Dear Physics Community,

Another eventful week.

Announcements

• Pres. Reif announced a new  climate change initiative with funding opportunities
• Travel rules from MIT
• Visitor guidelines doc and slides
• SHARP webpage (current statistics are something like 217 applications for emergency housing, 191 granted, but stay tuned.)

Education this Fall

• Experiential Learning request for proposals
• Get ready to teach remote Canvas page
• Loaner iPad program
• Advice for fall: Keep in-person classes simple and fun

Physics Department

• A news story about Ibrahim and his research
• Looking for Dark Matter with gravitational waves from MIT alum Nancy Aggarwal
• Bose-Einstein in orbit

The Academic Continuity meetings are now MW 9-10 am and things seem to be heating up as the summer progresses.  I may have to go to more frequent messages.

Peter

Dear Wanderers,

Every picture tells a story.  One day last summer, I went around all the construction equipment behind Building 29 on the General Atomics campus and took pictures of the warning labels on the machines.  I assume that each of these all resulted from a real-life accident that no one ever wanted to see happen again.

First example: what could have possibly prompted this kind of warning?  Did someone go to sleep on the chassis of a raised dump truck?

This I get…

…people who have the privilege of operating cherry pickers should be careful.

These remind me of those kite safety books the electric company handed out in elementary school.

Now that I think of it, this could happen — good to know.

So many ways to be crushed.

I do not recall what kind of machine this was.

Noted – will not use ether…

Classical entanglement.

Another obvious thing to avoid

The battery is located where you could get caught under the wheel.  If you need a jump, ask a friend and keep a sate distance.

This is just wrong – failure to read the manual does not result in injury or death — getting anywhere near this machine does.

These were on a dumpster.

After looking at all these warnings, this is good advice – keep away from anything that moves and you willl be fine.

Peter

Dear Physics Community,

Oh, no – the didn’t go out last week!  I apologize.

Last week we started taking major steps in getting ready to open for Fall with a letter to graduate students and a letter to undergraduates. MIT and Harvard faced down ICE and Rafael wrote an NYT op-ed about the battle not being over.  Meanwhile, the research ramp-up is planning for Phase 2 which will bring 50% of our researchers back to campus.

About essential workers on campus: coming to campus now is voluntary and PI’s, please make sure that your group members understand that.  We have gotten hotline reports that sometimes group members feeling coerced by their PI’s enthusiasm to come to MIT to work in the lab before they feel it is safe.  We have not gotten any reports of direct coercion, If you are a PI, please be extra careful about asking in a neutral way when you ask group members to come to MIT and listen carefully to their response.

Other announcements

• Picture a scientist screening info. Aug. 7, 3 pm. A discussion panel will follow the screening.  Contact Christina for details
• Experiential learning grants and info.
• Vannevar Bush Fellowship for faculty.
• Open office hours on Wednesday, 4-5 pm (already happened, writing for the record.)
• Community lunch on Thursday, 12-1:30 pm

Physics

• What makes an individual?  A person, cat, dog, gerbil we thought of as individuals of s specific species.  Then we learned that most mammals, including us, host several trillion bacteria in our gut necessary to our survival.  Quanta has an article about biologists using information theory to try to come up with a better way of defining and individual.
• Mathematics proves there are physics problems that cannot be answered.  More for Goedel fans here.
• Blackhole with an on-again/off-again corona observed by Erin Kara.

Los Endos

Email causes all kinds of mischief.  Here’s a useful guide to email etiquette.

Stay safe,

Peter

Dear Physics Community,

An incredible week,  Pres. Reif’s announcement about the return to MIT in the Fall and the awful ICE Broadcast message.  Still, some good things: four colleagues (Ibrahim, Mark, Lindley and Yen-Jie) got tenure on July 1, MIT, and Harvard are suing ICE and the Climate Grand Challenge was announced.

