[act-ma] Energy (and Other) Events - December 3, 2017
gmoke
gmoke at world.std.com
Sun Dec 3 09:29:21 PST 2017
Energy (and Other) Events is a weekly mailing list published most Sundays covering events around the Cambridge, MA and greater
Boston area that catch the editor's eye.
Hubevents http://hubevents.blogspot.com is the web version.
If you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe to Energy (and Other) Events email gmoke at world.std.com
What I Do and Why I Do It: The Story of Energy (and Other) EventsGeo
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-i-do-and-why-i-do-it.html
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Details of these events are available when you scroll past the index
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Index
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Monday, December 4
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12pm PAOC Colloquium: Caroline Ummenhofer (WHOI)
12pm Mitigation Versus Solar Geoengineering: Role of Risk Aversion and Time Preference
12:10pm Trade-offs in Evolutionary Ecology
5pm Contested Environments: India’s Environmental Movement and the Politics of Change
6pm Fake News: Looking Critically at Modern Journalism
6pm Judith Barry: A Discussion of Several Research-Based Projects
6pm The Future History of Wine and Beer
6pm Future of Immersive Computing at Autodesk and HP's Mars Home Planet initiative
6:30pm Compassion meditation: How it changes the brain and improves stress resilience
7pm Of Monarchs and Milkweed: A Story of Coevolution, Cultural History, and Conservation
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Tuesday, December 5 – Thursday, December 7
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2017 Community Food Systems Conference
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Tuesday, December 5
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7am Boston TechBreakfast: Advance2000, VQL, SMACAR Solutions, Perfectosoft, Exact Finance, Inc.
10am Rwandan Women Rising: Lessons for Global Stability
12pm Global Health & Ethical Challenges Panel: Get Good Stuff Done
12pm Big Hunger: The Unholy Alliance between Corporate America and Anti-Hunger Groups
12pm Black Users, Enclaving, and Methodological Challenges in a Shifting Digital Landscape
12:30pm THE HEALTH DATA REVOLUTION: Improving Outcomes, Protecting Privacy
1:30pm XCONOMY PRESENTS: WHAT’S HOT IN CYBERSECURITY
2pm Design Thinking with and for Children: From Human-Computer Interaction to Strategic Leadership for Change
3pm Connecticut’s Low- and Moderate-Income Solar Customer Segmentation Analysis
5pm Jorge Cham from PhD Comics: Communicating Your Research
5:30pm Net Neutrality Realities: Decoding the Hype
5:30pm Marijuana Technology
6pm 7TH ANNUAL STREETTALK 10-IN-1
7pm Cambridge Forum: Race Still Matters
7pm Civic Leadership Forum: "Diversity in Public Service”
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Wednesday, December 6
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12pm Conventional Conflicts with Nuclear-Armed Powers: Prospects for Escalation Control
3:30pm China's Top 1000 and 10,000 Energy-Consuming Enterprises Program: Effectiveness, Compliance, and Lessons
4pm The Tanner Lectures on Human Values: Bryan Stevenson, Social Justice Action: How We Change the World
5:30pm MIT FinTech $10K Business Plan Competition, 2017
6pm Nick Montfort, The Future
6pm X years later: Japanese Documentary Screening with Reception and Discussion
7pm Editing Our Evolution: Rewriting the Human Genome
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Thursday, December 7 & Friday, December 8
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Northeastern North America Climate Summit
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Thursday, December 7
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10am PIC Meeting Pipeline Protest
11:45am Does Cleaner Air Injure Workers? The Effect of Stricter Environmental Regulations on Firms' Occupational Health and Safety Performance
12pm The impact of airports on air and life quality in surrounding communities
12pm Data Science to Solve Social Problems — Bayes Impact
2pm Can India’s Future Needs of Electricity be met by Renewable Energy Sources?
2:50pm Holding Algorithms Accountable
4pm How We Connect: the Biology of Friendship
4:30pm How the struggle to define magic shaped the modern world
5pm The Emotional Politics of Piracy, Or Why We Feel Intellectual Property Infringement as National Trauma
5:30pm The Ecologies of Film Noir; or, Learning How to Die in the Anthropocene
5:30pm The Social Innovation Forum's 14th Annual Winter Reception
6pm authors at MIT - Joi Ito with Tim O'Reilly, WTF: What's the Future and Why It's Up to Us
6:30pm The Resistance Movement: What antibiotic resistance means for medicine
7pm Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News
7pm Society of Professional Journalists Panel: Covering Sexual Assault
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Friday, December 8
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11am Design and Effectiveness of Public Health Subsidies in Less Developed Countries
12pm Atmospheric and Environmental Chemistry Seminar
12pm IoT Disruption in the Digital Economy
12:30pm Race, Politics, and Social Media: A Symposium
3pm 2017 Hottel Lecture: "The Clean Energy Transformation”
5pm MIT D-Lab Fall Student Showcase
7pm Winona LaDuke: Celebrating a Decade of Community Conversations
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Saturday, December 9
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7pm Playing For The Planet
7:30pm Ubuntu - A Celebration of South Africa
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Sunday, December 10
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6pm Biochar Practitioner Todd Breitenstein on Living Soils and Growing with Biochar
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Monday, December 11
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8:30am Privacy Tools for Data Sharing: Lessons Learned and Directions Forward
10am The Intersection of IoT and Robotics: How Sensors, Data, and Intelligence Are Redefining Industry
12pm PAOC Colloquium: Alison Gray (Princeton)
12pm Geoff Mulgan -- Big Mind: How Collective Intelligence Can Change Our World
12:10pm Plasticity in Polygonum: Eco-Devo Insights to Adaptive Diversity
6pm The Vanity Fair Diaries: 1983–1992
6pm Reality and Truth in Contemporary Journalism
6pm Film Screening: Sneak Preview of Laws of the Lizard + Q&A with Filmmakers
6pm Climate Ready Boston South Boston Open House
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Tuesday, December 12
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12pm A Pessimist’s Guide to the Future of Technology
5pm Achieving the Paris climate goals: The engine of ambition
5:15pm Lived Botany: Settler Colonialism, Household Knowledge Production, and Natural History in Eighteenth-Century Pennsylvania
5:30pm Passive House MA @Northeastern University
6pm CABA & Climate XChange's Holiday Party
6pm Mass Innovation Nights 105: Relativity Whiskey at WeWork Mass Ave
6pm Boston New Technology Startup Showcase #BNT84 (21+)
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My rough notes on some of the events I go to and notes on books I’ve read are at:
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com
Solar Backpack and Bicycle Back Up
http://solarray.blogspot.com/2017/11/solar-backpack-and-bicycle-back-up.html
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Monday, December 4
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PAOC Colloquium: Caroline Ummenhofer (WHOI)
Monday, December 4
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Building 54-923, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
About the Speaker
Caroline Ummenhofer’s lab works all over the world, including Australia, East Africa, India, Indian Ocean, the Indo-Pacific and North Atlantic region, Southeast Asia, and the Southern Hemisphere extratropics. We are looking primarily at climate variability and change in the hydrological cycle, with an eye towards rainfall variability and drought, Indian Ocean and monsoon dynamics, impacts of climate on agriculture and health, and biological-physical interactions.
About this Series
The PAOC Colloquium is a weekly interdisciplinary seminar series that brings together the whole PAOC community. Seminar topics include all research concerning the physics, chemistry, and biology of the atmospheres, oceans and climate, but also talks about e.g. societal impacts of climatic processes. The seminars generally take place on Monday from 12-1pm. Lunch is provided to encourage students and post-docs to meet with the speaker. Besides the seminar and lunch, individual meetings with professors, post-docs, and students are arranged.
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Mitigation Versus Solar Geoengineering: Role of Risk Aversion and Time Preference
Monday, December 4
12:00PM TO 1:30PM
Harvard, Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
with Mariia Belaia, Post-doctoral Fellow, John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard. Lunch is provided.
Energy Policy Seminar
https://sites.hks.harvard.edu/m-rcbg/cepr/seminar.html#fall2017
Contact Name: Louisa Lund
louisa_lund at hks.harvard.edu
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Trade-offs in Evolutionary Ecology
Monday, December 4
12:10PM
Arnold Arboretum, Weld Hill Lecture Hall, 1300 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain
Anurag Agrawal, Professor, Cornell University
Arnold Arboretum Research Talk
https://www.arboretum.harvard.edu/research/research-talks/
Contact Name: arbweb at arnarb.harvard.edu
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Contested Environments: India’s Environmental Movement and the Politics of Change
Monday, December 4
5:00PM TO 7:00PM
Harvard, Emerson Hall, Room 105, 25 Quincy Street, Cambridge
The STS Program at HKS presents a lecture by Sunita Narain, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, and a panel discussion featuring Sunil Amrith, Mehra Family Professor of South Asian Studies, Harvard University; Jody Freeman, Archibald Cox Professor of Law and Director, Environmental Law Program, Harvard Law School; David S. Jones, A. Bernard Ackerman Professor of the Culture of Medicine, Harvard University, as part of the Science & Democracy Lecture Series.
Abstract: The Indian environmental stories that are making international headlines are the ghastly air pollution and the nation's inability to control filth, garbage and sewage that are overwhelming its cities, rivers and fields. The other narrative linking India to the rest of the world is that India is the major villain in climate change. I ask, can India can beat the pollution game by following the trajectory of the western world? Won't capital and resource-intensive methods of environmental management simply add to the burden of inequality, and so to unsustainability? Also, is India the villain or the victim in international climate politics? Are there lessons in India for the global community in its fight against climate change? I will discuss how democracy and dissent must work together so that the environmentalism of the poor dictates the politics of change. Not just change in India, but change in the world.
Sunita Narain is a writer and environmentalist. In 2016 she was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people. In 2005 she was awarded the Padma Shri (a top civilian state prize) by the Indian government. She also chaired the Tiger Task Force at the direction of the Prime Minister, to evolve an action plan for conservation in the country after the loss of tigers in Sariska. She has received the World Water Prize for work on rainwater harvesting and for its influence in building paradigms for community-based water management. She was a member of the Prime Minister’s Council for Climate Change and the National Ganga River Basin Authority. She has been with the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in New Delhi since 1982. She is currently director general of the Centre, treasurer of the Society for Environmental Communications, and editor of the fortnightly magazine, Down To Earth.
http://sts.hks.harvard.edu/events/lectures/sunita-narain/
Contact Name: Shana Ashar
shana_ashar at hks.harvard.edu
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Fake News: Looking Critically at Modern Journalism
Monday, December 4
6:00pm
Cambridge Community Television, 438 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP to Keaton Fox at 617-661-6900 or email keaton at cctvcambridge.org
Cost: $30 - $60
In this course, we will critically analyze media coverage of current happenings in our world.
We will examine its strengths and weaknesses and the implications these have on our society.
2 sessions - Mondays - December 4th and 11th - 6-9pm with Patricia Egessa
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Judith Barry: A Discussion of Several Research-Based Projects
Monday, December 4
6:00pm to 8:00pm
MIT, ACT Cube (E15-001) 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
Judith Barry utilizes a research-based methodology to explore a wide range of topics. Both the form and the content of her work evolve as the research proceeds. She often makes use of installation, in various forms and including exhibition design, as a way to combine many of her disparate interests. These immersive environments are based on experiments incorporating architecture, sculpture, performance, theatre, film/video/new media, graphics, and interactivity.
Since her first performances in the late 1970’s, Judith Barry has produced unique, habitable, visual environments that are activated by the viewer. Each of her projects aims to provide new ways for engaging conceptually and visually within a space.
This lecture is part of the Program in Art, Culture and Technology (ACT)'s Fall 2017 Lecture Series.
More information at http://act.mit.edu/projects-and-events/lectures-series/about-pages/fall-2017-about-series/
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The Future History of Wine and Beer
Monday, December 4
6pm - 9pm
Café ArtScience, 650 East Kendall Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/Long-Now-Boston/events/245093603/
$15 in advance // $20 at the door//Students w/ID admitted free
Raising the Bar: Libation as an entry point to Education
w/Alex Murray [Legal Sea Food] and Tenzin Samdo [Cafe Art Science]
Have you ever thought of what the introduction of beer and wine was like to an otherwise unsuspecting city, 5000 years ago?
Restauranteurs and beverage designers are using their bully pulpits to build awareness about Global warming and the earthlings whose voices are too often ignored.
Alex Murray, of Legal Sea Foods’ wine unit, fell in love with wine while he was a student in Paris and living with the family of a wine and spirit merchant. One night his French hosts had some close friends over for dinner and invited Alex to partake in a very special meal. A Chateau L'Arrosee 1961 was uncorked and Alex was smitten. He’s spent his life since that Aha! moment trying to find out how a wine could taste that good. It’s become his passion. Alex’s journey goes back 5,000 years to the hillsides and valleys north of Rome, progressing through the discoveries of bacteria and into future technologies for protecting the crop from environmental Green House affects. What’s it like to search for an answer? What’s it like once that search is over?
Tenzin Ramdo, Bar Director and Partner at Cafe Art Science, leverages his position to make responsible and good investments in our future. ArtScience is a place and cultural movement where art experimentation and expression combines with science to pioneer a sustainable human future. The drink program builds culture around cocktails inspired by Altitude and Animals. What flavors are aligned with Bumble Bees that fly higher than Mt. Everest? Spices, fruits, aromas. No plastic straws or paper napkins at CAS…feel good about your ecology affect when you tip one back, take a nip, a snort, a dram, a hit or a snifter. Tenzin has hinted if time exists he’ll demonstrate one of his signature drinks. Vapor anyone?
Come early and schmooze with other attendees. Alex will start at about 7:00. We'll follow all of that up with a Q&A open discussion. We expect to go 'til about 8:30 pm with this conversation. You may even want to hang out longer and grab a drink at the Cafe ArtScience bar or group-up for a dinner table.
