[act-ma] Energy (and Other) Events - October 28, 2018
gmoke
gmoke at world.std.com
Sun Oct 28 09:24:56 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, October 29
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12pm PAOC Colloquium - Brian Arbic (University of Michigan)
12pm How do rainforests and biomass burning aerosols affect rainy season onsets over tropical continents?
12pm The Political Economy of Pricing Carbon in a 2°C World
12pm Criminals or Enemies? 21st Century Legal Systems: The International Criminal Court and Its Relation with the War on Terror
12:10pm Ecology and evolution of species range limits
12:15pm Nurturing Indonesia: Medicine and Decolonisation in the Dutch East Indies
12:30pm Navigating the new energy landscape – What’s ahead, why it’s important and how we get there
12:30pm Architectural Robotics-Embodied Computation
4:30pm Carpooling and the Economics of Self-Driving Cars
5pm The Great Barrier Reef Initiative
5:15pm Why DNA Has So Far Failed to Provide Clear Insights About Distinctively Human Traits
5:30pm Bringing in the Big Guns: How Voters Can Disarm America’s Gun Lobby
6pm Women and the Halls of Power: A Conversation with Alyssa Mastromonaco
6pm Introduction to Regenerative Development and the LENSES (Living Environments in Natural, Social and Economic Systems) Framework
6:30pm Why 21st Century Children Need Nature
6:30pm Before They End Us: The global movement to end nuclear weapons and protect planetary health
6:30pm Why Nations Fail: Venezuela
7pm Writers Under Surveillance: The FBI Files
7pm The Suffragists: “The Young Are at the Gates”
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Tuesday, October 30
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7:30am EBC Energy Resources Program: Efficiency as a Grid Resource
9am Mass ECAN Conference 2018
12pm Guns in America
12pm Custodians of the Internet: PLATFORMS, CONTENT MODERATION, AND THE HIDDEN DECISIONS THAT SHAPE SOCIAL MEDIA ETHICS AND GOVERNANCE OF AI
12:30pm Rethinking the "American Century" through the Prism of Modern Japan
1pm Human-Centered Autonomous Vehicles
1:15pm Communications for Policy Impact: Leaders as Change-Makers
4pm Why White Liberals Fail: Southern Politicians and Race, 1933-2018
4pm Film Screening | Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart
4:30pm Personal Power: Your Role in Collective Freedom
4:30pm Starr Forum: Pachinko
5pm Toward Energy Transition Innovations: Experiences from European Cities
6pm Boston Green Drinks - October 2018 Happy Hour
5:30pm Slow Money Boston Fall Entrepreneur Showcase
6pm BostInno's State of Innovation: Autonomous Vehicles
6:15pm Distinguished Speaker Series: Bill McKibben
7pm High Magick: A Guide to the Spiritual Practices That Saved My Life on Death Row
7pm First Annual Meeting for Magazine Beach Partners
7pm Science for the People
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Wednesday, October 31
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12pm The Internet We Want: How Do We Turn the "Techlash" into a Political Movement?
12pm Climate Extremes at 1.5°C vs 2°C Global Warming: The IPCC SR15 report and underlying evidence
12pm Politics, Potholes, and Public Service: Good Mayors Borrow, Great Mayors Steal: Leveraging Mayoral Networks for National Change
12pm Unrivaled: Why America Will Remain the World's Sole Superpower
1pm Back from the Brink: A Call to Prevent Nuclear War (Gonson Lecture)
1pm Let's Disagree -- Call for Participants!
2:30pm Toward sustainable seafood: The limits and possibilities of aquaculture certification
3:45pm Implausible Deniability: The Great Campaign to Manufacture Consent in Cold War America
4:15pm Are Residential Electricity Prices Too High, Too Low, or Both?
4:15pm The Legal System in the Age of Trump
4:30pm The Future of Cities: Arup & C40
7pm Invisible Countries: Journeys to the Edge of Nationhood
7pm Invisible Countries: Journeys to the Edge of Nationhood
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Thursday, November 1
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11:45am Sustainability Lunch Series: Supply Chain Management
11:45am Expecting the Unexpected: Emissions Uncertainty and Environmental Market Design
12pm How to Have Fun and Make a Difference in Environmental Protection
12pm Corporations Are Not People: Reclaiming Democracy from Big Money and Global Corporations
12pm The 2018 Midterm Elections: Key Issues for Healthcare
1pm Critical Questions Live: Is it up to business to save the planet?
3:30pm Beyond Bureaucracy, More than Coercion: Rethinking State Power in U.S. History
4pm Empowering Life on Earth Through Engineering Quantitative Controls & Sustainable Water Production in a Plant Chassis
4pm Learning Through the Grapevine: The Impact of Message Mutation, Transmission Failure, and Deliberate Bias
4:15pm How to Manage Your Message in a Crisis
4:15pm Money and Politics: How Inequality and Wealth Concentration are Shaping American Democracy
4:30pm Focus on Russia: Russia's Place in the New World Order
4:30pm MIT Elections and Technology Colloquium
4:30pm Invisible Countries: Journeys to the Edge of Nationhood
5pm The Limits of Ethical A.I.
5:30pm Askwith Forums – Michael Sandel: Civic Education Goes Global
5:30pm Healing Justice: Film Screening and Public Dialogue
5:30pm Cleantech Friendsgiving: EnergyBar Style @ Greentown Labs
6pm What’s the Next Big Economic Idea? Evaluating UBI, Job Guarantees & Others
6pm Presidents of War: The Epic Story, from 1807 to Modern Times
6pm Sankofa Lecture: Pathways of Transformation
7pm The Habit of Turning the World Upside Down: Our Belief in Property and the Cost of That Belief
7pm The Women's Atlas
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Friday, November 2 - Sunday, November 4
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MIT Energy Hack
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Friday, November 2
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12pm Aerosol trends in the United States: Fires in the West and Sulfate in the East
12pm Performance tradeoffs and eco-evolutionary interplay at high diversity
1:30pm IACS Seminar: Machine Learning in the Healthcare Enterprise
3pm Rules for Rebels: The Science of Victory in Militant History
4pm Unconventional Materials and Paradigms for Water Purification and Quality Control in the 21st Century
6pm How to Read
7pm Slouching Toward Utopia: Essays & Reviews
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Saturday, November 3
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8am 2018 HBS Energy & Environment Club Symposium
11am Free Breakfast and Facility Tour at Greentown Labs
11am MASS MEDIA EXPO
12pm Transportation Transformation: A Conference about the New Urban Mobility
3pm Biophilia & Biodiversity: A Celebration of EO Wilson’s Influence
8pm OCCURENCE: Everyone Knows the Disaster is Coming
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Sunday, November 4
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2pm Shaping the Social Contract: Insights from the Women of Brook Farm
2pm TEDxHarvardCollege "What If I'm Wrong”
4pm IMILONJI KaNtu in Concert
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Monday, November 5
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12pm California's Cap-and-trade Program and Emission Leakage: An Empirical Analysis
12pm #OurWaterOurFood: Environmental justice and Indigenous Sovereignty in Canada's Arctic Offshore
12:10pm Thoreau’s Place On (and Off) the Map of Natural History
12:15pm Perfect Woman: Female Robots, Alluring Androids, and Electronic Eves
12:30pm Addressing Climate Change in Haiti: Are Current Actions Matching National Priorities?
12:30pm Can we heat our buildings with renewable electricity cheaper than natural gas?
3pm xTalk with Vasilis Kostakis: New Technologies Won’t Reduce Scarcity, but Here’s Something That Might
3pm Scabs: The Social Suppression of Labor Supply
3pm Eat. Drink. Think. at EVOO featuring Chef Peter McCarthy
4pm People & the Planet Lecture: ENVIRONMENTAL & ECONOMIC JUSTICE IN THE SOUTWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA COALFIELDS
5pm Picturing Science and Engineering by Felice Frankel
5pm Cities on the Edge: Climate Adaptation, Resilience & Social Justice
5pm Strange Frequencies: The Extraordinary Story of the Technological Quest for the Supernatural
5:30pm Disruptive Business Model Innovation
6pm Virginia Valian: An Inclusive Academy
6pm Power To The People
6:30pm SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCERS PANEL
7pm Climate Change and the Future of the Boston Coastline
7:30pm The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage, and Fear in the Cyber Age
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Tuesday, November 6
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12pm The State of Government Technology: ASSESSING GOVERNMENT DEVELOPMENT, DEPLOYMENT, AND USE OF TECH TOOLS
12:30pm Robert Legvold: U.S.-Russia Relations and the Threats of the New Nuclear Age
12:30pm "Gentrifier" with Jason Patch
3:30pm Reflections on the Symposium on Global Health & the Social Sciences: One Year Later
4:30pm Emile Bustani Seminar: "Confederation: The Only Possible Two-State Solution for Israel and Palestine”
5pm Panel Discussion: Is deep-sea mining worth it?
6pm Enchanting Technology
6pm PLASTICS
6:30pm The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success
6:30pm Media Mixer & Networking Event: Open to the Public!
7pm Food in Culture & Community with EChO & Eureka Ensemble
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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
Every Man Dies Alone
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2018/10/every-man-dies-alone.html
What Happens the Day After Election Day
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/10/27/1807712/-What-Happens-the-Day-After-Election-Day
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Monday, October 29
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PAOC Colloquium - Brian Arbic (University of Michigan)
Monday, October 29
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Building 54-915/923, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Brian Arbic (University of Michigan)
About this Series
The PAOC Colloquium is a weekly interdisciplinary seminar series that brings together the whole PAOC community. Seminar topics include all research concerning the physics, chemistry, and biology of the atmospheres, oceans and climate, but also talks about e.g. societal impacts of climatic processes. The seminars generally take place on Monday from 12-1pm. Lunch is provided to encourage students and post-docs to meet with the speaker. Besides the seminar and lunch, individual meetings with professors, post-docs, and students are arranged.
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How do rainforests and biomass burning aerosols affect rainy season onsets over tropical continents?
Monday, October 29
12:00PM
Harvard, Haller Hall (102), Geo Museum, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge
EPS Colloquium
https://eps.harvard.edu/event/department-colloquium-series-63
Rong Fu, UCLA
Contact Name: Summer Smith
summer_smith at fas.harvard.edu
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The Political Economy of Pricing Carbon in a 2°C World
Monday, October 29
12:00pm to 1:30pm
Harvard, Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building, HKS, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Joe Aldy, Associate Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Lunch will be served.
