Weekly Message to the Physics Community, Friday, June 19, 2020

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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