Add Date Today: 03 + 06 + 09 = 18 MIT’s The Weather Oldest and Largest Today: Cloudy, 50°F (10°C) Tonight: Mild, 40°F (4°C) Newspaper Tomorrow: Sunny and pleasant, 60°F (16°C) Details, Page 2 http://tech.mit.edu/ Volume 129, Number 10 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Friday, March 6, 2009 Battle of the Jewish Pastries: Admissions Reduces Six Profs Duke It Out; Latke and Hamentashen Inspire Debate By Ziwei Hao Staff, Travel, Will Use On Wednesday night, six respect- ed professors gathered in 26-100 for the Seventh Annual Latke-Hamen- The Web for Recruiting tashen Debate. Students and faculty, ushered by a yarmulke-wearing Tim By Michael McGraw-Herdeg “This was a painful decision and the Beaver, packed the lecture hall EXECUTIVE EDITOR was made reluctantly,” Schmill wrote for the humorous academic dispute The admissions office has laid off in an e-mail. over the virtues and shortcomings staff, will reduce travel spending by of the latke and the hamentashen. 30–50 percent, and will move much Layoffs come during busy season The hamentashen is a triangular of its communication with students Admissions staff have been under jelly-filled pastry traditionally eaten to the Web. The measures will help pressure this spring because of the on the holiday of Purim; the latke is Admissions meet MIT’s mandated 5 increased workload caused by in- an oil fried potato pancake dipped percent budget cut for the fiscal year creases in applications, Schmill said. in applesauce that is served during beginning in July. MIT this year received about 15,600 Hanukkah. The changes came as MIT pro- applications for the Class of 2013, cessed a record-high number of ap- 17 percent more than last year and Team Hamentashen: plications to the Class of 2013 in almost 50 percent more than applied ¶ Tom Leighton PhD ’81 what will almost certainly be a his- to enter the class of 2009. Professor of Applied Mathematics torically selective admissions cycle. Unless MIT accepts more than ¶ Jeffrey I. Steinfeld ’62 This year’s acceptance rate will like- about 1,800 students, this year’s ac- Emeritus Professor of Chemistry ly be the lowest ever. ceptance rate will be the lowest ever. ¶Jeremy M. Wolfe, PhD ’81 Citing privacy concerns, Dean of Last year’s acceptance rate was 11.6 Lecturer in BCS and Concourse Admissions Stuart Schmill ’86 de- percent, a record-low, with 1,554 clined to disclose how many staff had students accepted. 35 more were ad- Team Latke: been laid off. The office has about 35 mitted in May off the wait list. ¶ David Jones, employees, although not all work for Applications were level for years Professor in STS Monica Kahn—THE TECH the entire year. but rose dramatically after MIT ¶ Keith Nelson Tim the Beaver gets the crowd excited before the annual Latke-Ha- The layoffs were not immediate: launched a new admissions Web site Professor of Chemistry mentashen debate, held this year on Wednesday, March 4 in 26-100. staff were given notice within the last in 2004, Schmill said. Applications ¶ Donald Sadoway The placard on his chest reads “MIT” in Hebrew. month that they were being laid off. decreased from year to year for the Professor of Materials Chemistry MIT administrators are “offering as classes of 2007–2009 but have since very possibly “decide the fate of the Sive unveiled the secret mecha- much support and help for the staff risen, overall increasing about 50% The moderator, Hazel Sive, Pro- planet.” nism that determined the order of as we can,” Schmill said. from the Class of 2009 to the Class fessor of Biology, a hamentashen Each professor was given seven the debate: latke and hamentashen Were staff given advance warn- of 2013. supporter from the 2008 event, pro- minutes to present their argument. flying frogs. The two teams shot ing that layoffs were coming? “It was The current admissions staff posed that the results of the debate After all professors had spoken, one their respective plastic frogs at a never taken off the table that layoffs will be able to absorb the laid-off will “drive the Institute forward professor from each side took five might occur” in discussions about into the next millennium” and may minutes to rebut. Jewish Pastries, Page 14 the budget, Schmill said. Admissions, Page 12 Jackson, Bulovic, Jones, In Short ¶ Ten percent of Athena worksta- tions across campus no longer dis- And Henderson Achieve play seconds on their login screens because they are now testing a beta Athena version 10. They run Ubun- tu Linux, which makes it easier to MacVicar $100K Grants install popular and up-to-date soft- By Emily Prentice vation associated with the MacVicar ware for them; support for USB ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR Fellows Program. drives is now much better. On Thursday night, four MIT Students and faculty members faculty members were named are able to nominate professors ¶ Add date is the last day to drop MacVicar Faculty Fellows in rec- who must then be endorsed by their classes without them showing up ognition of their contributions to department heads. According to on your internal transcript. undergraduate education. They each Leann Dobranski, assistant director receive $100,000 for educational of the Teaching and Learning Lab, ¶ The men’s basketball team fac- activities and research. the MacVicar Advisory Committee es Rhode Island College tonight in The four professors come from this year was chaired by the Dean of the opening round of the Division a variety of fields: Literature Pro- Undergraduate Education Daniel E. III NCAA Tournament, their first fessor Diana Henderson; Electrical Hastings PhD ’80, and also included trip ever to the tourney. The game Engineering and Computer Science two current MacVicar Fellows, two tips off at 6 p.m. at RIC. A webcast Professor Daniel Jackson PhD ’92 non-MacVicar Fellow faculty mem- of the game is available at http:// and Associate Professor Vladimir bers, and two undergraduate stu- tinyurl.com/c35wa4. See story on Bulovic; and Science, Technology, dents selected by the Undergraduate page 16. and Society Professor David Jones. Association Nominations Commit- The MacVicar Day event this tee. The Advisory Committee sub- ¶ Happy Anniversary! to Presi- year will be a faculty panel discus- mits their recommendations to Pro- dent Susan J. Hockfield and Dr. sion entitled “New Directions in vost L. Rafael Reif who makes the Thomas N. Byrne. The couple General Education” from 2:00–3:30 final decision. celebrated their 18th wedding an- p.m. today in 9-057. MacVicar Day Hastings said that in evaluating niversary last Monday. is annual celebration of undergradu- ate education and educational inno- Teaching Prize, Page 11 ¶ Watchmen opens today in 3,611 theatres. There were midnight shows last night. “But who watches Von Maltzahn Wins $30,000 the Watchmen?” CHELSEA GRIMM—THE TECH The scantily-clad men’s swim team cheered through the Infinite Award for Cancer Research E-mail of the on Thursday in celebration of Sunday’s NEWMAC title win. By Robert McQueen tion and revolutionize chemotherapy ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR treatment. Week! Last Tuesday, graduate student One of von Maltzahn’s most no- An e-mail thread yesterday on Geoffrey von Maltzahn was named table inventions is the application of the Campaign for Students mailing Set your winner of the Lemelson-MIT Stu- gold nanorods to detect and destroy list discussed bringing pitchforks World & Nation . 2 dent Prize and received an unre- tumor cells. His nanorods are very and broadswords to an upcoming clocks Opinion ��������������������������4 stricted cash gift of $30,000 for his small particles on the nanometer UA meeting where the mandatory forward this innovative work in cancer therapy. scale that are specially designed to dining controversy would be dis- Arts ��������������������������������5 weekend. Currently pursuing his doctor- absorb infrared radiation. cussed with Dean Donna M. De- Comics & Fun Pages ����8 ate at the Harvard-MIT Division of When these nanoparticles are noncourt, who chairs the Blue Rib- Daylight saving time Health Sciences & Technology, von injected into the blood stream, they bon Dining Committee. Andrew R. Sports . 16 Maltzahn is working to combine concentrate around cancerous tumor Drechsler ’10 wrote, “I think we begins at 2 a.m. Sunday. nanotechnology, medicine, and en- should forge our own instead of gineering to improve tumor detec- Lemelson-MIT, Page 13 buying them.” Page 2 THE TECH March 6, 2009 WORLD & NATIO N President Signals Compromise Fear Slams Shares, as Blue On Health Care By Robert Pear Chips Trade for Pocket Change and Sheryl Gay Stolberg THE NEW YORK TIMES WASHINGTON By Jack Healy 500-stock index has increased tenfold economic downturn deepens. President Barack Obama vowed Thursday to end a decades-long THE NEW YORK TIMES since the market reached a peak in Oc- Investors had bid up shares on stalemate on overhauling the health care system, and he indicated for The banking giant Citigroup once tober 2007. And with no end in sight Wednesday, for example, on hopes the first time that he was open to compromise on details of the proposal commanded a stock price of $55. But to the downward spiral, the New York that China would increase spending to he put forth in the campaign. at one point on Thursday, as markets Stock Exchange has temporarily sus- shore up its unraveling economy, but Obama spoke at a White House forum on health care, where he hurtled to their lowest close in 12 pended its $1 minimum share-price sold off after the Chinese government bluntly warned lobbyists and “special interests” not to stand in the way years, the shares were worth less than requirements to prevent a wave of de- swatted away those rumors.