BE Board:Meeting minutes/3/01/2005

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Date: 03/01/2005 Time: 6:00pm Place: 56-302

Attendees
Kathryn Armstrong, Jon Behr, Ricardo Brau, Barry Canton, Diana Chai, Brian Cook, Ben Cosgrove, Jordan Green, Nancy Guillen, Paul Huang, Maxine Jonas, Hyung-Do Kim, Ricardo Llamas Vidales, Nick Marcantonio, Megan McBee, Amy Nichols, Nate Tedford, Shan Wu, Ben Zeskind.

BE Coffee Machine in the 56-3rd Floor Lunchroom
- A new & fancy coffee machine has been lent to BE for a one-month free try!

Social Events (Kathryn, Megan & Nate)

 * TGIF “Floor & roller hockey” on March 18, 2005 with Profs. Drew Endy, Darrell Irvine, Roger Kamm, Matt Lang, and David Schauer.

GSC Status (Jordan & Ben Z.)
to the MIT non-discriminatory policy: no indication of marital/partner status and parental status should be asked from faculty members, (3) opening of Institute GSC functions.
 * The BE Student Board just got granted ASA recognition! After a one-year approbatory period, the student group will get reviewed.
 * A BE Student Board constitution has been written. A non-hazing form has been signed.
 * Some GSC money will be allocated to the BE Student Board this spring semester.
 * During a recent GSC general counsel meeting, the subjects addressed, beyond discussions on internal regulations, were (1) advising, (2) additions

IM Sports (Barry & Brian)

 * Hockey jerseys have been purchased for $272; a financial contribution may be requested from next year’s hockey players.
 * T-shirts have been ordered for $192.
 * Spring IM sports are about to start. BE will line up teams in table tennis, volleyball.
 * The registration for the 2005 MIT Octathlon (over President’s Day weekend: April 16-19, 2005) will soon open.

BE Diversity (Jon, Nate & Maxine)

 * A forum opened to students and post-docs will be held once the official MIT grievance process is over (by summer 2005).
 * What type of spring event do we want to organize? A cultural luncheon followed by a mediated discussion?

Seminar lunch this Thursday

 * Another faculty candidate, Elebeoba May, is presenting during the BE seminar on March 3, 2005.
 * Doug Lauffenburger would like members of the BE Board to interact with her if possible, by attending the pizza lunch for instance.

Community Service (Bree & Diana)

 * Volunteering with a food bank or with the Bread & Jam soup kitchen are being reviewed.

Interview Weekend
The BE Recruitment weekend will be held on March 11-12, 2005. instituted. previous years ☺
 * 28 interviewees will participate.
 * Q&A session: make sure that the Applied Biosciences track is well represented by the discussion panel.
 * Try and be present on Saturday as well!
 * The restaurants picked for the Friday night outing will be the Bombay Club, Polcari’s, and Johns Harvard.
 * A zero year party is being organized by the first years. It will occur at Edgerton on Friday, March 11, 2005 at 8pm. A $5 entrance fee will be
 * Nancy will coordinate the collection of money: One representative from each year will solicit their classmates and centralize the contribution of their year; or should we hand a hat at the party?
 * Beer will be purchased (~ 200 bottles). Since there will be no interviews on Saturday this year, more alcohol is expected to be consumed than the

BE Retreat (Nick, Ben C., Nate, Kathryn, Megan)

 * Things are getting finalized at this point. No specific feedback is required.
 * Please submit your poster abstract.
 * Special sessions will be offered, such as (1) Grants & Career Development: John Essigman, (2) Open Source Technology: Noubar Afeyan, (3) Ethics on Genome Synthesis and Genome Intellectual Property
 * BE post-docs or senior students should be encouraged to present a 15-minute talk.

BE Industrial Seminar Series (Nick, Nate, & Maxine)

 * The bi-monthly agenda is filled up through the end of May 2005.
 * IBM Life Sciences & Wolf Greenfield have been contacted.
 * A site visit of Pfizer Research Technology Center in Cambridge, MA, is being organized thanks to Dr. Keith Hoffmaster’s help.

BE Handbook (Ben C. & Nick)

 * Write-ups from the Diversity & Mediation groups are still needed.

First-year issues

 * A BE semi-formal would be fun: How receptive would the ensemble of the student body be?
 * A regular delivery of paper should be ensured to supply the BE lounge printer. Mariann Murray will be contacted
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