The Cambridge Science Festival hosted a lunch with Prof. Angela Belcher on Thursday, April 30.  The “Lunch with a Luminary” allowed members of the community to bring a bag lunch and chat with noted scientists.

MIT is a sponsor of the Cambridge Science Festival, April 25-May 3.

DMSE’s Graduate Program, along with the School of Engineering, was again ranked No. 1 in U.S. News & World Report’s annual evaluation of American graduate school programs, which hits newsstands next week. A summary of MIT’s results is available at the MIT News Office.

In order to help students organize their MADMEC teams and projects, a DESIGN REVIEW will be held April 30 from noon to 2 pm. This will be an informal event, not a way to qualify or disqualify teams from the competition, but rather a way for them to get very early feedback on ideas and strengthen projects for the MAY 15 application deadline.

Here’s how the review will work:

A. Teams will email Mike Tarkanian a 1 page MAX summary of their project by 5 pm April 29.
B. Teams will have 5 minutes to present 4 slides to a panel of staff and professors. Slides must be:
1. MADMEC Problem and Solution
2. Prototype Design and Materials Science Aspects
3. Fabrication Plans/Challenges
4. Gantt Chart/Project Schedule
C. The 5 minute presentation will be followed by a 10 minute Q&A and feedback

These sessions will be private. Only 1 member of eachteam needs to be there — and if interested students don’t have a team yet, it might be a good time for to suggest possible teammates and resources.

Please let Mikeknow ASAP if planning to participate on April 30, and which time slot is convenient from noon to 2 pm (at 15 minute intervals).If this day is inconvenient, contact Mike to set up an alternative.

Prof. Ned Thomas is among the 210 new Fellows and 19 new Foreign Honorary Members recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Established in 1780 by founders of the nation, the academy undertakes studies of complex and emerging problems. Current projects focus on science, technology and global security; social policy and American institutions; the humanities and culture; and education. The academy’s membership of scholars and practitioners from many disciplines and professions gives it a unique capacity to conduct a wide range of interdisciplinary, long-term policy research.

Since the academy’s founding, its fellows have included George Washington and Benjamin Franklin in the eighteenth century, Daniel Webster and Ralph Waldo Emerson in the nineteenth, and Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill in the twentieth. The current membership includes more than 250 Nobel laureates and more than 60 Pulitzer Prize winners.

See the MIT News Office for the full story.