HKS Energy Policy Seminar
https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/energyconsortium/seminars
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Criminals or Enemies? 21st Century Legal Systems: The International Criminal Court and Its Relation with the War on Terror
WHEN Monday, Oct. 29, 2018, 12 – 1:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Rubenstein 229 Carr Conference Room, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education, Humanities, Law
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Carr Center for Human Rights Policy
SPEAKER(S) Luis Moreno-Ocampo was the first Prosecutor (June 2003- June 2012) of the new and permanent International Criminal Court.
TICKET WEB LINK https://carrcenter.hks.harvard.edu/event/study-group-criminals-or-enemies-21st-century-legal-systems-international-criminal-court
TICKET INFO Register
CONTACT INFO Sarah Peck
DETAILS On Oct. 29, 2018, Senior Fellow Luis Moreno Ocampo will run a Study Group open to students and faculty members interested in discussing the latest version of the Preface and the Introduction to his upcoming publication with Oxford University Press: Criminals or Enemies? 21st Century legal systems: The International Criminal Court and its relation with the War on Terror
Registrants will receive the reading in advance.
LINK https://carrcenter.hks.harvard.edu/event/study-group-criminals-or-enemies-21st-century-legal-systems-international-criminal-court
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Ecology and evolution of species range limits
Monday, October 29
12:10pm
Arnold Arboretum, Weld Hill, 1300 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain
Monica Geber, Professor, Cornell University
More information at https://www.arboretum.harvard.edu/research/research-talks/
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Nurturing Indonesia: Medicine and Decolonisation in the Dutch East Indies
Monday, October 29
12:15PM TO 2:00PM
Harvard, CGIS South S050, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
Hans Pols (Sydney, History and Philosophy of Science)
The STS Circle at Harvard is a group of doctoral students and recent PhDs who are interested in creating a space for interdisciplinary conversations about contemporary issues in science and technology that are relevant to people in fields such as anthropology, history of science, sociology, STS, law, government, public policy, and the natural sciences. We want to engage not only those who are working on intersections of science, politics, and public policy, but also those in the natural sciences, engineering, and architecture who have serious interest in exploring these areas together with social scientists and humanists.
There has been growing interest among graduate students and postdocs at Harvard in more systematic discussions related to STS. More and more dissertation writers and recent graduates find themselves working on exciting topics that intersect with STS at the edges of their respective home disciplines, and they are asking questions that often require new analytic tools that the conventional disciplines don’t necessarily offer. They would also like wider exposure to emerging STS scholarship that is not well-represented or organized at most universities, including Harvard. Our aim is to try to serve those interests through a series of activities throughout the academic year.
Sandwich lunches are provided. Please RSVP to via the online form by Wednesday at 5PM the week before.
STS Circle at Harvard
http://sts.hks.harvard.edu/events/sts_circle/
The Harvard STS Circle is co-sponsored by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
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Navigating the new energy landscape – What’s ahead, why it’s important and how we get there
Monday, October 29
12:30 – 1:45 pm
Tufts, Mugar 200, 89-91 Curtis Street, Somerville
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ibgc-in-connection-with-cierp-presents-marcy-reed-national-grid-tickets-49712463316
Marcy Reed, President of National Grid MA and Executive Vice President of U.S. Policy & Social Impact
Join us for a conversation with National Grid’s Marcy Reed as she discusses the rapidly evolving energy industry, the transitions already underway, and the technology and talent critical to long-term industry success.
Marcy L. Reed is President of National Grid’s Massachusetts business and Executive Vice President of US Policy & Social Impact. She is responsible for the gas and electricity businesses in Massachusetts, including their operational, customer service, financial, and reputational outcomes. In addition, she leads energy policy development for the US business and the effective implementation of National Grid’s new social mobility platform. Marcy joined National Grid in 1988 and has held various positions in finance, merger integration, corporate affairs, and business operations. She also spent three years in London as the head of Investor Relations for National Grid.
Marcy sits on the boards of Blue Cross Blue Shield Massachusetts, Northeastern University, the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, The Partnership, and the New England Council. She is the global executive sponsor for National Grid’s Women in Networks employee resource group.
Marcy is a graduate of Dartmouth College and holds a master’s degree from Northeastern University. Married with two children, she lives in Concord, MA.
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Architectural Robotics-Embodied Computation
Monday, October 29
12:30pm to 2:00pm
MIT, Building 7-429, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Axel Kilian
When architecture becomes robotic, its autonomy means that the design process must extend beyond schematics, design development, and construction, and into the lifespan of the building, becoming a learning process in the context of its environment. Design is therefore not to be understood as an isolated process at the beginning of a sequence that entails fabrication and inhabitation, but rather treated as one continuous process, linking the design process with the process of use. The term “embodied computation” stands for the expansion of computation as an abstract, predominantly computational process into a hybrid physical-computational construct. Computation needs to break out of the limitations of simply describing the object and reach into the realm of lived-in architecture, thus enabling autonomous architectural robotics.
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Carpooling and the Economics of Self-Driving Cars
Monday, October 29
4:30pm to 5:45pm
Harvard, Littauer Center of Public Administration, Hansen-Mason Room (3rd floor), 1805 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
Michael Ostrovsky, Stanford Graduate School of Business
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The Great Barrier Reef Initiative
Monday, October 29
5:00pm
MIT Sea Grant, Building NW98, 12 Emily Street, Cambridge
Announcing the Great Barrier Reef Initiative! Join @MITSeaGrant and MISTI’s MIT-Australia & New Zealand Program on Monday 10/29 5pm at 12 Emily Street, NW98 and hear from our students who interned at the Australian Institute of Marine Science in the Great Barrier Reef.
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Why DNA Has So Far Failed to Provide Clear Insights About Distinctively Human Traits
WHEN Monday, Oct. 29, 2018, 5:15 – 6:15 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Wasserstein Hall 1019, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Health Sciences, Humanities, Lecture, Science, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Mind Brain Behavior
SPEAKER(S) David Reich
COST Free
DETAILS The Genomic Revolution has always held promise in two areas: to provide insights into biological change over time, and to provide insights about population migrations and mixtures. But while ancient DNA studies over the last eight years have been a runaway success with regard to revealing human demographic history, they have so far revealed little in terms of clear insights about the nature of natural selection and the origin of distinctively modern human traits. In this talk I will discuss why we find ourselves in this situation, describe what we have already managed to learn, and make suggestions for how to move forward.
LINK https://mbb.harvard.edu/event/mind-brain-behavior-distinguished-harvard-lecture
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Bringing in the Big Guns: How Voters Can Disarm America’s Gun Lobby
Monday, October 29
5:30 Networking + 6:00 Talk
Tufts, 50 Milk Street, 20th floor, Boston
RSVP at https://alumniandfriends.tufts.edu/attend-events-reunions/bringing-big-guns-how-voters-can-disarm-americas-gun-lobby
Gun control is one of the most divisive issues in America, and many are understandably pessimistic about achieving change. Enter two individuals with unique approaches to this issue: Steve Israel, former U.S. Congressman (D-NY3) and author of Big Guns, a biting satire of America’s gun lobby and the political system in which it operates; and Sarah Ullman, A10, filmmaker and co-founder of One Vote at a Time, a SuperPAC devoted to supporting progressive candidates committed to ending gun violence in their communities. Come hear from these two leading political figures whose perspectives on gun control—and the medium in which they voice those perspectives—are equally refreshing and inspiring.
Steve Israel served as a Congressman for 16 years before stepping down in 2017. He is a Writer-In-Residence at Long Island University, a novelist, and Visiting Fellow at Tisch College. Sarah Ullman’s grassroots SuperPAC, One Vote at a Time, worked with 10 out of the 15 Virginia Democrats who flipped state legislature seats from red to blue in a "blue wave" election in 2017, and will support another 250 progressive pro gun safety candidates for state legislatures in 2018. She is a Tufts alumnus, a successful film director and activist, and runs her own production company called Master Plan.
Cosponsored by the Tufts Lawyers Association, the Tufts Social Impact Network, Tufts Alumni Boston and Tisch College. A short book signing will follow the talk.
More information at https://tischcollege.tufts.edu/content/bringing-in-the-big-guns
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Women and the Halls of Power: A Conversation with Alyssa Mastromonaco
Monday, October 29
6:00pm
Harvard, JFK Jr Forum, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Alyssa Mastromonaco, Co-Host of Crooked Media Podcast Hysteria, Author of Who Thought This was a Good Idea?, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations (2011 -2014)
Amy Dacey (Moderator), Fall 2018 Resident Fellow, Institute of Politics, Former Chief Executive Officer, Democratic National Committee
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Introduction to Regenerative Development and the LENSES (Living Environments in Natural, Social and Economic Systems) Framework
Monday October 29
6-9pm EST
Webinar
RSVP at https://www.clearabundance.org/available-programs/101-introduction-to-regenerative-development-and-the-lenses-framework/
Cost: $90
Details: 3-hour workshop, led via webinar by a LENSES Faculty Member with in-person viewing opportunities hosted by local LENSES Facilitators. Group activities and Q&A.
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Why 21st Century Children Need Nature
Monday, October 29
6:30 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
Cambridge-Ellis School, 80 Trowbridge Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/why-21st-century-children-need-nature-tickets-50073631580
Lecture with David Sobel
David Sobel, author of Nature Preschools and Forest Kindergartens: The Handbook for Outdoor Learning, will talk about the new movement of nature-based early childhood education.
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Before They End Us: The global movement to end nuclear weapons and protect planetary health
Monday, October 29
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge
Professor Tilman Ruff, University of Melbourne, keynote
Panel: David Wright, Union of Concerned Scientists; Jonathan King, Massachusetts Peace Action; Kea Van der Ziel, Physicians for Social Responsibility; Aron Bernstein, Nuclear Weapons Education Project
Join us at the Cambridge Public Library for a stimulating presentation from Australian physician Tilman Ruff, founding chair of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), winner of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize, and co-President of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War on the exciting global movement in support of the new United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
A distinguished local panel will discuss actions being taken in the United States to lead our national conversation back to arms control and a discussion of what it will take to abolish nuclear weapons once and for all.
Dr. Ruff will be bringing with him a replica of the Nobel Peace Prize medal, which will be available for photographs after the event.