Alex Murray is an adjunct professor of wine at Boston University and is on the wine staff at Legal Seafoods. He's worked in many capacities during his career, as a restaurant sommelier and manager, as a wholesale salesperson and marketing manager, as an adjunct professor of wine at Boston University, and for the past eight-plus years helping manage the wine program at Legal Sea Foods. He's visited many of the world's principal wine regions, and has also taught bread baking classes. Alex lives in Quincy with his wife, Jessica and their daughter Pramila and son Santosh.
Tenzin Samdo grew up in India, a Tibetan refugee after his parents escaped Chinese occupation. He came to the United States in 1996 with a rare refugee initiative by the USA and became a high school student in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After studying theater, set design, film, and photography, he began to work in local Cambridge bars, before joining the team of Chef Jody Adams. Tenzin moved on to manage the bar at Tavern Road in Fort Point, where his innovative cocktails received local and national attention, most recently as finalist in the Star of the Bar competition of the National Restaurant Association. He joined Cafe ArtScience to lead the innovative bar program in the summer of 2017, where he is creating an exciting new cocktail menu inspired by global flavors, altitude and exotic animals
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Future of Immersive Computing at Autodesk and HP's Mars Home Planet initiative
Monday, December 4
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Autodesk BUILD Space, 23 Dry Dock Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/Boston-Virtual-Reality/events/244102482/
The present and future of Immersive Computing: Augmented, Mixed and Virtual Reality at Autodesk.
Autodesk’s (http://www.autodesk.com/) mission is to empower our customers to imagine, design and create a better world. Join us at our new Boston location in the Seaport for a presentation by Radha Mistry, Senior Evangelist for VR/AR, to learn how Autodesk is using immersive technologies to accomplish this mission. Our currently available VR offerings (https://www.autodesk.com/solutions/virtual-reality) center around LIVE Design (https://www.autodesk.com/campaigns/livedesign), which allows architects to quickly visualize their designs in VR using the industry leading tools they already use from Autodesk. On the near-term horizon Autodesk is pioneering VR through the development of new interaction techniques and cloud-based collaboration. Learn more about how the advancement of immersive technologies will impact the future of work.
Speaking of missions, how about going to Mars? HP’s Rick Hohman will discuss the newly launched Mars Home Planet initiative. In this collaborative design competition, participants will imagine, create and experience the environment for a sophisticated civilization on Mars. A new home for one million humans. Learn how you can participate in designing buildings and homes, transportation, infrastructure, food sources, and anything else humans will need. Everything will eventually be built into a shared virtual experience. You will have the opportunity to try out some of Autodesk’s unreleased collaborative VR prototypes and HP will be demoing their newly released Z VR Backpack (https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www8.hp.com_us_en_campaigns_vrbackpack_overview.html&d=DwMFaQ&c=76Q6Tcqc-t2x0ciWn7KFdCiqt6IQ7a_IF9uzNzd_2pA&r=rTDVoYMCBrJV7pfjNd8hjRg0NiybuAFqq0a89ZWEMnY&m=7wTcUFb9cF9lGWRqqhrKEQ7jaIPYWbMWeGpl5YTUjWM&s=o1U2g8L4gIV_JK8uqnrtBDe2hwlubc-VTA5t6U84YQ4&e=).
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Compassion meditation: How it changes the brain and improves stress resilience
Monday, December 4
6:30 PM – 8:30 PM EST
Harvard, Smith Campus Center (Bock Room), 75 Mt Auburn Street, 6th floor, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/compassion-meditation-how-it-changes-the-brain-and-improves-stress-resilience-with-gaelle-desbordes-tickets-38299043470
Suggested donation for general attendance is $15. CE credits are available for a fee of $30.
with Gaelle Desbordes, PhD
What is compassion? Can we become better at it? Emerging scientific research suggests that compassion is a skill which can be trained through contemplative practices such as compassion meditation. This presentation will provide an overview of the current state of compassion research, including recent studies suggesting that compassion training may yield to changes in the brain and to improved stress resilience. Challenges associated with measuring compassion will also be discussed.
At the end of this event, participants will be able to:
1. explain how compassion is investigated in the laboratory
2. describe compassion meditation training
3. discuss recent scientific findings on compassion meditation
Gaëlle Desbordes, Ph.D., is on the research faculty at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)-Harvard-MIT Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging. There she investigates different types of meditation practices (e.g. mindful attention, compassion) from a neuroscientific perspective. Her main ongoing study is a clinical trial of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for major depression. As a member of the Mindfulness Research Collaborative, she is also part of a research program to study the impact of mindfulness training on self-regulation and adherence to medical regimen. Her work with David DeSteno and Paul Condon to investigate how meditation training increases compassion was published in the journal Psychological Science and has been featured in the New York Times and on WBUR.
Continuing Education:
Continuing Education (CE) credits available for psychologists, licensed mental health counselors, social workers, marriage and family therapists, and nurses. Please see details at http://meditationandpsychotherapy.org/lecture-series.
Fees:
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Of Monarchs and Milkweed: A Story of Coevolution, Cultural History, and Conservation
Monday, December 4
7:00PM TO 8:30PM
Arnold Arboretum, Hunnewell Building, 125 Arborway, Jamaica Plain
RSVP at https://my.arboretum.harvard.edu/Info.aspx?DayPlanner=1660&DayPlannerDate=12/4/2017
Cost: $0 - $10
The Arnold Arboretum welcomes Anurag Agrawal, PhD, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, who will give a talk on "Of Monarchs and Milkweed: A Story of Coevolution, Cultural History, and Conservation."
What if your host truly didn’t want you to visit? Found you intolerable, in fact, and didn’t want you to stay? You’d think that you’d be kicked out, but that isn’t the case with monarch butterflies and the common milkweed that supports their life cycle. Using striking visual imagery, evolutionary biologist Anurag Agrawal will speak about some of the natural history of monarchs and milkweed, the cultural importance of milkweed’s toxins, and the current predicament of monarch declines. Dr. Agrawal is an award-winning scientist and educator, who has delved deeply into the coevolution of plants and animals. His book, Monarchs and Milkweed: A Migrating Butterfly, a Poisonous Plant, and Their Remarkable Story of Coevolution, will be available for purchase and signing.
Fee Free Arnold Arboretum member and student, $10 nonmember
Register at http://my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.
Contact Name: Pam Thompson
pam_thompson at harvard.edu
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Tuesday, December 5 – Thursday, December 7
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2017 Community Food Systems Conference
Tuesday, December 5, 8:00 AM – Thursday, December 7, 4:00 PM EST
Boston Park Plaza, 50 Park Plaza, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2017-community-food-systems-conference-registration-36585468120
Cost: $50 – $310
Exploring the intersection of food security, social justice, and sustainable agriculture
Conference Highlights
Keynote and plenary sessions on food security, social justice and sustainable agriculture.
Keynote speaker: Winona LaDuke, award-winning environmentalist and political activist working and residing on the White Earth reservation in Northern Minnesota; founder of White Earth Land Recovery Project and the Indigenous Women’s Network; and active author and speaker
Plenary panelists:
Diana Robinson, Campaign and Education Coordinator at Food Chain Workers Alliance, a lead organization of the HEAL Food Alliance
Malik Yakini, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network
Aleya Fraser, Farmer & Educator, founder of Black Dirt Farm Collective
Moderated by Andy Fisher, Co-Founder of the Community Food Security Coalition and author of Big Hunger
50+ workshops, lightning talks, and networking sessions focused on food justice, policy, best practices, experiential education, sustainability, economic development, building community, and promoting access to healthy food in underserved communities.
Exhibit hall for leading non-profit, academic, business and government organizations in the community food field.
Field trips to see community food systems work in action at various Boston-area organizations.
Pre-conference trainings and forums geared toward targeted audiences for delving deeper into specific food systems work.
Meals featuring locally-grown foods and a reception at Boston Public Market.
Workshop presentations will span the following topics:
Community Partnerships / Farm-to-All / Food Justice / Movement Building / Social Enterprise / Policy / Measuring Impacts / Labor / Youth
More information at https://nesfp.org/community-food-systems-conference-2017
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Tuesday, December 5
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Boston TechBreakfast: Advance2000, VQL, SMACAR Solutions, Perfectosoft, Exact Finance, Inc.
Tuesday, December 5
7:00 AM
O’Reilly’s, 2 Avenue de Lafayette, 6th floor, Boston
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/Boston-TechBreakfast/events/236589685/
Interact with your peers in a monthly morning breakfast meetup. At this monthly breakfast get-together techies, developers, designers, and entrepreneurs share learn from their peers through show and tell / show-case style presentations.
And yes, this is free! Thank our sponsors when you see them :)
Agenda for Boston TechBreakfast:
8:00 - 8:15 - Get yer Food & Coffee and chit-chat
8:15 - 8:20 - Introductions, Sponsors, Announcements
8:20 - ~9:30 - Showcases and Shout-Outs!
[EVENT_AGENDA]
~9:30 - end - Final "Shout Outs" & Last Words Boston TechBreakfast Sponsors:
ConferenceEdge - EVENTS to the power of Edge
DLA Piper (Boston) - DLA Piper is a global business law firm that provides corporate, IP, capital raising and other legal advice to technology startups and high growth businesses.
G2 Tech Group - Managed DevOps for startups and small businesses
hedgehog lab - hedgehog lab is a technology consultancy that designs and builds great apps for mobile
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Rwandan Women Rising: Lessons for Global Stability
WHEN Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2017, 10 – 11 a.m.
WHERE Harvard, Taubman Building, ,Nye A, 5th Floor, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Carr Center for Human Rights Policy and Hutchins Center for African & African American Research
SPEAKER(S) Moderated by Amb. Samantha Power, Anna Lindh Professor of the Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School, and Professor of Practice, Harvard Law School
And featuring
Chantal Kayitesi, MPH, Rwandan genocide survivor and co-founder, AVEGA-AGAHOZO widows’ advocacy organization; and
Amb. Swanee Hunt, Eleanor Roosevelt Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School, and Senior Advisor, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy
COST Free
CONTACT INFO Maria Daniels
mdaniels at swaneehunt.org
617-710-7439
DETAILS
When Rwandan women helped save their own country after the 1994 genocide, they created a model for lasting peace and security for the rest of the world.
Rwanda today ranks highest in the world in terms of women parliamentarians (64 percent); almost half the judges and president’s cabinet are female. In a merely two-decade span, Rwanda has forged progressive health, education, gender equity, and environmental policies along an extraordinary path that can serve as a model for the rest of the world.
Ambassador Hunt’s newest book, Rwandan Women Rising (Duke University Press, 2017), is based on interviews with more than 90 women (and men) who were key to rebuilding their country after the apocalyptic 100 days in 1994.
LINK https://www.swaneehunt.org/event/rwandan-women-rising-harvard-kennedy-school/
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Global Health & Ethical Challenges Panel: Get Good Stuff Done
Tuesday, December 5
12:00pm
MIT, Building 3-133, 33 Massachusetts Avenue (Rear), Cambridge
What are common ethical challenges in global health experiences? How should a student prepare in advance, act while in-country, and work with program advisors? Join a workshop in which we address some of the ethical issues that arise when students participate in global health experiences in resource-limited settings. Students, hosts, MIT program staff, and faculty all need to examine potential ethical dilemmas, power dynamics, safety issues, and cultural context. While the focus is on global health, the lessons apply to health experiences in the US.
We will explore:
guiding principles established in the medical field and within education abroad, and how these are viewed in the context of medical school applications.
how the “do no harm” principle applies in global health
facilitating productive and sustainable partnerships in global health
examples of ethical challenges that the panelists have faced
Panel Speakers
Dr. Howard Heller - MIT Medical and Harvard Medical School
Dr. Anjali Sastry - MIT Sloan School of Management and Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Rich Fletcher – MIT Tata Center, D-Lab, Media Lab
Bryan Ranger – The Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology (HST), Media Lab, D-Lab
RSVP Here: https://goo.gl/Pjrp2u
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Big Hunger: The Unholy Alliance between Corporate America and Anti-Hunger Groups
December 5
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Harvard, Wasserstein, 1023 Classroom, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
In his new book, Big Hunger: The Unholy Alliance Between Corporate America and Anti-Hunger Groups, long time food activist, Andy Fisher demonstrates the existence of a hunger industrial complex- the web of relationships between corporations and anti-hunger groups that perpetuate hunger rather than eliminate it. Big Hunger reveals the damage caused by this hunger-industrial complex to the wellbeing and dignity of the poor, and offers a new vision to eliminate hunger through a focus on public health, economic justice and local economies.
This event is co-sponsored by the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic and the Harvard Food Law Society.
Contact Email
nholashuggins at law.harvard.edu
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Black Users, Enclaving, and Methodological Challenges in a Shifting Digital Landscape
WHEN Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2017, 12 – 1:15 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Law, Wasserstein Hall, Room 1010, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Information Technology, Law, Research study, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University
SPEAKER(S) Sarah Florini, Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies, Department of English Arizona State University
COST free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO cyber.harvard.edu
DETAILS Black users have consistently been at the vanguard of digital and social media use, pioneering and anticipating digital trends including live tweeting and the podcast boom. As harassment on social media platforms becomes increasingly aggressive, and increasingly automated, users must develop strategies for navigating this hostility. Having long endured coordinated campaigns of harassment, Black users are again at the forefront of a shift in digital practices – the creation of digital enclaves. With new patterns of use, digital media researchers are faced with new, and a few old, methodological and ethical questions.
