Hillel's Moral Voices brought Gary Hirshberg, who serves as the president, chairman and CEO of Stonyfield Farm, to campus last night. Hirshberg talked about corporate responsibility and brought along free samples from his company, which produces organic yogurt.
After months of rumors and speculation, Apple iPhone was officially introduced to the world on June 29, 2007. In addition to an iPod and cell phone combination device, the iPhone has become popular for its large database of downloadable applications. While these applications began as playful distractions, similar to low-tech games found on other phones, they have since taken on more practical functions. There are now many applications that programmers, like Tufts sophomore Alex Williamson, refer to as "life-hack applications" — programs designed for help in everyday life. They include applications for splitting a restaurant check, identifying songs on the radio, translating speech and helping people with stuttering problems. Designers of the programs have a wide range of experience. Many professional programmers have used iPhone application development for business-related reasons. Others, like Williamson, design and program these applications as a hobby. "For me, creating these applications is a way of broadening my knowledge of computer science," Williamson said. "As a computer science and economics double major, most of the classes I take at Tufts are taught in C++, which is not the language of Macs and the iPhone, so I decided to download the Apple [Software Developing Kit] and have been fooling around with developing simple programs like a coin-flip application and a solitaire program." Unfortunately, creating and testing these applications is not free. As a result, Williamson creates most of the programs on his computer but is unable to test them out on his iPhone in order to tweak them and get them ready for mass distribution. "The big problem with creating iPhone applications is paying to put them on your phone," he said. "Obviously, I am a college student on a limited budget, so I don't really have the funds to be continuously paying to download the newest versions of my programs to test how well they work." As the popularity of the iPhone and its applications continues to increase, the question of whether or not the applications will start being used in everyday life as serious tools or retain their role as playful distractions for iPhone users remains unclear. And since the iPhone is still an extremely expensive luxury well beyond many budgets, some wonder whether or not such life-hack applications will ever be able to be programmed for phones from different companies. According to Williamson, even if people begin to see similar programs in other phones, the iPhone is likely to remain the most popular. "The iPhone will likely remain at the top of the application market because it is a niche market, and the iPhone already has a solid reputation, but also because the iPhone applications are so easily mass distributed and the iPhone has very broad options," Williamson said. "There are already over 20,000 iPhone applications available, with more being created and perfected every day." Some users are convinced that some iPhone applications are already witnessing widespread use as serious tools. Junior Nicholas Renner, an iPhone user, says he uses his iPhone applications for more than just fun. "I am constantly using my iPhone applications," he said. "The unit converter is very helpful for my homework, and I use Shazam [a song identification program] and Urban Spoon [a city restaurant guide application] all the time. I wouldn't say these applications are necessary, but they definitely do make my life easier — having them right on my phone — and I think that's all people are really looking for. To be fair though, I do still use my iPhone mostly for phone calls, music, and playing Risk." While there is a great deal of money to be made in the iPhone industry, there are many developers competing for original ideas, according to Williamson. "The biggest challenge associated with iPhone programming is coming up with a unique idea. With so many applications already created and so many people doing it, finding something new to do is quite a difficult task," he said. "[But] there is still money to be made in perfecting the ideas of others, and while I got started to expand my computer science knowledge, I definitely hope to turn this into a money-making hobby after college."
People at Tufts love thinking that they are the first to have an idea or hold a particular position, but if that's not a tenable stance, Tufts people act this out by staking out extreme positions. This is particularly popular when it comes to politics. There aren't a lot of moderate Democrats or conservative leaners, but there are lots of people who could be called radical. Conservatives at Tufts especially like to venture into wingnut territory.
As part of the latest wave of thefts, Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) officers responded to a burglary in progress on Whitfield Road at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday.
David Horowitz, a conservative writer and activist, spoke last night in Barnum Hall about academic freedom and liberal biases in higher education, telling an audience of around 40 that liberal professors across the country are indoctrinating students with their ideology.
Social experiments are usually viewed within the realm of science, but what happens when the scientists conducting the research are artists? Often, the results are a form of art that creates a powerful view into humankind's complex and often contradictory nature.
Experts discussed renewable energy infrastructure in front of a capacity crowd in the Sophia Gordon Multipurpose Room during Saturday's Fourth Annual Tufts Energy Conference.
