Volume 50 – Number 6 Wednesday – October 26, 2005 TechTalk S ERVING T HE M I T C OMMUNITY Engineering education workshop draws nat’l leaders Elizabeth A. Thomson low number of domestic engineering students. News Office MIT President Susan Hockfield said that when she learned of the workshop, she was very excited because “MIT is committed to innovations in engineering educa- President Bush’s science advisor, the head of the tion, and that’s really what this workshop is about.” National Science Foundation and other top scientists and She noted fundamental challenges that must be engineers from around the country gathered at MIT last addressed, such as the “challenge of interest.” “Kids and Thursday, Oct. 20, to push forward a national conversation Americans today fail to be inspired by engineering, by on engineering education in the 21st century and the chal- science, and by mathematics,” she said, noting that only lenges, both here and abroad, that will affect it. 17 percent of U.S. bachelors’ degrees are in science and “One of the reasons I am here is to let you know that engineering compared to 68 percent in Singapore. we are listening — my office, and [that of] the president,” She also stressed that to move engineering forward we said John H. Marburger, science advisor to the president must “recruit aggressively” women and minorities in this and director of the Office of Science and Technology Pol- country. “Engineering can’t continue to be dominated pre- icy. dominantly by men — by white men.” PHOTO / DONNA COVENEY The one-day workshop at MIT grew from issues dis- The United States continues to lead the world in sci- MIT President Susan Hockfield chats with John Marburger, cussed in the recent National Academy of Engineering ence and technology. That said, “the redistribution of report, “The Engineer of 2020: Visions of Engineering science advisor to President Bush, at a luncheon held See WORKSHOP Thursday, Oct. 20, as part of a daylong MIT workshop on in the New Century,” as well as National Science Board engineering education. (NSB) reports that identified troubling trends such as the Page 2 MIT alum nominated to head Fed Sarah H. Wright News Office MIT alumnus and macroeconomist Ben S. Bernanke (Ph.D. 1979), chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advis- ers, has been nominated to become chair- man of the Federal Reserve. If approved by the Senate, Bernanke will replace Alan Greenspan, Fed chairman since 1987, early next year. President Bush announced Bernanke’s nomination for “Banker in Chief” at a press conference in Washington on Mon- day, Oct. 24. Bernanke has “earned a reputation for intellectual rigor and integrity. He com- mands deep respect in the global financial community,” Bush said. With the legendary Greenspan stand- ing beside him, Bernanke said that, if con- firmed, his “first priority will be to main- tain continuity with the policies and strat- PHOTO / DONNA COVENEY egies established during the Greenspan A new ambulance bay and ready room in the loading dock and basement of the Stata Center were dedicated Oct. 19. Nicolas years.” Wyhs (S.B. 2005), left, and undergraduates Rachel Williams and William Baker are three of the students who run the service. Bernanke, 51, is known for his deliber- ate, even contemplative, analytic style, his dry sense of humor and his detachment from the political fray. His MIT colleagues were unsurprised at Bernanke’s emphasis MIT ambulance service a Class One act on continuity for the Fed. “He has always been thoughtful, atten- Sasha Brown Kirkbride, clinical director for campus The Student Emergency Medical tive, precise. He’s the kind of person you’d News Office life in the medical department. The Society (SEMS) started in the fall of want as a surgeon,” said lifelong friend bay provides shelter for the ambu- 2000 to train student EMTs. In the Kenneth Manning, MIT’s Thomas Meloy lance, which by law must be docked early spring of 2001, SEMS proposed Professor of Rhetoric and of the History MIT has the only Class One, stu- indoors. EMTs can sleep in the bunk taking over the MIT ambulance. of Science. dent-run ambulance service in the room when they are on call — and “Most of our EMTs and patients Manning and Bernanke grew up in Dil- state, and on Oct. 19, the Institute dedi- there are people on call every night. enjoy working with each other. For the lon, S.C., a then-segregated town of 6,300 cated a bay and bunk room in the load- The Class One designation means patients it’s a comfort to know that the where Bernanke’s father owned a drug- ing dock and basement of the Stata that the ambulance is certified to trans- person taking care of them is a fellow store. Both attended Harvard University, Center to house it. port patients to area hospitals as well as “This is a very important day in the to MIT Medical. All the EMTs receive See AMBULANCE