MIT Reports to the President 1998-99
Many changes occurred at MIT in Academic Year 1999 that are worthy of note in this report. These include the appointment of new members of the MIT administration, creation of new administrative units within the School of Engineering, relatively dramatic changes in the funding of graduate research students and space renovations, and several new initiatives in research and education.
These developments are highlighted in this summary; additional detail is found in the body of this report. This report marks the first year of my term as provost.
PEOPLE
MIT was very fortunate to attract several outstanding new members of the senior administration. Mr. John Curry joined MIT as Executive Vice President, replacing Bill Dickson, who retired effective July 1998. Mr. Curry came to MIT from California Institute of Technology where he most recently served as Vice President for Business and Finance.
MIT lost the service of two of outstanding administrative leaders this year. Mr. Glenn Strehle, Treasure and Vice President for Finance retired in November 1998 after 23 years of service to MIT. Glenn played a very major role in building the financial assets of the Institute and in guiding capital planning and development. He will be sorely missed. Ms. Joan Rice retired as Vice President for Human Resources in April 1999 after 27 years at MIT. Joan was renowned for her leadership and personal interactions with the hundreds of MIT employees.
Two new academic deans were appointed in the academic year. On the recommendation of a faculty advisory committee, Dean Richard Schmalensee was appointed Dean of the Sloan School of Management succeeding Glenn Urban who stepped down in June 1998. Dean Schmalensee had served as interim dean during the search process. Institute Professor Thomas Magnanti was appointed Dean of the School of Engineering in January 1999 after a six-month search. Professor Magnanti succeeds current Provost Robert Brown in the position.
Finally, Professor Lotte Bailyn of the Sloan School of Management stepped down after her two-year term as Chair of the Faculty. During her term as faculty chair Lotte played roles in many important developments, including the dissemination of the report of the Committee on Women Faculty in the School of Science and in restructuring the policies for faculty leaves and retirement. The Institute owes Lotte much for her tremendous service.
FACILITIES
Several major developments in the renovation of physical facilities and the construction of new facilities occurred in Fiscal Year 1999 and are worthy of note. Most notable was the major restructuring of the Institute's budget for facility renovation to allow for a substantial increase in the rate of such renovation. Led by Chancellor Larry Bacow and using a new process for prioritizing space changes, the Committee for Review of Space Planning (CRSP) allocated over $ 20 Million in funds from the FY00 budget for space renovation.
Several major renovations were started in Fiscal year 1999. Notable among these was the renovation of major laboratory space for the Department of Chemistry in Buildings 2, 4 and 6 at a cost of $ 11.0 Million. A major renovation of laboratory space for the Center for Learning and Memory in Building E18 was also begun.
The most dramatic change in the physical landscape of MIT came with the demolition of Building 20 in the spring of 1999 to make room for the new Ray and Maria Stata Center. Construction on this site will begin in the spring of 2000. The Stata Center will supply over 400,000 square feet as the home for the Laboratory of Computer Science, the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems and the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy. The construction of the Stata Center is being supported by over $ 75 Million of pledges and donations lead by generous gifts from Ray and Maria Stata, Alex Dreyfoos and Bill Gates. The Stata Center is being designed by Frank O. Gehry.
The Stata Center is only one of the new construction projects underway. The Media Laboratory is being expanded by the addition of the Ozawa Center for Future Children, which is being designed by the famous architect Fumihiko Maki. The building will be located adjacent to the Wiesner building at the corner of Ames and Amherst streets. The project is entering the final stages of schematic design with construction scheduled to begin late in 2000.
A new undergraduate residence is being designed by architect Steven Holl to be located on Vassar Street. The dormitory will house 350 undergraduates and the added capacity make it possible to assign on campus housing to all incoming freshman. The details of the new housing system are being developed with the help of planning exercise involving students, faculty and staff.
An important part of the campus planning was launched with a charette to initiate a renewed vision of the master plan for MIT. The architectural firm of Olin Partnership has been engaged in this project, which will take most of the FY 2000 academic year.
FACULTY AND ACADEMIC PROGRAMS
Faculty recruitment continued at a vigorous level as departments continued to recruit faculty to fill openings created by the 1998 early retirement program. In Academic Year 1999, 45 faculty were hired at untenured ranks and 8 tenured faculty were recruited. Of these (tenured and untenured)12 were women and 9 were minorities. During 1999 15 faculty were awarded tenure within MIT. Of these 5 were women, an outstanding percentage. The recruitment of minority faculty remains extremely challenging. The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Visiting Professor Program had 5 visiting faculty during the academic year and had a significant impact on increasing diversity among the faculty and teaching staff. Efforts are underway to increase the number of visitors in this important program.
Two new academic units came into existence in this academic year in the School of Engineering: The Division of Bioengineering and Environmental Health and the Division of Engineering Systems. The Division of Bioengineering and Environmental Health (BEH) focuses on the interface between modern biology and engineering, with special emphasis on environmental and human health. The Engineering Systems Divisions (ESD) will focus on programs and research at the interface between engineering, management and social science, especially in areas that involve the design, development and management of large, complex systems. The Dean of Engineering's Report details these and other new programs in the School of Engineering.
The Committee on Faculty Administration, chaired by Professor Henry Jacoby of the Sloan School, brought forth a number of recommendations regarding emeritus faculty and faculty approaching the ends of their careers as full time faculty. These recommendations clarify the position of professor without tenure/retired and put in place a part time status for phase down of the full-time appointment of a faculty at the end of career. These recommendations were approved by the Academic Council and the MIT faculty, as appropriate, and will be implemented starting in Academic Year 2000.
It is a pleasure to announce the appointment of two additional faculty to the rank of Institute Professor: they are Professor Phillip Sharp of the Department of Biology and Professor Sheila Widnall of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Three new Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellows were named this year: they are Professor Chris Kaiser of the Department of Biology, Professor Alex Slocum of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Professor Larry Vale of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning.