Sponsored by the Cambridge Public Library, Massachusetts Peace Action, Union of Concerned Scientists, and Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility
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Why Nations Fail: Venezuela
Monday, October 29
6:30 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
BU, College of Arts and Sciences, 685 Commonwealth Avenue, B18, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/why-nations-fail-venezuela-tickets-51561140760
"Why Nations Fail: Venezuela" is an upcoming talk by Dr. Angel Fernandez (Ph.D), coordinator and editor of the book "Salvemos Venezuela” (Let’s Save Venezuela), on the Venezuelan crisis. The conference will be hosted by LATAM, and will deal with the issues of economic mismanagement under the Chavez and Maduro administrations; the country’s history of institutional involution; the resulting poverty, hunger, misery, torture and violence; and the possible solutions for the current political, social, economic and humanitarian catastrophe in Venezuela. RSVP here! LIMITED amount of tickets; all free.
The event will take place at Boston University on Monday October 29th from 6:30 until 8:00pm in CAS B18. (685 Commonwealth Avenue. Boston, MA)
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Writers Under Surveillance: The FBI Files
Monday, October 29
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes editors JPAT BROWN, B. C. D. LIPTON, and MICHAEL MORISY for a discussion of Writers Under Surveillance: The FBI Files.
About Writers Under Surveillance
Writers are dangerous. They have ideas. The proclivity of writers for ideas drove the FBI to investigate many of them―to watch them, follow them, start files on them. Writers under Surveillance gathers some of these files, giving readers a surveillance-state perspective on writers including Hannah Arendt, Allen Ginsberg, Ernest Hemingway, Susan Sontag, and Hunter S. Thompson.
Obtained with Freedom of Information Act requests by MuckRock, a nonprofit dedicated to freeing American history from the locked filing cabinets of government agencies, the files on these authors are surprisingly wide-ranging; the investigations were as broad and varied as the authors' own works. James Baldwin, for example, was so openly antagonistic to the state's security apparatus that investigators followed his every move. Ray Bradbury, on the other hand, was likely unaware that the Bureau had any interest in his work. (Bradbury was a target because an informant warned that science fiction was a Soviet plot to weaken American resolve.) Ernest Hemingway, true to form, drunkenly called the FBI Nazis and sissies. The files have been edited for length and clarity, but beyond that everything in the book is pulled directly from investigatory files. Some investigations lasted for years, others just a few days. Some are thrilling narratives. Others never really go anywhere. Some are funny, others quite harrowing. Despite the federal government's periodic admission of past wrongdoing, investigations like these will probably continue to happen. Like all that seems best forgotten, the Bureau's investigation of writers should be remembered. We owe it to ourselves.
Writers include Hannah Arendt, James Baldwin, Ray Bradbury, Truman Capote, Tom Clancy, W. E. B. Du Bois, Allen Ginsberg, Ernest Hemingway, Aldous Huxley, Ken Kesey, Norman Mailer, Ayn Rand, Susan Sontag, Terry Southern, Hunter S. Thompson, and Gore Vidal.
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The Suffragists: “The Young Are at the Gates”
Monday, October 29
7:00 pm
Radcliffe, Knafel Center, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://radcliffe-nenmf.formstack.com/forms/2018_schlesinger_75th_anniversary_celebration
A Schlesinger Library 75th Anniversary Event
The Suffragists captures the power and passion of American women’s fight for the vote through song. Created by the acclaimed singer-songwriter Shaina Taub, the musical tells the story of the last decade of the struggle through the rivalry between Carrie Chapman Catt and Alice Paul. Fighting opposition from elected officials and indifference—if not outright hostility—from the general public, suffragists were also driven by internal conflicts over strategy and priorities. Not willing to wait any longer, militant suffragists took to the streets to make their demands known. Taub’s musical gives voice to these women in ways that powerfully resonate in today’s political landscape.
The concert will be followed by a multidisciplinary panel discussion.
Please register and join us.
Free and open to the public.
PERFORMANCE
Shaina Taub, composer and performer
Performers, TBA
PANELISTS:
Moderator: Jane Kamensky, Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Director, Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Rabia Belt, assistant professor of law, Stanford Law School
Corinne T. Field, 2018–2019 Mellon-Schlesinger Fellow, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and associate professor of women, gender & sexuality, University of Virginia
Carol Oja RI '17, William Powell Mason Professor of Music, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Susan Ware, Honorary Women's Suffrage Centennial Historian, Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
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Tuesday, October 30
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EBC Energy Resources Program: Efficiency as a Grid Resource
Tuesday, October 30
Registration: 7:30 a.m. - 8:00 a.m.
Program: 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Brown Rudnick LLP, One Financial Center, Boston
RSVP at http://ebcne.org/event/ebc-energy-resources-program-efficiency-as-a-grid-resource/
Cost: $50 - $185
It has long been recognized that the nega-watt, energy no longer needed due to efficiency improvements, holds similar value to the mega-watt, energy produced to feed the need of the electric grid. Grid stability relies on the fact that energy produced must match the energy load at all times necessitating a complex, dynamic and expensive dance between energy production and use. More so than ever before, energy efficiency plays a central, lowest-cost, role as a grid resource.
With presentations from industry experts, this EBC program will dig into the details of this dynamic from the regulatory frameworks that value efficiency, to the impact on utility business models, to the newer technologies, like in-home batteries, home energy management systems, and demand-response programs that will enhance the grid-value of efficiency even further.
General Continuing Education Certificates are awarded by the EBC for this program (3.5 training contact hours). Please select this option during registration if you wish to receive a certificate.
Program Co-Chairs:
Matthew Christie, Director – Energy Efficiency, TRC
Tom Rooney, Vice President, Programs, TRC
Speakers:
Noel Chambers, Consultant, Energy Efficiency, Eversource
Galen Nelson, Senior Director, Innovation and Industry Support, MassCEC
Erik Winkler, Principal, Winkler Energy Consulting, LLC
Additional Speakers to be announced.
Following the Speaker Presentations will be a Panel Discussion.
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Mass ECAN Conference 2018
Tuesday, October 30
9:00 AM - 3:30 PM
Framingham State University, McCarthy Center Forum, 93 State Street, Framingham
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mass-ecan-conference-2018-tickets-49912903839
Cost: $18.35
We look forward to seeing you at the second annual Mass ECAN Conference!
This is a one-day conference to help shape adaptation action in Massachusetts.
Meet new colleagues and mingle with existing partners
Learn about others’ adaptation work in Massachusetts
Showcase your adaptation projects
Advance your adaptation practice
The day includes sessions on:
Expert Work Groups on Climate Communications, Coldwater Streams, Saltmarsh, and Mainstreaming Nature Based Solutions
State Hazard Mitigation and Climate Adaptation Plan
Municipal Climate Adaptation
Monitoring & Evaluation
Regional Organizations Leading Climate Adaptation
Exploring next steps for Mass ECAN
Networking Reception
Check back here for additional conference details and the final agenda.
Space is limited, so please register early.
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Guns in America
Tuesday, October 30
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Harvard, Wexner Building, Room 434AB, Wexner Conference Room, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
German Lopez has written for Vox since it launched in 2014, with a focus on criminal justice, guns, and drugs. Previously, he worked at CityBeat, a local newspaper in Cincinnati, covering politics and policy at the local and state level.
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Custodians of the Internet: PLATFORMS, CONTENT MODERATION, AND THE HIDDEN DECISIONS THAT SHAPE SOCIAL MEDIA ETHICS AND GOVERNANCE OF AI
Tuesday, October 30
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM ET
Harvard, Wasserstein Hall, Milstein East C (room 2036, second floor), 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe8FSnTKMTnaoEJRhAJ9q_juLyzqQFhIyV4CIXYVEvsYtEw1A/viewform
Tarleton Gillespie
Event will be live webcast and recorded at 12:00 pm on day of event.
Social media platforms face an irreconcilable contradiction: while platforms promise an open space for participation and community, every one of them imposes rules of some kind. In his book, Tarleton Gillespie discusses how social media platforms police what we post online – and the societal impact of these decisions. In this talk he will flip the story, to argue that content moderation is not ancillary to what platforms do, it is essential, definitional, constitutional. And given that, the very fact of moderation should change how we understand what platforms are.
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Rethinking the "American Century" through the Prism of Modern Japan
WHEN Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018, 12:30 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, CGIS Knafel Building, Bowie-Vernon Room (K262), 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Program on U.S.-Japan Relations
SPEAKER(S) Frederick Dickinson, Professor of Japanese History, University of Pennsylvania
Moderated by Andrew Gordon, Lee and Juliet Folger Fund Professor of History, Harvard University
COST Free and open to the public
LINK https://programs.wcfia.harvard.edu/us-japan/calendar/upcoming
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Human-Centered Autonomous Vehicles
Tuesday, October 30
1pm - 2pm
MIT, Building 32G-449, Kiva Seminar Room, Stata Center, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Lex Fridman, MIT
Abstract: I will present a human-centered paradigm for building autonomous vehicle systems, contrasting it with how the problem is currently formulated and approached in academia and industry. The talk will include discussion and video demonstration of new work on driver state sensing, voice-based transfer of control, annotation of large-scale naturalistic driving data, and the challenges of building and testing a human-centered autonomous vehicle at MIT.
Bio: Lex Fridman is a research scientist at MIT, working on deep learning approaches to perception, control, and planning in the context of semi-autonomous vehicles and more generally human-centered artificial intelligence systems. His work focuses on learning-based methods that leverage large-scale, real-world data. Lex received his BS, MS, and PhD from Drexel University where he worked on applications of machine learning, computer vision, and decision fusion techniques in a number of fields including robotics, active authentication, and activity recognition. Before joining MIT, Lex was at Google leading deep learning efforts for large-scale behavior-based authentication. Lex is a recipient of a CHI-17 best paper award and a CHI-18 best paper honorable mention award.
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Communications for Policy Impact: Leaders as Change-Makers
WHEN Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018, 1:15 – 2:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Bell Hall, Belfer Building, 5th floor, 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Classes/Workshops
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR HKS Communications Program
SPEAKER(S) Andrew Burness, HKS Adjunct Lecturer; Founder and President, Burness Communications
COST free
CONTACT INFO alison_kommer at hks.harvard.edu
DETAILS This interactive workshop will explore practical strategies for message development, message discipline, and message delivery as critical components leading to social change.
