Thursday, June 2nd, 2016

Time	Event
1:00p	Rainer Weiss wins Kavli Prize in Astrophysics Rainier Weiss, emeritus professor of physics, is a recipient of the 2016 Kavli Prize in Astrophysics. The Kavli Prizes are awarded biennially to recognize scientists who have made seminal advances in three categories: astrophysics, nanoscience, and neuroscience. Weiss will share the prize, including a cash award of $1 million, with Ronald Drever, emeritus professor of physics at Caltech, and Kip Thorne, Caltech’s Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics, emeritus. The three scientists, who are co-founders of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), have received the prize for the direct detection of gravitational waves, according to the award citation: “This detection has, in a single stroke and for the first time, validated Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity for very strong fields, established the nature of gravitational waves, demonstrated the existence of black holes with masses 30 times that of our sun, and opened a new window on the universe.” On September 14, 2015, LIGO’s two interferometers — one in Washington, the other in Louisiana — picked up a signal that lasted just one-fifth of a second. For the next few months, LIGO scientists around the world would carefully analyze, verify, and verify again, to determine that this signal represented the first direct detection of gravitational waves — ripples across the universe, created by extreme cataclysmic events billions of years ago. The scientists determined that the incredibly faint signal was produced by the spectacularly violent collision of two black holes, each about 30 times as massive as the sun, 1.3 billion light years away. Announcing the Kavli Astrophysics recipients, in an address in Oslo, Norway, Mats Carlsson, chair of the astrophysics committee, read from the award citation: “The detection of gravitational waves is an achievement for which hundreds of scientists, engineers, and technicians around the world share credit. Drever, Thorne, and Weiss stand out: Their ingenuity, inspiration, intellectual leadership, and tenacity were the driving force behind this epic discovery.” Pushing for a signal In 1972, Weiss had worked out the basic concept for an interferometer to detect gravitational waves — an idea he originally drew up as an exercise for students in his general relativity course at MIT. His concept would eventually serve as the essential blueprint for LIGO. From LIGO’s earliest days to its most recent detection, “Weiss provided technical leadership and devoted his extraordinary experimental acumen over the next decades, contributing to every aspect of the final apparatus,” the citation reads. In 1974, a research team led by physicists Russell Hulse and Joseph Taylor made the first detection of gravitational waves, by analyzing the behavior of two orbiting neutron stars — a detection for which the pair was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1993. The detection, however, was not a direct one. In 1975, Weiss and Thorne met for the first time at a NASA committee meeting in Washington, D.C., where they began to think about how Weiss’ interferometer design could be scaled up to make a direct detection of gravitational waves. Since the 1960s, Thorne had been evaluating how extreme events such as colliding black holes and neutron stars generate gravitational waves, and how those waves might be detected from Earth. Weiss and Thorne pushed the concept of LIGO through numerous hurdles in funding and design, and eventually oversaw the observatory’s construction, in the form of two identical and massive instruments, each 4 kilometers long and 3,000 kilometers apart. In 1979, Drever joined the team as the third co-founder of LIGO, and helped to perfect the design and operation of the interferometers, devising ways to increase the power and efficiency of the optical systems central to LIGO’s sensitivity. “For the first time in history we can explore the universe’s mysteries in three regimes: electromagnetic, particle, and gravitational regime,” said France Córdova, director of the National Science Foundation, who spoke as part of the awards announcement. “Humming with signals” Weiss received his BS in 1955 and his PhD in 1962, both from MIT. After appointments at Tufts University and Princeton University, Weiss returned to MIT as a faculty member in 1964. He has also served as an adjunct professor of physics at Louisiana State University since 2011. Weiss is a co-founder and science advisor of the NASA Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite mission, which measured the spectrum of cosmic microwave background radiation supporting the Big Bang scenario.   Weiss has received numerous awards and honors, including the 2003 Medaille de l’ADION, the 2006 Gruber Prize in Cosmology, and the 2007 Einstein Prize of the American Physical Society. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Physical Society, as well as a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Earlier this year, Weiss received a Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics and the 2016 Gruber Prize in Cosmology, both shared with Drever and Thorne. Most recently, the three co-founders were also awarded the Shaw Prize in Astronomy. Today, Weiss and Thorne watched a live broadcast of the Kavli Prize announcement from New York, as part of the World Science Festival. As their names were announced, the pair, who are close friends, shared a hug, to a standing ovation. In a panel held after the Kavli Prize announcement to discuss the significance of each Kavli Prize, Nergis Malvalvala, who is the Curtis and Kathleen Marble Professor of Astrophysics and associate head of the Department of Physics at MIT, a LIGO team member, and a former student of Weiss’, said of LIGO’s future: “We have so much still to do. We’ve really just uncovered the very first signal. The universe is humming with signals we have yet to pick up.” (Comment on this)
