MIT Reports to the President 1997-98
We have witnessed many changes in the leadership of this institution in the present year. Walter Morrow has retired as director of the Lincoln Laboratory after 21 years of distinguished service. He is being replaced by Dr. David Briggs, currently Assistant Director of the Laboratory. We have also announced the re-creation of the position of Associate Director, and this post will be held by Dr. Herbert Kottler who is also currently an Assistant Director of Laboratory.
Dean Glen Urban of the Sloan School has announced his intention to return to teaching and research. He has accomplished in five years all his goals for the Sloan School, a remarkable feat. A search committee has been formed, and Professor Richard Schmalensee will be Interim Dean until a new dean is appointed.
Senior Vice President William Dickson retires this year as well. The Provost's office interacts closely with Bill in matters related to budget and space. The Institute will greatly miss his sage advice.
Jay Keyser, Special Assistant to the Provost, is retiring but will continue his assignments for the Provost. In particular, Jay will continue the Keyser dinners which have played an important collegial role at MIT for nearly fifteen years. Professor Sheila Widnall has returned from public service as Secretary of the Air Force. She continues to teach in the Aeronautics and Astronautics Department and does research in the Lean Aircraft Initiative program.
It is the pleasant duty of the provost to inform faculty members of their appointment to the position of Institute Professor and MacVicar Fellows. This year we informed Professors Peter Diamond of Economics, Thomas Magnanti of Sloan and EECS, and Mario Molina of EAPS and Chemistry Departments of their appointment as Institute Professors. We also informed Professors Sylvia Ceyer of Chemistry, and Robert Jaffe of Physics of their selection as the 1998 MacVicar Fellows. This brings the number of MacVicar Fellows to 31.
SPACE CHANGES
Major renovation of Institute facilities continues, in large part to provide space for current occupants of Building 20. Building 16 has been completely renovated and occupied this year. A new Central Machine Shop was created in Building 36, partly to permit the movement of the LNS machine shop out of Building 20. In the Spring we also opened a new Student Machine Shop in Building 44 along Vassar Street.
Although not everyone had vacated Building 20, we decided to have a party in the Spring to celebrate its 55 years of existence. Professor Paul Penfield chaired the committee to develop the program, and a good time was had by many former occupants of this famous building. At about the same time an architect was selected for the complex of buildings to replace Building 20. Frank Gehry, the world famous architect, was selected. Over $75 Million have been pledged so far for the project with significant gifts currently announced that were given by Ray and Maria Stata and Alex Dreyfoos.
During the summer of 1997 we renovated ten classrooms in Building 2. These classrooms contain a large amount of educational technology, including connections to the MIT network. The Center for Advanced Educational Services relinquished lecture hall 9-150. In its place we created three rooms. One is a smaller lecture hall, a second the Kauffman Room for Teaching and Learning, and the third the Ford Motor Company Room. These three rooms are equipped for remote teaching. The Kauffman Room will be used for helping our faculty and TAs improve their teaching.
As part of the reengineering of student services, Building 11 will house most of the staff in the Registrar's Office, the Bursar's Office, and the Student Financial Aid Office. On the ground floor along the Infinite Corridor we created the Student Services Center which combines these operations. This has been a most successful undertaking from all points of view.
FACULTY, EDUCATION AND RESEARCH INITIATIVES
This is a watershed year in that 11 out of 26 tenures granted to faculty, both internal and external, were granted to women. This indicates the success in attracting women faculty of the Provost's Initiative which began seven years ago under the leadership of Provost Mark Wrighton. Unfortunately, we have not had the same level of success in attracting minority full-time faculty. The Martin Luther King Visiting Minority Faculty program, on the other hand, had nine faculty visitors this year, a record number.
The President and Provost announced a grant of $1500 for faculty leading each Freshman Advisory Seminar. As a result over 130 such seminars have been made available to the incoming class.
Fifty graduate fellowships honoring former Provost Walter A. Rosenblith were created. Each fellowship is funded for three years at $50,000 each year. In addition five fully funded Provost's Fellowships were created. These are to be granted by the Graduate Office to the outstanding woman or minority graduate student from each school.
A new summer internship program was begun under the leadership of Professor Arthur Steinberg. This program is intended for MIT freshmen who will work in firms under the mentorship of MIT alumni. Approximately 60 students applied for these positions and nearly two dozen of them were filled.
We have added $200K to the Deans Office budget for support of student activities. It is our hope that this will permit a significant increase in the level of entertainment that can be provided on campus in the coming years.
Overall support from industry has increased considerably in the past two years. Counting all forms of support - research, fellowships, gifts, license fees, and equipment grants, the total grew from $120M in FY96 to $150M in FY97. Part of this growth has been in strategic partnerships. We have added Merck and Ford Motor Company to Amgen as strategic partners. Negotiations are underway with a few other firms for a level of support that is $3-5M per year. Issues involving intellectual property or publication rights have not required MIT to change its standard practices in any of these partnerships.