Despite cutting back on virtually all other expenses, the university has decided to increase the financial aid budget by 12 percent for next year.
The Gantcher Center indoor track turned into an source of emotion and hope on Friday night during the Relay For Life benefit for the American Cancer Society (ACS).
Tufts is playing host to a number of conferences this weekend, ranging in focus from microfinance to energy. "Microfinance from Below: The Power of Savings and Savings Groups in Frontier Economies" Details: Speakers from many different sectors have come to the Hill for a conference on the role of savings groups in microfinance. The conference began yesterday and will continue today, with an optional third day for practitioners. For more information, see front page. When and Where: Friday, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.; Cabot Auditorium Sponsors: The Center for Emerging Market Enterprises at the Fletcher School, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Oxfam America and the Feinstein International Center at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy "US-China Relations Symposium" Details: In this three-part symposium, speakers will address the future relations between the United States and China, focusing on China's current economic and environmental issues. Following opening remarks at 1:30 p.m., economic experts will spend the first part of the day discussing China's role in the global recession. In the second panel that begins at 3:30 p.m. and ends at 5:30 p.m., policy writers and researchers will switch the focus to environmental issues, including China's pressing energy concerns. Retired Navy Adm. Eric McVadon will conclude the symposium with a keynote address at 5:30 p.m., which will be followed by a question-and-answer session. When and Where: Friday, 1:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.; Cabot Intercultural Center Sponsors: The Institute for Global Leadership's Alliance Linking Leaders in Education and the Services and the International Relations program "New Strategies for the Obama Era" Details: Noam Chomsky, author and linguist, and political activist Bill Fletcher, Jr, will kick off the opening session of the "New Strategies for the Obama Era" conference today at 6 p.m. in Pearson Hall. They will be joined by several other notable speakers. The event will focus on grassroots initiatives and opportunities for the Obama administration and Congress to deal with challenges while staying centered on peace, justice and environmental sustainability. Students can register at www.afsc.org/newstrategies2009. When and Where: 5 p.m. Friday to 9 p.m. Sunday; Pearson Chemical Laboratory and Cabot Intercultural Center Sponsors: The American Friends Service Committee and Peace and Justice Studies "Global Green Infrastructure: Powering the 21st Century" Details: The fourth annual Tufts Energy Conference will tackle the challenge of creating a sustainable energy network. The conference will examine sustainable energy infrastructures in the United States and developing countries. Three panel discussions will look at new technologies, revitalizing the national infrastructure and powering the developing world. When and Where: Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sophia Gordon Multipurpose Room Sponsors: The Institute for Global Leadership's Tufts Energy Forum (TEF) and the Tufts Climate Solutions Coalition
An unprecedented number of people have submitted proposals for Experimental College courses for the fall semester, and the ExCollege staff is struggling to keep up.
Every year, a slew of soon-to-be freshmen, eager to settle in and meet their future classmates, arrive on campus early to participate in pre-orientation programs. Whether they choose Fitness and Individual Development at Tufts (FIT), International Orientation (IO), Freshman Orientation Community Service (FOCUS) or Tufts Wilderness Orientation, the experience is commonly described as an unforgettable one.
Students are now able to grant faculty members temporary access to their academic transcripts using a new feature of WebCenter, Dean of Undergraduate Education James Glaser announced on Wednesday in an e-mail.
Refined cuisine is often overlooked in typical college life. Sometimes the evolution from consuming meals named "wake-up", "dinner" and "Pizza Days" to eating ones called "breakfast," "lunch" and "dinner" comes only with age. But some students are looking to the Tufts Culinary Society, founded by freshman Manuel Guzman and sophomore Alix Boulud this past fall, for an alternative.
Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's "Hardball," will headline this year's Edward R. Murrow Forum on Issues in Journalism, which will grapple with the implications of the media's pattern of prying into the lives of politicians.
Gregory Maguire (LA ‘90), the author whose novel inspired the musical "Wicked," spoke yesterday evening in Sophia Gordon Hall as part of the panel "Opting In: Balancing Career and Family," sponsored by the Women's Center, the Women's Studies program and the Office of Development. Maguire was joined by Professor of Education Kathleen Weiler; Amy West, the administrator of the art and art history department; law student Anne Stevenson (LA '07); and Michelle Botus (LA ‘07), a state social worker. Assistant Professor of Anthropology Sarah Pinto moderated the discussion.
