Category Archives: Life at Sidney-Pacific

What is Normal?

By Holly Johnsen,

It is easy in graduate school to get overwhelmed comparing yourself to others. Last year, The Tech polled undergraduates and graduates about pressure at MIT (interactive results available at http://tech.mit.edu/V132/N59/pressure/index.htm). One of their findings was that MIT undergraduates play the “I’m-so-hosed game” a lot. They tend to complain about how behind they are on work and sleep, and these conversations are like competitions to see who is more hard core. In my experience, while we graduate students talk about our workloads often too, we play this game by different rules; a winning strategy can either be (1) to complain about how hard your advisor has been pushing you to meet your many deadlines, or (2) to complain about how little you are getting accomplished and what a bad student you are. I think for both graduate and undergraduate students, this game provides an opportunity for some catharsis and stress relief. But it carries an additional benefit for graduate students who are finished with classes. With no grades and meager feedback from our advisors, I think many of us are grasping for some way to evaluate ourselves and decide if our work is good enough. Although it is meaningless to compare yourself against someone in a totally different field, this game offers the comfort of knowing where we fit in. But the combination of bravado, humble-bragging, and self-deprecation are obscuring. To get more straightforward data, I posted anonymous surveys to SP Interest Groups and various social networks about work hours (204 respondents) and paper reading habits (100 respondents).

The work-hour survey simply asked respondents how much time they spent in lab (or the office) last week and what percentage of that time was on-task. While some people reported working more than 85 hours (with reported peaks of up to 120 hours), most people worked fewer than 65 hours, with a heavy tail. The median graduate student worked a reasonable 40-45 hours. Most graduate students reported efficiencies of around 70-80%. There was a slight trend of longer-working graduate students also being more efficient. We can imagine some caricatures: the typical graduate student works an eight- or nine-hour day with an hour-long lunch break and another hour or two of mini-breaks to chat with coworkers, play Angry Birds, or respond to my online polls; graduate students under pressure work hard and long to meet deadlines; burnt-out graduate students spend a few distracted hours in the office; and some students have learned to focus for short but intense periods, leaving the rest of their days open.

Time MIT graduate students spend in lab.

Time MIT graduate students spend in lab.

Efficiency versus hours spent in lab for MIT graduate students.

Efficiency versus hours spent in lab for MIT graduate students.

To stay abreast of their fields, graduate students tend to read often, but not as in-depth as you might think. Each week, most students read several abstracts, but they only download a few of these papers to look at figures and skim the text and end up reading just one or two papers in full. Reading a paper carefully and for complete understanding is a rare event for many students, perhaps taking place only when they are attempting to apply someone else’s findings or techniques to their own projects, or maybe when the paper is assigned for a reading group or class. Students tend to take about an hour to read a paper, but responses varied from ten minutes to ten hours, perhaps reflecting the difference in how closely people read. Students were enthusiastic about the importance of reading papers to academic success, but somewhat less excited about doing it, calling it “grueling” or claiming “I’d rather have teeth pulled without anesthesia.” But overall, students enjoy reading papers more than I expected. Respondents recommended staying organized with Mendeley and Papers. Don’t know what to read? Most people found their next papers through the works cited or works citing lists or searches on Google Scholar, Pubmed, etc.

These data inspired me to stop endeavoring to spend as much time in lab as possible. Instead, I try to be satisfied with myself for working ~40-45-ish hours, and try to make sure that I am using that time efficiently. I’ve found that since deciding to accept 40 hours as good enough, I’m much happier and satisfied with my work, and no less productive. After all, feeling guilty about not working hard enough is usually not a good strategy to work harder. Think you could change your habits for the better? Subscribe to a journal’s table-of-contents email list or set up an RSS feed to find out new developments in your field without any work on your part. There are a number of time-tracking and habit-tracking apps available, such as Eternity or Reporter, that make it easy to see what you’re spending your time on. As elementary as it sounds, keeping track of how many hours you worked or giving yourself a star sticker every day that you read can really help with motivation, especially if you find a way to celebrate your victories (maybe you get to go to Tosci’s for a sweet snack every five stars?). There are resources and classes at MIT Community Wellness to help you enact positive change too. It’s never too late to improve yourself!

