PV Gap

Yvonne Said:

What are my chances (very good, good, fair, or poor) of getting into MIT?

We Answered:

You sound like an excellent candidate, and I'd say your chances are good, but not certain by any means. The truth is, a place like MIT has many, many, excellent candidates and sometimes their decisions are almost coin tosses. It appears you are ethnically Indian, which puts you in the unfortunate category of being in one of the most statistically overrepresented ethnic categories, so it works against you as they might be just a tad more eager to get someone with your stellar qualities who is also in a less well-represented ethnic group. Nonetheless, from what you describe, you are a very strong candidate. Your music, acting, guitar-playing, and community activities make you more than just your typical supersmart guy. But make sure you consider Carnegie Mellon, CalTech, Stanford, and UC Berkeley too!

Courtney Said:

What can you tell me about Biodiesel?

We Answered:

I can tell you Vin Diesel is one sexy mofo

Ivan Said:

Alternative Fuels?

We Answered:

The Advanced Energy Initiative seeks to reduce our dependence on imported oil. As part of President Bush’s 2007 budget submitted to Congress in February, $2.1 billion has been requested to invest in new energy technologies including hydrogen, hybrid battery technologies, biomass and cellulosic ethanol, to name a few.

Already there are millions of cars on the road that can use ethanol-based fuel, called E-85. It’s called E-85 because 85% of the fuel is ethanol and 15% is gasoline. I would encourage all Americans to look in their owner’s manual to see if their car is a flex-fuel vehicle and it if can run on E-85. Or, if you’re buying a new car, ask the dealer if the car can run on ethanol.

What we need to do now, and what the President wants to do, is find more feedstock from which we can produce ethanol. Currently we use about 14% of our nation’s corn crop to produce ethanol. If funded by Congress, the Advanced Energy Initiative will invest $150 million in research into cellulosic ethanol to see how we can use non-edible bio-products like corn stover (the corn stalk), woodchips, and switchgrass to produce fuel.

Already we use about 4 billion gallons of ethanol a year in the U.S. By the end of this year we’ll probably get up to about 5.5 billion gallons. If we can increase that even more, we can reduce our dependence on foreign sources of fuel and also loosen our overall need for crude oil – which we hope would have a moderating affect on prices.

More information on the Advanced Energy Initiative can be found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/stateoftheunio…