A new honor society called Honos Civicus will spotlight graduating seniors who have accomplishments in both the academic and active citizenship arenas.
A design for paint that can peel from surfaces took top honors yesterday in one of two competitions run by the Entrepreneurial Leadership program, and the three Tufts students who designed the product won a $50,000 grant from the School of Engineering's Gordon Institute. The award came as part of the fifth annual Classic Business Plan Competition, held at the Gordon Institute. A group that wants to create business workshops for Uganda youth won an equivalent grant in the other contest, the Social Entrepreneurship Competition. The competitions, sponsored by a number of firms, were open to students from across the university, as well as those outside Tufts, provided their teams had at least one Tufts student on them. The two winning groups each received grants, legal services, storage space and capital network mentoring. The paint design group beat out four other finalists who presented their business plans yesterday to a panel of judges. In the other contest, four finalists vied for the top prize. Michael Mintz, Kunal Gupta, and Matthew Hnatio, three students at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, presented their plans for Peelable Paint. Peelable Paint — and its companion product, Peelable Primer — both "look and act like regular paint except that they can be peeled off of a wall by hand in one giant sheet," according to competition literature. In the Social Entrepren-eurship Competition, a team of students from several universities, including Tufts graduate biomedical engineering student Jeremy Fryer-Biggs, won with their plan to teach young Ugandans business. Through their group, The Strivers Foundation, they plan to develop business workshops for students in Uganda who have completed their high school education but who do not have the opportunity to attend college. "Uganda is a country that is locked in poverty," Fryer-Biggs said. "People can't afford to get higher education. But without getting higher education, you can't get a job that pays enough for you to afford higher education." Strivers hopes to change this by offering high school graduates a business education that costs one tenth of college tuition, but which provides them with the same job prospects as a college graduate. Other finalists' plans ranged from a Web site entitled "eClinic," on which physicians answer users' questions on health and wellness, to Alera LLC, which plans to cultivate seaweed that would be used to make biofuel. While many finalist teams were made up of graduate students, or even alumni, undergraduates were represented as well. Junior Adam Wueger and sophomores Ben Walkley, Ian Goldberg and Alex Ross presented "EcoTexts," an online-textbook supplier targeting college students. Walkley is also an editorialist for the Daily. "We want EcoTexts to be, in a sense, the iTunes of textbooks," a group member said. Senior Julia Torgovitskaya won second place in the Social Entrepreneurship Competition. Along with a student from the University of California, Los Angeles, she created Cadenza, which aims to help performing arts organizations reach out to the college-age demographic, one which they have been struggling to attract in recent years. "Young people don't feel like they fit in when they go to see the performing arts," Torgovitskaya said. "But Cadenza will revolutionize their experience. We'll use a Facebook application to increase awareness, we'll organize group seating for young audience members and we'll plan after-party events so young people have places to go." The company also plans to create a "Cadenza User Interface," similar to Facebook.com, where students make their own accounts, create a calendar of performing arts events and even see what events their friends are attending. Cummings Properties, Deloitte, Skadden Arps, Lowenstein Sandler, Web.com and The Capital Network (TCN) sponsored yesterday's competitions. The Gordon Institute, which coordinates both competitions, is a center housed within the School of Engineering that guides students in management and business-related activities. It also runs the entrepreneurial leadership program. More than 150 students have taken part in the program since it began in 2002. The institute's programs include a Master of Science in engineering management for graduate students and a minor in engineering management for undergraduate engineers.
The leadership studies program in June will receive a $250,000 grant to bolster the program's minor, which was established along with the program last semester.
Lesley Stahl's much-anticipated interview of Alice Waters that aired on March 15 on "60 Minutes" highlighted points that are commonly discussed in association with the mother of the slow foods movement -- the advantages of seasonal produce, the benefits of eating hormone and antibiotic free meat, and the importance of eating locally-grown products. The segment, however, delved deeper into the impact of Waters' movement outside of the kitchen.
