Dear Physics Community,

I was really happy today to see that MIT will no longer require SAT subject exams. I have always been concerned these exams are highly biased and not well regulated.

Physics Department Events

• Thursday, March 26, 2020 ,12-1 pm – Faculty-Staff lunch, our biophysicists will tell us about viruses, how they are transmitted, and how to limit epidemics
•  Thursday, March 26, 2020, 4-5 pm – Colloquium – Prof. Scott Gaudi, Ohio State, “The Demographics of Exoplanets”
•  Thursday, April 2, 2020, 4-5 pm – Colloquium – Prof. Alan Guth, MIT, “Inflation”
• April 1-3, Admitted Graduate Studnet Open House, details to come.
• Thursday, April 9, 2020, 12-1 pm – Faculty-Staff-Student lunch, “How we are doing with Remote Teaching So Far?”

All events are accessible by zoom.  The ID will be sent by email to the community mailing list.

Physics Department

Embryos start as a single cell, that divides and divides,…8,16, 32,…  At some point structures form.  How does the embryo “know” to start the head and the opposite end from the feet.  MIT News has a story on  Prof. Nikta Fakhri and her group’s work to find out how this works.

Graduate student office hours – Nergis, Cathy, Syd, and I had an hour with our graduate students to answers questions and see how everyone is doing.  The top concerns were grading and graduate exams.  The Education Committee, led by Nergis, will work through this and we will have clear guidance Friday.

Academic Continuity Meeting

Advisories

• Sponsor specific guidance for awardees and proposers for federal funds – there is a great detail of information here from NSF and DOE as well as NIH, DOD.  All have FAQ pages.
• COVID-19 page reports one MIT employee or patient in New England and 4 outside have tested positive.  Good other information on keeping safe on this page, a must-read.
• Research Administration (RAS) FAQ on allowable expenses on grants related to COVID-19.

Local area hospitals – Elezar Edelman is a professor in IMES and an ICU doctor.  He was asked what is it like in local hospitals right now?  He reported that most hospitals have a receiving tent set up outside for testing and assessment.  There is also drive through testing.  Intensive Care Units (ICUs) have been extended to receive patients – his hospital has 3 ICU areas staffed by 5 care teams working 12 h shifts.  They are preparing for a patient surge in 1-2 weeks.

The hospitals are completely mobilized around COVID-19, so do not go there unless you absolutely need to.  He said the ER will completely be packed with people waiting in the halls, which is a pretty dangerous environment.

PPE – Elezar Edelman reported the first MIT donated personal protective equipment was donated to local hospitals today.

Academic Continuity Working groups – as we move into a more stable state, some working groups are forming to make long terms plans.  Stay tuned.

Limited Access Plan – has started.  There is signage by all doors and online guidance here.  If you need to get in somewhere, please work through your PI or let me know.

Peter

P.S. I am posting these messages in my blog roll here and I have been accumulating useful links that have gone by here. In particular, I am trying to keep a list of MIT policy communications.

Thanks to Physics Council, Cathy Modica, Vicky Metternich and Christina Andujar for input and comments on these messages.