LINK https://cyber.harvard.edu/events/2017/luncheon/12/Florini
RSVP required for attending in person https://cyber.harvard.edu/events/2017/luncheon/12/Florini#RSVP
Webcast at https://cyber.harvard.edu/events/2017/luncheon/12/Florini
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THE HEALTH DATA REVOLUTION: Improving Outcomes, Protecting Privacy
WHEN Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2017, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
WHERE The Leadership Studio, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Leadership Studio, Harvard Chan
SPEAKER(S) John Halamka, Chief Information Officer, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Deven McGraw, Former Deputy Director of Health Information Privacy, HHS
Lipika Samal, Associate Physician, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and an Investigator in Health Information Technology
Thomas Lee, Chief Medical Officer, Press Ganey, and Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard Chan
Jonathan Cohn, Senior National Correspondent, HuffPost
CONTACT INFO To attend the studio audience, RSVP to theforum at hsph.harvard.edu
DETAILS Will the next great medical insight come from a clinical trial, a laboratory study — or a database search? Today, health systems and insurers have access to a mountain of data about millions of Americans: what medications they take, their health history, even, in some cases, their genetics—plus an emerging body of mobile health data. Using “big data” techniques, doctors and researchers are already mining this data to deliver better care and to gain insights into the kind of hyper-specific questions that clinical trials and observational studies struggle to answer. The approach promises major, rapid-fire, highly-personalized discoveries. At the same time, with the specter of cyberattacks and hacks looming, the need for rugged privacy protection has never been greater. In this Forum, experts in healthcare data and privacy will discuss the potential for future discovery, practical steps to enable progress, and how information can be kept secure.
LINK https://theforum.sph.harvard.edu/events/the-health-data-revolution/
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XCONOMY PRESENTS: WHAT’S HOT IN CYBERSECURITY
Tuesday, December 5
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
WGBH, 1 Guest Street, Boston
RSVP at http://www.xconomy.com/whats-hot-in-cybersecurity/
Cybersecurity continues to be top of mind for business leaders, technologists, and consumers. From the latest catastrophic data breach to crippling Internet attacks and cyber warfare, no data or network seems safe. Now, Boston-area cybersecurity companies are working to advance the state of the art in security automation, behavioral analytics, anti-phishing systems, and other arenas. At the same time, venture investment is flowing into hot sectors like cryptocurrencies, blockchain and identity management, and deception tech.
How are cybersecurity companies and their customers adjusting to an era of widespread hacking and threats? What new technologies and cyber risks are coming down the pike for organizations of all sizes? And, as investment in security tech seems to be peaking again, what are the greatest opportunities and pitfalls for startups and venture capitalists? Xconomy’s second annual cybersecurity conference in Boston will convene business and technology leaders to discuss these topics, and much more.
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Design Thinking with and for Children: From Human-Computer Interaction to Strategic Leadership for Change
Tuesday, December 5
2:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Refreshments: 1:45 PM
MIT, Buidling 32-G449 Kiva, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Allison Druin , Pratt Institute
As HCI researchers, we develop innovative new technologies and we develop unique new design approaches so innovation can emerge. I've come to understand that the design-thinking HCI methods we develop and use can also be applied for deep change in our organizations. With my life-long focus on interaction design and children, I have been fortunate to see several of my team’s ideas move from isolated systems to strategic impactful change. From the International Children’s Digital Library to new digital visitor experiences at U.S. National Parks, I will share our co-design processes in developing diverse new technologies, learning approaches and place-based change.
BIO
MIT Media Lab ('87) alumni, Allison Druin is the inaugural Associate Provost for Research and Strategic Partnerships at Pratt Institute. There she works throughout the campus to develop, expand, and find funding for research of all kinds, from Design incubation, to pop-up STEM learning, to preservation of open source technologies. Dr. Druin came to Pratt in June 2017, from the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland where she was a Professor for almost 20 years leading design teams of children and adults to develop new storytelling technologies. Among her numerous roles at Maryland, Dr. Druin served from 2013 to 2015 as Chief Futurist for the university's Division of Research. From 2015-2017, Dr. Druin took leave from the university to serve as Special Advisor for National Digital Strategy for the United States National Park Service. In her national leadership role, she worked on such projects as the redesign of the Lincoln Memorial visitor experience; the development of the Every Kid in a Park program; and the a new National Digital Junior Ranger program.
Speaker URL: https://www.pratt.edu/faculty_and_staff/bio/?id=adruin
Contact: Linda Lynch, 617 715 2459, lindalynch at csail.mit.edu
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Connecticut’s Low- and Moderate-Income Solar Customer Segmentation Analysis
Tuesday, December 5
3-4pm ET
Webinar
RSVP at https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/2877561954357605634
The Connecticut Green Bank engaged the marketing firm C+C to perform a customer analysis to identify the segments of Connecticut’s LMI population most likely to adopt solar. In this webinar, speakers from the Connecticut Green Bank and C+C will share the results of their analysis and insights for a national audience.
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Jorge Cham from PhD Comics: Communicating Your Research
Tuesday, December 5
5:00pm to 6:00pm
MIT, Building 34-101, 50 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Jorge Cham will relay his experiences creating successful science communication projects (videos that have been viewed by millions of people and a book release from Penguin Random House). He will convey how he communicates his passion for engaging with the public and exploring the unknown.
Jorge holds a Ph.D. in Robotics from Stanford University and is the creator of Piled Higher and Deeper (PHD Comics), the popular comic strip about life (or the lack thereof) in Academia.
Often called the "Dilbert of academia,” PHD Comics appears online where it is read by over 6 million visitors a year from over 1000 universities worldwide.
Sponsored by the MIT Graduate Student Council (GSC), Global Education & Career Development Career Services (GECD), and the MIT Office of the Vice President for Research
Pre-registration is requested (but not required) via CareerBridge.
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Net Neutrality Realities: Decoding the Hype
Tuesday, December 5,
5:30 PM – 7:30 PM EST
485 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
The future of net neutrality in the US is uncertain. With protests across the country planned for 12/7 and an FCC vote on whether net neutrality will remain in place on 12/14, the time to turn up the volume on this urgent conversation is now.
Join DigitalOcean CEO, Ben Uretsky, and Boston-based net neutrality experts to unpack the rhetoric around the conversations taking place. We’re excited to bring together varied perspectives for a meaningful discussion to educate attendees about both sides of the debate, the potential impacts of the upcoming vote, and - most importantly - how we as individuals and as a tech community can take action moving forward.
We’ll jump-start the conversation during a networking hour beginning at 5:30 with drinks and appetizers, followed by a 6:30 discussion with our panel of experts from academia, local government and business.
Participant Bios
Ben Uretsky
As CEO of DigitalOcean, Ben leads the vision, strategy, and growth for the company, providing a cloud services platform that delivers the simplicity developers love and businesses trust to run production applications at scale. Under his leadership DigitalOcean has gone from a startup to one of the fastest growing cloud companies in the world with over one million users, an annualized run rate of almost 200M and a suite of products that remain unchallenged when it comes to simplicity and design.
Daniel Lyons
Professor Lyons is an associate professor at Boston College Law School, specializing in the areas of property, telecommunications and administrative law. He has participated in rulemaking proceedings before both the Federal Communications Commission and the California Public Utilities Commission and has represented clients in federal and state litigation involving numerous regulatory issues. He has also spoken at workshops nationwide on the effects of technology convergence on telecommunications regulation.
Anne Schwieger
Anne Schwieger works for the City of Boston Department of Innovation & Technology as Broadband and Digital Equity Advocate. She supports the City of Boston in advancing access to affordable broadband connectivity, up-to-date digital tools, and the digital skills that Bostonians need to engage in educational, economic, and civic pursuits. Anne is a board member of the Boston Neighborhood Network and a 2017-18 digital HKS Practitioner Affiliate.
Semyon Dukach
Semyon is a co-founder and managing partner of One Way Ventures and the previous Managing Director of Techstars in Boston. Semyon has made over 100 angel investments, including early investments in Quanergy, Amino Apps and Wanderu. He also co-founded several companies including Vert and Fast Engines, which was sold to Adero in 2000. Xconomy lists Semyon as a top Angel Investor in New England.
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Marijuana Technology
Tuesday, December 5
5:30pm to 8:00pm
MIT Stata Center, E32-123 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/event/cannabis-technology/
Cost: $10 - $45
Few can deny the expansive growth and attention the legal cannabis industry is experiencing right now. Despite the still nebulous policy and politics surrounding the industry, companies are innovating and cashing in on the opportunities in cannabis.
According to CannabisNewsWire, “Estimates by Forbes put the legal cannabis market at a value of $7.2 billion (per a February 2017 report), and the market is expected to generate more jobs than government, manufacturing, or utilities in the coming years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.”
The market reach extends well beyond the medical and recreational sale of the finished product itself. There are opportunities for entrepreneurs in manufacturing, cultivation, extraction, testing, and distribution. Some examples include:
Greenhouse automation
Extraction hardware
Smart grow monitors
Seed to sale software
App development
Machine learning for optimal medical dosing
…and the list goes on
On December 5th we’re bringing together leading investors, entrepreneurs and scientists to learn more about the opportunities to get involved in the cannabis industry and discuss how entrepreneurs can have an impact.
Moderator:
Vinit Nijhawan, Entrepreneur, Venture Capitalist, Academic
Speakers:
John de la Parra, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Northeastern University
Richard Gibble, Investment Analyst, FlowPoint Capital Partners, LP
Jonathan Wani, Director of Client & Community Relations, MCR Labs
Russel Wilenkin, Regional Sales Manager, Flow Kana
Event Schedule
5:30 - 6:00pm - Registration and Networking
6:00 - 8:00pm - Welcome & Panel Discussion
8:00 - 9:00pm - Networking
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7TH ANNUAL STREETTALK 10-IN-1
Tuesday, December 5
6pm – 8:30pm
Old South Meetinghouse, 310 Washington Street, Boston
RSVP http://www.livablestreets.info/streettalk10in1_2017_ticket-purchased
Cost: $0 - $15
Save the date! Join us as we invite 10 innovative transportation tinkers and community thinkers to take the stage and share their big ideas. Don't miss it!
More information at http://www.livablestreets.info/7th_annual_streettalk_10_in-1
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Cambridge Forum: Race Still Matters
Tuesday, December 5
7pm
3 Church Street, Cambridge
Political activist, author and university professor Cornel West will speak at Cambridge Forum on Tuesday, December 5 about his national best-seller Race Matters. First published in 1993 on the one-year anniversary of the L.A. riots, the book has since become a groundbreaking classic on race in America.
Race Matters speaks to despair, black conservatism, myths about black sexuality, the crisis in leadership in the black community, and the legacy of Malcolm X. Now more than ever, Cornel West argues, Race Matters is a book for all Americans, as it helps us to build a genuine multiracial democracy in the new millennium.
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Civic Leadership Forum: "Diversity in Public Service”
Tuesday, December 5
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM EST
UMass, 100 William T. Morrissey Boulevard, Campus Center 2nd floor, Conference Room (2540), Dorchester
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/civic-leadership-forum-diversity-in-public-service-tickets-40047243383
Do you want to involve and thrive to be a leader in civic engagement? Do you want to find out how diversity influences public service? Do you want to know the value you will create as a civic activitiest to the organization and community?
Come join us to learn from these three highly achieved and incredible individuals about their journeys for public service!
The Honorable Fernande (Nan) R.V. Duffly, Associate Justice, She rose from a refugee child to become the first Asian American judge in the highest court in Massachusetts.
Anping Shen ran a successful campaign and elected as the school committee member in Newton.
Vatsady Sivongxay, 2017 Candidate for Cambridge City Council, Staff for Tito Jackon, Once served as a staff for a Boston City Council and continues to serve as a community leader!
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Wednesday, December 6
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Conventional Conflicts with Nuclear-Armed Powers: Prospects for Escalation Control
Wednesday, December 6
12:00-1:30pm
MIT, Building E40-496, Pye Room, 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Jasen J. Castillo, Texas A&M
Under what conditions could the United States control escalation in a conventional conflict with a nuclear-armed adversary? The possibility that a dispute between the U.S. and a nuclear-armed opponent remains a contingency policy-makers and military planners should consider. There is growing work on the pathways to nuclear escalation during a conventional conflict, but less on how these armed disputes could end. This paper will explore some of the conditions that favor successful escalation management and the conditions that could make escalation control extremely difficult. The paper also assesses possible U.S. responses to nuclear use by an adversary.
Jasen J. Castillo is an Associate Professor at Texas A&M University's George H.W. Bush School of Government and Public Service. He came to the Bush School after serving on the staff of the Policy Planning Office in the U.S. Department of Defense. Before then, he worked at the RAND Corporation and the Institute for Defense Analysis. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago.
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China's Top 1000 and 10,000 Energy-Consuming Enterprises Program: Effectiveness, Compliance, and Lessons
Wednesday, December 6
3:30PM TO 4:45PM
Harvard, Pierce 100F, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge
The Harvard-China Project hosts Cao Jing, Visiting Scholar, Harvard-China Project; Associate Professor, Department of Economics, School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University
China Project Seminar
https://chinaproject.harvard.edu/event/cao20171206
Sponsored by China Project, Harvard Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Contact Name: Tiffany Chan
tiffanychan at seas.harvard.edu
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The Tanner Lectures on Human Values: Bryan Stevenson, Social Justice Action: How We Change the World
WHEN Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017, 4 – 7 p.m.
WHERE First Parish in Cambridge, 1446 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Ethics, Humanities, Law, Lecture, Social Sciences, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Mahindra Humanities Center and the Office of the President at Harvard
SPEAKER(S) Bryan Stevenson, Founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative, author of Just Mercy
Introductions by Drew G. Faust, President, Harvard University; and Homi K. Bhabha, Director, Mahindra Humanities Center. Panelists: Nancy Gertner, Senior Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law School; U.S. District Judge (Retired); Tommie Shelby, Caldwell Titcomb Professor in the Department of African and African American Studies and the Department of Philosophy, Harvard University; and Carol S. Steiker, Henry J. Friendly Professor of Law, Harvard Law School.
TICKET WEB LINK https://www.boxoffice.harvard.edu/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=mahindra
TICKET INFO Admission is free. Tickets required. Limit of 2 tickets per person. Tickets available by phone, online (for a fee), and in person at the Harvard Box Office – Farkas Hall, 10 Holyoke St., Cambridge beginning Wednesday, November 29. Tickets valid until 3:45PM.
