Environmental Technology

A blessing was held at the University of Hawaiiʻi at Mānoa’s Shidler College of Business on August 11 to celebrate the completed renovation of the Tom WS Hee Undergraduate Computer Room into a state-of-the-art facility. The $600,000 lab renovation was funded from the estate of Clifford and Blanche Hee and named in honor of their son Tom Heewho was an admired alumnus of the college and an accomplished banking professional, computer expert and community-minded volunteer.

Lab upgrades include a full refresh and modernization of the space, with sleek new furnishings, upgraded computer systems, sound dampening technology, large digital displays and flexible working spaces designed specifically for group collaboration. Additional Bloomberg terminals were added for students to conduct high-level financial analysis projects. The renovation was managed by Bowers + Kubota Consulting, which transformed the space to evoke a modern yet functional workspace for current and future students.

“The transformation of

Dartmouth bid farewell this year to seven retreating Arts and Sciences faculty members in departments ranging from English and creative writing to computer science and geography.

John CampbellClass of 1925 Professor of Sociology; Thomas H. Cormenprofessor of computer science; Andrew FriedlandRichard and Jane Pearl Professor in Environmental Studies; Misagh Parsaprofessor of sociology; Ivy Schweitzerprofessor of English and creative writing; Kathleen Wine, associate professor of French; and Richard WrightOrvil Dryfoos Professor of Public Affairs, all retired this year.

Each of the professors has made unique and lasting contributions to the College, says Elizabeth Smithdean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

“As dedicated teachers, scholars, and colleagues, they influenced generations of students as well as peers on campus and around the world,” Smith says. “Their legacies will be part of Dartmouth forever.”

Several of the retiring faculty members shared their thoughts on the

Dylan Zajac ’25 clearly remembers when his side hustle—taking broken computers, fixing them, and selling them at a cut-rate price—bloomed into a full-fledged charity.

“There was this dad that I was messaging with on Facebook. I was negotiating the price of this laptop with him, and he was telling me all about how his son needs it for school,” Zajac said.

“I started to feel bad. I realized I was making 200 percent profit on this computer, which is great for my business, but in terms of helping people, it just didn’t sit well with me.”

Zajac, now a rising sophomore at Babson College, decided he’d give it to his customer’s son for free.

“He’d never had a laptop before, and he still uses it today,” Zajac said. “That’s when I started realizing I could really do this. I’d be able to give these working computers away to people who

If the quantum computing era dawned 3 years ago, its rising sun may have ducked behind a cloud. In 2019, Google researchers claimed they had passed a milestone known as quantum supremacy when their quantum computer Sycamore performed in 200 seconds an abstruse calculation they said would tie up a supercomputer for 10,000 years. Now, scientists in China have done the computation in a few hours with ordinary processors. A supercomputer, they say, could beat Sycamore outright.

“I think they’re right that if they had access to a big enough supercomputer, they could have simulated the … task in a matter of seconds,” says Scott Aaronson, a computer scientist at the University of Texas, Austin. The advance takes a bit of the shine off Google’s claim, says Greg Kuperberg, a mathematician at the University of California, Davis. “Getting to 300 feet from the summit is less exciting than getting to