Several international agreements, largely with organizations in South East Asia, have been signed. All such agreements have been previously discussed in the Council on International Relationships. Most involve joint research as well as remote education in engineering and/or management. While the economic decline in the region has affected the level of some of these activities, we anticipate major new agreements to be signed in the coming months.
The Council on the Environment has overseen a growth in environmentally related research to nearly 10% of the entire campus's volume. A major increase in gifts for the environment has taken place with President Vest, Professor David Marks, and Cordelia Foell playing major roles. A new brochure on environmental education and research highlights the breadth of these activities. Every school and most departments now participate in these activities.
The Council on Educational Technology issued its report in the fall. It proposes creating several experiments in order to learn more about how educational technology can impact education both on the campus and on remote educational activities, such as the System Design and Management program. There is a serious need to pursue these recommendations further. In particular, MIT needs to invest in a new backbone network with higher bandwidth than at present.
FINANCES
The overall Institute budget has been constrained, largely as a result of changes in Federal policies regarding overhead reimbursements and employee benefits. These changes cost MIT about $55 million a year, far greater than the effect on its peer universities. The change in the method for paying RA and TA tuition is the largest component of this decrease in funding. This change goes into effect on July 1, 1998. Our endowment has, however, doubled in the past four years. As a result of relatively slow growth in the dividend payout, the payout on the current endowment value is approximately 3.2%, significantly lower than the nominal 5% payout.
Peer institutions that have obtained significant growth in the payout of their endowment have begun to use this increase as a competitive weapon. This year we have witnessed several peer institutions increasing their scholarship support in order to increase the number of middle class students that they can attract. MIT's response, reducing the self-help level by $1000, will benefit all students who are on financial aid. In addition MIT and its peer institutions have moderated the increase in tuition levels for the coming years. Some peer institutions have undertaken significant efforts to hire senior faculty from other institutions with increased salary and startup offers. MIT has generally been able to match the competition.
The competitive situation as well as the changing Federal policies with no significant increase in the endowment payout have placed great stresses on the Institute's finances. President Vest has renewed a discussion with the Executive Committee of the Corporation that is expected to lead to a significant increase in the endowment payout rate by next fall. The Provost and Senior Vice President have developed parameters, such as tuition and salary growth, that would keep MIT at the forefront in the coming decade. We are optimistic that the budget can be balanced in future years and keep MIT financially competitive and healthy.
A key part of the financial transition at the Institute to heavier reliance on private support is the forthcoming capital campaign. The Provost and the members of the Education Committee of Academic Council spent much of the fall developing the academic priorities for the campaign. We anticipate that the Corporation will vote for the campaign in the coming fall term. There will be significant construction, renovation and maintenance in this campaign. The campaign will thus be truly a transforming one for the institution.
FINAL COMMENTS
This is my last report as Provost. The last three years have been quite eventful and exciting. Although we have worked under significant financial constraints, it now appears that by virtue of the growth of the endowment some of these constraints will be considerably lessened. I wish to thank President Vest and members of Academic Council for their collegiality and tireless efforts on behalf of the Institute. Doreen Morris, Assistant Provost for Administration is, as everyone should by now know, a very special member of our community and has provided invaluable support to me. My long-time administrative assistant, Mary Haas, and Rosalind Wood deserve special thanks as does Mary Calderazzo, the Financial Administrator for the Provost's Office. I am pleased to say that I leave this post with the Institute poised for additional greatness. My best wishes to the incoming Provost, Robert Brown, and the incoming Chancellor, Larry Bacow.
Joel Moses
The missions of the Center for Advanced Educational Services (CAES) all focus on education, research and service. Specifically, they are:
Many business leaders and educators now believe that lifelong education is just as important as lifelong health care. Responding to this need, our off and on campus offerings leverage the growing capabilities of computer and telecommunication technologies. These include interactive multimedia, the Internet, the World Wide Web, simultaneous web-casting, 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 NMIS 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 views the use of technology in education as both an opportunity and a problem. The technologies, especially in myriad possible combinations, have grown exponentially in the past decade, far beyond our knowledge in how to use them wisely. Thus, a major new CAES focus is the design and execution of educational experiments whose purpose is to create new pedagogically compelling learning environments made possible by the new technologies. CAES plans to report on these experiments over the coming years.
CAES has assembled under its "umbrella" operating units which harness the talents of faculty and staff in technology-enabled education and learning. These areas include most notably the Center for Educational Computing Initiatives (CECI), the Advanced Study Program (ASP), the Professional Institute (PI), MIT Video Productions (MVP), and our most recent addition --the Hypermedia Teaching Facility (HTF). We believe that this collection of mutually supporting assets for technology-enabled education firmly places MIT in a position of strength going forward in this ever growing domain. We have also established close internal working relationships with relevant components of Information Systems including Academic Computing and MIT Cable, as well as academic ties to the Systems Design & Management Program (SDM), the MIT/Ford Collaboration, Registrar's Office, Audio-Visual Department, the Deans of each of the five schools, and interested faculty members, to ensure collaboration and reduce duplication of effort.
MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
The 1997-98 Academic Year was a year of growth for CAES, growth in overall capabilities and growth in the number and types of initiatives undertaken. In particular, in the past year, CAES has:
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
The Center for Educational Computing Initiatives (CECI) is the research and development arm of CAES. As such it undertakes a variety of projects supported by industry, governments and foundations that either develop new technologies or create innovative applications from combinations of existing ones. The over-arching goal is to learn how various multimedia-supporting software technologies can enhance the learning process. This goal is usually accomplished by doing, that is, by creating a new tool and testing it in real learning settings. The NMIS Project cited above is an exemplar of the CECI approach.
CECI is funded by France Telecom to undertake a three year project to develop innovative, multimedia computer-human interfaces. This work includes the development of an object-oriented architecture for information about important events. This database system is the back-end to innovative, three dimensional graphical display interfaces. CECI uses VRML (Virtual Reality Markup Language) to describe three dimensional interfaces.
We continue to be an important part of the Army Research Federated Laboratory program. The ATIRP Consortium includes Lockheed-Martin, Motorola, GTE, Bellcore, the University of Maryland, the University of Delaware, Howard University and Morgan State University. This five year, $50 million research project is exploring advanced telecommunications and multimedia technologies.
Under funding from Sun Microsystems, CECI is developing a database of educationally useful Java classes that will be accessible through the Internet. The system, called JLEARN, will serve as the global repository for Java-based educational freeware and shareware.
CECI researchers are working with Prof. Henry Jenkins on a multimedia "textbook" on film studies that is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. This innovative design integrates hundreds of film clips (in digital video format) into the exposition of film techniques.
The staff of CECI is developing new courses that will be the core of a Master's curriculum in the Malaysia University of Science and Technology (MUST). This work, funded through the MIT Technology Development Program, includes creating syllabi, lecture notes, problem sets, examples and other ancillary material to support four new, graduate level courses that will be taught next at MUST.
CECI is providing the technology for the MIT Shakespeare Archive project under the direction of Prof. Peter Donaldson, the Head of the Literature Section of the department of Humanities. All the software that will be developed in this project is being created by CECI staff and students.
MIT Video Productions & News Office Collaboration
MVP joined forces with the News Office in a successful relationship to increase television news and science program coverage of MIT research. MVP produced video news releases that were distributed by the News Office to targeted science journalists. These videotapes included an edited overview of highlights of the research plus additional source footage, interviews and B-roll. This footage allows producers to package and customize their own stories. These research projects were further publicized direct from the MIT home page in the form of quick time and RealVideoTM movie files delivered to the desktop. The goal is to reach out to science journalists via the web with a series of changing research spotlight video news releases. Those interested in covering the research will come to campus to shoot or be provided with the necessary source footage. Examples of projects covered this past year include Mechanical Engineering's Penguin Boat and the AI Lab's COG project.
EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES
Facilities
This year the large and outmoded lecture hall, "9-150," was dramatically transformed into a state-of-the-art learning and teaching environment encompassing three mutually supported rooms. This Teaching/Learning Triad (~2,000 s.f.) can be centrally routed from two control rooms with delivery by both fiber and satellite broadcasting and connections to a professional TV studio. A 45-seat tiered amphitheater in the lower level--MIT Learning Networks Central or the LiNC--is used for CAES sponsored programs; the space is technology-equipped for integrated on campus and off campus teaching, corporate training and goal-oriented learning. Networked data and power ports are available at each student's desk area. Remote controlled cameras, multiple monitors, screens and chalkboards, and gated microphones are centrally routed from a dedicated control room.
A 24-seat videotaping studio/classroom--the Stephen P. Kaufman Family Classroom for Instruction on Teaching--has been created to help MIT faculty and teaching assistants improve their teaching. Multiple cameras and microphones capture classroom dynamics accurately and realistically. Tapes can then be reviewed with a professional teaching consultant. The Kaufman classroom can be scheduled (as available) for distance learning instruction as well.
The Ford Virtual Design Studio is a flexible and reconfigurable space that is highly networked, computer intensive, with unitstrut grid lighting. It is designed as a versatile collaborative laboratory that is conducive to goal-oriented learning primarily in the area of engineering design. The studio is equipped with room and desktop video- conferencing technologies in support of virtual engineering and education.
Given the team of dedicated professionals that CAES has on staff and with the new distance learning complex ready to go on line, CAES is poised to discover the real potential of "asynchronous, on-demand" and/or "live at a distance" interaction between students and teachers.
MVP's production and post-production services continue to be utilized by an ever increasing MIT client base. Our customers hold the quality of our work in high regard and consistently refer new business. While MVP must continue to anticipate the demands on facilities created by advances in technology, it is the creativity and expertise of the MVP staff that client's most need and value.
Computer renewal continued throughout the CAES operating areas including the clusters serving our on campus ASP students. Four of the Athena workstations were upgraded from SparcClassic to SparcStation 5. Upgrades of the PC and MACs are planned for the coming year.
