[act-ma] Energy (and Other) Events

George Mokray gmoke at world.std.com
Sun Mar 7 18:26:05 PST 2010


MIT

Monday, March 08, 2010
Building Technology Lecture Series/Next Generation Structural Design:  
Lightweight and Bionic Structures in Research and Education
Speaker: Annette Boegle, Dr.-Ing., Assistant Professor, Institute of  
Structural and Conceptual Design, TU-Berlin

Time: 12:30p–2:00p

Location: 7-431, AVT

Building Technology Lecture Series

Next Generation Structural Design: Lightweight and Bionic Structures  
in Research and Education

Globalization, environmental challenges, and computing have a large  
impact on society and increasingly require new solutions from  
engineers. Lightweight and bionic structural concepts like the first  
carbon fiber stress ribbon bridge or the bionic principle of the  
FinRay are such new solutions currently being developed at the  
Institute for Structural and Conceptual Design at TU Berlin. But as  
important as new solutions derived from research in new materials and  
advanced design tools is a new creative way of thinking in structural  
design, which in turn also demands new concepts in education. TU- 
Berlin has developed a new approach to teaching conceptual and  
structural design based on the following skills: perception,  
communication and criticism.

Annette Boegle is closely collaborating with the engineering company  
Schlaich Bergermann und Partner Berlin. She is Vice President of the  
German Society for the Art of Engineering, member and author in the  
committee for Historic Signs of the Art of Engineering of the German  
Federal Engineering Society and curator of the exhibition, "High  
Energy ? Ingenieurbaukultur, J?rg Schlaich and Rudolf Bergermann? at  
the National Academy of Arts, Berlin, Germany. She holds an  
engineering diploma and PhD degree from the Univ of Stuttgart.  
Recently she was a Fulbright scholar at Princeton Univ, Dept of Civil  
and Environmental Engineering.

Open to: the general public

Cost: Free

Sponsor(s): Department of Architecture, MIT Building Technology, MIT  
Civil and Environmental Engineering

For more information, contact:
Alexandra Mulcahy
617 253 0463
amulcahy at mit.edu



Monday, March 08, 2010

ACT Lecture Series: Peter Schumann with John Bell, moderator
Speaker: Peter Schumann with John Bell, moderator

Time: 7:00p–9:00p

Location: E15-070

The Theatrical / The Performative / The Transformative
The Theatrical. The Performative. The Transformative. is a lecture  
series introducing key figures whose artistic practice is situated at  
the intersection of performance art, avant garde dance, and activist  
theater. Focusing on time-based and ephemeral formats that navigate  
between art, film, theater and dance, the series juxtaposes speakers  
of different generations and backgrounds who share an interest in  
feminist discourses and politics.

The series this spring is dedicated to Joan Jonas, a pioneer in video  
and performance art, and the 2010 recipient of the Gyorgy Kepes  
Fellowship Prize presented by the Council for the Arts at MIT on April  
15, 2010.

The lecture series is directed by Associate Professor Ute Meta Bauer,  
Director of the MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology (ACT) in  
collaboration with Professor Joan Jonas, and Lecturer Amber Frid- 
Jimenez.

The Bread and Puppet Theater
Peter Schumann with John Bell, moderator
Peter Schumann, legendary founder of The Bread and Puppet Theater will  
present a short ?fiddle lecture? illustrated with cantastoria banners.  
Moderator John Bell, long-time collaborator of Bread and Puppet  
Theater, will discuss with Schumann the theater?s use of public space,  
technology, the concept of progress, and the relations between puppet  
theater and modernism. The evening will end with a drum and fiddle  
performance. John Bell, a fellow at MIT Program in Art, Culture and  
Technology, is a puppeteer, scholar, and teacher.