FINANCES
Fiscal year 1999 saw discussions that have led to the largest changes in Institute budgeting in recent years. As has been well documented in recent Reports, the last few years have seen large changes in federal policies regarding the recovery of indirect costs and employee benefits. These changes have resulted in the shifting of almost $ 55 Million per year of costs from sponsored research to the Institute. Hardest hit has been the cost of graduate research assistants. Fortunately, the MIT endowment has increased substantially within the same period, rising from $ 1 Billion in 1990 to $ 4 Billion at the beginning of this fiscal year. The Executive Committee of the MIT Corporation authorized an increase in the distribution from the endowment for FY00 that allows us to address several of the important needs of the Institute; these are the cost of graduate education and research, and the need for renovation of the infrastructure. The increase in the FY 2000 budget for renovation was mentioned above.
Starting with the summer of 1999 the cost of graduate students will be decreased by subsidizing summer tuition for all graduate students who are working for research degrees. The cost of this subsidy is estimated at $ 8.5 Million this summer. Also, for fall 1999 MIT allocated over $ 6 million for Presidential Graduate Fellowships to the departments throughout the five schools. These funds are in addition to the 50 Walter Rosenblith Graduate Fellowships first
awarded in academic year 1999 and scheduled to continue through academic year 2001 that have been awarded for incoming graduate students. Both the Presidential and Rosenblith graduate fellowships are designed to help our programs continue to attract the best new graduate students in an increasingly competitive environment for the brightest students.
The budget for FY 2000 is very aggressive with respect to reliance on income from the endowment and from gifts from private sources. We believe that this change represents an important step in the evolution of the Institution away from an exceedingly heavy reliance on federal support. The upcoming capital campaign will be an important next step in this evolution; its success will play a major role in the ability of MIT to continue to aggressively modernize our facilities and to remain competitive for recruiting the best faculty and students.
Planning and budgeting for the continued evolution and excellence of MIT remains a substantial challenge. Starting in the budget for Fiscal Year 2000 the strategic planning and budgeting cycles for MIT were formally separated and a major strategic planning exercise was initiated for Fiscal Year 2000.
EDUCATION
MIT continues to deepen its commitment to undergraduate and graduate education while moving forward to define our role in advanced education in the next century. The Report of the Task Force on Student Life and Learning has defined the goals of our on-campus educational programs. The redesign of the campus residence system being lead by Chancellor Larry Bacow and the development of the Central Athletic Facility are the first major initiatives aimed at implementation of the recommendations of this report.
Several major initiatives are underway in the application of information technology for education. The MIT Council on Educational Technology (MITCET) has been established to advise the senior administration on strategic issues involving information technology and to help select major initiatives and monitor progress. New experiments in enhancing on-campus learning will be funded by the generous gift of $ 10 Million from Brit and Alex d'Arbeloff.
A major distance education program has been launched between MIT and the two major universities in Singapore, National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University. The program, referred to as the Singapore/MIT Alliance or SMA, involves five professional masters programs in engineering and doctoral research education co-taught by MIT and Singapore faculty, with most of the MIT teaching being delivered by a combination of synchronous and asynchronous communications technology. The first two programs in advanced materials and high performance computing were launched in summer of 1999.
RESEARCH
MIT remains the preeminent research university combining world-leading research across a spectrum of disciplines with intense undergraduate and graduate education. Efforts in Fiscal Year 1999 have continued to focus on securing increased federal support of research and increasing research support from corporations, foundations and international sources to diversify the support of our programs. Several substantial programs were launched in 1999 with industry. These include major industrial partnerships with NTT and Merrill Lynch, each representing commitments in excess of $ 3 Million per year in support. These partnerships join existing relationships with Ford, Amgen and Merck.
As mentioned above, MIT also entered into an alliance with the country of Singapore in graduate engineering research and education. This partnership will bring almost $ 7 million per year in research support to MIT once the program is fully funded.
In the fall of 1998, the Center for Learning and Memory (CLM) established a major research collaboration with the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan to create the RIKEN-MIT Neuroscience Center at MIT. RIKEN sponsored funding, which was about $ 1.5 Million in fiscal year 1999, will grow in future years to support substantial, new research initiatives in the neurosciences.
Even with the continued intense effort by the faculty and administration to increase the research budget of the Institute, the campus research volume in Fiscal Year 1999 was $ 376,049 Million, down 2.7 percent from Fiscal Year 1998. The Lincoln Laboratory research volume in Fiscal Year 1999 was $ 353,321 Million, down 3.1 percent from Fiscal Year 1998. The Federal government continued to dominate this budget, accounting for campus
$ 258,494 Million or 69 percent and Lincoln Laboratory $345,554 Million or 98 percent, followed by industry at $74,075 Million or 20 percent.
Robert A. Brown
The missions of the Center for Advanced Educational Services (CAES) all focus on education, research and service. Specifically, they are:
Our off and on-campus offerings leverage the growing capabilities of computer and telecommunication technologies. These include interactive multimedia, the Internet, Internet2 the World Wide Web, simultaneous web-casting, streaming video, videoconferencing, satellite TV, as well as more mature delivery mechanisms such as videotapes and books. CAES educational offerings have benefited learners of all ages, from K—12 learners downloading our web- site video archives focusing on world-wide news, to on-campus students who are beginning to see the fruits of our labors in on-campus technology-enabled learning, to life long learners who take MIT subjects and programs either on-campus or via distance learning.
CAES has assembled under its "umbrella" operating units which harness the talents of faculty and staff in technology-enabled education and learning. CAES is structured as a holding company of individually managed operational units and interacts with schools, departments, centers, and Laboratories Institute-Wide. CAES is integral in the delivery of educational content with various MIT partners as described below. We are presently organized into: two academic units which are the Advanced Study Program (ASP) created in the early 1960's and the Professional Institute (PI) celebrating its 50th Anniversary year. ASP serves foreign and domestic students who wish to further their education, usually after receiving their undergraduate degree, but for whom matriculating towards a Masters or Ph.D. is not immediately envisioned. Academic credit and a certificate is given to those completing MIT courses on-campus and at a distance. Traditionally, the PI has offered a non-credit continuing education credit curriculum of 50—60 three to five day long programs each summer in the areas of Computer Sciences, Systems, Design, Materials, Control, Biotechnology and Management. For the past two years it has also offered a Winter Session.
