[Editors] MIT Editors' Club Minutes, 9/14/2005

[Elizabeth Thomson]

MIT EDITORS' CLUB

*Meeting Notes from September 14, 2005*

A baker's dozen of MIT Editors attended this first meeting of the 
05-06 school year....Our wide-ranged discussion touched on everything 
from ipods and GPS units available through the MIT Libraries (yeah! 
really!) to the best way to freeze basil (yeah! really!).

*MIT Libraries Week*

Heather Denny, communications officer for the libraries, shared with 
us a slew of fun activities in honor of MIT Libaries week Sept. 
19-23. For example, you can check out a Global Positioning Unit (GPS) 
from the Rotch Library and participate in MIT Geocache, a scavenger 
hunt that involves solving puzzles and finding a hidden box of 
treasure. For the full list of activities, go to 
http://libraries.mit.edu

Heather also mentioned that you can now check out ipods through the 
Music Library that are loaded with music from the library. They're 
due back in a day or so, but what a cool thing!

*Women in Science/Engineering*

In May you might remember that my colleague Denise Brehm sent along 
an e-mail asking us to help her identify a woman student in science 
or engineering who would like to do an audio diary for "51%",  a 
nationally syndicated public radio program about women.  The reporter 
has a grant from the National Science Foundation's gender equity 
program to produce the audio diaries.

Anywho, Paul Rivenberg, communications coordinator for the Plasma 
Science and Fusion Center, reports that a PSFC student (she's getting 
her degree in nuclear engineering) was selected. Jennifer Ellsworth 
is apparently one of only three women in the country who'll be 
featured in the 51% story, which should air next March or April. Paul 
reports that it's been a fair amount of work for Jennifer; she's been 
asked to tape 20-minute radio diaries *every day* for a few months 
about her research. And her research, by the way, happens to be on 
one of my favorite MIT projects: the Levitated Dipole Experiment, a 
new approach toward nuclear fusion as an energy source that's housed 
in a container that looks just like a shiny silver spaceship.

*Research Photos*

My colleague Lisa Damtoft is working to spiff up our web site with 
cool images that would run with the "banners" for each of our 
research topics. She'd love your help. To that end, go to our web 
site http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/, and to the left, under news, 
click on "by topic." From there, click on the topic(s) related to 
your lab/dept. Up will come a list of all News Office stories that 
have appeared on that topic, which is highlighted by.....a cool 
image. Many of the topics already have images, but many more don't. 
So take a peek, and send Lisa images that you think might be 
appropriate. She's at damtoft at mit.edu

And in response to a question raised in the meeting: feel free to 
send along multiple images for a given topic, perhaps seasonal 
images. Lisa can't, however, create a "flashcard" of images for a 
given topic.

*Katrina*

Susan Curran, web content editor for the MIT Home Page,  noted that 
there's now a web page for MIT-related Katrina relief efforts. Go to 
the main page, and you'll see it under "news." Susan says that they'd 
like to make this as comprehensive as possible, so send her ANYTHING 
related to Katrina relief efforts/programs through your area. Send 
the info via the e-mail form on the page.

Susan also asked everyone to check out the new Events Calendar off 
the home page http://events.mit.edu/. Comments/suggestions are 
WELCOME; send to events at mit.edu. Susan also encourages folks to send 
along suggestions for the "editors' picks" on the page. And, as 
always, she's keen for potential spotlight ideas for the main page 
itself. (I know that whenever a News Office story is spotlighted, the 
web traffic to our site jumps exponentially.) Susan's at 
scurran at mit.edu.

*Web Page Redesign*

Looking to update your web site? Jay Chrepta, communications officer 
for mechanical engineering, strongly recommends starting with the 
Publishing Services Bureau. He's currently in the middle of 
redesigning the ME web site, and found his designer--Stoltze 
Design--through the PSB. (Stoltze, by the way, is also behind the 
design of the pages for chemical engineering, and brain and cognitive 
sciences. "The PSB has a terrific bunch of inside consultants," he 
reports. "I couldn't have done this by myself."

*What about the Basil?*

If you don't come to Editors' Club meetings in person, you miss out 
on lots of great stuff that doesn't make it into the minutes, PLUS 
the occasional freebie. At this meeting we chatted around large, open 
bags of three different types of basil (the better to smell the 
wonderful stuff). I encouraged everyone to take home as much as they 
wanted.

And what *is* the best way to freeze basil? Make it into a pesto 
(it's EASY), but *don't* add the cheese and salt. Pour the mixture 
into ice cube trays, then store the frozen cubes in a plastic bag. 
When you're ready to eat, defrost the cubes, add the salt and 
cheese....and slather over spaghetti, crusty bread, whatever....

And, yes, the basil was from my garden.

*Next Meetings*

The next meeting of MIT Editors Club, all from 12-1 in the News 
Office (11-400), are:

Tuesday, October 18
Thursday, November 17
Wednesday, December 7

Elizabeth
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Elizabeth A. Thomson
Assistant Director, Science & Engineering News
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
News Office, Room 11-400
77 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA  02139-4307
617-258-5402 (ph); 617-258-8762 (fax)
<thomson at mit.edu>

<http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/www>
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