Interested in taking the surveys? Follow these links: work hours (bit.ly/1gQvTWl), reading habits (http://bit.ly/1gQvZxb). You can see the results after filling out the survey, or directly here: work hours(http://bit.ly/QvO88K) reading habits(http://bit.ly/1kcKCIY).

 

Cooking Made Easy

By Jenny Wang, SP Brunch Chair,

Easy Oatmeal

Oats make a great breakfast or snack food: it’s nutritious, filling, and can be prepared a variety of ways.  One popular dish is a hot porridge, but to make it properly, the oats need to be simmered for at least several minutes.  For me, that’s a bit too much work and time in the mornings.  Instant oatmeal is a possibility, but they are much more expensive than plain rolled oats and often contain lots of sugars, artificial flavors, and preservatives.  However, with a little experimenting, I found another way to prepare oatmeal.  It’s not quite as instant, but the prep is minimal and can be done in advance.  This is a pretty regular breakfast item for me, so I toast the oats in large batches (about 6 cups at a time for 10 to 15 minutes) and store in a glass jar.  Then, the night before, I mix up the oats with a spoonful of chia seeds and kefir (a yogurt-type drink) in a small jar.  In the morning, I eat it straight out of the jar with a spoonful of honey or take the jar with me to lab.  Either way, it’s a quick and healthy breakfast.

Easy oatmeal

Easy oatmeal

As with most of my recipes, this is highly customizable so feel free to play around with it until you find something you really like.

Ingredients

  1. 1/3 cup rolled oats
  2. 2/3 cup plain kefir
  3. 1 teaspoon honey
  4. dried fruits, nuts, seeds as desired

 

Directions

  1.  (optional) Lightly toast the oats at 350 degrees F (about 3 minutes for 1/3 cup).
  2. Mix in the desired dried fruits, nuts, or seeds.
  3. Place the resulting mixture in a small bowl, tupperware, or jar.
  4. Add the kefir and stir until well-mixed.
  5. Let sit, covered, for at least 30 minutes in the fridge (this step can be several days if you want to prepare it in advance).  The oats will soak up the liquid and become porridge-like.
  6. Before eating, top with honey and/or fresh fruit.

* Although the only “cooking” used here is lightly toasting the oats, you won’t be eating raw oats.  Oat grains are heated and steamed during the rolling process, so rolled oats are cooked before you even do anything with them.  Toasting adds a nuttier flavor.

Hot variation

If you prefer hot oatmeal, use 1/4 cup of milk (or a milk-substitute of your choice) instead of the kefir and a microwave-safe container for step 3.  Then, when you’re ready to eat it, just heat it up in the microwave for a few minutes before topping with honey or fruit.

Additional variations and comments

You can substitute any flavor of yogurt or kefir into this recipe, which may also replace the honey.  However, I have found that Greek yogurt doesn’t contain enough liquid to properly hydrate the oats.  Australian yogurt (a bit thinner than standard yogurt), works well.

Baked Kale Chips

Baked Kale Chips.

Baked Kale Chips.

If you’ve ever purchased kale chips, you know how over priced this snack food is. Fortunately, fresh kale is reasonably priced and it’s quite easy to turn them into airy, crunchy chips yourself. The flavored version makes a great healthier substitute for potato chips.

Basic Version

Ingredients:

kale (available as a bunch or pre-washed and cut in bags)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
  2. If you purchased full kale leaves (it’s a lot cheaper than the pre-washed and cut version), wash and dry the kale with a paper towel or salad spinner. You want to have as little water as possible on the leaf surface.
  3. Remove the central stem and tear the kale into chip-sized pieces. The leaves will shrink as they cook so don’t make the pieces too small.
  4. Spread the leaf pieces on cookie trays in a single layer.
  5. Bake until the leaves are crispy and slightly brown at the edges. This should take 10 to 15 minutes, but keep a very close eye on them because they burn easily. I recommend starting with 8 minutes then checking them and adding 1 minute intervals as needed the first few times you try this recipe.

Optional: You can bake the stems as well. They won’t turn crispy, but often become slightly sweet. However, I recommend baking the stems separately from the leaves because the extra moisture in the stems can prevent the leaves from crisping.

Trouble shooting

If your chips come out like steamed greens instead of chips, you can try cooking for longer. This occurs when too much water is on the leaves when they go into the oven. Dry the leaves better next time. You can also try leaving a crack when closing the oven door to let steam escape.