Our research and development arm is the Center for Educational Computing Initiatives. CECI advances the state-of-the-art and state-of-the-practice use of computation and communication technologies for learning and teaching. Founded in 1991, it joined CAES in 1995.
There are three units which create, deliver, and maintain various multimedia content. We maintain and operate broadcast, post-editing, video-server and web-streaming technologies in our newly created electronic classrooms facilities by MIT Video Productions (MVP) ; web-based courseware and architecture is developed in parallel with most of our live broadcasts by the Hypermedia Teaching Facility (HTF); and finally, digitization and compression, Internet2, and video server retrieval of any archived programming is managed by the newly operational Digital Information Technology Systems Facility (DITS). DITS will not be documented to any large extent in this year's report; a full disclosure of activities will appear in greater detail in future Reports to the President.
Highlights
CAES is committed to an interdisciplinary approach to technology-enabled education and the first three highlights emphasize the inter-related nature of the work. After that, the text focuses on singular highlights within an operating area.
A number of strategic relationships (with corporate, profit, and other non-profit institutions) has engaged our organization nearly across the board. In November 1998, MIT entered into partnership–The Singapore/MIT Alliance (SMA)–with two universities in Singapore: the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) to offer, over the next five years, five distance education Masters and Ph.D. engineering programs to Asian countries. These interdisciplinary programs, spanning the School of Engineering and the Sloan School of Management, will be team-taught by the faculties at MIT, NUS and NTU and will be delivered through the efforts of CAES using state-of-the-art distance learning technology. CAES tested and utilized Internet2 in December, 1998 at a joint MIT/Singapore Leadership meeting. The SMA production, web- interface, and development efforts are highly collaborative, teaming staff from four of our six operational programs. Working closely with staff from Academic Computing in Information Systems, the CAES-SMA team will deliver courses both synchronously and asynchronously for the Professional Masters Programs in Engineering program from the LINC. Asynchronous delivery will be heavily utilized considering the time zone differential between North America and Asia.
Like the SMA, the Physics Interactive VideO Tutor project, PIVOT, seeks to create a video-rich, interactive learning web-based environment that can be used to support the teaching. PIVOT's focus is to augment the teaching of college undergraduates in core science courses. The initial focus of the project is one of the required freshman subjects that MIT students find most difficult: introductory Newtonian Physics. The goal of the PIVOT project is to use several of the newest technologies–streaming digital video, World Wide Web (WWW), and search engine technologies–to simulate an office hour's conversation between a student and his/her physics professor. PIVOT was funded, in large part, by an anonymous donor, coupled with a substantial cost-matching requirement. Required matching resources were secured in the form of both cash and in-kind donations, including contributions from the Stratford Foundation, The Lord Foundation, the Singapore/MIT Alliance, and SeaChange Systems. PIVOT has been used extensively with in the MITES program this summer. ( http://htf-urop3/PIVOT/ )
MIT's strategic alliance with PBS/ The Business Channel has, in its third programming year, increased in size and number of student participants and it has diversified its delivery technologies. The courses developed for PBS/ The Business Channel are now delivered simultaneously in three formats to reach a large number of audiences; a) satellite broadcast with web-site, b) video tapes with web-site and c) for the first time, by video streaming with web-site. The video streaming version of the courses, which utilizes digital video of the lectures, is created in the broadcast quality studio or in LiNC by MIT Video production groups, and digitized and compressed by DITS. CAES produced over 60 broadcast hours of programming. Each program is supplemented by a web-site created by HTF. HTF developed an impressive web-interface (wrapper) for deployment. We have learned that the demand for on-line desktop delivery far exceeded our initial expectations.
In addition to its work for PBS/ The Business Channel described above, HTF has converted several textbooks to on-line versions by MIT faculty. HTF converted the following textbooks during this year: Urban Operations Research, Authors: Richard C. Larson and Amedeo Odoni, Electromagnetic Energy and Fields, Authors: Herman Haus and James Melcher and Fatigue of Materials, Author: Subra Suresh. The latter will be used in three SMA courses. HTF has gone through an expansion this last year and currently has two full time staff members, one graduate student, one intern and ten undergraduates working on various projects.
The Advanced Study Program managed its long standing On-campus Fellows program while it also delivered tailored, for credit courses to students in the US, Latin America, and Europe. The video and web- based courses included in the Fall: Welding, Dynamic Strategic Planning and Economic Tools for Tracking Global Markets. In the Spring: two video and web- based courses were offered: Product Development and Economic Tools for Tracking Global Markets and New Product Development where nine students from the Management of Technology Program participated.
ASP hosted 78 on-campus Fellows and 104 distant learners, of those, a full 48 percent are represented from the US–the largest share of domestic fellows ever–due in part from our outreach to part-time participants from the Boston area. Countries sponsoring Fellows included: Argentina, China, Finland, France, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Nigeria, Portugal, Saudia Arabia, Singapore, USA and Venezuela. Fall 1998 registrants came from 24 corporations, three universities and three government agencies; Spring 1999 registrants came from a similar diverse set of industries, universities, and government agencies.
CAES offered three short courses during Independent Activities Period in January 1998. CECI offered two short courses: the first, offered by Dr. Jud Harward and Prof. Steven Lerman focused on the Java Programming Language; the second course, offered by Dr. Janet Murray, was on The Design Of Interactive Software Applications. Dr. Nishikant Sonwalkar taught Desktop Learning for the 21st Century and Beyond.
The list of faculty affiliated with CAES grew significantly this year. These faculty members have either developed proposals through CECI or moved existing projects to the Center. Profs. John Belcher, Peter Donaldson, Henry Jenkins, Peter Perdue and John Williams all have been involved in CECI-based projects or proposals.
The PI offered 50 programs, including three on-site programs, during the Summer 1998 with an average of 24 participants in each program. A majority of participants, a full 82 percent, were sponsored by Industry, then 10 percent Government, and 8 percent from Education. There were a total of 1373 registrations by 1,135 individuals.
