#MIT computer science and technology

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

COMPUTER-SOFTWARE ENGINEERING RISING IN THE AMERICAN SPACE PROGRAM.

PIC INFO: Spotlight on American computer programmer Margaret Hamilton (b. 1936), at the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, during her time as lead flight software engineer for the Apollo space mission, c. 1969.

MINI-BIO: "She and her team wrote the code for the inflight software of the spacecraft, and her work contributed to the safe landing of Apollo 11 on the moon in 1969."

Sources: www.thenation.com/article/archive/peoples-history-of-personal-computing-joy-lisi-rankin-review-silicon-valley-bros & X.

[pekasnugs]

Making computation come alive

🧬 ..::Science & Tech::.. 🧬 A new course teaches students how to use computational techniques to solve real-world problems, from landing a spacecraft to placing cell phone towers

[jcmarchi]

Alex Shalek named director of the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/alex-shalek-named-director-of-the-institute-for-medical-engineering-and-science/

Alex Shalek named director of the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science

Alex K. Shalek, the J. W. Kieckhefer Professor in the MIT Institute for Medical Engineering and Sciences (IMES) and Department of Chemistry, has been named the new director of IMES, effective Aug. 1.

“Professor Shalek’s substantial contributions to the scientific community as a researcher and educator have been exemplary. His extensive network across MIT, Harvard, and Mass General Brigham will be a tremendous asset as director of IMES,” says Anantha Chandrakasan, chief innovation and strategy officer, dean of the School of Engineering, and the Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. “He will undoubtedly be an excellent leader, bringing his innovative approach and collaborative spirit to this new role.”

Shalek is a core member of IMES, a professor of chemistry, and holds several leadership positions, including director of the Health Innovation Hub. He is also an extramural member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research; a member of the Ragon Institute of Mass General, MIT, and Harvard; an institute member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; an assistant in immunology at Mass General Brigham; and an instructor in health sciences and technology at Harvard Medical School.

The Shalek Lab’s research seeks to uncover how communities of cells work together within human tissues to support health, and how they become dysregulated in disease. By developing and applying innovative experimental and computational technologies, they are shedding light on a wide range of human health conditions.

Shalek and his team use a cross-disciplinary approach that combines genomics, chemical biology, and nanotechnology to develop platforms to profile and control cells and their interactions. Collaborating with researchers across the globe, they apply these tools to study human diseases in great detail. Their goal is to connect what occurs at a cellular level with what medical professionals observe in patients, paving the way for more precise ways to prevent and treat diseases. 

Over the course of his career, Shalek’s groundbreaking research has earned him widespread recognition and numerous awards and honors. These include an NIH New Innovator Award, a Beckman Young Investigator Award, a Searle Scholar Award, a Pew-Stewart Scholar Award, an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship in Chemistry, and an Avant-Garde (DP1 Pioneer) Award. Shalek has also been celebrated for his dedication as a faculty member, educator, and mentor. He was awarded the 2019-20 Harold E. Edgerton Faculty Achievement Award at MIT and the 2020 HMS Young Mentor Award.

Shalek received his bachelor’s degree in chemical physics from Columbia University and his master’s and PhD in chemical physics from Harvard University. Prior to joining MIT’s faculty in 2014, he was a postdoc at the Broad Institute.

Shalek succeeds Elazer Edelman, the Edward J. Poitras Professor in Medical Engineering and Science, who has led IMES since April 2018.

“I am grateful to Professor Edelman for his incredible leadership and service to IMES over the past six years,” says Chandrakasan. “His contributions to IMES have been invaluable, and we are thankful for his dedication and vision during his tenure as director.”

[xtruss]

This Tiny, Tamper-Proof ID Tag Can Authenticate Almost Anything

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Engineers Developed a Tag That Can Reveal with Near-Perfect Accuracy Whether an Item is Real or Fake. The Key is in the Glue on the Back of the Tag.

— Adam Zewe | MIT News | Publication Date: February 18, 2024

A Few Years Ago, MIT Researchers Invented a Cryptographic ID Tag that is several times smaller and significantly cheaper than the traditional radio frequency tags (RFIDs) that are often affixed to products to verify their authenticity.

This tiny tag, which offers improved security over RFIDs, utilizes terahertz waves, which are smaller and travel much faster than radio waves. But this terahertz tag shared a major security vulnerability with traditional RFIDs: A counterfeiter could peel the tag off a genuine item and reattach it to a fake, and the authentication system would be none the wiser.

The researchers have now surmounted this security vulnerability by leveraging terahertz waves to develop an antitampering ID tag that still offers the benefits of being tiny, cheap, and secure.

They mix microscopic metal particles into the glue that sticks the tag to an object, and then use terahertz waves to detect the unique pattern those particles form on the item’s surface. Akin to a fingerprint, this random glue pattern is used to authenticate the item, explains Eunseok Lee, an electrical engineering and computer science (EECS) graduate student and lead author of a paper on the antitampering tag.

“These metal particles are essentially like mirrors for terahertz waves. If I spread a bunch of mirror pieces onto a surface and then shine light on that, depending on the orientation, size, and location of those mirrors, I would get a different reflected pattern. But if you peel the chip off and reattach it, you destroy that pattern,” adds Ruonan Han, an associate professor in EECS, who leads the Terahertz Integrated Electronics Group in the Research Laboratory of Electronics.

The researchers produced a light-powered antitampering tag that is about 4 square millimeters in size. They also demonstrated a machine-learning model that helps detect tampering by identifying similar glue pattern fingerprints with more than 99 percent accuracy.

Because the terahertz tag is so cheap to produce, it could be implemented throughout a massive supply chain. And its tiny size enables the tag to attach to items too small for traditional RFIDs, such as certain medical devices.

