEEE, ASCE filming he oversees engineering STORYBOARDS BY and the National Council of preparation for the challenges and is DAVID WALLACE Examiners for Engineering and the technical adviser on set, mentor- ABOVE: An animation storyboard Surveying. ing the teams and helping with describes the function of a check troubleshooting. During postproduction valve and a team’s idea for a he reviews rough cuts of each episode for simple hand pump.