2:00p	New CRISPR system for targeting RNA Researchers from MIT and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, as well as the National Institutes of Health, Rutgers University at New Brunswick, and the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, have characterized a new CRISPR system that targets RNA, rather than DNA. The new approach has the potential to open a powerful avenue in cellular manipulation. Whereas DNA editing makes permanent changes to the genome of a cell, the CRISPR-based RNA-targeting approach may allow researchers to make temporary changes that can be adjusted up or down, and with greater specificity and functionality than existing methods for RNA interference. In a study published today in Science, Feng Zhang and colleagues at the Broad Institute and the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, along with co-authors Eugene Koonin and his colleagues at the NIH, and Konstantin Severinov of Rutgers University at New Brunswick and Skoltech, report the identification and functional characterization of C2c2, an RNA-guided enzyme capable of targeting and degrading RNA. The findings reveal that C2c2 — which is the first naturally occurring CRISPR system known to target only RNA, and was discovered by this collaborative group in October 2015 — helps protect bacteria against viral infection. The researchers demonstrate that C2c2 can be programmed to cleave particular RNA sequences in bacterial cells, which would make it an important addition to the molecular biology toolbox. The RNA-focused action of C2c2 complements the CRISPR-Cas9 system, which targets DNA, the genomic blueprint for cellular identity and function. The ability to target only RNA, which helps carry out the genomic instructions, offers the ability to specifically manipulate RNA in a high-throughput manner — and to manipulate gene function more broadly. This has the potential to accelerate progress to understand, treat, and prevent disease. “C2c2 opens the door to an entirely new frontier of powerful CRISPR tools,” said senior author Feng Zhang, who is a core institute member of the Broad Institute, an investigator at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, and the W. M. Keck Career Development Associate Professor in MIT’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. “There are an immense number of possibilities for C2c2, and we are excited to develop it into a platform for life science research and medicine.” “The study of C2c2 uncovers a fundamentally novel biological mechanism that bacteria seem to use in their defense against viruses,” said Eugene Koonin, senior author and leader of the Evolutionary Genomics Group at the NIH. “Applications of this strategy could be quite striking.” Currently, the most common technique for performing gene knockdown is small interfering RNA (siRNA). According to the researchers, C2c2 RNA-editing methods suggest greater specificity and hold the potential for a wider range of applications, such as: Adding modules to specific RNA sequences to alter their function — how they are translated into proteins — which would make them valuable tools for large-scale screens and constructing synthetic regulatory networks; and Harnessing C2c2 to fluorescently tag RNAs as a means to study their trafficking and subcellular localization. In this work, the team was able to precisely target and remove specific RNA sequences using C2c2, lowering the expression level of the corresponding protein. This suggests C2c2 could represent an alternate approach to siRNA, complementing the specificity and simplicity of CRISPR-based DNA editing and offering researchers adjustable gene “knockdown” capability using RNA. C2c2 has advantages that make it suitable for tool development: C2c2 is a two-component system, requiring only a single guide RNA to function; and C2c2 is genetically encodable — meaning the necessary components can be synthesized as DNA for delivery into tissue and cells. “C2c2’s greatest impact may be made on our understanding of the role of RNA in disease and cellular function,” said co-first author Omar Abudayyeh, a graduate student in the Zhang Lab. (Comment on this)