The paper, which will be presented at the IEEE Solid State Circuits Conference, is a collaboration between Han’s group and the Energy-Efficient Circuits and Systems Group of Anantha P. Chandrakasan, MIT’s chief innovation and strategy officer, dean of the MIT School of Engineering, and the Vannevar Bush Professor of EECS. Co-authors include EECS graduate students Xibi Chen, Maitryi Ashok, and Jaeyeon Won.

Preventing Tampering

This research project was partly inspired by Han’s favorite car wash. The business stuck an RFID tag onto his windshield to authenticate his car wash membership. For added security, the tag was made from fragile paper so it would be destroyed if a less-than-honest customer tried to peel it off and stick it on a different windshield.

But that is not a terribly reliable way to prevent tampering. For instance, someone could use a solution to dissolve the glue and safely remove the fragile tag.

Rather than authenticating the tag, a better security solution is to authenticate the item itself, Han says. To achieve this, the researchers targeted the glue at the interface between the tag and the item’s surface.

Their antitampering tag contains a series of miniscule slots that enable terahertz waves to pass through the tag and strike microscopic metal particles that have been mixed into the glue.

Terahertz waves are small enough to detect the particles, whereas larger radio waves would not have enough sensitivity to see them. Also, using terahertz waves with a 1-millimeter wavelength allowed the researchers to make a chip that does not need a larger, off-chip antenna.

After passing through the tag and striking the object’s surface, terahertz waves are reflected, or backscattered, to a receiver for authentication. How those waves are backscattered depends on the distribution of metal particles that reflect them.

The researchers put multiple slots onto the chip so waves can strike different points on the object’s surface, capturing more information on the random distribution of particles.

“These responses are impossible to duplicate, as long as the glue interface is destroyed by a counterfeiter,” Han says.

A vendor would take an initial reading of the antitampering tag once it was stuck onto an item, and then store those data in the cloud, using them later for verification.

AI For Authentication

But when it came time to test the antitampering tag, Lee ran into a problem: It was very difficult and time-consuming to take precise enough measurements to determine whether two glue patterns are a match.

He reached out to a friend in the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and together they tackled the problem using AI. They trained a machine-learning model that could compare glue patterns and calculate their similarity with more than 99 percent accuracy.

“One drawback is that we had a limited data sample for this demonstration, but we could improve the neural network in the future if a large number of these tags were deployed in a supply chain, giving us a lot more data samples,” Lee says.

The authentication system is also limited by the fact that terahertz waves suffer from high levels of loss during transmission, so the sensor can only be about 4 centimeters from the tag to get an accurate reading. This distance wouldn’t be an issue for an application like barcode scanning, but it would be too short for some potential uses, such as in an automated highway toll booth. Also, the angle between the sensor and tag needs to be less than 10 degrees or the terahertz signal will degrade too much.

They plan to address these limitations in future work, and hope to inspire other researchers to be more optimistic about what can be accomplished with terahertz waves, despite the many technical challenges, says Han.

“One thing we really want to show here is that the application of the terahertz spectrum can go well beyond broadband wireless. In this case, you can use terahertz for ID, security, and authentication. There are a lot of possibilities out there,” he adds.

This work is supported, in part, by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies.

[vitrinanorte]

[oldiesstationlover11607]

perhaps peter has an important interview for something like a college interview or something and perhaps reader had something to do before it so couldn’t go with him (for moral support) but then she rushes through her thing to get to him and surprises him like 5 min prior, gives him a good luck kiss when his name gets called and tells him to call her after. they celebrate that night (since it went well) with pizza, a movie and cuddles.

Interview - Tom!Peter Parker x Fem!Stark!Reader

Pairing: Tom!Peter Parker x Fem!Stark!Reader

Warnings: None! Super fluffy <3

Word Count: 1,001

Note: Reader isn't Stark's daughter she's Stark's niece

A/N: I hope you like this @urmykindofwoman !!

Peter and I were in our senior year, which came with all the busy days and rough nights of writing college application essays, getting final assessments to the teachers, and booking interviews. While Peter and I were dating, we definitely weren’t going down the same career path. I had my own after-school radio show, wanting to go into something arts and humanities-based, and Peter clearly wanted to do biology and biochemistry. He wanted to go to MIT; science and technology were his whole life—especially with his ‘internship’ with Tony, who had helped him get an interview.

“Y/N? Where’s my suit?” Peter asked, running around his bedroom frantically.

“It’s over there, Pete. Relax, and you’ll do fine. I’m sure Tony put in a good word for you anyway,” I smiled.

“And you’re sure you can’t come with me? I just—this interview is a big deal for me, and if I don’t get in, then I have no idea what I’m going to do,” he said as he folded the suit and put it into his backpack.

“You know I can’t. I’ve got the radio show in an hour, and I can’t miss that,” I sighed, getting up and grabbing my bag. Peter nodded, reluctantly accepting the situation. “But make sure to call me once it’s over and let me know how it goes, okay?” I pulled him in for a quick kiss.

“I love you,” he grinned.

“Ditto, spider boy.”

I walked to the radio station to meet Ned, who had been co-hosting with me for the last few years. We didn’t have any guests for this episode, and instead, we were talking about the latest Star Wars movie that had come out. The episode lasted for an hour and a half, and I sat there staring at the clock to see if I could leave and make it to support Peter before his interview.

“And that’s our show!” Ned smiled and played the last piece of music, finally turning off our mics. “Okay, you better hurry if you’re going to be on time to surprise Peter.” I nodded, grabbing my bag and rushing out of the studio. I ran down the street towards Peter’s house, where he was doing the interview online. Knocking on the door, I noticed it was only 10 minutes before the interview started.

“Y/N?! Oh my god, what are you doing here? What about the show and Ned and—”

“I ran here when we finished. You said you wanted me for support, so I’m here, Spidey,” I grinned. Peter returned the smile, picked me up, and spun us around.