See FED history of our service,” said Maryanne comprehensive first-aid training. Page 3 Page 2 NEWS RESEARCH ARTS TASTE OF NEW ORLEANS BORROWED TOOLS BAYOU BASH An author, educator and filmmaker forced to leave Scientists find they can make designer proteins This year’s Fall Festival goes South with featured his home after Hurricane Katrina will begin an artist’s using a technique normally used to improve steel and acts from the New Orleans area. residency at MIT. other metal alloys. Page 7 Page 3 Page 4 BUILT FOR A CAUSE RAINBOW CONNECTION INFORMING THE DEBATE An exhibit at the Wolk Gallery explores the post- MIT now has its first program coordinator for LBGT Researchers create stem cells that cannot develop revolutionary architecture of Cuba. services, resources and outreach. into human beings. Page 7 Page 5 Page 4 PAGE 2 October 26, 2005 PEOPLE MIT Tech Talk Institute of Medicine elects 2 from MIT WORKSHOP Anne Trafton with the National Academy of Sciences, the design of information systems for health- Continued from Page 1 News Office National Academy of Engineering and the care institutions and patients. He is a pro- National Research Council. fessor of health sciences and technology engineering talent is going to be the bat- Bizzi, a principal investigator in the in the Harvard/MIT Division of Health tlefield of global competitiveness in the Emilio Bizzi, Institute Professor in the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Sciences and Technology and head of the future,” said Arden L. Bement, head of the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sci- focuses his research on how the central Clinical Decision-Making Group in the National Science Foundation. “We have an ences, and Peter Szolovits, professor of nervous system translates brain messages MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intel- advantage. We just can’t become compla- computer science and electrical engineer- signaling motor intent into muscle activa- ligence Laboratory. cent.” ing, have been elected to the Institute of tion. He is a member of the National Acad- The Institute of Medicine was estab- He further noted that if U.S. industry Medicine. emy of Sciences and is currently serving lished in 1970 by the National Academy of can find engineering talent in the devel- Bizzi and Szolovits are among 64 new as secretary of the American Academy of Sciences to honor professional achievement oping world for 20 cents on the dollar, members of the Washington, D.C.-based Arts and Sciences. in the health sciences and to serve as a “they’re going to do so, and probably institute, which made the announcement on Szolovits’ research centers on the appli- national resource for independent analysis should.” Oct. 24. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) is cation of artificial intelligence methods to and recommendations on issues related to So the challenge for U.S. engineering one of the four national academies, along problems of medical decision-making and medicine, biomedical sciences and health. schools is to “provide students who offer five times the value added,” he said. Commenting on the American public’s sometimes negative view of the discipline, he said, “more than anything else we need FED a Carl Sagan-quality spokesman for engi- Continued from Page 1 neering.” Rather than focus on federal science policy, Marburger, who’s been an engi- where Bernanke received the B.A. in eco- neer, physicist and academic, commented nomics in 1974, followed by the Ph.D. in on the issues involved from a personal per- economics from MIT. Bernanke was visit- spective. ing professor of economics at MIT in 1989, He stressed the importance of individu- an associate professor of economics at al faculty members and their influence on Stanford and a professor and department students. “The key to improving education chair of economics at Princeton from 1996 of any kind is [a professor’s] acceptance to 2002. of the responsibility [involved in] teaching He joined the Fed’s Board of Governors students.” in 2002. He noted that the “number one fact Olivier Blanchard, MIT professor of I’ll take away from this morning is that economics, said, “Ben combines a keen 98 percent of the students who drop out sense of how to translate theory into of engineering cite bad teaching as the actual policy, and an unusual ability to cause.” communicate. He will be a great chair- The workshop was sponsored by the man.” NSB and hosted by the Engineering Sys- Bernanke has already influenced the tems Division of MIT’s School of Engi- Fed as governor and in his speeches and neering. has developed a reputation for challenging conventional thinking. Bernanke and Greenspan differ on inflation targeting, a practice in which the PHOTO / CHRIS MILLIMAN, COURTESY OF HERTZ FOUNDATION central bank sets an explicit goal for infla- Faculty member tion.