A campsite set up in Carmichael Dining Hall greeted students who walked into the cafeteria on Tuesday. The event featured camping-inspired grub, a canoe filled with snacks to take on-the-go, and an employee dressed up in costume as a dog named Sparky.
Rivalries are evident in many parts of life. Businesses constantly vie with one another to increase sales, sports teams compete for championships, and politicians contend with one another for office. Competition is also present in the art world, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA)'s new exhibition, "Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice," which runs from March 15 through Aug. 16 in the Gund Gallery, very effectively examines the way that rivalry and competition shaped Venetian painting. Renaissance Venice
Iconic rock band U2 surprised area residents last night with a "secret" concert at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square after confirmations of the group's visit came at the 11th hour. The show was the third stop in a little-publicized preview of the North American leg of an upcoming tour, which will start in September to promote the band's new album "No Line on the Horizon." Last night's show was the last of the "3 Nights Live" series, which saw the band make appearances at small venues in Los Angeles and Chicago. Rumors have swirled over the past week that the band would visit Somerville. Radio stations became aware of the concert and began giving out tickets, and Somerville officials confirmed earlier this week that U2 would be playing at the Davis Square theater. Many local residents and Tufts students were disappointed to discover that none of the tickets at the 900-seat venue were for sale. Access to the concert, which was sponsored by Live Nation, was limited to invitations by the concert promoter or by radio station promotions. By the time the logistics of the quickly planned concert unraveled, the number of seats had dwindled to 750. "We had to kill a bunch of seats for film crews and stuff," Ian Judge, general manager of the Somerville Theatre, told the Daily. The band performed a combination of new and old songs and interacted with the audience during a question-and-answer session, according to the radio station WBCN-FM (104.1), which broadcast the show live and distributed tickets to listeners. "They were funny, they were off-the-cuff, they sounded like … you could have a beer with them," the WBCN DJ Juanita, who helped run the broadcast of the show at WBCN, said on the air last night. "I thought they sounded amazing, even on the new songs that you would think that there's so much production these days," she later told the Daily. "The new ones just sounded amazing live." The band also played a surprise concert on Friday at Fordham University's Rose Hill campus in the Bronx. U2 is the biggest name to hit the longtime Davis Square establishment since Bruce Springsteen played the venue in 2003. Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone told reporters on Tuesday at the Somerville Theatre that he was excited that the band chose the city, which he said was a perfect location for a group with strong Boston roots. "Somerville rocks! Why else?" he said. Both Somerville Theatre and the Somerville Police Department were put on short notice for the event, which required 50 of Somerville's finest to report for duty. "The organizers have been very gracious in terms of the logistics and covering the costs that the city is incurring in hosting the event," City of Somerville spokesperson Tom Champion said. Somerville Police Captain John O'Connor told the Daily yesterday morning that he did not know what kind of turnout to expect. Initial estimates received from the police department for crowds in Davis Square ranged from 600 to 25,000 people, O'Connor said. "It is another indication that Davis Square is becoming an increasingly attractive venue for events," Champion said. "There is a lot of excitement in the city about this." At 9 a.m. yesterday, the police had shut down Dover Street and Meacham Road. Later in the evening, they had also blocked eastbound traffic on Holland Street in front of the theater. By the time the doors opened at 8 p.m., onlookers had gathered in Davis to catch a glimpse of the action. Two separate lines snaked down the sidewalk in front of the theater for VIPs and those who had won their tickets through radio promotions. "I think it'll be cool to see U2 in such a small location and not in a big stadium," said Jesse Russell, a Newburyport resident who was attending the concert with his family as what his mother called "guests of the band." In order to avoid parking problems, those who had won tickets were bussed over from the Museum of Science in Boston. Police motorcycles escorted the charted buses to the theater. The Somerville Fire Department was also on the scene. An anonymous fire department official said that measures were being taken to prevent overcrowding in local bars. Local businesses also prepared for a huge influx in foot traffic. Cate Vitagliano, a supervisor at J.P. Licks, said yesterday that all employees were going to be on duty last night. A chalkboard in the ice cream shop that usually listed the staff's favorite ice cream picks instead displayed a list of special flavors playing off of the band's song titles. Among the concoctions were "Sundae Bloody Sundae," "Peanut Butter than the Real Thing" and "The Ground Beneath Her Sweet Cream." Meredith Klein, Leslie Ogden and Ben Gittleson contributed reporting to this article.