“Okay, Pete, you need to get yourself ready. They’re going to call you any second now, and you’re gonna ace it!” I pressed my lips to his in a lighthearted kiss, my hand coming up to curl his hair in my fingers. He pulled away once his computer started ringing and closed the door to his bedroom.

I sat there scrolling through my phone, hearing the hum of Peter’s voice through the door when he responded to the questions. MJ had sent me a few text messages about our English report, so I took the time to respond. About an hour later, Peter finally opened the door and walked out. I stood up excitedly, walking over to him.

“How’d it go?” His face showed no emotion, and my mind raced through all the possibilities. I’d put him off his game by surprising him, hadn’t I? Peter was going to hate me, and Tony was going to be so disappointed in Peter. It was all my fault.

“They said it was a pleasure to meet me,” a small smile grew on his face, and he looked shell-shocked, completely unsure of how to act.

“Oh my god, Peter, yes!” I screamed, running into his arms. “We need to celebrate! I’ll call Tony and organize something. We are 100% having a pizza party with the others.”

“You’re too good for me, Y/N.” Peter pressed a kiss to my cheek as I pulled out my phone to call my uncle.

“Hi, Tony. Yes, Peter did well in his interview. I’m wondering if we can order pizza and invite the others for a movie to celebrate?” Peter placed kisses across my jaw and down my neck, smiling with each press of his lips.

“Okay, I’ll call them and make sure they’ll be there,” Tony responded.

“Tell him I say hi,” Peter mumbled.

“Peter says—”

“I can hear him, Y/N. Tell him to watch where he puts those hands. Be here by 6, okay?” Tony laughed before hanging up. Peter pulled away and looked up at me with a questioning expression.

“Stark Tower at 6.”

“God, I love you,” he grinned.

“I know you do,” I said, getting everything I needed for dinner.

“That was 100% a Star Wars reference, wasn’t it?” Peter pointed to his Empire Strikes Back poster, and I nodded, trying to suppress my laughter. Peter shot out a web to pull me close to him again.

“You’re a nerd, you know that, Parker?”

“As if you’re any worse; you’ve got that Stark blood in you. I can smell it with my spider-sense—”

“Your Peter tingle,” I interrupted. He let out a loud and annoyed sigh.

“And you’ve ruined the moment.”

“You ruined it yourself, spider boy.”

//

Please submit any requests y'all have! I love to write so let me know if you've got any!

[nenelonomh]

the university masterlist

there are many excellent universities around the world, each offering unique programs and opportunities. here are some highly regarded institutions to consider (and what subjects they're renowned for):

united states:

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ massachusetts institute of technology (mit): renowned for its programs in engineering, computer science, and physical sciences.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ harvard university: known for its law, business, and medical schools.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ stanford university: excels in business, engineering, and the sciences.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ california institute of technology (caltech): focuses on science and engineering.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ university of california, berkeley (ucb): strong in a wide range of disciplines, including engineering, business, and the sciences.

united kingdom:

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ university of oxford: offers a broad range of programs and is known for its rigorous academic environment.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ university of cambridge: excels in sciences, engineering, and humanities.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ imperial college london: specializes in science, engineering, medicine, and business.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚london school of economics and political science (lse): focuses on social sciences.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ university college london (ucl): offers a wide range of programs and is known for its research output.

australia:

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ university of melbourne: known for its strong research programs and diverse academic offerings.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ australian national university (anu): excels in research and offers a wide range of programs.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ university of sydney: offers comprehensive programs and has a strong research focus.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ university of queensland (uq): known for its research and teaching excellence.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ university of new south wales (unsw): strong in engineering, business, and sciences.

canada:

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ university of toronto: offers a wide range of programs and is known for its research excellence.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ university of british columbia (ubc): strong in research and offers diverse academic programs.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ mcgill university: known for its medical and law programs.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ university of alberta: offers strong programs in engineering, business, and sciences.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ university of montreal: known for its research and diverse academic offerings.

when applying to and considering universities, it’s important to consider what programs and environments best suit your interests and goals.

do you have a specific university in mind?

[mindblowingscience]

The super-special material graphene continues to surprise and fascinate scientists, this time revealing a rare electronic state termed 'ferro-valleytricity', which occurs when graphene is stacked up in a particular five-layer combination. When in this new state, the graphene stack exhibits weird and wonderful magnetic and electronic behavior, as reported by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University, and the National Institute for Materials Science in Japan. Using graphene in this way could help in the development of both classical and quantum computers, according to the team, especially in terms of creating data storage solutions that offer large capacities but that also need relatively little energy to run. "Graphene is a fascinating material," says physicist Long Ju from MIT. "Every layer you add gives you essentially a new material." "And now this is the first time we see ferro-valleytricity, and unconventional magnetism, in five layers of graphene. But we don't see this property in one, two, three, or four layers."

Continue Reading.

[gamerpup1]

otacon character ai for your twink needs

[{Character(“Hal Emmerich”)

Alias(“Otacon”)

Gender(“Nonbinary man”)

Age(“38")

Sexuality(“Gay" + "Attracted to men")

Height(“5'10” + "177 cm")

Language(“English" + "Japanese")

Status(“Single”)

Occupation("Engineer at ArmsTech" + “Computer programmer”)

Personality(“Whiny" + "Intelligent" + "Nerdy" + "Nervous" + "Fidgety" + "Gifted scientist" + "Optimistic" + "Selfless" + "Responsible" + "Level-headed" + "Passive" + "Loyal" + "Autistic" + "Socially awkward" + "Introvert" + "Confident in his hacking ability" + "Caring" + "Brilliant" + "Anxious" + “Lonely”)

Skills("Hacking” + “Engineering” + “Tinkering”)

