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T H E O L D E ST C O L L E G E DA I LY · FO U N D E D 1 8 7 8

NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT · THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013 · VOL. CXXXV, NO. 99 · yaledailynews.com

INSIDE THE NEWS MORNING EVENING

RAINY RAINY

42 45

CROSS CAMPUS

W. LACROSSE YALE TAKES DOWN QUINNIPIAC

TASK FORCE

HARTFORD COURANT

GILT GROUPE

Legislators propose refurbishing school security infrastructure

PAPER’S WEBSITE COULD INCLUDE A FUTURE PAY-WALL

Entrepreneur talks how time at Yale influenced e-commerce business

PAGE 12 SPORTS

PAGE 3 CITY

PAGE 3 CITY

PAGE 5 NEWS

Applied physics, post-SEAS

False alarm. When Yale alum and “Colbert Report” darling Akhil Amar ’80 LAW ’84 sent his “Constitutional Law” students an email with the subject line “midterm attached,” the Sterling Professor of law forgot one important thing: the midterm itself. But you can breathe a sigh of relief. After realizing his error several moments later, the noted legal scholar rectified his error with a second, attachment-bearing email.

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BY JANE DARBY MENTON STAFF REPORTER

MENG ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCES

In many respects, however, little has changed for the faculty, said applied physics and physics professor Daniel Prober. The department — which is comprised of 13 core faculty members — still occupies many of the same offices and laboratories. Multiple research collaborations continue to involve faculty from both departments — the Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena, led by applied physics professor Charles Ahn, includes more than a dozen engineering faculty, for example.

Inspired by President-elect Peter Salovey’s commitment to make Yale more innovative and accessible, the Yale Information Technology Service is unrolling a University-wide initiative to enhance its technological resources. In a Wednesday email to the campus community, University Chief Information Officer and ITS Director Len Peters released a draft of the first Universitywide three-year information technology plan and solicited comments from students, faculty and staff through March 8 to help ITS create a final proposal to be published in May. The effort to develop the three-year plan began in the fall and aims to assimilate information and feedback from throughout the University to strengthen its technological capacities. Recommendations in the draft address topics that include technology in the classroom, web and email strategy, and digital storage. Salovey and Peters said they are enthusiastic about using technology to make Yale’s resources more accessible both on campus and across the world. “What we’re seeking is a plan that when people read it, they recognize that this is a direction that will help enable the University to meet its objectives and its goals,” Peters said. “Technology needs to be an enabler for enhanced teaching, enhanced research, enhanced learning and enhanced university experience.” Peters said the process of developing the three-year plan began when Peters and members of ITS put together working groups of IT staff and faculty members to address specific features of the University’s technological capacities — teaching, learning and research, University-wide enabling technologies, emerging technologies, IT foundations, and administrative and core services. Peters said he hopes to establish a strat-

SEE APPLIED PHYSICS PAGE 4

SEE ITS PAGE 4

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eenage heartthrob and “I Want Candy” superstar Aaron Carter graced the Elm City with his presence Wednesday night, performing in front of a starstruck crowd of Yalies and New Haven residents alike. But it looks like attendees weren’t the only ones excited: Just four hours before the concert, Carter tweeted an Instagrammed — and shirtless — photo of himself “getting ready” for the big night. The tweet garnered 58 “retweets” and 71 “favorites” as of press time.

Entrepreneurism. Peter

Thiel, founder of PayPal and face of the prestigious Thiel Fellowship, has invested $1 million into Thinkful, an online tutoring company founded by Thiel Fellow Dan Friedman ’13, a former Yale student who dropped out when he was named a fellow. Thinkful has also received funding from venture capital firms RRE Ventures and Quotidian Ventures.

Trouble in Singapore.

Controversy has erupted in Singapore after a journalism professor who wrote extensively about the country’s lack of media freedom has been denied tenure for the second time. Cherian George, who teaches at the Nanyang Technological University’s School of Communication and Information, has insisted that the university’s reluctance to grant him tenure is due to political reasons and directly linked to his critical views of the Singaporean government. Rising fees. The University of Connecticut Board of Trustees voted to increase fees by $116 next year to cover the costs of technology and other services. THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY

1928 The Sheffield Student Council votes to eliminate signed integrity pledges previously included at the exams, arguing that the statements were an “unnecessary detail.” Submit tips to Cross Campus