Other Announcements

• Teaching and Learning Lab Newsletter
• MITs COVID-19 dashboard
• Future meeting at Caltech for junior or senior women interested in pursuing a Ph.D.

Of Importance to the Physics Community

• This article from Cambridge Day has a good summary of the MIT/Harvard case against ICE and what happens next
• Atlantic article and Nature article on COVID-19 and statistics
• New camera for Magellan to study the production of heavy elements
• Physics Community Lunch talk July 9 video

Now that we know who will be where for the Fall, the Department can start making concrete plans.  There are infinite questions to work through and much work to do to get ready for Fall.

Peter

Dear Physics Community,

A very busy week.  On Tuesday, at 8:30 am, we will learn who will be invited back to campus in the Fall.  It sounds so strange – to be invited back – but that is where we are.  The Department and I will do all we can to support our students no matter where they are.  You are the reason we are here.

Return to MIT

• Next year’s Fall academic calendar
• Once we know who will be where, lots has to happen fast: Timing of stuff for the Fall

In the Fall

• Many, perhaps all our courses will be remote, TLL Get Ready to Teach Remote Workshops and many will continue to work from home: Ergonomics when working from home (thanks to Paul Acosta)
• Remote making course
• There is some chance for in-person meetings, but space for these will be at a premium: MIT Space during COVID-19 crisis, MIT COVID-19 Space Planning Guide, and, if you are really into it: MIT Space Inventory (excel spreadsheet)

Community Events and Announcements

• Wednesday, Christine Eilers gave a great talk on Supermassive Black Holes and where they come from, Link to Community Lunch talk.
• Community lunch talk Thursday 12 pm – 1:30 pm, look for an announcement from Ryan
• MIT may have actually created a function career office.  We will be connecting with them in Fall, Careers at MIT: report, slides, and email
• Physics Values Committee webpages are now live!
• Viewing Central Park Five

Physics

The Physics Faculty are owning Nature this week:

• “Spin phase diagram of the interacting quantum Hall liquid“, Ashoori group

• “Quantum fluctuations have been shown to affect macroscopic objects” LIGO group, paper, MIT News

• Discovery of a giant ice planet by TESS: TESS ice giant news report
• 51 Pegasi b Fellowships announcements

Have a good break!

Peter

Confronting racism at MIT

Dear Physics Community,

A tough week, but we are moving forward.

Here’s the word: we have been asked to submit our scheduled classes by July 7 and I have heard students will have until July 13 to pre-register.  This to me implies that we will know who is coming back for Fall by July 7, possibly earlier.

The Department has been working with SPS and PGSC to develop plans for combating racism and improving the climate.  Look for a new website in the next week.  In the meantime, Dan Kleppner suggests supporting black physicists by joining NSBP.  The ICEO is also hosting a reading group about Fredrick Douglass here.

Advisories

• Note from Maria Zuber about RAS hours over July 4
• Thesis submission guidelines for September 2020 degrees
• Immigration update
• Graduate return for graduate students here
• Note on remote appointments

Physics Department

• Community lunch talk, Thursday, 12-1:30 pm
• Graduate and undergraduate office hours, Wednesday, 4-5 pm
• New teaching tools: Canvas and Light Board here
• Science of COVID-19 from Pemo Hosoi here
• We call have dead AA and AAA batteries around, but it is hard to tell the good ones from the bad ones.  Here is a test to see which is which without a DVM.
• Never thought I’d see it category –  top quark production in heavy-ion collisions.
• The next collider – CERN puts a stake in the ground.

Have a good weekend.

Peter

Dear Wanderers,

We are slowly, grudgingly restarting MIT.  Every system we had has to be rethought and reconsidered.  A good time to do things better and more fairly, but still with huge uncertainties.  Meanwhile, we all wait to see what happens.  A good moment for mentors to reach out and friends to connect and see how each other are doing.  Once the word comes down, a lot will happen fast.  We are living history.