4:00p	At hooding ceremony, doctoral graduates urged to solve the world’s “toughest challenges” Former Nigerian Minister of Finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala MCP ’78, PhD ’81 urged MIT’s newly minted doctoral graduates to solve “the world’s toughest challenges,” in a keynote speech at the Institute’s 2016 Investiture of Doctoral Hoods on Thursday. Okonjo-Iweala, a development economist and former high-ranking World Bank official, outlined a list of pressing global issues that will require a concerted public effort, now and in decades to come: sustaining economic growth, reducing economic inequality, limiting climate change, providing global access to water, tackling new health problems, and managing the global shift to a more urban-oriented society. “They are real challenges,” Okonjo-Iweala said. However, she added, “Every challenge presents an opportunity.” Okonjo-Iweala mixed serious observations about the state of the world with humorous asides, and reminisced about her own time as a graduate student at MIT, where she received a degree in regional economics and development from MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning. The value of a doctorate from MIT, Okonjo-Iweala suggested, stems not only from the wealth of specific knowledge acquired about a particular field; additionally, “it confers a certain confidence in how to approach problems,” she remarked to the large audience gathered at the Johnson Athletic Center Ice Rink. Discussing her own professional experiences, Okonjo-Iweala recalled thinking, “If I made it out of MIT with this degree, surely I have the ability to solve these problems.” She cited her own work helping tackle the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s, and reducing domestic corruption as a government minister in Nigeria, as times when the intellectual tools and systematic analysis from her graduate study particularly helped her professionally. MIT is awarding 646 doctoral degrees this spring, across all five schools of the Institute. MIT Chancellor Cynthia Barnhart delivered a welcome address at the ceremony, congratulating MIT’s PhDs on their “journey to achieving the highest level of scholarship” and urging them luck in “solving humanity’s most pressing challenges.” The event marked the second time MIT’s doctoral hooding ceremony has had a keynote speaker, a new annual tradition at the Institute. The speaker is chosen with input from MIT faculty and doctoral students. Okonjo-Iweala received her MCP from MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning, and a PhD in regional economics and development. She served at the World Bank for 21 years, as a development economist, vice president, and corporate secretary, before becoming Nigeria’s finance minister in 2003. In 2007, Okonjo-Iweala returned to the World Bank as managing director. She served as Nigeria’s finance minister for a second time from 2011 to 2015, and is currently a senior advisor at Lazard, the global advisory and asset management firm. The festive ceremony featured faculty wearing a colorful array of robes from the institutions (including MIT) where they themselves earned doctorates. After the remarks by Barnhart and Okonjo-Iweala, all doctoral graduates walked across stage to individually receive their doctoral hoods — a part of the doctoral robe ensemble — from Barnhart and their department or program heads. MIT adopted the distinctive color scheme for its doctoral degree robe in 1995. The MIT design features a silver-gray robe with a cardinal red velvet front panel, and cardinal red velvet bars on the sleeves. Additional color markings denote whether graduates have received a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) or a Doctor of Science (ScD) degree. “I just love the silver-gray,” Okonjo-Iweala observed during her speech, referring to the MIT robes. “We didn’t have that when I graduated.” Turning to Barnhart, she jokingly asked, “Can I have one too?” (Comment on this)
5:30p	MIT Corporation elects 10 term members, two life members The MIT Corporation — the Institute’s board of trustees — elected 10 term members, who will each serve for five years, as well as two life members, during its quarterly meeting held today. Corporation Chair Robert B. Millard ’73 announced the election results; all positions are effective July 1. The 10 term members are: Noubar Afeyan PhD ’87; Vanu G. Bose ’88, SM ’94, PhD ’99 (second term); Eran Broshy ’79; John D. Chisholm ’75, SM ’75; Victor J. Menezes SM ’72 (second term); Vrajesh Y. Modi ’11, SM ’15, MBA ’15; Martin Y. Tang SM ’72 (third term); Carmen M. Thain ’78 (second term); Kenneth Wang ’71 (third term); and Songyee Yoon PhD ’00. The two life members are: Theresa M. Stone SM ’76 and Megan J. Smith ’86, SM ’88. The Corporation also announced Nicolas E. Chammas SM ’87 as the 2016-2017 president of the Association of Alumni and Alumnae of MIT, effective July 1. As such, he becomes ex officio member of the Corporation and of the Corporation Joint Advisory Committee on Institute-Wide Affairs. He succeeds Chisholm, who will return to the Corporation for a five-year term. As of July 1, the Corporation will consist of 76 distinguished leaders in education, science, engineering, and industry; of those, 25 are life members and eight are ex officio. An additional 34 individuals are life members emeritus. Life members serve without a specific term until they turn 75 years old, while term members serve for five years. Both types of members have voting rights in the Corporation. Alumni nominees and representatives of recent graduating classes also serve five-year terms. At age 75, life members become life members