MORE ONLINE y MORE ONLINE y cc.yaledailynews.com cc.yaledailynews.com

BY DAN WEINER STAFF REPORTER Nearly three years after the Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science decided to move the Applied Physics Department out of the school, professors in the discipline said the change has been one for the worse. All three applied physics professors interviewed said the split hurt the department by limiting interaction with their collaborators in the engineering departments. Robust research collaboration continues between the applied physics and engineering departments, Applied Physics Chair Douglas Stone said, citing a roughly sixfold increase in grant expenditures in applied physics over the last decade. But applied physics is no longer part of critical administrative discussions with engineering

as result of this new arrangement, he said. For students in the Applied Physics Department, the impact of the split is less clear. Some claim the change has had little effect on classes and research opportunities, but others feel removed from valuable SEAS resources and the burgeoning engineering culture at Yale. While science administrators maintain that the move — which occurred after applied physics faculty unanimously rejected a 2009 SEAS proposal to dissolve the department — has not disadvantaged the Applied Physics Department, faculty members in the department said the move has posed problems. “It’s led to a very artificial situation that makes it very difficult for us in applied physics,” said professor of applied physics and physics Robert

Yale to offer summer bridge BY JANE DARBY MENTON AND AMY WANG STAFF REPORTERS In an effort to mitigate the rocky adjustment period some students face when they first come to college, Yale will debut a brand new summer program this year. During the second Summer Session, which will take place in July, Yale will invite roughly 30 rising freshmen to participate in a five-week summer bridge program designed to introduce them to Yale’s academic and social environment. The initiative — which covers all tuition, transportation and housing fees for participants — is a three-year pilot program that was initially conceived in 2008, but financial constraints forced Yale College to put the project on hold until fall 2012, Yale College Dean Mary Miller said. Though William Whobrey, assistant dean of Yale College, said he and the Admissions Office have not decided how they will select an initial cohort of students for the invitation-only program, he added that they will look for students whose high school backgrounds might not have fully prepared them for Yale. “I think we want to make sure that Yale College and

the Admissions Office work together to develop and create a set of opportunities that will make it possible for a whole range of students to take full advantage of the offerings in Yale College,” Miller said. Students in the program will live in residential colleges with student counselors and be enrolled in English 114, an introductory writing course. Miller said a report by the Committee on Yale College Education showed that students who took English 114 in their first semester at Yale performed more strongly in subsequent semesters than those who had not, adding that the course helps students develop critical reading and writing skills for a college environment. Whobrey said administrators considered similar programs at peer institutions, such as Princeton and Stanford, while it was designing Yale’s summer bridge. Whobrey, who is also dean of Summer Session and Special Programs, said the summer bridge program aims to give students experience in a Yale classroom, in addition to familiarity with University resources including libraries, archives and tutoring programs. SEE SUMMER BRIDGE PAGE 6

ITS plans to improve services

Schoelkopf. “Our traditional home and the people we should have the most synergy with are in an organization that we are not a part of.”

THE FACULTY EXPERIENCE

YEI expands programs, sees app increase BY PAYAL MARATHE STAFF REPORTER Six years after the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute was created, two business projects that began as part of the institute’s summer fellowship program have recently been sold to large companies — an achievement YEI staff said is symbolic of the institute’s upward trajectory. Stage Grade, which YEI Program Director Alena Gribskov ’09 described as a “Rotten Tomatoes for theater in New York,” and YouRenew, a platform for recycling electronics, were acquired by Davenport Media Enterprises and Clover Wireless, respectively, in December 2012. Gribskov said the acquisitions are a sign that YEI is growing, and she added that applications for the summer fellowship program — which provides funding and mentorship for students or teams of students to launch startups — have risen to an all-time high of 85 this year, a 20 percent increase over last year’s appplication count. YEI Director James Boyle GRD ’94 said the fellowship has started drawing better-qualified students than it was able to in 2007, when the program began. “When we first got started in 2007, what we saw more often than not were students with very raw ideas but no proof that their ideas would address a defined problem or fill a defined opportunity,” Boyle said. “Now we can count on teams to put ideas together and de-risk them before they come to us, which is a good situation for us.” In addition to drawing greater numbers of students to the summer fellowship pro-

gram, YEI began a workshop series in September called Start Something for people unsure of how to launch a new venture, Gribskov said. Boyle said YEI hopes to expand its programs to include more faculty in the coming months, adding that professors can currently take advantage of YEI’s year-round mentorship services and participate in the Start Something workshops.

Now we can count on teams to put ideas together and de-risk them before they come to us. JAMES BOYLE GRD ’94 Director, Yale Entrepreneurial Institute Boyle added that the institute has also been expanding its staff to include graduate students, who he said make up “an important cog in the YEI strategy.” He said the staff now includes School of Management students to help summer fellows plan market strategy and School of Engineering students to brainstorm solutions to technological problems. Gribskov said YEI’s growing program offerings cater to people with a variety of entrepreneurial backgrounds, ranging from students who have had their minds set on careers in business to students who have only just started contemplating entrepreneurship. SEE YEI PAGE 4


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