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Help Conserve Olin's Energy Use and $$$
Due to the increases in energy market prices and the addition of East Hall, the College's energy consumption and costs have increased dramatically. The Facility Services Group has begun implementing an energy conservation plan to curtail some of our consumption. These measures include revising lighting patterns for the College's common areas, corridors and decorative lighting systems, the addition of occupancy sensors to selective class rooms, offices and storage areas and the reduction of temperature settings within targeted areas on campus. In addition, the College has been actively pursuing gas and electric supply contracts with major national providers on the open market. We ask of all of you to help us reduce our energy consumption. Here are some tips on how you can help us reduce consumption starting today:
- Turn off your all lights when leaving your office including desk and under-shelf lamps
- Turn down your thermostat settings
- Ensure that your windows are fully closed and locked
- Turn off lighting of all general work areas, storage rooms and bathrooms that are not in use.
- Unplug personal electronic devices when not using them for an extended period (i.e. clocks, radios, computer processors and monitors, printers, light power strips, battery chargers).
- Lower the fume hood sashes when you're done using them.
- Use the stairs when at all possible. An average elevator consumes 350 Watt-hours of electricity when carrying one person up one floor.
Thank you for your assistance.
The Summer Book Program Advisory Committee met on November 16 to narrow the initial list of thirty titles suggested by members of the Olin community to six for thorough consideration over the next three months: • Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
• Impossibility: The Limits of Science and the Science of Limits, by John Barrow
• Grace Hopper: Admiral of the Cyber Sea, by Kathleen Broome Williams
• Longitude, by Dava Sobel
• Seeing Is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees: A Life of Contemporary Artist Robert Irwin by Lawrence Weschler
• The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell
The Committee will meet again in mid-February to select the book to recommend to Provost David Kerns. Each current student will receive the book before leaving for the summer and each new student will receive the book by mail in June. The Convocation is scheduled for Thursday, August 31 (first day of classes), beginning at 7 p.m. in the Olin Center Auditorium.
The University of Michigan and National Science Foundation gave a grant of $64,368 to Dr. Ozgur Eris to support the “Center for the Advancement of Engineering Education Subaward” research. As a part of the Academic Pathways Study, 160 undergraduate engineering students at the University of Washington, Howard University, Colorado School of Mines and Stanford University are being studied in order to provide a comprehensive account of how people become engineers. The study relies on multiple research methods for data collection and analysis: surveys, interviews, and ethonographies.
There is a form for you to use when submitting items to the CORe Digest. Visit the form and open the file to start using the form. Adding bold, italic, links and • bulleted lists is as easy as using Microsoft Word. You can also save your work, then come back later to submit the form. Click the “submit” button at the bottom to send it on its way. It also unifies the process of adding events to the CORe Digest Calendar and attaching files to messages. More changes are in the pipeline, so stay tuned for those, and as always, your feedback is welcome. Send suggestions to Mike Curtis.
Assistant Dean of Student Life Ellen Cooney has resigned effective January 13. Family matters have caused her to move to Colorado where she will be working at Colorado State University as half-time faculty in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies and half-time psychologist in the University Counseling Center. Please join the Student Life staff in congratulating Ellen at a farewell reception in the Office of Student Life (Campus Center 319) from 3:30- 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 14.
The Development Office website is now live. You can access the site at http://www.olin.edu/about_olin/giving_to_olin.asp. Questions should be directed to Joanne Kossuth.
The Social Committee Thanksgiving raffle raised $650 for the Needham Community Council, which serves 162 Needham families each month. The committee thanks everyone who participated.
The College is currently seeking qualified candidates for several positions. Employees are reminded that HR is always happy to accept referrals.
• 2 Mechanical Engineering Faculty Positions, Faculty Fall 2006
• Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty Fall 2006
• Assistant Dean of Student Life, Student Life
• Student Accounts Manager, Student Accounts & Records Center
• Post Graduate Planning Assistant, Post Graduate Planning
• Vice President for External Relations and Dean of Admission, External Relations and Admission
• Development Assistant, Development
• S.C.O.P.E. Program Coordinator, (40hours/week), SCOPE Department
• Material Science & Chemistry Lab Technician, Laboratory Operations
“You have all the reason in the world to achieve your grandest dreams. Imagination plus innovation equals realization,” Dennis Waitley.
As announced during Big Conversations, Olin Inspirations recognizes innovative contributions from the Olin community. You are encouraged to nominate members of the Olin community who you feel have inspired you. The deadline for nominations is being extended until after December 2. Please submit nomination forms to the Office of Innovation and Research (OC 220) TODAY!
The Sorenson Center for the Arts at Babson College is pleased to present the Babson/Olin Chamber Ensemble in concert on Tuesday, December 6 at 7:45 p.m. at the Carling-Sorenson Theater at Babson College. Selections from Mendelssohn, Dvorak and Bach will be performed under the professional direction of Adrienne Hartzell. This is free of charge so please join for holiday cheer and refreshments in the lower lobby of the theater after the performance.
Dr. David Feldman from the College of the Atlantic will discuss, “Racial Segregation in U.S. Cities: Using Computational Models to Understand the Gap between Individual Preferences and Neighborhood Outcomes” on Wednesday, December 7, 4:00-5:30 p.m. in the Olin College Auditorium.