If your chips burn before they become crispy, try turning the oven temperature down and extend the cooking time if necessary.

If some kale pieces are crisp but others are still soft, remove the crisp ones before baking the soft ones longer. Otherwise, the pieces that are already crisp will burn.

Flavored Version

Ingredients

  • kale
  • salt
  • olive oil
  • grated parmesan cheese (or whatever seasoning you would like)

Directions:

Follow steps 1 to 4 of the basic version. Before baking, drizzle the olive oil onto the kale, then sprinkle with salt and grated parmesan cheese. Bake as in step 5 of the basic version.

Sidney-Pacific Room Review: Indoor Garden

By Stephanie Nam,

SP Room Review is a new series exploring different rooms and lifestyles within the community. If you know of any awesome candidates, please do not hesitate to let us know!

Jenny Wang, at her desk.

Jenny Wang, at her desk.

For the second article of the room review series, we visited Jenny Wang. She is a third year student in Mechanical Engineering, and is one of the Brunch chairs at SP, serving about three hundred people every month. She is also known for her expertise in “growing living things,” so we decided to visit and see.

At first glance into her room, you’ll see a leaf-patterned curtain behind which Jenny keeps her plants and flowers in front of the large window. The plants are arranged on a storage rack, with a beautiful fuchsia hanging on a spring loaded drying rack. We also saw a recycled mini-greenhouse that was nurturing some seedlings. Next to her desk there was a special incubator for some mushrooms. In addition to these indoor plants, Jenny also grows some of her vegetables from SP community garden – if you need any advice for a plant, now you know who to turn to.

(CW from the top left) The mushroom incubator, the curtain covering the stand, the plant stand, the recycled greenhouse, and the hanging fuchsia.

(CW from the top left) The mushroom incubator, the curtain covering the stand, the plant stand, the recycled greenhouse, and the hanging fuchsia.

Having some fresh greenery in the bedroom can make it feel more like home. Another thing that can help improve the ambiance is lighting. In Jenny’s room, there are a number of different lamps, each with its own purpose. Plants like the white light, and so does Jenny for studying. For relaxed reading and resting, she has put some red cellophane over some lamps. The desk lamps are connected to a power strip so they can be conveniently turned on and off at the same time.

Jenny’s tea collection.

Jenny’s tea collection.

 

Overall, the furniture is arranged to separate the living, resting, and storage areas. The desk and the bookcase stand together, just like the wardrobe and the chest of drawers are placed next to each other. On the side of the wardrobe, just above the top of the dresser, SPeaker spotted Jenny’s collection of leaf tea. Jenny’s creative and space saving storage method is to store her tea in small metal tins, and stick them on magnets mounted on the side of her wardrobe. This makes it quick and easy to find what you’d like for tea time- if you can manage to choose from the many varieties of tea!

The visit to Jenny’s room reassured us that a dorm room can be quite homey, and you too can achieve that by bringing in some things you appreciate and enjoy. Thank you to Jenny for giving us a glimpse into her room and life!

Greetings from the New Housemasters!

By Berit Johannes and Andreas Schulz

From left to right: Berit, Felix and Andreas.

From left to right: Berit, Felix and Andreas.

Dear new and returning members of the Sidney-Pacific community:

It’s our great pleasure to welcome you (back) to the Sidney-Pacific Graduate Residence.  However, we just returned from a year-long sabbatical abroad and assumed our new role of SP housemasters only a few weeks ago.  We would therefore like to take the opportunity to also thank you all and especially the house government for the warm reception and for helping us with the transition.  We are honored and proud to be part of the SP community and to succeed Dottie and Roger Mark, who have been SP’s first housemasters.  We are every bit as excited as the new residents among you to learn more about SP’s culture, to help organize and participate in community activities, and to get to know all of you better.  Our resident community is amazingly diverse, and provides a wonderful opportunity to complement academic training with an enriching social and cultural experience.  We encourage you to make the best use of it.  Before we tell you a little bit more about ourselves, we thought that some of you might wonder how MIT defines the responsibilities of graduate community housemasters.  First and foremost, we are here to support you in all aspects of your development, prepared to act as advisor, advocate or mentor.  We also provide academic and social support through community events, cultural and educational programs, and we advise SP’s executive council.  Perhaps most importantly, we are your neighbors, and we hope you will stop by our apartment, be it to just say `hello,’ to engage in some good discussions on a random topic, to have someone listen to your concerns, or to play with and learn from our three-and-a-half-year old son.
Here is some additional information about us.