LINK www.hkscommprog.org
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Why White Liberals Fail: Southern Politicians and Race, 1933-2018
WHEN Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018, 4 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Hiphop Archive & Research Institute, Hutchins Center, 104 Mount Auburn Street, 3R, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Hutchins Center for African & African American Research
SPEAKER(S) Tony Badger, Professor in American History at Northumbria University
COST ree
DETAILS
Why White Liberals Fail: Southern Politicians and Race, 1933-2018
Tuesday, 4 p.m.: 'New Deal: The Economic Solution'
Location: Hiphop Archive & Research Institute, Hutchins Center, 104 Mount Auburn St., 3R, Cambridge
Wednesday, 4 p.m.: 'Brown: Silent Acquiescence'
Location: Thompson Room, Barker Center, 12 Quincy St., Cambridge
Thursday, 4 p.m.: 'Voting Rights and After: Long-term Conservative Hegemony'
Location: Hiphop Archive & Research Institute, Hutchins Center, 104 Mount Auburn St., 3R, Cambridge
Tony Badger is Professor in American History at Northumbria University. From 1992-2014 he was Paul Mellon Professor of American History at Cambridge University and Master of Clare College 2003-2014.
A leading historian of the New Deal, his books include "Prosperity Road: The New Deal, Tobacco, and North Carolina" (Chapel Hill, 1980), "The New Deal: The Depression Years 1933-1940" (London and New York, 1990) and "FDR The First Hundred Days" (Hill and Wang: New York, 2008). The latter was described by then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown as “a classic example of how a work of history can illuminate the issues we’re dealing with today”. As a historian of the post-1933 South, Badger collected many of his essays in "New Deal/New South: The Anthony J Badger Reader" (University of Arkansas Press: Fayetteville, 2007). He has just completed a biography of Albert Gore Sr. which is to be published by Penn in November.
From 2009 to 2016, Badger was chair of the Kennedy Memorial Trust. Since 2011 he has been the independent reviewer for the British Foreign Office monitoring the release of documents whose existence the Foreign Office had previously denied. In 2017, he was elected president of the Historical Association for a three-year term.
LINK https://hutchinscenter.fas.harvard.edu/event/tony-badger-nathan-i-huggins-lecture-series-1-3?delta=0
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Film Screening | Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart
Tuesday, October 30
4:00pm to 7:00pm
Northeastern, ISEC Auditorium, 805 Columbus Avenue, Boston
Please join us for a screening of Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart, a documentary directed by Tracy Heather Strain, Northeastern Professor of Media and Screen Studies and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker.
The screening will be followed by a conversation with the film’s director and Margaret A. Burnham, University Distinguished Professor of Law and Director, Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project and Nicole N. Aljoe, Director of African American Studies & Associate Professor of English.
4:00 – 6:00 PM Film Screening
6:00 – 7:00 PM Panel Discussion
About the film: On March 11, 1959, Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun opened on Broadway and changed the face of American theater forever. As the first-ever black woman to author a play performed on Broadway, she did not shy away from richly drawn characters and unprecedented subject matter. The play attracted record crowds and earned the coveted top prize from the New York Drama Critics’ Circle. While the play is seen as a groundbreaking work of art, the story of Hansberry’s life is far less known.
Part of PBS’s American Masters series, the new documentary Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes, Feeling Heart is the first in-depth presentation of Hansberry’s complex life, using her personal papers and archives, including home movies and rare photos, as source material. The film explores the influences that shaped Hansberry’s childhood, art, and activism. Filmmaker and Peabody Award-winner Tracy Heather Strain (Unnatural Causes, I’ll Make Me a World, American Experience: Building the Alaska Highway) crafts the story of one woman who believed, like many of her generation, that words could change society. Family, friends, and colleagues, including Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Harry Belafonte, her sister Mamie Hansberry, Lloyd Richards, Amiri Baraka, and Louis Gossett Jr., share their personal memories of Hansberry, offering an intimate look at a woman who was, as Poitier says in the film, “reaching into the essence of who we were, who we are, and where we came from.”
This evening is co-presented by the Northeastern’s African & African American Studies Program; Department of Cultures, Societies, and Global Studies; Center for the Arts; John D. O’Bryant African American Institute and Northeastern School of Law.
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Personal Power: Your Role in Collective Freedom
WHEN Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018, 4:30 – 5:45 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Littauer 150, 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Classes/Workshops
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Institute of Politics
SPEAKER(S) Brittany Packnett (IOP Fall 2018 Resident Fellow), Chikesia Clemons (activist and police assault survivor), and Cleo Wade (poet, author, and advocate)
DETAILS Rarely do we get to hear the stories and pathways of those who’ve chosen many forms of activism and advocacy. Some, like Chikesia Clemons, were forced to this place. Her assault by police at a Waffle House in Saraland, Ala., was caught on film and went viral. Afterward, she chose to take a stand and has used protest, media, and art to tell her story. Others choose this work. Poet Cleo Wade is known worldwide for her positive and compelling messages. She has taken her work to women’s prisons and the New York Times Bestseller list, encouraging people to stay strong in long battles for freedom. How does one choose to exhibit their personal power in the collective work of shifting societal power? And how does one remain brave, courageous, and consistent in that fight, no matter how they choose to engage?
Guests: Chikesia Clemons, Activist and police assault survivor, and Cleo Wade, Poet, Author and Advocate.
This event is closed to the press and not for attribution.
LINK http://iop.harvard.edu/get-involved/study-groups-0
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Starr Forum: Pachinko
Tuesday, October 30
4:30pm to 6:00pm
MIT, Building 10-250, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
A book talk with Min Jin Lee
Pachinko, a finalist for the 2017 National Book Award in Fiction, “chronicles four generations of an ethnic Korean family, first in Japanese-occupied Korea in the early 20th century, then in Japan itself from the years before World War II to the late 1980s”—New York Times.
The room has a maximum occupancy of 425 people, once we reach capacity attendees will be directed to an overflow room where they can watch the professional live-stream of the event. The event is general admission, first-come first-serve with no reserved seating and your Eventbrite ticket does not guarantee you a seat. Everyone is welcome to come back to the event space after the talk for the book signing with Min Jin Lee.
About the speakers:
Min Jin Lee, a novelist, is a 2018-2019 recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard. She has received the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship for Fiction; the Peden Prize from The Missouri Review for Best Story; The Narrative Prize for New and Emerging Writer; and, while at Yale, the Henry Wright Prize for Nonfiction and the James Ashmun Veech Prize for Fiction.
Amy Carleton, joins the talk as a discussant. She holds a PhD in English literature and is a lecturer in MIT's Comparative Media Studies division. Her writing has appeared in various publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and New York Magazine. She is an active contributor to WBUR’s Cognoscenti, including a recent piece: How fiction makes real the suffering of immigrants, in which she explores the impact of Pachinko.
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Toward Energy Transition Innovations: Experiences from European Cities
Tuesday October 30, 2018
5:00 PM - 6:30 PM
MIT Wong Auditorium 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://sites-gmf.vuturevx.com/49/4976/landing-pages/rsvp-blank.asp?sid=e912fcc9-a643-41b5-8472-e1e2473abd44
Energy Allies Forum with Guest speakers:
Laurent Comeliau, Director of Energy Transition Roadmap Development, Nantes Metropolis
Sabine Lachenicht, Head of Environmental Office, City of Heidelberg
Susanne Rasmussen, Director of Environmental and Transportation Planning, City of Cambridge
There is no doubt that cities can and will be at the frontline of climate actions and innovations. The event speakers will showcase their cities' best practices in partnering and collaborating with civil society groups to accelerate energy transition. For a full description of the event, click here. To register for the event, click here.
This event is presented in conjunction with the Energy Allies, a program of the German Marshall Fund of the United States and Energy Cities, funded by the European Union to foster strategic partnerships and collaboration between local civil society and government leaders. Learn more about Energy Allies.
Contact Seth Federspiel
sfederspiel at cambridgema.gov
617-349-4674
More informaiton at http://www.gmfus.org/events/toward-energy-transition-innovations-experiences-european-cities
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Slow Money Boston Fall Entrepreneur Showcase
Tuesday, October 30
5:30 PM to 8:00 PM
CIC (Cambridge Innovation Center), 1 Broadway, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/Greater-Boston-Slow-Money/events/254412824/
Price: $25.00 /per person
Koin us on Tuesday, October 30th for the Slow Money Boston Entrepreneur Showcase at the CIC, Cambridge. We will provide a light supper, wine, beer, and water.
We will be bringing together investors, sustainable food entrepreneurs and leaders working together to rebuild our local food system. Learn about investment opportunities and how you can participate in rebuilding local economies based on the principles of soil fertility, sense of place, care of the commons and economic, cultural and biological diversity.
The Entrepreneur Showcase offers all the advantages of a traditional venture fair and many more. Because of the shared vision that brings us all together, it is an unparalleled opportunity for you to build relationships with investors and entrepreneurs from all over the region. Even if you are not an investor or presenting entrepreneur, we welcome and encourage your participation in the event!
For Entrepreneurs: Entrepreneurs operating at all stages of business development, from start-up to expansion, are welcome and encouraged to apply. Selected entrepreneurs will get the chance to tell their story to interested investors, engage in discussion with Showcase attendees, distribute collateral and promote themselves via event marketing. Applications due October 12th. Follow this link to apply: https://goo.gl/forms/kbqBbY8Y4E9gJCU02
For investors: The Entrepreneur Showcase will provide access to sustainable food and farming businesses at different stages of development from start-up to expansion of existing businesses. The businesses and initiatives are also seeking different levels of financing — from small loans to major capital, as well as donations. Slow Money Boston encourages investors of all resource levels to attend including institutional, individual, accredited, and unaccredited investors.
Thank you to our sponsors!
Generate Democracy LLC
LEAF Fund
CIC
This showcase event is not an offer to sell securities or a solicitation of an offer to buy securities.
For questions, email info at slowmoneyboston.org
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Boston Green Drinks - October 2018 Happy Hour
Tuesday, October 30
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
Warehouse Bar & Grille, 40 Broad Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/boston-green-drinks-october-2018-happy-hour-tickets-51676421568
Join the conversation with sustainability professionals and hobbyists. Enjoy a drink and build your connection with our green community! Boston Green Drinks builds a community of sustainably-minded Bostonians, provides a forum for exchange of sustainability career resources, and serves as a central point of information about emerging green issues. We support the exchange of ideas and resources about sustainable energy, environment, food, health, education.