CONTACT INFO humcentr at fas.harvard.edu, 617-495-0738
DETAILS This event will consist of a 4 p.m. lecture and 5:45 p.m. panel discussion.
Bryan Stevenson is the founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama. Under his leadership, EJI has won major legal challenges eliminating excessive and unfair sentencing, exonerating innocent death row prisoners, confronting abuse of the incarcerated and the mentally ill and aiding children prosecuted as adults. Mr. Stevenson recently won an historic ruling in the U.S. Supreme Court banning mandatory life-without-parole sentences for all children 17 or younger. He is a graduate of the Harvard Law School and has been awarded 29 honorary doctorate degrees. He is the author of award winning and New York Times bestseller, Just Mercy.
LINK http://mahindrahumanities.fas.harvard.edu/content/social-justice-action-how-we-change-world
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MIT FinTech $10K Business Plan Competition, 2017
Wednesday, December 6
5:30 PM – 8:30 PM EST
MIT, Samberg Conference Center Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mit-fintech-10k-business-plan-competition-2017-tickets-39821419939
The annual MIT FinTech Business Plan Competition is here! Join the 3rd edition and watch some of the best FinTech ideas from MIT and Harvard compete for $10K in prizes. There will be a showcase of business ideas in front of a prestigious judging panel composed of faculty, industry professionals, and investors followed by a cocktail reception. Don't forget to cast your vote for the audience choice award!
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Nick Montfort, The Future
Wednesday, December 6
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM EST
MIT Press Bookstore, 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nick-montfort-the-future-tickets-36870051316
Cost: $0 – $12.75
The MIT Press Bookstore presents Nick Montfort, Professor of Digital Media at MIT, discussing his book The Future on Wednesday, December 6, at 6:00 pm at the Bookstore. This event includes a book signing. Books will be on sale at the event for 20% off, or you can purchase an event ticket that includes a discounted book.
In this volume of the MIT Press's Essential Knowledge series, Nick Montfort argues that the future is something to be made, not predicted. Montfort offers what he considers essential knowledge about the future, as seen in the work of writers, artists, inventors, and designers (mainly in Western culture) who developed and described the core components of the futures they envisioned.
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X years later: Japanese Documentary Screening with Reception and Discussion
Wednesday, December 6
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM EST
Emerson Urban Art, Media Art Gallery, 25 Avery Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/x-years-later-japanese-documentary-screening-with-reception-and-discussion-tickets-39932414928
Schedule
6 - 6:45 pm Reception at Emerson Urban Art: Media Art, Gallery 25 Avery Street, Boston MA 02111
7 - 8:30 pm Screening (doors open 6:30 pm)
at Bright Family Screening Room, Paramount Center, 559 Washington Street, Boston MA 02111
8:30 - 9 pm Panel Discussion at Bright Family Screening Room
Boston Japan Film Festival presents " X YEARS LATER 2014" at Emerson College. Directed by Hideaki Ito, documentary, 90 minutes, Japan, 2014.
In the aftermath of WW2 the Bikini Atoll was used by the United States as a testing ground for Nuclear and Thermonuclear technology until 1957. In 1954 the largest test - the detonation of a Hydrogen bomb in Operation Castle Bravo - resulted in a significant amount of fallout that impacted inhabited areas. Among the exposed in the incident was the Japanese fishing boat Daigo Fukuryu Maru with a crew of 23, who at the time was outside of the "danger zone" declared by the US Government. While history has documented the plight of the Daigo Fukuryu Maru, the reality is many other boats also outside the "danger zone" were similarly exposed. Now 59 years later, a documentary crew in Japan revisits the incident and interviews surviving fishermen, including some from other Japanese boats in the area, to bring to light an ordeal whose full impact has been kept in the dark by both the US and Japan governments.
Discussion moderated by Visual and Media Arts professor John Gianvito at Emerson College.
The director, Mr. Hideaki Ito and a victim family, Ms. Misa Kawaguchi will come from Japan and attend the discussion.
Free admission, open to the public.
Sponsored by
Department of Visual and Media Arts, Emerson College
International Graduate Student Organization
Films from the Margin
“X YEARS LATER 2014” is an edited version of award-winning film “X YEARS LATER”(2012) and clips from a TV program.
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Editing Our Evolution: Rewriting the Human Genome
Wednesday, December 6
7:00 – 9:00 pm
Museum of Science, One Science Park, Boston
RSVP at https://www.mos.org/public-events/editing-our-evolution-rewriting-the-human-genome
As gene editing techniques become more refined, the possibility of editing the human genome is moving from science fiction to reality. What should we do with this power? Many in the scientific community are calling for strict regulations on the use of this technology, while others are excited about the possibilities. Should we create babies who will never know disease? Should we stick to smaller changes, like lowering the rates of breast cancer by eliminating mutations? Or should we call for society to ban human gene editing? Who should decide? How can we maximize benefits from these scientific advances while minimizing the harm that might come from them?
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Thursday, December 7 & Friday, December 8
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Northeastern North America Climate Summit
Thursday, December 7 & Friday, December 8
MIT
The New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers will convene a regional climate change summit hosted by MIT. Michael Bloomberg will be the keynote speaker.
More information at http://climatesummit.mit.edu
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Thursday, December 7
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PIC Meeting Pipeline Protest
Thursday, December 7
10 AM - 12 PM
Boston City Hall, room 801, Boston
RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/933127626862934/
The National Grid fracked gas pipeline through the Back Bay is scheduled to be considered at the next Boston Public Improvement Commission (PIC) hearing. Rumor has it that the PIC will grant permits, despite the fact that the promised public meeting(s) will not be scheduled before January. We are calling for a large crowd of passionate activists to testify as to why this project is a bad idea for the downtown area, for the city of Boston as a whole, for the state, the region, and the planet. Be there, and spread the word!
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Does Cleaner Air Injure Workers? The Effect of Stricter Environmental Regulations on Firms' Occupational Health and Safety Performance
WHEN Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017, 11:45 a.m. – 1 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Bell Hall (5th Floor Belfer Building), 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Environmental Sciences, Lecture, Research study, Science, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Regulatory Policy Program (RPP) at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government at the Harvard Kennedy School.
SPEAKER(S) Matthew Johnson, research scientist at the Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University
CONTACT INFO Lunch will be served. Please RSVP to mrcbg at hks.harvard.edu
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The impact of airports on air and life quality in surrounding communities
Thursday, December 7
12:00-1:00pm
Tufts, Rabb Room, Lincoln Filene Center, 10 Upper Campus Road, Medford
Neelakshi Hudda, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tufts University
Aviation emissions impact air quality at global, regional and local spatial scales. What does the presence of airports close to home mean to communities living near airports? Neelakshi Hudda will review the impacts at local scale; the adversely impacted air quality or noise elevation zone may extend tens of kilometers downwind of the airports and encompass large populations in urban areas. She will also discuss the impacts of living in noisy vicinity of airports has on quality of life in residential communities around airport and associations with socioeconomic status.
Neelakshi Hudda’s main area of research interest is urban air pollution with a particular focus on ultrafine particles. Her work on the full extent of elevated ultrafine particle concentrations in Los Angeles neighborhoods downwind of LAX caused an immediate change in the study of and health concerns for ultrafine particle concentrations near large airports. In Boston, she used several years of air pollution data and found a significant relationship between Logan aviation activities, wind direction and elevated neighborhood and residential pollution levels.
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Data Science to Solve Social Problems — Bayes Impact
Thursday, December 7
12:00pm to 1:30pm
MIT, Building E53-482, 30 Wadsworth Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfDC3TdHChyFkVz1sO3UPBY8_4nOmO7FR0kMdXFin2Ozj92Pg/viewform
Learn about Bayes Impact’s work using data science and technology to improve social services.
Bayes Impact is a technology non profit that is building the social services of the future using software and data science. Bayes works to deliver personalized and scalable interventions for millions of people around the world. Founded in 2014, it has worked on projects making a social impact in health care, justice and unemployment.
The MIT GOV/LAB (htto://www.mitgovlab.org) is a research group of political scientists focusing on innovation in citizen engagement and government responsiveness.
The Data Science to Solve Social Problems series features practitioners who are applying data science techniques to real world social problems. This series aims to promote dialogue and collaboration between social scientists and data analysts / engineers working on innovative projects.
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Can India’s Future Needs of Electricity be met by Renewable Energy Sources?
Thursday, December 7
2:00pm to 3:00pm
MIT, Building 3-270, 33 Massachusetts Avenue (Rear), Cambridge
Suhas P. Sukhatme (SM ‘62, ScD ‘65), Professor Emeritus, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
We begin by describing the present electricity scenario in India and presenting estimates of how much electrical energy India will need in the future when it is economically developed. We then pose the question: Can this future need for electricity be met by renewable energy sources alone?
The question is answered by considering one-by-one all renewable sources (solar power, wind power, hydro-electric power, etc) which are deserving of serious consideration and estimating the potential of each of these sources to supply electricity in the future. In an overall sense, the main result obtained is that a significant part of the future annual need of electricity in India can be met by renewable sources.
Although this is satisfying, it has to be noted that the demand for electricity has to be met not just on an annual basis, but continuously on a daily 24 by 7 basis. Many difficult technical challenges will have to be overcome in order to tackle this issue successfully. The challenges include the development of smart power grids and of large-sized energy storage systems. Finally the need for sustainable development in India and in the world as a whole is emphasized and its implications are discussed.
Mechanical Engineering Rohsenow Lecture in Heat and Mass Transfer
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Holding Algorithms Accountable
December 7
2:50pm - 4:00pm
Tufts, Tisch 304, 35 Professors Row, Medford
Speaker: Cathy O’Neil
Abstract
In this talk, mathematician, data scientist and author Cathy O'Neil will outline the kinds of problems we face with powerful, opaque, and unfair algorithms being deployed against workers, consumers, and citizens. She will talk about the technical approaches we could take to addressing the problems, with existing examples of algorithmic auditing as well existing holes in the literature. She will also discuss what kind of inquiry could or should take place in academia versus industry or Washington D.C..
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How We Connect: the Biology of Friendship
Thursday, December 7
4:00pm to 5:00pm
MIT, Building 46-3002, Singleton Auditorium, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speakers: Michael Platt, University of Pennsylvania
We all need friends. Deeper and more numerous friendships promote health, well-being, survival, and even financial success. By the same token, social exclusion and the loss of social partners result in feelings similar to physical pain. Impairments in the ability or motivation to connect with others profoundly impact the lives of individuals with disorders like autism and shizophrenia. Yet despite its importance, the formalized scientific study of friendship is relatively new, perhaps due to the perceived difficulty of studying social behavior in the laboratory using the techniques of modern neuroscience. In my talk, I will discuss our work aimed at defining the biological mechanisms that mediate our ability and desire to connect. We directly compare biology and behavior in humans and rhesus macaques, using a complementary suite of brain imaging, eye-tracking, single-unit recording, pharmacological, and genetic techniques, in both the laboratory and the field. Our work has identified specialized circuitry that motivates attention to others, responds to cues to their intentions, and promotes prosocial decisions. The neuromodulators oxytocin and serotonin tune the gain of these circuits to regulate social interactions. In the field, we find that variation in social behavior and cognition has fitness consequences and emerges, in part, from genes that regulate neuromodulatory function. Together, our findings suggest deep homologies in the biological origins of complex social function in human and nonhuman primates.
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How the struggle to define magic shaped the modern world
Thursday, December 7
4:30pm to 6:00pm
MIT, E51-275, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Graham M. Jones, Associate Professor of Anthropology, MIT
Focusing on scenes of intercultural performance in colonial Algeria, this talk explores how nineteenthcentury French conceptions of modernity emerged from efforts to distinguish between magical entertainment and magical ritual. What is the postcolonial legacy of these distinctions?
More information at http://mitgsl.mit.edu/news-events/how-struggle-define-magic-shaped-modern-world
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The Emotional Politics of Piracy, Or Why We Feel Intellectual Property Infringement as National Trauma
Thursday, December 7
5:00pm to 6:30pm
MIT, Building 56-114. 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
Embracing the recent turns toward the study of public feelings, this talk examines the emotional politics of intellectual property “piracy.” Situating the figure of the pirate within larger narratives of Americanness, meritocracy, hard work, and postrace advanced in political speeches and media representations, it reads public feelings about the exceptional inventiveness and industriousness of US workers as context for intellectual property policy. Specifically, couching piracy as the unjust theft of the work of industrious and uniquely creative Americans fosters sentiments of pride, entitlement, resentment, and anxiety. When taken together, these public feelings transform intellectual property infringement into racialized piratical trauma, which threatens the very fabric of the nation. The everdayness and banality of piratical trauma fuels desires for intellectual property maximalism and intellectual property criminalization, which reproduce the very conditions which gave rise to the trauma.
Anjali Vats is Assistant Professor of Communication and African and African Diaspora Studies at Boston College and Assistant Professor of Law, by courtesy, at Boston College Law School. She is currently working on a monograph entitled Created Differences: Intellectual Properties and Racial Formation in the Making of Americans which considers how intellectual property discourses shape our understandings of race, citizenship, and the capacity to engage in valuable intellectual labor. She has published articles in the Quarterly Journal of Speech, Communication, Culture & Critique, Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, and Southern Communication Journal. She has also co-authored law review articles in the Duquesne Law Review and Wayne Law Review. In 2016, Professor Vats was awarded an AAUW Postdoctoral Fellowship and an Exemplary Diversity Scholar Citation from the National Center for Institutional Diversity at the University of Michigan. Prior to teaching, she clerked for the Honorable A. William Maupin of the Supreme Court of Nevada.
