The Weather Today: Mostly sunny, chilly, MIT’s High 26°F (-3°C) Tonight: Snow developing late, Oldest and Largest light accumulation likely Newspaper Tomorrow: Snow changing to rain, High 38°F (3°C) Details, Page 2 Volume 128, Number 8 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Friday, February 29, 2008 $30,000 Awarded to Graduate Student for Bacterial Innovation By Arkajit Dey bacteriophages weaken the defense ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR mechanisms of biofilms, making the Timothy K. Lu G is a prize-win- biofilms susceptible to antibiotics ning killer. which ordinarily could not destroy To be more precise, on Wednes- them. day, he won the $30,000 Lemelson- “The next step is to bring it to the MIT Student Prize for Inventiveness real world,” Lu said. “Currently it’s for developing methods to kill antibi- just a really cool thing in the lab,” he otic-resistant bacteria. The prize will said. But Lu plans to collaborate with support research that aims to contain the CDC to make real-world tests of one of the deadliest threats known to the technology. biologists. The most practical applications “I’m very honored,” said Lu at the could target industry, starting with awards ceremony Wednesday. “I’ve food processing plants. Once the been working in the lab for three or technology has been proven, it might four years doing my Ph.D., it’s nice eventually be used in clinical trials. ANDREW LUKMANN—THE TECH to be recognized,” he said. Lu said that one important goal President Susan Hockfield delivers the concluding comments of the 2008 MIT Excellence Awards Lu described two major sources is to “expand the library of phages.” on Tuesday afternoon. of infections that his research fights: Currently his techniques only uses hard-to-kill antibiotic-resistant bac- one phage, targeted at E. Coli. teria, and biofilms, bacteria sticking “I started off as a techie,” said Lu, to surfaces. who majored in Course VI as an un- MRSA, or methicillin-resistant dergraduate and received an M.Eng Next House Housemasters Medard, Staphylococcus aureus, is one ex- in 2003. He developed an interest ample of such a “superbug” which in biology while working with Prof. in 2005 killed nearly 19,000 people Rahul Sarpeshkar of RLE to “make Simmons Will Leave at End of Term in the United States, surpassing the devices that stimulate the inner ear death toll due to AIDS in the U.S., for deaf people.” By Michael McGraw-Herdeg leave Next House, putting the dormi- in which students who live together according to the Centers for Disease Later, after entering the HST EXECUTIVE EDITOR tory in line with all other undergrad- share an academic advisor. RBA Control and Prevention. program and witnessing patients Next House housemasters Muriel uate dormitories except McCormick was first adopted by the dormitory in Lu’s research modifies bacterio- crippled with infections first-hand Medard ’89 and John Simmons ’90 Hall and the cultural houses. phages, viruses that attack bacteria, will leave the post at the end of the “People sometimes concentrate Housemasters, Page 11 to make them deadly to biofilms. The Lemelson, Page 10 2007–8 academic year to focus on on the fact that freshmen could not their family. leave - the fact is also that freshmen Medard said in an e-mail that the could not come in,” Medard wrote in decision is a result of space pres- an e-mail. “I think that allowing the Fifteen Apply to Serve as W1 Founders sures. “The kids are getting bigger,” students who are most enthusiastic Four More Late Applications Will Not Be Considered, Says Residential Life Dean she wrote, “and it was getting very about Next House to live there will tight when we had long visits by rela- strengthen the community further,” By Nick Bushak (currently Ashdown). Four students About 50 students, including the tives.” she wrote. NEWS EDITOR applied late; their applications will founders group, will move into the Perhaps the housemasters’ most When Medard and Simmons Fifteen applications for the W1 not be considered. new graduate dormitory NW35 this widely-known achievement is their came to Next House in fall 2006, “founders group” were received by Associate Dean of Residential fall in advance of moving into W1 advocacy for freshman participa- freshmen were barred from REX be- Tuesday’s deadline, and the group’s Life Donna M. Denoncourt said that when it reopens in fall 2010. W1 has tion in Residence Exploration. This cause of constraints imposed by the student membership will be selected almost 40 people attended two infor- been the graduate dormitory Ash- fall, freshmen will be able to enter or Residence-Based Advising program, by Friday. mation sessions held to tell people down House for decades, and NW35 The founders group, which will about the founders group. Denon- will be named Ashdown when it have about ten members, will pre- court said that the