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BostInno's State of Innovation: Autonomous Vehicles
Tuesday, October 30
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
Analog Garage, 125 Summer Street, Floor 21, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bostinnos-state-of-innovation-autonomous-vehicles-tickets-50128642118
Cost: $25 – $45
Few tech innovations have the futuristic vibe of autonomous vehicles—remarkably complex cars combining radar, lidar, GPS and vision to revolutionize transportation. As a global talent hub, Boston is on the frontline in the autonomous vehicle space, with two local startups (nuTonomy and Optimus Ride) testing this visionary technology in the city’s very own Waterfront and Southie.
Before you hop on your very first driverless trip, stop by BostInno’s SOI event to learn more about the tech you’ve seen only in movies. From potential safety concerns to their impact on the sharing economy, from a look to a brand-new legal framework to the moves of Tesla and Google in the space, our panel of experts will take you for a ride you'll never forget.
Plus, mix and mingle with local innovators over food and drink
Sanjay Aggarwal, Partner at F-Prime Capital
Chris Jacobs, VP of Autonomous Transportation and Safety at Analog Garage
Anita Kim, Technology Policy Analyst at Volpe National Transportation Systems Center
Eryk Nice, VP of Autonomous Systems at nuTonomy
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Distinguished Speaker Series: Bill McKibben
Tuesday, October 30
6:15 PM
Tufts, ASEAN Auditorium, Cabot Center, 160 Packard Avenue, Medford
RSVP at https://tischcollege.tufts.edu/content/bill-mckibben
Join Tisch College for an engaging conversation with author, activist, and environmentalist Bill McKibben. Currently serving as the Schumann Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College, McKibben is the founder of 350.org, the first global grassroots climate change movement, which has organized 20,000 rallies around the world in every country save North Korea, spearheaded the resistance to the Keystone Pipeline, and launched the fast-growing fossil fuel divestment movement. A prolific author, McKibben’s seminal 1989 book The End of Nature is regarded as one of the first written for a general audience on the realities of climate change. McKibben has received numerous awards and recognitions for his work—including being named to Foreign Policy’s inaugural list of 100 most important global thinkers and the Boston Globe citing him as “probably America’s most important environmentalist.”
Cosponsored by the Tufts Office of Sustainability, the Environmental Studies Program, the Tufts Institute for the Environment, the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, and the Fletcher School’s Center for International Environment and Resource Policy. Follow the conversation live at #McKibbenAtTufts
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High Magick: A Guide to the Spiritual Practices That Saved My Life on Death Row
Tuesday, October 30
7:00pm
Porter Square Books, 25 White Street, Cambridge
Damien Echols discusses his new book with David Stoupakis.
At age 18, Damien Echols was sentenced to death for a crime he didn't commit. "I spent my years in prison training to be a true magician," he writes. "I used magick--the practice of reshaping reality through our intention and will--to stave off incredible pain, despair, and isolation. But the most amazing feat of all that practice and study was to manifest my freedom." With High Magick, this bestselling author shares his first teaching book on the powerful spiritual techniques that helped him survive and transcend his ordeal on death row.
What is High Magick? Most people either think of magic as stage illusions or an occult practice involving dark rituals. "Magick is an incredibly deep, meaningful, spiritual tradition that equals the Eastern practices of Buddhism and Taoism in beauty," says Echols. "It's an ancient discipline that lets you literally change reality by working with the divine energies of creation." Join this extraordinary teacher as he shares key meditations, insights, and step-by-step instruction to awaken the power of magick in your own life.
Damien Echols is the author of The New York Times bestseller Life After Death, and coauthor of Yours for Eternity with his wife, Lorri Davis. The story of his wrongful murder conviction has been the subject of the documentaries Paradise Lost and West of Memphis. He and Lorri live in Harlem.
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First Annual Meeting for Magazine Beach Partners
Tuesday, October 30
7pm
LBJ apartments, 150 Erie Street, Cambridge
Please join us for our first MBP annual meeting Tuesday, Oct. 30 at 7pm at LBJ apartments (150 Erie St.). Look for our first-ever annual report that day at
magazinebeach.org. At the meeting, we’ll share our plans for the park, as well as our progress, programs, and finances. You’ll also learn about the many entities, organizations, and individuals who have made critical park improvements possible. See you there!
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Science for the People
Tuesday, October 30
7-9 p.m.
MIT, Building E53-218, 30 Wadsworth Street, Cambridge
Topics will include upcoming events we are sponsoring and possible alliances to make with community organizations; your suggestions for the agenda are welcome.
More information from sftp.boston at gmail.com
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Wednesday, October 31
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The Internet We Want: How Do We Turn the "Techlash" into a Political Movement?
Wednesday, October 31
12:00 pm-1:00 pm
MIT, Building 66-168, 25 Ames Street, Cambridge
Ben Tarnoff is a tech worker, Guardian columnist, and founding editor of Logic magazine. Moira Weigel is the author of Labor of Love and co-founder of Logic magazine.
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Climate Extremes at 1.5°C vs 2°C Global Warming: The IPCC SR15 report and underlying evidence
Wednesday, October 31
12:00PM
Harvard, HUCE Seminar Room 440, 26 Oxford Street, 4th floor, Cambridge
Sonia Seneviratne, Professor, ETH Zurich.
Abstract: In this presentation, I will provide an overview on changes in climate extremes at 1.5°C vs 2°C global warming, as assessed in the recent IPCC special report on 1.5°C global warming (http://ipcc.ch/report/sr15/). In particular, I will address the differences in climate extremes that can be distinguished at these two warming levels, as well as associated impacts. Some impacts are irreversible when reaching a 2°C global warming, highlighting the importance of avoiding a possible overshoot in emissions trajectories towards this limit. I will also highlight how changes in extremes can be related to mean global warming, why regional hot extremes warm more than the global mean temperature and the role of land processes and land use changes in these projections.
Harvard Climate Seminar
https://eps.harvard.edu/event/harvard-climate-seminar-8
Contact Name: Sabinna Cappo
scappo at fas.harvard.edu
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Politics, Potholes, and Public Service: Good Mayors Borrow, Great Mayors Steal: Leveraging Mayoral Networks for National Change
WHEN Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2018, 12 – 1:15 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Littauer 166, 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Classes/Workshops, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Institute of Politics
SPEAKER(S) Former Mayor of Albuquerque RJ Berry
Former Mayor of New Orleans Mitch Landrieu
Former Mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa
DETAILS A lunch and study group with three former mayors who will reflect on their time in public service and the role mayoral networks played in their time in office.
LINK http://iop.harvard.edu/calendar/events/politics-potholes-and-public-service-antonio-villaraigosa
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Unrivaled: Why America Will Remain the World's Sole Superpower
Wednesday, October 31
12:00-1:30pm
MIT, Building E40-496, Pye Room, 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Michael Beckley, Tufts University
In his new book, Michael Beckley shows that the United States has unique advantages over other nations that, if used wisely, will allow it to remain the world's sole superpower throughout this century.
Bio: Michael Beckley is an assistant professor of political science at Tufts University and an associate at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.
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Back from the Brink: A Call to Prevent Nuclear War (Gonson Lecture)
Wednesday, October 31
1-2pm
Wednesday, October 31,
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EDT
Cambridge Center for Adult Education, 56 Brattle Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/back-from-the-brink-a-call-to-prevent-nuclear-war-gonson-lecture-tickets-47516753890
Cost: $5
Matt Bivens, MD, Emergency Medicine Physician; Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility
There are 15,000 nuclear weapons around the world. An armed conflict that used even 100 nuclear weapons could crash civilization and kill hundreds of millions. Experts say we are closer to accidental or intentional nuclear war than at any time since the 1950s – and yet, at the same time, also closer than ever to an international ban to dismantle all of these immoral weapons. Come hear about the race for human survival, and what citizens can do to help.
This talk is part of the Gonson Daytime Lecture Series at Cambridge Center for Adult Education. To view the full series lineup, go to ccae.org/gonsonlectures
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Let's Disagree -- Call for Participants!
WHEN Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2018, 1 – 2:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Law School
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Classes/Workshops, Education, Law, Special Events, Volunteer Opportunities
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Negotiation & Mediation Clinical Program
CONTACT INFO http://hnmcp.law.harvard.edu/letsdisagree/
DETAILS Are you dismayed by the growing partisan divide and worried that we can no longer talk to each other across differences? Be a participant in Let's Disagree! For more info and to apply, go to hnmcp.law.harvard.edu….
Instructors and students of Harvard Law School’s “The Lawyer as Facilitator” course will host Let’s Disagree—a series of three small-group discussions, led by student facilitators as the capstone event of a semester-long workshop. We aim to convene people with diverse personal backgrounds and political views across the conservative to liberal spectrum to address polarizing civic issues. Let’s Disagree is designed to explore deep differences of opinion in a facilitated setting that encourages participants to embrace and learn from conflict—to learn to disagree passionately on matters of vital civic importance, and still maintain a strong, vital community. We welcome students, staff, faculty, and members of the greater Boston community. Let’s Disagree will meet from 1–2:30 p.m. on Oct. 31, Nov. 7, and Nov. 14, on the Harvard Law School campus. Participants are asked to commit to attending all three of the scheduled conversations and to bring a willingness to engage with respect and curiosity in a civil discussion of challenging issues. An optional 30-minute debrief with co-participants and facilitators will follow each session.
For more info and to apply, go to: http://hnmcp.law.harvard.edu/letsdisagree/
LINK http://hnmcp.law.harvard.edu/letsdisagree/
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Toward sustainable seafood: The limits and possibilities of aquaculture certification
Wednesday, October 31
2:30pm to 3:30pm
MIT, Building 66-360, 25 Ames Street, Cambridge
Join visiting scholar Md. Saidul Islam from Nanyang Technological University Singapore for the first event in his guest lecture series. Save the date to learn about the sustainable seafood, the “blue revolution” and it’s numerous environmental and social implications.
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Implausible Deniability: The Great Campaign to Manufacture Consent in Cold War America
WHEN Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2018, 3:45 – 5:45 p.m.
WHERE Harvad, Robinson Hall, Lower Library (1st floor), 35 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Classes/Workshops, Humanities, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR U.S. Power in the Global Arena Workshop and the Charles Warren Center
SPEAKER(S) Kenneth Osgood (Colorado School of Mines)
LINK https://warrencenter.fas.harvard.edu/event/osgood
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Are Residential Electricity Prices Too High, Too Low, or Both?
