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MIT staff blogger Dave McOwen

Engineers Assemble! by Dave McOwen

It's not a double-post, it's a franchise

Remember last week when US Representative Ed Markey criticized BP’s golf ball plan to stop the oil leak off the coast of Louisiana? He said, “When we heard the best minds were on the case, we expected MIT, not the PGA.”

Well apparently that’s exactly what President Obama had in mind, too. The President has directed Energy Secretary Steven Chu to provide assistance. Chu, in turn, has assembled a team of five “extraordinarily intelligent” scientists to provide solutions to the oil leak, and Alexander Slocum, MIT Professor of Mechanical Engineering (and 2.007 Design and Manufacturing guru), is among those selected for the job.

You can read more at Business Week.

I think Viggo Mortensen should play him in the inevitable Jon Farvreau summer movie blockbuster.

14 responses to “Engineers Assemble!”

  1. Faisal says:

    Thanks for the post.

    I just hope scientists find a solution to this oil leak soon. It’s our job as engineers to fix this.

  2. genius ('18) says:

    SECOND!!!
    “I think Viggo Mortensen should play him in the inevitable Jon Farvreau summer movie blockbuster.”

    Inevitable…LOL!
    You know you’re good when the President of the United States of America EXPECTS you to be doing something when people say “the best minds are on the case”…

  3. genius ('18) says:

    “Chu, in turn, has assembled a team of five “extraordinarily intelligent” scientists to provide solutions to the oil leak, and Alexander Slocum, MIT Professor of Mechanical Engineering (and 2.007 Design and Manufacturing guru), is among those selected for the job.”

    WHAT!!!!? NO MIT STUDENTS? wink

  4. I love Aragorn. He would be a natural.

  5. Banerjee says:

    WOOOT. GO MIT

  6. Justin says:

    “U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu signaled his lack of confidence in the industry experts trying to control BP Plc’s leaking oil well by hand-picking a team of scientists with reputations for creative problem solving.”

    Hand-picked! =) GO MR ALEX. SAVE THE WORLD.

  7. Armin says:

    Google guy, Vint Cerf picked 6 top youtube videos.
    MIT sixth sense is sixth *cough* first smile
    Richard Feynman is on top videos too.

    Vint Cerf’s Playlist

    Blog about it s’il vous pla√Æt

  8. Glad to finally see some skill and competence on the job. . .

  9. anon e moose says:

    that’s great PR for MIT. But, the situation needs action, not the usual government-sponsored “studies” and second-guessing of the folks on the ground dealing with this in real time. and, once the problem is under control, will someone please explain why this this particular drilling platform, in the past 9 months, not only passed government inspections, but also received a government safety award. your government at work.

  10. anon says:

    @anon e moose:

    The reason why it got a safety award in the past 9 months was because there were no injuries on that platform in the past 7 years. It only began to get dangerous when BP started rushing the drilling process, thus breaking off a vital part of the drilling safety equipment 2 weeks before the explosion.

  11. anon says:

    @anon e moose:

    The reason why it got a safety award in the past 9 months was because there were no injuries on that platform in the past 7 years. It only began to get dangerous when BP started rushing the drilling process, thus breaking off a vital part of the drilling safety equipment 2 weeks before the explosion.