Appearance("Thick and messy shoulder length gray hair" + "Curtain bangs" + "Messy stubble" + "Baggy white jacket" + "Blue shirt" + "Baggy gray sweatpants" + "Light blue tennis shoes" + "Baggy clothes" + "Circle glasses" + "Lanky" + "Skinny" + "Scrawny" + "Very little body hair" + "Light arm hair" + "Light leg hair" + "Light chest hair" + "Top surgery scars" + "Trans scars" + "Gray happy trail" + "Black stud earrings" + “Slender”)

Habit(“Adjusting his glasses” + “Pushing his glasses up” + “Whining” + “Talking about anime” + “Making references to anime” + “Asking strange questions” + “Occasionally pulls his hair up” + “Fidgeting with his hands” + “Stuttering” + “Rambling” + “Slouching”)

Race(“Human”)

Likes("Anime” + “Neon Genesis Evangelion” + “Scrambled eggs” + “Video games” + “Hacking” + “Captain Falcon” + “Super Smash Bros” + “Rainy days” + “Snowy days” + “Being warm” + “Cuddling” + “Physical affection” + “{{user}}” + “Reading” + “Watching anime” + “Seafood” + “Sushi”)

Dislikes("Extreme cold" + “Gunshots” + “Loud noises” + “Heights” + “Being yelled at” + “Being harmed” + “Being sick” + “Dead silence” + “Rude people” + “Being made fun of” + “People who don’t understand his favorite shows” + “Being ignored” + “Being betrayed”)

Relationships("Mother named Strangelove” + “Father name Huey” + “Stepsister named Emma” + “Stepmom named Elizabeth”)

Ethnicity("Japanese” + "Caucasian" + “Mixed race”)

Kinks("Praise kink" + “Loves to roleplay in bed” + “Loves soft sex” + “Loves when his partner praises him” + “Loves being overstimulated” + “Secretly loves wearing women’s lingerie” + “Loves being tied up” + “Submissive during sex”) 

Attributes(“Whiny voice" + "Scared of heights" + "Rambles a lot" + "Loves talking about anime" + “On the autism spectrum” + “Jewish” + “Otaku” + “Experiences love at first sight”)

Backstory("Hal Emmerich was born in 1980 to scientists Huey Emmerich and Strangelove via Cesarean section. Huey was a big fan of science fiction movies, specially the HAL 9000 computer featured in 2001: A Space Odyssey, as a result of the film getting himself and Strangelove closer.

Hal spent his early years living with his parents in an XOF research facility in Afghanistan. He ended up being considered by his father for use as a test subject for Metal Gear Sahelanthropus, as its cockpit was so small that only a child could pilot it. This resulted in a huge falling out between Hal's parents. Strangelove vehemently disagreed with Huey's proposition. 

After a long argument, Strangelove and Huey eventually got a divorce with Strangelove taking Hal in the process. They moved to America in order for Strangelove to focus on her development of Metal Gear where she married a woman named Elizabeth who had a daughter named Emma.

Hal was homeschooled due to his interest and fixation on computers and, with his internet-based self studies, he was able to be accepted into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he earned his PhD at a young age. After attending MIT, he attended Princeton University where he received his Bachelor's and Master's Degrees. The FBI soon spotted Hal's achievements and hired him for their ERF, soon kicking him out however as he was caught monitoring and hacking into their central database.

Eventually, Hal was hired by the defense contractor ArmsTech. At ArmsTech, Emmerich developed a series of new technologies, including stealth camouflage, that were officially adopted by the U.S. Army. Following this, he became the lead engineer for the Metal Gear REX project. During development, Hal was led to believe that REX was a mobile defense system, but in reality it was a weapon possessing nuclear strike capability.")}]

[hellsgate-roadhouse]

Article by: noel kirkpatrick (September 5 2018)

Call it Apocalypse 2040.

In the early 1970s, a computer program called World1 predicted that civilization would likely collapse by 2040. Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) had programmed it to consider a model of sustainability for the world.

The prediction has resurfaced because Australian broadcaster ABC recirculated a 1973 newscast about the computer program. The program's findings, however, never really went away, as its results have been re-evaluated over the nearly 50 years since they first appeared.

The bad news for us is that the model seems to be spot-on so far.

The computer model was commissioned by the Club of Rome, a group of scientists, industrialists and government officials focused on solving the world's problems. The organization wanted to know how well the world could sustain its rate of growth based on information that was available at the time. World1 was developed by Jay Forrester, the father of system dynamics, a methodology for understanding how complex systems operate.

When deciding the fate of civilization, the program considered several variables, including pollution levels, population growth, the availability of natural resources and global quality of life. These factors were considered in tandem with one another as opposed to separately, following the Club of Rome's perspective that the world's problems are interconnected.

Such an approach was novel in the 1970s, even if the forecast World1 produced wasn't intended to be "precise." The program produced graphs that demonstrated what would happen to those metrics in the future, without even accounting for things like climate change. The graphs all indicated a downward trajectory for the planet.

According to the 1973 ABC segment, World1 identified 2020 as a tipping point for civilization.

"At around 2020, the condition of the planet becomes highly critical. If we do nothing about it, the quality of life goes down to zero. Pollution becomes so seriously it will start to kill people, which in turn will cause the population to diminish, lower than it was in the 1900. At this stage, around 2040 to 2050, civilized life as we know it on this planet will cease to exist."

This was not the end of the model. In 1972, the Club of Rome published "The Limits to Growth," a book that built off the work of World1 with a program called World3, developed by scientists Donella and Dennis Meadows and a team of researchers. This time the variables were population, food production, industrialization, pollution and consumption of nonrenewable natural resources.

"The Limits to Growth" pushed the collapse of civilization to 2072, when the limits of growth would be the most readily apparent and result in population and industrial declines.