Web site: http://visualarts.mit.edu/about/lecture.html

Open to: the general public

Sponsor(s): MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology, Council for  
the Arts at MIT

For more information, contact:
Meg Rotzel
617.253.4415
mrotzel at mit.edu



Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Steward Pickett: "The Creation and Use of Ecological Space: A  
Biologist's Perspective from the Wild to the Urban"
Speaker: Steward Pickett

Time: 12:00p–2:00p

Location: E14-633

Steward Pickett's work has spanned a wide variety of ecological  
systems, ranging from the dynamics of abandoned agricultural fields,  
natural disturbance in old-growth forest, landscape ecology, and two  
decades of urban ecology. This talk explores the conceptual unity in  
this wide array of topics: the generation and significance of spatial  
heterogeneity in the function of ecological systems. Urban ecological  
research is the most complex expression of this interest, and is  
poised for deeper integration with urban design and planning.

Following the talk, join us for a brief reception.

Open to: the general public

Sponsor(s): Department of Urban Studies and Planning

For more information, contact:
Ezra Glenn
617-253-2024
eglenn at mit.edu


Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Transportation in Contemporary Society: A Complex Systems Approach
Speaker: Joseph Sussman, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Time: 4:00p–5:00p

Location: 3-270

Transportation at MIT Seminar Series

In Spring 2010, the Transportation at MIT seminar series continues by  
drawing knowledge from MIT research that is applicable to  
transportation. Our goal is to strengthen the community of MIT  
researchers by sharing information in the following areas: airlines,  
automation, behavior and economics, energy sources, environmental  
impacts, logistics and supply chains, networks, propulsion, system  
control, urban challenges, and vehicles.


Web site: http://transportation.mit.edu/events.php

Open to: the general public

Cost: Free Admission to MIT and General Public

Sponsor(s): Transportation at MIT

For more information, contact:
Rebecca Fearing
transportation at mit.edu



Wednesday, March 10, 2010

New Orleans: Post Katrina | Is the Planning Profession Colonizing the  
Gulf Coast?
Time: 12:30p–2:00p

Location: 9-450

DUSP Speaker Series
Weekly Lecture Series of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning.  
Light lunch served.

The New Orleans module of the DUSP Speaker Series, entitled 'Cambridge  
and the Gulf Coast: Assessing Planning's Effectiveness and Envisioning  
the Future,' is an initiative led by an informal group of students at  
MIT who have worked, lived, or are interested in the region and call  
themselves NOLA at MIT (NOLA = New Orleans, Louisiana). Among other  
things, the group attempts to compile MIT's work in the Gulf Coast,  
from across the Institute, here:http://nola.mit.edu/wiki/Main_Page.

The Speaker Series module is from March 3 - March 10, and will serve  
as an opportunity to reflect on MIT's engagement, as we near the five  
year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and envision the role of  
planning going forward. The Series will also serve as a lead-in to the  
American Planning Association (APA) Conference in New Orleans in April  
of this year. The event is free and open to the public.


Web site: http://nola.mit.edu/wiki/Main_Page

Open to: the general public

Sponsor(s): Department of Urban Studies and Planning

For more information, contact:
Ezra Glenn
617-253-2024
eglenn at mit.edu



Wednesday, March 10, 2010

"Blended Learning Revisited", a MacVicar Day Presentation by Dr. John  
Seely Brown
Speaker: John Seely Brown, Ph.D.

Time: 2:15p–4:00p

Location: 32-141

Each year, MacVicar Day honors the memory of Margaret MacVicar '64,  
Sc.D. '67, MIT's first Dean for Undergraduate Education and Student  
Life, by recognizing the significant achievements made at MIT to  
enhance undergraduate education and by exploring the next steps forward.

Dr. John Seely Brown (http://www.johnseelybrown.com/) describes his  
presentation: "Blended learning hints at an interesting ontological  
shift that shifts the emphasis from acquiring knowledge to indwelling  
-- an important construct for honoring the tacit. However, we want to  
extend this shift even more and discuss how looking at learning  
through the combined lenses of homo sapiens,homo faber and homo ludens  
suggests a learning milieu that might be particularly well suited for  
a world of constant flux such as the digital age has brought us."

Professor John Belcher (Physics) and Professor Dava Newman  
(Aeronautics & Astronautics) will offer responses to the presentation,  
followed by time for audience Q&A.

All are welcome!