Final constructional details and training was completed on the Triad, our three independent yet interrelated technology-enabled teaching facilities. The rooms went immediately into heavy service with SDM offering two courses in the Summer and a full curriculum in the Fall and Spring. Examples of how these state of the art spaces were used during the academic year include: extensive testing of Internet2 delivery of courses for the Singapore/MIT Alliance, videoconferences between the MIT Stata Center design team and the Gehry Architectural team, frequent Ford Virtual Design Studio presentations, and videoconferences various MIT senior administrators and committees. The Stephen P. Kaufman Family Classroom for Instruction in Teaching was utilized by MIT's Teaching and Learning Laboratory for the faculty and teaching assistant class videotaping and consultation program.
MVP participated in the Digital Archive Initiative. The Media Source project (phase I) created a digital archive of historical photographs from the MIT Museum's archives, including a web- database of thumbnail images . This project was supported by the MIT Museum, News Office, Libraries, and the Institute Archives.
Progress Achieved against Goals
SMA– Early 1999 was dedicated to developing robust, stable tools and technologies focusing on Internet2 as the main mode, and ISDN videoconferencing as the fall back technology of choice. CECI undertook a study to make recommendations on the selection of the web- platform. The web- platform chosen, "Hi-Command," will be key to course delivery. "Hi-Command" is a new web- platform that blends the sophistication of the HTF "HITE" system with the user ease of the MIT "COMMAND" system. A goal is to share this new platform with the MIT community.
PBS/TBC–Courses are offered via live satellite, tape delay satellite and streamed video. During the first six months of calendar 1999 programming included: Optimizing Supply Chain by Jeremy Shapiro, Internet Commerce: Turning Hype into Reality by Steven Lerman, and Use of Information Technology in Project Management by Feniosky Pena-Mora.
HTF– The Environmental Health and Safety Course, sponsored by the Boston Consortium, provides chemical hygiene certification to the students and employees of 11 Universities in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. HTF certified over 500 staff and students since May 1999. It will certify over 10,000 students at MIT, Harvard, Boston University, Boston College, Tufts, Brandeis, Babson, Wheaton, Wellesley, Bentley, and Northeastern. This course is strongly coupled with health safety training requirements put forth by EPA and OHSA regulatory agencies. The budget Analyst Training Program for the National Association for State Budgeting Officers was launched and Web hosted. The course provides a web-based "workbook" approach to self-paced learning. The Museum Loan Network project serves to a consortium of over 30 museum members world-wide wide; five 3D virtual museum tours have been developed and demonstrated.
MVP– production and post-production services continue to be utilized by an ever increasing client base. MVP is a critical player in the delivery of distance learning programs, many of which originate from the Triad and from our Broadcast Studio. MVP must continue to anticipate the demands on its facilities created by advances in technology, noting that it is the creativity and expertise of our staff that our client's most need and value. To that end, the MVP Director worked together with the Department of Facilities and the Director of Project Development to renovate the broadcast capability from Kresge Auditorium.
ASP–negotiated with various universities in South America and Africa to deliver MIT courses via live web-casting, and delayed videotape. Videotaped courses were also distributed to General Motors Technical Education Program.
PI–The Winter Session, launched in 1997, saw modest increases in attendance and expansion into Europe is expected in the next year.
Future Plans
We at CAES see the next several years as offering tremendous growth opportunities. Our goal is to become one of the premier university-based technology-enabled education centers in the USA. We believe that our combination of assets, ranging from state of the art R & D, to commercial quality production and distribution, may be unique among US colleges and universities. Hopefully we can leverage those assets to provide improved learning environments for both our on-campus degree-seeking students and a growing number of distance learning students as well. To that end, we will bring to an end CAES' tradition of selling standalone video courses programs, long a maintstay of our activities. This decision reinforces our commitment to, and allocation of its resources. Limiting our focus will enable us to make more substantial progress towards our goals of delivering dynamic, interactive programming showcasing the latest advancements in a variety of content domains to our traditional student body first and foremost, and secondly to learners worldwide.
CECI–will continue to seek innovative projects that break new ground in the use of technologies in learning. We expect to become increasingly involved in MIT-wide efforts in this area that were elements of the Council on Educational Technology Report. We have a strong interest in expanding our ability to conduct state-of-the-art evaluations of educational innovations involving new technologies. Towards this end, we would like to have a sufficient base of projects to justify hiring one or two new research staff in this field. These individuals could serve as resources both for the rest of CAES and other educational initiatives at MIT. At least one of these two individuals should be a nationally recognized leader in this area who might be the nucleus of a group in this area.
SMA– The time-line for this project is aggressive. Classes begin this Fall. The first two SMA degree programs, Advanced Materials and High Performance Computation for Engineered Systems, begins July, 1999 with four subjects delivered synchronously and two subjects, asynchronously. The first students in the Program will be in residence at MIT for a two week immersion program. The third program, Manufacturing, will begin July, 2000 and the last two programs, Chemical Engineering and Computer Science will begin July, 2001.
PIVOT–An evaluation and assessment committee has been formed, comprised of consultant Dr. Steve Ehrmann of the TLT Group in Washington, DC and a group of people from diverse MIT departments, coordinated the Associate Dean of Academic Services. A first round of usability assessment is being planned for the beta version of PIVOT, which will be used by 8.01 students in the Fall of 1999. A large-scale evaluation will be conducted in Fall of 2000 after the project is in its final form, and a report will be published in Spring of 2001. The next phase of the project will allow us to develop further the software infrastructure supporting PIVOT, to make it generic so that it can be easily used with video and text content from virtually any science or engineering subject.
EMC2 and HTF–The Educational Media Creation Center (EMC2) is an effort spearheaded by the Provost, in cooperation with Academic Computing. The Center will be announced in August 1999 and will be co-directed by Richard Larson and Vijay Kumar. The goal of this facility will be to support the production of sustainable, qualified media and web- based educational materials for MIT. This academic focused program office will serve as a production and service unit for the Institute's broad, distributed, academic-based initiatives via the Web, via television and via other distribution systems.
ASP–The Director will continue to cultivate former Fellows and MIT faculty members to develop distance education programs. Memoranda of understandings have been signed with a consortia of nine Arab countries. Visits to Argentina culminated in a signed agreement and courses will be offered to all these locations in Fall, 1999. New distance learning courses in Logistics and Systems Dynamics are planned.