Wednesday, October 31
4:15PM TO 5:30PM
Harvard, Littauer 382, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Severin Borenstein, University of California, Berkeley, and James Bushnell, University of California, Davis.
Seminar in Environmental Economics and Policy
https://canvas.harvard.edu/courses/44157
casey_billings at hks.harvard.edu
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The Legal System in the Age of Trump
WHEN Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2018, 4:15 – 5:45 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Littauer 166, 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Classes/Workshops
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Institute of Politics
SPEAKER(S) Margaret Talev, IOP Fall 2018 Resident Fellow
Ty Cobb, Former White House Counsel under President Trump
DETAILS President Trump has carried out the majority of his presidency under the cloud of Robert Mueller’s investigation. He’s openly challenged the U.S. intelligence and law enforcement communities, fired his FBI director, threatened his attorney general, hired private attorneys to represent him, and set up a structure inside the White House counsel’s office to deal with Russia requests. And he’s broken the mold for presidents by talking and tweeting about all of this.
Guest: Ty Cobb, former White House Counsel under President Trump
This event is closed to press and not for attribution.
LINK http://iop.harvard.edu/get-involved/study-groups-0
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The Future of Cities: Arup & C40
Wednesday, October 31
4:30 PM to 6:00 PM EDT
BU, Hillel House, 213 Bay State Road, 4th floor, Castle Room, Boston
RSVP at https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07efne19y4f23019a8&oseq=&c=&ch=
Join the Initiative on Cities to welcome to campus David Miller and Tom Bridges for a lecture on the future of cities, climate change, and resiliency.
David Miller is the North American Director, C40 Climate Leadership Group, and Global Ambassador of inclusive climate action. He served as Chair of C40 Cities from 2008 until 2010. Prior to joining the C40, Mr. Miller served as President and CEO of World Wildlife Fund-Canada, Canada’s foremost conservation organization. Mr. Miller served as Mayor of Toronto from 2003 to 2010 and has also held a variety of public and private positions, including the Future of Cities Global Fellowship at Polytechnic Institute of New York University from 2011 to 2014.
Tom Bridges is the Leeds (UK) Office Leader at Arup, a global design and planning firm. He is also the Director of Arup’s City Advisory practice, advising on city and regional strategies for economic development, inclusive growth, infrastructure, and skills and innovation. Mr. Bridges previously served as the Chief Officer Economy and Regeneration of Leeds City Council, responsible for Leeds City Council’s economic development, property, and regeneration functions.
Light refreshments will be served.
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Invisible Countries: Journeys to the Edge of Nationhood
Wednesday, October 31
7:00 pm
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, Brookline
What is a country? While certain basic criteria—borders, a government, and recognition from other countries—seem obvious, journalist Joshua Keating’s book explores exceptions to these rules, including self-proclaimed countries such as Abkhazia, Kurdistan, and Somaliland, a Mohawk reservation straddling the U.S.-Canada border, and an island nation whose very existence is threatened by climate change. Through stories about these would-be countries’ efforts at self-determination, as well as their respective challenges, Keating shows that there is no universal legal authority determining what a country is. He argues that although our current world map appears fairly static, economic, cultural, and environmental forces in the places he describes may spark change. Keating ably ties history to incisive and sympathetic observations drawn from his travels and personal interviews with residents, political leaders, and scholars in each of these “invisible countries.”
Joshua Keating is a foreign policy analyst, staff writer, and editor at Slate. Previously he was an editor at Foreign Policy.
Tom Stackpole is a senior editor at Boston Magazine. Previously, he was an editor at Smithsonian Magazine and Foreign Policy.
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Invisible Countries: Journeys to the Edge of Nationhood
Wednesday, October 31
7:00 pm
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, Brookline
Joshua Keating in conversation with Thomas Stackpole
What is a country? While certain basic criteria—borders, a government, and recognition from other countries—seem obvious, journalist Joshua Keating’s book explores exceptions to these rules, including self-proclaimed countries such as Abkhazia, Kurdistan, and Somaliland, a Mohawk reservation straddling the U.S.-Canada border, and an island nation whose very existence is threatened by climate change. Through stories about these would-be countries’ efforts at self-determination, as well as their respective challenges, Keating shows that there is no universal legal authority determining what a country is. He argues that although our current world map appears fairly static, economic, cultural, and environmental forces in the places he describes may spark change. Keating ably ties history to incisive and sympathetic observations drawn from his travels and personal interviews with residents, political leaders, and scholars in each of these “invisible countries.”
Joshua Keating is a foreign policy analyst, staff writer, and editor at Slate. Previously he was an editor at Foreign Policy.
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Thursday, November 1
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Sustainability Lunch Series: Supply Chain Management
Thursday, November 1
11:45am to 12:45pm
MIT, Building E62-276, 100 Main Street, Cambridge
Join the Sustainability Initiative’s Bethany Patten and MIT Sloan Alum Meredith Thurston (MBA '18) who serves as a Labor Innovation Manager at Nike, in a discussion about her journey from Sloan to a career in sustainable supply chains.
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Expecting the Unexpected: Emissions Uncertainty and Environmental Market Design
WHEN Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018, 11:45 a.m. – 1 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Bell Hall (5th Floor Belfer Building), 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Environmental Sciences, Lecture, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Regulatory Policy Program at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government
SPEAKER(S) Severin Borenstein, Professor and Faculty Director, Energy Institute at Haas, UC Berkeley
CONTACT INFO Lunch will be served. RSVP to mrcbg at hks.harvard.edu
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How to Have Fun and Make a Difference in Environmental Protection
Thursday, November 1
12:00-1:00pm
Tufts, Multi-purpose Room, Curtis Hall, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford
Arleen O’Donnell, Vice President, Eastern Research Group
Eastern Research Group Vice President, Arleen O’Donnell, will discuss the evolution of water resources management in Massachusetts, based on her experience shaping water policy in this state, and her current work in California where climate extremes are forcing innovative water resources management practices to better plan for and adapt to those extremes. She will talk about her work with the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes, which is conducting groundbreaking research on atmospheric rivers and is applying that research to two water supplies in California. Called forecast informed reservoir operations, this approach has the potential for transferability throughout the western U.S.
Arleen O’Donnell is Vice President of Natural Resources Management at Eastern Research Group, Inc. (located in Lexington MA) where she provides technical and strategic support for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US EPA, the National Weather Service, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Pisces Foundation, and a number of other governmental and non- profit environmental organizations. She was previously Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, where she rose through the ranks after 18 years of state service, focusing primarily on water resources. She came to the State from the Massachusetts Audubon Society, where she was a lobbyist for environmental protection legislation. She holds a BS in Biology (UMass/Amherst) and an M.S. in Civil Engineering and Urban/Environmental Planning from Tufts University.
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Corporations Are Not People: Reclaiming Democracy from Big Money and Global Corporations
WHEN Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018, 12 – 1 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Wasserstein Hall 1023, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Classes/Workshops, Law, Social Sciences, Special Events
SPEAKER(S) Jeffrey Clements
CONTACT INFO mdrake at jd19.law.harvard.edu
DETAILS Jeff Clements will talk on his recent book “Corporations Are Not People: Reclaiming Democracy from Big Money and Global Corporations.” In it, he describes how the Supreme Court in Citizens United v. FEC and related cases has fabricated unprecedented rights and power for corporations and money, at the expense of human beings and democracy itself. Lunch will be served.
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The 2018 Midterm Elections: Key Issues for Healthcare
WHEN Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018, 12 – 1 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Chan School, The Leadership Studio, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Forum at Harvard Chan
SPEAKER(S) EXPERT PARTICIPANTS
Robert Blendon
John McDonough
Gail Wilensky
Avik Roy
MODERATOR Yasmeen Abutaleb
TICKET WEB LINK https://harvard.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_afqmj1N4erGItZr
CONTACT INFO theforum at hsph.harvard.edu
DETAILS This Forum panel will explore what’s at stake in the 2018 midterm elections for Americans and their healthcare future.
Healthcare has again emerged as a pivotal issue for American voters. Conversations around preexisting conditions protections, short-term health plans, drug costs, and premium rates are as contentious as ever. Debates around Medicare and Medicaid have grabbed headlines, while the Affordable Care Act has remained divisive, despite helping millions become insured. Against this backdrop, state governments have forged ahead with their own health policy decisions, adding to the complex tangle of healthcare policies in the country.
LINK https://theforum.sph.harvard.edu/events/the-2018-midterm-elections/
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Critical Questions Live: Is it up to business to save the planet?
Thursday, November 1
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EDT
MIT, Killian Hall, 474-160 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/critical-questions-live-is-it-up-to-business-to-save-the-planet-tickets-50582116472
Livestream at https://sloanreview.mit.edu/critical-questions-live-is-it-up-to-business-to-save-the-planet/
How much can we expect business to lead on sustainability? What should be a company’s biggest priority: Serving its shareholders, providing jobs, or addressing the health of our planet? Often, these goals are at odds. We’re bringing together two leading voices in the sustainability debate to wrestle with the issues in what is sure be a lively conversation. MIT’s Yossi Sheffi and sustainability expert and author Andrew Winston will debate and discuss the role of for-profits in supporting—and investing in—sustainability goals. Come hear the point-counterpoint, moderated by Paul Michelman, editor in chief of MIT Sloan Management Review. Admission is FREE. Register now as we expect this event to fill quickly.
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Beyond Bureaucracy, More than Coercion: Rethinking State Power in U.S. History
Thursday, November 1
3:30pm to 4:30pm
Northeastern, 909 Renaissance Park, 1135 Tremont Street, Boston
Cameron Blevins, Assistant Professor, Department of History
CSSH Faculty Works-in-Progress Colloquium Series
Presented by the CSSH Dean’s Office and the Northeastern Humanities Center
For more information, please contact Gaby Fiorenza at g.fiorenza at northeastern.edu
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Empowering Life on Earth Through Engineering Quantitative Controls & Sustainable Water Production in a Plant Chassis
Thursday, November 1
4:00pm to 5:00pm
MIT, Building 32-141, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
June Medford, Colorado State University
For more information about this event, please contact:
617-253-1712 or be-acad at mit.edu
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Learning Through the Grapevine: The Impact of Message Mutation, Transmission Failure, and Deliberate Bias
Thursday, November 1
4:00pm to 5:30pm
Harvard, Littauer Center of Public Administration, M-16, 1805 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
Matt Jackson, Stanford University
Website: https://canvas.harvard.edu/courses/43530
Contact Name: Lauren LaRosa
Contact Email: larosa at fas.harvard.edu
Contact Phone: 617-496-1488
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How to Manage Your Message in a Crisis
WHEN Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018, 4:15 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Fainsod Room, Littauer Building, Room 324, 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Classes/Workshops
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR HKS Communications Program
SPEAKER(S) John Guilfoil, Principal, John Guilfoil, Public Relations; Adjunct Professor of Journalism, Northeastern University
DIRECTED BY Harvard Kennedy School
WRITTEN BY Alison Kommer
COST free
CONTACT INFO alison_kommer at hks.harvard.edu
DETAILS Learn how to turn a crisis into an opportunity for your organization to show leadership, grace, and competency in the face of the unexpected.