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The Ecologies of Film Noir; or, Learning How to Die in the Anthropocene
WHEN Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017, 5:30 – 7 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Carpenter Center B04, 24 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Film and Visual Studies Colloquium in conjunction with the Boston Cinema/Media Seminar
SPEAKER(S) Jennifer Fay, Vanderbilt University
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The Social Innovation Forum's 14th Annual Winter Reception
Thursday, December 7
5:30 PM – 7:30 PM EST
Microsoft New England Research and Development Center, 1 Memorial Drive, #1, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-social-innovation-forums-14th-annual-winter-reception-tickets-39141665776
On Thursday, December 7, the Social Innovation Forum will hold its 14th Annual Winter Reception.
We invite our community of investors, supporters, and portfolio organizations to join us for the formal announcement of the 2018 Social Innovators and a celebration of the achievements of our portfolio organizations!
The evening will feature cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, and celebration.
We look forward to raising a glass to each of you - our incredible community of leaders, friends, volunteers and supporters!
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authors at MIT - Joi Ito with Tim O'Reilly, WTF: What's the Future and Why It's Up to Us
Thursday, December 7
6:00pm
MIT Press Bookstore, 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tim-oreilly-wtf-whats-the-future-and-why-its-up-to-us-tickets-38944890215
Cost: $10
The MIT Press Bookstore presents Joi Ito and Tim O'Reilly discussing O'Reilly's new book WTF: What's the Future and Why It's Up to Us, on Thursday, December 7, at 6:00 pm at the Bookstore. This event includes a book signing. Books will be on sale at the event and for pre-purchase online for 20% off, or you may purchase an event ticket for $10.
WTF? can be an expression of amazement or an expression of dismay. In today’s economy, we have far too much dismay along with our amazement, and technology bears some of the blame. In this combination of memoir, business strategy guide, and call to action, Tim O'Reilly, Silicon Valley’s leading intellectual and the founder of O’Reilly Media, explores the upside and the potential downsides of today's WTF? technologies.
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The Resistance Movement: What antibiotic resistance means for medicine
Thursday, December 7
6:30pm
Aeronaut, 14 Tyler Street, Somerville
William Hanage
More information at http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/science-by-the-pint/
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Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News
Thursday, December 7
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes award-winning poet and critic KEVIN YOUNG for a discussion of his latest book, Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News. This event is co-sponsored by Mass Humanities.
About Bunk
Bunk traces the history of the hoax as a peculiarly American phenomenon, examining what motivates hucksters and makes the rest of us so gullible. Disturbingly, Young finds that fakery is woven from stereotype and suspicion, race being the most insidious American hoax of all. He chronicles how Barnum came to fame by displaying figures like Joice Heth, a black woman whom he pretended was the 161-year-old nursemaid to George Washington, and What Is It?, an African American man Barnum professed was a newly discovered missing link in evolution.
Bunk then turns to the hoaxing of history and the ways that forgers, plagiarists, and journalistic fakers invent backstories and falsehoods to sell us lies about themselves and about the world in our own time, from pretend Native Americans Grey Owl and Nasdijj to the deadly imposture of Clark Rockefeller, from the made-up memoirs of James Frey to the identity theft of Rachel Dolezal. In this brilliant and timely work, Young asks what it means to live in a post-factual world of “truthiness” where everything is up for interpretation and everyone is subject to a pervasive cynicism that damages our ideas of reality, fact, and art.
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Society of Professional Journalists Panel: Covering Sexual Assault
Thursday, December 7
7:00 PM – 10:00 PM EST
BU, College of Arts and Sciences, 725 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 522, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/spj-panel-covering-sexual-assault-tickets-40174489981
The New England Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) is hosting a panel on covering sexual assault. panelists will include: Boston Globe Spotlight reporter Jenn Abelson, who covered sexual abuse at New England Boarding Schools.
Boston Globe reporter Kay Lazar, who covered allegations of abuse and misconduct by faculty at Berklee College of Music.
Boston Globe reporter Devra First, who covered allegations of sexual harassment in Boston's restaurant industry.
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represented victims of the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal.
Attorney Robert Bertsche, a media and first amendment lawyer for Prince Lobel Tye.
The event is cosponsored by the Boston University SPJ student chapter, Prince Lobel Tye, the New England First Amendment Coalition and the New England Newspaper & Press Association.
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Friday, December 8
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Design and Effectiveness of Public Health Subsidies in Less Developed Countries
Friday, December 8
11:00am to 12:00pm
MIT, Building 6-120, 182 Memorial Drive (Rear), Cambridge
Although coverage rates and health outcomes are improving, many poor people around the world still do not benefit from essential health products. An estimated two-thirds of child deaths could be prevented with increased coverage of products such as vaccines, point-of-use water treatment, iron fortification, and insecticide-treated bednets. What limits the flow of products from the producer’s laboratory bench to the end users, and what can be done about it? This talk will discuss how the design of subsidies matter for maximizing coverage of preventive health products and discuss recent experimental evidence from around the globe on these issues.
Pascaline Dupas is an Associate Professor in the Economics Department at Stanford University. Her areas of research are applied microeconomics and development economics. She is currently conducting field experiments in health, education, and microfinance. Pascaline is a Co-Chair of J-PAL's Health sector.
This event is part of the D2P2: Data, Decisions, Public Policy lecture series, organized by J-PAL and the MIT Department of Economics. The D2P2 Lectures feature leading academics and other experts who share knowledge derived from modern applied economics research to demonstrate how it can inform better public policy decision-making. Speakers will discuss their groundbreaking research and practice and how it can be applied to improve people’s lives.
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Atmospheric and Environmental Chemistry Seminar
Friday, December 8
12:00PM TO 1:00PM
Harvard, 100F Pierce Hall, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Johannes Orphal, Director, Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK) at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany, will lead this Atmospheric & Environmental Chemistry Seminar.
Atmospheric & Environmental Chemistry Seminar
https://www.seas.harvard.edu/calendar/event/104796
Contact Name: Brenda Mathieu
bmathieu at seas.harvard.edu
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IoT Disruption in the Digital Economy
Friday, December 8
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Building 3-333, 33 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Join Kaan Terzioglu, CEO, Turkcell and Brian Subirana, Director of the MIT Auto-ID Lab where IoT was invented, to learn about innovation in the telecom industry digital ecosystem.
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Race, Politics, and Social Media: A Symposium
Friday, December 8
12:30 PM – 5:00 PM EST
BU, George Sherman Union Conference Auditorium, 775 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/race-politics-and-social-media-a-symposium-tickets-39559922794
Given its complete saturation of our cultural and political landscape, social media has quickly migrated from a utopian mode of communication and community building to a sign of the perverse marriage of capitalism, celebrity culture and narcissism; in other words, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, etc. are now more likely to be described as problem than the solution they once purported to be. However, it also remains true that such platforms and technologies operate as a historically unparalleled sphere of communication for marginalized peoples and communities both globally and locally. This symposium takes African-American social media use as a lens to explore the linkages between race, activism and social media.
Featured Scholars:
Dr. Aleia Brown - Program Manager at the Humanities Action Lab at Rutgers-Newark; ACLS Fellow
Dr. Jacob GHroshek - Associate Professor of Emergying Media Studies at Boston University
Dr. Robert Eschmann - Assistant Professor at the Boston University school of Social Work
Dr. Desmond Patton - Assistant Professor at the Columbia School of Social Work
Keynote Speaker:
Feminista Jones - Social Worker, Feminist and Community Activist
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2017 Hottel Lecture: "The Clean Energy Transformation"
Friday, December 8
3:00pm to 4:00pm
MIT, Building 34-101, 50 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Ernest J. Moniz, Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems, Emeritus, and Special Advisor to the MIT President
A low carbon energy system transformation is needed within a generation to reach an acceptable balance between climate change mitigation and adaptation. Meeting this challenge will require synergistic technology, policy and business model innovation. Pathways to the clean energy future will be explored.
Ernest J. Moniz served as the thirteenth United States Secretary of Energy from 2013 to January 2017. As Secretary, he advanced energy technology innovation, nuclear security and strategic stability, cutting-edge capabilities for the American scientific research community, and environmental stewardship. He placed energy science and technology innovation at the center of the global response to climate change and negotiated the Iran nuclear agreement alongside the Secretary of State.
Dr. Moniz joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty in 1973 and was Founding Director of the MIT Energy Initiative. He is the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems emeritus and Special Advisor to the MIT President. He served on Boards of numerous companies, non-profits and government agencies in the energy and security arenas.
Dr. Moniz received a Bachelor of Science degree summa cum laude in physics from Boston College, a doctorate in theoretical physics from Stanford University, and eight honorary doctorates. He received the Distinguished Public Service Medal of the Department of Defense.
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MIT D-Lab Fall Student Showcase
Friday, December 8
5:00pm to 7:00pm
MIT, Building N51-310, 265 Massachusetts Avenue, 3rd floor, Cambridge
Final presentations and working prototypes from current MIT D-Lab students from these D-Lab classes: D-Lab: Development, D-Lab: Gender & Development, D-Lab: Schools, D-Lab: Supply Chains, D-Lab: WASH + Enviroment, Design for Scale, Development Ventures!
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Winona LaDuke: Celebrating a Decade of Community Conversations
Friday, December 8
7:00 PM – 11:00 PM EST
First Church In Jamaica Plain, 6 Eliot Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/winona-laduke-celebrating-a-decade-of-community-conversations-tickets-38294837891
Cost: $10 – $100
The Jamaica Plain Forum is 10 years old!
Join us as at "Celebrating a Decade of Community Conversations" on Sunday, November 5th, featuring Winona LaDuke of Honor Our Earth as keynote speaker.
Winona LaDuke is an internationally renowned activist working on issues of sustainable development renewable energy and food systems. She lives and works on the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota, and is a two time vice presidential candidate for the Green Party.
This timely event celebrates the ten years of the Jamaica Plain forum providing a space for our community to speak up and have the conversations on the great issues shaping our neighborhood and our planet. It has showcased a long list of incredible individuals who dare to pose the important questions of our time. It has also been a space to simply remind us of our connection to each other. Lastly, it has brought our community closer in a profound and meaningful manner.
An essential driving force for this celebration is to show our immense appreciation to the First Church in Jamaica Plain UU for not only providing the space to gather all these years but also the support and solidarity we have been endowed. Our ambitious goal is to provide First Church with new furnishings.
Special supporter reception will be held at 5 pm. Book signing and after party following the main event.
Join us to celebrate our past and look to the future!
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Saturday, December 9
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Playing For The Planet
Saturday, December 9
7:00 pm
The Community Church Of Boston, 565 Boylston Street (Copley Square), Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/playing-for-the-planet-world-music-against-climate-change-tickets-39368096035 or http://www.warrensenders.com/journal/playing-for-the-…er-9-2017-boston/
Cost: $20; $15 students & seniors
Saturday, December 9, the sixteenth “Playing For The Planet” benefit concert showcases master musicians from three different musical traditions, in a benefit for the environmental advocacy group 350MA.org.
Come and hear Rob Flax' genre-bending solo performance, the enthralling and hypnotic music of the Hurdy-Gurdy Band, and the exquisite ragas of master sitarist Jawwad Noor.
For further information, please call 781-396-0734.
“Playing For The Planet: World Music Against Climate Change” is the sixteenth concert in an ongoing series of cross-cultural events produced by Boston-area musician and environmental activist Warren Senders. These concerts were conceived as a way for creative musicians to contribute to the urgent struggle against global warming. Their beneficiary, 350MA.org, is focused on building global consensus on reduction of atmospheric CO2 levels — action which climatologists agree is necessary to avoid catastrophic outcomes.
Jawwad Noor: Sitar
Jawwad Noor was initiated into sitar by Ustad Alam Khan of Lahore.
He went on to become a disciple of the world’s leading sitarist, Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan, under whose exacting standards he extensively studies the melodic and rhythmic foundations of the music and trains to play the sitar in the vocal idiom.
Jawwad has been bringing his impassioned performances to audiences regularly and widely for many years. He is a senior instructor of the Shahid Parvez Khan Academy, and teaches at the LearnQuest Academy of Music. On December 10, he will be accompanied on tabla by Harsha Hampapura, who first studied with Shri Ram Hegde Keremane, and has been learning the Punjab style from Shri Anup Joshi for the past 6 years.
Rob Flax' One-Man Band
Multi-instrumentalist Rob Flax describes his music in a concise way: “I play things with strings, I hit stuff, and I sing.” Behind this simple tag line lies a rich depth of genre-bending, from classical and jazz violin to bluegrass fiddle, to blues and rock influences, and beyond. In his “One Man Band” shows, Rob uses a looper pedal and other effects to transform his violin into an entire symphony of sounds.
“Rob’s unique blend of ancient and modern brings the violin into the 21st century with a dazzling array of digital technology seamlessly mated to the traditional world of wood, gut, and bone.” —Stuart Rosenberg, WMFT
The Hurdy-Gurdy Band
The Hurdy-Gurdy is a mechanical violin played all over Europe since the Middle Ages. It combines drones, melody and percussive rhythms to cast a powerful spell on listeners.
The Hurdy-Gurdy Band was formed in 1979 by Donald Heller and Anicét Mikolai. Since then, they have performed throughout Europe, Canada and the United States.
Inspired by the traditions of the itinerant (and sometimes pitifully poor) Hurdy-Gurdy players heard in the streets of 18th Century Paris and London, the Hurdy-Gurdy Band breathes new life into an all but lost art.
On December 9 they will be joined by their son Julien Heller, on violin.
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Ubuntu - A Celebration of South Africa
Saturday, December 9
7:30 PM
First Parish Unitarian Universalist, 630 Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington
Ubuntu! We welcome you! Join SANS for a joyful choral concert celebrating the South African spirit of "Ubuntu," evoking "the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity.”
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Sunday, December 10
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Biochar Practitioner Todd Breitenstein on Living Soils and Growing with Biochar
Sunday, December 10
Potuck 6:00-7:00 p.m. followed by discussion 7:00-9:00 p.m.