Physics

• New black hole merger – a 23 solar mass merged with a 2.6 solar mass.  LIGO/Virgo saw it right away..  Deepto and Kirshna are excited.
• The fundamental beat of the universe – theoretical results on the fundamental upper limit to the period of an oscillator.
• Blackhole merger – who cares?  LIGO/Viro sees these all the time.  but this one happened inside the accretion disk of a quasar.

Los Endos

The Lechmere T Station is going and they are pulling down the ramp from the viaduct down into the station and will replace it with a ramp into the new North Point Station on the other side of Rt. 28.  The history of the viaduct, with pictures, is here.

Was going to write out Invictus here, but jut not into it.

Peter

Dear Physics Community,

We now know something about how the Fall will look like (Pres. Reif’s letter here).  While the picture is far from complete, the Department will begin planning Fall instruction in the coming weeks.  I expect our course offerings to be similar to what we planned in February/March and I will keep everyone posted of any upcoming major decisions.

I have split my messages into two streams: weekly Departmental communications and a stream for my personal Wanderings.  My latest Wanderings post is here and you can subscribe to an email for each post on the right side of that page.

Advisories and Announcements

• Message about the status of the research ramp-up and a new committee
• Juneteenth message from Pres. Reif, a good day to read about MIT and slavery
• Letter from OVC about support for graduate students
• Update from MIT Medical
• Summer making from OVC
• Letter from Pres. Reif on recent Supreme Court rulings.

Department News and Events

• The Heising-Simons Foundation has supported several of our factulty’s research and has just released a new film about racism and gender bias in science called “Picture a Scientist”, here. It costs $10.  There is also the possibility to host an institutional screening.  Please let me know if you are interested in hosting a screening in partnership with the Department.  Reviews are here and here.
• Fast Radio Bursts in MIT News
• COVID-19 Math – white paper on testing from Peko Hosoi
• Student office hours, Wednesday, 4-5 pm, Zoom address TBD
• Community lunch, Thursday, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm, George Elbaum, Zoom: https://mit.zoom.us/s/93326709025
• Claude M. Steele: The Science of Diverse Communities, Wednesday, June 24, 2020
  4-5 pm ET, registration info here

Peter

Dear Physics Community,

The weekly message comes at the end of a momentous week.  I participated in and heard tell of many stories, suggestions, and observations from the Strike last Wednesday.  All the Divisions and Labs had their sessions, and I am still hearing from them.  The Department will communicate back to the Physics Community through this message when we late this week of next.  There is much to do.  We will continue to engage, starting with Student Office Hours this Wednesday.  I’d also like to thank Dan Harlow and Tracy Slatyer for their roles in nucleating the Strike.

The research ramp-up starts Monday.  If you were put by your PI or supervisor on the access list should have received email instructions from the Administrative Officer of their Laboratory or Center.  If you did not, let your supervisor know.  If you still have problems, let me know.  The ramp-up is quite complicated and may go slowly or be confusing at the start.  All I can say is, please be patient.

Announcements and advisories

• Stellar stinks!  Canvas rules.
• Research Ramp-up phase 1 here
• Exceptions to the remap-up plans, here
• From the OVC, international students, here
• SoS Quality fo Life grants call for proposals
• Team 2020 report on restart options for Fall
• A moment of moral urgency

Commencement

• Grad celebration, thanks, Syd!
• Senior celebration, thanks, Emma!

Strike

• The 5 min thing that all white people should watch.
• The other most useful thing to watch, Intuitively Obvious
• My statement on Thursday lunch

Department Events next June 14-20, 2020

• Student office hours (Peter, Cathy, Nergis, Syd, Emma) – 4-5 pm Wednesday
• Community Lunch, “Avoiding COVID-19: A Qualitative Approach”, Rob Simcoe and Matt Evans, Thursday, 12-1:30 pm.

Peter

PS I apologize for being late with the message.  They should go on Friday, but I will still getting my thoughts together through the weekend.