Wow, what a day.
For those of you I haven't had the pleasure of meeting,
my name is Marty Schmidt.
I'm the provost at MIT in the Ray and Maria Stata,
professor of Electrical Engineering Computer Science.
I had about 20 minutes of remarks
that are going out the window.
I just want to say three things.
First of all, we've had an amazing three-day party.
And there's something significant in what
Steve said earlier in the conversation
with Rafael that I think makes it amazing that we could
do something like we did today.
And that is, we kind of think of ourselves
as outgoing when we look at your shoes, when we talk to you.
And so to have an event where we celebrate
what MIT is doing in this space is not
something that comes naturally to us.
But I think it was just a marvelous event.
That brings me to my second point,
which is a very important acknowledgment.
I want to single out our Dean of Engineering, Anantha
Chandrakasan.
[APPLAUSE]
I'm not done.
Anantha has many talents.
He's a gifted teacher.
He's an amazing researcher, and an inspirational leader.
His talents were on full display when
he organized the dozens of people
who put on this celebration.
But I also want to stress that I don't
believe that we would be here today
had it not been for Anantha.
And it's not just about today's event.
The College builds on a number of steps
that MIT has taken in the past several years, in which Anantha
has played the key leadership role.
It began with standing up a $240 million dollar IBM partnership
at about 60 days after assuming the job of Dean of Engineering.
He followed that by launching an Institute-wide quest
for intelligence.
And lastly, Anantha was an indispensable thought leader
and partner in the process led to the decision
to create the College.
For all that he's done to get us to this point,
can I ask everyone to please join me in thanking Anantha?
[APPLAUSE]
So, I want to make one other acknowledgment.
And it's that we've been joined today
by a person who-- at least for a few more months,
we can refer to as a very special guest.
And that's Dan Huttenlocher.
So Dan, why don't you come up while I do
a little bit of introduction?
And you're about to have one of the most important things you
do, which is offer some remarks.
Just a week ago, I announced that Dan
will be the first dean of the MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman
College of Computing.
Dan's credentials are impeccable--
a member of the faculty of Cornell.
He was the founding dean of Cornell Tech,
the graduate school in New York City.
Tremendous scholarship in computer science.
Brings extensive backgrounds in industry,
sitting on the board of directors
of Amazon and Corning, and also chairs
the board of the John D and Catherine T MacArthur
Foundation.
But Dan's no stranger to MIT.
And in fact, that made him a logical choice for this role.
He has both a master's degree and a PhD from here.
And he served, actually, on two of the Institute's visiting
committees.
He's going to assume his post as dean of the Schwarzman
College in the summer.
I'm thrilled to welcome him here in person.
And Dan, being cognizant of the fact
that people have been sitting here for about three hours,
why don't you offer a few remarks?
[LAUGHTER]
Thank you all.
And you'll notice I have nothing written, which
means I'm not actually going to say very much,
except one way to look at this is,
thank you so much for throwing this amazing party for me.
[LAUGHS]
No, really, much more seriously, I mean, Rafael and Steve,
hearing the two of you and hearing you
talk about how this came about.
And Steve, hearing how important the sets of issues
that have been talked about here today
are to you and to your family, I think
that sets the stage for what this college is about.
And with that, I'm going to end the day.
And thank you all.
[APPLAUSE]
Whoops, except Marty's back.
Thanks so much, Dan.
That's terrific.
So, we're concluded.
Let me just remind you that there's a reception and poster
session in the tent behind us.
And I look forward to seeing you there.
And thank you, everyone, for participating today.
Good evening.
[APPLAUSE]