On Monday, July 21, CSAIL hosted a group from NASA’s Robotics Academy to tour the lab and find out more about what MIT has to offer; this year marks the fourth year of the Academy’s partnership with CSAIL. Assistant Director of Infrastructure Jack Costanza welcomed the 23 undergraduate students, along with Robotics Academy Dean of Academic Affairs Wence Lopez, Operations Manager Gabriel Goldman and Logistics Manager Mikaela Gomes, in the fourth-floor Kiva conference room. During a breakfast reception, they were given an overview of CSAIL’s past in the form of building 20, as well as its present research and accolades and its goals for future projects. CSAIL graduate students Matt Walter and Been Kim followed with a presentation on the DARPA Grand Challenge vehicle. Their part of the tour concluded with an opportunity to see and examine the LR3 at an on-site question and answer session.
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On July 28th, 2008, Young Scientist Competition winner David McCarthy and his family toured CSAIL, affording them a chance to look behind the scenes at the lab. McCarthy’s project, “Variation on single instruction computer,” was selected as the top choice for the prize. The Analog Devices-sponsored Young Scientist Competition has been held in Ireland since 1965 – the same year the company was founded by MIT benefactor Ray Stata. Jack Costanza, Assistant Director of Infrastructure, gave the young winner a tour of the building and an overview of the lab’s goals and projects. The visit concluded in a meeting with Arvind, a CSAIL professor and leader in the field of computer architecture.