Hypermedia Teaching Facility
The Hypermedia Teaching Facility (HTF) was transferred from Mechanical Engineering to CAES on July 1, 1997. Since then it grown considerably in the number of personnel, projects completed, and its integration into all other center wide initiatives. The HTF environment has been designed and built using only industry standard software, so that users by downloading software freely available from the WWW can have all the "plug-ins" they need to use all the multimedia capabilities of the environment. Recognizing the variety of capabilities available to learners on their computers, many different options are allowed, e.g., three alternative ways to view video clips. The growth and expansion of the HTF WWW virtual campus will retain this design philosophy: use industry-standard software virtually.
HTF educational activities include:
Special Event Documentation and Delivery
MVP deployed its portable television studio to several locations throughout the Institute to videotape and/or broadcast a variety of conferences, seminars, and special events. These included the MIT Enterprise Forum's Lecture Series, the Innovation Summit, the Ford/MIT Roundtable, the Building 20 Retrospective, the 6.270 and 2.007 contests, the 50K competition, the ILP Anniversary Celebration, Tech Day, and the Japan Program's Seminar Series. In many cases, the MVP edited, and excerpted highlight events from these programs for tape distribution.
As part of the agreement with PBS The Business Channel, CAES collaborated on three special events: MIT LAB REPORTS: Wearable Computers; WHAT WILL BE: featuring Michael Dertouzos, Director of the Laboratory for Computer Science; and THE INNOVATION FACTOR: A panel discussion moderated by Professor Richard Lester.
Center for Educational Computing Initiatives Activities
This is the first full year since CECI moved into Building 9, joining the rest of the new, CAES organization. One of CECI's major goals in the past year has been to integrate its activities more effectively with those of the larger CAES organization, taking advantage of the potential synergy between CECI's research activities and the more production-oriented work at CAES. CECI has made major progress towards this goal. Highlights of this progress include:
Another important goal is the movement of prototype multimedia applications into more widespread use. The Edgerton CD-ROM project was completed in prototype form over a year ago, and after numerous delays (including the closure of the first publishing organization who was to issue the product quality version of the CECI-developed prototype), we are finally approaching the release date. It is expected that the MIT Press will publish the CD-ROM during 1998.
Advanced Study Program Educational Activities
Professional Institute Activities
For the 1997 Summer Session, the average session had 28.5 registrations, compared to 22.6 in 1996 (54 Programs) and 23.5 in 1995 (57 Programs). Of the 54 Programs advertised, 11 were canceled for projected low enrollments. A total of 1255 registrations were made. In addition, there was one on-site program.
In 1997 the Special Summer Session had the following aspects:
Number of Programs, including one (1) on-site: 44
Number of Registrations: 1255
Number of Registrants 1252
These statistics are comparable and fairly constant to those of at least the last four years.
Professional Institute's First Winter Session
In January, 1998, the Professional Institute offered its first Winter Session. A total of 127 registrations were made with an average enrollment of 15.9 registrations. Of the 18 Programs planned for the 1998 Winter Session, 10 were canceled for projected low enrollments. Considering the limiting factors of New England in January and a first time offering, this initiative was considered a success.
CAES/PBS The Business Channel Collaboration
During this period, CAES produced three certificate courses and three special event programs. Each certificate course originates in the Building 9 TV studio. It is produced internally by MIT multimedia producer(s) and the MVP technical staff. The program is distributed via satellite to students and subscribers on PBS The Business Channel. In addition to the broadcast of the program, HTF developed a supplementary website for the duration of each 8-week session. The certificate courses are as follows: Data Informed Management Decisions, taught by Professor Richard Larson, Institute Professor Thomas Magnanti and Professor Richard de Neufville; System Dynamics, taught by Dr. James Hines, Senior Lecturer at the Sloan School of Management; and Internet Commerce, taught by Professor Steven Lerman. Enrollments for the certificate courses continue to grow as 190 students registered for the Spring 1998 course, Internet Commerce. Two more certificate courses will be delivered during 1998; they are Economics for the Global Sales Force and Revenue Management.
FUTURE PLANS
Hypermedia Teaching Facility goals include:
Advanced Study Program goals include:
MIT Video Production goals include:
PERSONNEL
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.
TRIBUTES AND SPECIAL EVENTS
President Clinton's participation in this year's Commencement introduced several new innovations to MIT's annual coverage of the ceremony in Killian Court. MIT alumni and friends throughout the globe were able to participate as the proceedings were webcast by MVP worldwide. Commentators were enlisted to provide interesting and entertaining historical perspective for the MIT Cable and web cast audiences. And thousands of family and friends in Killian Court were provided with close up views of the proceedings through the utilization of a 14' video screen. MVP has always prided itself in producing a "broadcast quality" product, so it was particularly satisfying that the switched output of our cameras were picked up and broadcast by CNN, WCVB, WBZ, CSPAN, and Media One and its 11 Massachusetts community franchises. MVP used seven cameras to document this special day and will distribute over 800 edited videotapes to MIT family and friends.