Criticism of the book was nearly immediate, and harsh. The New York Times, for instance, wrote, "Its imposing apparatus of computer technology and systems jargon ... takes arbitrary assumptions, shakes them up and comes out with arbitrary conclusions that have the ring of science," concluding that the book was "empty and misleading."

Others argued that the book's view of what constitutes a resource could change over time, leaving their data shortsighted to any possible changes in consumption habits.

The tide for the book's finds have changed over time, however. In 2014, Graham Turner, then a research fellow at the University Melbourne's Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, collected data from various agencies within the United Nations, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other outlets, plotting their data alongside the findings of the World3 model.

What Turner found that was that the World3 model and then-current statistical information tended to coincide with another, up to 2010, indicating that the World3 model was onto something. Turner cautioned that the validation of World3's model didn't indicate "agreement" with it, largely due to certain parameters within the World3 model. Still, Turner argued that we were likely on "cusp of collapse" thanks to a few different factors, in particular what Turner called the end of peak easy oil access.

Writing in The Guardian, Turner and Cathy Alexander, a Melbourne-based journalist, explained that neither the World3 model or Turner's own confirmation of it signaled that the collapse was a guarantee.

"Our research does not indicate that collapse of the world economy, environment and population is a certainty," they wrote. "Nor do we claim the future will unfold exactly as the MIT researchers predicted back in 1972. Wars could break out; so could genuine global environmental leadership. Either could dramatically affect the trajectory.

"But our findings should sound an alarm bell. It seems unlikely that the quest for ever-increasing growth can continue unchecked to 2100 without causing serious negative effects – and those effects might come sooner than we think."

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Aaron Sibarium

Published: May 14, 2024

In dissertation titled 'Cite a Sista,' Tracie Jones-Barrett stole an entire passage on 'ethical considerations' from her classmate

In June 2021, a year into the cultural aftershocks of George Floyd's death, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology set out to meet the moment, as so many other schools had, by hiring more diversity officers.

MIT welcomed six new deans of diversity, equity, and inclusion, one for each of the institute's main schools, as part of a "DEI Strategic Action Plan" launched the previous year. Aimed at boosting the representation of women and minorities, in part by developing DEI criteria for staff performance reviews, the plan pledged to "make equity central" to the university "while ensuring the highest standards of excellence."

But according to a 71-page complaint filed with the university on Saturday, at least two of the six DEI officials may not be living up to those standards. The complaint alleges that Tracie Jones-Barrett and Alana Anderson are serial plagiarists, copying entire pages of text without attribution and riding roughshod over MIT's academic integrity policies.

In her 2023 dissertation titled "Cite a Sista," which explored how black women in the Ivy League "make meaning of thriving," Jones-Barrett, MIT’s deputy "equity officer," lifts a whole section on "ethical considerations" from Emmitt Wyche III, her classmate in Northeastern University's Graduate School of Education, without any sort of citation.

The section is one of several long passages taken from Wyche's 2020 thesis, "Boyz in the Hoods: (Re) Defining the Narratives of Black Male Doctoral Degree Completers," which does not appear in Jones-Barrett's bibliography. Wyche and Jones-Barrett did not respond to requests for comment.

Anderson, who served as the diversity czar for MIT's computer science college until last year, when she left to become Boston Beer Company's inclusion and belonging program manager, likewise copied copious material from other scholars. Her 2017 dissertation, "#BLACKONCAMPUS: A Critical Examination of Racial and Gender Performances of Black College Women on Social Media," lifts over a page of material from Mark Chae, a professor of counseling at Pillar College, who is not cited anywhere in her dissertation.

"It would have been nice to at least get a citation!" Chae told the Washington Free Beacon in an email. "Anderson seems quite comfortable in taking credit for large portions of another writer's scholarly work."

Anderson, who held DEI posts at Boston University and Babson College before coming to MIT, lifts another long passage from Jarvis Givens, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, without an in-text citation. The omissions appear to violate MIT's plagiarism policy, which states that scholars must cite their sources any time they "use the words, ideas, or phrasing of another person."

MIT did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

In total, the two diversity deans lifted about 10 full pages of material without attribution, according to the complaint, as well as dozens of shorter passages sprinkled throughout their theses.

Like former Harvard University president Claudine Gay, who resigned in January amid her own plagiarism scandal, Anderson even stole language from another scholar's acknowledgments, copying phrases and sentences used by Khalilah Shabazz, now a diversity official at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, to thank her dissertation advisers.

Anderson's acknowledgments contain several typos not seen in Shabbaz's, including missing words and commas and a lack of subject-verb agreement.

Givens and Shabbaz did not respond to requests for comment. Anderson, who received her Ph.D. from Boston College's school of education, did not respond to a request for comment. Boston Beer Company did not respond to a request for comment.

Saturday's complaint, which was submitted to Boston College and Northeastern University alongside MIT, is the latest in a string of plagiarism allegations against campus diversity officials. Since Gay's resignation, DEI officers at Harvard, Columbia, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of California, Los Angeles, have been accused of research misconduct. Some, such as Columbia medical school's Alade McKen and UCLA medical school's Natalie Perry, copied pages of material from various sources—including Wikipedia—while others passed off old studies as new work.

The accused administrators have not been publicly sanctioned by their universities, which have either declined to comment on the allegations or issued statements in support of the officials. The complaint against Anderson and Jones-Barrett may be harder for MIT to brush aside, however, given the school's high-profile efforts to distance itself from DEI in the post-October 7 era.

The institute said this month that it would no longer require diversity statements from candidates applying to faculty positions, making it the first elite university to jettison the practice. It also led the way in restoring SAT requirements after many colleges went test-optional in an effort to boost diversity.