PBS/ The Business Channel–PBS/ The Business Channel was acquired by the National Technological University Corporation (NTUC) in July, 1999. Programming for the year 2000 will include new titles, more programs produced exclusively for desktop delivery, and will provide for some tailored courseware for large groups of students from single corporations.
PI–An expansion of the Summer Program is anticipated for the Summer of 2000. A small number of selected programs will be presented in Zurich, Switzerland, at the EMPA Group (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research) of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology– ETH. This will be an experiment to see how such programs are received and to explore opportunities for collaborative efforts with ETH personnel.
MVP– will work cooperatively to deliver more programs via the Web, increase its commitment to MIT's public relations activities, diversify its programming, maximize the potential of the Triad, and plans to regularly deliver cultural programming from Kresge Auditorium. On the facilities effort, MVP will help identify and renovate 26—100 for 8.01 and 18.06 videotaping next Fall. Discussions are also underway to ready other classrooms to meet SMA's curricula needs for the year 2000 and beyond.
Personnel Changes
CAES added key personnel during the past year, all toward the goal of becoming a preeminent core facility at MIT for research in, and creation of, technology-enabled learning. A number of academic and administrative staff also left MIT to further their careers elsewhere. Mr. Glenn Strehle joined CAES as Advisor on External Relations on January 1 upon his retirement as Vice President for Finance and Treasurer. He also has holds the title of Advisor to the Chairman and President. Professor Shlomo Maital was a Visiting Professor in residence in CAES. He also taught classes for the Sloan School of Management. Dr. Janet Murray, a Senior Research Scientist at CECI, will leave MIT this summer to take a senior faculty position at Georgia Tech. Her expertise in the area of interactive design and her close ties to the School of Humanities will leave a considerable gap in CECI's staff. She will hold an MIT appointment as Visting Scholar. Laura Koller joined in late June, 1998 and is the Project Manager of PIVOT. Robert Hawley joined the MVP staff to coordinate all use of and educational programming in the Triad. Melinda Cerny, Program Coordinator left ASP and became Project Manager of the SMA effort in January, 1999. Tony Gomez works in Accounts Receivable/Payables area with Maura Lavalle. David Mycue was promoted to Director of the newly formed Digital Information Technology Systems Facility (DITS). Rae Jean Wiggins joined HTF as an instructional course designer; she had hitherto been associated with MIT's Libraries system. There were six other resignations last year: Jeanne Benedict, Kris Kipp , Evan Reidell, David Rodriguez, Emily Shin, and Patrick Weygint.
Tributes and Special Events
MVP deployed its portable recording studio to several locations to videotape and/or broadcast conferences, seminars, and special events. These included the LCS 35th Anniversary Celebration, Commencement, Enterprise Forum Seminar Series, the 6.270 and 2.007 contests, and Tech Day.
MVP provided extensive television pool coverage of Premiere Zhu Rongji's visit to MIT this June 1999 right after Commencement. CNN took our three- camera switched feed live from Kresge Auditorium and broadcast it nationally and internationally. This feed was also picked up by the national networks and local stations. Footage was excerpted for their news coverage of the Premier's visit.
The transformation of Lecture Hall 9-150 into the Triad (three separate distance learning studio classrooms) was completed during the summer of 1998. Managed by MVP, the facility was dedicated on September 28, 1998 and a keynote speech entitled, Models of Learning and how Technology May Best Support Them, was delivered via videoconferencing from England to the audience in Cambridge by Professor Diana Laurillard, Pro Vice Chancellor of the Open University. Members of the Stephen P. Kaufman family, Ford Motor Company and distinguished guests were in attendance. The event was hosted by Chancellor Bacow.
Awards, Publications, Presentations
Richard Larson made several presentations during the year: "East-West Initiative, The Cooperative Advantage," a half day session arranged by senators from the states of Massachusetts, Utah, California and No. Carolina. The supporting senators are Edward Kennedy, Barbara Boxer, Lauch Faircloth, Patty Murray and Orrin G. Hatch. The break-out session, co-chaired by MIT's Professors woody Flowers and Richard Larson, was "Education and Technology." The roundtable they introduced included: the Assistant to the President and Senior Director, National Economic Council; the Acting Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, the Assistant Director for Education, Income Maintainance and Labor, Office of Management and Budget; the Deputy Secretary (Designate), Department of Education; the Director, National Science Foundation and the Deputy Secretary, Department of Labor. Dr. Larson's talk was entitled: "Technology-Enabled Education, Good for Job Growth, Good for our Workers." Keynote speaker and Philip M. Morse Lectureship, sponsored by INFORMS, Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences, "Technology-Enabled OR Education: What it may do for Professors & Practitioners," presented in Seattle, WA, Beijing, China and Cincinnatti, OH. Ivy+ Distance Learning presentation via videoconferencing to attendees at a distance learning workshop at Cornell University. Various radio interviews on queueing. Invited lecture, University of Toronto, "Two Works in Progress: Inventory/Routing Problems in a Probabilistic Environment and Real Time Server Management in Retailing" (co-authored with Oded Berman). University of Penn., invited as "Distinguished Lecturer," "A Queueing Control Model for Retail Services Having Back-room Operations and Cross-Trained Workers," companion paper (co-authored with Oded Berman) submitted for review for possible publication in Manufacturing & Service Operations Management. Invited lecture, Lehigh University (as "Distinguished Lecturer") and at University of New York at Buffalo, , "Deliveries in an Inventory/Routing Problem Using Stochastic Dynamic Programming." Companion paper (co-authored with Oded Berman) submitted for review for possible publication in Transportation Science. Presentation to the Ivy+ Graduate Deans/Associate Deans, entitled "Technology-Enabled Education and Distance Learning."
Steven Lerman was elected the Chair of the MIT Faculty. His two year term began in June, 1999. In addition, Prof. Lerman has been renewed as the holder of the Class of 1922 Professorship for an additional five year tern and was re-appointed as a Professor II at the University of Bergen. He gave a lecture in the Army Research Lab Consortium Distinguished Lecture Series, an invited seminar at Ohio State University and an invited lecture at Universidad Gabriela Mistral in Santiago, Chile.
