Dear Physics Community,

I listen to the MIT Wind Ensemble practice various pomp and circumstance marches out in Killian Court.  Hooding will be tomorrow, Friday will be Commencement, and then Saturday will be a Celebration for the classes of 2020 and 2021.  We have traveled a long road to get here: the pandemic started for me on March 12, 2020, when our wonderful staff put to gather a short ceremony for our seniors as we all left to begin working from home.  Here is a picture from that day:

We have something to celebrate that we can all gather again for commencement — things did not have to turn out this way.  It feels good to hear them practicing that dopey “Hail to MIT” piece that ends Commencements.

See you there,

Peter

Above the Fold

• MIT News Story about Pablo Jarillo-Herrero’s election to the National Academy of Science
• What the hell is the commencement schedule?  Cathy Modica’s summary here, Thanks, Cathy!

Announcements

• DoD paid internships from ORISE
• NSF Addresses the Helium Shortage, helps for PIs

Physics

• Haystack Observatories observations of our weird black hole from Quanta and MIT News
• Two black holes merged and got kicked out of their galaxy from Salvo Vitale.

Dear Physics Community,

Every Spring in mid-April, I begin to hear the sounds of Commencement. Outside my office on Killian Court, a group of carpenters show up and begin to build all the various platforms for Commencement. Here is today’s picture:

We have passed the last day of classes and will have finals next week.  I’m strongly encouraging everyone, instructors, staff, and students, to wear masks in the coming weeks to ensure that we can all take part (if we wish to) in Commencement.  A positive test next week means being in the gulag while everyone else celebrates the first commencement in 1,069 days.

In exchange for wearing your masks, I promise I will not dun you all again about mask-wearing (or anything else) — we have come a long way, and this looks like the last hurdle.

Peter

Above the Fold

• Congratulations to Pablo on being elected to the National Academy of Sciences!
• Lina Necib is running a hackathon for astronomy data – students welcome here!

Physics

• NSF and Event Horizon Telescope to announce groundbreaking news tomorrow about black holes here
• Black Hole Echos from Erin Kara and her group here
• Congratulations to Frank Wilczek, 2021 Winner of the Templeton Prize

Announcements

• Lecturer position at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology here
• Teaching and Learning Lab Fellowships, summer school, and other resources here

Dear Physics Community,

I hope everyone had a good three-day weekend.  Patriots Day always signals the start of the end of the term to me.  This year, I ran the BAA 5K road race for the first time in 1,099 days, which I found disconcerting.  Thousands of people, no real sign of COVID protocols, except while riding the T.  We still have to think about new COVID variants – the Deer Island data shows a steady increase in wastewater rates.  I doubt this will result in anything more that having to wear masks and perhaps change large gatherings, but we will live with this kind of contingency in our lives for a time.

The Physics Values Committee, PVC, has worked hard this year and produced a report for the Department about what good graduate advising looks like, with several recommendations for the Department, faculty, and students.  This week, the PVC will finalize the report and it will circulate in the Department.  I believe we can act on their recommendations for the Fall.

I reported in an earlier columns that the Department had requested funds in our FY2022 budget for programs to expand services.  We solicated input from the Physics Community and the PVC priorized the list.  We have received our budget letter that covers faculty and staff salaries and existing operations and been told more funds were coming.  Rather than wait, we have started work on the Basic Service for departmental research computing and begun the hiring process for a new staff member tasked with supporting the Physics Community, with a focus on staff and DEI support.  I’ve asked the PVC to make a prioritized list of the main responsibilities for a new staff member, with particular attention to supporting our staff.

Things seem to go well, but we remain very busy.  Despite this, I want to continue the advising work, bolster the Basic Service plan, and get the job description for our new staff hire underway.

Welcome to Spring (the season, no the term),

Peter

Above the Fold

• Obituary for Physics Alum Sidney Altman sent by Ed Friedman here
• MIT Values Statement released here

Physics

• Congratulations to Long Ju for winning the Outstanding Young Researcher Award (Macronix Prize)
• New W mass measurement from Christoph Paus’ CDF group here
• MIT welcomes two from the Heising-Simons Foundation 51 Pegasi b Fellowship for 2022, Drs. Eva Scheller and Malena Rice, here

Announcements

• Event: “Can We Talk? Difficult Conversations with Underrepresented People of Color: Sense of Belonging and Obstacles to STEM Fields.”, film and discussion, details here
• NSF graduate fellowships announcement here
• Professional and team development resources from HR – timely update here
• Commonwealth School seeking a physics teacher here
• NSF Early Career Award announcement

MIT’s New Paul and Daisy Soros Winners – Wenjie Gong

Dear Physics Community,

On today’s 8 am phone call,  we heard that the number of MIT positive PCR tests shot up last week, despite the wastewater rate flattening or perhaps going down.  Based on this, the COVID-19 team recommends that everyone in the community wear masks when in the presence of others.  Although the COVID Team does not feel the present situation warrants a mask mandate, many of the 400+ people on the call disagreed with the decision and wants a mask mandate imposed on-campus.

This sudden rise in COVID-19 cases comes close enough to finals week and commencement to make us concerned about those testing positive missing exams or commencement itself.  The Department cannot impose, much less enforce, a unilateral mask mandate.  I strongly encourage everyone to wear masks whenever they can and make use of the MIT testing service at least weekly.  Further, if instructors feel the need to move their lectures, recitations, or other contact times to zoom, they should do so in consultation with Associate Head Deepto Chakrabarty.  Any move to zoom must consider any additional burden placed on students and instructors.

I view this situation as the first of many times we will have to react, sometimes on short notice, to changing circumstances.  How we respond will improve with time, and we always have to keep in mind people hold a spectrum of views around balancing public health and the other things people feel they need to get through the day.

Peter