Open to: the general public

Sponsor(s): MacVicar Fellows, Office of the Dean for Undergraduate  
Education, Teaching and Learning Laboratory

For more information, contact:
Dan Nocivelli
3-2850
book at mit.edu



Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Last Interglacial Sea Level: A new assessment and implications for the  
next millennium
Speaker: Dr. Bob Kopp

Time: 4:00p–5:00p

Location: 54-915

EAPS Department Lecture Series


Web site: http://eapsweb.mit.edu/news/dls.html

Open to: the general public

Cost: 0.00

Sponsor(s): Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences

For more information, contact:
Jacqui Taylor
253-2127
jtaylor at mit.edu



Wednesday, March 10, 2010

IEEE Spring 2010 "Moving Toward a Smarter Electric Grid"
Time: 6:00p–9:30p

Location: MIT Lincoln Laboratory Cafeteria, 244 Wood Street,  
Lexington, MA

IEEE Moving Toward a Smarter Electric Grid Lecture Series

The IEEE Boston Section and MIT is organizing "Moving Toward a Smarter  
Electric Grid" Session 2:Smart Grid Entrepreneur-ing.
Smart Grid Entrepreneur-ing is the first of several detailed technical  
meetings in our Moving Toward a Smarter Electric Grid series which  
will culminate in a special event, September 2010 at the IEEE  
Conference on Innovative Technologies for an Efficient and Reliable  
Electricity.


Web site:http://www.ieeeboston.org/edu/class_room/2010_spring/smart_grid.html

Open to: the general public

Sponsor(s): MIT IEEE

For more information, contact:
Linda Scott
l.scott at ieee.org



Thursday, March 11, 2010

MIT Energy Club Lecture Series: Adam Hirsch Dave Boettcher, Next Step  
Living - Energy Audits
Time: 6:00p–7:00p

Location: 4-370

The MIT Energy Club Lecture Series presents Adam Hirsch and Dave  
Boettcher from Next Step Living. They will give a presentation on the  
technical aspects of residential energy audits.

Brief outline of lecture:

"A Home as A System"
-Building envelope/Stack effect & the role of energy efficiency &  
weatherization
-Blower door & Infrared camera: working in conjunction, mechanics, and  
quantifiable insights and action
-Energy usage software model: quantifying appropriate next energy  
efficiency steps and estimating savings
-Next Step Living: where we are and where we're going

Open to: the general public

Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Club

For more information, contact:
MIT Energy Club
energyclub at mit.edu



Friday, March 12, 2010

Computation Lecture: Reflexive Architecture Machines
Speaker: Omar Khan

Time: 12:30p–2:00p

Location: 3-133

Computation Lecture Series

This lecture is part of the Computation Lecture Series at the  
Department of Architecture.

Open to: the general public

Sponsor(s): Computation Group Events

For more information, contact:
Daniela Stoudenkova
danielas at mit.edu



Friday, March 12, 2010

Buddhism and the natural environment - FREE DINNER and enlightened  
discussion
Speaker: Applied Nichiren Buddhism staffs

Time: 6:00p–7:30p

Location: 56-191

Come find out about Buddhist perspectives on environmental  
preservation and also how we as individuals can change ourselves and  
in doing so, change the fate of our environment and society as a whole.


Web site: https://sites.google.com/site/appliedbuddhism/

Open to: the general public

Cost: free!!!

Sponsor(s): Applied Nichiren Buddhism

For more information, contact:
Chanikarn Wongviriyawong
applied.buddhism at mit.edu



Friday, March 12, 2010

A Discussion on LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL DISASTER RELIEF
Speaker: Dan Wieland

Time: 7:00p–8:00p

Location: 66-110

DAN WIELAND, American Red Cross Disaster Response and Volunteer  
Specialist of Massachusetts Bay will discuss the relief efforts of the  
American Red Cross both on a local and international scale. He will  
also touch upon the current relief efforts in Haiti.

A Q&A session will follow the presentation, along with a Finale's  
dessert reception. A suggested donation of $5 will go towards the  
American Red Cross Disaster Services of Mass Bay.