Andreas is Professor of Mathematics of Operations Research and Holder of the Patrick J. McGovern Chair at the Sloan School of Management, which he joined as a member of the faculty in 1998.  He is also a faculty member of MIT’s Operations Research Center, former head of the Operations Research and Statistics Group at Sloan, and a former member of the Singapore-MIT Alliance.  He has held visiting research professorships in the Institute of Theoretical Computer Science at ETH Zurich and in the Department of Quantitative Economics at Maastricht University.  Other visiting positions led him to the University of British Columbia, to Eindhoven University of Technology, and to Technische Universität München.  He got his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the Technische Universität Berlin in 1996.  His research interests include algorithmic game theory, approximation algorithms, combinatorial optimization, computational complexity, integer programming, network flows, polyhedral combinatorics, and scheduling theory.  In his spare time, he likes to play badminton, beach volleyball, soccer, squash, table tennis, tennis and ultimate frisbee, and he is an avid hiker and skier.

Berit also holds a PhD degree in Applied Mathematics from Technische Universität Berlin.  She was a visiting PhD student as well as a postdoc at MIT.  Her research revolves around computational complexity and robust optimization.  She also is a freelance consultant, and she has industrial experience as an Operations Research Analyst.  Berit has been deeply involved in the MIT community since coming here with Andreas.  Among other things, she has taken an active part in the ceramics studio of the Student Art Association, and she has practiced American Jiu-Jitsu Self-Defense at MIT since 2002, where she now is an instructor.  She regularly plays volleyball in the Z-Center.

Cooking made Easy

By Jenny Wang.

Courtesy of culinaryschools.com.

Courtesy of culinaryschools.com.

Now that orientation is over, the supply of free food has dwindled, and you might have to fend for yourself when it comes to eating.  You might have to fend for yourself when it comes to eating.  In addition to generally being cheaper than restaurant fare, home-made foods are often far healthier.  Even if you don’t make everything from scratch, you’ll at least know what you’re eating from the ingredients and nutrition labels.  In this article, I will share some tricks I use to make things a bit easier in the kitchen so you can enjoy nutritious meals without spending too much time cooking.

The key to easy cooking is thinking ahead and planning. Stock up on long-lasting pantry staples like pasta and canned goods when they go on sale.  Then, before each trip to the grocery store, consider how many meals you’ll have to cook in the next week so you know how much to buy.  I like to make sure I always have a selection of longer-lasting fruits like pears and apples on hand for easy snacks and canned soups and noodles for easy meals.  (Tip: Use a creamy soup as a sauce over noodles or rice for a heartier meal.  If you have a rice cooker without a timer, convert it to an automatic cooker with a cheap timer outlet.  Set the timer to also turn off after a certain period so the rice does not dry out from being warmed too long.)

Planning ahead so you can pre-prep commonly used ingredients can save you a lot of time when cooking on busy evenings.  When you have some time (for example as a study break or while waiting for pasta to cook), be your own sous chef and prep herbs, vegetables, and fruits ahead of time.  Even if I’m not using them that day, I like to wash produce when I’m waiting for something to cook in the kitchen.  This way, I’m not wasting time standing around and the produce will be ready for whenever I use them.  However, not all vegetables and fruits keep well after being washed, so you may have to experiment a bit.  I like to reuse plastic salad mix boxes to store washed vegetables.  Line the container with a cloth napkin (or clean kitchen towel or paper towel) to keep washed produce fresh longer.  The napkin soaks up excess water so the produce does not sit in a puddle.  (Tip: Keep washed fruits in the fridge as grab and go snacks.  You can put them in a bowl in the produce bin to keep them from drying out.)

While cooking, do everything you can to expedite clean up.  Be neat when transferring ingredients from the cutting board to the pot (Tip: A flexible cutting board can help prevent spills when dumping ingredients into the pot.)  For recipes that require precise amounts, consider using a food scale instead of measuring cups and spoons.  Cover the scale with plastic wrap to keep it clean.  If the food is too hot to eat right away, put it aside and clean up while waiting for it to cool.