Learn time-tested strategies for crisis management that could make the difference between coming out on top or permanent harm.
LINK www.hkscommprog.org
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Money and Politics: How Inequality and Wealth Concentration are Shaping American Democracy
WHEN Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018, 4:15 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Taubman Building, Room 520, Nye ABC, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Multidisciplinary Program in Inequality & Social Policy
SPEAKER(S) Danielle Allen, James Bryant Conant University Professor and Director, Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, Harvard University
Raymond Fisman, Slater Family Professor in Behavioral Economics, Boston University
Jacob Hacker, Stanley B. Resor Professor of Political Science and Director of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies, Yale University
Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Benjamin I. Page, Gordon Scott Fulcher Professor of Decision Making, Northwestern University
Theda Skocpol, Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology, Harvard University
CONTACT INFO inequality at harvard.edu
LINK https://inequality.hks.harvard.edu/event/money-and-politics-how-inequality-and-wealth-concentration-are-shaping-american
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Focus on Russia: Russia's Place in the New World Order
Thursday, November 1
4:30pm to 6:00pm
MIT, Building E40-496, 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Ambassador Hill will analyze Western efforts to integrate Russia into the post-Cold War European Security Architecture and why they failed.
Each semester the MIT Security Studies Program, together with the MISTI MIT-Russia Program, and the MIT Center for International Studies, presents a speaker series entitled “Focus on Russia,” which considers a number of current issues in Russian domestic and foreign policies. The public is welcome to attend.
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MIT Elections and Technology Colloquium
Thursday, November 1
4:30 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
MIT, Building E15-070, Bartos Theatre, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mit-elections-and-technology-colloquium-tickets-51308123980
Contemporary democratic elections are increasingly technology intensive. With anxieties about the technological integrity of both American and foreign elections at an all-time high, how can researchers, policymakers, and publics better understand how technological systems are implicated in election planning, infrastructure, security, and maintenance?
The MIT programs in Anthropology, History, and Science, Technology, and Society invites the MIT and broader Boston-Cambridge communities to the second event of our Democracy, Citizenship, and Technology Colloquium Series titled Elections and Technology. This panel of multidisciplinary experts will seek to lift the curtains on three technologically mediated features of contemporary elections: the security of the electoral apparatus and infrastructure (e.g. voting machines), the intensifying role of new media technologies for influencing, mobilizing, and segmenting the electorate (e.g. social media), as well as mathematical and other means of both producing and contesting electoral gerrymandering. One week before the highly anticipated November 6th American Midterm Elections, join us for a lively panel discussion and audience Q/A session about the social and political implications of a technologically mediated electoral process.
This colloquium is part of the Arthur Miller Lecture Series in Science and Ethics hosted annually by the MIT program in Science, Technology, and Society, and is the second event of MIT’s new Computational Cultures Initiative. Following a dinner reception and time for socializing, the speakers will return for a smaller seminar session offered to graduate students for a more intimate and roundtable-style discussion.
*FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC*
4:30PM - 6:30PM Panel Discussion
6:30PM - 7:30PM Arthur Miller Dinner Reception
7:30PM - 8:30PM Graduate Student Led Seminar
Speakers:
Dan Wallach, Rice University https://www.cs.rice.edu/~dwallach/
Professor in the systems group at Rice University’s Department of Computer Science where he manages the computer security lab. Dan's research interests include mobile code, wireless and smartphone security, and the security of electronic voting systems. He has recently provided expert testimony on election security to the Texas Senate and U.S. Congress.
Daniel Kreiss, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill http://mj.unc.edu/directory/faculty/daniel-kreiss
Associate Professor and Director of the School of Media and Journalism at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Daniel’s research broadly explores the impact of technological change on the public sphere and political practice. His most recent book, Prototype Politics: The Making and Unmaking of Technological Innovation in the Republican and Democratic Parties, 2000-2014, explores the role of digital media, data, and analytics in contemporary campaigning, and provides a framework for understanding the differences between the two parties’ technological capacities.
Moon Duchin, Tufts University https://mduchin.math.tufts.edu/
Associate Professor of Mathematics at Tufts University where she directs the Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group (MGGG). Moon's mathematical research is in geometric group theory, low-dimensional topology, and dynamics. She has broad interests in the history, philosophy, and cultural studies of science. In this work, she investigates the applications of geometry and computing to U.S. redistricting, and she has facilitated workshops that train PhDs to become expert witnesses to testify in gerrymandering cases.
Alex Reiss-Sorokin, Moderator, MIT http://web.mit.edu/hasts/graduate/reiss_sorokin.html
As a doctoral student in the HASTS program at MIT, Alex is developing a dissertation project that focuses on the social, political, and legal aspects of digital platforms. Specifically, her research explores the rules and policies developed by private entities and their regulatory effects, including the development and implementation of material internet infrastructure in the Global South.
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Invisible Countries: Journeys to the Edge of Nationhood
Thursday, November 1
4:30 PM – 6:00 PM EDT
Tufts, Murrow Room, Fletcher School,Goddard 210, Murrow Room, 160 Packard Avenue, Medford
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/joshua-keating-invisible-countries-journeys-to-the-edge-of-nationhood-registration-50143729244
Please join the Russia and Eurasia Program at The Fletcher School for a talk by journalist Joshua Keating on his new book Invisible Countries: Journeys to the Edge of Nationhood (2018), an exploration of border changes, the creation of new countries, and the future of the world map. Refreshments will be provided. Attendance is by registration only on Eventbrite.
What is a country? While certain basic criteria such as borders, a government, and recognition from other countries seem obvious, Keating’s book explores exceptions to these rules, including self-proclaimed countries such as Abkhazia, Kurdistan, and Somaliland, a Mohawk reservation straddling the U.S.-Canada border, and an island nation whose very existence is threatened by climate change. Through stories about these would-be countries’ efforts at self-determination, as well as their respective challenges, Keating shows that there is no universal legal authority determining what a country is. He argues that although our current world map appears fairly static, economic, cultural, and environmental forces in the places he describes may spark change. Keating ably ties history to incisive and sympathetic observations drawn from his travels and personal interviews with residents, political leaders, and scholars in each of these “invisible countries.”
Joshua Keating is a staff writer and senior editor at Slate focusing on international news, U.S. foreign policy, and the intersection of politics and social science. Previously he was an editor and writer for six years at Foreign Policy. He has reported from countries including Iraq, Somalia, Russia, China, and Haiti. His work has also been published by the New York Times, Washington Post, Politico, Smithsonian Magazine, and Roads and Kingdoms, and he has been featured as a commentator on international affairs on CNN, MSNBC, NPR, the BBC, and Al-Jazeera. A native of New York City and a graduate of Oberlin College, he now lives in Washington, D.C.
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The Limits of Ethical A.I.
Thursday, November 1
5:00PM TO 7:00PM
Harvard, Emerson Hall, Room 105, 25 Quincy Street, Cambridge
Science & Democracy: Joichi Ito, Director, MIT Media Laboratory, as part of the Science & Democracy Lecture Series.
With Panelists:
Joshua D. Greene, Professor, Department of Psychology, Harvard University
Nicco Mele, Director, Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Martha Minow, 300th Anniversary University Professor, Harvard University; Former Dean, Harvard Law School
Moderated by:
Sheila Jasanoff, Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies, Harvard Kennedy School
Public discourse on the ethics and governance of AI is increasingly dominated by a particular vision of the solutions: the promotion of voluntary "responsible practices" over enforceable regulations; the reduction of complex epistemological concerns to questions of "bias"; the attempt to settle political disputes with algorithmic formalisms of "fairness." The talk will examine the limits and implications of this vision, and offer an alternative formulation of the key challenges.
JOICHI “JOI” ITO is the Director of the MIT Media Lab. He is also Professor of the Practice at MIT, a Visiting Professor of Law from the Practice at the Harvard Law School, chairman of the board of PureTech Health, and serves as a board member for various organizations including The New York Times Company, the MacArthur Foundation, the Knight Foundation, and Digital Garage. He is the former chairman and CEO of Creative Commons and a former board member of ICANN, The Open Source Initiative, and The Mozilla Foundation, as well as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is an Independent Senior Advisor to the Minister for Financial Services of Japan and a member of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Center of Innovation STREAM governance committee. He is a Distinguished Researcher of Keio Research Institute and the Internet & Society Lab at Shonan Fujisawa Campus in Japan, and a faculty associate of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. He was also the author in 2016, with Jeff Howe, of Whiplash: How to Survive Our Faster Future. Ito received a Ph.D. from The Keio University Graduate School of Media and Governance in 2018 for his thesis, “The Practice of Change.”
Co-sponsored by the Harvard University Center for the Environment and the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.
Contact Name: sts at hks.harvard.edu
http://sts.hks.harvard.edu/events/lectures/joichi-ito/
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Askwith Forums – Michael Sandel: Civic Education Goes Global
WHEN Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018, 5:30 – 7 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Longfellow Hall, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge
TYPE OF EVENT Community Programming, Forum, Question & Answer Session
PROGRAM/DEPARTMENT Askwith Forum
BUILDING/ROOM Askwith Hall
CONTACT NAME Roger Falcon
CONTACT EMAIL askwith at gse.harvard.edu
CONTACT PHONE 617-384-9968
SPONSORING ORGANIZATION/DEPARTMENT Harvard Graduate School of Education
REGISTRATION REQUIRED Yes
ADMISSION FEE This event is free and open to the public.