CAES Director Richard C. Larson was invited to present this year's Omega Rho distinguished honorary lecture at the annual meeting of INFORMS (The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences), April 1998, Montreal. The lecture was, "Beyond the Physics of Queueing," and the accompanying overheads are available from the CAES web site. At the INFORMS meeting, Professor Larson was also awarded the Distinguished Philip M. Morse Lectureship, a two year appointment named after MIT's famous Professor of Physics, co-author of the Morse/Feshback textbook on physics, and founder of the MIT Operations Research Center, and founding President of the Operations Research Society of America.
Professor Larson gave several speeches focusing on technology-enabled education. These included an invited presentation at the Stanford Forum on the Future of Higher Education (Aspen, CO, Sept. 1997), synopses of which are published in a journal of the Stanford Forum and about to be published in a book; an invited plenary speech at an all-day conference at the University of Connecticut (Storrs); and presentations at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell; National University of Singapore; and MIT's Technology and Culture Program. Additional presentations focusing on other matters were given at New York University and in an experimental geometry class at Lexington High School, Lexington, MA.
Professor Steve Lerman serves as Associate Chair of the MIT Faculty during the current academic year and will be Faculty Chair during the academic year 1999-2000.
Both Professors Larson and Lerman have served during the past year on expert panels of the National Research Council (NRC). Professor Lerman's activities there have focused on technology-enabled learning and plausible
national strategies therein for the year 2000 and beyond. Professor Larson's focus has been on technology and the services industries, including services trade with Asia and on distance learning as a new service.
Dr. Janet Murray, Senior Research Scientist at CECI, recently published a book, Hamlet on the Holodeck.
It has been selected by Library Journal as as one of the "Best Science and Technology Books of 1997," one of only two books selected in the computer category.
More information about this center can be found on the World Wide Web at the following URL: 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 will be in place in the fall 1998 semester.
The outstanding event for CAM was the move of the entire facility from Building 20 to the new, fully renovated CMRAE quarters on the fifth floor of Building 16. The CMRAE laboratories were closed during academic year 1997-1998 to prepare for and accomplish the move. As a result, we were unable to offer our annual CMRAE graduate subject in archaeological materials. On the other hand, 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 students enrolled: 52 from MIT, five from Brandeis University, seven from Harvard University, two from the University of Massachusetts, three from Tufts University, and one from Wellesley College; 14 faculty members from five CMRAE institutions lectured in the subject.
The new CMRAE laboratory facilities will be inaugurated in fall 1998 with a year-long graduate subject, Materials in Ancient Societies: Ceramics. We are fortunate that two new faculty members will join 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 has been a post-doctoral associate at CAM for the past two years.
In addition to realizing the establishment of undergraduate and graduate degree-granting programs, CAM/CMRAE will respond to a new initiative undertaken by the National Science Foundation. The aim of the Foundation's Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training Program (IGERT) is to prepare doctoral candidates with multidisciplinary backgrounds and the technical, professional, and personal skills essential to addressing the varied career demands of the future ... [through] ... development of innovative, research-based, graduate education and training activities that will produce a diverse group of new scientists and engineers well-prepared for a broad spectrum of career opportunities.
CMRAE has been educating graduate students in science, engineering, social science, and the humanities since the center's establishment in 1977. We are eager to enter the new NSF competition and to bring our deep fund of experience to bear on the education of scholars broadly and in depth.
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. There are five main programs sponsored by the Council: the MIT/Wellesley Teacher Education Program, The Institute for Learning and Teaching; Teacher Sabbaticals; the Forum on Public Education; and the MIT's Educational Outreach Programs directory. The Council's Chairman is also involved in a number of K-12 educational efforts, including the New England Science Teachers and a collaboration with the Association of American Universities.
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 76 students in the initial course toward completing Massachusetts State Teacher Certification. In the last two years, 16 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. Professors Frank Levy and Ron Latanision are leading a search committee to hire a faculty member to assist Professor Bamberger. This new position in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning is MIT's first position devoted to teacher education.
The Noyce Prize, a $10,000 prize provided by the Noyce Foundation, is awarded each year to an outstanding graduating senior. In 1997 the award was given to Tim Piwowar, a graduating senior in mathematics who is now teaching at the Billerica High School. The first recipient of the prize, Sally Buta (Course 3, 1994), taught physics at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School in Cambridge, Massachusetts for three years and is now a graduate student back at MIT in Course 3. The second recipient, Ricardo Campbell (Course 10, 1995), taught 8th grade science at the Longfellow School in Cambridge, Massachusetts for two years and is now a graduate student in physics at City University in New York. Cathy Lavelle (Course 9, 1996) is teaching mathematics in the Lincoln Middle School in Lincoln, MA.
More information about TEP can be found on the World Wide Web at the following URL: http://web.mit.edu/teacher-ed/www/
PROFESSIONAL GROWTH OF EDUCATORS
TILT provides professional development for educators that uses a project centered around a common technology, such as water delivery systems, as a vehicle for developing skills in team building, group dynamics, effective communication, negotiation, grant writing, brainstorming, mind mapping, working with different learning styles, group reflection and debriefing, and computer use. The traditional TILT model is a community-based team of teachers, school administrators, and their champions in the community (parents, school board members, university representatives, or industrialists) that spends three-weeks in July in residence on MIT's campus followed by a year of planning how to implement and integrate TILT ideas back in the team's home community.