Lingua Franca Magazine just named Janet Murray one of the "Academia's 20 Most Wired" (July/August 1999). She gave keynote or plenary addresses at the Conference on The Future of the Humanities in the Digital Age (University of Bergen), the Coalition for Networked Information Annual Conference and the Interactive Fiction. In addition, she gave several invited lectures including one at Microsoft Research Labs.
Kimberly Ringer and Andrew McKinney gave an invited demonstration of the CECI-developed JLEARN system at the 1999 CAUSE meeting.
Deirdre Dow-Chase gave an Information Session in the Fall 1998 and gave an invited workshop in the Spring 1999 to the Association of University Technology Licensing Managers.
Ana Beatriz Chiquito, a Visiting Scholar at CECI, was the linguistic consultant on the Telly Award winning video documentary, Caminos, a Spanish language education video that will be released as an interactive CD-ROM.
At, HTF Nishikant Sonwalkar and his team have produced five virtual museum tours for Museum Loan Network project. These virtual tours were presented at a national museum conference in New York.
Diana Garcia-Martinez presented at the International Conference on Distance Education in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
Recent publications include:
Murray, J.H., "Interactive Design: A Profession in Search of Professional Education" Chronicle of Higher Education, April 23, 1999
Rabih Zbib, Saadeddine Mneimneh, Julio C. Lopez, V. Judson Harward, and Richard Rabbat, "The TRIERARCH Trigger Architecture", Third Annual Federated Laboratory Symposium on Advanced Telecommunications/Information Distribution Research Program, 2—4 February 1999, College Park, Proceedings, 267—271.
Richard Rabbat, Rabih Zbib, Saadeddine Mneimneh, and V. Judson Harward, "Practice and Experience with Java and Other COTS Technologies: The TRIERARCH Trigger Architecture", TTCP 1999 Replication Workshop, Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, 22—24 April 1999
More information about CAES can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www-caes.mit.edu/.
Richard C. Larson
The mission of the Center for Materials Research in Archaeology and Ethnology (CMRAE), a consortium of eight Boston-area educational and cultural institutions, is to advance our understanding of prehistoric and non-industrial culture through analysis of the structure and properties of materials associated with human activity. Plant and animal food remains, human skeletal material, as well as metal, ceramic, stone, bone, and fiber artifacts are the objects of study, along with the environments within which these materials were produced and used. At the Center for Archaeological Materials (CAM) at MIT, investigators concentrate on the materials processing technologies that transform natural materials into cultural objects.
At MIT, CAM is administered by the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE). The DMSE faculty approved a new, undergraduate major in Archaeology and Materials, Course III-C, as well as establishment of an interdisciplinary doctoral degree program in Archaeological Materials. Both sets of curricula were reviewed by the appropriate MIT committees during the 1997—1998 academic year and were in place in 1998.
The outstanding event for CAM was inauguration of the entire facility in the new, fully renovated CMRAE quarters on the fifth floor of Building 16. The new CMRAE laboratories were the site of the year-long graduate subject, Materials in Ancient Societies: Ceramics. We were fortunate that two new faculty members joined CAM in designing and teaching this subject: Visiting Professor Wendell Williams, emeritus professor of physics and materials science from Case Western University, and Dr. Thomas Tartaron, Lecturer in DMSE, who had been a post-doctoral associate at CAM. Katherine Jakielski, a recent graduate from Lehigh University, in materials science and anthropology, joined us as CMRAE Laboratory supervisor.
Archaeological Science, the CMRAE/CAM undergraduate subject introduced during the 1995—1996 academic year, and offered jointly by DMSE and the Chemistry Department, continues to enjoy high popularity among students from CMRAE institutions. Seventy-one students enrolled: 48 from MIT, eight from Boston University, one from Brandeis University, eight from Harvard University, two from the University of Massachusetts, and four from Wellesley College; 14 faculty members from six CMRAE institutions lectured in the subject.
Professor Dorothy Hosler published a groundbreaking article in Science on the results of her research into the earliest (ca. 1600 B.C.) ancient Mesoamerican processing technology for altering the properties of natural latex to produce rubber: Dorothy Hosler, Sandra L. Burkett, and Michael J. Tarkanian. Prehistoric Polymers: Rubber Processing in Ancient Mesoamerica. Science 284: 1988—1991 (18 June 1999). Working with Assistant Professor Sandra Burkett (DMSE) and Hosler's UROP student Michael Tarkanian (Course 3), Hosler determined the materials (a mixture of latex and juice from the morning glory vine) and the ancient processing regime Mesoamerican peoples used to stiffen latex and to greatly improve its elastic properties. From the Olmec to the Aztec, this kind of rubber was used primarily for the manufacture of balls required throughout Mesoamerica for use in the ritual ball game, a fundamental and widespread Mesoamerican culture event.
Professor Heather Lechtman published a long article in the Journal of Archaeological Science on the results of her experimental smelting trials designed to produce copper-arsenic alloys (arsenic bronze) using the ores and types of furnace common to such extractive metallurgy in the prehistoric Andean culture area. She was successful in producing large, coherent ingots of arsenic bronze using a cosmelting technique: Heather Lechtman and Sabine Klein. The Production of Copper-Arsenic Alloys (Arsenic Bronze) by Cosmelting: Modern Experiment, Ancient Practice. Journal of Archaeological Science 26: 497—526 (1999).
Heather Lechtman
The Council on Primary and Secondary Education (CPSE) develops programs that bring the strengths of MIT to bear on the American K—12 educational system. The projects sponsored by the Council include the MIT/Wellesley Teacher Education Program, Teacher Sabbaticals, and the MIT Educational Outreach Programs Directory. The Council's Chairman is also involved in a number of K—12 educational efforts, including the Science and Engineering Program for Teachers and its product, the New England Science Teachers, as well as a collaboration with the Association of American Universities (AAU).
