[act-ma] Energy (and Other) Events - March 11, 2018
gmoke
gmoke at world.std.com
Sun Mar 11 11:45:42 PDT 2018
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, March 12
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9am Life Sciences Panel
11:45am Sustainable Careers: Catie Lee, Manager at Land O'Lakes SUSTAIN, on Sustainability in Food and Agribusiness
12pm PAOC Colloquium: The Dynamics of Glaciers
12:30pm Elephant Conservation
12:30pm Bridging Privacy Definitions: Differential Privacy and Privacy Concepts from Law and Policy
1pm NULab: Geometries of Thought: What the history of network visualizations reveals about how we think
4pm MIT STS Program presents the 2018 Morison Prize & Lecture with guest speaker, Sheri Fink, PhD, MD
5:30pm MIT Screening of THE NEW FIRE
6pm Ariella Azoulay | Plunder, Destruction and Museums: The Imperial Origins of Democracy
6:30pm Merchants of Doubt: video and discussion
6:30pm Science by the Pint: Small Stars with Small Planets
7pm Blockchain For Good - Boston
8pm JANE Premier Watch Party
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Tuesday, March 13
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8:30am Emerging Trends Series: Solar + Storage
11am Landing SpaceX's Reusable Rockets
12pm Brown Bag Lunch: Ari Daniel
2pm Nexus of Global Jihad: Understanding Cooperation Among Terrorist Actors
3pm The Social Side of Recommendation Systems: How Groups Shape Our Decisions
4:15pm Water Splitting and the Making of Renewable Chemicals
5pm Countering Fake News with Jakub Janda, Deputy Director, European Values Think-Tank
6pm Vannevar Bush Lecture Series on Science and Technology Innovation: The 21st Century’s Technology Story: The Convergence of Biology and Engineering
6pm Projecting Climate Change into the Future: What We Know and How Well We Know It
6:15pm Racism: An Ongoing Dilemma
6:30pm The Future of Moakley Park
6:30pm NeuroTech and Artificial Intelligence
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Wednesday, March 14
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12pm George F. Kennan and American Policy in East Asia
12:30pm The World Bank and NDC Partnership’s Support of the Paris Climate Agreement
1:15pm Enabling entrepreneurs, reimagining cities with Clara Brenner
3:30pm Guiding principles for peptide-based, life-like nanotechnology
5pm Whiplash: How to Survive a Faster Future?
5pm MIT-Africa Presents "Kill All but the Crows”
5pm District Hall Spring Café Night: The Many Faces of Innovation!
5:30pm Trump and Privacy
6pm Designing for Resilience, Equity, and Democracy
6pm Book Talk: Sunburst and Luminary: An Apollo Memoir
6pm Nine Irish Lives: The Thinkers, Fighters, & Artists Who Helped Build America
6pm Great Decisions 2018 - U.S. Global Engagement and the Military
6pm The Changing Shape of Boston: from “One if by land, and two if by sea” to the Present
8pm The Fourth Industrial Revolution
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Thursday, March 15
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8:30am Social Issue Talk: Inclusion for Youth with Disabilities - Building an Inclusive Society for Young People with Disabilities
11am Streamlined Building Life Cycle Assessment
12pm #UniteAgainstSeismic: Inuit strategies to protect the Arctic marine environment
12pm Environment – Sustainability Lunch Seminar: Achieving Water Affordability in America’s Shrinking Cities
12:30pm Taking Back the Land
1pm Tree Architecture
2pm How Inkjet Printing Technology Can Defeat Multidrug- Resistant Superbugs
4pm Towards Personalized Medicine Using Gut Microbiome and Clinical Data
4:30pm The Uncounted: Civilian victims of America’s wars
5pm Narcissistic Personality Disorder
5pm Visual Representations of Race and Gender: Analyzing “Me” in #IfTheyGunnedMeDown on Tumblr
6pm Conversations on the Edge: Inequality and Wealth Redistribution
6pm "Work Report”: Arthur H. Schein Memorial Lecture
6pm Climate Action Business Alliance All Member Reception
6pm Party for a Solidarity Economy: Fundraiser for the Boston Ujima Project
6:30pm Women Take the Reel film: Birthright: A War Story
6:30pm Boston Futurist Meetup
7pm Climate Crew flood preparation info session
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Friday, March 16 and Saturday. March 17
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6th Annual Massachusetts Urban Farming Conference
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Friday, March 16
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9:30am NULab Spring Conference: Fake News/Real Knowledge: Histories, Structures, Futures
10am The Role of Entrepreneurship in Affordable and Clean Energy
12pm 23rd Net Impact Case Competition
2pm Violence Exposure and Ethnic Identification: Evidence from Kashmir
2pm Cybertraps for Librarians
5pm From Material Expressivity to Emotional Interaction
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Saturday, March 17
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9am Boston Socialist Unity Project Annual Conference 2018
2pm Boston and Its Changing Landscape Walking Tour
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Sunday, March 18 - Wednesday, March 21
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Special Climate program at Kripalu in Stockbridge, Massachusetts
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Sunday, March 18
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2pm Art & Technology Tour at the MIT List Center and ICA/Boston
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Monday, March 19
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12pm PAOC Colloquium: Michael Bender (Princeton)
12pm Methane: A Uniquely Difficult Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Problem
12:15pm DNA and Divination: On Yearning For Genetic Deliverance
12:30pm City Leaders as Disruptors: Finding Unexpected Allies and Getting Results
4pm Enabling Interaction on Everyday Surfaces
4pm Waste of A Nation Book Talk
4:15pm Citizen Indigenous
6pm Ancient Egypt in Africa: New Excavations at the Island Fortress of Uronarti
6:30pm Idea CoLab Boston - Connecting Young Talent with Startups & Tech Pros
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Tuesday, March 20
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11am Censored: Distraction and Diversion Inside China's Great Firewall
12pm Speaker Series: Heather Ann Thompson
1pm Climate Change and Global Health Seminar
4pm 2018 Spring Wulff Lecture
4pm Estelle Freedman seminar: Redefining Rape: Sexual Violence in the Era of Suffrage and Segregation
4:30pm Starr Forum: US-Russian Relations: What's Next?
5pm Open Society's New Enemies and the Assault on Truth
6pm Vannevar Bush Lecture Series on Science and Technology Innovation: Richard Lester
6pm The Inner Life of Animals: Love, Grief, and Compassion―Surprising Observations of a Hidden World
6pm Modern Humans' Earliest Artwork and Music: New European Discoveries
6pm Boston Community Briefing on Paid Leave and $15/Hour Minimum Wage
6pm Vietnam 1968: The War, the Turmoil, and the Presidential Election
7pm Preventing a Mad Max Future: How Green Electricity Could Fix Our Water Pollution Problem
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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
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Monday, March 12
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Life Sciences Panel
Monday, March 12
9:00 AM – 11:00 AM EDT
MassBio, 300 Technology Square, 8th Floor, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/life-sciences-panel-tickets-42681617868
This life sciences panel of representatives will be hosted by founding Agency 415 Partner Nicholas Lowe. Organized like a “fireside chat” and focused on critical pain points for early stage lifescience companies, this panel of expertise will focus on the role of strategic branding and how to get it right in this industry.
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Sustainable Careers: Catie Lee, Manager at Land O'Lakes SUSTAIN, on Sustainability in Food and Agribusiness
Monday, March 12
11:45am to 12:45pm
MIT, Building E51-361, 70 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Catie Lee is a Manager at Land O’Lakes SUSTAIN, a business unit started in 2016 to empower farmers to make sustainable and productive decisions on-farm. She works to bring new ideas and innovation to the ag industry to drive new sources of profit to farmers. Recently she’s been doing a lot of thinking about conservation finance, manure management, and innovation in a company.
Prior to joining Land O’Lakes, Catie was a Consultant in Bain & Co.’s Boston office and worked for the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. She has an MBA from Chicago Booth and a BA from Williams College.
Catie will talk about her career path including career switching, the challenges of sustainability roles in corporations, and attempting to solve the two-body problem. She is happy to discuss specific issues facing agriculture during Q&A.
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PAOC Colloquium: The Dynamics of Glaciers
Monday, March 12
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Building 54-923, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
About the Speaker
Brent Minchew is a geophysicist working to understand the interactions between climate, the cryosphere, and the solid Earth. He uses a combination of geodetic observations—primarily interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR)—and physical models to study dynamical systems and their various responses to environmental forcing.
The bulk of Minchew’s research focuses on the dynamics of extant glaciers, with an emphasis on the mechanics of glacier beds, ice-ocean interactions, and ice rheology. By modulating ice flow and directly influencing glacier erosion rates, these factors play critical roles in glacier and ice sheet evolution, the dynamic response of glaciers to climate change, and the impact of glaciers on landform evolution and the global carbon cycle over human to geological timescales.
Minchew’s preferred approach to understanding complex systems is to focus on short-timescale (hourly to sub-decadal) variations in the dynamics of large-scale systems in response to known forcings. Examples of this work include spatiotemporal observations and models of the dynamic response of glaciers to surface meltwater flux, ocean tidal forcing, and ice shelf thinning.
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Elephant Conservation
Monday, March 12
12:30–1:45 pm
Tufts, Crowe Room, Goddard 310, 160 Packard Avenue, Medford
Pizza will be served
Dr. Bruce Schulte
Dr. Bruce Schulte is the Department Head of Biology and Professor at Western Kentucky University. Bruce is studying human livelihoods, biodiversity, elephant behavior, and ecosystem functions in the Tsavo ecosystem in Kenya, in partnership with Wildlife Works. His efforts are helping to conserve the region and ensure that humans and wildlife maintain a mutually beneficial, sustainable relationship.
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Bridging Privacy Definitions: Differential Privacy and Privacy Concepts from Law and Policy
Monday, March 12
12:30 pm to 2:00 pm
BU, BUild Lab IDG Capital Student Innovation Center, 730 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
Please send your RSVP for this talk to tgabs at bu.edu
Interest in differential privacy is growing among policymakers and privacy practitioners as an approach to satisfying legal and policy requirements for privacy protection when using and sharing personal information. However, demonstrating that formal privacy models such as differential privacy satisfy legal requirements for privacy protection is a significant challenge due to conceptual gaps between the legal and technical definitions.
This presentation, given by Harvard Berkman Center fellow Alexandra Wood, will discuss how the use of differential privacy can be understood to be sufficient to satisfy a wide range of legal and policy requirements, despite these definitional gaps. It will draw from specific examples of privacy requirements from a selection of laws such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule, Title 13 of the U.S. Code (governing the US Census Bureau), and the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (CIPSEA). Key concepts from these legal requirements that are found to be relevant to privacy in computation include personally identifiable information, de-identification, linkage, inference, identification risk, expert determination, consent and opting out, and purpose and access limitations.
While none of these legal and policy concepts refer directly to differential privacy, the differential privacy guarantee can be interpreted to address these concepts while accommodating differences in how they are defined and interpreted. A series of examples will be provided to show how policymakers and privacy practitioners can interpret the differential privacy guarantee as sufficient to satisfy legal and policy requirements that rely on these concepts. This approach can, in turn, guide practitioners in the future as they make decisions when analyzing and sharing statistical data about individuals, informing individuals about the privacy protection they will be afforded, and designing policies and regulations for robust privacy protection.
Refreshments provided.
More information at http://www.bu.edu/law/faculty-and-staff/colloquia-workshops/intellectual-property-speaker-series/
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NULab: Geometries of Thought: What the history of network visualizations reveals about how we think
Monday, March 12
1:00pm
Northeastern, Curry Student Center, Room 346, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston
RSVP at RSVP to Sarah Connell: sa.connell[at]northeastern[dot]edu
Speaker: Scott Weingart, Program Director of Digital Humanities at Carnegie Mellon University Libraries
Join us on March 12th for a talk by visiting speaker Scott Weingart, Carnegie Mellon University.“Everything is connected”, a generation of magazine covers shouted, proclaiming the dawn of an age of cybernetics, of information, of big data. The history of that connectivity reflects deep-seated philosophical positions which influence what and how we think. Trees and networks offer particularly compelling models through which to organize the world, and looking at their illustrations over the last thousand years provides a unique purchase into Western Europe’s changing philosophical landscape. Through these illustrations, we can trace everything from the changing role of God, to the underpinning of early gravitational theories, to the values implicit in force-directed network layouts.This event is free and open to the public, but guests from outside the Northeastern community should RSVP to Sarah Connell: sa.connell[at]northeastern[dot]edu.
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MIT STS Program presents the 2018 Morison Prize & Lecture with guest speaker, Sheri Fink, PhD, MD
Monday, March 12
4:00pm to 5:30pm
MIT, Building E15, Bartos Theater, Lower Atrium 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
Sheri Fink is the author of the New York Times bestselling book, Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital (Crown, 2013) about choices made in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. She is a correspondent at the New York Times, where her and her colleagues’ stories on the West Africa Ebola crisis were recognized with the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting, the George Polk Award for health reporting, and the Overseas Press Club Hal Boyle Award. Her story “The Deadly Choices at Memorial,” co-published by ProPublica and the New York Times Magazine, received a 2010 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting and a National Magazine Award for reporting. A former relief worker in disaster and conflict zones, Fink received her M.D. and Ph.D. from Stanford University. Her first book, War Hospital: A True Story of Surgery and Survival (PublicAffairs), is about medical professionals under siege during the genocide in Srebrenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina. Five Days at Memorial was the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction, the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for nonfiction, the Ridenhour Book Prize, the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Book Award, the American Medical Writers Association Medical Book Award, and the NASW Science in Society Journalism Book Award.
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MIT Screening of THE NEW FIRE
Monday, March 12
5:30 PM – 7:30 PM EDT
MIT, Ray and Maria Stata Center, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mit-screening-of-the-new-fire-tickets-43397060777
Join us for this special, free screening of THE NEW FIRE and meet director David Schumacher and Kerry Emanuel! The screening will be held at the Stata Center in Kirsch Auditorium (32-123). A panel Q&A session will follow.
What can we do to mitigate climate change?
Nuclear power has been vilified in popular culture and among much of the environmental community. Yet the next-generation reactors currently in development may actually be key to avoiding global catastrophe. The young entrepreneurs heading this energy revolution realize they’re up against more than the climate clock – they need to convince all of us that the new nuclear is safe and achievable.
Filmed across four continents over the course of 22 months, Emmy-winning director David Schumacher’s film focuses on how the generation facing the most severe impact of climate change is fighting back with ingenuity and hope. THE NEW FIRE tells a provocative and startlingly positive story about a planet in crisis and the young heroes
who are trying to save it.
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Ariella Azoulay | Plunder, Destruction and Museums: The Imperial Origins of Democracy
Monday, March 12
6:00pm to 7:30pm
MIT, Building 3-133, 33 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
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Merchants of Doubt: video and discussion
Monday, March 12
6:30pm
Lothrop Room, Community Church of Boston, 565 Boylston Street, Boston
Pundits-for-hire presented themselves as scientific authorities on tobacco, flame retardants, toxic chemicals, pharmaceuticals and climate change, but are revealed.
Donations accepted towards venue rental.Sponsored by the Greater Boston Chapter of the Green-Rainbow Party.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1735965483136415/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3675568/http://sonyclassics.com/merchantsofdoubt/
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Science by the Pint: Small Stars with Small Planets
Monday, March 12
6:30 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
The Burren, 247 Elm Street, Somerville
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/science-by-the-pint-small-stars-with-small-planets-tickets-43168564338
This Science by the Pint event features Dr. Phillip Muirhead. Dr. Muirhead is an Assistant Professor of Astronomy at Boston University. Check back later for a more detailed description of the topic covered!
Science by the Pint is a free science café in which we invite a Boston-area research lab out to a pub or brewery to chat science over a cold one. The events are geared toward a general audience – all are welcome and no experience is necessary! To learn more about our Science by the Pint series, visit:
http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/science-by-the-pint/
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Blockchain For Good - Boston
Monday, March 12
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
District Hall, 75 Northern Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.es/e/blockchain-for-good-boston-tickets-42711159227
In 2009 Blockchain was born, a technology that has already changed the world and has the ability to help us solve some of the most prevalent problems of humanity. Blockchain is the technology that makes possible its most well-known use, bitcoin cryptocurrencies. But the underlying technology allows infinite possibilities far beyond the well-known virtual currency. Unfortunately, the Blockchain discussion is too often focused on very cryptic technological issues for the majority, which only alienates many potential users of the most powerful tool we have seen since the World Wide Web was invented. In this session, we will understand what Blockchain can do, leaving aside the technical jargon and we will know concrete examples of uses of this technology
About The Speaker
Concepción Galdón is IE University’s Social Innovation Director/Academic Lead. At IE she has the mandate to promote Social Innovation academic content across Schools and Programs, encourage more research in Social Innovation and reach out to organizations and partners interested in Social Innovation. IE focuses on three main drivers for Social Innovation, consistent with the identity and values of our University: Entrepreneurship (also Social Entrepreneurship but not exclusively), Technology applied to Social Innovation and Conscious Leadership. Concepción is a professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at IE. Concepción is also President of the social Venture Puentes Global, which she co-founded in 2009. She´s a member of Ashoka Spain’s Venture Board and of the board of Harvard Kennedy School Spain Alumni Network.
Concepción is an Economist by Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. She holds a Master in Public Administration and International Development by Harvard Kennedy School. Concepción holds a PhD in International Economy and Development by Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Her PhD research focuses on the use of technology in social entrepreneurship. She has published papers in peer-reviewed journals and chapters in books. She writes contributions for mass media regularly and is a speaker at international conferences.
Her past professional experience includes the foundation of an NGO, UN’s Procurement Service, Santander Bank’s Latin America Division and Liberia’s Government under Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Nobel Peace Prize 2011.
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JANE Premier Watch Party
Monday, March 12
8:00 PM – 10:00 PM EDT
BU, George Sherman Union, 775 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jane-premier-watch-party-tickets-43217318162
Come watch the premier of JANE, a documentary about Jane Goodall's early work. This event is hosted by the Environmental Affairs department of student gov. There will be food too!
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Tuesday, March 13
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Emerging Trends Series: Solar + Storage
Tuesday, March 13
8:30 AM – 10:30 AM EDT
Foley Hoag, 155 Seaport Boulevard, Boston and 1540 Broadway 8th Floor, New York
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/emerging-trends-series-solar-storage-tickets-42320896942
The energy storage market has taken off in the Northeast. In late 2017, Massachusetts announced $20 million in grants for 26 projects through the Baker-Polito Administration’s Advancing Commonwealth Energy Storage program, while New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently commitment to deploy 1,500 megawatts of storage by 2025. With storage finally here, communities and consumers are looking to marry solar with storage as a solution to reducing electricity costs, increasing grid resiliency and better-utilizing energy resources. Numerous NECEC Members are leading in this space in Massachusetts, New York and other states that have jump-started their energy storage markets.