The pushback has come largely from MIT faculty and been driven, in part, by a sense that DEI programs excuse and even encourage anti-Semitism. An April article in MIT's faculty newsletter noted that an event on "Jewish inclusion" had whitewashed the rhetoric of the school's pro-Palestinian protesters, who have occupied campus buildings, called for "Intifada revolution," and allegedly chanted "death to Zionists."

"Jewish students," a blurb for the DEI event read, "are encountering much of the same discomfort that other minorities face on campus and in the world, in that they don't feel heard or acknowledged."

The two dissertations at issue are strikingly derivative, cobbled together from classmates, online sources, and even a book's dust jacket, and at times read like replicas of their unattributed source material.

Jones-Barrett's summary of her dissertation, for example, is nearly identical to the summary Wyche provides of his own. Both papers use "semi-structured interviews" to "gather insights" from black graduates of Ph.D. programs about their "subjective experiences" of "meaning-making," or, as Wyche misspells it, "mean-making." The primary difference is that Wyche's study deals with black men, while Jones-Barrett's deals with black women.

"This study, the first of its kind[,] uses Black Feminist Thought as a framework to explore and investigate how Black women at Ivy League graduate schools of education make meaning of thriving," reads the first sentence of Jones-Barrett's dissertation, which is missing a comma. "There are limited studies that center the voices of Black women at Ivy League graduate schools and there are no studies that look specifically at Ivy League graduate schools of education."

Jones-Barrett, who has taught courses at Harvard Extension School and was initially hired as the assistant dean of diversity, equity, and inclusion for MIT's humanities school, also poached a passage on "potential research bias" from Wyche—now a DEI consultant who describes himself on LinkedIn as a "status quo disrupter"—which asserts that "it is nearly impossible for the researcher to isolate their experiences from the investigative process."

He's not the only classmate Jones-Barrett appears to have plagiarized: On the first page of her dissertation, she lifts an entire paragraph from Scott Fitzsimmons, who earned his Ph.D. in education from Northeastern in 2021, without attribution, swapping out "rural EMS leaders" for "Black women in graduate programs." Fitzsimmons declined to comment.

Anderson, meanwhile, lifts several paragraphs from a 2016 ThinkProgress article about her alma mater, Boston College, from which some of her study's interview subjects were drawn. That plagiarism undercuts her effort to prevent the school, to which she refers with a pseudonym, from being identified—a possible violation of the study's consent form, which promised participants that no "identifying information" would be disclosed.

Boston College and Northeastern University did not to requests for comment.

Anderson—who runs her own consultancy that offers "scientifically-based" DEI programming—also borrows three sentences from the dust jacket of Ebony and Ivy, a 2013 book by MIT historian Craig Wilder, who is only cited in one of the sentences and whose words do not appear in quotation marks.

Like many of the authors plagiarized by Gay, Wilder defended Anderson's decision to copy his work, writing in an email that he didn't think a citation was necessary.

"I cannot imagine why anyone would cite a dust jacket, nor do I see the urgency of criminalizing the failure to do so," Wilder told the Free Beacon. "I'm honored," he added, when other scholars "find inspiration from my publications."

==

It's safest to assume all DEI apparatchiks and commissars are plagiarists, frauds and liars until proven otherwise.

[jcmarchi]

Women in STEM — A celebration of excellence and curiosity

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/women-in-stem-a-celebration-of-excellence-and-curiosity/

Women in STEM — A celebration of excellence and curiosity

What better way to commemorate Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day than to give  three of the world’s most accomplished scientists an opportunity to talk about their careers? On March 7, MindHandHeart invited professors Paula Hammond, Ann Graybiel, and Sangeeta Bhatia to share their career journeys, from the progress they have witnessed to the challenges they have faced as women in STEM. Their conversation was moderated by Mary Fuller, chair of the faculty and professor of literature. 

Hammond, an Institute professor with appointments in the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, reflected on the strides made by women faculty at MIT, while acknowledging ongoing challenges. “I think that we have advanced a great deal in the last few decades in terms of the numbers of women who are present, although we still have a long way to go,” Hammond noted in her opening. “We’ve seen a remarkable increase over the past couple of decades in our undergraduate population here at MIT, and now we’re beginning to see it in the graduate population, which is really exciting.” Hammond was recently appointed to the role of vice provost for faculty.

Ann Graybiel, also an Institute professor, who has appointments in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, described growing up in the Deep South. “Girls can’t do science,” she remembers being told in school, and they “can’t do research.” Yet her father, a physician scientist, often took her with him to work and had her assist from a young age, eventually encouraging her directly to pursue a career in science. Graybiel, who first came to MIT in 1973, noted that she continued to face barriers and rejection throughout her career long after leaving the South, but that individual gestures of inspiration, generosity, or simple statements of “You can do it” from her peers helped her power through and continue in her scientific pursuits. 

Sangeeta Bhatia, the John and Dorothy Wilson Professor of Health Sciences and Technology and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, director of the Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, and a member of the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, is also the mother of two teenage girls. She shared her perspective on balancing career and family life: “I wanted to pick up my kids from school and I wanted to know their friends. … I had a vision for the life that I wanted.” Setting boundaries at work, she noted, empowered her to achieve both personal and professional goals. Bhatia also described her collaboration with President Emerita Susan Hockfield and MIT Amgen Professor of Biology Emerita Nancy Hopkins to spearhead the Future Founders Initiative, which aims to boost the representation of female faculty members pursuing biotechnology ventures.

A video of the full panel discussion is available on the MindHandHeart YouTube channel.

[sarkariresultdude]

Madras Institute of Technology: Excellence in Academics and Result Analysis

 The Madras Institute of Technology (MIT), positioned in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, is certainly one of India's most excellent engineering establishments. Established in 1949, MIT has constructed a stellar popularity for innovation and educational rigor. The institute has produced splendid alumni, consisting of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, India's former President and a celebrated aerospace scientist. MIT is a constituent university of Anna University and offers undergraduate, postgraduate, and studies packages in engineering, generation, and applied sciences.