Of course, having a good stock of fast, easy recipes is probably the most important part of saving time in the kitchen, so check out next month’s SPeaker for some of my favorite easy recipes.

Warning: Do not leave food that is cooking unattended.   Also, do not let smoke out into the hallway outside your room unless there is an actual fire. 

Sidney-Pacific Room Review

By Stephanie Nam

The SPeaker is starting a new series exploring different rooms and lifestyles in the community. It is interesting and inspiring to see some of the creative wall decorations, furniture layouts, storage ideas as well as other hobby-related collections. This series is intended to share some of the coolest apartments with other SidPacians. If you are aware of awesome candidates for this series, please do not hesitate to let us know!

Lab-in-a-room, Matt and Mark’s apartment

The first visit of the SPeaker was to Matthew D’Asaro and Mark Chilenski. Matt and Mark are both in their 4th year at MIT, Matt in EECS and Mark in Nuclear Engineering. They agreed to be roommates on visit day, and they have been sharing an apartment in Sidney Pacific ever since they started at MIT. Why Sidney Pacific? When SPeaker asked, and Matt told us that SP had the maximum bedroom square footage/price ratio, and Mark added that he also like the ratio of living space/ bedroom in order to set up “the equipment” in their bedrooms.

Matt and the 3D printer.

Matt and the 3D printer.

Before going into each bedroom to see the equipment set up, you can’t fail to notice the huge 3D printer in their kitchen. Matt shared the story of how the giant machine made it to their kitchen; from an email alert on MIT-reuse mailing list to running up four floors of stairs to beat the group of people who took the elevator. They managed to clean the tubes and download the new software, and of course printed a block of “Hello World” in 3D. Unfortunately, the printer is not working at the moment due to some software issues. Maybe the 3D printer will be fixed for the next Open Doors Night?

Mark has set up a workstation in one side of his bedroom using a long side table from IKEA and a lab-like tool organizer drawer stands in the corner. The SPeaker was lucky enough to see the Geiger counter that Mark has designed and built himself, along with other vintage and modern Geiger counters. He also has a miniature robotic arm that was a birthday present from Matt. He connected it to a computer and wrote a python program to control it. Eventually, he hopes to be able to use the arm to paint pictures. There is also a collection of paints and delicate brushes for his hobby of painting little figurines. Additionally, Mark is also a drummer but for the sanity of his roommate he does not practice in the room.

(CW from the top right) Mark with the Geiger counter he designed and built, his work station, brushes for figurine coloring, The robot arm, and some wall decorations.

(CW from the top right) Mark with the Geiger counter he designed and built, his work station, brushes for figurine coloring, The robot arm, and some wall decorations.

Stepping into Matt’s bedroom, one would be surprised at the scene of so many measurement devices from oscilloscopes to a spectrum analyzer. Quoting a visitor at Open Doors Night, this is “a lab with a bed in it.” The IKEA table had to be reinforced with a thick metal column to withstand the weight of all of the instruments. Matt says studying electronics and doing projects outside of school have been very educational and helpful for his research. He is also a collector of vintage electronics, which he enjoys restoring to working order. Among the collection is a working example of one of the earliest television models, which is hooked up to an analog signal transmitter so it can be used to watch TV.

(CW from the top right) Matt’s set up of all instruments, a vintage electronics collection on top of the bookcase, a behind-the-door wire rack, another collection on the wardrobe, and the black and white analog television from 1949.

(CW from the top right) Matt’s set up of all instruments, a vintage electronics collection on top of the bookcase, a behind-the-door wire rack, another collection on the wardrobe, and the black and white analog television from 1949.

It was a great fun to talk to Matt and Mark, and to hear some stories of their collection. Their enthusiasm about their hobbies was quite inspiring too. Thank you to the M&M duo from the SPeaker!

Welcome to Sidney-Pacific! Dive in!

By SPEC

SPEC 2013. From left to right: Fabián Kozynski, Boris Braverman, Rachel Harding, Bernhard Zimmermann and Steven (Shiou-chi) Chang. Courtesy of SP Photofile.

SPEC 2013. From left to right: Fabián Kozynski, Boris Braverman, Rachael Harding, Bernhard Zimmermann and Steven (Shiou-chi) Chang. Courtesy of SP Photofile Committee.