Join NECEC— the premier voice of businesses building a world-class clean energy hub in the Northeast—and Foley Hoag’s Energy and Cleantech practice for a not-to-be-missed discussion with developers and thought leaders at the cutting edge of the Northeast’s solar and storage markets.
This event will be co-located in Boston and New York City with panelists connected by video together for a lively discussion.
Boston speakers:
Mark Barnett, Co-Chair, Energy & Cleantech Group, Foley Hoag (moderator)
Ben Downing, Vice President of New Market Development, Nexamp
New York speakers:
Janet Gail BEsser, Executive Vice President, NECEC (moderator)
Dan Berwick, General Manager - Energy Storage Division, Borrego Solar
Gracie Walovich, Manager of Public Policy, Sunrun
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Landing SpaceX's Reusable Rockets
Tuesday, March 13
11:00 AM to 12:00 PM
MIT, Building 32-G449 Patil/Kiva, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Lars Blackmore , SpaceX
This seminar is jointly hosted by the New Trends in Aerospace Seminar Series in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Robotics Seminar Series in CSAIL.
Abstract: SpaceX's reusable rocket program aims to reduce the cost of space travel by making rockets that can land, refuel and refly, instead of being thrown away after every flight. Autonomous precision landing of a rocket is a unique problem, which has been likened to balancing a rubber broomstick on your hand in a windstorm. Rockets do not have wings (unlike airplanes) and they cannot rely on a high ballistic coefficient to fly in a straight line (unlike missiles). ?In the past two years, SpaceX has successfully landed twenty-three rockets, some of which were on dry land at Cape Canaveral, and some of which were on floating platforms. This talk will discuss the challenges involved, how these challenges were overcome, and next steps towards rapid reusability.
Bio: Lars Blackmore is responsible for Entry, Descent and Landing of SpaceX's Falcon 9 Reusable (F9R) rocket. His team developed the precision landing algorithms and operations required to bring F9R back to the launch site. Previously, Lars was with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he was co-inventor of the G-FOLD algorithm for precision landing on Mars, and was a member of the control team for the SMAP climate change observatory. Lars was named one of MIT Tech Review's "35 under 35" innovators and has a PhD in Guidance, Navigation and Control from the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Contact: Nick Roy, nickroy at csail.mit.edu
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Brown Bag Lunch: Ari Daniel
Tuesday, March 13
12:00pm to 1:30pm
MIT, Building 10-340, Emma Rogers Room, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Ari Daniel, PhD ’08, is dedicating his career to science communication. He is currently a digital producer on Nova, for PBS, and a freelance reporter for a host of beloved public radio shows such as NPR’s Morning Edition, All Things Considered and Weekend Edition. He will be joining the MIT Women’s League for a Brown Bag Lunch to talk about his work and the role of storytelling in the changing landscape of science communication. Please RSVP to attend, and feel free to bring your lunch!
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Nexus of Global Jihad: Understanding Cooperation Among Terrorist Actors
WHEN Tuesday, Mar. 13, 2018, 2 – 3:45 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Allison Dining Room, Taubman 520, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR International Security Program
SPEAKER(S) Assaf Moghadam, Associate Professor, Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, Israel
CONTACT INFO susan_lynch at harvard.edu
DETAILS Assaf Moghadam will discuss his recent book.
Coffee, Tea, and Refreshments Provided.
LINK https://www.belfercenter.org/event/nexus-global-jihad-understanding-cooperation-among-terrorist-actors
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The Social Side of Recommendation Systems: How Groups Shape Our Decisions
Tuesday, March 13
3:00 PM
Tufts, Halligan 102, 161 College Avenue, Medford
Speaker: Allison Chaney, Princeton University
Abstract: Recommendation systems occupy an expanding role in everyday decision making, from choice of movies and household goods to consequential medical and legal decisions. This talk will explore a sequence of work related to recommending decisions for people to take. First we will examine the results of a large-scale study of television viewing habits, focusing on how individuals adapt their preferences when consuming content with others. Next, we will leverage our insights about the social behavior of individuals to incorporate social network information into a model for providing personalized recommendations. Finally, we will consider the impacts of recommendation algorithms like these on human choices and the homogeneity of group behavior.
Bio: Allison Chaney is an IC Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Princeton University, currently working with with Barbara Engelhardt and Brandon Stewart. She also received her Ph.D. in Computer Science at Princeton, under the advisement of David Blei, and holds a B.A. in Computer Science and a B.S. in Engineering from Swarthmore College. Her research focuses on developing scalable and interpretable machine learning methods to identify influences on human behavior.
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Water Splitting and the Making of Renewable Chemicals
Tuesday, March 13
4:15pm
MIT, Building 4-370, 182 Memorial Drive (Rear), Cambridge
Ib Chorkendorff, Technical University of Denmark
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Countering Fake News with Jakub Janda, Deputy Director, European Values Think-Tank
Tuesday, March 13
5:00 pm to 6:30 pm
BU, Pardee School of Global Studies, 121 Bay State Road (1st floor), Boston
Join us for a panel discussion on countering fake news and Russian disinformation with Jakub Janda and Igor Lukes.
Jakub Janda is Head of the Kremlin Watch Program and Deputy Director at the European Values Think-Tank based in Prague. He specializes in the response of democratic states to hostile disinformation and influence operations. In 2016, he was tasked by Czech security and intelligence institutions to consult on an “Influence of Foreign Powers” chapter within an Audit of National Security conducted by the Czech government.
Igor Lukes is Professor of International Relations and History at Boston University. He writes about Europe between the world wars and about
More information at http://www.bu.edu/european/files/2018/02/03.13.18.pdf
Contact Name Elizabeth Amrien
Phone 617-358-0919
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Vannevar Bush Lecture Series on Science and Technology Innovation: The 21st Century’s Technology Story: The Convergence of Biology and Engineering
Tuesday, March 13
6:00pm to 7:00pm
MIT, Building E51-335, 70 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Topic Summary
With an anticipated world population of over 9.5 billion by 2050, we face an unprecedented challenge to sustainably provide sufficient food, water, energy and healthcare. Convergence, the merging of previously distinct disciplines, has emerged as a powerful model with untold potential to drive a new cycle of innovation-based economic growth. Bringing together insights and discoveries from the life, engineering, computation and physical sciences holds the promise of accelerating discovery and the development of new technologies to meet the 21st century’s needs. MIT has been a world leader in promoting Convergence approaches in education and research, paving the way to the discoveries and technologies that will transform our world
About the Speaker
Susan Hockfield served from 2004 to 2012 as the sixteenth president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the first life scientist and first woman in that role. She is now President Emerita, Professor of Neuroscience and a member of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. As president, Hockfield strengthened the foundations of MIT’s finances and campus planning while advancing Institute-wide programs in sustainable energy and the convergence of the life, physical and engineering sciences. She helped shape national policy for energy and next-generation manufacturing, appointed by President Obama in 2011 to co-chair the steering committee of the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership and by serving as a member of a Congressional Commission evaluating the Department of Energy laboratories in 2015. As a biologist, she pioneered the use of monoclonal antibody technology in brain research, identifying proteins through which neural activity early in life affect brain development. She discovered a gene implicated in the spread of cancer in the brain, providing a link between her research and human health. Prior to MIT, she was the William Edward Gilbert Professor of Neurobiology, Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (1998-2002), and Provost (2003-2004) at Yale University. She studied at the University of Rochester and Georgetown University and carried out research at the NIH and UCSF before joining the faculty at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and then Yale. She has published extensively, in scientific and public media. She is chairman of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and currently serves as a director of General Electric, Partners HealthCare System, and the Council on Foreign Relations, is a life member of the MIT Corporation, a trustee of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and a board member of the Belfer Center at the Harvard Kennedy School. She has received many academic and civic awards, as well as numerous honorary degrees from national and international universities.
This lecture series, which includes imminent researchers and innovators from a wide variety of fields across MIT, will showcase the numerous forms that innovation takes and the pathways it can take from ideation to implementation.
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Projecting Climate Change into the Future: What We Know and How Well We Know It
The Science for the Public 2018 Science Lectures at MIT
Tuesday, March 13
6:00 PM
MIT, Building 54-915, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
Daniel Cziczo, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry; Secondary Appointment - Civil and Environmental Engineering
Since the early part of last century it has been known that greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, can lead to a warmer climate. Less well known was the effect that humans could have on clouds and how they might affect the Earth’s temperature. Historically, the study of the particles on which clouds form relied on the collection of precipitation (rain or snow). For example, particles at the center of snowflakes were assumed to have been responsible for the nucleation of ice. Studies showed the dominance of clay minerals with lesser abundances of combustion aerosols and micro-organisms. More recently, new inlets have allowed for more measurements from both ground sites and aircraft. The results have often been puzzling and at odds with previous work. We’ll discuss how measurement issues – such as technological limitations and artifacts – can impact that certainty with which we understand our climate and how it might change in the future. We will conclude with how this technology can be used to better understand climate and precipitation not only on Earth, but also for nearby and exoplanets.
It has been known for over a century that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane warm the planet by trapping heat. What is not as well known is that particles can cool the planet by reflecting sunlight into space and by acting as the seeds on which clouds form. Particles and clouds are also of contemporary interest because it has been suggested they might affect climate by interacting with cosmic rays or be used to manipulate the Earth’s temperature.
Cziczo's research group is interested in the interrelationship of particulate matter and cloud formation. His team utilizes laboratory and field studies to elucidate how small particles interact with water vapor to form droplets and ice crystals, which are important players in the Earth’s climate system. Experiments include using small cloud chambers in the laboratory to mimic atmospheric conditions that lead to cloud formation and observing clouds in situ from remote mountaintop sites or through the use of research aircraft.
Current specific research interests include chemical composition of atmospheric aerosols with an emphasis on their effect on cloud formation mechanisms, Earth's radiative budget, and meteoritic debris and launch vehicle emissions in the atmosphere.
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Racism: An Ongoing Dilemma
Tuesday, March 13
6:15 PM – 8:15 PM EDT
Cathedral Church of St. Paul, 138 Tremont Street, Boston (across from Park Street T station)
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/racism-an-ongoing-dilemma-tickets-42722990615
A Symposium with Journalists from The Boston GlobeSpotlight Team
A Faith That Does Justice is pleased to welcome journalists from The Boston Globe Spotlight Team as panelists at its March Community Meeting. In December 2017, in a 7-part series, the Spotlight Team took on the dilemma of Racism, looking into how much the city of Boston’s national reputation as a place that’s unwelcoming to blacks is based on current reality.
A Faith That Does Justice is joined by three key members of the Spotlight Team: Akilah Johnson, a significant contributor to the Globe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing; Lizbeth Kowalczyk, a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 2013 and a finalist for the Scripps Howard award for investigative reporting in 2015; and, Patricia Wen, a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and editor of the Spotlight Team since 2017. Reverend Dr. Gregory G. Groover, Sr., Pastor, the historic Charles Street African Methodist Episcopal Church, Roxbury MA will moderate. Dr. Groover has served on numerous public panels for the City of Boston and has long had a leadership role in the Greater Boston community.
We look forward to having you with us for what promises to be an enriching program. Space is limited. Please register now for admission to the meeting. Your financial support makes these community meetings possible. Please donate when you register.
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The Future of Moakley Park
Tuesday, March 13
6:30 - 8:30 pm
Tierney Learning Center, 125 Mercer Street, Boston
Boston Parks and Recreation is developing a comprehensive Vision Plan for the future of Moakley Park that is vibrant and resilient. We have a unique opportunity to improve the outdoor space and recreational amenities for Moakley Park and design it to capture coastal and stormwater flooding.
Join us for an open house hosted by Boston Parks and Recreation where you can find out more about the planning process and share your thoughts on what you would like to see in the Moakley Park Vision Plan.
DETAILS: http://www.greenovateboston.org/moakley_park_open_house
No RSVP is required for this event.
Moakley Park and nearby areas were identified in Climate Ready Boston as being at risk to flooding in the near- and long-term future due to climate change. As part of our efforts to integrate climate resiliency into all city planning efforts, we have the opportunity to build a more resilient future for this area of Boston.
The Moakley Park Vision Plan will evaluate the entire park, all structures (including buildings), and infrastructure to assess future park renovations and climate resiliency potential.
This is the first in a series of public engagement events for this project. We encourage you to attend the event and share your input on the future of the park.
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NeuroTech and Artificial Intelligence
Tuesday, March 13
6:30 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
WeWork Mass Avenue, 625 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/neurotech-and-artificial-intelligence-tickets-43791622923
Agenda:
6:30-7pm: Networking and beer
7-7:20pm: Speaker #1
7:20-7:40pm: Speaker #2
7:40-8pm: Speaker #3
8-8:30pm: Networking and wrap-up
Description:
How does artificial intelligence help us understand the brain, and how are scientists using the brain to improve A.I.? How do you define criteria for good decision making in A.I.?
Increasingly, researchers are drawing from neuroscientific models of thought and perception to improve A.I. reasoning and create more accurate models of the world.
Speakers: Edmond Awad, PostDoc, Scalable Cooperation Group, MIT Media Lab
Title: The Moral Machine Experiment: 40 Million Decisions and the Path to Universal Machine Ethics
Description: Edmond’s work revolves around the Moral Machine, an internet-based serious game exploring the many-dimensional ethical dilemmas faced by autonomous vehicles. The game enabled him and his team to gather 40 million decisions from 2.5 million people in 230 countries/territories. Edmund reports the various preferences estimated from this data, and documents interpersonal differences in the strength of these preferences. He also reports cross-cultural ethical variation and uncovers major clusters of countries exhibiting substantial differences along key moral preferences. These differences correlate with modern institutions, but also with deep cultural traits. He’ll discuss how these three layers of preferences can help progress toward global, harmonious, and socially acceptable principles for machine ethics.
Kohitij Kar, PostDoc, DiCarlo Lab at MIT
Title: Efficient dialogues between computer and biological vision
Description: The deep learning revolution has launched a new era in Artificial Intelligence (AI). Kohitij will primarily discuss how current deep learning models in AI are helping us shape our understanding of the primate visual system. In addition, he will also discuss specific scenarios where primate vision vastly outperform the most advanced computer vision (CV) systems. A synergy between neuroscience and AI is thus beneficial to both communities.
Alex Kell, PhD student, McDermott Lab at MIT
Title: TBD
Description: Alex is interested in auditory computation, neuroscience, and behavior -- and making links between all three. The two main lines of his PhD work focus on building better models of auditory cortical computation, using recent advances in deep learning and understanding how we robustly encode sound sources of interest in the presence of real-world background noise.
What to bring
WeWork requires that guests check in with a photo ID to enter the building.
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Wednesday, March 14
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George F. Kennan and American Policy in East Asia
Wednesday, March 14
12:00am to 1:30am
MIT, Building E40-496,(Pye Room), 1 AMmherst Street, Cambridge
Summary
The presentation will survey the "rise and fall" of Kennan's influence on US policy toward East Asia during the Cold War, and address how Kennan would apply his concept of "containment" to East Asia today. It draws on a forthcoming book that was completed during Heer's tenure (2015-2016) as Robert E. Wilhelm Fellow at MIT's Center for International Studies.
Short Bio
Dr. Paul Heer is an adjunct professor at the George Washington University. During 2007-15 he served as the National Intelligence Officer for East Aisa--the senior analyst of East Asian affairs in the US Intelligence Community--in the Office of Director of National Intelligence. A career officer of the Central Intelligence Agency, he began that career in 1983 as a political and foreign policy analysis on Southeast Asia before specializing on China as an analyst and analytic manager. He served on the staff of the President's Daily Brief, and as a member of the CIA's Senior Analytic Service and Senior Intelligence Service. He is a recipient of the CIA's Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal and the DNI's National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal.
SSP Wednesday Seminar
All Welcome.
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The World Bank and NDC Partnership’s Support of the Paris Climate Agreement
Wednesday, March 14
12:30pm to 2:00pm
MIT, Building 9-450, 105 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge,
Join us for the third EPP Spring 2018 lunch, featuring Stephen Hammer, Manager of Climate Policy for the World Bank Group, and Professor David Hsu as they lead a discussion on the Bank and NDC partnership's support of the Paris Climate Agreement. Lunch will be served.
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Enabling entrepreneurs, reimagining cities with Clara Brenner
Wednesday, March 14
1:15 PM – 2:15 PM EDT
MIT, Building E62- 446, 30 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/enabling-entrepreneurs-reimagining-cities-with-clara-brenner-tickets-43765110624
A new breed of investors and convenors is inspiring, connecting, informing, and funding entrepreneurs who are reshaping urban life and urban environments.
Clara Brenner, MBA12, has been leading the way. She is Managing Partner of the Urban Innovation Fund, a San Francisco venture capital firm that invests in startups shaping the future of cities. The Fund provides seed capital and regulatory support to entrepreneurs solving tough urban challenges, helping them grow into tomorrow’s most valued companies.
Together with her MIT Sloan classmate Julie Lein—also Managing Partner of the Urban Innovation Fund—in 2012 Clara founded Tumml, an urban ventures accelerator. Over four years, Tumml provided funding and mentorship to entrepreneurs developing high-growth, high-impact businesses addressing major urban challenges in new ways, incubating 38 startups—such as Chariot, Neighborly, and Hitch—with $200M+ in total enterprise value. 71% of Tumml companies have a women or person of color on the founding team.
Tumml now focuses on bringing together startups, policy leaders, corporations, and the tech community to surface new insights and share best practices to enhance the urban innovation ecosystem. And the Urban Innovation Fund is investing in new urban startups such as Valor Water Analytics, now acquired, which delivers big-data solutions for utilities to better manage their environmental and financial outcomes.
In 2014, Forbes listed Clara Brenner as one of its “30 Under 30” in Social Entrepreneurship. Her work energizing urban entrepreneurship has been featured in numerous press outlets, including Forbes, TechCrunch, Fast Company, and the Silicon Valley Business Journal.