In 1997, TILT joined with the Whittier Institute for Learning and Teaching (WILT), a successful TILT spin-off at Whittier Regional Vocational School in Haverhill, MA. Teams from Ashtabula, OH; the ECSEL Program; Lawrence Public Schools; and Greater Lawrence Regional Vocational High School joined two teams from Whittier for an eight-day institute running August 16-23 and patterned after the TILT model. Due in part to the shortened time available, the research/technical project focus was sharpened to an in-depth study of measurement and measurement tools in a number of selected North Shore businesses.
TILT'97 was funded by the Alden Trust, Ashtabula County Schools, the Bey and Phyliss Blanchard Fund, The Council on Primary and Secondary Education, and the National Science Foundation's Engineering Coalition of Schools for Excellence in Education and Leadership.
TILT's model of professional development has been adopted by the seven universities that make up the Coalition of Schools for Excellence in Education and Leadership (ECSEL), which is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF). In addition, The South African Ministry of Education awarded Alan Dyson a fellowship to conduct two week-long TILT institutes in July, 1997, at the University of Natal and to spend a week talking with businesses in all the states of South Africa about forming business/university/public school partnerships to enhance educational opportunities. An impact study funded by the Noyce Foundation began in 1996. The study will focus on eight TILT teams in Massachusetts and will determine the impact of TILT on individuals, teams, school systems, curriculum, and students. A final report is due in December 1998.
Alan Dyson, one of TILT's founding members, accepted early retirement from MIT in 1996 but continues to consult actively with TILT and remains the liaison between TILT and the Ashtabula County, OH, teams. Similarly Christopher Craig, another founding member, continues to consult for TILT, and is the liaison for the Harlem Choir Academy in New York City. Professor Leon Trilling remains the on campus focal point for TILT.
More information about TILT can be found on the World Wide Web at the following URL: http://web.mit.edu/tilt/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 will be on campus for the year-long sabbatical program in the coming year. These teachers are from Masconomet High School (Topsfield, MA); Sharon High School (Sharon, MA); and Phillips Exeter Academy (Exeter, NH). Although, the `52 Fund contributed to the stipends of teachers in the past, the three teachers who plan to participate will be self supporting.
FORUM ON PUBLIC EDUCATION
CPSE continued its series of seminars, the Forum on Public Education. Professor Frank Levy of MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning spoke on "Teaching the New Basic Skills" and Mr. Richard Ferguson, President of American College Testing (ACT) spoke on "The Skills of the American Workforce: A Reality Check" as part of this series. The Forum on Public Education is sponsored jointly by MIT's Council on Primary and Secondary Education and the Boston Museum of Science. The purpose of the seminar series is to foster conversation between leaders in the educational reform movement and the public at-large.
EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH DIRECTORY
The Council's MIT's Educational Outreach Programs 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.
PROGRAMS BY THE CPSE CHAIRMAN
On the advice of the presidents of six AAU member institutions - MIT, Harvard, Michigan, Stanford, Texas and Wisconsin - the Association of American Universities (AAU) President's Committee on Undergraduate Education established in October 1997 a Task Force on K-16 Education. CPSE Chair Latanision was asked to lead the Task Force in developing a collective plan for the AAU institutions that would be responsive to the implications of changes that are occurring in K-12 education on (a) university admissions policy, (b) the preparation of K-12 teachers (MIT's TEP serves as a potential model), and (c) the teaching of the freshman core curriculum in universities. Eleven AAU member institutions are represented on the Task Force along with representation from the National Research Council and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The Task Force presented an Interim Report to the AAU President's Committee on 20 April 1998. The Committee accepted the report and asked for a full implementation plan by the time of their 20 October 1998 meeting. This planning process is underway. The collective action of the AAU institutions, which are the major research universities in the U.S., would serve as a milestone in American K-12 education. The progress that has been made toward that goal is encouraging.
Professor Latanision directs the Science and Engineering Program for Middle and High School 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 1998, the program ran from June 22-27 and had 55 participants from across the United States. For the first time in its 10 year history, 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 and room and board) by MIT Alumni Clubs throughout the US, testimony to the concern of MIT Alumni for precollege education.
The alumni of this program, now totaling approximately 550 people, become members of the New England Science Teachers (NEST). This year, NEST members came to MIT's campus on June 26th for a two-day meeting to assess the program and determine future directions for the organization.
More information about NEST can be found on the World Wide Web at the following URL: http://web.mit.edu/nest/www/
Although, Professor Latanision stepped down as a co-principal investigator for the NSF-supported statewide systemic initiative in Massachusetts, PALMS (Partnerships Advancing the Learning of Mathematics and Science) he 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 the following URL:
R.M. Latanision
Reporting to the Provost, the Facilities Use Committee formulates and implements policy for the use of Institute facilities by recognized MIT groups, guests from off-campus, and by non-MIT organizations hosted by Faculty and recognized campus groups.