The Sidney-Pacific Executive Council (SPEC) and the House Council would like to warmly welcome all of our new residents. You’re joining an amazingly diverse, active graduate community of almost 700 students. In order to serve and unite a community this large, SP has a wide variety of traditions and institutions, some of which we’d like to introduce here:

Hall Councilors and Hall Dinners: Sidney-Pacific is divided into 13 halls, and hall councilors are your floor’s representative. If you have any questions, concerns, or issues, they’re a great first resource to turn to. Plus, they organize monthly dinners and outings – basically, excuses for everyone in your hall to come together, hang out, and enjoy some free food. During orientation, each hall will be holding a mandatory hall meeting for all of its new residents to go over housing policies, roommate agreements, etc. Afterward, both new and returning residents are invited to the first hall dinners of the new academic year – please talk to your hall councilor for more details.

Sidney-Pacific Orientation: The next few weeks of Orientation are very exciting, and there are many can’t-miss events:

  • Our three staple large events – the Orientation BBQ & Movie (Aug 27th, 6:00-11PM), the Orientation Brunch (Sep 1st, 12:00-1PM), and our Orientation Dance Party, named “Are You Ready?” (Sep 6th, 9:00PM-1AM). These are open to the entire graduate community and usually attract crowds of up to 400-600 people. SP is generally known around campus for its large social events (we have 2-3 every semester, in addition to Orientation), so keep your eyes open for announcements during the semester. Some of the great events we held just this past year included the Wine & Chocolate Party, a Halloween masquerade, an Iron Chef competition, and a large Cultural Festival.
  • During our first week of orientation, residents get to know each other better with Open Doors Night (Aug 31st, 8:00-11PM), an event where 30-40 residents, both old and new, host small room parties for an evening. It’s a great chance to break the ice, meet your new neighbors, and maybe even show off some of your culinary skills. We’re currently recruiting hosts. Contact your Hall Councilor for more information!

In addition to our large events, SP organizes a number of smaller events, such as a Scavenger Hunt, a sports competition and a bike trip to a nearby farm (where residents get to enjoy amazing ice cream). All of these great events are organized by members of the Sidney-Pacific House Council. For the full list of events, please check out the orientation calendar in this newsletter, the official SP orientation guide, or our online Google calendar (http://goo.gl/P2FA3T[a]) and orientation map (http://goo.gl/maps/o0km1).

Residents and friends enjoy the orientation brunch last year. Courtesy of SP Photofile Committee.

Residents and friends enjoy the orientation brunch last year. Courtesy of SP Photofile Committee.

Monthly Brunch: Every month, Sidney-Pacific and Ashdown each provide a free Sunday brunch (12:00 – 1:00 PM, Mark Multipurpose Room on the 1st floor) that’s open to the entire MIT community. From scrambled eggs to chocolate-chip banana pancakes, and from roasted potatoes to fresh seasonal fruits, our brunches are not to be missed. Just don’t forget to bring your own silverware – we’re all about sustainability here! We have an enthusiastic, committed team of residents who volunteer every month to cook brunch mostly from scratch for over 300 people. As always, volunteers get to skip the lines and eat first. If you’d like to help out behind the scenes, come down to the MP Kitchen anytime between 8 AM – 12 PM.

Weekly Coffee Hour: Every Wednesday night (9:00 PM – 10:00 PM), SP residents are invited to the MP room for free fresh fruits, snacks, and of course, coffee – there’s tea and other drinks, too. Occasionally, we’ll have specialty menu items (such as a seasonal soup) or additional programs (such as a bike auction or a hobby fair). Once a month, we partner with a student group for a larger, culturally-themed coffee hour; last year, groups of students from India, Egypt, Turkey and France, among others, came to show their traditional foods, dances and music.

Sidney-Pacific Inter-Cultural Exchange (SPICE): Even though SP residents represent more than 50 different nationalities, we believe that merely assembling a “diverse” group of people is not enough. The benefits of diversity come from actively sharing and learning about each other’s different cultures, beliefs, and worldviews. SPICE is a dinner discussion program that facilitates this cultural exchange. At the beginning of the year, residents who sign up for SPICE are assigned to groups of 10-12 people. Over the course of the year, these groups meet about every other week for a subsidized dinner; at each dinner, members of the group discuss a particular topic, such as “How does your family celebrate various holidays, such as the New Year?”or “What do you and your family consider to be taboos?”