One Fayette Park, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/Biodiversity-for-a-Livable-Climate/events/245486316/
Todd Breitenstein opened the Grateful Garden Center in Hanover MA in 2013 . He is a farmer and vegetable gardener, a practitioner who has worked with biochar for four years. He will talk about the 4x8 comparison beds he has maintained and will share his results as we'll as what he has come to understand. Todd has also been using containers of varied sizes to make it possible for people without much land to grow successfully. He is using Chargrow biochar developed on Cape Cod by Bob Wells and will also talk about their biochar production process.
Biodiversity for a LIvable Climate is a small non-profit so a $10 donation is requested.
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Monday, December 11
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Privacy Tools for Data Sharing: Lessons Learned and Directions Forward
Monday, December 11
8:30 AM – 6:00 PM EST
Harvard, Maxwell-Dworkin, 33 Oxford Street, G115, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/privacy-tools-for-data-sharing-lessons-learned-and-directions-forward-tickets-37806869364
Spring 2018 marks the end of an interdisciplinary, 5-year NSF Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace Frontier Project “Privacy Tools for Sharing Research Data” at Harvard University. This one-day workshop will bring past and present project participants together with potential users of privacy tools from academia, government, and industry to examine the goals and accomplishments of the project (including practical tools for sharing privacy-sensitive research data); discuss the lessons learned about both data privacy and interdisciplinary research; and scope out opportunities for future research, applications, and collaborations going forward.
If you would like to attend, please register by Monday, December 4, 2017.
For more information, please visit our page: https://privacytools.seas.harvard.edu/privacy-tools-data-sharing-lessons-learned-and-directions-forward
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The Intersection of IoT and Robotics: How Sensors, Data, and Intelligence Are Redefining Industry
Monday, December 11
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Alley Powered by Verizon, 10 Ware Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://masstechnologyleadershipcouncil.growthzoneapp.com/ap/Events/Register/EPKj4bpw
Cost: $95 - $195
Agenda:
10:00am–10:30am
Registration & Networking
10:30am–11:30am
Opening Keynote: Lisa Seacat DeLuca, Distinguished Engineer, IBM
11:30am-11:45am
Tech Talk: Smart Agriculture
Speaker: Abbas Bagasra, DMTS, Verizon Communications
11:45am-12:30pm
Lunch & Networking
12:30pm-12:45pm
Tech Talk: Data Privacy Ownership & Ethics
Speaker: Lily Lim, Attorney, Finnegan
12:45pm-1:00pm
Tech Talk: Cybersecurity in Industrial Internet of Things
1:00pm-2:00pm
Smart Cities Panel: Thinking Outside the Box
Moderator: Setrag Khoshafian, Chief Evangelist and VP of BPM Technology, Pegasystems
Panelists:
Nigel Jacob, Co-Chair, Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics, City of Boston
Subu Ramasamy, Senior Global Product Manager, Connected Lighting Systems, Philips Lighting
Connecting physical objects, from vehicles to telephone poles, has been made more accessible due to the lower costs of sensors and increased computing power. Our panelists will talk about the power of connecting these objects and what the future will bring.
2:00pm-2:15pm
Break
2:15pm-3:15pm
Panel: How IoT and Robotics are Redefining Manufacturing
Panelists:
Pulkit Kapur, Senior Industry Manager for Robotics and Autonomous Systems, Mathworks
Yavor Kolarov, Product Group Marketing Manager, Digital Systems Business Unit, OSRAM
Rony Kubat, Co-founder, Tulip
Walter Vahey, President of Systems Test Group, Teradyne
Manufacturers are entering a new era where robotics and IoT are essential to remain competitive. Connected devices and collaborative robots are converging to escalate productivity, helping their customers and their bottom line. Our panelists will talk about how these pieces come together, the implementation, and the return on investment.
3:15pm–3:45pm
Closing Keynote: Colin Angle, CEO, iRobot
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PAOC Colloquium: Alison Gray (Princeton)
Monday, December 11
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Building 54-923, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
About this Series
The PAOC Colloquium is a weekly interdisciplinary seminar series that brings together the whole PAOC community. Seminar topics include all research concerning the physics, chemistry, and biology of the atmospheres, oceans and climate, but also talks about e.g. societal impacts of climatic processes. The seminars generally take place on Monday from 12-1pm. Lunch is provided to encourage students and post-docs to meet with the speaker. Besides the seminar and lunch, individual meetings with professors, post-docs, and students are arranged.
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Geoff Mulgan -- Big Mind: How Collective Intelligence Can Change Our World
WHEN Monday, Dec. 11, 2017, 12 – 1 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Ash Center Foyer, 124 Mt. Auburn Street, Suite 200 North, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation
SPEAKER(S) Ash Center Visiting Scholar and Nesta CEO Geoff Mulgan, author of Big Mind: How Collective Intelligence Can Change Our World
COST Free
CONTACT INFO Info at ash.harvard.edu
DETAILS You are invited to a book talk with Ash Center Visiting Scholar and Nesta CEO Geoff Mulgan, author of Big Mind: How Collective Intelligence Can Change Our World. This discussion will be moderated by Archon Fung, Academic Dean and Ford Foundation Professor of Democracy and Citizenship. Lunch will be provided.
LINK https://ash.harvard.edu/event/geoff-mulgan-big-mind-how-collective-intelligence-can-change-our-world
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Plasticity in Polygonum: Eco-Devo Insights to Adaptive Diversity
Monday, December 11
12:10PM
Harvard, Weld Hill Lecture Hall, 1300 Centre Street, Boston
Sonia Sultan, Professor, Wesleyan University, will discuss "."
Arnold Arboretum Research Talk
https://www.arboretum.harvard.edu/research/research-talks/
Contact Name: arbweb at arnarb.harvard.edu
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The Vanity Fair Diaries: 1983–1992
Monday, December 11
6:00 PM (Doors at 5:30)
Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.harvard.com/event/tina_brown/
Cost: $5 - $32.25 (online only, book-included)
Harvard Book Store welcomes award-winning writer and editor TINA BROWN—former editor-in-chief of Tatler, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and The Daily Beast—for a discussion of The Vanity Fair Diaries: 1983–1992.
About The Vanity Fair Diaries
Tina Brown kept delicious daily diaries throughout her eight spectacular years as editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair. Today they provide an incendiary portrait of the flash and dash and power brokering of the Excessive Eighties in New York and Hollywood.
The Vanity Fair Diaries is the story of an Englishwoman barely out of her twenties who arrives in New York City with a dream. Summoned from London in hopes that she can save Condé Nast's troubled new flagship Vanity Fair, Tina Brown is immediately plunged into the maelstrom of the competitive New York media world and the backstabbing rivalries at the court of the planet's slickest, most glamour-focused magazine company. She survives the politics, the intrigue, and the attempts to derail her by a simple stratagem: succeeding. In the face of rampant skepticism, she triumphantly reinvents a failing magazine.
Here are the inside stories of Vanity Fair scoops and covers that sold millions―the Reagan kiss, the meltdown of Princess Diana's marriage to Prince Charles, the sensational Annie Leibovitz cover of a gloriously pregnant, naked Demi Moore. In the diary's cinematic pages, the drama, the comedy, and the struggle of running an "it" magazine come to life. Brown's Vanity Fair Diaries is also a woman's journey, of making a home in a new country and of the deep bonds with her husband, their prematurely born son, and their daughter.
Astute, open-hearted, often riotously funny, Tina Brown's The Vanity Fair Diaries is a compulsively fascinating and intimate chronicle of a woman's life in a glittering era.
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Reality and Truth in Contemporary Journalism
Monday, December 11
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM EST
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Columbia Point, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/reality-and-truth-in-contemporary-journalism-registration-39694260602
Dan Balz, Chief Correspondent at The Washington Post, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, University of Pennsylvania professor of communication, and Tom Nichols, author of The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters, discuss reality and truth in contemporary media with Heather Cox Richardson, Boston College professor of history.
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Film Screening: Sneak Preview of Laws of the Lizard + Q&A with Filmmakers
WHEN Monday, Dec. 11, 2017, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Museum of Natural History, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Film, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Presented by the Harvard Museum of Natural History
SPEAKER(S) Nate Dappen and Neil Losin, award winning filmmakers and creators of Laws of the Lizard;
Jonathan Losos, Professor of Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University
COST Free and open to the public.
CONTACT INFO hmnh at hmsc.harvard.edu, (617) 495-3045
DETAILS The Harvard Museum of Natural History presents a free public lecture and screening by filmmakers Nate Dappen and Neil Losin!
When scientists ask big questions about the laws of nature, they sometimes seek out improbable partners—such as lizards—to find the answers. In their new documentary, Laws of the Lizard, award-winning filmmakers Nate Dappen and Neil Losin partner with scientists to tell the surprising story of anole lizards. During a year-long quest that took them from tiny Bahamian islands to Caribbean rainforests and to metropolitan Miami, Dappen and Losin capture cutting-edge science, new anole species, and never-before-seen behaviors. They quickly came to understand why Jonathan Losos, Harvard evolutionary biologist—and anole lizard expert—humorously says “Any study you do is more interesting if you do it on anoles!” Join us for a special preview screening of Laws of the Lizard—coming to the Smithsonian Channel in 2018—followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers and Harvard Professor Jonathan Losos. Film Screening (51 minutes). Free parking is available at the 52 Oxford Street Garage.
LINK https://hmnh.harvard.edu/event/film-screening-sneak-preview-laws-lizard-qa-filmmakers
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Climate Ready Boston South Boston Open House
Monday, December 11
6pm - 8pm
Mass Bay Credit Union, 147 West 4th Street, South Boston
RSVP at http://www.greenovateboston.org/crb-southboston-openhouse?utm_campaign=crb_sb_openhous&utm_medium=email&utm_source=greenovateboston
Climate Ready Boston is the Mayor's ongoing initiative to help the City grow and prosper in the face of climate change. Through the Climate Ready South Boston project, we are working to better understand current and future flood risks in South Boston, and develop strategies that protect the neighborhood.
Join us on December 11th for our first community open house about the vision for a Climate Ready South Boston. Meet the project team, ask questions, and give feedback to the design team.
The event is open house style, and we recommend you plan to attend for about 30 minutes anytime between 6-8pm.
Climate resiliency planning is happening in Boston’s most vulnerable neighborhoods, such as East Boston, Charlestown, and now South Boston. Your participation will help us develop climate resilience solutions that improve your neighborhood.
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Tuesday, December 12
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A Pessimist’s Guide to the Future of Technology
Tuesday, December 12
12:00 pm
Harvard, Wasserstein Hall, Milstein East C, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP required to attend in person at https://cyber.harvard.edu/events/2017/luncheon/12/Bogost#RSVP
Event will be live webcast at 12:00 pm at https://cyber.harvard.edu/events/2017/luncheon/12/Bogost
featuring Dr. Ian Bogost, Professor of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology, in conversation with Professor Jeffrey Schnapp, Professor of Romance Languages & Literature, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Since the rise of the web in the 1990s, technological skeptics have always faced resistance. To question the virtue and righteousness of tech, and especially computing, was seen as truculence, ignorance, or luddism. But today, the real downsides of tech, from fake news to data breaches to AI-operated courtrooms to energy-sucking bitcoin mines, have become both undeniable and somewhat obvious in retrospect.
In light of this new technological realism, perhaps there is appetite for new ways to think about and plan for the future of technology, which anticipates what might go right and wrong once unproven tech mainstreams quickly. As a test case, this talk will consider a technology that has not yet mainstreamed—autonomous vehicles—as a test case.
About Ian
Dr. Ian Bogost is an author and an award-winning game designer. He is Ivan Allen College Distinguished Chair in Media Studies and Professor of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he also holds an appointment in the Scheller College of Business. Bogost is also Founding Partner at Persuasive Games LLC, an independent game studio, and a Contributing Editor at The Atlantic. He is the author or co-author of ten books including Unit Operations: An Approach to Videogame Criticism and Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames.
Bogost is also the co-editor of the Platform Studies book series at MIT Press, and the Object Lessons book and essay series, published by The Atlantic and Bloomsbury.
Bogost’s videogames about social and political issues cover topics as varied as airport security, consumer debt, disaffected workers, the petroleum industry, suburban errands, pandemic flu, and tort reform. His games have been played by millions of people and exhibited or held in collections internationally, at venues including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Telfair Museum of Art, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, the Laboral Centro de Arte, and The Australian Centre for the Moving Image.
His independent games include Cow Clicker, a Facebook game send-up of Facebook games that was the subject of a Wired magazine feature, and A Slow Year, a collection of videogame poems for Atari VCS, Windows, and Mac, which won the Vanguard and Virtuoso awards at the 2010 IndieCade Festival.
Bogost holds a Bachelors degree in Philosophy and Comparative Literature from the University of Southern California, and a Masters and Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from UCLA. He lives in Atlanta.
About Jeffrey
Jeffrey is Professor of Romance Languages & Literature, Harvard Graduate School of Design; Director, metaLAB (at) Harvard; and Director, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. A cultural historian with research interests extending from Roman antiquity to the present, his most recent books are The Electric Information Age Book (a collaboration with the designer Adam Michaels (Princeton Architectural Press, 2012) and Italiamerica II (Il Saggiatore, 2012). His pioneering work in the domains of digital humanities and digitally augmented approaches to cultural programming includes curatorial collaborations with the Triennale di Milano, the Cantor Center for the Visual Arts, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Canadian Center for Architecture. His Trento Tunnels project — a 6000 sq. meter pair of highway tunnels in Northern Italy repurposed as a history museum– was featured in the Italian pavilion of the 2010 Venice Biennale and at the MAXXI in Rome in RE-CYCLE - Strategie per la casa la città e il pianeta (fall-winter 2011). He is Professor of Romance Languages & Literature, on the teaching faculty of Harvard’s Graduate School of Design,and is the faculty director of metaLAB (at) Harvard.