Come learn about how technology and entrepreneurship are shaping the future of our cities—and how investors like the Urban Innovation Fund are opening doors for startups that are creating scalable solutions in transportation, energy and resource use, housing, education, workforce development, the arts, food systems, the built environment, and more. PUBLICTECH AT MIT
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Guiding principles for peptide-based, life-like nanotechnology
Wednesday, March 14
3:30pm to 4:45pm
MIT, Building 66-110 25 Ames Street, Cambridge
3:00 PM REFRESHMENTS
Prof. Rein Ulijn (CUNY Advanced Science Research Center)
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Whiplash: How to Survive a Faster Future?
Wednesday, March 14
5:00pm to 6:30pm
Northeastern, Renaissance Park, 909, 1135 Tremont Street, Boston
Jeff Howe, Assistant Professor of Journalism and Founding Director of the Media Innovation Program at Northeastern University, will be speaking at the final event in the “Theorizing the Global Future” speaker series
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MIT-Africa Presents "Kill All but the Crows"
Wednesday, March 14
5:00pm to 7:00pm
MIT, Bartos Theater E15-070 20 Ames Street Building E15, Atrium level, Cambridge
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc_VdDFGOgQY162AmlGFnKw4R1fBP3-r_4Lz0Km6f6WmPFyrw/viewform
Kill All but the Crows is a gripping investigative documentary about a community in Somalia joining forces with a group of forensic investigators and human rights activists to bring an alleged war criminal, Colonel Tukeh, to justice.
Film Director Zach Jama will be deliver opening remarks and host a Q&A session.
Free and open to the public. Kindly RSVP.
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District Hall Spring Café Night: The Many Faces of Innovation!
Wednesday, March 14
5:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
District Hall, 75 Northern Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/district-hall-spring-cafe-night-the-many-faces-of-innovation-tickets-42919036995
District Hall is excited to highlight "The Many Faces of Innovation" for its first Café Night of 2018! We’re thrilled to showcase a wide range of innovation from multiple industries and communities around Boston. Come mix, mingle, connect, explore, and engage with some of Boston’s most innovative companies and individuals!
This isn’t your ordinary innovation event. Café Nights are quarterly gathering events for the innovation community, designed to foster collaboration, strengthen connections, and make great ideas come to life. Café Nights are free and open to the public!
Don’t consider yourself an innovator?
We believe that innovation is for everyone with an idea, whether you’re an entrepreneur, an artist, a scientist, or a student. RSVP for our Spring Café Night to get in touch with your inner innovator and discover how you can infuse innovation and entrepreneurship into your daily life!
Never been to a District Hall Café Night? Don’t miss this one!
Come mix, mingle, explore, and learn from members of Boston’s diverse innovation ecosystem.
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Trump and Privacy
Wednesday, March 14
5:30pm to 7:00pm
Northeastern, 250 Dockser Hall, 65 Forsyth Street, Boston
What is the Trump administration planning that will impact on privacy? Ranging across consumer protection, data aggregation, digital networks, high-tech devices and surveillance, this panel brings together top privacy and surveillance experts to discuss how the Trump administration has and will continue to shape our privacy in these and other areas.
Light refreshments will be served.
FEATURED SPEAKERS:
Elizabeth Joh, Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law
Ahmed Ghappour, Associate Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law
Andrea Matwyshyn, Professor of Law, Northeastern University School of Law
MODERATOR
Woodrow Hartzog, Professor of Law, Northeastern University School of Law
Co-sponsored Northeastern University School of Law’s Center for Law, Innovation and Creativity
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Designing for Resilience, Equity, and Democracy
Wednesday, March 14
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM EDT
Boston Architectural College, 320 Newbury Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/designing-for-resilience-equity-and-democracy-tickets-42276806065
A lecture by Gina Ford, FASLA, Principal, Agency Landscape + Planning
With the onslaught of challenges (and opportunities) associated with climate change, significant demographic shifts and increased political activism, what is the role of the landscape architect in designing for such change? Gina will discuss a series of projects at a variety for scales where landscape is a medium and catalyst for addressing resilience, equity and democratic action.
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Book Talk: Sunburst and Luminary: An Apollo Memoir
Wednesday, March 14
6:00pm to 7:30pm
MIT Museum, 265 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Get a glimpse into a complex story never before told from a NASA insider. Sunburst and Luminary: An Apollo Memoir is a complex insider's story about the development of the onboard software for the Apollo spacecraft, as told by a junior engineer just getting his feet wet in the new field of flight software. Meet author and MIT alumnus, Don Eyles, and enjoy an evening of space exploration.
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Nine Irish Lives: The Thinkers, Fighters, & Artists Who Helped Build America
Wednesday, March 14
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM EDT
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Columbia Point, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nine-irish-lives-the-thinkers-fighters-artists-who-helped-build-america-registration-43177701668
Screenwriter and author Mark Bailey, president of the Save the Children Action Network Mark Shriver, and Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post journalists Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan discuss their new book, Nine Irish Lives: The Fighters, Thinkers, & Artists Who Helped Build America. Dr. Robert Mauro, director of the Boston College Irish Institute and Global Leadership Institute, moderates.
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Great Decisions 2018 - U.S. Global Engagement and the Military
Wednesday, March 14
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM EDT
Boston Public Library, 700 Boylston Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/great-decisions-2018-us-global-engagement-and-the-military-tickets-42793174537
The global power balance is rapidly evolving, leaving the United States at a turning point with respect to its level of engagement and the role of its military. Some argue for an “America First” paradigm, with a large military to ensure security, while others call for a more assertive posture overseas. Some advocate for a restoration of American multilateral leadership and a strengthened role for diplomacy. Still others envision a restrained U.S. role, involving a more limited military. How does the military function in today’s international order, and how might it be balanced with diplomatic and foreign assistance capabilities?
Major General (Ret) William E. Rapp is a Lecturer in Military Affairs in the Belfer Center at Harvard Kennedy School, the Faculty Chair of the Senior Executive program in National and International Security, and the Faculty Chair for the National Security Fellows program. Major General (Ret) Rapp served more than 33 years as an active duty Army officer before retiring as a Major General. During his career as the Army's senior liaison to the U.S. Congress, Rapp has served in Germany, Japan, Iraq, and Afghanistan. His research interests include civil-military relations and organizational leadership. A graduate of West Point in 1984, he holds a Masters in Strategic Studies from the US Army War College and a Masters and PhD in Political Science from Stanford University.
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The Changing Shape of Boston: from “One if by land, and two if by sea” to the Present
Wednesday, March 14
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
Old North Church & Historic Site, 193 Salem Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/old-north-speaker-series-nancy-seasholes-the-changing-shape-of-boston-tickets-31648597808
Cost: donation
Speaker: Nancy Seasholes
Co-sponsored by the Leventhal Map Center
Tickets: “pay what you will” donation
Did you know that Boston was once a small peninsula? How did the fact that Boston was located on a peninsula affect the choices made by both the British and the Patriots on April 18, 1775? What happened to that small peninsula afterwards to transform it into the Boston of today? This talk will explore the changes in Boston’s topography from the time of the Revolutionary War to the present.
Nancy S. Seasholes is a historian and historical archaeologist. Her area of expertise is all the filling that’s been done to create the land on which Boston is located. She is the author of Gaining Ground: A History of Landmaking in Boston (MIT 2003) and its companion book, Walking Tours of Boston’s Made Land (MIT 2006). She’s also the author of a chapter in Krieger and Cobb’s Mapping Boston (MIT 1999). Nancy is an independent scholar and is currently directing a project to produce an historical atlas of Boston. Titled Atlas of Boston History: The Making of a City, it will be published by the University of Chicago Press in fall 2019.
Old North Speaker Series
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The Fourth Industrial Revolution
Wednesday, March 14
8:00 PM to 9:00 PM (EDT)
Tufts, Cabot ASEAN Auditorium, Tufts University, 160 Packard Avenue, Medford
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-fourth-industrial-revolution-tickets-42609360745
Come to The Fourth Industrial Revolution to hear Michael Granoff, Tufts alumnus and founder of Maniv Investments, speak about clean energy, autonomous vehicles, and the venture capital world! His work with Maniv has helped startups deliver safer, cleaner, energy-secure transportation. TAMID at Tufts will be hosting this event on Wednesday, March 14th at 8 PM in the Cabot ASEAN Auditorium (160 Packard Ave, Medford, MA 02155). Come with questions!
Granoff founded Maniv Investments in 1997. He is also a founding board member of Securing America’s Future Energy, a Washington, DC-based group that brings together corporate and military leaders to craft and advocate for energy security policy. He has been active in several presidential campaigns and political organizations as well as a number of non-profit organizations.
In 2010, Granoff was awarded the Asper Award for Global Entrepreneurship by the International School of Business at Brandeis University. He holds a BA from Tufts University, an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, as well as a JD from Northwestern School of Law.
There is no assigned seating in the auditorium. If you are a guest of a TAMID Group member, please choose a seat at their table for attendance purposes. Otherwise, choose the open section for a ticket.
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Thursday, March 15
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Social Issue Talk: Inclusion for Youth with Disabilities - Building an Inclusive Society for Young People with Disabilities
Thursday, March 15
8:30 am
Fidelity Investments Boston, 245 Summer Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/social-issue-talk-building-an-inclusive-society-for-young-people-with-disabilities-registration-43041200389
Toni Wolf, Commissioner of Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission
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Streamlined Building Life Cycle Assessment
Thursday, March 15
11AM EST
Webinar at http://cshub.mit.edu/news/public-webinars
Life cycle assessment (LCA) seeks to quantify the environmental impacts of infrastructure over a life time by identifying and accounting for impacts resulting from each phase of the life cycle. LCA can be used to obtain credits in certification systems like LEED, but traditional LCA methods can be time, resource, and data intensive. For complex systems like residential buildings, these demands can lead to delayed assessments with evaluations carried out after important design decisions have already been made, reducing their effectiveness. CSHub researchers have developed a streamlined approach to LCA that requires significantly less time and data, which can reduce expense as well as uncertainty and allow assessments to be conducted earlier in the building design process when decisions can have the greatest impact. This webinar will present an overview of the CSHub’s streamlined tool, known as the Building Attribute to Impact Algorithm, and a discussion of recent work on the topic.
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#UniteAgainstSeismic: Inuit strategies to protect the Arctic marine environment
Thursday, March 15
12:00-1:00pm
Tufts, Rabb Room, Lincoln Filene Center, 10 Upper Campus Road, Medford
Noor Johnson, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy,Tufts University
Inuit communities in the Canadian Arctic routinely travel, hunt, and fish on the sea ice and seasonally open waters of Baffin Bay. Climate change is bringing new interests and actors to the region, including mining, shipping, and tourism companies and conservation organizations. This talk will explore the contemporary politics of the Arctic marine environment, focusing on the example of Inuit resistance to a seismic testing project that proposed to map the offshore oil and gas resources in Baffin Bay. The case involved an unlikely collaboration between Inuit and Greenpeace, and ultimately made its way to the Supreme Court of Canada. The Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of the Inuit hamlet of Clyde River has broad implications for how First Nations, Inuit, and Metis communities in Canada will be consulted about energy projects in the future.
Dr. Noor Johnson is a cultural anthropologist whose research focuses on the politics and practices of environmental knowledge, indigeneity, and governance in the Arctic. She holds a joint research appointment at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado Boulder. From 2015 – 2016, she was an inaugural Fulbright Arctic Initiative Scholar researching offshore and renewable energy. In addition to her scholarship, Noor has worked with a variety of non-profit organizations on science policy and program development, including the National Geographic Society, the Smithsonian Institution, the Inuit Circumpolar Council, and City Year. Noor has a Ph.D. from McGill University (Cultural Anthropology), where she was a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholar, an M.A. from American University (Public Anthropology), and a B.A. from Brown University (Development Studies).
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Environment – Sustainability Lunch Seminar: Achieving Water Affordability in America’s Shrinking Cities
Thursday, March 15
12PM-1PM
MIT, Building 34-401 A, 50 Vassar Street, Cambridge
The Flint water crisis has radically questioned the current status of drinking water safety in the United States. Besides exposing instances of environmental injustice, the crisis has unveiled the massive infrastructure challenges that the country must address in the near future. The aim of this research seed grant is to develop financially sustainable and socially equitable solutions that will help make drinking water affordable for all urban residents, regardless of income, class and race. Join us for a presentation on this topic, and read more here: https://americanwatershutoffs.mit.edu/
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Taking Back the Land
Thursday, March 15
12:30pm to 2:00pm
MIT, Building 9-255, City Arena, 105 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speakers: Alfred Brownell, Liberian Legal Scholar and Land Rights Activist; CoFounder 'Green Advocates' Liberia
Eliza Parad, Greater Boston Community Land Trust Network + DSNI
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Tree Architecture
Thursday, March 15
1:00-2:30pm
Arnold Arboretum, Hunnewell Building, 125 Arborway, Jamaica Plain
Andrew Gapinski, Manager of Horticulture
"Now is the best season for arborists. Leaves and flowers? That's just a distraction!" Join Andrew Gapinski, the Arnold Arboretum's Manager of Horticulture, as he proves his point, by illustrating, in this pared down season, how overall tree form is influenced by three facts: genetics, site conditions, and environmental events. Visit actual plant specimens in the Arboretum's collections to learn why a tree is leaning, why it has "knees," or how its shape may be influenced by internal stimuli.
In case of inclement weather, please call 617 384-5209.
Free, registration is requested at http://my.arboretum.harvard.edu
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How Inkjet Printing Technology Can Defeat Multidrug- Resistant Superbugs
WHEN Thursday, Mar. 15, 2018, 2 – 3 p.m.
WHERE Wyss Institute at Harvard University, 3 Blackfan Circle, Room 521, Boston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Wyss Institute
SPEAKER(S) James E. Kirby, M.D. D(ABMM), Principal Investigator, Experimental Pathology Division, BIDMC; Director, Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, BIDMC;
Associate Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School
DETAILS This lecture will discuss a novel platform called MAST (Microscopy-based Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing) which combines use of inkjet printing technology, advanced microscopy, and machine learning to provide antimicrobial testing results for any antimicrobial at will in hours rather than days.
LINK https://wyss.harvard.edu/event/how-inkjet-printing-technology-can-defeat-multidrug-resistant-superbugs/
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Towards Personalized Medicine Using Gut Microbiome and Clinical Data
Thursday, March 15
4:00 PM EDT
MIT, Building 32-141, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Eran Segal (Weizmann Institute)
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The Uncounted: Civilian victims of America’s wars
Thursday, March 15
4:30pm to 6:00pm
MIT, Building 3-270, 33 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Discussion with Azmat Khan centered around the US air war and civilian casualties in Mosul and her feature in the NY Times on the subject.
Azmat Khan is an award-winning investigative journalist, a New York Times Magazine Contributing Writer, and a Future of War Fellow at New America and Arizona State University.
Her reporting for the PBS series FRONTLINE, The New York Times Magazine, America Tonight, and BuzzFeed's Investigations team has brought her to Iraq, Egypt, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and other conflict zones. Her work has been awarded the Deadline Club Award for Independent Digital Reporting; the South Asian Journalist Association's Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding Reporting on South Asia; a Livingston Award finalist in International Reporting; and shared the Online News Association award for “General Excellence in Online Journalism” (small); the Gannett Foundation Award for Innovative Investigative Journalism; and an Emmy nomination in New Approaches to Documentary Film.
Co-sponsors: MIT Center for International Studies
Free & open to the public | Refreshments served
Can't attend in person? Watch it in real-time on Facebook live at https://www.facebook.com/MITCenterForInternationalStudies/ or later at your convenience on our YouTube channel event archive at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo3E2h2KZsZD3S8ThEn_UxA
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Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Thursday, March 15
5:00:00 PM EDT - 6:00:00 PM EDT
Webinar
RSVP at https://events-na11.adobeconnect.com/content/connect/c1/1372037027/en/events/event/shared/default_template/event_registration.html?sco-id=1761207721
Elsa Ronningstam, PhD, Psychologist, Gunderson Outpatient Program, Adult Outpatient Services, McLean Hospital, Associate Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Part-time
Narcissistic personality disorder is a grossly misunderstood mental condition. This webinar will focus on clarifying the condition of disordered narcissism, the internal and external functioning in people who struggle with this disorder, and treatment options.
Editorial Comment: Might be very useful given the personality now inhabiting the White House.
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Visual Representations of Race and Gender: Analyzing “Me” in #IfTheyGunnedMeDown on Tumblr
Thursday, March 15
5:00pm to 6:30pm
MIT, Building 56-114, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
On August, 9, 2014, unarmed Black 18-year-old teenager Michael Brown was shot and killed by 28-year-old White police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. As media outlets began to cover the story, some news accounts chose an image of Brown that featured him as a high school graduate, in the traditional cap and gown, holding a diploma cover. Other news sources picked a different photo of Brown in a basketball jersey, holding his fingers up in what some termed as a “gang sign.” As a response to the media bias, Mississippi attorney C.J. Lawrence used Tumblr for online social media activism, starting the blog #IfTheyGunnedMeDown with the subtitle “Which picture would they use?” In this talk, Jenny Korn examines the answers of the Tumblr’s participants to the question: If “they” gunned “me” down, which picture would “they” use to represent “me?”
Jenny Korn is a feminist activist of color for social justice and scholar of race and gender in mass media and online communication. Korn is a Fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. Korn has been published in Feminist Media Studies; Hashtag Publics; The International Journal of Interactive Communication Systems and Technologies; The Intersectional Internet; The Journal of Communication Inquiry; Multicultural America; Popular Communication; Harvard University’s Transition; and more. Her publications have won the Outstanding Book Chapter Award from the African American Communication and Culture Division of the National Communication Association and the Carl J. Couch Internet Research Award. Drawing on critical race theories and intersectional feminist theories, Korn explores how the Internet environment resonates user assemblages of race and gender and how online producers-consumers have constructed inventive digital representations and computer-mediated communications of identity.
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Conversations on the Edge: Inequality and Wealth Redistribution
Thursday, March 15
6:00 PM to 7:30 PM (EDT)
Cambridge Center for Adult Eduction, Spiegel Auditorium, 56 Brattle Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/conversations-on-the-edge-inequality-and-wealth-redistribution-tickets-42425736520
Cost: $5 - $20
Join us for a welcome reception with refreshments and light snacks at 5:30pm.