Chaired by Stephen Immerman, Director Of Administration And Operations, Office of the Senior Vice President, this year's committee membership included Margaret Bates, Dean for Student Life, Office of the Dean of Students and Undergraduate Education; Mary Callahan, Assistant Registrar, Schedules; Gayle Gallagher, Director Conference Services, Events and Information Center, Public Relations Services; Michael Foley, Associate Director of Operations, Campus Activities Complex; Elizabeth Garvin, Director, Class Programs, Alumni Association; Anne Glavin, Chief, Campus Police; Andrew Eisenmann, Associate Dean, Residence and Campus Activities; Edmund Jones, Administrative Assistant, Music and Theater Arts; Sandra Lett, Administrative Assistant, Facilities and Scheduling, Athletics; Dan Martin, Assistant Department Head for Facilities and Operations, Athletics; Paul Parravano, Assistant for Community Relations, Office of the President; Clarise Snyder, Concert Director, Music and Theater Arts; Mary Tobin, Supervisor, Operations Center, Physical Plant; Susan Tomases, Program Director, Alumni Association; Tina Trager, Assistant Manager for Event Planning, Campus Activities Complex; and Phil Walsh, Director, Campus Activities Complex.
The following changes in committee membership occurred this year: Amy Seybold-Burke, Program Director for Reunions and Events, was added to the committee to represent the Alumni Association. She replaces Susan Tomases who left the department to accept a position with Technology Review.
Re-engineering information and updates that were shared with the Committee included the decision by the Co-Curricular Scheduling and Event Management Team to purchase a new scheduling and event management software package, which will be implemented for the 1998-99 academic year. The Fassett Garden, once renovation of the area is complete, was approved as a site that could be scheduled on a limited basis for small receptions and other events. The Committee agreed that a review/analysis of facility use fees across campus should be conducted in the near future with assistance from an outside consultant.
During the 1997-98 year, in addition to a number of smaller meetings and events, the Institute hosted the Association for Religion and Intellectual Life, the Division of Planetary Sciences, the 7th International Workshop on Computer-Aided Scheduling of Public Transit, the Cambridge River Festival, a conference on Rethinking Artificial Intelligence, the New England Board of Higher Education, the American Association for Artificial Intelligence, the annual Martin Luther King Youth Conference, the Massachusetts Future Problem Solving Bowl, the Innovation Summit with Vice President Al Gore, the US/Japan Workshop on Interfaces, a conference on Research and Applications in Microelectronic Systems, the Senior Congressional Staff Seminar, the annual St. Paulís AME Easter Service, the Global Accords Conference, the 5th Annual Research Directors Conference, a concert by the Brookline Symphony, the American Computer Experience Camp, the City Days Festival, the annual Messiah concert by the Cambridge Community Chorus, a banquet for the Cambridge Mental Health Association, the Massachusetts State Science Fair, the Massachusetts Special Olympic Games, and a conference on Carbon Sequestration.
Stephen D. Immerman
The Freshman/Alumni Summer Internship Program (F/ASIP) was started this year at the suggestion of Provost Joel Moses. The objective of the program is to give freshmen experience in the work field with alumni-affiliated companies and mentors during the summer after the freshman year. The concept was augmented to include a series of workshops to enhance the students' communication and interpersonal skills by giving them a competitive edge while preparing them for the job market outside of MIT. Many students took the program for the workshops and realized that the experience would help to hone their job and interpersonal skills even if they were not accepted into an internship position.
THE PROCESS
We ran a series of workshops during the spring term which included interviewing, preparing memos, confronting difficult supervisors, and a team design project. Students must also keep journals over the summer, write a paper, and give an oral report in the fall. Completion of the requirements will earn the students six credit units in their sophomore year under F/ASIP's course SP 800. We also created a resume book of the sixty-four students to give to potential companies. We held the first annual freshman job fair where companies were invited to interview the prospective interns. We placed twenty students with companies, and expect about thirty-five to complete course work and receive credit for the program.
INSPIRING DIALOGUE AND PARTICIPATION AT THE INSTITUTE AT EVERY LEVEL
The workshops had a wonderful cadre of thirty facilitators drawn from MIT staff members and graduate students, and alumni at companies in the area, who worked closely with students and gave them very helpful feedback. Of particular interest was the energetic dialogue between students and facilitators. The facilitators also became vital resources - another support layer - for the students both inside and outside of the workshops. We found that the internship process is an exciting and rewarding way to pull alumni back into the workings of MIT. It is important to note that Alex D'Arbeloff, chairman of Teradyne and the MIT Corporation supported the initiative by accepting six
students as freshmen interns. Other companies accepting interns this year include Pratt and Whitney, LCS/Telegraphics, SensAble Technologies, Glowdog, SMS Technologies, MRJ Technologies, ProductGenesis, Tabors Caramanis and Associates, Cabot, W. R. Grace, and The Technology Licensing Office at MIT.