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Achieving the Paris climate goals: The engine of ambition
Tuesday, December 12
5:00pm to 6:00pm
MIT, Building 66-110, 25 Ames Street Cambridge
with Nate Hultman, Associate Professor, University of Maryland
Delivering on the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement will depend on the “engine of ambition” in which ambitious but feasible targets are set, achieved, communicated, and ratcheted up over time. For the first time, this formalized cycle of ambition requires a deep and efficient conversation between experts and decision-makers—and provides an opportunity to integrate research and policy for near-term targets and longer-term national decarbonization strategies. Universities have a vital role to play in maintaining and advancing this analytical capacity to achieve a 2C pathway, but this will require new collaborative models across multiple stakeholder groups and all levels of government.
Speaker Bio: Nate Hultman is director of the Center for Global Sustainability and an associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy. From 2014-2016, he worked on the White House climate and energy policy team, where he helped develop the U.S. Nationally Determined Contribution; worked on bilateral engagements with China, India, Brazil, and others; and participated in the climate negotiations in Lima and Paris. His research focuses on national climate target-setting and assessment, U.S. energy policy, energy transitions, and climate policy. Hultman is also a nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.
This MITEI Seminar was made possible with the generous support from IHS Markit.
Please note this is a public event and we will open our doors to unregistered participants 15 minutes before the event start time. To guarantee your seat, we recommend you register and arrive at least 15 minutes early.
If you are not able to attend, note there will be a high-quality recording of this seminar made available on our YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/user/MITEnergyInitiative about a week following the event.
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Lived Botany: Settler Colonialism, Household Knowledge Production, and Natural History in Eighteenth-Century Pennsylvania
Tuesday, December 12
5:15PM
Massachusetts Historical Society, 1154 Boylston Street, Boston
The Massachusetts Historical Society hosts Hannah Anderson, University of Pennsylvania with comment by Thomas Wickman, Trinity College. Free and open to the public. A light sandwich supper will follow.
Boston Environmental History Seminar
http://www.masshist.org/research/seminars
Contact Name: seminars at masshist.org
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Passive House MA @Northeastern University
Tuesday, December 12
5:30 PM – 9:00 PM EST
Northeastern, ISEC Auditorium, 805 Columbus Avenue, Room #102, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/passive-house-ma-northeastern-university-tickets-40764449566
JOIN Passive House MA for their December monthy meeting centered around high performance buildings along with the opportunity to network with industry professionals, practitioners and students from local universities!
Event Organizers: NUSBO and ESS
Speaker: Dan Roy
Featuring Speaker: Dan Roy, PE who will lead a discussion about his personal Passive House, some of the construction & designdetails, actual energy performance vs predictions and what it’s like to live in a Passive House.
The house has a photovoltaic system that makes it better than Net Zero and the excess power is used to partially pay a relative’s electricity bill. Some design features are ERV (Energy Recovery Ventilation), mini splits, heat pump water heater and triple pane windows.
Itinerary:
5:30PM-6:30PM : Food and Networking
6:30PM-8:30PM: Monthly Meeting
8:30PM-9:00PM: Closing Remarks and Networking
Contact Details:
Passive House MA - phmass.org
NUSBO - nusbo16 at gmail.com & www.nusbo.org
NUESS- EnergySystemsNEU at gmail.com
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CABA & Climate XChange's Holiday Party
Tuesday, December 12
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EST
131 Cambridge St, 131 Cambridge Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/caba-climate-xchanges-holiday-party-tickets-39746224026
It’s that time of year again! The temperature is dropping, the days are becoming shorter, and 2017 is coming to a close. But before the year ends, we’re gathering to reflect on what we’ve accomplished in 2017 with the people who helped make those achievements possible. Please join us at the Old West Church for an evening of food, drinks, and good company.
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Mass Innovation Nights 105: Relativity Whiskey at WeWork Mass Ave
Tuesday, December 12
6:00 pm - 8:30 pm
We Work, 625 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at http://mass.innovationnights.com/events/mass-innovation-nights-105
Smooth and well balanced: that is the theme for our December event. Our sponsor, Relativity from Edrington, the New American whiskey will be on hand and pouring at WeWork Mass Ave. in Cambridge. They're doing something special with their website- a puzzle that gives you a chance to win a branded hat (can you hack the puzzle for a secret prize?).
The Cambridge WeWork is the location for our December 12th TUESDAY (yes, note it is TUESDAY not our usual night) #MIN105! You can relax with a glass of whiskey and check out the 11 cool and innovative products that will be showcased.
Check out the new PRODUCTS and
VOTE for your favorites - click on the words VOTE HERE (found on this page to the immediate left) and once on the product voting page, click LOVE IT (only four times)!
RSVP to attend the event on Tuesday, December 12th (free to attend and open to all)
See who else is planning on attending (click the ATTENDEES tab)
Help spread the word - blog, tweet (using the #MIN105 hashtag), like and post!
Support local innovation -- network and have fun at the same time!
Don't miss it -- TUESDAY, December 12th 6pm-8:30pm for Mass Innovation Nights #105!
(855) 593-9675
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Boston New Technology Startup Showcase #BNT84 (21+)
Tuesday, December 12
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Foley Hoag, 155 Seaport Boulevard, Boston
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/Boston_New_Technology/events/244943526/
Cost: $12.00 /per person
This event is 21+. Find our check-in table in the lobby and present your valid photo identification to pick up your name tag.
Come learn about 7 innovative and exciting technology products and network with 150 attendees from the Boston-area startup community! Dinner, beer, wine and more are included.
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Upcoming Events
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Wednesday, December 13
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Materials Imaging and Control: The Information Dimension
Wednesday, December 13
11:00am to 12:00pm
MIT, Building 6-104, Chipman Room, 182 Memorial Drive (Rear), Cambridge
Dr. Sergei V. Kalinin, Institute for Functional Imaging of Materials Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Abstract: Development of information and energy technologies beyond-Moore computing and internet of things applications requires both acceleration of material development as well as fundamentally new approaches for controlling matter on sub-10 nm scales. Recent progress in scanning probe and electron microscopies have opened the pathway to explore structure and functionalities on atomic and subatomic scale, providing vital feedback to device fabrication and processing. These advances bring forth the challenges of extracting relevant physical and (electro)chemical behaviors that can be linked to preparation pathways and predictive theory.
The opportunities opened by synergy of physics-informed big data and machine learning techniques with imaging to probe materials behavior, as exemplified by thermodynamics of solid solutions from the atomically resolved images of atom distribution, flexoelectric coupling from topological defects in ferroics, and reaction-diffusion constants from STEM movies of electrochemical growth will all be discussed. The use of electron beam probes to explore atomic-scale reactions and phase evolution and assembly of matter atom by atom will also be further delineated.
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Assistive Technology End-of-Term Project Showcase
Wednesday, December 13
11:30am-12pm Video Presentations
12-1pm Reception and Project Demos,
MIT, Building 32-044, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
You are invited to the End-of-Term Project Showcase for 6.811J/HST.420J/2.78J: Principles and Practice of Assistive Technology (PPAT). PPAT is a project-based course in which small teams of students work closely with a person with a disability in the Boston area to develop a product or solution that helps them live more independently.
The event is free and open to the public, so please feel free to share this invitation.
Please join us for video presentations, refreshments, and demos of this year's class projects.
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xTalk: Claire Petitmengin - Exploring the Hidden Side of Lived Experience through Micro-phenomenology
Wednesday, December 13
2:00pm to 3:00pm
MIT, Building 1-242, 33 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
What's happening when an idea comes to us? When we listen to a course, read an article, or write an e-mail? When we discover an artwork, listen to a piece of music, or breathe a perfume? As cognitive science has shown very convincingly, a large part of these phenomena, which constitute the very texture of our existence, escape awareness and verbal description, and have thus far been excluded from scientific investigation. However, these difficulties do not mean that our experience is out of reach. They mean that accessing it requires a particular expertise, which consists in carrying out specific acts.
Micro-phenomenology is a new scientific discipline aiming at triggering such acts. It enables us to discover ordinary inaccessible dimensions of our lived experience and describe them very accurately and reliably. The development of this "psychological microscope" opens vast fields of investigation in the educational, technological, clinical and therapeutic, as well as artistic and contemplative domains. Notably, it enables us to explore a deeply pre-reflective, transmodal and gestural dimension of our experience that seems to play an essential role in the process of emergence of any meaning and understanding.
Claire Petitmengin is Professor Emerita at Mines-Télécom Institute and Member of the Archives Husserl, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris.
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Why Race and Money Are the Same Topic
Wednesday, December 13
6:00pm
First Church In Roxbury, 10 Putnam Street, Putnam Hall, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/why-race-and-money-are-the-same-topic-tickets-39896633906
A Discussion with Phil Thompson
J. Phillip Thompson is Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Politics at MIT. Phil also heads the Health Working Group at the School of Architecture and Planning (and Media Lab) at MIT. Phil’s research focuses on black politics, community development, and political economy.
Outside of campus he works with labor unions, community groups, and local government officials on strategies and policies for economic and social justice.
Phil earned a PhD in Political Science from the City University of New York Graduate Center, a Masters degree in Urban Planning from Hunter College in New York, and a B.A. in Sociology from Harvard University.
Obehi Janice will read a scene from her play Ole White Sugar Daddy.
To learn more about Ole White Sugar Daddy: http://www.wbur.org/radioboston/2017/05/26/obehi-janice-play
OBEHI JANICE is an award-winning actress, writer and comedian.
A graduate of Georgetown University, Obehi was named "Boston's Best Actress" by The Improper Bostonian in 2014. She works on stage, screen and as a voice actress in video games, radio, and commercials.
She has garnered esteem and recognition from American Theatre Magazine, Bustle, WBUR, DigBoston, WGBH, For Harriet, and The Boston Globe. She is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild and Actors’ Equity Association.
Obehi is originally from Lowell, Massachusetts.
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Science Slam
Wednesday, December 13
6:00pm to 8:00pm
The Thirsty Ear, 235 Albany Street, Cambridge
Join MIT alumni at The Thirsty Ear for a fast-paced pitch night. Watch 10 MIT alumni—currently graduate students and postdocs at area universities—compete for over $1,000 in cash and prizes for effectively communicating their research to a panel of judges in under three minutes.
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Thursday, December 14
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Follow-Up Discussion on Customer Acquisition for LMI Solar Programs
Thursday, December 14
1-2pm ET
Webinar
RSVP at https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/3361675824774384387
This interactive webinar discussion is a follow-up to two earlier webinars: "Approaches for Involving Low-Income Communities with Solar” (11/30) and “Connecticut’s Low- and Moderate-Income Solar Customer Segmentation Analysis” (12/5).
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Boston Climate Action Network Meeting
Thursday, December 14
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EST
First Baptist Church, 633 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/boston-climate-action-network-meeting-tickets-39329027179
We're working towards fighting climate change through improved energy policy and education at the local level in Boston. The BCAN Action Team meeting is a great way to get directly involved in the effort to combat climate change in the era of Trump. We gather twice per month on the 2nd and 4th Thursday from 6-8pm at First Baptist Church in Jamaica Plain.
Come meet the Communications Team, the Arts Team, and other dedicated climate campaigners to learn how you can help us plan outreach for the Community Choice Energy campaign.
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MIT Clean Energy Prize
Thursday, December 14
6:00 PM – 8:30 PM EST
Greentown Labs, 28 Dane Street, Somerville
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mit-clean-energy-prize-tickets-40852379567
MIT Clean Energy Prize is the nation’s largest clean energy-focused innovation competition for students.
With over $200,000 in prizes, we can help bring your novel prototype or business plan to successfully launch.
Come join us for our kick-off event to meet like-minded students, engage veteran energy entrepreneurs, and participate in Pitch 2 Match, a 1 minute or less idea introduction to form teams to compete for the Clean Energy Prize.
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Friday, December 15
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NE Restructuring Roundtable: Keynote Addresses from FERC Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur and ISO New England President/CEO Gordon van Welie; & Panel on Improving Energy Facility Siting & Permitting in New England
Friday, December 15
9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Foley Hoag LLP, 155 Seaport Boulevard, 13th Floor, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/keynote-addresses-from-ferc-commissioner-cheryl-lafleur-and-iso-new-england-presidentceo-gordon-van-tickets-38885202688
Cost: $0 - $80
Livestream RSVP at https://signup.clickstreamtv.net/event/raab/events/neer/
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Sustainable Apparel Sourcing - Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration Beyond Compliance and Transparency
Friday, December 15, 2017
8:30 AM – 5:00 PM EST
Harvard University, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sustainable-apparel-sourcing-multi-stakeholder-collaboration-beyond-compliance-and-transparency-tickets-39121136372
The conference will focus on the trade, compliance and labor issues in global supply chain for the apparel industry. The conference is designed to focus on the current challenges facing the industry globally and particularly in Bangladesh. Our goal is to provide a pathway to a greater integration with the global sustainable supply chain system. Whether it's developing the technological infrastructure and processes to integrate with the global markets, identifying improvements in policies, and creating the necessary environment. We will seek to foster a sustainable environment for the engagement of academics, policy makers, industry leaders and other stakeholders.
We are expecting that government and business leaders from USA, EU, Canada, Bangladesh, China, Vietnam, Cambodia and African Union will participate at the event. Other expected participants include the brands and the buyers' groups, USFIA, UN and associated development partners, the World Bank, IFC, ILO, elected officials and civil servants of the Governments, labor leaders, researchers and academics. The deliberation will explore how the development partners can more effectively facilitate and assist in solving the key challenges for sustaining the development of the global apparel industry.