PANELISTS: Jeff Booth: Jeff Booth is a founding member of Socialist Alternative, a democratic socialist organization. Jeff serves on Socialist Alternative’s National Committee. He currently helps to organize Socialist Alternative groups and activity in Worcester, MA andProvidence, RI. Jeff is also a union activist, previously on the Executive Board of a United Electrical Workers union local, a member of the Bakery workers union, and a founding member of AFSCME Local 3650/Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers at Harvard University. Jeff hosts “Socialist Alternative Radio”, where issues of inequality and wealth distribution are frequently discussed (“Socialist Alternative Radio, talk and music from a working class, democratic socialist perspective” on WMFO 91.5 FM/WMFO.org, “Tufts Educational Radio”).
Christine Desan: Christine Desan teaches about the international monetary system, the constitutional law of money, constitutional history, political economy, and legal theory. She is the co-founder of Harvard’s Program on the Study of Capitalism, an interdisciplinary project that brings together classes, resources, research funds, and advising aimed at exploring that topic. With its co-director, Prof. Sven Beckert (History), she has taught the Program’s anchoring research seminar, the Workshop on the Political Economy of Modern Capitalism, since 2005.
Eric Kriss: Eric Kriss served as Secretary of Administration and Finance in Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney's cabinet and helped launch Bain Capital, which now manages over $65 billion in assets. He is currently the Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Miami, where he lectures on the future of work, universal basic income, and more.
MODERATOR: Geeta Pradhan: Geeta Pradhan is the President & CEO of Cambridge Community Foundation, and is an organizational leader with a deep background in philanthropy, urban planning and economic development. Geeta serves on the Family Policy Council for Cambridge. She has also led the effort to organize the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network, co-founded the Boston Indicators Project and directed New Economy Initiative to leverage the power of technology and data to drive social change
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"Work Report”: Arthur H. Schein Memorial Lecture
Thursday, March 15
6:00pm to 8:00pm
MIT, Building 10-250, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Francis Kéré
Francis Kéré argues for a new approach in architecture that combines traditional ressources and modern building techniques through innovative construction strategies. The use of local, natural materials, and the integration of the community in the building process drives the architectural concepts for projects spread across the African, European and American continents.
Francis Kéré is a German-trained architect from the small West African town of Gando in Burkina Faso. As the first son of the head of his village, his father allowed him to attend school. He was awarded a scholarship to apprentice in Germany, where he went on to earn a university degree in architecture and engineering. Parallel to his studies, he founded the Kéré Foundation to fund the construction of the Gando Primary School which earned the prestigious Aga Khan Award in 2001.
Kéré continues to reinvest knowledge back into Burkina Faso and sites across four different continents. He has developed innovative construction strategies that combine traditional materials and building techniques with modern engineering methods. Since founding Kéré Architecture in 2005, his work has earned numerous prestigious awards such as the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture, BSI Swiss Architectural Award, Marcus Prize, Global Holcim Gold Award, and Schelling Architecture Award.
Kéré was granted the honor of chartered membership of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 2009, and honorary fellowship of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA) in 2012. He has held professorships at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and the Swiss Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio.
MIT Department of Architecture / Spring 2018 Lecture Series
Arthur H. Schein Memorial Lecture
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Climate Action Business Alliance All Member Reception
Thursday, March 15
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
The NonProfit Center, 89 South Street, East Conference Room, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/caba-all-member-reception-tickets-43179479987
It's that time of year again! Join Climate Action Business Association for our fifth annual All Member Reception. The evening will be full of new connections and ideas. Please join us as we continue to build and foster our community of shared values.
Interested in attending but not a member of CABA? Sign up at https://cabaus.org/join/for-businesses/
Schedule
6:00PM Reception
6:45PM Words from CABA Executive Director, Michael Green, and Staff
7:00PM Keynote Speakers
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Party for a Solidarity Economy: Fundraiser for the Boston Ujima Project
Thursday, March 15
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
Fresh Pond Capital, 121 High Street, Floor 4 and 5, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/party-for-a-solidarity-economy-fundraiser-for-the-boston-ujima-project-tickets-42959203133
Resource Generation Boston, Fresh Pond Capital, and the Boston Ujima Project are coming together to host a fundraiser to support Ujima's vision for a solidarity economy in Boston.
Boston Ujima Project believes that there is a world of hope, abundance, and solidarity waiting to burst through the cracks in the surface of our city’s economy. We invite you and your friends & family to help us bring this world to life!
Boston Ujima Project is bringing together business owners, neighbors, grassroots organizations, investors, and philanthropists to create a community-controlled economy in Boston, and to return wealth to working class communities of color.
While Ujima’s vision is centered around a democratic investment fund, the organization needs more than investment dollars to build the structure and culture that will make this vision possible. As Ujima prepares to launch a fund in the Spring, your financial contributions will be essential in empowering Ujima to pay a team of staff, meet technological needs, and hold educational and cultural events. Your support will enable us to host the Neighborhood Assemblies that will guide our democratic investment process, and build a robust community ready to transform the way we invest in each other.
More about Resource Generation Boston: Resource Generation is a national organization with chapters around the country organizing young people ages 18-35 with wealth and class privilege to be transformative leaders working towards the equitable distribution of land, wealth and power. Resource Generation envisions a world in which all communities are powerful, healthy, and living in alignment with the planet. A world that is racially and economically just in which wealth, land and power are shared. Please fill out this Get Involved form if you are interested in connecting with the Boston chapter!
More about Fresh Pond Capital: Fresh Pond Capital believes that by applying sound financial judgment and ethical values, they can help their clients reach their financial goals while having a positive impact on society. And, just as important, they believe that their clients can use their resources to create needed social change.
For pre-event questions, email Sarah Jacqz at sarah at ujimaboston.com. For day-of-event questions, call or text 617-446-3893.
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Women Take the Reel film: Birthright: A War Story
Thursday, March 15
6:30pm to 9:00pm
MIT, Building E15, Bartos Theatre, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
This documentary tells the story of women who have become collateral damage in the aggressive campaign to take control of reproductive health care and to allow states, courts and religious doctrine to govern whether, when and how women will bear children.
6:30pm Pizza
7:00pm film start time
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Boston Futurist Meetup
Thursday, March 15
6:30 PM to 9:00 PM
Park Restaurant & Bar, 59 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/Boston-Futurist-Society/events/247729403/
Dear Boston Futurists,
Several years have passed since this Meetup group last met.
I would like to introduce the next iteration of the group and hopefully advance a community that is passionate about openly discussing futuristic scenarios.
Our first event will be hosted on Thursday, March 15th, 6:30 PM at Park Restaurant in Harvard Square, located at 59 JFK Street Cambridge, MA 02138. We will be providing free food and drinks to all attendees and are also accepting donations to help cover costs and potentially fund future events. I will be posting interesting futurist links as we get closer to the event and hope that others are as excited as I am.
The goal is to have a fun and relaxed event where those interested in futurism can meet and learn from each other.
I hope to see you all there!
Dan
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Climate Crew flood preparation info session
Thursday, March 15
7-9pm
Community Art Center, 119 Windsor Street, Cambridge
Info session on plans to minimize flooding in the Port/Area IV
What to do in case of weather emergencies
Find out about the city plan
DPW will present information on the city's plan to prevent flooding during extreme weather.
For more info please contact
Craig at climatecrew.org and check out http://www.climatecrew.org
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Friday, March 16 and Saturday. March 17
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6th Annual Massachusetts Urban Farming Conference
Friday March 16 and Saturday March 17
8am - 6pm
Bunker Hill Community College
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/6th-annual-massachusetts-urban-farming-conference-tickets-38915811239
Cost: $50 - $150
The Massachusetts Urban Farming Conference (UFC) will convene local and regional experts, advocates, and innovators to support and promote urban farming enterprises across Massachusetts. Our local urban farming community, along with cross-sector partners, will again convene to address challenges, highlight successes and share resources at one of the best educational and networking events for this thriving sector.
Weekend Featured Speakers:
Friday Lunchtime Keynote: Emmanuel Pratt, Executive Director, Sweetwater Foundation, Chicago Il.
Saturday Morning Keynote: Isis Salcines, Havana, Cuba; Isis is the Outreach Director of the Largest Urban Cooperative Farm in Cuba, Organopónico Vivero Alamar
Saturday Closing Panel: Urban Farming in Massachusetts: Where Are We and What’s Next?, Facilitated by Greg Watson, Director For Policy and Systems Design, Schumacher Center for a New Economics
For student and group discount codes and general information please contact Rose: rose.arruda at state.ma.us
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Friday, March 16
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NULab Spring Conference: Fake News/Real Knowledge: Histories, Structures, Futures
Friday, March 16
9:30am - 5pm
Northeastern, Raytheon Ampitheater, 120 Forsyth Street, Boston
RSVP by emailing Sarah Connell (sa.connell[at]northeastern[dot]edu)
On March 16, 2018, the NULab will be hosting its second annual conference, showcasing the work of faculty, fellows, alumni, and research collaborators.
More details coming soon!
This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Please RSVP by emailing Sarah Connell (sa.connell[at]northeastern[dot]edu)
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The Role of Entrepreneurship in Affordable and Clean Energy
Friday, March 16
10:00am to 12:00pm
MIT, Building E70, 12th Floor, 1 Broadway, Cambridge
Moderator: Dr. Rob Stoner, MIT Tata Center
Panelists: Ryan Dings, Sunwealth
Aditya Pittie, Agni Solar
Mark Vasu, Greentown Labs
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23rd Net Impact Case Competition
Friday, March 16th
12PM-7PM
BU, Questrom School of Business, 595 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://questromcommon.bu.edu/netimpact/rsvp_boot?id=366903
The 23rd Net Impact Case Competition will take place on March 16, from 12-7 P.M. Teams should be formed with 4-6 graduate students, and you must expect the case to cover challenges about environmental or social impact. A committee of Questrom Net Impact students will develop the case document in partnership with the title sponsor company (MassCEC) so that student teams are addressing a live business issue. Representatives of sponsoring companies serve as judges who evaluate student teams’ case responses over two rounds.
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Violence Exposure and Ethnic Identification: Evidence from Kashmir
Friday, March 16
2:00pm to 4:00pm
MIT, Building E40-496, Pye Conference Room, 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge
A lecture by Nicholas Sambanis of the University of Pennsylvania as part of the South Asian Politics Seminar Series.
This seminar series is co-sponsored by the Watson Institute at Brown University, the MIT Center for International Studies, the Harvard South Asia Institute and the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University.
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Cybertraps for Librarians
Friday, March 16
2:00 PM – 5:00 PM EDT
Simmons College, School of Management Building. Room 222, Second Floor, 300 Fenway, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cybertraps-for-librarians-tickets-42016615829
Few institutions have been more directly or more thoroughly challenged by digital technology than libraries. From card catalogs to books themselves, the Internet is reshaping the modern library. In the process, libraries (and library staff) have been forced to contend with a wide range of complicated legal issues, ranging from public access to adult materials online to the privacy of patron borrowing records. At the same time, librarians must now be mindful of the personal risks that arise from their own use of the Internet. A panel of experts will discuss cutting-edge Internet legal issues for libraries, followed by a presentation by author and digital safety expert Frederick Lane on Cybertraps for Librarians.
Frederick S. Lane, the moderator and Allen Smith Scholar of 2018, is an author, attorney, and expert
witness with expertise in issues of intellectual freedom, privacy, and cyber security.
Panelists Include:
Callan Bignoli is the Technology Director at the Brookline Public Library, and former Web Coordinator of the
Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. Callan is also a very active member of the Friends of the Somerville Public Library.
Jessamyn West is a technologist and librarian living and working in Vermont. Jessamyn is well known for her active support of intellectual freedom in libraries, and was on the front lines of librarians' resistance to the PATRIOT Act. She runs the blog Librarian.net.
Kade Crockford is the Director of the Technology for Liberty Program at the ACLU of Massachusetts, is an MIT Media Lab Director’s Fellow, and is also on staff at the Library Freedom Project. Kade runs the blog Privacy Matters, and has written for The Nation, The Boston Globe, The Guardian, and WBUR.
Matthew Van Sleet is Senior Reference Librarian/Research Instruction Coordinator at Bentley University, and is a SLIS alum. In his role at Bentley and as an Access Services Assistant at MIT, Matthew has extensive experience with issues of privacy and security in academic libraries.
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From Material Expressivity to Emotional Interaction
Friday, March 16
5:00pm to 7:30pm
MIT, Building 7-429, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge,
What if our environment could detect our physical movement and emotional states, and respond accordingly? This presentation addresses interactive material interfaces that respond to the behavior of the human body and its emotions through the implementation of emerging technologies. It is illustrated by a series of projects that cover a range of different scales from an intimate scale and the world of fashion and wearable computing, through to an architectural scale and the world of interactive architecture. The presentation explores the use of digital technologies to develop responsive materials whose morphological behavior is inspired by natural systems. The aim is to develop novel interactive systems to foster an empathetic relationship between human beings and their environment.
Behnaz Farahi is a designer and creative technologist based in Los Angeles working at the intersection of fashion, architecture and interaction design. Trained as an architect and specializing in 3D printing and physical computing, her ultimate goal is to enhance the relationship between human beings and their environment by following morphological and behavioral principles inspired by natural systems. Behnaz is a recipient of a number of prestigious awards including the 2016 World Technology Design Award and the 2016 Innovation By Design Fast Company Design Award. Her work has been featured on various television channels, including the BBC and CNN, and in leading journals and newspapers, such as Wired and The Guardian. She is currently an Annenberg Fellow and is completing her PhD in Interdisciplinary Media Arts and Practice at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
MIT Department of Architecture / Spring 2018 Lecture Series
Design & Computation Series Affective Bodies and Sentient Matter organized by PhD student Athina Papadopoulou with Prof. Terry Knight
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Saturday, March 17
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Boston Socialist Unity Project Annual Conference 2018
Saturday, March 17
9-5 pm
MIT, Building 34-101, 50 Vassar Street, Cambridge
http://bostonsocialistunity.org/
We invite you to join our third annual conference on the theme "Building Socialist Power: social movements and the Left in an election year." The conference will feature speakers on important issues facing the Left and socialists, as well as a full range of workshops.*
Saturday, March 17 **registration opens 9:00 a.m. / program begins 10:00
a.m.
Featured speakers
Savina Martin, eastern Massachusetts coordinator of the new Poor
Peoples Campaign*
Monica Poole, associate professor at Bunker Hill Community College, on
a radical take on #MeToo and current women's issues*
Rebecca Vilkomerson, national executive director of Jewish Voice for
Peace, on Palestinian rights*
Jill Stein on the crisis in Korea and US imperialism*
member of Boston Teachers Union on labor issues and education*
Our lunchtime plenary presents different perspectives on the 2018 elections and electoral politics, seeking common ground and strengthening the movement: presentations will include the Socialist Party of Boston, a member of Our Revolution, the Communist Party USA of Greater Boston, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation*
Two sessions of participatory workshops will showcase movement-building work and issues.
Proposed topics so far include Puerto Rico, immigrant rights and deportations, work of Our Revolution, Fair Trade Action, Jobs not Jails, lessons from Gramsci, Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions of Israel
Breakfast and lunch options available at the conference.
Everyone is welcome, $10 suggested donation; nobody turned away for lack of
funds.
Write with your questions and more information:
bostonsocialistunity at gmail.com
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Boston and Its Changing Landscape Walking Tour
Saturday, March 17
2:00 PM – 3:30 PM EDT
Old North Church & Historic Site, 193 Salem Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/boston-and-its-changing-landscape-walking-tour-tickets-42685984930
Cost: $15
Join Old North Church & Historic Site for a special walking tour examining the historic development of Boston’s ever changing landscape. Trace the evolution of Boston’s shoreline and its relationship to the history of the city. Consider contemporary developments like the Big Dig and their impact on modern day Boston. Starting at the Old State House, meander down State St. to the waterfront at Long Wharf and then continue down the Rose Kennedy Greenway to the North End. The tour will conclude at the Old North Church & Historic Site for a discussion of historic changes in the North End neighborhood and place Old North within the context of Boston’s evolving landscape. This program is a fun and active opportunity for those interested in exploring the transformation of Boston’s physical occupation of space.
*The tour will run approximately 90 minutes in length and cover 1.5 miles on foot, so please dress accordingly.
This program is part of Old North's public program series investigating [oc·cu·pa·tion (äkyəˈpāSH(ə)n/): the action or fact of living in a place]. For more programs and events, please go to oldnorth.com/upcoming-events.
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Sunday, March 18 - Wednesday, March 21
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Special Climate program at Kripalu in Stockbridge, Massachusetts
We've assembled a dream team of presenters, from the Yale Program on Climate Communication, Al Gore's Climate Reality project, EDF's Moms Clean Air Force, and including a conversation with Bill McKibben.
Here's the schedule, March 18 to 21: https://kripalu.org/sites/default/files/asset/document/sched_100014295.pdf
Maybe you can join us! Maybe you know people who would like to be there! All ideas for spreading the word are most welcome.
As you may know, Kripalu is a world-class retreat center for yoga and health, and we're going to draw upon the faculty for sessions about mindfulness and nature appreciation.
Given the situation in Washington and elsewhere, and the continuing alarms from the scientists, we all need a refresh and recharge and my hope is this program provides just that.
More info: https://kripalu.org/presenters-programs/facing-climate-change-courage-and-heart
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Sunday, March 18
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Art & Technology Tour at the MIT List Center and ICA/Boston
Sunday, March 18
2:00pm to 4:00pm
MIT List Visual Arts Center, Building E15, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
Join us for a tour of both the MIT List Visual Arts Center and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. Both the List Center and the ICA/Boston are participants in a larger art and technology collaboration between area arts and educational institutions . This area wide collaboration among numerous cultural partners was organized to recognize the outsized role greater Boston has played in the history and development of technology.
The tour will be led by Emily Watlington, List Center’s curatorial research assistant and will begin at the List Center’s exhibition Before Projection: Video Sculpture 1974-1995, considering the works on view there as a historical anchor to the ICA’s exhibition Art in the Age of the Internet, 1989 to Today. The tour will focus on the role and legacy of Nam June Paik, whose work is on view in both exhibitions, considering and complicating dominant narratives that place Paik as a “founding father” of the art and technology movement.
Transportation between museums will be provided.
All programs are free and open to the general public. RSVPs are required.
To RSVP contact Emily A. Garner, Campus and Public Programs Coordinator, MIT List Visual Arts Center
eagarner at mit.edu
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Monday, March 19
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PAOC Colloquium: Michael Bender (Princeton)
Monday, March 19
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Building 54-923, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
About the Speaker
Michael Bender received a BS in Chemistry from Carnegie-Mellon University, where he was introduced to geochemistry by Truman Kohman. He did his PhD in Geology at Columbia University with Wallace Broecker. After a brief postdoc, he moved to the Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, where he taught for 25 years. In 1997, he moved to Princeton.
