Actually, no it isn’t, but if that’s how Homer Simpson wants to say it then it’s okay by me.
One of the awesome things about LGO is you get to learn about all of the important business stuff from leading big brain business people, but you also get to learn about technical stuff from leading big brain technical people. No other business school shares a campus with the best engineering school in the world.
One of my classmates (and summer team member) Natallia organized a tour of the MIT nuclear research reactor yesterday and it was pretty amazing. A group of about 13 of us spent three hours with Ed Lau, the Superintendent of Reactor Operations, who was kind enough to answer all of our questions and show us how the facility works. We got to see the control room, the process they use to remove spent fuel from the reactor, their medical research setup and a bunch of other stuff.
I was intrigued by a form of cancer research established as a joint program between MIT and Harvard. From the website explaining how the process works:
Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is a binary form of cancer therapy which uses a boron-containing compound that preferentially concentrates in tumor sites. The tumor site is then irradiated by a neutron beam. The neutrons in the beam interact with the boron in the tumor to cause the boron atom to split into an alpha particle and lithium nucleus. Both of these particles have a very short range (about one cellular diameter) and cause significant damage to the cell in which it is contained. In this way, damage is done to the tumor cell, while largely sparing healthy tissue.
Seemed pretty amazing and then they showed us their diagram of how the reactor and the patient interact:
I could just imagine sitting in a room with a doctor as he (or she) explained to me that they were going to aim a nuclear reactor at my head.
Walking home it made me realize how fortunate I am to have the opportunity to participate in LGO. I can’t think of another place in the world with so many innovative thinkers, cutting edge facilities, and interesting visitors. I really do learn something new everyday.