Web site: web.mit.edu/arctan

Open to: the general public

Sponsor(s): American Red Cross Team and Network, UA Finboard

For more information, contact:
ARCTAN
arctan-exec at mit.edu


Harvard

Reality Check: How the Facts of Life on a Tough New Planet Shape Our  
Choices

WHEN
Mon., Mar. 8, 2010, 5:15 – 7 p.m.
WHERE
Sperry Room, Andover Hall, 45 Francis Ave.
TYPE OF EVENT
Environmental Sciences, Ethics, Humanities, Presentation/Lecture,  
Religion
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR
The Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity  
School, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, the Harvard  
University Center for the Environment, and the Initiative on Religion  
in International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School
SPEAKER(S)
Bill McKibben, scholar in residence at Middlebury College and American  
environmentalist and writer who frequently writes about global  
warming, alternative energy, and the risks associated with human  
genetic engineering. A response will be given by Daniel Schrag,  
professor of earth and planetary sciences and director of the Harvard  
University Center for the Environment.
COST
Free; registration required
CONTACT INFO
617.495.4476, resterson at hds.harvard.edu
NOTE
Part of the "Ecologies of Human Flourishing" lecture series.  
Reservations are required for this event. Register online at https://www.hds.harvard.edu/cswr/events/registration.cfm





Film Screening: "Who Killed the Electric Car?"
WHEN
Mon., Mar. 8, 2010, 8 – 9:35 p.m.
WHERE
Aldrich 107, Harvard Business School
TYPE OF EVENT
Environmental Sciences, Film, Science, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR
HBS Green Living Program
COST
Free
CONTACT INFO
carol_healy at harvard.edu
NOTE
"Who Killed the Electric Car?" is a 2006 documentary film that  
explores the creation, limited commercialization, and subsequent  
destruction of the battery electric vehicle in the United States,  
specifically the General Motors EV1 of the early 1990s. The film  
explores the roles of automobile manufacturers, the oil industry, the  
U.S. government, the Californian government, batteries, hydrogen  
vehicles, and consumers in limiting the development and adoption of  
this technology.
LINK
http://www.green.harvard.edu/hbs/green-living

Wednesday, March 10, 6:00 pm
JFK Jr. Forum, Harvard Institute of Politics

Digital Governance -- From the State House to the White HouseAneesh  
Chopra: United States CTO; Ann Margulies: CIO, Commonwealth of  
Massachusetts; Teri Takai: CIO, State of California Event Moderator:  
Jerry Mechling: Lecturer in Public Policy, HKS
The Berkman Center will co-sponsor a panel discussion with chief  
technology officers and information officers from the White House,  
State of CA, and State of MA. Panelists include:

	• Aneesh Chopra: United States CTO;
	• Ann Margulies: CIO, Commonwealth of Massachusetts;
	• Teri Takai: CIO, State of California
	• Event Moderator: Jerry Mechling: Lecturer in Public Policy, HKS
Event CoSponsors: Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Rappaport,  
Taubman Center, Gov 2.0 PIC, Asian-Pacific American Caucus, ALANA,  
Shorenstein Center



Boston University

Water and Life: The Role of Energy"

We have all been taught that water has three phases: solid, liquid and  
vapor. But it was recently uncovered what appears to be a fourth  
phase. This phase occurs next to water-loving (hydrophilic) surfaces.  
It is surprisingly extensive, projecting out from the surface  
sometimes by up to millions of molecular layers. Of particular  
significance is the observation that this fourth phase is charged.

Pizza served at 11:45 AM

Speaker(s): Gerald H. Pollack, University of Washington
When
Monday, Mar 8, 2010 at 12:00pm
Where
Metcalf Science Center, 590 Commonwealth Avenue (SCI 352)
Who
Open to General Public
Admission is free
wsomers at bu.edu


Tufts

March 11, 3:00 PM to 4:15 PM
Soft Robots by Design

Location: Medford/Somerville Campus
Anderson Hall
Nelson Auditorium
Description: Senior Lecturer, Gary Leisk of Tufts Mechanical  
Engineering Department will present on "Soft Robots by Design".