Bender's research has centered on two themes. One is glacial-interglacial climate change, and the other is the global carbon cycle. Since 1984, Bender's paleoclimate research has involved measuring gas properties in ice cores to date critical climate changes of the ice ages, and to advance our understanding of changes in the biosphere on glacial-interglacial timescales. The carbon cycle research involves studies characterizing the fertility of ecosystems at the global scale, at the scale of ocean basins, and at regional to local scales within the oceans.
Much current work in Bender's lab involves making highly precise measurements of the concentration and isotopic composition of O2 in air, in seawater, and in ice core trapped gases as a means of studying both the geochronology of climate change and the carbon cycle at a range of scales. Bender's past work has also included studies of trace element assimilation by carbonate tests, seawater trace metal geochemistry, hydrothermal processes on the flanks of mid-ocean ridges, diagenesis of organic matter in deep sea sediment pore waters, and the history of the seawater Sr isotope composition.
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Methane: A Uniquely Difficult Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Problem
Monday, March 19
12:00PM TO 1:30PM
Harvard, Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Robert Kleinberg, Schlumberger. Lunch will be provided.
Energy Policy Seminar
https://sites.hks.harvard.edu/m-rcbg/cepr/seminar.html
Contact Name: Lousia Lund
louisa_lund at hks.harvard.edu
617-485-8693
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DNA and Divination: On Yearning For Genetic Deliverance
Monday, March 19
12:15PM TO 2:00PM
Harvard, CGIS South S250, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
Patricia Williams, Columbia Law School
STS Circle at Harvard
http://sts.hks.harvard.edu/events/
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City Leaders as Disruptors: Finding Unexpected Allies and Getting Results
Monday, March 19
12:30pm to 2:00pm
MIT, Building 10-485, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Trinity Simons, Mayors’ Institute for City Design
Abstract: With the rapid expansion of new urban technologies and increased demands from citizens-all the while seeing budget and resource constraints-mayors are increasingly called upon to use their leadership to be visionaries for the creation of public space. The Mayors' Institute on City Design (MICD) is a leadership initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the United States Conference of Mayors that works to empower elected officials to provide leadership in city design and development. Among its 1100+ alumni mayors include current and/or past mayors of Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Miami, and others.
This talk will consider the role of public sector leaders in the creation and promotion of solutions to the most critical planning and design challenges facing their cities, and the preparation required to turn mayors into their communities' chief urban designers. We will explore current pressures on cities and how local elected officials are stepping up, often where state and federal government lags behind.
Bio: Trinity Simons is the executive director of the Mayors' Institute on City Design (MICD). The MICD is a partnership program of the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Architectural Foundation, and the United States Conference of Mayors. Since 1986, the Mayors' Institute has helped transform communities through design by preparing mayors to be the chief urban designers of their cities.
The MICD achieves its mission by organizing sessions where mayors engage leading design experts to find solutions to the most critical urban design challenges facing their cities. Sessions are organized around case-study problems. Each mayor presents a problem from his or her city for the other mayors and designers to discuss. Simons comes to MICD from the Enterprise Community, where she was a program officer for national design initiatives and director of the Rose Architectural Fellowship. Simons also worked with architecture students at her previous position as the national vice president of the American Institute of Architects Students (AIAS).
City Design & Development Forum
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Enabling Interaction on Everyday Surfaces
Monday, March 19
4:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Refreshments: 3:45 PM
MIT, Building 32-G449, Patil/Kiva, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Robert Xiao
Abstract: Computers are now ubiquitous. However, computers and digital content have remained largely separate from the physical world – users explicitly interact with computers through small screens and input devices, and the “virtual world” of digital content has had very little overlap with the immediate, physical world. My work aims to help computing escape the confines of screens and devices, and spill information- and computationally-rich digital content out into the familiar world around us. I approach this problem from several directions: from the low-level algorithmic work of providing ad hoc touch sensing on everyday surfaces, to high-level questions surrounding the interaction design between physical and virtual realms. I have built many embodiments of these mixed-reality experiences, including a computational lightbulb capable of projecting interactive content onto everyday surfaces, as well as a head-mounted augmented reality system that integrates touch interaction on the environment.
Bio: Robert Xiao is a Ph.D. candidate at Carnegie Mellon University in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute. He develops novel sensing and interactive technologies that enable richer and more powerful interactions with our computers, combining his love of computer science, mathematics and electronics. He has won Best Paper Awards at UIST 2016, ICMI 2015, and GI 2011, and is an NSERC Scholar and Qualcomm Innovation Fellow. His research has been covered by the New York Times, NBC News, Wired, Discovery Channel, TechCrunch, Gizmodo and many other outlets. Robert is also active in computer security competitions, winning DEFCON CTF the past two years with the CM
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Waste of A Nation Book Talk
WHEN Monday, Mar. 19, 2018, 4 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, CGIS South, S250, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Poetry/Prose
SPEAKER(S) Assa Dorn and Robin Jeffrey
COST Free and open to the public
DETAILS Waste of A Nation Book Talk with Assa Dorn and Robin Jeffrey
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Citizen Indigenous
WHEN Monday, Mar. 19, 2018, 4:15 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Fay House, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S) Norbert Hill (Oneida Nation), Former Director of Education, Oneida Nation of Wisconsin; Founder, “Winds of Change” magazine, published by the American Indian Science and Engineering Society; and “The American Indian Graduate Magazine,” published by the American Indian Graduate Center; Lifetime Achievement Award, National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering
Olivia Hoeft (Oneida Nation), associate product marketing manager, Google; Former Miss Oneida, 2014–2015
Tesia Zientek (Citizen Potawatomi Nation), Director, Department of Education, Citizen Potawatomi Nation
Moderated by N. Bruce Duthu (United Houma Nation of Louisiana), Samson Occom Professor of Native American Studies and Frank J. Guarini Associate Dean of the Faculty for International Studies & Interdisciplinary Programs, Dartmouth College
COST Free
CONTACT INFO events at radcliffe.harvard.edu
DETAILS Leading members from the Oneida Nation, Citizen Potawatomi Nation, and United Houma Nation of Louisiana will discuss vital issues of tribal citizenship in Indian Country. By exploring topics such as constitutional reform, tribal enrollment, blood quantum, and descendancy, the speakers will discuss the many different ways Native tribes and national define, grant, and express indigenous citizenship. Register online.
This program is cosponsored by the Harvard University Native American Program and the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development’s Honoring Nations Program.
LINK https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2018-citizen-indigenous-panel-discussion
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Ancient Egypt in Africa: New Excavations at the Island Fortress of Uronarti
Monday, March 19
6:00pm
Harvard, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Laurel Bestock, Associate Professor of Archaeology and the Ancient World, Egyptology and Assyriology, and the History of Art and Architecture, Brown University
Ancient Egyptian kings conquered Lower Nubia—today northern Sudan—nearly 4,000 years ago, defending it with a string of monumental fortresses along the Nile River. Previously thought lost, when the construction of the Aswan High Dam flooded the area, one fortress, known as Uronarti, was recently rediscovered and is being excavated for the first time since George Reisner’s Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition worked there in the early twentieth century. Laurel Bestock will highlight recent archaeological finds at the site and discuss the intercultural encounters and lifestyles in this Egyptian colonial outpost.
Livestreamed at https://www.facebook.com/harvardmuseumsofscienceandculture
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Idea CoLab Boston - Connecting Young Talent with Startups & Tech Pros
Monday, March 19
6:30 PM – 9:30 PM EDT
LearnLaunch, 281 Summer Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/idea-colab-boston-connecting-young-talent-with-startups-tech-pros-tickets-43712190338
Idea CoLab brings together the best and brightest young minds who have an interest in tech & startups and ten (10) experienced startup founders and tech professionals for an evening of exciting collaborations. Please note that this is not your typical mixer or evening social, as the capacity for entrepreneurs & professionals will be limited only to 10 people working in AR, VR, AI, iOT and robotics for structured activities with the students.
This month's program features high school students visiting Boston from Golda Och Academy in NJ. Each student has an extensive background in STEM education and has the group as a whole has demonstrated interest in the technologies listed above.
We think of this event as a "Hackathon for Ideas." Not only do the student participants gain expert knowledge and advice from the area's top minds, but you as our "Guest Pro" have the opportunity to gain fresh perspectives on your current ventures or work projects, while meeting the next generation of tech talent in a fun, engaging and meaningful way.
To better understand who you are as a "Guest Pro" for the students participating in this event, we have a brief questionnaire with a few questions with the registration. Please note that all registrations will be reviewed and we may contact you for more information. We also reserve the right to cancel any registration for any reason, including not completing all of the questions in the registration form.
Please email us at info (at) cototravel.com if you have any questions.
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Tuesday, March 20
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Censored: Distraction and Diversion Inside China's Great Firewall
Tuesday, March 20,
11:00 am
Northeastern, 177 Huntington Avenue, 11th floor, Boston
Margaret Roberts, Department of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego
This book describes how incomplete and porous censorship in China have an impact on information consumption in China, even when censorship is easy to circumvent. Using new methods to measure the influence of censorship and propaganda, Censored presents a theory that explains how censorship impacts citizens' access to information and in turn why authoritarian regimes decide to use different types of censorship in different circumstances to control the spread of information. The book is forthcoming with Princeton University Press.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Margaret Roberts is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego. Roberts research focuses on better measuring and understanding the political information strategies of authoritarian governments, with a specific focus on studying censorship and propaganda in China. She has also developed widely used methods for automated content analysis in the social sciences. Roberts received her PhD in Government from Harvard University in 2014, an M.S. in Statistics and B.A. in International Relations and Economics from Stanford in 2009. Her work has appeared in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Political Analysis, Journal of the American Statistical Association and Science.
Editorial Comment: The Chinese have one of the most restricted online environments around. Studying what they are doing and how the Chinese people get around those restrictions may be useful here in the USA too.
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Speaker Series: Heather Ann Thompson
Tuesday, March 20
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Harvard, Taubman 275, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge
Dr. Heather Ann Thompson is a historian at the University of Michigan, and is the Pulitzer Prize and Bancroft Prize-winning author of Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy (Pantheon Books, 2016). Blood in the Water was won the Ridenhour Prize, the J. Willard Hurst Prize, the Public Information Award from the New York Bar Association, the Law and Literature Prize from the New York County Bar Association, the Media for a Just Society Award from the National Council for Crime and Delinquency, and the book also received a rarely-given Honorable Mention for the Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association. Blood in the Water was also long listed for the Cundill Prize in History, and was a finalist for the National Book Award as well as the Los Angeles Times Book Award. Upon its release Blood in the Water was prominently reviewed and profiled in the New York Times in four different sections, and Thompson herself was profiled in the highly-coveted “Talk” section in the New York Times Magazine. Blood in the Water ultimately landed on fourteen “Best of 2016” lists including the New York Times Most Notable Books of 2016 list, and ones published by Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Newsweek, Christian Science Monitor, the Boston Globe, and others. The book also received rave reviews in over 100 top popular publications, and Thompson appeared on over 25 television shows, including PBS Newshour, CBS Sunday Morning and the Daily Show, as well as on over 50 radio programs, including Sirius and NPR.
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Climate Change and Global Health Seminar
Tuesday, March 20
1:00PM
Harvard Global Health Institute, 42 Church Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://fs6.formsite.com/harvardhigh/form146/index.html
Join the Harvard Global Health Institute for an exciting Climate Change and Global Health seminar with Professor Patrick Kinney, Beverly Brown Professor of Urban Health, Boston University's School of Public Health, who will speak on "Climate Change, Air Quality, and Human Health."
Registration required.
Contact Name: global_health at harvard.edu
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2018 Spring Wulff Lecture
Tuesday, March 20
4:00pm to 5:00pm
MIT, Building 34-101, 50 Vassar Street, Cambridge
21st-century materials science is now making possible a world where buildings harvest their own energy, bridges repair themselves, clothes increase life expectancy by monitoring health. But many alternative realities are possible, each driven by different cultural and economic forces. We could find ourselves dealing with seas full of plastic, declining life expectancy, and energy black-outs. Which future will we choose? In this lecture, Professor Mark Miodownik argues that only a deeper understanding of materials science will allow us to navigate the future successfully.
Professor Miodownik is a best-selling author, broadcaster, and innovative thinker who has been bringing new ideas in materials science to the general public for decades. His many awards and honors include the Communication Awards of the National Academics of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
http://www.markmiodownik.net
The Wulff Lecture is an introductory, general audience, entertaining lecture that aims to educate, inspire, and encourage MIT undergraduates to take up study of materials science and engineering and related fields. The entire MIT community, particularly freshmen, is invited to attend. The Wulff Lecture honors the late Professor John Wulff, a skilled, provocative, and entertaining teacher who conceived of a new approach to teaching general chemistry and inaugurated the popular freshman subject, 3.091 Introduction to Solid State Chemistry.
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Estelle Freedman seminar: Redefining Rape: Sexual Violence in the Era of Suffrage and Segregation
Tuesday, March 20
4:00pm to 5:30pm
MIT, Building 3-133, 33 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
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Starr Forum: US-Russian Relations: What's Next?
Tuesday, March 20
4:30pm to 6:00pm
MIT, Building E25-111, 45 Carleton Street, Cambridge
Speakers
Barry Posen (MIT), Angela Stent (Georgetown) and Andrei Kozyrev (Russia's first Foreign Minister)
Co-sponsors: MIT Center for International Studies, MIT Security Studies Program, MIT-Russia Program
A session of the Focus on Russia Lecture Series
Co-chairs, Carol Saivetz and Elizabeth Wood
Free & open to the public | Refreshments served
Can't attend in person? Watch it in real-time on Facebook live at https://www.facebook.com/MITCenterForInternationalStudies/ or later at your convenience on our YouTube channel event archive at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo3E2h2KZsZD3S8ThEn_UxA
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Open Society's New Enemies and the Assault on Truth
Tuesday, March 20
5–7 pm
Harvard, Science Center, Lecture Hall D, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge
As a philosopher of science, Karl Popper was unique, among 20th century political thinkers, in the emphasis he placed upon scientific knowledge as a precondition for political freedom in a democratic society. Openness was, above all, a moral and intellectual commitment to falsification and to constant self-correction and self-criticism. The 21st century’s ‘new enemies’ of open society—ideological nationalism and authoritarian populism, empowered by new technologies—pose a challenge to Popper’s epistemological ideal of a free society and ask us to think again about ‘the marketplace of ideas’ model of democratic debate. The lecture responds to these challenges by exploring how to restore the authority of scientific knowledge in public debate.
MICHAEL IGNATIEFF is a university professor, writer, and former politician. His major publications are The Needs of Strangers (1984), Scar Tissue (1992), Isaiah Berlin (1998), The Rights Revolution (2000), Human Rights as Politics and Idolatry (2001), The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in an Age of Terror (2004), Fire and Ashes: Success and Failure in Politics (2013), and The Ordinary Virtues: Moral Order in a Divided World (2017). Between 2006 and 2011, he served as an MP in the Parliament of Canada and then as Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition. He is a member of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada and holds eleven honorary degrees. Between 2012 and 2015 he served as Centennial Chair at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs in New York. Between 2014 and 2016 he was Edward R. Murrow Professor of the Practice of the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. He is currently the Rector and President of Central European University in Budapest.
With panelists:
Rakesh Khurana, Danoff Dean of Harvard College; Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development, Harvard Business School
James T. Kloppenberg, Charles Warren Professor of American History, Harvard University
Julie A. Reuben, Charles Warren Professor of the History of American Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Moderated by:
Sheila Jasanoff, Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies, Harvard Kennedy School
This event is organized by the Program on Science, Technology & Society at the Harvard Kennedy School, and co-sponsored by the Harvard University Center for the Environment, and the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. The lecture and discussion are free and open to the public.
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Vannevar Bush Lecture Series on Science and Technology Innovation: Richard Lester
Tuesday, March 20
6:00pm to 7:00pm
MIT, Building 3-333, 33 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
This lecture series, which includes imminent researchers and innovators from a wide variety of fields across MIT, will showcase the numerous forms that innovation takes and the pathways it can take from ideation to implementation.
Topic Summary
Innovation happens at a variety of scales and with the involvement of innumerable parties. Prof. Lester will discuss how systems of innovation are built, how they compare with another, and how they can be harnessed to tackle the energy issues that face us today.
About the Speaker
Richard Lester is the Japan Steel Industry Professor and Associate Provost at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he oversees the international activities of the Institute. From 2009 to 2015 he served as head of MIT’s Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, leading the Department successfully through a period of rapid rebuilding and strategic renewal. His research is concerned with innovation strategy and management, with a frequent focus on the energy and manufacturing sectors. He is widely known for his work on local, regional, and national systems of innovation, and he has led major studies of national and regional competitiveness and innovation performance commissioned by governments and industry groups around the world. He is the founding director and faculty chair of the MIT Industrial Performance Center.
Professor Lester is also well known for his teaching and research on nuclear technology innovation, management and control. He has been a long-time advocate of advanced nuclear reactor and fuel cycle technologies to improve the safety and economic performance of nuclear power, and his studies in the field of nuclear waste management helped provide the foundation for new institutional and technological strategies to deal with this longstanding problem. His latest book, Unlocking Energy Innovation: How America Can Build a Low-Cost, Low-Carbon Energy System (written with David Hart), outlines a strategy for mobilizing America’s innovation resources in support of a decades-long transition to an affordable and reliable low-carbon global energy system.
Professor Lester obtained his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Imperial College and earned his Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from MIT. He has been a member of the MIT faculty since 1979. He is an advisor to governments, corporations, foundations and non-profit groups, and he serves as chair of the National Academies’ Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy.
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The Inner Life of Animals: Love, Grief, and Compassion―Surprising Observations of a Hidden World
Tuesday, March 20
6:00 PM (Doors at 5:30)
Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.harvard.com/event/peter_wohlleben/
Cost: $5.00 - $26.25 (online only, book included)
Harvard Book Store welcomes PETER WOHLLEBEN—bestselling author of The Hidden Life of Trees—for a discussion of his latest book, The Inner Life of Animals: Love, Grief, and Compassion―Surprising Observations of a Hidden World.
About The Inner Life of Animals
Through vivid stories of devoted pigs, two-timing magpies, and scheming roosters, The Inner Life of Animals weaves the latest scientific research into how animals interact with the world with Peter Wohlleben's personal experiences in forests and fields.