Madras Institute Technology Result

One of the important thing aspects that outline MIT is its emphasis on high academic standards. Results and educational performance at MIT play a pivotal role in keeping this recognition, reflecting the institute's recognition of fostering talent and nurturing innovation.

Academic Programs at MIT

Before delving into the results, it is important to understand the instructional packages that MIT gives. The institute specializes in engineering disciplines which include:

Aeronautical Engineering

Electronics and Communication Engineering

Computer Science and Engineering

Mechanical Engineering

Automobile Engineering

Instrumentation Engineering

Production Technology

MIT also gives applications in contemporary domains like Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, and Robotics, ensuring that scholars are equipped to address contemporary demanding situations in technological know-how and era.

Academic Structure and Examination Process

MIT follows a semester-based totally academic calendar, with two foremost terms: the atypical semester (July–November) and the even semester (January–May). Each semester consists of a mixture of theoretical and sensible guides, which might be evaluated through a combination of non-stop evaluation and up-semester examinations.

Continuous Assessment:

Assignments, quizzes, and mid-time period tests contribute to the inner assessment marks.

Laboratory work and challenging opinions are key components of sensible guides.

Internal exams generally account for forty–50% of the entire marks.

End-Semester Examinations:

Conducted under Anna University’s pointers, those tests compare students' know-how of the whole syllabus.

The exams usually span two weeks, overlaying all enrolled courses.

A minimum pass percentage is required in each inner and external test.

Result Declaration Process

The end result declaration technique at MIT is a systematic and transparent manner aimed toward ensuring accuracy and fairness. The key steps involved include:

Evaluation and Grading

Answer scripts from the cease-semester examinations are evaluated by experienced faculty individuals under strict supervision.

Marks are offered primarily based on a pre-described marking scheme to maintain uniformity.

Grading follows Anna University’s requirements, typically on a scale of 10.

 Internal Moderation    

Before finalizing effects, moderation committees evaluate borderline cases and cope with discrepancies.

This guarantees that proper mistakes in assessment do not adversely affect college students.

 Publication of Results

Results are posted online at the respectable Anna University portal. Students can access their grades using their registration numbers.

Results encompass details along with direction-sensible grades, overall credits earned, and the Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA).

Revaluation and Supplementary Exams

Students upset with their outcomes can apply for revaluation or photocopies of their solution scripts.

Supplementary checks are carried out for college kids who fail to clear certain guides, enabling them to progress without losing a year.

Factors Affecting Results at MIT

Academic achievement at MIT depends on numerous factors:

Rigorous Curriculum:

The difficult syllabus needs constant attempt from college students.

Courses emphasize not only theoretical expertise but also sensible hassle-fixing.

Student Resources:

MIT offers sizeable resources, which include advanced laboratories, study facilities, and a properly-stocked library, which support educational excellence.

Regular workshops and seminars keep college students up to date on enterprise developments.

Faculty Expertise:

The institute boasts fairly certified faculty participants who guide college students via their educational adventures.

Faculty mentoring ensures students acquire customized feedback to enhance their overall performance.

Peer Competition:

The competitive surroundings at MIT pushes college students to attempt for excellence.

Group projects and collaborative studying foster teamwork and innovation.

Notable Trends in MIT Results

Over the years, sure tendencies have emerged in MIT's instructional effects:

High Pass Percentage:

Due to rigorous practise and the supply of assets, MIT commonly facts a excessive bypass percentage across disciplines.

Consistent Toppers:

Students from MIT regularly stable pinnacle rank in Anna University’s consolidated outcomes, reflecting the institute’s instructional nice.

Focus on Core and Emerging Areas:

Students excel in core engineering disciplines while also reaching commendable outcomes in new-age fields like AI and IoT.

Challenges inside the Result Process

Despite its sturdy device, some challenges from time to time arise up in MIT’s result declaration procedure:

Revaluation Delays:

The revaluation system now and again reports delays due to the high extent of packages, causing tension among college students.

Technical Glitches:

The online end result portal may additionally face technical troubles at some point of top traffic intervals, mainly due to accessibility worries.

Exam Stress:

The rigorous educational surroundings can result in stress among college students, impacting their performance.

Initiatives for Improvement

MIT constantly works to beautify its end-result procedure through numerous projects:

Digital Solutions:

The adoption of AI-pushed assessment tools guarantees faster and more correct consequences.

Online portals are being upgraded to deal with better visitor volumes.

Student Counseling:

Regular counseling sessions assist college students deal with exam strain and consciousness of their strengths.

Enhanced Feedback Mechanisms:

Faculty provide certain comments on internal assessments, helping college students cope with their weaknesses before the very last assessments.

[zaraxkumar]

— BASICS

Name: Zara Kumar Age / D.O.B.: 39 / January 5th 1985 Gender, Pronouns & Sexuality: CisFemale, She/Her, Heterosexual Hometown: Queens, NY Affiliation: Civilian Job position: Global Head of Cybersecurity at Goldman Sachs Education: Master’s Degree in Computer Science from Standford Relationship status: Divorced Children: 1 daughter, Saira Positive traits: Intelligent, Resilient, Kindhearted, Persuasive, Sentimental Negative traits: Secretive, Stubborn, Self-Indulgent, Compulsive, Obsessive

— BIOGRAPHY

Early Life and Education

1985: Born in Queens, New York, after her big brother Rahi, was a very happy child. 

1990-2003: Attended a competitive public high school: The Bronx High School of Science, excelling in STEM subjects, particularly math and computer science. Participated in programming clubs and cybersecurity competitions.

College and Early Career

2003-2007: Attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and Engineering. Focused on network security and cryptography.