In his talk, Dr. Feldman will discuss the impact of the 1968 U.S. Fair Housing Act outlawing discrimination in housing on the basis of race. He will present explanations for why cities have remained highly segregated by race since the passage of this legislation. His talk will include a brief survey of trends in urban segregation in the U.S. The bulk of his presentation will explore how the preferences of individuals in a market such as housing translate to large-scale neighborhood outcomes. With several computational models he will show that the market dynamics can lead to outcomes that are at odds with the preferences of all individuals. For more information, visit the Olin Seminar Series website.
The Babson Dance Ensemble will be performing their fall show, Dancing in the Streets, this Friday and Saturday (Dec. 2 and 3) at Sorenson Theater. Tickets are $9 and $1 from each ticket sale will go to the Red Cross relief effort from Hurricane Katrina. Several Olin students are participating in this show. Come out to support Matty B, Ali, James, Lilly, Lindsay, Anita, Susan, Jessica A, Luis and Molly M. The shows all start at 8 p.m.
On Monday, December 5 from 6:30-7:30 p.m. in AC 113 Greening Olin will host speaker Jennie Stephens, Assistant Professor of Environmental Science and Policy at Clark University. She earned her Ph.D. and M.S. from Caltech in Environmental Science and Engineering and her B.A. from Harvard in Environmental Science and Public Policy. Her talk is entitled "Policy Challenges for Deploying Climate Change Mitigation Technologies."
At the Toronto Film Festival, [Director] Lee and the cast faced off against a room of reporters who had just seen the film. One blogger raised his hand and stood up. He didn't have a question, he said. He wanted to apologize. "For the last year on my Web site I've been calling this 'the gay-cowboy movie'," he said. "I just want you to know that I'm not going to be calling it that anymore." OPEN is sponsoring a community-wide trip to see Brokeback Mountain on Saturday, December 16. Please email Jacob Graham by Tuesday, December 6 if you wish to attend. Tickets will be no more than $5.
On Monday, December 5 from noon-4:00 p.m., Babson's Office of Spiritual Life, Office of Campus Life and Office of Academic Services will host holiday candle making at Reynolds, Main Street. Join them to to celebrate the symbolism of light for many religious traditions. Make a candle for family or friends and send it for free (bring addresses for recipients).
John Gorka's 1986 debut album “I Know” made the Folk world sit up and listen. What Gorka does best is present melodic story songs with his rich baritone delivering the lines in a relaxed, intimate manner. His songwriting is wonderful, full of closely observed character sketches, understated wit, and people and situations that create a real connection with the listener. Justin Roth will open for Gorka at the Homegrown Coffeehouse, Saturday, December 3 at 8:00 p.m. The Homegrown Coffeehouse is located at the First Parish Unitarian Church, at the corner of Great Plain and Dedham Avenue in Needham center. There is free parking and wheelchair access. General admission is $18, students and seniors pay $15. Proceeds benefit the church. For more information, visit www.uuneedham.org.
The Needham Firefighters are hosting a Comedy Night at Moseley's Ballroom in Dedham Saturday, March 4, 2006 at 8:00 p.m. Anyone interested in tickets to the event should contact Jennifer Thomas. There are 20 free tickets available.
The Lighted candle in the Glavin Family Chapel today is to honor the memory of Joseph Paul McCleary, who passed away this week. Joe had been an employee of Babson for 26 years, working as a Tradesperson in the facilities department.
Olin College acknowledges the five year service anniversary of Assistant to the Dean of Faculty Karen Stone, who was began working at Olin in November 2000. Congratulations to Karen!
Thirty prizes were awarded to science and engineering students for outstanding research presentations Nov. 4-5 at the 2005 Sigma Xi Student Research Conference in Seattle . Senior Clara Cho received a first place award of $175 for an engineering research presentation titled "Fabrication and Characterization of Nanoscale InN Electrochemical Sensors." Students were recognized at an awards session with a certificate and an invitation to join Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society.
“Engineering a Business,” By Amy Wyeth, Needham Times, November 24, 2005
Excerpt: “Learning by doing is the mantra at Olin College of Engineering - at least in the Foundations of Business and Entrepreneurship class...”
This week's spotlight shines on Dianna "Dee" Magnoni, Olin's
Library/Knowledge Lab Director. As the director of a small academic library, Dee wears more hats than the average director. In addition to budgeting, strategic planning and hiring staff, she develops a portion of the library collections, resources and services, teaches the occasional library instruction module and answers reference questions. She also provides a lot of outreach, both within the Olin community and out to the larger library community. She is active with SLA, an international library association. LINK: When did you start working at Olin?
DM:
September 2002.
LINK: What is your favorite thing about your job?
DM: Working with this awesome community of people. There is a lot of intelligence and creativity at Olin, and I love being part of the Olin fabric.
LINK: How do you spend your spare time?
DM: I have three teenagers. My spare time is largely family time. All three kids are musical, so I'm able to attend a lot of wonderful concerts. I also like to cook, read, ramble around in the woods with my camera and travel. I'm involved with a few local civic groups, and sit on a couple of boards.
In the last issue we asked you to identify the two community members in these photos (ONE / TWO). Photo ONE is
little Cara Szeghy, Assistant to the Vice President for External and photo TWO is sweet
Carol Kelley,
Assistant to the Dean of Student Life. No one identified both photos correctly so the prize goes unclaimed.
Olin trivia buffs...
Q:
Among all Olin community members -- students, faculty and staff -- what is the most popular first name for people?
A: First person to correctly respond to Jennifer Thomas receives a prize. |