Horses feel shame, deer grieve, and goats discipline their kids. Ravens call their friends by name, rats regret bad choices, and butterflies choose the very best places for their children to grow up.
In this, his latest book, Peter Wohlleben follows the hugely successful The Hidden Life of Treeswith insightful stories into the emotions, feelings, and intelligence of animals around us. Animals are different from us in ways that amaze us—and they are also much closer to us than we ever would have thought. Published in partnership with the David Suzuki Institute.
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Modern Humans' Earliest Artwork and Music: New European Discoveries
WHEN Tuesday, Mar. 20, 2018, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Music, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Presented by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology
SPEAKER(S) Randall White, Professor, Department of Anthropology, New York University
COST Free and open to the public.
CONTACT INFO peabody at fas.harvard.edu 617-496-1027
DETAILS The earliest evidence of artwork made by modern humans, Aurignacian art, was created more than 35,000 years ago and has been found in French, German, and Romanian archaeological sites. Randall White will discuss the rich corpus of Aurignacian painting, engraving, bas-relief sculpture, musical instruments, and personal ornamentation that was studied before World War I in southwest France, along with recent discoveries from classic Aurignacian sites. He will also highlight how the combined study of archives, long-forgotten museum collections—and even back dirt (excavated material)—is contributing new discoveries and contextual data about early Eurasian expressive culture.
LINK https://www.peabody.harvard.edu/Modern-Humans-Earliest-Artwork
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Boston Community Briefing on Paid Leave and $15/Hour Minimum Wage
Tuesday, March 20
6 PM - 8 PM
St. Paul's Cathedral, Boston, 138 Tremont Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/899456656888431/
The legislature needs to hear from us, in every corner of the Commonwealth, that it’s time to pass Paid Family and Medical Leave and a $15 Minimum Wage. Now that we’ve collected enough signatures to put both of these questions on the ballot, our message to the legislature is clear: let’s do this. Join us with legislators from across the region to make 2018 the year that these campaigns are realized for all workers and families across Massachusetts!
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Vietnam 1968: The War, the Turmoil, and the Presidential Election
Tuesday, March 20
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM EDT
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Columbia Point, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/vietnam-1968-the-war-the-turmoil-and-the-presidential-election-registration-43345087323
Lawrence O’Donnell, author of Playing with Fire: The 1968 Election and the Transformation of American Politics and host of MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell; Fredrik Logevall, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America’s Vietnam; and Chris Appy, professor of history at UMass Amherst and author of American Reckoning: The Vietnam War and Our National Identity discuss the critical events of 1968 in Vietnam and in American politics with Ellen Fitzpatrick, professor of history at the University of New Hampshire. Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero introduces the program.
This forum is featured in the National Archives’ Remembering Vietnam initiative. Remembering Vietnam is presented in part by the Lawrence F. O’Brien Family, Pritzker Military Museum & Library, AARP, and the National Archives Foundation.
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Preventing a Mad Max Future: How Green Electricity Could Fix Our Water Pollution Problem
Tuesday, March 20
7:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
Boston Public Library, 700 Boylston Street, Newsfeed Café, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/preventing-a-mad-max-future-tickets-43439278050
Water pollution and subsequent water shortages are popular motifs in many dystopian science fiction stories and have now become a reality in many places around the world. As these issues become more prevalent, the sustainability of the ways we purify our water also present a daunting challenge. Using electricity from clean power sources is a promising approach to purify polluted water; however, in addition to a power source, this technology also requires use of electrodes—conductors that allow electrons to assist in removing toxins. Although many materials have been found to be efficient as electrodes, scientists are still seeking affordable and environmentally-friendly alternatives.
In this talk, Dr. Ljiljana Rajic will discuss the ways in which water pollution is currently impacting our world and innovative approaches to using cost-effective materials to clean heavily polluted waters.
Seating is first-come, first-serve in WGBH's Boston Public Library Studio. Overflow seating will be located in the Newsfeed Café and is not guaranteed.
Speaker bio: Dr. Lily Rajic is a senior research scientist at Northeastern University and a chief science officer for Pioneer Valley Coral & Natural Science Institute (Hadley, MA). Dr. Rajic received her B.Sc. (2002-2007) and Ph.D. (2007-2010) in Chemistry from Faculty of Sciences at University of Novi Sad (Serbia). Trained as a chemist but with a broad set of interests for environmental protection and injustice, Dr. Rajic focuses on creating sustainable and affordable water treatment systems along with great commitment to mentorship and education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) for learners of all ages. Find more information on her website.
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Upcoming Events
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Wednesday, March 21 - Thursday, March 22
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GLOBAL CON - Energy, Power & Facility Management, Strategies & Technologies
Wednesday, March 21 - Thursday, March 22
Hynes Convention Center, Boston
GLOBALCON showcases a powerful schedule of events covering energy management, power distribution and generation, buildings and facilities, energy services and commissioning, and sustainable development, which also includes the latest developments and strategies for clean, green and renewable technologies.
More information at http://www.globalconevent.com
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Wednesday, March 21
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Boston Sustainability Breakfast
Wednesday, March 21
7:30 AM – 9:00 AM EST
Pret A Manger, 101 Arch Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/boston-sustainability-breakfast-tickets-41704784132
Join us every month for Net Impact Boston's informal breakfast meetup of sustainability professionals for networking, discussion, and moral support. It's important to remind ourselves that we are not the only ones out there in the business world trying to do good! Feel free to drop by any time between 7:30 and 9:00 am.
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Solar Geoengineering Research Reading Group
Wednesday, March 21
12:00PM TO 1:00PM
Harvard, HUCE Seminar Room 429, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Solar Geoengineering Research Reading Group
https://geoengineering.environment.harvard.edu/
A weekly reading group, interspersed with more formal seminars, to deepen members' understanding of solar geoengineering research.
Lunch provided. RSVP to contact listed.
Contact Name: Lizzie Burns
eburns at g.harvard.edu
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The South China Sea: At the Intersection of China's Silk Road Initiative and the US Indo-Pacific Strategy
Wednesday, March 21
12:00pm to 1:30pm
MIT, Building E40-496 (Pye Room), 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Peter Dutton (Naval War College)
Brief Bio
Peter Dutton's research focuses on American and Chinese views of sovereignty and international law of the sea as viewed through the lenses of China's maritime disputes. He also researches Chinese views of maritime security and how those views are shaped by geostrategic and historical factors. He has advised senior officials and military leaders across the government and testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees, and the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission. He is currently an adjunct professor of law at New York University School of Law.
SSP Wednesday Seminar
All Welcome.
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Insidious Threats to Academic Freedom in the US and Abroad
WHEN Wednesday, Mar. 21, 2018, 4 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard.CGIS South, Belfer Case Study Room (S020), 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Weatherhead Center for International Affairs
Samuel L. and Elizabeth Jodidi Lecture
SPEAKER(S) Craig Calhoun, President, Berggruen Institute.
Michael Ignatieff, President, Central European University.
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO Sarah Banse
sarahbanse at wcfia.harvard.edu
DETAILS The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs warmly welcomes you to the 2018 Samuel L. and Elizabeth Jodidi Lecture
“Insidious Threats to Academic Freedom in the US and Abroad”
The lecture will consist of brief opening remarks from each speaker. A twenty-minute exchange between the speakers will follow, and a Q&A will conclude. The event will be streamed live through the WCFIA Facebook page (www.facebook.com…).
Speakers
Craig Calhoun, President, Berggruen Institute.
"Insidious Threats to Academic Freedom"
In some settings, universities are being closed or academics are silenced by direct political force. But even where there is less of this kind of pernicious intervention, academic contributions to informed public debate are threatened by institutional transformations, shifts in academic career structures, structures of funding, and attacks on the standing and place of knowledge.
Michael Ignatieff, President, Central European University.
"Academic Freedom and Authoritarian Populism: Lessons from the Front Line"
In many countries—Turkey, Russia, Hungary, to take three examples—universities are being closed or threatened with closure and researchers, teachers, and students are being targeted. What is the political logic behind these attacks, and what will the consequences be for academic freedom and democracy worldwide?
Moderator
Michèle Lamont, Center Director; Faculty Associate; Chair, Weatherhead Research Cluster on Comparative Inequality and Inclusion.
Robert I. Goldman Professor of European Studies; Professor of Sociology and of African and African American Studies, Departments of Sociology and African and African American Studies, Harvard University.
LINK https://wcfia.harvard.edu/event/jodidi-2018
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Book Talk: How Democracies Die
WHEN Wednesday, Mar. 21, 2018, 4:15 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Starr Auditorium, Belfer Building, Floor 2.5, 79 JFKennedy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation
SPEAKER(S) Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt
CONTACT INFO info at ash.harvard.edu
DETAILS Donald Trump’s presidency has raised a question that many of us never thought we’d be asking: Is our democracy in danger? Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt have spent more than twenty years studying the breakdown of democracies in Europe and Latin America, and they believe the answer is yes. Democracy no longer ends with a bang—in a revolution or military coup—but with a whimper: the slow, steady weakening of critical institutions, such as the judiciary and the press, and the gradual erosion of long-standing political norms. The good news is that there are several exit ramps on the road to authoritarianism. The bad news is that, by electing Trump, we have already passed the first one.
Drawing on decades of research and a wide range of historical and global examples, from 1930s Europe to contemporary Hungary, Turkey, and Venezuela, to the American South during Jim Crow, Levitsky and Ziblatt show how democracies die—and how ours can be saved.
Join us for a discussion with Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, authors of How Democracies Die. HKS Academic Dean Archon Fung, Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government, will moderate. Scott Mainwaring, Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor for Brazil Studies, will provide an introduction.
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authors at MIT: Christopher Preston, The Synthetic Age
Wednesday, March 21
6:00pm
MIT Building N50, The MIT Press Bookstore, 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge 02139
Join us as we welcome Christopher J. Preston to the MIT Press Bookstore to discuss and sign copies of The Synthetic Age. Books will be on sale at the event for 20% off, or you can purchase an event ticket that includes a discounted book.
About The Synthetic Age:
In The Synthetic Age, Christopher Preston argues that what is most startling about this coming epoch is not only how much impact humans have had but, more important, how much deliberate shaping they will start to do. Emerging technologies promise to give us the power to take over some of Nature’s most basic operations. It is not just that we are exiting the Holocene and entering the Anthropocene; it is that we are leaving behind the time in which planetary change is just the unintended consequence of unbridled industrialism. A world designed by engineers and technicians means the birth of the planet’s first Synthetic Age.
What does it mean when humans shift from being caretakers of the Earth to being shapers of it? And in whom should we trust to decide the contours of our synthetic future? These questions are too important to be left to the engineers.
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"What is Truth?/Role of the Media and Facts and the Rule of Law" — Myra Kraft Open Classroom
Wednesday, March 21
6:00pm to 8:00pm
Northeastern, West Village F, 20, 40A Leon Street, Boston
Speakers: David Shribman, Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist; Executive Editor, Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Laurel Leff, Associate Professor of Journalism, Northeastern University
The Spring 2018 Open Classroom will explore the definition of the Rule of Law, what it requires, what happens in its absence, and how it has declined and emerged globally. We will also explore some of the tensions between the Rule of Law and Democratic Governance, focusing on the Rule of Law in time of polarization and technological upheaval (as in the United States but also abroad).
The Spring 2018 Myra Kraft Open Classroom is co-sponsored by the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and Northeastern’s School of Law.
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Science and Music: Converging Hypothesis and Interpretation
Wednesday, March 21
6:30 PM – 7:30 PM EDT
Le Laboratoire Cambridge, 650 East Kendall Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/science-and-music-converging-hypothesis-and-interpretation-tickets-43846105883
with Lynn Chang & Robert Sackstein and moderated by Lisa Wong
This fascinating talk is part of the Artsenses series
curated by the Arts and Humanities Initiative at Harvard Medical School
Two college classmates--one now a research scientist and professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School; the other a performing violinist and professor of Music at Boston Conservatory -- sit down for a "fireside chat" about the similarities and differences in the practice and pedagogy of art and science. Join us for an evening of Music and Musings.
Join us for an exciting evening, filled with deep conversation about music, science, and education. The format for that night will be designed to encourage the opportunity for this kind of reflection
Lynn Chang
A top-prize winner in the international Paganini Competition, Lynn Chang has led a varied career as soloist, chamber musician and pedagogue. He is a founding member of the Boston Chamber Music Society and performed with that group for 25 years. His discography includes the works of William Grant Still on New World Records, Made in America with Yo-Yo Ma, and the Grammy Award-winning The Girl with Orange Lips with Dawn Upshaw. In 2010 Chang performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony in Oslo, Norway, to honor Liu Xiaobo. In 2011, Lynn performed for President Obama at the nationally telecast Kennedy Center Honors to celebrate cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
Chang studied at the Juilliard School and Harvard University. He served as Overseer at Harvard and chaired the Board's Arts and Humanities committee.
A devoted teacher, he teaches at , Boston Conservatory at Berklee, New England Conservatory, Boston University and MIT. Chang's former students now play in the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and Juilliard String Quartet.
Robert Sackstein, M.D., Ph.D.
Robert Sackstein, M.D., Ph.D., is a Professor in the departments of Dermatology and Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a Bone Marrow Transplant Physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He also serves as the Director of the Program of Excellence in Glycosciences at the Harvard Medical School, as well as the Co-Director of the Harvard University Center for Glycosciences.
Dr. Sackstein is an expert in cell-based therapeutics. His scientific research efforts have helped define how cells migrate from blood into tissues, and clinical applications of his research findings have led to improved outcomes for patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation and for patients with life-threatening diseases.
A once-aspiring oboist, and the son of a concert pianist, Dr. Sackstein’s most notable and sustaining life-lessons have been shaped by music.
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The Biological Mind
Wednesday, March 21
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
Harvard Coop, 1400 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/alan-jasanoff-the-biological-mind-tickets-43319366391
A pioneering neuroscientist argues that we are more than our brains
To many, the brain is the seat of personal identity and autonomy. But the way we talk about the brain is often rooted more in mystical conceptions of the soul than in scientific fact. This blinds us to the physical realities of mental function. We ignore bodily influences on our psychology, from chemicals in the blood to bacteria in the gut, and overlook the ways that the environment affects our behavior, via factors varying from subconscious sights and sounds to the weather. As a result, we alternately overestimate our capacity for free will or equate brains to inorganic machines like computers. But a brain is neither a soul nor an electrical network: it is a bodily organ, and it cannot be separated from its surroundings. Our selves aren't just inside our heads--they're spread throughout our bodies and beyond. Only once we come to terms with this can we grasp the true nature of our humanity.
About the Author
Alan Jasanoff is the award-winning director of the MIT Center for Neurobiological Engineering. He lives near Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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The Canary Effect
Wednesday, March 21
7:30PM
First Church in Jamaica Plain Unitarian Universalist, 6 Eliot Street, Jamaica Plain
The Canary Effect is a documentary that examines the impact of US policies on the Indigenous peoples of North America. Delving deeply into the often misunderstood and frequently over looked historic realities of the American Indian, The Canary Effect follows the terrifying and horrific abuses instilled upon the Indigenous people of North America, and details the genocidal practices of the US government and its continuing effects on present day Indian country. Featuring interviews with the leading scholars and experts on Indian issues including controversial author Ward Churchill, the film brings together the past and present in a way never before captured so eloquently and boldly on film. The movie was directed by Robin Davey and Yellow Thunder Woman, who are both members of LA Based alternative pop group The Bastard Fairies.
Dismantling White Supremacy Film Series
As persons of faith living in 21st century America, we feel called to question how we might work, take action, do our part, to dismantle white supremacy. We seek to deepen our understanding of the role white supremacy has played in the development of our modern day society, take some inventory, and identify opportunities for collective action. We are inspired by the words of Rev. Mary Margaret Earl, Executive Director and Senior Minister of UU Urban Ministries in Roxbury:
“We must continue the work that many of us have been engaged with, to dig deeper into the ways that racism has infiltrated our subconscious, our hearts, and our educational, prison and government systems since our country was founded. The hate on display in Charlottesville, as grotesque as it was, is not disconnected from the rest of us. It is the most egregious, visible outgrowth of the racism we have all breathed in, like polluted air, our whole lives.”
We are all caught in that web. For those of us who identify as white, we work to become unstuck through listening and learning. Listening nondefensively to people of color who are willing to share their experiences and viewpoint. Learning about the history of racism in our nation.
Co-sponsored by
First Church Unitarian Universalist in Jamaica Plain, Social Justice Action Committee, and The Racial Justice Task Force of the Theodore Parker Church
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Thursday, March 22
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Social Issue Talk: Eviction Prevention: A Model for Addressing Homelessness in Massachusetts
Thursday, March 22
8:30 - 10:00 am
Cooley LLP, 500 Boylston Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/social-issue-talk-eviction-prevention-a-model-for-addressing-homelessness-in-massachusetts-registration-42997583931
SPEAKER
Lydia Edwards, Boston City Councilor
As the Boston City Councilor, Lydia Edwards represents the independent voices of the Boston community, and prioritizes social and economic justice for marginalized groups. Lydia Edwards is a strong advocate for affordable, accessbile housing, and quality public education
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6TH ANNUAL MASS. WATER FORUM
Thursday, March 22
11:45 AM to 1:45 PM
Massachusetts State House, 24 Beacon Street, Boston
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Stratospheric Aerosol Geoengineering Large Ensemble (GLENS) Project
Thursday, March 22
12:00PM TO 1:30PM
Harvard, HUCE Seminar Room 429, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge
The Harvard University Solar Geoengineering Research Program presents Simone Tilmes, Project Scientist II, National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).
The third Solar Geoengineering Research Seminar, co-sponsored by the Harvard University Center for the Environment, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, and the Belfer Center’s Science Technology and Public Policy program. Lunch provided. Formal seminars are interspersed with more informal weekly reading group meetings on Wednesdays to deepen members’ understanding of solar geoengineering research.
12:00 - 1:00 p.m. Formal presentation with lunch
1:00 - 1:30 p.m. Informal gathering with coffee and dessert
RSVP to contact below.
Contact Name: Lizzie Burns
eburns at g.harvard.edu
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xTalk with Taso DuVal: Building Trust, Quality, and Integrity on the Internet, at Scale
Thursday, March 22
3:00pm to 4:00pm
MIT, Building 4-149, 182 Memorial Drive (Rear), Cambridge
In today's age, internet companies are primarily focused on building disruptive technologies that focus on the scale of its user base, rather than the scale of its trust, quality, and integrity first. Toptal has built a company that has scaled trust, quality, and integrity first, as foundational elements, to facilitate its business at scale. In this talk, we will discuss the components that make up for a successful "quality first" company and how technology can facilitate this today.