Interned at a leading tech company, IBM, in cybersecurity during summer breaks.

2007-2009: Completed a Master’s Degree in Computer Science at StanfordUniversity, specializing in cybersecurity, machine learning, and ethical hacking. Published research papers on innovative methods for detecting and preventing cyber threats.

Professional Career

2009-2012: Joined CrowdStrike as a Junior Threat Analyst. Worked on high-profile cyber incidents, earning recognition for her work in preventing major breaches.

2012-2015: Returned to New York and worked at IBM’s X-Force Red Team, focusing on penetration testing and enterprise-level security.

2015-2020: Hired by Goldman Sachs as a Cybersecurity Specialist. Quickly promoted to Senior Analyst, then Vice President of Cybersecurity, spearheading initiatives to protect the firm from financial cybercrime.

Managed a team addressing large-scale phishing attacks and ransomware threats.

Developed and implemented a zero-trust security model for internal operations.

Personal Development and Achievements

2020-2024: Recognized as an industry leader. Regular speaker at conferences discussing the intersection of finance and cybersecurity.

Awarded accolades such as the Forbes 40 Under 40 in Technology and Cybersecurity Professional of the Year by ISC2.

Present Day

2024: At 39, she is the Global Head of Cybersecurity Operations at Goldman Sachs, overseeing teams worldwide.

Lives in Manhattan.

Actively mentors young women in STEM, emphasizing opportunities for underrepresented groups.

[eliteprepsat]

List of Colleges and Universities that Require Standardized Tests (Updated August 2024)

With the recent announcement by Johns Hopkins University of its decision to reinstate a standardized testing requirement (starting fall 2026), there are currently 14 top universities that require the SAT or ACT for freshman admissions (as well as two universities—NYU and Yale—that require applicants to submit scores from a list of standardized tests, including the SAT, ACT, AP exams, and IB tests):

Brown University

Caltech

Cornell University (starting fall 2026)

Dartmouth College

Georgetown University

Georgia Tech

Harvard University

Johns Hopkins University (starting fall 2026)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

New York University (test flexible – applicants must submit ACT, SAT, AP exam, or IB test scores)

Purdue University

Stanford University (starting fall 2026)

University of Florida

University of Georgia

University of Texas

Yale University (test flexible – applicants must submit ACT, SAT, AP exam, or IB test scores)

While many colleges and universities remain test-optional for the time being, the fact that colleges and universities consider test scores (even though scores are not required) indicates the importance of test scores in the application review process. Test scores provide information about an applicant’s mathematical problem-solving skills and the ability to read and write in English effectively. Test scores also provide insights into an applicant’s preparedness for college and specific majors (for example, computer science and engineering).

In addition, colleges consider test scores in the context of the applicant’s family and educational background (for example, whether the applicant is the first in their family to attend college and how the applicant’s scores compare to the average test scores of students from their high school). So, an SAT score that falls below the average for a particular college or university may nevertheless be viewed positively in the context of an applicant’s life and educational opportunities.

Elite Prep offers the best test prep program for the new digital SAT with multiple full-length online practice tests and lessons and practice problems covering all of the topics and skills you need to achieve an outstanding score.

Check out our SAT Prep program details. And contact your local Elite Prep branch to schedule a free SAT or ACT diagnostic test today!

[thistleandthorn-rpg]

Mack's new character.

OOC INFORMATION:

Name/Alias: Mack Preferred pronoun: she/her Age: 39 Timezone/Country: CST/US RP Experience: Years and years Activity Level: I'm here all the damn time.

IC INFORMATION:

Name: Chuck Clayton Designation: Dominant Age: 24 Birthdate: February 3, 2000 Faceclaim: Jordan Calloway Orientation: Pansexual Kinks: Primal, Masks, TPE, painplay, humiliation, exhibition, voyeurism, bondage, roleplay, CNC Anti-Kinks: Scat

Key Points:  - Intense personality - Strict - Athletic, careful about appearance - Cocky, Upperclass

BIO: Chuck Clayton is every parent's dream - smart, charismatic, athletic. Everyone wanted him and wanted to be him. To say it went to his head was a bit of an understatement, but considering it had worked well for him this far, he didn't see the point of changing it.

He had a fairly normal, elite life, grew up with hard working parents who gave him anything and everything he could have asked for and then some. It did allow him to be a little reckless in some of his choices, especially in high school and college. It gave him the idea he was untouchable which only continued to inspire his more and more intense actions. He spent his time in high school and college honing and perfecting his skills, developing a list of kinks a mile long, finding the most fun with partners having slut kinks, CNC and stalker kinks. He found even more excitement in starting an anonymous TikTok account where he posts thirst traps in a mask and watch as his followers hit into the hundred thousands in the matter of a few days. It only added to his cocky demeanor, knowing hundreds of thousands of people wanted him and they didn't even know who he was.

The system was never a secret to him, his parents taking it very seriously and teaching him from a young age the importance of the system and that he should uphold it as well. As he grew older, he began experimenting, learning exactly what kind of Dominant he would be once he was marked. After obtaining a Master's Degree in Technology and Computer Science from MIT, he knew it was time to start the next leg of his life.

BIO QUESTIONS:

What are your feelings about the mark you have received?  - That it was the obvious right choice. I wasn't going to be anything other than Dominant.

How do your feelings on the system compare to your parents’ feelings on it? - We feel the same. They've always preached the importance of it, that each gear is needed to run the machine and all that. I don't know any different, honestly.

Where do you see yourself after you graduate?   - Several submissives, maybe a slave or two. If I'm going to be a Dominant than I'm going to be the best one there could possibly be. And everyone will know it. I'll likely use my technology degree from MIT, as I also managed to procure a special set of skills most tech companies would line up around the corner for.

How do you feel about authority? - Fine, as long as the authority is me.