Housemaster Dinners: We’re very fortunate to have Professor Andreas Schulz and Berit Johannes as our new Housemasters to support our residential programming and development. New residents will have the chance to meet them, along with our adorable “Housemaster-in-Training” Felix, during our Housemaster Welcome Dinners in the middle of September. Please check your e-mail for your personal invitation. In addition, over the course of the year, residents will receive special invitations to other Housemaster gatherings, such as the Thanksgiving and Holiday dinners, dinners with professors, and so forth.

SP Interest Groups: Are you interested in attending a Boston sporting event? Do you often play Settlers of Catan and other board games late into the night?  Would you be interested in learning about new places to eat or going out to a movie with your fellow SP residents? Over the past year, SP residents have organized these and many other great activities through SP Interest Groups.  Basically, these are open, opt-in mailing lists that residents sign up for to connect with other residents of similar interests. In addition, if you can get a group of SP residents together for an activity, you can receive funding – that’s right, SP will partially subsidize that restaurant or concert trip. Go to https://s-p.mit.edu/myacct/interest_groups.php to learn more.

Volunteering at SP: All of the programs and resources run by the House Council would not be possible without the help of resident volunteers like you. Come on out, get involved, and meet other SP residents. There are many ways to get involved, from grilling at the barbeque to spearheading environmental initiatives, or even writing for this newsletter. No experience is required! You can find out about ways to get involved by signing up for the Volunteer mailing list in your “My Account” settings here: https://s-p.mit.edu/myacct/resident_edit_entry.php

Our vision for this year is: “Sidney-Pacific: Dive in”. SP is a great opportunity for people from various backgrounds to meet and exchange ideas, and we want to foster community and togetherness within the building, for residents new and old. We encourage you to get involved and make SP yours by joining us in some of our traditions.  More importantly, we look forward to creating some new traditions – if you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas, please contact us at spec@mit.edu. Enjoy orientation, and we look forward to meeting you!

Oh, the Things You’ll Learn!

by Fabián Kozynski, VP of Residential Life

Welcome to Sidney Pacific!

As you can see by the posters everywhere, this community is brimming with life. Being part of Sidney Pacific provides many things in addition to what you can get just by studying at MIT. By attending events at SP, you can learn from other cultures, or acquire different skills that you wouldn’t learn in the lab. However, that’s only one side of the SP coin.

Boris Braverman and David Rosen volunteer at the 2012 Orientation Brunch. Courtesy of S-P Photofile.

Boris Braverman and David Rosen volunteer at the 2012 Orientation Brunch. Courtesy of SP Photofile committee.

To be the “greatest grad dorm in the universe” (in the words of our beloved retired housemaster Roger Mark), more than good will is needed. All of our events and initiatives are run by volunteers, residents just like you that have decided to step up and participate in the making of this community. The House Government is comprised of officers who volunteer part of their time during the year to improve Sidney-Pacific and make it a true community.

But even with that help, not everything can be accomplished. It takes many hands and many hours to throw some of our big events (and even the smaller ones). That’s where YOU can help! Even if you’re not in the House Government, you can volunteer to make this happen. Whenever there’s an event that needs some prep time, you can show up to help. You don’t have to go to all events, nor be there all the time, but your help is greatly appreciated.

Our volunteers get first hand experience in how to prepare large events, as well as the details that go in the making of them. From learning how to make our amazing french toast or our dorm renowned coffee hour guacamole, to being able to hoist our massive screen for outdoors movies, volunteering at SP teaches many important but often overlooked skills. More importantly, some of the people you meet while volunteering at these events may become great friends in the long run (this is an experience that many volunteers will be able to share with you).

Even if you think you don’t know how to cook (believe me, I can barely cook for myself), no previous skills are needed. Come, volunteer and the people in charge of the event (or other seasoned volunteers) will teach you the tricks of the trade. Additionally, there are many committees that, even though they don’t throw any events, will greatly appreciate your help: if you know how to code a webpage, contact the web chairs; if you want to know more about the plants and fish you see around SP, contact the plants chair or the aquarium chair; if you have a knack for writing, contact the newsletter chair.