Taso DuVal
As Toptal’s co-founder and CEO, Taso manages Toptal’s core team of hundreds of team members distributed throughout the world, with a focus on innovation. Since Toptal was founded in 2010, Taso has led it to become the largest high-skilled, on-demand talent network in the world. Taso serves on the board of multiple organizations, advising on talent strategy and innovation for Fortune 100s and nonprofits. Taso has guest lectured at Harvard Business School, Wharton, and Oxford on talent management and entrepreneurship.
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Adaptive Adversarial Learning for a Diverse Visual World
Thursday, March 22
4:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Refreshments: 3:45 PM
MIT, Building 32-G449 Patil/Kiva, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Judy Hoffman
Abstract: Automated visual recognition is in increasingly high demand. However, despite tremendous performance improvement in recent years, state-of-the-art deep visual models learned using large-scale benchmark datasets still fail to generalize to the diverse visual world. In this talk I will discuss a general purpose semi-supervised learning algorithm, domain adversarial learning, which facilitates transfer of information between different visual environments and across different semantic tasks thereby enabling recognition models to generalize to previously unseen worlds. I’ll demonstrate applications of this approach to different visual tasks, such as semantic segmentation in driving scenes and transfer between still image object recognition and video action recognition.
Bio: Judy Hoffman is a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley. Her research lies at the intersection of computer vision and machine learning with a specific focus on semi-supervised learning algorithms for domain adaptation and transfer learning. She received a PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley in 2016. She is the recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, the Rosalie M. Stern Fellowship, and the Arthur M. Hopkin award for seriousness of purpose and high academic achievement. She is also a founder of the WiCV workshop (women in computer vision) co-located at CVPR annually.
Contact: Roxana Hernandez, roxanah at csail.mit.edu
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The Aftermath of Financial Crises: What Happens and Why: The 2018 Robert A. Muh Alumni Award Lecture
Thursday, March 22
5:00pm to 6:00pm
MIT, Building E14 6th Floor, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Christina Romer (University of California, Berkeley)
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Moving Broadband from Sea to Land: Internet Infrastructure and Digital Labor in Tanzania
Thursday, March 22
5:00pm to 6:30pm
MIT, Building 54-114, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
Lisa Parks
As digital networks are extended across the world, new forms of labor are required to enable and sustain mediated communication. This talk addresses the need for further critical conceptualizations of the labor and resource challenges inherent in extending the global internet from urban areas to rural, low-income communities in various parts of the world. The East African country of Tanzania hosts four major undersea cable landings, suggesting that the country’s 51 million people would be well integrated within global broadband fibre optic networks. Despite Tanzanians’ close proximity to major internet gateways and the country’s innovative regulatory climate (van Gorp & Maitland, 2009), limited electrical and terrestrial telecommunication infrastructure prevents most citizens from benefitting from these cable landings. By 2014 only 15% of the population used the internet in Tanzania (Internet World Stats, 2016). This study uses ethnographic fieldwork, including site visits and interviews with workers at network facilities and data centers in Dar es Salaam and the Mara region, to investigate the material conditions undergirding these paradoxical dynamics. Building on her past research on rural connectivity in neighboring Zambia, CMS/W professor Lisa Park‘s study will also explore how labor and resource conditions have effected an initiative called the Serengeti Broadband Network (SBN), which began in 2007 to establish broadband connectivity across 15 villages in one of Tanzania’s remote interior regions. Ultimately, the talk will draw upon this empirical research to contribute to theorizations of labor, infrastructure, and (dis)connectivity in the digital era.
Lisa Parks is a global media scholar whose research focuses on three areas: satellite technologies and media cultures; critical studies of media infrastructures; and media, militarization and surveillance. She is Principal Investigator for MIT’s Global Media Technologies and Cultures Lab.
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Shifting Borders of Justice: Territory, Market, Migration - Ayelet Shachar
WHEN Thursday, Mar. 22, 2018, 5 – 6:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Emerson Hall 210, 25 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics
SPEAKER(S) Ayelet Shachar
COST FREE
CONTACT INFO Vickie Aldin, events at ethics.harvard.edu, 617-495-0599
DETAILS Contributing to debates about migration and globalization, this lecture explores how and why the multiple borders of justice — territorial, legal, and normative — are shifting. These dramatic transformations unsettle ideas about waning sovereignty just as they illustrate the limits of unilateral, refortified bordering responses. As an alternative to these established theoretical poles and as part of a broader attempt to overcome policy deadlocks at the domestic and international level, Professor Shachar proposes a new approach to human mobility and security in a world of persistent inequality.
LINK https://ethics.harvard.edu/event/public-lecture-ayelet-shachar
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MassChallenge & Zipcar Present: The Future of Mobility
Thursday, March 22
5:30 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
MassChallenge Headquarters, 21 Drydock Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/masschallenge-zipcar-present-the-future-of-mobility-tickets-43363062086
Join Boston's largest startup accelerator and the Boston-based world car-sharing leader for a preview of the hottest innovations in transportation that Boston has to offer. A celebration devoted to recognizing Boston's role as a pioneer in mobile technology, the evening will include:
A showcase with 15 of the region's top startup companies bound to have an impact on mobility in years to come
A panel discussion addressing the future of Boston transportation
Networking with key innovators, government officials, and corporates in the mobility space
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To The Mountaintops
Thursday, March 22
5:30pm to 8:00pm
Northeastern, Behrakis Health Sciences Center, 010 30 Leon Street, Boston
Join the Asian Studies Program and CITIZENARTS for a showing of documentary To The Mountaintops, a comparison of the surging dynamics of China and India -- the world's largest authoritarian and democratic state.
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Cleantech Open's 2018 Boston Kickoff Party
Thursday, March 22
5:30 PM - 8:30 PM
Greentown Labs, 444 Somerville Avenue, Somerville
RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/159480891360420/
Cost: $12.61 - $17.89
Please join us in celebrating the launch of the 2018 Cleantech Open accelerator! This is the 14th year of Cleantech Open and we are excited to welcome back our community as we look forward to this year's program. We welcome all entrepreneurs, students, investors, savvy technologists, and anyone interested in joining our growing community. This is a great way to connect with Cleantech Open alumni, mentors, and thought leaders in the cleantech space.
If you're a cleantech entrepreneur, this is the perfect event to learn how your venture can benefit from Cleantech Open. You will have the opportunity to give a 1-minute pitch in front of the audience and if you get voted crowd favorite you'll win a free application to Cleantech Open valued at $150!
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Advanced Tech: Autonomous & Drone Technologies
Thursday, March 22
5:30pm to 9:00pm
MIT, Building 32-123, Stata Center, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/event/advanced-tech-autonomous-drone-technologies/
Cost: $20 Members; $30Non-Members: $10 Students; $5 Student Members
(In-Auditorium or Live Stream)
Innovation continues to be a focus of strategic discussions within the Department of Defense as they increasingly confront nimble drone and autonomous technologies on the battlefield and are seeking advanced counter technologies to support our troops.
Our panel of experts from Raytheon, the U.S. Air Force AFwerX, and Draper Labs will discuss how recent and future innovations in commercial detection, tracking, identification, characterization and mitigation technologies can and will benefit the military with quicker adoption and reduction in procurement prices.
Following the panel discussion, come upstairs to the R&D Commons on the 4th Floor of the MIT Stata Center to a showcase featuring startups working on relevant and tangential technologies will be demoing their technologies to you in an open setting. Learn about their tech, ask questions, and vote on the best showcase elevator pitches and your favorite technology. Appetizers and beverages will be served.
Showcase teams will include the Techstars Autonomous Technology class of 2018, MIT Sloan as well as MIT students and Alumni.
Confirmed panelists:
Chitra Sivanandam is a Technology Strategist at Raytheon developing partnerships and investment strategies that serve the DoD/Intel market as well as commercial markets. She is a tech junkie and entrepreneur who has experience in startups, large corporations, and prior to her most recent role, served as the Director at Blackbird Technologies, and as technical staff at In-Q-Tel.
Capt. Steven Lauver is a Deputy Director within the A8XP Innovation Branch in the United States Air Force, AFwerX. A graduate of the of the US Air Force Academy and pilot, Captain Lauver is an entrepreneur at heart having co-founded Nodify Inc. in 2012 and recently helped to create the AFwerX innovation team which is helping to change the way the Air Force identifies and potentially adopts new technologies.
Moderator:
Warren Katz, Managing Dir. of Techstars Autonomous Technology Accelerator
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Future of Food Products
Thursday, March 22
6 - 8:30pm
Lighthouse 20th Floor, CIC Boston, 50 Milk Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/branchfood-presents-the-future-of-food-panel-series-tickets-39173251249
Cost: $20 - $75.95
Flavor Clouds, Gelato with zero added sugar, and prickly pear water are just a few examples of the new food products, trends, and businesses that are emerging daily. Though we’re seeing innovative consumer packaged goods startups launching around the world, Boston is home to some of the most progressive food product innovations out there.
In our 2nd Future of Food Series panel, we will speak with Boston’s leading startup founders, investors, and manufacturers to discuss the latest trends in food product innovation, development and marketing.
PRESENTERS
Adam Melonas, Founder & CEO at Chew LLC and Nursery
Adam is one of the worlds most respected innovators in the experimental culinary arts. In 2013 he founded Chew, a food innovation lab in Cambridge, MA that redefines what is possible in the world of packaged food by creating game-changing products that are not only delicious but also nutritious and sustainable. Adam’s latest venture, the Nursery, is a Food and Beverage incubator designed to build and scale both new Food and beverage products, as well as Food and Beverage Technology.
Risa Sherman, Philanthropy, Social Impact and Cause Marketing at The Boston Beer Company
Risa’s role at The Boston Beer Company is to oversee all philanthropy across multiple brands including the company’s award-winning initiative, Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream, a program she helped to create in 2007. The program connects hard-working entrepreneurs in the food, beverage and brewing areas with working capital, coaching and networks they need to start, strengthen and grow their small businesses.
MODERATOR
Janelle Nanos, Reporter at The Boston Globe
Janelle is a writer, editor, and journalism professor in Boston. She is currently a business reporter at the Boston Globe, where she writes about retail, e-commerce, the food industry and consumer culture. She thrives on diving deep into the ideas, people, and businesses that drive Boston’s economy.
The Future of Food is a 4-part series exploring topics surrounding the Future of Food. The series is jointly hosted by Branchfood andCIC in Boston, Massachusetts. Tickets are available to purchase for individual events or an all-access series pass.
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MIT Water Night 2018 : Exploring the Science & Art of Water
Thursday, March 22
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM EDT
MIT, Walker Memorial, Morss Hall (50-140), 142 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mit-water-night-2018-exploring-the-science-art-of-water-tickets-42452093354
Come join the MIT Water Club for its annual Water Night, a family-friendly event to celebrate water on the evening of World Water Day, March 22. This year's theme is about Exploring the Art and Science of Water! Come learn about water through research posters, art exhibits, interactive demos, and more. Researchers at MIT, local universities and industries will present their water-related work. This year, in addition to the research showcase, we are featuring for the first time artistic and experimental displays! Open to everybody -- attendance is FREE and food will be provided. Don't miss this amazing opportunity to interact with the local water community.
Keynote: We are pleased to announce Prof. Jeffrey A. Hoffman, MIT AeroAstro and former NASA astronaut, will speak on water in space, don't miss this exciting opportunity at 7pm!
Call for Presenters: Are you working on a great water-related topic? Do you have an experiment that you'd like to show the world? Do you have cool artistic items - pictures, paintings, displays, etc - related to water? Then hesitate no more and come present at the MIT Water Night by filling out the form on our website!
Volunteering Opportunities are available with the MIT Water Night organizing team. If you are interested in artistic and scientific content development, or gaining experience in PR, fundraising, or event organizing, please send an email to water-night at mit.edu expressing your interests and our team will get in contact with you.
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Capitalism and The Climate
Thursday, March 22
8:00 PM ET
RSVP at https://wevolunteer.openprogress.com/Opportunities/Details/?oId=345846
Call in number: 1 917-444-5627
Join by computer to ask questions or "raise your hand" Gotcm.org/uber
Dr. Benjamin Fong will be joining Margaret for a discussion of political power, our ecocidal economic system, the emergency climate movement, and how psychoanalysis can help us strategize to prevent climate catastrophe.
Benjamin Y. Fong teaches at the Honors College at Arizona State University and is on the steering committee of the Democratic Socialists for Medicare for All campaign. He recently authored "The Climate Crisis? It's Capitalism, Stupid"in the New York Times, and is also the author of Death and Mastery: Psychoanalytic Drive Theory and the Subject of Late Capitalism (Columbia, 2016).
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Friday, March 23, 12 p.m. – Saturday, March 24, 5 p.m.
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Human Rights in a Time of Populism
WHEN Friday, Mar. 23, 12 p.m. – Saturday, Mar. 24, 2018, 5 p.m.
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Conferences, Law
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Law School Human Rights Program
SPEAKER(S) Select Speakers Include:
Tyler Giannini, Clinical Professor of Law, Harvard Law School; Clinical Director, Human Rights Program
Martha Minow, Carter Professor of General Jurisprudence, Harvard Law School
Gerald Neuman, J. Sinclair Armstrong Professor of International, Foreign, and Comparative Law, Harvard Law School; Co-Director, Human Rights Program
Ruth Okediji, Jeremiah Smith, Jr. Professor of Law; Co-Director, Berkman Klein Center
Michael Posner, Jerome Kohlberg Professor of Ethics and Finance and Professor of Business and Society, NYU Stern School of Business; Director, Center for Business and Human Rights
(Other speakers will be announced closer to the date).
CONTACT INFO hrp at law.harvard.edu
DETAILS The “Human Rights in a Time of Populism” conference will discuss the challenges that current developments characterized as populist pose to the goals of the international human rights system, and more broadly the relationship between human rights and populism, and strategies for dealing with the current challenges.
The range of approaches to this general topic will be intentionally broad-ranging and multidisciplinary, including:
What is populism; is it increasing and why; is populism in conflict with internationally recognized human rights, or a legitimate exercise of human rights?
What challenges does populism create for the protection of internationally recognized human rights; how can human rights NGOs and human rights institutions respond to these challenges?
Should human rights-based responses directly address populism; what can human rights-based responses do to decrease populism; what human rights-based responses are likely to make matters worse by causing or increasing populist backlash?
Have human rights NGOs or institutions contributed unintentionally to the rise of populism by provoking backlash; if so what should human rights NGOs or institutions do in the face of populist backlash; does increased populism point in other ways to lessons that should be learned by human rights NGOs or institutions?
The above questions are generally phrased, but speakers will address them in particular national or regional contexts, such as (to name only a few) the Philippines, Latin America, the United Kingdom, Western or Eastern Europe, and the United States.
To facilitate discussion, participants will prepare short working draft papers that will be shared privately among the participants several weeks before the conference. The plan is to have a candid and interactive public discussion on these important issues, and subsequently a book formalizing contributions of interested participants.
The conference is planned for March 23-24, 2018 a Friday afternoon and the following Saturday.
LINK http://hrp.law.harvard.edu/events/
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Friday, March 23
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Atmospheric & Environmental Chemistry Seminar
Friday, March 23
12:00PM
Harvard, 100F Pierce Hall, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Matt Elrod, Oberlin College
Atmospheric & Environmental Chemistry Seminar
https://www.seas.harvard.edu/calendar/event/111766
Contact Name: Kelvin Bates
kelvin_bates at fas.harvard.edu
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IACS Seminar: Data Science and Our Environment
WHEN Friday, Mar. 23, 2018, 1 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Harvard SEAS Campus, Maxwell Dworkin Building. G115, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Ethics, Health Sciences, Information Technology, Lecture, Research study, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Institute for Applied Computational Science at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science
SPEAKER(S) Francesca Dominici, Professor of Biostatistics, HSPH & Co-Director of the Harvard Data Science Initiative (HDSI)
COST Free and open to the public. No registration required.
CONTACT INFO Email: iacs-info at seas.harvard.edu
Phone: 617-496-2623
DETAILS What if I told you I had evidence of a serious threat to American national security – a terrorist attack in which a jumbo jet will be hijacked and crashed every 12 days. Thousands will continue to die unless we act now. This is the question before us today – but the threat doesn’t come from terrorists. The threat comes from climate change and air pollution.
Researchers have developed an artificial neural network model that uses on-the-ground air-monitoring data and satellite-based measurements to estimate daily pollution levels across the continental U.S., breaking the country up into 1-square-kilometer zones. They have paired that information with health data contained in Medicare claims records from the last 12 years, and for 97% of the population aged 65 or older. They have also developed statistical methods and computational efficient algorithms for the analysis over 460 million health records.
Their research shows that short and long term exposure to air pollution is killing thousands of senior citizens each year. Their data science platform is telling us that federal limits on the nation’s most widespread air pollutants are not stringent enough.
This type of data is the sign of a new era for the role of data science in public health, and also for the associated methodological challenges. For example, with enormous amounts of data, the threat of unmeasured confounding bias is amplified, and causality is even harder to assess with observational studies. Dr. Dominici will discuss these and other challenges.
LINK https://www.seas.harvard.edu/calendar/event/111801
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Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor
Friday, March 23
3:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store, Harvard Kennedy School's digitalHKS, the MIT Center for Civic Media, and Mass Humanities welcome VIRGINIA EUBANKS, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University at Albany SUNY, for a discussion of her latest book, Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor. She will be joined in conversation by ETHAN ZUCKERMAN, director of the Center for Civic Media at MIT.
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Graduate Lecture Series: Ron Prinn (CGCS/EAPS)
Friday, March 23
4:30pm to 5:30pm
MIT, Building 54-915, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
About the Speaker
Ron Prinn's research incorporates the chemistry, chemical evolution, dynamics and physics of the atmospheres of the Earth and other planets. Current projects involve atmospheric chemistry and biogeochemistry, climate science, and integrated assessment of science and policy regarding climate change. He leads the Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (AGAGE) that measures rates of changes of the concentrations of trace gases involved in the greenhouse effect and ozone depletion. He is pioneering the use of inverse methods using AGAGE measurements and 3D models to determine trace gas emissions and understand atmospheric chemical processes. Through his directorship of the Center for Global Change Science and the Joint Program for the Science and Policy of Global Change he works with social scientists to link the science, economics, and policy aspects of global change. Prinn has co-developed a model which couples economics, climate dynamics, and land and ocean ecosystems to elucidate uncertainties in climate predictions.