emeritus; while they no longer have a vote, they continue to play an active role in Institute affairs. This year’s elected term members are: Noubar Afeyan Founder and CEO of Flagship Ventures Afeyan earned his PhD in biochemical engineering from MIT, and has authored numerous scientific publications and patents. He is founder and CEO of Flagship Ventures, a leading early-stage, life-science venture firm managing funds exceeding $1.4 billion. In his 30-year career, Noubar has co-founded more than 38 life-science and technology startups, and is currently director or chair of several private and public company boards. Additionally, he co-founded the National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia, the UWC Dilijan International School, the Noubar and Anna Afeyan Foundation, and the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity. He also served as chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Chemicals and Biotechnology and its Emerging Technologies Council. Since 2000, Afeyan has been a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Vanu G. Bose Founder and CEO of Vanu, Inc. Vanu G. Bose earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1984, a bachelor’s degree in mathematics 1984, and a master’s and PhD in electrical engineering and computer science in 1994 and 1999, respectively, all from MIT. Bose is CEO and founder of Vanu, Inc., which pioneered the commercialization of software-defined radio and has received numerous industry awards. Bose has been named a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer and a ComputerWorld Honors Program Laureate. Bose was a technical expert for the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) report, “Realizing the Full Potential of Government-Held Spectrum to Spur Economic Growth.” He is founder and chair of the National Spectrum Consortium, and currently serves as a member of the Army Science Board. Eran Broshy Operating Executive of Tailwind Capital Broshy earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from MIT in 1979, a master’s in civil engineering from Stanford University, and MBA from Harvard University. After early years as a civil engineer and project manager, he spent 30 years building leading, high-growth public and private healthcare businesses as CEO, board chair and director, strategist, and an investor. For the last six years, Broshy has partnered with private equity firms to invest broadly in healthcare. Previously, he served for over a decade as CEO and chair of inVentiv Health, where he turned the company into a leading global firm in the biopharmaceutical industry. From 1984 to 1998, Broshy worked for the The Boston Consulting Group, including six years as managing partner responsible for the firm’s healthcare practice across the Americas. John D. Chisholm CEO of John Chisholm Ventures Chisholm earned a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT in 1975, and, later, an MBA from the Harvard Business School. Today he heads up John Chisholm Ventures, an entrepreneurship advisory and investment firm, and is chair of Pyze, a mobile intelligence firm. Previously, he was founder, CEO, and chair of Decisive Technology, publisher of the first software for online surveys, and CustomerSat, a leading provider of enterprise feedback management systems. He is a member of the Global Partners Council of the Institute for New Economic Thinking and advises entrepreneurs through the MIT Venture Mentoring Service, the Thiel Foundation 20under20 Fellowship, and the Plug and Play Tech Center. From 2004 to 2008, he served on the visiting committee for Mathematics. Victor J. Menezes Retired Senior Vice Chairman of Citigroup Inc. Menezes earned a degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in 1970, and a master’s in management from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1972. Currently, he is a senior operating advisor with New Silk Route, an international private-equity firm. He was senior vice chair of Citigroup Inc., retiring in 2005 after 32 years. Previously, he was chair and CEO of Citibank, head of Citigroup’s emerging markets business, and head of Citibank’s businesses in India, Hong Kong, China, and Europe. In 1995, he was named CFO of Citicorp and Citibank. He served as a Corporation member from 2008 to 2013, serving on the Risk and Audit Committee and the Media Lab/Media Arts and Sciences and MIT Sloan School of Management visiting committees. Vrajesh Y. Modi Consultant, Boston Consulting Group Modi earned bachelor’s degrees in mechanical engineering and in management science from MIT in 2011, and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a master’s in mechanical engineering from MIT in 2015. He is currently a consultant at The Boston Consulting Group, where he works on strategy, pricing, and operations projects. While at MIT, Modi served as president of the Undergraduate Association, and  served on the Committee on Graduate Programs, the Corporation Joint-Advisory Committee on Institute-wide Affairs, the Task Force on Student Engagement, and the Housing Strategy Group. He was also a coach for the Community Catalyst Leadership Program, a mentor for the Gordon Engineering Leadership Program, and involved with the Educational Council. For his work as an undergraduate, Modi was