MIT/WELLESLEY TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAM
To foster the growth of a cadre of new teachers who meet MIT's standards of excellence in science and mathematics, yet appreciate the value of different ways of approaching and understanding a problem, MIT has created a joint program with Wellesley College, the Teacher Education Program (TEP). It prepares undergraduates for Massachusetts State Certification in mathematics and science at the middle and high school levels. This program, started in the fall of 1993, has now been integrated into MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning. Enrollment in TEP's introductory Course 11.124 has steadily increased. During this four-year period, TEP has enrolled over 110 students in the initial course toward completing Massachusetts State Teacher Certification. In the last two years, 24 students have completed certification and are now teaching in public middle or high schools, mostly in the Boston area. Others entering the program have been recruited by private, independent, schools, while some have gone on to become graduate students in schools of education such as Harvard, Stanford, University of California-Berkeley, and Columbia. Two students have entered the Peace Corps.
Undergraduates in the program must complete a major in the subject area in which they wish to teach. In addition, they must complete three courses at MIT and two at Wellesley; one of the latter is a seminar taken in conjunction with the required 150 hours of supervised practice teaching. Students must also complete 75 hours of supervised classroom observations.
The MIT's Class of 1952's Educational Initiatives Fund was key to launching TEP in 1993. TEP was funded from 1994—1997 by the National Science Foundation through a collaborative called TEAMS-BC (Teacher Education Addressing Math and Science in Boston and Cambridge) which included MIT, Harvard, UMASS-Boston, Wheelock College and the Boston and Cambridge school systems. TEP continues to be funded by the NSF through 1999, but now as an independent project. TEP is supervised by Professor Jeanne Bamberger. During the past academic year, Professors Frank Levy and Ron Latanision led a search committee to hire a faculty member to assist Professor Bamberger in directing TEP. This new tenure-track position in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning is MIT's first position devoted to teacher education. The successful search process has led to the hiring of Assistant Professor Eric Klopfer. Dr. Klopfer has a B.S. in Biology from Cornell and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. He has taught full time in the Amherst Regional High School and prior to his MIT appointment served as a Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Massachusetts. He has studied the impact of computer systems on student learning in science, math and language arts. His current research focuses on the use of educational technology in science education. We are delighted that Eric Klopfer has joined the MIT family and look forward to his leadership as TEP evolves.
More information about TEP can be found on the World Wide Web at http://web.mit.edu/teacher-ed/www/.
TEACHER SABBATICALS
The Class of 1952 Educational Initiatives Fund also launched the MIT Teacher Fellows Program, which brings middle and high school teachers together with MIT faculty. Not only is this program effective in helping teachers develop new and creative ways to teach math and science, it allows MIT faculty to share their expertise in the development of K—12 math and science curricula.
Three high school teachers were on campus for year-long sabbaticals. They are Mr. Dana Dunnan of Masconomet High School (Topsfield, MA); Mr. Ken Brody of Boston Technical High School; and Ms. Lynda Beck of Philips Exeter Academy of Exeter, NH. Although the ‘52 fund contributed to the stipends of teachers in the past, the above teachers were self-supporting. All three will return to MIT in 1999—00.
Mr. Brody has served as the Secretary of the New England Science Teachers (NEST). Additionally, he arranged tours of MIT by NEST teachers and students. Ms. Beck and Mr. Dunnan have developed an active working relationship with Professor Steve Lerman and the Center for Educational Computing Initiatives (CECI). Indeed, they have proposed to create a multimedia teaching tool for high school chemistry education, CHEM 21, by bringing together the two premier existing video teaching materials, the World of Chemistry and CHEM STUDY videos, and augmenting them with a range of teaching materials that promote active learning and discovery. The CHEM 21 Project at CECI will support a coherent curriculum and provide standards-based chemistry education while allowing students to access information according to individual capability, pace and learning style. The product, available in CD-ROM and/or DVD-ROM format, will use Internet resources to extend and update materials. Mr. Dunnan and Ms. Beck are currently at work on a pilot segment entitled A Matter of State. Education material has been digitized and work is underway on scripts for demonstrations, relevant history and connections to the most useful materials on the Internet.
We are pleased to have precollege educators with us. Their understanding of the needs of classroom teachers is essential to the development of CHEM 21.
EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH DIRECTORY
The Council's MIT's Educational Outreach Programs Directory has been widely circulated. Approximately 65 programs are listed; programs are either conducted on MIT's campus or have the involvement of a person from MIT's faculty, staff, or student body. The directory is now also available through the Council's home page on the World Wide Web. Activities range from the Chemistry Magic Show, a 45-minute long road show of attention-getting chemistry experiments along with a running commentary, to the Voyage of the MIMI, an interdisciplinary, multimedia math and science presentation geared toward 4th—8th graders using connected educational television, software, and other instruction materials.
PROGRAMS BY THE CPSE CHAIRMAN
AAU: Since October of 1997, CPSE Chair Latanision has led a Task Force on K—16 Education, an arm of the AAU President's Committee on Undergraduate Education. The Task Force presented an Implementation Plan to the AAU Presidents at their 19 October 1998 meeting. The Plan included action that will accomplish the following:
The Executive Committee of the AAU has endorsed the Implementation Plan. A Resolution on Teacher Education was approved during the 20 April 1999 AAU meeting and released on 4 June 1999.
Science and Engineering Program for Teachers: Professor Latanision directs the Science and Engineering Program for Teachers, which shares the Council's goal of science literacy for all students. Key to a good education is an enthusiastic, knowledgeable teacher. Since 1989, this program has endeavored to give educators a unique perspective of how the basic sciences, mathematics, and engineering are integrated to meet the technological challenges and needs of commerce and society. In 1999, the program ran from 21—26 June and had 62 participants from across the United States and three countries. Once again, this program was offered on a fee-bearing basis. Every participant covered his/her own expenses. One-third of the participants were fully supported (travel, room and board) by MIT Alumni Clubs, testimony to the concern of MIT Alumni for precollege education.
The alumni of this program, now totaling approximately 600 people, become members of the New England Science Teachers (NEST). This year, NEST members came to MIT's campus on June 25th for a two-day meeting to assess the program and determine future directions for the organization. The Annual Fall Retreat of NEST was held in Falmouth on 13—14 November 1998.
More information about NEST can be found on the World Wide Web at http://web.mit.edu/nest/www/.
Professor Latanision has continued his service to the Commonwealth by accepting membership in two statewide organizations: (1) The Mathematics and Sciences Advisory Council and (2) The Science and Technology Curriculum Frameworks Review Panel.
More information about the Council can be found on the World Wide Web at http:// web.mit.edu/cpse/www/.