Assistant Professor of Mathematics Dan Margalit won a Sloan Research Fellowship, a high honor for young researchers, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation announced on Feb. 17. Margalit is one of 118 fellows for 2009, all of whom are university and college faculty members from the United States and Canada conducting advanced research in fields ranging from physics to molecular biology. He was the only Tufts faculty member selected. Margalit received the fellowship for his research in the mathematical field of topology, which he described as "studying symmetries." "In my research, I attempt to understand the symmetries of the surface of something like a donut," Margalit said. "There are some obvious symmetries; you can rotate the surface, or you can flip it over. But there's a lot of hidden symmetries as well, symmetries that you don't necessarily see right off the bat." The fellowship, awarded to candidates based on past publications and research, consists of a $50,000 grant for a two-year period. The award is typically given to young researchers. Margalit is the fifth Tufts professor to be awarded the fellowship and the first in the mathematics category. The fellowships have been awarded since 1955. Many Sloan Research Fellows have gone on to win other prestigious awards. Thirty-eight have won the Nobel Prize in their respective fields, and 14 others have received the Fields Medal, one of the top honors in mathematics. "The award is really for them," Erica Stella, a fellowship administrator at the Sloan Foundation, told the Daily. "Each year, they're required to send progress reports on their research, but it's not for a specific project. Instead, it's for the promise of what they are to accomplish in the future." Margalit said his approach to mathematics takes an interesting angle. "A lot of what I study bridges various areas of math that are deeply connected," he said. "I'm lucky that I'm working in an area that's connected to a lot of different ideas." Professor of Mathematics Bruce Boghosian, who chairs the Department of Mathematics, agreed, explaining that Margalit must think about the classification of "knots and braids," non-Euclidean geometries and "configuration spaces." "Mathematicians feel the kind of abstract things that they look at have a certain reality to them," Boghosian said. "When you can glimpse that reality from two different ways, when you can take two subfields of mathematics and apply those to a single subject, well, there's a beauty to it." Though Sloan Research Fellows are not bound to continue their previous research, Margalit plans to maintain focus in the topology field. He will primarily use the grant to travel to different conferences and universities. "In math, I don't need to buy any lab equipment or get any fruit flies," he said. "You use the money to travel and talk to people." Margalit said he would like to focus on collaborating with other mathematicians. "A lot of people have the image of the obsessed mathematician working in his office," he said. "But ideas come from talking to people and bouncing ideas off each other." Bruce: "The kind of thing that [Margalit] does makes connections to other areas of mathematics," he said. "In order to study the symmetries of surfaces, [Margalit] ends up thinking of the classification of knots and braids," Boghosian said. "He uses non-Euclidean geometries, hyperbolic geometries, things called configuration spaces." Margalit: "Math is very collaborative," he said. Margalit: "So my main purpose is giving myself the opportunity to talk to different people." The Department of Mathematics, and the entire Tufts community, is extremely proud of Margalit's research and his prospects for the future. "The research that he's doing is very fundamental mathematical research. You know, in his career so far he's really made fundamental advances in math and we're all really happy and proud to have him here," Boghosian said.
Senior Anjali Nirmalan won this year's Wendell Phillips Award, an annual prize that will make her the only student to speak at May's Baccalaureate Commencement Ceremony.
Every year, college students travel to the beaches of Mexico in droves for spring break to take a much-needed break from studying. But this year, students may have to deal with more than finding a good beach and some bottled water, as the violence between the government and the drug cartels in Mexico has greatly escalated to such an extent that the United States Department of State has issued a travel alert for U.S. citizens.
While perusing the blogs on NYTimes.com Monday morning, I came across a guest entry on Well, a blog about health and wellness, which stopped my mouse dead in its cyber tracks. I saw the headline "Michael Pollan Wants Your Food Rules" and stared at my computer in disbelief. Michael Pollan, the creator of the "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants" mantra wants to know what I think about food? Michael Pollan, this semester's speaker at the Snyder Lecture, wants my food rules? Michael Pollan, who changed the way that Americans think and write about food, wants me to influence the way that he thinks about eating? In a word: ohmygod.
Students are seeking internships in unprecedented numbers this season, but many companies are slowing down hiring in order to cut costs.
Today, blue jeans are queer. Or at least that's the message of the Queer Straight Alliance (QSA), which is reinstating an old Tufts tradition called Blue Jeans Day.
Harvard University announced that financial concerns have caused it to slow the pace of its campus construction in Boston's Allston neighborhood, a move that has sparked a public outcry from neighborhood residents.
While going to Mexico over spring break may be somewhat risky, other vacation spots are more perilous:
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick will deliver this year's Commencement address, the Daily has learned. Patrick, along with six others, will also receive an honorary degree during the May 17 ceremony.
Just under seven weeks ago, students at Tufts University crowded into a campus center that had been transformed into a focal point of patriotic energy. Over two months after winning one of the most historical elections in decades, the inauguration of Barack Obama had finally arrived and Tufts students were ready to celebrate. The campus center, lined with red, white and blue balloons, was teeming with students whose eyes were glued to the flat-screen TVs broadcasting the momentous occasion. Banners were hung, pins were passed out and free food was plentiful. The overwhelmingly liberal population at Tufts was all smiles.
A recent study of salaries at private colleges has defied a number of expectations about executive compensation in the world of higher education.
While sitting at a table near the Rez waiting for a magician to appear, it's hard to know what to expect. Eli Cushner entered the way a normal person would. He trotted up the stairs of the campus center and introduced himself. But after that, the whole mood changed.
OMG! It's the week before spring break, and I can't believe how much work I have to do in one week! This is so ridiculous; I don't even understand how any five professors in the world could assign so much work in such a short period of time. Don't they know that I have 32 club meetings and a study group to go to this week? I am crazy busy and it's out of control!
As part of an investigation into Bernard Madoff's alleged Ponzi scheme, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley requested documents from Tufts last month.
In response to increasing student demand, the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate has spearheaded an initiative to create a 24-hour health services option.
Tufts' undergraduate International Relations (IR) program and The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy's master's program both cracked the top 10 in recently released worldwide rankings.
A DJ plays for students at Purim in the Wild West, which was held at Oxfam Cafe last night. The event was hosted by the Chabad House.