Prinn, who has been a faculty member at MIT since 1971, served as Head of Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences from 1998 to 2003.
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Saturday, March 24
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March for Our Lives Boston
Saturday, March 24
12pm
Boston Common, Boston
In the words of Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivors; the fearless, faithful, resilient cries of those students, “This is it.”
Emma Gonzalez, David Hogg, Alex Wind and Jaclyn Corin are just a few of those many Stoneman Douglas High School students who on February 14th, 2018 endured the tragic Parkland shooting that lost the lives of 17 of their beloved peers, faculty, teachers, and community members. But with an average of 96 Americans dying by gun homicides each day (CDC), they stand amongst fellow students, survivors, and fed-up citizens across the country in demanding just the same to lawmakers: “This is it.”
So this must not just be a legislative turning point for our country in regards to gun control - but a social turning point, and a moral one. There has existed in the United States, in New England, in Massachusetts - communities plagued by gun violence for so long they have felt muted-out; rejected and neglected by our politicians and lawmakers. But we - as students, survivors; many of us members of these same communities - hear them here too. So together with fellow students, survivors, exhausted constituents from Broward County to Suffolk County, on March 24th, we “March for Our Lives.” To finally reject, in all forms, this uniquely American epidemic.
All who stand against the senselessness of American gun violence are welcome to attend.
National March for Our Lives main page:
http://www.facebook.com/marchforourlives/
Boston MFOL Twitter: @MFOLBoston #MarchforOurLivesBoston
Boston MFOL Snapchat: bostonmfol
Boston MFOL Instagram: mfolboston
Official Boston MFOL fundraising merchandise: https://shop.bonfire.com/marchforourlivesboston/
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Sunday, March 25
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Tardigrade Stage #2: Arts for Climate
Sunday, March 25
4:30 PM – 6:00 PM EDT
The Democracy Center, 45 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tardigrade-stage-2-arts-for-climate-tickets-43336063332
Care about climate? Love the arts? Join us for folktales from around the world, dynamic chamber music, virtuosic viola, and a special appearance by climate activist Craig Altemose, founder of CREW. Supporting Communities Responding to Extreme Weather (CREW): a network of volunteers building local climate resilience.
Suggested Donation: whatever you can share, $20+ per person would be great! All donations go directly to CREW after $1 per person is donated to the Democracy Center for use of the space.
much more info and ways to pitch in at https://www.lieurance.com/tardigrade-stage
stay up to date and give us a boost by "liking" Tardigrade Stage's Facebook page
Craig Altemose, climate activist
Doria Hughes, Storyteller
Alex Vavilov, violist
Rebecca Thornblade, cellist
Amy Sims, violin
This event will be most enjoyed by children who can easily listen quietly to 10 minute long pieces of music.Having said that, all ages welcome!
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Monday, March 26
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Towards Quantification of the Paris Agreement's Social Value of Mitigation Activities
Monday, March 26
10:00AM
Harvard, HUCE Seminar Room 440, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Drew Shindell, Duke University.
Hosts: Loretta Mickley, Jonathan Moch
Atmospheric & Environmental Chemistry Seminar
https://www.seas.harvard.edu/calendar/event/112211
Contact Name: Kelvin Bates
kelvin_bates at fas.harvard.edu
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Challenges for Getting the Prices Right in PJM's Wholesale Electricity Markets
Monday, March 26
12:00PM TO 1:30PM
Harvard, Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Hung-Po Chao, Senior Director & Chief Economist, PJM Interconnection. Lunch will be provided.
Energy Policy Seminar
https://sites.hks.harvard.edu/m-rcbg/cepr/seminar.html
Contact Name: Lousia Lund
louisa_lund at hks.harvard.edu
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Ecological Transitions during the Evolution of C4 Photosynthesis
Monday, March 26
12:10PM
Arnold Arboretum, Weld Hill Research Building, 1300 Centre Street, Boston
Marjorie Lundgren, Postdoctoral Fellow, MIT
Watch live on the Arboretum’s YouTube channel if you are unable to attend in person. The streaming video is visible only when in progress.
Arnold Arboretum Research Talk
https://www.arboretum.harvard.edu/research/research-talks/
Contact Name:
arbweb at arnarb.harvard.edu
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"Sex in the Age of Medical Jurisprudence: The Law and Science of Hermaphrodites in the 19th century U.S.
Monday, March 26
12:15PM TO 2:00PM
Harvard, Pierce 100F, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Maayan Sudai, Harvard Law School
Sandwich lunch is provided. RSVP to via the online form by Wednesday at 5PM the week before.
The Harvard STS Circle is co-sponsored by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, and the Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
STS Circle at Harvard
http://sts.hks.harvard.edu/events/sts_circle/
Contact Name: sts at hks.harvard.edu
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Food for Thought: the Origins of Massachusetts Food and Why it Matters
Monday, March 26
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT
Public Library of Brookline - Putterham Library, 959 West Roxbury Parkway, Brookline
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/food-for-thought-the-origins-of-massachusetts-food-and-why-it-matters-tickets-42651659261
Join us for an afternoon with Stephen Kenney, Director of the Commonwealth Museum as he talks about the history of food in Massachusetts. What foods are native to Massachusetts and what foods arrived with the English colonists?
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Privacy Despite Mass Surveillance
Monday, March 26
3:00pm to 4:00pm
Harvard, Maxwell Dworkin G115, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Sebastian Angel, University of Texas at Austin
In the past decade there has been a significant increase in the collection of personal information and communication metadata (with whom users communicate, when, how often) by governments, Internet providers, companies, and universities. While there are many ongoing efforts to secure users' communications, namely end-to-end encryption messaging apps and E-mail services, safeguarding metadata remains elusive.
Computer Science Colloquium Series
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China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know
Monday, March 26
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
Harvard Coop, 1400 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jeff-wasserstrom-and-maura-cunningham-china-in-the-21st-century-what-everyone-needs-to-know-co-tickets-43320936086
In this fully revised and updated third edition of China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know®, Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom and Maura Elizabeth Cunningham provide cogent answers to urgent questions regarding the world’s newest superpower and offer a framework for understanding China’s meteoric rise from developing country to superpower. Framing their answers through the historical legacies – Confucian thought, Western and Japanese imperialism, the Mao era, and the Tiananmen Square massacre – that largely define China’s present-day trajectory, Wasserstrom and Cunningham introduce readers to the Chinese Communist Party, the building boom in Shanghai, and the environmental fallout of rapid Chinese industrialization. They also explain unique aspects of Chinese culture, such as the one-child policy, and provide insight into Chinese-American relations, a subject that has become increasingly fraught during the Trump era. As Wasserstrom and Cunningham draw parallels between China and other industrialized nations during their periods of development, in particular the United States during its rapid industrialization in the 19th century, they also predict how we might expect China to act in the future vis-à-vis the United States, Russia, India, and its East Asian neighbors.
Updated to include perspectives on Hong Kong’s shifting political status, as well as an expanded discussion of President Xi Jinping’s time in office, China in the 21st Century provides a concise and insightful introduction to this significant global power.
Maura Elizabeth Cunningham is a writer and historian of modern China. She is a graduate of Saint Joseph’s University (B.A., 2004), Yale University (M.A., 2006), the Hopkins-Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies (graduate certificate, 2008), and the University of California, Irvine (Ph.D., 2014). Maura was the editor-in-chief of The China Beat, a blog based at UC Irvine, between 2009 and 2012, and associate editor of ChinaFile during a fellowship at the Asia Society’s Center on U.S.-China Relations in 2011-12. From 2014 to 2016, Maura served as a program officer at the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, where she co-directed the Public Intellectuals Program; in 2016, she became the digital media manager at the Association for Asian Studies. As a writer, her work has appeared at the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and other publications.
Jeffrey Wasserstrom is a graduate of UC Santa Cruz (B.A., 1982), Harvard (A.M., 1984), and Berkeley (Ph.D.,1989), and he is now Chancellor’s Professor of History at UC Irvine. He has written five books, the most recent of which are Eight Juxtapositions: China through Imperfect Analogies from Mark Twain to Manchukuo(Penguin, 2016) and the third edition of China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford, 2018). He has also edited or co-edited several other books, including The Oxford Illustrated History of Modern China (2016). In addition to writing for academic journals, he has contributed to many general interest venues, among them the New York Times, the TLS, and the Los Angeles Review of Books (LARB). He is an academic editor of LARB’s China Channel and the Editor of the Journal of Asian Studies.
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Tuesday, March 27
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Richard Rothstein: The Color of Law & Changing Patterns
Tuesday, March 27
8:30 AM – 11:00 AM EDT
MassHousing, One Beacon Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/richard-rothstein-the-color-of-law-changing-patterns-tickets-42873252051
Cost: $15
In THE COLOR OF LAW, Richard Rothstein argues with exacting precision and fascinating insight how segregation in America—the incessant kind that continues to dog our major cities and has contributed to so much recent social strife—is the byproduct of explicit government policies at the local, state, and federal level.
“The Color of Law is one of those rare books that will be discussed and debated for many decades. Based on careful analyses of multiple historical documents, Rothstein has presented what I consider to be the most forceful argument ever published on how federal, state and local governments gave rise to and reinforced neighborhood segregation.” —WILLIAM JULIUS WILSON, author of The Truly Disadvantaged
Join the Massachusetts Community & Banking Council as Jim Campen, author of Changing Patterns XXIV, presents some key findings from our most recent report and then hear from Richard Rothstein as he explores the role of goverment in contributing to and reinforcing segregation in Boston, Greater Boston and Massachusetts. Richard will take questions from the audience.
THE COLOR OF LAW will also be available for purchase on site, and Richard will be signing copies at the end of the event.
Tickets are limited so please purchase your ticket now to ensure a space.
Agenda:
8:30 - 9:00 Arrival & breakfast
9:00 – 9:05 Introduction of Richard Rothstein
9:00 – 9:10 Presentation of Changing Patterns XXIV Data
9:10 – 9:45 Richard Rothstein Remarks
9:45 – 10:20 Audience Q&A
10:20 – 11:00 Book Signing
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Shorenstein Center Speaker Series: Adam Serwer
WHEN Tuesday, Mar. 27, 2018, 12 – 1 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Taubman 275, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy
SPEAKER(S) Adam Serwer
DETAILS Adam Serwer is the Deputy Politics Editor at The Atlantic. He has previously worked for BuzzFeed News, MSNBC, Mother Jones and The American Prospect.
LINK https://shorensteincenter.org/event/speaker-series-adam-serwer/
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Dividing Lines: Why Is Internet Access Still Considered a Luxury in America?
Tuesday, March 27
12:00 pm
Harvard Law School campus, Pound Hall Room 101, Ballantine Classroom
RSVP required to attend in person at https://cyber.harvard.edu/events/2018/luncheon/03/Smith#RSVP
Event will be live webcast at 12:00 pm at https://cyber.harvard.edu/events/2018/luncheon/03/Smith
featuring Berkman Klein Project Coordinator, Maria Smith
The online world is no longer a distinct world. It is an extension of our social, economic, and political lives. Internet access, however, is still considered a luxury good in the United States. Millions of Americans have been priced out of, or entirely excluded from, the reach of modern internet networks. Maria Smith, an affiliate of Berkman Klein and the Cyberlaw Clinic, created a four-part documentary series to highlight these stark divides in connectivity, from Appalachia to San Francisco, and to uncover the complex web of political and economic forces behind them.
About Maria
Maria Smith is a Project Coordinator working with Professor Susan Crawford in Harvard Law School's Cyberlaw Clinic and leading the efforts of the Responsive Communities project within Berkman Klein. She is focused on the intersection of technology deployment and social and economic justice. Maria is also a documentary filmmaker whose productions expose the impacts of and forces behind America's stark digital divides. She made her directorial debut in college with the film One Nation, Disconnected, in cooperation with the Harvard Law Documentary Studio, that details the hardship of a teenager growing up in New York City without internet access at home. Dividing Lines, a four-part series, is in production this year.
Maria first joined the Berkman Klein and Harvard Law communities as an undergraduate conducting teaching, research, and project support for Professor Susan Crawford. Maria graduated from Harvard College with a B.A. in Economics. In college she was invested in work with the Global Health and AIDS Coalition and co-chaired the annual Women’s Leadership Conference. She worked as an intern for the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, Connecting for Good, and Morgan Stanley.
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Healthy Fathers, Healthy Families, Healthy Communities: Addressing Father Absenteeism as a Public Health Matter
Tuesday, March 27
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Brown Rudnick LLP, 1 Financial Center, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/social-issue-talk-healthy-fathers-healthy-families-healthy-communities-addressing-father-registration-42998445508
Guest Speaker: Monica Valdes Lupi, Executive Director, Boston Public Health Commission
Featured Innovator: Fathers' Uplift
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"Theory of Change" workshop for social entrepreneurs
Tuesday, March 27
5:30 PM – 7:00 PM EDT
Harvard Innovation Labs, 125 Western Avenue, Classroom, Allston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/theory-of-change-workshop-for-social-entrepreneurs-tickets-43860504951
Interested in creating impact and curious about how to prove it, measure it, and enhance it?
The first question you'll receive from any impact investor or donor worth their salt will be "what's your theory of change?"
Don't be caught flat-footed with such a soft-ball.
Come workshop yours tonight with simple, proven frameworks.
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Celebrating Delightful Moments and the Tech Vectors of Happiness
Tuesday, March 27
5:30 PM to 8:30 PM (EDT)
District Hall, 75 Northern Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/celebrating-delightful-moments-and-the-tech-vectors-of-happiness-tickets-42155320699
Delightful Moments are part of all human experience: the small, but powerful, separations from the daily humdrum when we feel stronger, calmer, more joyful, more in control, more distant from pain and anxiety.
A range of new technologies has the potential to deliver these experiences. They vary from transforming the human (genetics, neurosciences), to creating new forms of human chemistry (personal pharma), to changing human experience rather than the body (virtual and augmented reality).
This event marks the official launch of Joyance Partners. By investing in these tech vectors of happiness, Joyance Partners is the first venture fund focused on health experience, not process.Young companies with technology that can deliver Delightful Moments can meet face-to-face with partners from the fund.
Presenters & Panel
David Edwards - Founder and Director, Le Laboratoire & Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Idea Translation at Harvard University
Nataly Kogan - Founder of Happier
Sara Lazar - Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School
Moderator - Mike Edelhart, Managing Director of Joyance
Panel Description
Mike Edelhart (Moderator) is the managing partner for the Joyance Partners fund and Social Starts VC Partnership. Mike is a pioneering media and startup executive, consultant, and author.
Nataly Kogan is the founder of Happier, a global technology and learning platform enabling users to discover new methods of pursuing emotional wellbeing. She is an entrepreneur, speaker, coach, and author passionate about helping people design and live their lives to be what they genuinely want.
Sara Lazar is an Associate Researcher in the Psychiatry Department at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Assistant Professor in Psychology at Harvard Medical School. The focus of her research is to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of yoga and meditation, both in clinical settings and in healthy individuals.
David Edwards is the founder and director of Le Laboratoire and Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Idea Translation. He invents radically new ways of delivering human health and wellness and creates forums where like-spirited ideas enrich cultural dialog.
Startups will be demonstrating their delightful experiences before and after the event. The startups participating so far are:
figur8 - Figur8 is building the first real-time and wearable platform that provides a live analysis of body movement control.
Ixcela - Ixcela is a health and wellness company helping individuals improve their internal health.
Droplette - Droplette is a patented, portable, hand-held device that generates an enhanced aerosol which utilizes a fluid physics phenomena to deliver molecules deep into skin, tissue, and cells over short timescales. The platform has broad applications across multiple fields, such as delivery of drugs for inflammatory skin diseases, skin care products for cosmetic applications, inhalation and lower airway delivery, and gene delivery for gene therapy and biomedical research.
oNotes - oNotes pioneers the digitization of scent in all its natural forms for sensory-enriched lives.
Thryve - Thryve helps people learn about the microbes inside their body to improve health - A gut health program that includes microbiome genomics and personalized probiotics.
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How Mushrooms Changed the World
Tuesday, March 27
6:00pm
Harvard, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge
David Hibbett, Professor of Biology, Clark University 2017–2018 Fellow, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University
Fungi receive little attention in mainstream media, but these organisms have an enormous impact on ecosystems and on the production of food and pharmaceuticals. As decomposers, fungi recycle nutrients and are key contributors to the global carbon cycle. David Hibbett will examine the diversity of fungal decay mechanisms and how they have evolved across geologic time. He will also address the controversial hypothesis that fungal evolution contributed to the decline in coal formation at the end of the Carboniferous Period.
This event will be livestreamed on the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/harvardmuseumsofscienceandculture
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The First Amendment: What Are Its Limits?
Tuesday, March 27
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM EDT
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Columbia Point, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-first-amendment-what-are-its-limits-registration-43352140419
Susan Benesch, Carol RoseSusan Benesch, director of the Dangerous Speech Project, and Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, discuss contemporary First Amendment issues.
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Never Remember: Searching for Stalin's Gulags in Putin's Russia
Tuesday, March 27
8:00 PM (Doors at 7:00)
First Parish Church, 1446 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138
RSVP at http://www.harvard.com/event/masha_gessen1/
Cost: $5.00 - $28.75 (online only, book included)
Harvard Book Store and Mass Humanities welcome National Book Award–winning journalist MASHA GESSEN and acclaimed photographer MISHA FRIEDMAN for a discussion of their new book, Never Remember: Searching for Stalin's Gulags in Putin's Russia. They will be joined in conversation by ALEXANDRA VACROUX, the Executive Director of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University.
About Never Remember
The Gulag was a monstrous network of labor camps that held and killed millions of prisoners from the 1930s to the 1950s. More than half a century after the end of Stalinist terror, the geography of the Gulag has been barely sketched and the number of its victims remains unknown. Has the Gulag been forgotten?
Writer Masha Gessen and photographer Misha Friedman set out across Russia in search of the memory of the Gulag. They journey from Moscow to Sandarmokh, a forested site of mass executions during Stalin’s Great Terror; to the only Gulag camp turned into a museum, outside of the city of Perm in the Urals; and to Kolyma, where prisoners worked in deadly mines in the remote reaches of the Far East. They find that in Vladimir Putin’s Russia, where Stalin is remembered as a great leader, Soviet terror has not been forgotten—it was never remembered in the first place.
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Opportunity
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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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Resource
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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