R.M. Latanision
The Office of Educational Opportunity Programs was created in January of 1992 to organizationally locate the MIT/Wellesley Upward Bound Program, the MIT Educational Talent Search Program, and all future programming serving low-income community youth. MIT has operated the Upward Bound Program since 1966 and began operation of the Educational Talent Search Program in September of 1991.
Upward Bound and Educational Talent Search are two of six US Department of Education: Special Programs For Students From Disadvantaged Backgrounds (TRIO Programs) created under the Higher Education Act of 1965.
The goal of these Programs is to provide college admission and preparatory information, academic support, advising, career information, and college and career exploration opportunities to the economically and/or educationally disadvantaged youth of Cambridge and Somerville.
To a large extent, the development of both Programs was influenced by the research done by psychologist Kurt Lewin and his associates. Lewin's hypothesis was that ego growth and academic performance were closely related. Moreover, he concluded that a developing ego needs to experience success in a warm and personal, structured environment for greatest development, in both a personal and social sense. Lastly, it was determined that this personal and social growth could be achieved through intervention outside of the institutions of family and school. Educational Talent Search and Upward Bound, through their year-round academic support and advising, represent just such interventions.
Lastly, while the Upward Bound Program continues its lengthy record of success (90+ percent college enrollment of graduates and 70 percent retention of participants annually) achieved during its 32 year existence, the Educational Talent Search Program, concluding its 7th, and final year, has experienced varying degrees of success.
MIT EDUCATIONAL TALENT SEARCH
The MIT Educational Talent Search Program (ETS) a year-round, co-educational, program, located in Building N52, was designed to assist participants, in grades 6—12, who live and/or attend school in Cambridge and Somerville to continue in a course of education leading to graduation from secondary school and enrollment in post-secondary educational programs. The Program was funded to serve 750 participants from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The following is an overview of the Program's year-round operation:
The academic year program was designed to inform, assist and support participants during the school year through a number of after school, evening, weekend, and school holiday activities.
The ETS staff were available at our offices via appointment or on a drop-in basis, five days a week. The Program provided assistance to the two public high schools, one parochial high school and 26 elementary (K—8) schools in the target area. Moreover, ETS staff were available at Cambridge Rindge & Latin School, Somerville High School, and North Cambridge Catholic High School throughout week, and target elementary schools were served through quarterly in-school presentations, and weekend and vacation workshops and exploratory activities throughout the school year.
The Program offered workshops, on a regular and as needed basis, to supplement the instructional support provided to participants. Also, in an effort to assist participants as they attempted to cope with problems of an academic, social, family or personal nature, the Program offered support and referrals in the areas of school guidance, academic and vocational preparation, and personal adjustment. Further, in order to provide both participants and their families with information relative to college choice, preparation, and the admission and financial aid processes, the Program sponsored college and career exploration tours. Lastly, the Program provided field trips for the purpose of increasing the intellectual, social, and cultural development of the participants.
A summer academy provided (6th, 7th & 8th) grade participants with academic instruction, and college and career exploration through daily classes and sponsoring college and career tours.
The Program's follow up survey of its members of the Class of 1998 yielded the following: 56 percent of all senior class members enrolled in a post-secondary educational program; 24 percent enrolled in two-year programs; 33 percent enrolled in four-year public institutions; 41 percent enrolled in four-year private institutions; and 2 percent enrolled in proprietary programs or enlisted in the armed forces.
MIT/WELLESLEY UPWARD BOUND
The MIT/Wellesley Upward Bound Program is a year-round, co-educational, multi-racial, college preparatory program for high school youth who reside or attend school in Cambridge. Currently in its 32nd year, the Program serves 70 academically promising young men and women from disadvantaged backgrounds. The goal of Upward Bound is twofold: (1) to motivate client high school youth such that they persist on to post-secondary education; and, at the same time, (2) to provide them with the fundamental skills necessary for success at the collegiate level.
The following is an overview of the Program's operational phases:
The six-week summer program, conducted in residence at Wellesley College, is designed to provide the participants with a rigorous academic experience. Classes are taught by experienced high school teachers, and graduate and undergraduate students from MIT, Wellesley College and other local colleges and universities. Each participant is required to enroll in a Mathematics course, an English course and an elective course (Social Studies, Science or Foreign Language). Lastly, due to an agreement with the Cambridge Public Schools, students may receive summer school credit for failed courses taken for review.
The academic year program located at MIT, plays an equally important role in the educational development of participants. Building upon the motivation and enthusiasm developed during the summer, the academic year program is designed to assist and support the participant while in school. To accomplish this task, the following programs, staffed primarily by MIT and Wellesley College students when appropriate, have been developed. We continually strive to maintain MIT and Wellesley College students' participation through our continued involvement as a pre-practicum site for the Wellesley College Teacher Certification Program and through various outreach efforts.
The Upward Bound office is open for study, on a drop-in basis, four days a week. Tutors are available to assist participants with homework problems in addition to meeting individuals and/or small groups for specific content area tutorials.
The Program offers workshops monthly to address more specialized participant needs (e.g., SAT Preparation, Computers, Study Skills Development, Time Management, Job Readiness Skills, etc.).
In an effort to help participants cope with the myriad of problems; academic, social, family, etc., the Program offers support in the areas of guidance, college, career and personal adjustment. The college advising component includes campus visits to many of the local colleges and universities and attendance at two local college fairs, while the career advising component offers exposure to career options through our Speaker Series and Job Site Visitation Program.
The Program provides numerous field trips, which have as their purpose, the intellectual, social and cultural development of the participants. Such trips included: the Museum of Science, the Omni Theater, theater productions, arcade, skiing, bowling, roller-skating, National TRIO Day, Celtics basketball game and Red Sox baseball game.
Eighty-six percent of the Program's graduating seniors (Class of 1999) have enrolled in the following institutions; Brandeis University, Bunker Hill Community College, Emmanuel College, Johnson & Wales University, Massachusetts College of Art, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, Mount Ida College, Regis College, Wesleyan University, Wheaton College, and Tufts University.
Ronald S. Crichlow, Evette M. Layne
MIT Reports to the President 1998-99