awarded the Karl Taylor Compton Prize. Martin Y. Tang Director of MTDD, Ltd. Tang earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1970 from Cornell University, and a master’s in management from MIT’s Sloan School of Management in 1972. Currently, Tang is a private investor. For 16 years, he was with Spencer Stuart, a leading management consulting firm specializing in executive search and board director appointments. Prior to joining Spencer Stuart, Tang ran Norman Broadbent HK Ltd. in Hong Kong. From 1986 to 1988, he was an executive director of Techno-Ventures Ltd., a venture capital firm. Early in his career, he was with Bank of America in San Francisco and Taiwan, before serving as executive director of the South Sea Textile Manufacturing Co. Ltd. in Hong Kong and Indonesia. He has served on numerous MIT visiting committees, including Athletics, Humanities, and Social Sciences.   Carmen M. Thain Private investor Thain earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture from MIT in 1978. She began her career as an assistant buyer at Bloomingdale’s, and was quickly promoted to buyer. She became the executive vice president for merchandising at The Pottery Barn, and continued in an executive position following the acquisition of The Pottery Barn by The Gap, Inc. Thain later became an independent consultant and is currently a private investor. For six years, she served as chair of the Board of Rye Country Day School in New York. She is active in promoting women’s health for Sloane Hospital for Women, part of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital. She currently serves on the MIT visiting committees for Architecture, Dean for Undergraduate Education, and Mathematics. Kenneth Wang President of U.S. Summit Company Wang earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from MIT in 1971, and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1976. Today, Wang is president of U.S. Summit Company, based in New York, which markets and distributes ethical pharmaceuticals, specialty chemicals, and consumer products in Southeast Asia. Previously, he worked for Fairfield-Maxwell Ltd., Bank of America in New York City, in shipping and ship financing, and the Oceanic Petroleum Corporation. Wang also owns and operates golf-related properties in and around New York. He also serves on the MIT visiting committees for Architecture, Dean for Student Life, and Humanities. MIT awards include Life Sustaining Fellow (1979), Henry B. Kane ’24 Award (1993), Harold E. Lobdell ’17 Award (2006), and the Bronze Beaver (2010). Songyee Yoon CEO of NCSOFT West Yoon earned a PhD in computational neuroscience from MIT in 2000. Before MIT, she earned a bachelor’s degree in electronics and electrical engineering from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. Since 2008, Yoon has served as the Global Chief Strategy Officer of NCSOFT. Previously, she served as head of the Communication Intelligence Division at SK Telecom Co. Ltd., leading platform and artificial intelligence strategy. She has taught media and entertainment industry strategy at Seoul universities, and writes for major newspapers, covering technology and humanity. Additionally, she has worked as a consultant at McKinsey and Co., as part of corporate finance and strategy practice, and is running a nonprofit organization, Common Planet, which helps endangered species. She serves on the MIT visiting committee for Brain and Cognitive Sciences. Theresa M. Stone Retired MIT Executive Vice President and Treasurer Stone earned her master’s degree in management from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1976. Before that, she earned a bachelor’s degree in French literature from Wellesley College. From 2007 to 2011, Stone served as MIT’s executive vice president and treasurer. She has been a member of MIT’s Corporation since 1996. Stone’s career in financial services includes management roles as president of Chubb Life Insurance Company and CFO of Jefferson-Pilot Corporation. For 14 years, she was an investment banker at Morgan Stanley. She has served on numerous corporate and foundation boards, including American International Group, Duke Energy Corporation, and the Harold Alfond Foundation. She also served as board member and treasurer of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and vice chair of the board for the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Megan J. Smith U.S. Chief Technology Officer Smith earned a bachelor’s degree in 1986 and master’s in 1988, both in mechanical engineering, from MIT. Smith currently serves as the U.S. chief technology officer in the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Previously, she spent nine years as vice president of GoogleX and as Google’s vice president of New Business Development and Strategy. From 1996 to 2003, Smith was the CEO of PlanetOut. From 1990 to 1996, she worked at General Magic, Inc., on handheld communications products and partnerships. She also worked on multimedia products at Apple Computer Japan in Tokyo from 1988 to 1990. From 1988 to 1993, Smith served on the Corporation, and returned to the Corporation in 2006, before going on leave to work for the Obama Administration. (Comment on this)

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