Said and Done
Communications Digest | January 2010
from the Dean's Office
MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

Michael Ouellette, Senior Lecturer, Music and Theater Arts
The play’s the thing for Michael Ouellette, an actor, director, and librettist who guides MIT theater arts students to find the real depths beneath the surface of plays.
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Miriam "Mish" Madsen '09
Madsen’s research area is rehabilitative technology. During her MISTI internships she helped develop a hand-held video computer that could help children with autism “read” the emotions of other people, an ability much compromised by their condition.
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RESEARCH PORTFOLIO
Comparative Media Studies
What can a game do about climate change?
The Education Arcade, a research group of the School's CMS program, is planning to find out, using a "curated game"—a new genre of game that combines gameplay with museum-going and social networking. With major funding from the National Science Foundation, The Education Arcade and the Smithsonian Institution are collaborating on the development of a curated game about climate change.
Learn more
CIS | Security Studies Program
Is there a peaceful way way to address Iran's nuclear ambitions?
“Probably the greatest fallacy of the nuclear age is that nuclear weapons acquisition is inevitable,” says Jim Walsh, a research associate in the Security Studies Program of the Center for International Studies, and a PhD graduate of SSP. Walsh has spent the past decade studying how governments decide to build nuclear weapons, and his research challenges conventional wisdom.
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NEWS AND FEATURES
In Memoriam | Paul Anthony Samuelson
Nobel laureate and transformative economist
May 15, 1915 – December 13, 2009
Tributes
Not Easy Being Green
In her new book, historian Harriet Ritvo explains how a battle to save an English lake helped found modern environmentalism.
Full story by Peter Dizikes at MIT News
The "Signature Novel" of the Decade | The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
New York Magazine calls Díaz's 2007 novel a defining work of the decade.
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Reporters Notebook: Jules Verne, desperado?
Historian of science Rosalind Williams on the overlooked legacy of Jules Verne, anti-globalization visionary
Full story by Peter Dizikes at MIT News
Their Infinite Wisdom
Historian of Science Loran Graham (Program in Science, Technology and Society) and Jean-Michel Kantor uncover the saga of the Russian scholars whose spiritual consciousness and religious faith helped them redefine the concept of infinity.
Full story by Peter Dizikes at MIT News
Three MIT students win Rhodes Scholarships | Two Burchard Scholars Among Them
Ugwechi Amadi, Caroline Huang and Steven Mo have won Rhodes Scholarships to study Oxford University. The School is very proud of these students, who have engaged deeply with the humanities, arts, and social science disciplines.
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Standing Ovation at Carnegie Hall for MLK Visiting Scholar Donal Fox
World premiere of his concerto "Peace Out"
Full Story
New York Times | On the Revolution Led by J-PAL
Discussing the intense contemporary debate about "how best to help poor people around the world," Nicholas Kristoff writes, "recently there has been a revolution in evaluation, led by economists at the Poverty Action Lab at MIT.
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Soundings | Current Issue
The Magazine of the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
Stories of ideas in action
RESOURCES
MIT-Balliol College Faculty Exchange
This reciprocal program with Balliol College in Oxford covers air travel, and housing and meal expenses for an MIT faculty member (and spouse).
Proposals due January 22
VIDEOS
The Future of Human Space Flight: The Augustine Report and its Implications
STS Professor David Mindell moderates a panel discussing the findings of the committee charged with reviewing plans for U.S. Human Space Flight.
Watch
On Making Music and Art at MIT
Institute Professor of Music John Harbison talks about composing music, finding a balance between the inner and outer ear, and creating art at MIT.
Watch
FORTHCOMING | January 2010
Musical Time | IAP Winter Festival Concert and Forum Series
The Boston Chamber Music Society and MIT's Music and Theater Arts Faculty jointly present the Winter Festival Concert and Forum Series on three successive Saturdays on January 9, 16, and 23, 2010.
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Noam Chomsky to be Honored in Musical Tribute Series
Linguist, philosopher and MIT professor Noam Chomsky, who inspired the creation of several compositions by Edward Manukyan, will be the spotlight of the MIT concert, to be held on January 22, 2010, at Kresge Auditorium.
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