Editing Stata Center (section)

==Description==
[[File:View out the window of the Stata Center (20 July 2004).jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|View from an upper-floor window]]
[[File:MIT Stata Center self-reflection.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Stata Center self reflection]]
In contrast to the MIT custom of referring to buildings by their numbers rather than their official names, the complex is usually referred to as "Stata" or "the Stata Center" (though the building number is still essential in identifying rooms at MIT). Above the fourth floor, the building splits into two distinct structures: the Gates Tower and the Dreyfoos Tower, often called "G Tower" and "D Tower" respectively.

The building has a number of small auditoriums and classrooms used by the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department (EECS, Course 6), as well as other departments and on-campus groups.  Research labs and offices of the [[MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory|Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory]] (CSAIL), the [[MIT Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems|Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems]] (LIDS), as well as the Department of [[Linguistics]] and [[Philosophy]] (Course 24) occupy the upper floors. Academic celebrities such as [[Noam Chomsky]], [[Ron Rivest]], and [[World Wide Web Consortium]] founder [[Tim Berners-Lee]] also have offices in the building.

A wide main passage running the length of the building on the ground floor is called the [[Charles M. Vest]] Student Street, in honor of the former MIT president who died in December 2013.<ref name=Chandler>{{cite news|last=Chandler|first=David L.|title=MIT community celebrates the life of Charles M. Vest|url=http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/mit-community-celebrates-the-life-of-charles-m-vest-0307|access-date=2014-05-17|newspaper=MIT News|date=March 7, 2014}}</ref> The Student Street is often used as a more-spacious substitute or extension for the Memorial Lobby located in Building 10 on the [[Infinite Corridor]].  The monthly "Choose to Re-use" community recycling swap fest, and a weekly fresh produce market are other events regularly held in the Stata Center. One of five MIT Technology Childcare Centers (TCC) is located at the western end of the ground floor.  The Forbes Family Cafe is located at the eastern end, and serves coffee and lunch to the public during office hours.

The [[MIT Museum]] maintains some historic displays on the ground floor of the Stata Center. A few selected larger relics of past [[MIT hacks|hacks]] (student pranks) are now on semi-permanent display, including a "fire hose" drinking fountain, a giant [[slide rule]], and full-size replicas of a cow and a police car that had been placed atop the Great Dome (though not at the same time). In the ground floor elevator lobby of the Dreyfoos Tower are located a large [[time capsule]] box plus informational panels describing MIT's historic [[Building 20]], which the Stata Center has replaced.

A large [[Digi-Comp II]] mechanical digital computer which operates with [[billiard ball]]s is located in the ground floor elevator lobby of the Gates Tower. Also located there is ''Flow'', a large multicolor art display created by Karl Sims (an MIT alumnus and [[MacArthur Fellow|MacArthur "genius"]]), which is activated by visitors' movements as detected by a [[Microsoft Kinect]] sensor.<ref>{{cite web |title=F L O W by Karl Sims |url=https://www.csail.mit.edu/about/stata-center/flow |website=MIT CSAIL |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology |access-date=2023-05-08}}</ref><ref name="Sims">{{cite web |last1=Sims |first1=Karl |title=Flow - interactive visual effects by Karl Sims |url=http://www.karlsims.com/flow.html |website=www.karlsims.com |access-date=2023-05-08}}</ref>

Major funding for the Stata Center was provided by [[Ray Stata]] (MIT class of 1957) and Maria Stata. [[Bill Gates]] donated US$20 million, causing MIT to name one tower the "Gates Building."<ref>{{cite web |last=Chun |first=Matthew G.H. |title=Bill Gates Donates $20 million to MIT |url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1999/4/14/bill-gates-donates-20-million-to/ |work=The Harvard Crimson  |access-date=April 6, 2014 |date=April 14, 1999}}</ref> Other major funders included [[Alexander W. Dreyfoos Jr.]] (MIT class of 1954), Charles Thomas "E.B." Pritchard Hintze (an MIT graduate, and of [[JD Edwards]], now [[Oracle Corporation]]), [[Morris Chang]] of [[TSMC]]. and [[Michael Dertouzos]].