After all this, I’m sure you’re thinking: how do I find out about these amazing opportunities for volunteering? For all of our events, officers will post a request in our mailing list sp-helpers@mit.edu. If you want to help other committees, and don’t want to wait for a call, you can go to our officer webpage and find out how to contact them.

Come and volunteer during Orientation (yes, even your own) to get a first hand experience in massive burger flipping and get to know many of the amazing people that make up SP.

I hope to see you around during the year.

Volunteers at the 2012 Orientation Brunch. Courtesy of S-P Photofile.

Volunteers at the 2012 Orientation Brunch. Courtesy of SP Photofile committee.

 

How to add your name to the helpers account?

  1. Go to the SP website (http://www.s-p.mit.edu).
  2. On the left upper corner, go to “My Account”.
  3. Go to “Edit my Information”.
  4. Select the option that says “I would be willing to help out at S-P events”.

Useful links

Get Xfinity, watch ESPN on campus at MIT!

By Patrick Blonigan, Newsletter Chair

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

If you have a TV in your room hooked up to MIT cable, you may have noticed the alarming lack of ESPN.  But fear not, there is a way to get your fill of Sports Center and Monday Night Football here at SP (and everywhere else on campus).  Just turn on your computer and follow the steps below:

  1. Make sure you have Microsoft Silverlight 5.0 installed on your computer.
  2. Go to http://university.xfinity.com/
  3. Click “Install and Experience” and enter your MIT kerberos ID and password when prompted to.
  4. Name your device and click “submit”, you now have Xfinity!

If you already have Xfinity and it is no longer working, check out the following link, which explains how to uninstall and reinstall Xfinity step by step:

http://kb.mit.edu/confluence/display/istcontrib/Steps+to+fully+uninstall+and+reinstall+the+MIT+Xfinity+IPTV+Application

Then sit back and enjoy some ESPN and/or ESPN 2 (channels 49 and 50 or channels 849 and 850 for HD).

A number of other great channels are available, including AMC (channel 59 or channel 859 for HD), home of the critically acclaimed series “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad”, the latter of which is highly recommend by the author!

Hall Councilor Orientation

On Sunday, June 30th, 11 members of the hall council attended the annual Hall Councilor Orientation. The all-day workshop featured a number of experts from across MIT who gave presentations and led discussions on topics ranging from peer counseling to stress relief to active listening. Portions of the workshop were video-recorded with permission from the speakers to give to the hall councilors who were unable to attend due to off-campus summer plans.

HCInfo

The purpose of the Hall Councilor Orientation is to introduce hall councilors to conflict coaching, familiarize them with resources around MIT where they can refer residents who need help, and familiarize them with common issues and problems encountered by graduate students. The program was initiated in 2011 by Brian Spatocco, then Chair of the Halls.

The day started off at 9:30am with an introduction by Associate Housemaster Annette Kim about the vital role of the hall councilor in SP. In addition to hosting regular hall events, such as hall dinners, dessert nights, and “water wars,” hall councilors are a resource for SP residents to turn to if any issue should arise, whether it’s a noise complaint, a roommate dispute, or something more personal. Hall councilors are part of a network within SP (along with SPEC, the Housemasters, and House Manager) that helps support residents who have concerns or trouble.

OnCampusResources

There is also a network outside SP that residents and hall councilors can reach out to. 8 speakers from 6 different organizations across MIT spoke at the workshop, including representatives from: MIT Mental Health & Counseling, Residential Life Programs (RLP), Community Wellness, Violence Prevention & Response (VPR), the Office of the Dean for Graduate Education (ODGE), and Conflict Resolution@MIT.

Tying the day together were role play scenarios with real SP residents enacting situations that a hall councilor might encounter while serving at SP. It was an opportunity for the hall councilors to put what they learned throughout the day into practice, and get immediate feedback from seasoned coaches on their responses to the scenarios.

“[Sidney-Pacific has] a great group of Hall Councilors, and I’m glad I got to meet and work with them,” said Libby Mahaffy, Assistant Director of Conflict Resolution@MIT, who was a speaker and coach at the workshop. If you ever have any problem or unanswered question, don’t be afraid to email or approach your hall councilor. They’re here and ready to help!

by Rachael Harding, Chair of the Halls