Harvard Coop Bookstore

3/9/2010
This Will Change Everything
Discussion with Contributors from
This Will Change Everything: Ideas that will Shape the Future.
Seth Lloyd, Moderator is a quantum-mechanical engineer at MIT,
Dimitar Sasselov is a Professor of Astronomy at Harvard,
Neil Gershenfeld is a physicist at MIT,
Sherry Turkle is a Professor of the Social Studies of Science  
&Technology at MIT,
Frank Wilczek is a professor of physics at MIT & Irene Pepperberg is a  
research associate in psychology at Harvard.
Time: 07:00 PM-08:00 PM
Location: Level 3

Museum of Science

HOW TO MAKE (ALMOST) ANYTHING
Cahners Theater
With Neil Gershenfeld, director, MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms. This  
presentation is part of the ongoing series DIY.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 | 7:00 pm
Give ordinary people the right tools, and they will design and build  
the most extraordinary things. That's the idea behind Fab Labs, an  
idea hatched by star physicist and DIY enthusiast Neil Gershenfeld,  
who teaches a wildly popular course at MIT called How To Make (almost)  
Anything.

Fab Labs provide access to prototype tools for personal fabrication,  
like a PC that can output functional objects instead of images on a  
screen. The labs have spread from their start in inner-city Boston to  
the bottom of Africa and the top of Norway, with projects tackling  
applications in areas including healthcare, agriculture, housing, and  
communications.

Join Dr. Gershenfeld for a peek at the science behind Fab Labs, an  
introduction to machines that make machines, and a tour around the  
world to see how these tools are transforming how people live, work,  
and play.


Seating is limited. Passes are available in the Museum lobby beginning  
at 5:45 p.m. on the day of the program. First come, first served.  
Museum members may reserve a limited number of seating passes in  
advance.

Top photo courtesy of Fab Lab Barcelona. Photo at right © Claus  
Mroczynski.

At our March programs, check out homemade DIY kits by artist Lisa  
Gross, founder of the Urban Homesteaders' League in Cambridge, MA.  
Learn how to make your own yogurt, skincare products, natural cleaning  
supplies, and more at home.


Fee: Free


This program is part of the DIY series, in which you can "Do It  
Yourself" with new programs devoted to personal empowerment, good  
health, and fresh food at your fingertips. Admission to this program  
is free thanks to the generosity of the Lowell Institute. Additional  
funding for this program provided by the National Endowment for the  
Humanities Fund.



March 9-11, 2010

The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association Presents  Building Energy10

Meet the Professionals in Sustainability and Whole Systems Thinking

Conference and Trade Show

Seaport World Trade Center Boston, 200 Seaport Blvd., Boston, MA 02210  
telephone 800.440.3318



Tuesday, March 9, 6:00pm-8:00pm
Tabling starts at 5:00pm

Case Studies of the Way Forward: Creative Responses to the Coming Crises

Climate change, peak oil and economic turmoil got you down? Join the  
discussion of successful strategies which are at work right now in  
communities next door to your own. Our three panelists, author Sharon  
Astyk, Transition Towns activist Tina Clarke, and building scientist  
Linda Wigington show how creativity and practical action are choices  
that work better for changing our future than resignation,  
victimization and despair.

Our MODERATOR this year will be Mr. John Abrams, who's agreed to steer  
the conversation for us. Our PANEL of three will focus on three  
(concentric) circles of action and activism: community, home, and  
practice.
Panelists:

Tina Clarke (Transition Towns US, www.transitiontowns.org, www.transitionus.org 
)
Sharon Astyk (A Nation of Farmers, Independence Days)
Linda Wigington (The Thousand Home Challenge)

Join us in welcoming an important group of organizations that will be  
present from 5:00pm-6:00pm and 8:00pm-9:00pm at the Public Forum.  
Please visit their tables in the Amphitheater and the Mezzanine  
lobbies of the Seaport World Trade center before and after the event.

Bikes Not Bombs
Boston Climate Action Network
Building Materials Resource Center
Cambridge Energy Alliance
Co-op Power
Emerging Green Builders - USGBC-MA
The Green Roundtable / NEXUS
Home Energy Efficiency Team (HEET)
Massachusetts Coalition for Healthy Communities
Metro Pedal Power
Students for a Just and Stable Future
Young Professionals in Energy - Boston






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