committee will opens this fall. pare the culture and structure of the choose about ten founders group Sherley’s Discrimination Claim new undergraduate dormitory W1 members by Friday evening. W1, Page 10 Rejected The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has denied em- ployment discrimination claims by former professor James L. Sherley, who left MIT on June 30, 2007 after an unsuccessful hunger strike to have his tenure case re-examined, according to documents provided to The Tech by Sherley. Sherley filed a complaint on Sept. 11, 2007 News through the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, claiming that his termination from MIT violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of Brief 1964. The EEOC replied that the evidence Sherley provided “fails to in- dicate that a violation of the law occurred” and that his claim was filed more than 300 days after he was informed of the decision to deny him tenure (on Jan. 3, 2005). According to Title VII, discrimination claims must be filed within 300 days from the date an employer tells a com- plainant about a harm. One key question is whether the “harm” was Sherley’s denial of tenure in 2005, or his termination from work on June 30, 2007. Sherley argued that the harm happened on June 30, 2007, and he said that his complaint was not made too late. In a letter, he said that “the crucial moment of harm … was my fire from MIT due to illegal racial dis- crimination on June 30, 2007.” A letter dated Feb. 4, 2008 from EEOC Boston office director Rob- ert L. Sanders cited Delaware State College v. Ricks, a 1980 Supreme Sherley, Page 10 MARTIN SEGAdo—THE TECH The southeast corner of MIT’s NW35 dormitory, which will soon house about fifty undergraduates. Comics CAMPUS LIFE / SPORTS ARTS World & Nation ............. 2 Ask a TA MIT Dramashop’s SubUrbia Opinion .................... 4 Page 6 performance captivates Arts ....................... 5 Game of the Week: Page 5 It’s Friday .................. 6 Men’s Fencing Upcoming March concerts Police Log ................. 11 Page 7 Page 12 Page 5 Sports .................... 12 Page THE TECH February 9, 008 WORLD & NATION Obama Tops Clinton in a Record Recall Widens for Blood Drug Fundraising Month for Both By Michael Luo and Jeff Zeleny Possibly Tied to More Deaths THE NEW YORK TIMES Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton both had a re- By Walt Bogdanich sible. The agency also said it was in- ceptable workshop vendor.” The ven- cord-breaking month of fundraising in February, bringing in more THE NEW YORK TIMES vestigating two Chinese wholesalers dor was not identified. than $80 million combined, but with Obama again raising significantly Amid indications that more people — also called consolidators — that Scientific Protein Laboratories, a more than Clinton. may have died or been harmed after supplied crude heparin to the Chinese Wisconsin company that is the ma- Obama’s campaign did not release an official estimate of its Febru- being given a brand of the blood thin- plant, Changzhou SPL, as well as jority owner of the Chinese plant, is- ary fundraising on Thursday. But several major donors estimated it to ner heparin, federal drug regulators those who sold raw ingredients to the sued a statement on Thursday saying be about $50 million based on their calculations and knowledge of said Thursday they had found “poten- consolidators. the FDA’s finding did not represent its tallies during the month, when on many days the campaign took in as tial deficiencies” at a Chinese plant The New York Times reported final determination as to whether the much as $ million. that supplied much of the active ingre- Thursday that at least one of the con- plant complied with federal regulato- The unprecedented sum underscores the challenge facing Obama in dient for the drug. solidators received supplies from ry rules. The company, the statement his decision to accept public financing for the general election and abide Baxter International, which makes small, unregulated family workshops said, is committed to finding the root by the spending limits that come with it, something he indicated last the brand of heparin associated with that scraped mucous membrane from cause of the adverse reactions. year he would do if the Republican nominee also signed up for the cam- the problems, and buys its supplies pig intestines and cooked it, eventu- Erin Gardiner, a spokeswoman for paign finance program. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive from the Chinese plant, announced it ally producing a dry substance known Baxter, said the company was review- Republican nominee, has criticized Obama for wavering on the issue. was expanding a recall to include vir- as crude heparin. ing the FDA’s report. “We expect SPL Obama campaign officials were still tabulating and said only that tually all its heparin products.