The Alumni Magazine for Worcester Polytechnic Institute. (WPI)
Issue link: http://wpialumnimag.epubxp.com/i/277771
12 Spring 2014 W π archival When JFK Pledged PKT Fallen president was pinned in Worcester during 1958 fraternity rush SHORTLY BEFORE the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, a never-before-seen flm of the future president was re- discovered by the Phi Kappa Theta fraternity chapter at WPI. In the 16-mm flm, which is less than two minutes long, then-Senator Ken- nedy is shown receiving a pledge pin from Donald Ferrari '59, president of Phi Kappa Theta (then Theta Kappa Phi), on the night of Oct. 2, 1958, at the Worcester Armory. In addition to Senator Kennedy, future First Lady Jackie Kennedy and JFK's brother Robert Kennedy can be seen in the footage. At that time, Theta Kappa Phi was dubbed a "national fraternity for Catholic men." Since Kennedy was Catholic—and later became the frst Catholic president of the United States—the video holds historical signifcance. The footage surfaced about 10 years ago, when Frank Pakulski '59, now living in Vermont, was preparing to move to a new house. He came across a reel of flm marked "PKT Pledging" and recalled that Kennedy's visit oc- curred on the same day as the fall rushing for the fraternity. Pakulski played the flm and was astonished to see history relived. The video was shown last fall to current and past members of WPI's PKT chapter and made headlines in the days leading up to the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's assassination. Len Dutram '59, now living in Pennsylvania, had the duty of keeping JFK, RFK, and Jackie Kennedy occupied at the Armory until the fraternity rushing concluded at 9 p.m. To this day, Dutram often asks himself, "Did that really happen?" U.S. Sen. John F. Kennedy receives a pledge pin from WPI fraternity Phi Kappa Theta (then Theta Kappa Phi) president Donald Ferrari '59 on Oct. 2, 1958, at the Worcester Armory. speed counts Selecting Fastest Sperm to Improve IVF Each year, more than 70 million couples around the world fnd that they are unable to conceive. Nearly a third of the time, the cause is insuffcient or lackluster sperm. In such cases, in vitro fertil- ization (IVF) can help, but for it to have a chance of success sperm must be sorted and only the most active, or motile, cells used. Laboratory techniques are often used to try to amplify the supply of peppy swimmers, but they have not proved especially effective, and one common method can damage sperm DNA. A new technology being developed by a re- search team at WPI and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston promises to effectively sort sperm, and to do so in a safe and simple way. The method involves placing the sperm in a mi- crofuidic chip, a device with a tiny, meandering, fuid-flled channel. A sample is inserted in one end and the sperm are allowed to swim down this microscopic racetrack. After a suitable peri- od, the most active swimmers are recovered from the other end. The chips are being developed at Brigham and Women's in close collaboration with Erkan Tüzel, assistant professor of physics at WPI, who uses advanced mathematical models and high- powered computer simulations to analyze and predict how sperm swim under varying conditions. Tuzel recently received a three-year, $293,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to use his models and simulations to optimize the design of the sperm-sorting chips. Based on his work, the team at Brigham and Women's will build and test new devices. The collaboration has already produced promising results. In a paper published in May 2013 in the journal Small, the WPI/Brigham and Women's team reported that in trials with mouse and human sperm, the microfuidic channels yielded sperm with signifcantly higher motility and produced samples with a greater concentration of highly motile sperm than the current lab techniques. "We will use the NSF funds to build on our research," Tüzel says, "and develop clever microfuidic designs that will be even more effective in sorting sperm and improving the success of assisted reproductive technologies." WPI_spring14_FOB.indd 12 3/9/14 11:55 AM