Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “L. Rafael Reif welcomes president-elect Dr. Sally Kornbluth to MIT”.
Speaker, Thank you, Lily. And, on behalf of the whole MIT community, I want to express our appreciation to you: Lily to Diane Green, the Joan Jarvie and to everyone who worked on the search that has brought to MIT a truly outstanding President-elect. Sally. I hope you can feel the energy and anticipation in the room.. This is truly a very special location for every one of us at MIT., And I know you need to head back to Durham shortly..
So before you go, there is a moment of truth. I wouldn’t like to present you with two gifts from our community., Be strong, be brave, and please join me here for a moment., [ APPLAUSE ]. So the first gift is in anticipation of your first day as president, when you will come face to face with one of very serious facts about your new job.. We call it January., [ LAUGHTER, ], SALLY KORNBLUTH, Thank you., [ APPLAUSE ]. So what do you call these things? [ LAUGHTER ]. Thank you very much. SPEAKER. Well, we hope this cozy items will help you avoid feeling immediately homesick for North Carolina., The second gift. Maybe you can put this –, maybe I will give it to Danny. SALLY KORNBLUTH.
Maybe I’d better wear them both. SPEAKER. The second gift is a little bit hard to explain or harder. It’s not such a useful present, but we believe it will help you get to certain qualities of MIT culture..
You may be surprised to learn this unless Alex told you, but the Institute has its own glass blowing lab.. In fact, the Glass Lab is not too far from here it’s here in the basement., And if you are particularly fortunate, you might win a spot in the annual lottery to take glassblowing lessons.. I must tell you my wife did win that lottery and I had to go with her and we after hours of learning, we built two wonderful heavy paperweight., [ LAUGHTER, ] SPEAKER. So when you open this box, you will find something that expresses the joy this community takes in making things hands on and that also embodies MIT signature spirit of playful creativity., As Chris in the audience would tell you it could be described as a charming example of Material science in action., [ LAUGHTER ] Over time. You will see a lot of this at MIT, but very few in a duke shade of blue. SALLY KORNBLUTH.
Well, thank you., [ APPLAUSE, ], SPEAKER, [, INAUDIBLE, ], SALLY KORNBLUTH, Ah. Thank you., [ APPLAUSE, ] Thank you.. I’D better take the box., Thank you so much.
SPEAKER, But you give it to me.. We have enough of those. SALLY KORNBLUTH.
I’M going to have to explain this to the TSA people. SPEAKER, Sally. Congratulations! You really are about to begin. What, in my mind, is the best job in the world. And you and Danny are embarking on a truly wonderful new adventure. Chris, and I wish the best of success, and we truly cannot wait to see the future.
You help create for our really beloved MIT.. So that concludes our very special event.. Thank you all for joining us in person or remotely., And please join me in expressing one more time how delighted we are to meet our President-elect. [ APPLAUSE. ] .