We had an excellent response from students with sixty-four seeking positions. Twenty of them were placed in jobs, well over the projected ten placements suggested to us as a starting point. We worked with the Alumni Association to identify alumni at various companies who would help get the program established. Several of the alumni at these companies have expressed interest in mentoring and facilitating next year.
Selection of the students as interns was left to the companies. Of the twenty students accepting positions, nine were female and eleven male. Of the thirty-five seeking credit for the workshop, seventeen were female and eighteen were male.
FUTURE PLANS
Next year we expect to expand the program to place at least forty students; some in the same set of companies. We also plan to place interns in additional new companies that we will enlist during the fall term. The target area for the first year was the East and West Coasts. We are hoping to expand throughout the United States. Since the program started late in the academic year, we plan to expand the number of workshops offered to the students next spring.
The Program is directed by Professor Arthur Steinberg, and Marshall Hughes is the Program Administrator.
More information about this Program can be found on the World Wide Web at the following URL: http://web.mit.edu/fasip/www
Arthur Steinberg
The Office of Educational Opportunity Programs was created in January of 1992 to organizationally locate both the MIT/Wellesley Upward Bound and MIT Educational Talent Search Programs. 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.
It has been long established that the effects of failure can be reversed through gradual structured achievement. Moreover, the result of the increasing success is a corresponding increase in the individual's level of aspiration. The Educational Talent Search Program, now in its 6th year, is reporting increasing success. Further, 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 31 year existence through the application of Kurt Lewin's theory and careful attention to the impact of Program expectations.
Finally, since much of what students think they can achieve has been directly related to what others think they can accomplish, the participants' perceptions of their abilities are, to a significant degree, determined by staff expectations. Thus, and largely due to this quasi-parenting relationship, the Programs are able to exert such an influence upon the participants that their academic persistence grows and results in increased post-secondary enrollments.
MIT EDUCATIONAL TALENT SEARCH
The MIT Educational Talent Search Program (ETS) is a year-round, co-educational, program, located in Building N52-130, 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 is funded to serve 675 participants from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The following is an overview of the Program's year-round operation:
The academic year program is 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 are available at our offices via appointment or on a drop-in basis, five days a week. The Program provides assistance to the two public high schools, one parochial high school and 26 elementary (K-8) schools in the target areas. ETS staff are available at Cambridge Rindge & Latin School and Somerville High School, four days per week, on an alternating schedule basis, and North Cambridge Catholic High School one day per week. Target elementary schools are served through quarterly in-school presentations, as well as weekend and vacation workshops and exploratory activities throughout the school year.
The Program also offers workshops to supplement the academic development of participants. The workshops are offered to provide more specific support or to address special interests (e.g., SAT preparation, Word Processing, Time Management, Peer Pressure, Surfing The Net, etc.) and are offered on a regular and as needed basis.
In an effort to assist participants as they attempt to cope with problems of an academic, social, family or personal nature, the Program offers support and referrals in the areas of school guidance, academic and vocational preparation, and personal adjustment.
In an effort to provide both participants and their families with information relative to college choice, preparation, and the admissions and financial aid processes, the Program held five parent and student information nights, took participants to three local College Fairs and sponsored nine college visits. The Program made four career exploration tours as part of our career exploration effort.
The Program provided seven field trips for the purpose of increasing the intellectual, social, and cultural development of the participants. Some of the sites visited were; The Computer Museum, New England Aquarium Otis AFB, and Massport. In addition, the Program regularly visits various points of interest, i.e., libraries, museums and laboratories, on the MIT campus.
The summer session provided 100 (6th - 8th) grade participants with college information and exploration through seven college tours and nine career exploration tours.
The Program's follow up survey of its members of the Class of 1997 yielded the following: 53% of all senior class members enrolled in a post-secondary educational program; 51% enrolled in two-year programs; 15% enrolled in four-year public institutions; 34% enrolled in four-year private institutions.
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 31st 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. Upward Bound participants must enroll in three classes, each of which meets for an average of five hours per week. Also, participants may request or be assigned to tutorials whenever the need arises. Each participant is required to enroll in a Mathematics course, an English course and an elective course (Social Studies, Science or Foreign Language). Science electives include; physical science, biology, chemistry and physics while Social Studies address United States, African-American and World Histories. The Foreign Language electives are Spanish I and II as well as French I and II. The Mathematics courses range from arithmetic to calculus and Language Arts courses cover basic English and grammar through research paper writing and literature. 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, (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.) have been developed.
The Upward Bound office is open for study, on a drop-in basis, four days a week: Monday and Thursday from 3:00 to 6:00 PM and Tuesday and Wednesday 3:00 to 8:00 PM. 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.
Ninety-two percent of the Program's graduating seniors have enrolled in the following institutions, Bunker Hill Community College, Clark Atlanta University, Lesley College, Morris Brown College, Northeastern University, Pace University, Salem State College, Tuskegee University, and University of Massachusetts at Amherst,.
Ronald S. Crichlow, Evette M. Layne