Author Archives: Clinton Wang

Last fall, the Yale College Executive Committee heard cases from 59 students on issues ranging from plagiarism to underage drinking. But four students faced the committee for an infringement that the University does not monitor directly: Internet piracy. When ExComm began reviewing cases of Internet piracy in 2007-’08, three students faced the committee for downloading »

Organizers of the second annual Yale Engineering and Science Weekend (YES-W) solicited involvement from alumni of the program and slightly modified the schedule of events to help showcase the University’s resources to over 100 prospective students interested in science and engineering. YES-W, which started Saturday and continues through Monday afternoon, has remained largely similar to »

In an effort to draw a more diverse selection of students, some engineering professors have broadened the focus of their courses in recent years. Two advanced engineering courses that emphasize socioeconomic factors and consumer needs — a departure from engineering’s traditionally technical approach — are becoming increasingly popular with students. Vincent Wilczynski, deputy dean for »

The environmental engineering major joined the rest of Yale’s engineering programs in officially offering its seniors the option to complete a team design project instead of individual research. This spring, the design project seminar in chemical engineering expanded to include environmental issues, but only one environmental engineering major has enrolled in the course. Paul Van »

The student organization Yale Accountability and Corporate Transparency for Congo called for the University to become a “conflict-mineral free campus” in a recent petition sent to faculty members. For the past two years, undergraduate and graduate student activists have lobbied the Yale administration to end any dealings with companies whose products contain “conflict minerals” from »

Yale’s Intelligent Buildings Project found that the power costs of LEED-silver-certified Rosenkranz Hall could be reduced by roughly 30 percent with a novel air-handling system, which it hopes will eventually feature in buildings across the country. A five-person research team, led by electrical engineering professor Andreas Savvides and School of Architecture professor Michelle Addington, is »

Rajita Sinha is the director of the Yale Stress Center and Foundations’ Fund Professor of Psychiatry. She primarily examines how gender is related to stress and addiction, as well as the biological basis for the close relationship between stress, self-control and addiction. On Jan. 31, she published a paper in the American Journal of Psychiatry »

Though administrators had planned in 2008 to demolish Kline Chemistry Laboratory, they have since altered their plans and decided to renovate the building beginning this summer. Before the economic downturn in 2008, the University had intended to construct an Undergraduate Science Center, a “mega project” which would have housed all of Yale’s undergraduate teaching labs »

After the inaugural Yale Engineering and Science Weekend (YES-W) drew more than 100 students to campus last February, the program is set to continue later this month. YES-W, which will occur between Feb. 18 and Feb. 20, invites targeted applicants from Yale’s regular admissions pool to campus so that they can see the University’s science »

Being diagnosed with autism could be a lot more difficult if a new diagnostic definition goes into effect. In its next manual on mental disorders, the American Psychiatric Association plans to issue a single set of diagnostic criteria that will merge the four types of disorders on the autism spectrum, which include autism and Asperger »

After finding the descendants of a species of giant tortoises believed extinct from the Galapagos Islands for 150 years, Yale researchers are hoping to save the species. In an expedition to Isabela Island led by Adalgisa Caccone GRD ’86, senior research scientist in ecology and evolutionary biology, the researchers found 84 tortoises whose genes show »

Doing business in Connecticut may soon become more expensive after state bonds received poor marks from Wall Street. Moody’s Investor Service, one of the three major credit rating agencies, announced Friday that it had downgraded its rating of Connecticut’s $14.6 billion in outstanding bonds from Aa2 to Aa3, citing an unbalanced budget and the state’s »