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Dirty Data, Robotics, and Artificial Intelligence
Friday, December 15
2:00 PM to 3:00 PM
MIT, Building 32-D463, Star, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Sanjay Krishnan , UC Berkeley
Abstract: Large training datasets have revolutionized AI research, but enabling similar breakthroughs in other fields, such as Robotics, requires a new understanding of how to acquire, clean, and structure emergent forms of large-scale, unstructured sequential data. My talk presents a systematic approach to handling such dirty data in the context of modern AI applications. I start by introducing a statistical formalization on data cleaning in this setting including research on: (1) how common data cleaning operations affect model training, (2) how data cleaning programs can be expected to generalize to unseen data, (3) and how to prioritize limited human intervention in rapidly growing datasets. Then, using surgical robotics as a motivating example, I present a series of robust Bayesian models for automatically extracting hierarchical structure from highly varied and noisy robot trajectory data facilitating imitation learning and reinforcement learning on short, consistent sub-problems. I present how the combination of clean training data and structured learning tasks enables learning highly accurate control policies in tasks ranging from surgical cutting to debridement.
Bio: Sanjay Krishnan is a Computer Science PhD candidate in the RISELab and in the Berkeley Laboratory for Automation Science and Engineering at UC Berkeley. His research studies problems on the intersection of database theory, machine learning, and robotics. Sanjay's work has received a number of awards including the 2016 SIGMOD Best Demonstration award, 2015 IEEE GHTC Best Paper award, and Sage Scholar award. https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~sanjayk/
Contact: Leslie Kaelbling, lpk at csail.mit.edu
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Brains, Minds + Machines Seminar Series: Have We Missed Most of What the Neocortex Does? Allocentric Location as the Basis of Perception
Friday, December 15
4:00pm to 5:00pm
MIT, Building 46-3002, Singleton Auditorium, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Jeff Hawkins, Co-Founder, Numenta
Abstract: In this talk, I will describe a theory that sensory regions of the neocortex process two inputs. One input is the well-known sensory data arriving via thalamic relay cells. The second input is an allocentric representation, which we propose is derived in the sub-granular layers of each cortical column. The allocentric location represents where the sensed feature is relative to the object being sensed. These two inputs are combined in layer 4. As the sensors move, cortical columns learn complete models of objects by integrating feature and location representations over time. During inference, inter-column projections allow columns to rapidly reach a consensus of what object is being sensed, often in a single visual fixation or a single grasp of a hand. We propose that the representation of allocentric location in each column is derived using the same principles as grid cells in the entorhinal cortex. In this proposal, individual cortical columns are able to model complete complex objects and are therefore more powerful than currently believed.
I will be discussing material from these two papers. Others can be found at www.Numenta.com/papers
A Theory of How Columns in the Neocortex Enable Learning the Structure of the World
https://doi.org/10.3389/fncir.2017.00081
Why Neurons Have Thousands of Synapses, A Theory of Sequence Memory in the Neocortex
https://doi.org/10.3389/fncir.2016.00023
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Monday, December 18
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xTalk: Faculty Innovators Wolfgang Ketterle & Lorna Gibson
Monday, December 18
3:00pm to 4:15pm
MIT, Building 4-163, 182 Memorial Drive (rear), Cambridge
Professors Wolfgang Ketterle and Lorna Gibson use the flipped classroom in their teaching as a vehicle for activating learning and engaging students.
Prof. Ketterle had his residential MIT students watch the video lectures from his MOOC as preparation before class. This completely changed the dynamics in his classroom. “Using online material in [my] residential course was transformative for me as a teacher.” It allowed him to engage in a series of surprisingly deep conversations with his class -- discussions that were the most interactive he’d ever experienced.
An advantage for Prof. Gibson in flipping her class and using online problem sets was that the p-sets were now in sync with the lecture material. The students would watch a set of videos, attend a face-to-face recitation with Gibson, do a combination of written and online problem sets, receive immediate feedback on the online portion, and take an assesment quiz -- all within nine days. In addition, her students liked the flexible access to videos and other online material.
Moderated by Dean for Digital Learning Krishna Rajagopal, this xTalk will offer an opportunity to hear additional thoughts from Ketterle and Gibson on the challenges and opportunities of a flipped classroom.
Nobel Laureate Wolfgang Ketterle is MIT professor of Physics.
MacVicar Fellow Lorna GIbson is MIT professor of Materials Science and Engineering.
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Whitehead Institute Seminar Series (Dr. Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz)
Monday, December 18
4:00pm
Whitehead Institute, McGovern Auditorium, 9 Cambridge Center, Cambridge
Speaker: Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, University of Cambridge
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Opportunity
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Discounted Solar for Somerville
As part of the State’s Solarize Mass program, local volunteers and the City of Somerville recently launched the Solarize Somerville campaign to make it easier and cheaper for residents and small businesses to install solar panels.
The program, which is offering information and guidance, free site consultations, and solar panel discounts through November, has set an ambitious goal to inspire at least 200 property owners to sign up for solar —and each of those private solar installations will also benefit the community directly. For every 400 kW in signed private contracts through the program, the program’s solar vendor SolarFlair will donate a system of up to 5 kW for a public or community purpose. All are invited to the program kickoff at a Meet the Installer event on Tuesday, July 26 at 6-7:30 p.m., 167 Holland St. Additional events on topics such as solar basics, financing, and solar for multifamily homes will be announced.
Unique to the program is its neighbor-to-neighbor approach: trained resident volunteers and a designated volunteer Solar Coach are available essentially as mentors. They can, for example, walk anyone through the process, provide general loan program and tax incentive information, and share their own solar experiences. The campaign’s webpage and blog offers useful information, tips, and a link to websites where you can estimate the solar potential of your home and roughly calculate how much solar could save you on your energy bills at www.somervillema.gov/sustainaville/solarize.
Somerville is one of the most urban communities ever to participate in Solarize Mass, which makes the neighbor-to-neighbor approach especially helpful due to some of the unique challenges here such as multi-family houses with more than one owner. Winter Hill resident Mary Mangan, the program’s volunteer Solar Coach, went through that process and is ready to share helpful tips.
"I'm excited to work with our eager volunteers to help our neighbors understand the benefits of solar power. As a co-owner of a two-family home with solar, I can also offer some insights about how that process went for us," said Mangan.
Also key to the program is the selection of a designated vendor, which allows the program to offer reduced cost installation through bulk purchasing. Through a competitive process, SolarFlair, based in Ashland, MA, was selected. They were also the selected installer for the communities of Arlington, Hopkinton, Mendon, Brookline, Carlisle-Chelmsford, Newton, and Quincy.
"We're excited to be the selected installer for Solarize Somerville, and look forward to speaking with any home or business owners that are interested in reducing their electric bills while also making a great investment," said Matt Arner, the owner and President of SolarFlair.
Quick facts:
Solar systems can be purchased outright (with a payback of about 4-5 years). The Mass Solar Loan program offers rates of 3.25% or less.
Or, for no money down owners can choose a power purchase agreement (PPA), where the system is owned and maintained by a third party, and residents buy back the electricity at a discounted price.
More on-site renewable energy is critical to reducing carbon emissions. It also saves money for residents.
Tax incentives for solar installations include:
Federal Tax Credit: A 30 percent federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) is available for qualified residential and commercial projects
Massachusetts Personal Income Tax Credit: The lesser of 15% of the total cost of the solar electric system or $1,000, for qualified clean energy projects
Five-year Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS): Business owners can depreciate solar electric systems over a five-year schedule
For more information or to sign up for a free site consultation:
Visit the Solarize Somerville webpage at www.somervillema.gov/sustainaville/solarize for
Helpful information and FAQs
To contact a volunteer or Solar Coach Mary Mangan to discuss solar options and incentives
To set up an appointment for a free site consultation directly with SolarFlair
To find out about events
To volunteer for Solarize Somerville
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Where is the best yogurt on the planet made? Somerville, of course!
Join the Somerville Yogurt Making Cooperative and get a weekly quart of the most thick, creamy, rich and tart yogurt in the world. Members share the responsibility for making yogurt in our kitchen located just outside of Davis Sq. in FirstChurch. No previous yogurt making experience is necessary.
For more information checkout.
https://somervilleyogurtmakingcoop.wordpress.com
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Free solar electricity analysis for MA residents
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHhwM202dDYxdUZJVGFscnY1VGZ3aXc6MQ
Solar map of Cambridge, MA
http://www.mapdwell.com/en/cambridge
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Sunny Cambridge has just launched! Sunny Cambridge is the city-wide initiative that makes it easy for all types of residents to get solar power for their homes. Cambridge has lined up local solar installers through the EnergySage Solar Marketplace, which helps you request, receive, and compare solar quotes 100% online with support available every step of the way.
The City of Cambridge is working on many levels to reduce energy use and GHG emissions to make the city more sustainable. As a semifinalist in the nationwide competition for the $5 million Georgetown University Energy Prize, Cambridge Energy Alliance is encouraging residents to take actions to save energy, save money, and protect the environment. Get involved by signing up for a no-cost home energy assessment at the Cambridge Energy Alliance home page (www.cambridgeenergyalliance.org/winit)
and going solar at http://www.sunnycambridge.org
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"Greening Our Grid" Report Released April 24, 2017
MAPC is excited to announce the release of “Greening Our Grid,” a fact sheet and a case study detailing MAPC’s strategy to use municipal aggregation to help build new renewable energy in New England.
“Greening Our Grid” highlights MAPC's work with the City of Melrose as a case study for MAPC's innovative green municipal aggregation strategy. Melrose recently completed its first year of implementation. The city’s results demonstrate that economic and environmental goals can be met simultaneously, and provide a compelling example for others to follow.
The case study and fact sheet further describe the renewable energy strategy overall, why it can have a real impact on our electricity grid, and MAPC’s program to help other municipalities follow Melrose's lead. Arlington, Brookline, Gloucester, Hamilton, Millis, Somerville, Sudbury, and Winchester are poised to roll out their green aggregations within the year.
MAPC believes that municipal aggregation offers an opportunity for communities to leverage the collective buying power of their residents and businesses to transform our electric grid to cleaner sources of energy, while also providing cost savings and price stability for electricity. The fact sheet and case study will be useful tools for cities and towns that are exploring green municipal aggregation, as well as for those that already have active aggregation programs.
Check out “Greening Our Grid” today at http://www.mapc.org/greening-our-grid, and contact Patrick Roche, MAPC Clean Energy Coordinator, at proche at mapc.org for more information about MAPC's program.
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Cambridge Climate Change Game
Extending our work on face-to-face games, the MIT Science Impact Collaborative has developed a digital game on the health impacts of climate change that you can play alone on your computer or on your mobile phone. The game should take about 10-20 minutes. We would appreciate it if you could play the game at your convenience.
Play the game at http://www.doublecoconut.com/climate/
Any and all feedback on the game should be directed to Ella Kim at ella at mit.edu.
Thank you for your time and consideration!
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Sustainable Business Network Local Green Guide
SBN is excited to announce the soft launch of its new Local Green Guide, Massachusetts' premier Green Business Directory!
To view the directory please visit: http://www.localgreenguide.org
To find out how how your business can be listed on the website or for sponsorship opportunities please contact Adritha at adritha at sbnboston.org
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Boston Food System
"The Boston Food System [listserv] provides a forum to post announcements of events, employment opportunities, internships, programs, lectures, and other activities as well as related articles or other publications of a non-commercial nature covering the area's food system - food, nutrition, farming, education, etc. - that take place or focus on or around Greater Boston (broadly delineated)."
The Boston area is one of the most active nationwide in terms of food system activities - projects, services, and events connected to food, farming, nutrition - and often connected to education, public health, environment, arts, social services and other arenas. Hundreds of organizations and enterprises cover our area, but what is going on week-to-week is not always well publicized.
Hence, the new Boston Food System listserv, as the place to let everyone know about these activities. Specifically:
Use of the BFS list will begin soon, once we get a decent base of subscribers. Clarification of what is appropriate to announce and other posting guidelines will be provided as well.
It's easy to subscribe right now at https://elist.tufts.edu/wws/subscribe/bfs
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The Boston Network for International Development (BNID) maintains a website (BNID.org) that serves as a clearing-house for information on organizations, events, and jobs related to international development in the Boston area. BNID has played an important auxiliary role in fostering international development activities in the Boston area, as witnessed by the expanding content of the site and a significant growth in the number of users.
The website contains:
A calendar of Boston area events and volunteer opportunities related to International Development - http://www.bnid.org/events
A jobs board that includes both internships and full time positions related to International Development that is updated daily - http://www.bnid.org/jobs
A directory and descriptions of more than 250 Boston-area organizations - http://www.bnid.org/organizations
Also, please sign up for our weekly newsletter (we promise only one email per week) to get the most up-to-date information on new job and internship opportunities -www.bnid.org/sign-up
The website is completely free for students and our goal is to help connect students who are interested in international development with many of the worthwhile organizations in the area.
Please feel free to email our organization at info at bnid.org if you have any questions!
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Boston Maker Spaces - 41 (up from 27 in 2016) and counting: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zGHnt9r2pQx8.kfw9evrHsKjA&hl=en
Solidarity Network Economy: https://ussolidarityeconomy.wordpress.com
Bostonsmart.com's Guide to Boston: http://www.bostonsmarts.com/BostonGuide/
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Links to events at over 50 colleges and universities at Hubevents: http://hubevents.blogspot.com
Thanks to
Fred Hapgood's Selected Lectures on Science and Engineering in the Boston Area: http://www.BostonScienceLectures.com
MIT Events: http://calendar.mit.edu
MIT Energy Club: http://mitenergyclub.org/
Harvard Events: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/harvard-events/events-calendar/
Harvard Environment: http://environment.harvard.edu/events/calendar/
Sustainability at Harvard: http://green.harvard.edu/events
Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/
Eventbrite: http://www.eventbrite.com/
Microsoft NERD Center: http://microsoftcambridge.com/Events/
Startup and Entrepreneurial Events: http://www.greenhornconnect.com/events/
Cambridge Civic Journal: http://www.rwinters.com
Cambridge Happenings: http://cambridgehappenings.org
Cambridge Community Calendar: https://www.cctvcambridge.org/calendar
If you have an event you would like to see here, the submission deadline is 11 AM on Sundays, as Energy (and Other) Events is sent out Sunday afternoons.
More information about the Act-MA
mailing list