RSVP REQUIRED Yes
FEATURED EVENT Askwith Forums
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Ethics, Lecture, Special Events
DETAILS Speaker: Michael Sandel, Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University
Discussant: Bridget Terry Long, dean and Saris Professor of Education and Economics, HGSE
Harvard political philosopher Michael Sandel has been reinventing civic education for a global age. Described as a “rock-star moralist” (Newsweek) and “the most famous teacher of philosophy in the world” (New Republic), Sandel has pioneered the use of new technologies to create platforms for global public discourse. His legendary course “Justice” was the first Harvard course to be made freely available online and has been viewed by tens of millions around the world. His BBC series The Global Philosopher convenes video-linked discussions with participants from over 40 countries on issues such as immigration and climate change. Sandel will join HGSE dean Bridget Terry Long for a conversation about his efforts to reimagine civic education and public discourse in fractious times.
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Healing Justice: Film Screening and Public Dialogue
Thursday, November 1
5:30 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
The NonProfit Center, 1st Floor Community Room, 89 South Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/healing-justice-film-screening-and-public-dialogue-tickets-50877355540
Co-Presented by TSNE MissionWorks and the Mel King Institute
Dr. Shakti Butler’s newest film, Healing Justice, explores the causes and consequences of the current North American justice system and its effect on marginalized communities. The film walks back through the history of violence that has led to our current system, bringing into focus the histories of trauma — on a personal, interpersonal, community, and generational level. This powerful documentary addresses the school-to-prison pipeline, the need for comprehensive criminal justice reform, and the importance of healing and restorative practices.
Food will be served.
About Dr. Shakti Butler, PhD
Shakti Butler, PhD, filmmaker and Founder & President of World Trust, is a dynamic educator in the field of diversity and racial equity. Dr. Butler engages audiences with participatory keynotes and workshops, often using clips from her films. Known as a catalyst for change, she is hired by organizations seeking broader support for their diversity & inclusion goals.
World Trust Educational Services is a nonprofit social justice organization that provides deep learning, tools and resources for people interested in tackling unconscious bias and systemic racial inequity in their workplace, community and in their lives.
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Cleantech Friendsgiving: EnergyBar Style @ Greentown Labs
Thursday, November 1
5:30 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
Greentown Labs, 444 Somerville Avenue, Somerville
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cleantech-friendsgiving-energybar-style-greentown-labs-tickets-50085239299
Partners, friends, and cleantech champions, please join us for a late fall edition of our EnergyBar networking event, free and open to the public. Stay warm inside of Greentown Labs and meet new cleantech friends over hors d'oeuvres and drinks.
Canned/Non-Perishables Food Drive:
In the spirit of giving, please bring canned or non-perishable food items to the event to help in our efforts. Those who bring at least 5 items will receive some great Greentown swag! For a list of accepted items, please click here!
All proceeds go to the Somerville Homeless Coalition. Thank you for your help!
Are you a startup interested in touring Greentown Labs before the event?
Please contact Cayman Somerville, Recruitment Manager, at csomerville at greentownlabs.com to learn more about our community and membership opportunities.
About EnergyBar!
EnergyBar is Greentown Labs' networking event devoted to helping people in clean technology meet and discuss innovations in energy technology. Entrepreneurs, investors, students, and ‘friends of cleantech,’ are invited to attend, meet colleagues, and expand our growing regional clean technology community.
Our attendees typically span a variety of disciplines within energy, efficiency, and renewables. In general, if you're looking for a job in cleantech or energy, trying to expand your network, or perhaps thinking about starting your own energy-related company this is the event for you. Expect to have conversations about issues facing advanced and renewable energy technologies and ways to solve our most pressing energy problems.
Light appetizers and drinks will be served starting at 5:30 pm. Suggested dress is shop floor casual. Parking is incredibly limited at Greentown Labs and we encourage attendees to consider taking advantage of public transportation. Hope to see you there!
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What’s the Next Big Economic Idea? Evaluating UBI, Job Guarantees & Others
WHEN Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018, 6 – 7 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, JFK Jr. Forum, 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Institute of Politics, Harvard Kennedy School
CONTACT INFO IOP Forum Office 617-495-1380
DETAILS
Oren Cass, Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute
Darrick Hamilton, Professor of Economics and Urban Policy, The Milano School of International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy and the Department of Economics, The New School for Social Research, The New School in New York
Annie Lowrey, Contributing Editor, The Atlantic Magazine
Will Wilkinson, Vice President of Policy, Niskanen Center
Jason Furman (Moderator), Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers (2013-2017)
LINK http://iop.harvard.edu/forum/what’s-next-big-economic-idea-evaluating-ubi-job-guarantees-others
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Presidents of War: The Epic Story, from 1807 to Modern Times
Thursday, November 1
6:00 PM (Doors at 5:30)
Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.harvard.com/event/michael_beschloss/
Cost: $6 - $37.25 (book included) - On Sale Now
Harvard Book Store welcomes acclaimed presidential historian MICHAEL BESCHLOSS—New York Times bestselling author of Presidential Courage—for a discussion of his latest book, Presidents of War: The Epic Story, from 1807 to Modern Times.
About Presidents of War
Ten years in the research and writing, Presidents of War is a fresh, magisterial, intimate look at a procession of American leaders as they took the nation into conflict and mobilized their country for victory. It brings us into the room as they make the most difficult decisions that face any President, at times sending hundreds of thousands of American men and women to their deaths.
From James Madison and the War of 1812 to recent times, we see them struggling with Congress, the courts, the press, their own advisors and antiwar protesters; seeking comfort from their spouses, families and friends; and dropping to their knees in prayer. We come to understand how these Presidents were able to withstand the pressures of war—both physically and emotionally—or were broken by them.
Beschloss’s interviews with surviving participants in the drama and his findings in original letters, diaries, once-classified national security documents, and other sources help him to tell this story in a way it has not been told before. Presidents of War combines the sense of being there with the overarching context of two centuries of American history. This important book shows how far we have traveled from the time of our Founders, who tried to constrain presidential power, to our modern day, when a single leader has the potential to launch nuclear weapons that can destroy much of the human race.
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Sankofa Lecture: Pathways of Transformation
Thursday, November 1
6:00pm to 7:30pm
Lesley’s Marran Theater, 34 Mellen Street, Cambridge
An exploration of skillful methods within our heart minds that are ready to be applied in the transformation of ignorance.
Lesley University will welcome Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo, founder and spiritual director of the Vermont-based Sunray Meditation Society and Sunray Peace Village Land Trust, as the guest speaker of the university’s Sankofa Lecture Series.
The lecture is free and open to all.
Venerable Dhyani is chief of the Green Mountain band of Ani Yun Wiwa, including descendants of Tsalagi (Cherokee) background. She has designed and taught programs for training peacemakers, mediators and CEOs. The programs are infused with Ani Yun Wiwa and Tibetan wisdom.
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The Habit of Turning the World Upside Down: Our Belief in Property and the Cost of That Belief
Thursday, November 1
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes award-winning author HOWARD MANSFIELD for a discussion of his latest book, The Habit of Turning the World Upside Down: Our Belief in Property and the Cost of That Belief.
About The Habit of Turning the World Upside Down
While reporting on citizens fighting natural gas pipelines and transmission lines planned to cut right across their homes, Howard Mansfield saw the emotional toll of these projects. "They got under the skin," writes Mansfield. "This was about more than kilowatts, powerlines, and pipelines. Something in this upheaval felt familiar. I began to realize that I was witnessing an essential American experience: the world turned upside down. And it all turned on one word: property.”
In The Habit of Turning the World Upside Down, we meet a dairy farmer in far northern New Hampshire who refuses $4 million from Hydro-Quebec for his land, and we meet a Massachusetts family whose two acres may be subsumed by a gas pipeline. We see property in its many guises. We walk with the Tohono O'odham in the Sonoran Desert. We visit a small Maine island and stand where the water will be rising in just a few years as the planet warms. There are historic moments, too: a stubby granite monument in the woods of New Hampshire that tells of the death of feudalism in the New World; the buried history of a Vermont farmer who suicides as his life is bulldozed under for the new interstate; and there's great reform push that gave us the glorious and precarious Weeks Act which saved the White Mountains and gave us national forests east of the Mississippi.
The Habit of Turning the World Upside Down tells the stories of Americans living in a time in which everything is in motion, in which the world will be turned upside down, again and again. The book's title comes from an observation by Alexis de Tocqueville on his visit to America in 1831, which is the book's epigraph: "It would seem that the habit of changing place, of turning things upside down, of cutting, of destroying, has become a necessity of [the American's] existence.”
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The Women's Atlas
Thursday, November 1
7:00pm
Porter Square Books, 25 White Street, Cambridge
The most up-to-date global perspective on how women are living today across continents and cultures.
In this completely revised and updated fifth edition of her groundbreaking atlas, Joni Seager provides comprehensive and accessible analysis of up-to-the-minute global data on the key issues facing women today: equality, motherhood, feminism, the culture of beauty, women at work, women in the global economy, changing households, domestic violence, lesbian rights, women in government, and more. The result is an invaluable resource on the status of women around the world today.
Joni Seager is an activist and scholar of feminist geography, gender and the environment, and global environmental policy. She is professor and former chair of the Global Studies Department at Bentley University in Boston, Massachusetts, and was dean of the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University in Toronto, Canada. She has consulted on several global gender and environmental policies with UNESCO and the United Nations Environment Programme. Her publications include The State of Women in the World Atlas, The Real State of America Atlas, and Carson's Silent Spring.
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Friday, November 2 - Sunday, November 4
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MIT Energy Hack
Friday, November 2 - Sunday, November 4
More information at http://mitenergyhack.org
Editorial Comment: Last year, I proposed a project on Rebuilding Energy Infrastructure in the Caribbean After the Hurricanes (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/10/29/1710825/-MIT-Energy-Hackathon-Challenge-Rebuilding-Energy-Infrastructure-in-the-Caribbean-After-the-Hurrica). The project was accepted, three groups took it up, and two of the nine finalists from among over 40 projects dealt with my project. That project was the only non-corporate suggested project. This year, the MIT Energy Club did not contact me nor did I know of this year’s Energy Hack until going to MIT Energy Night on October 19. I would have suggested another practical project, probably about working from the personal power scale of Solar IS Civil Defense up to local microgrids but I never got the chance.
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Friday, November 2
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Aerosol trends in the United States: Fires in the West and Sulfate in the East
Friday, November 2
12:00pm
Harvard, Pierce 100F, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Dr. Rebecca Washenfelder, NOAA ESRL Chemical Sciences Division
Aerosol scattering and absorption are still among the largest uncertainties in Earth’s radiative budget. In the United States, two large trends are affecting aerosol emissions and optical properties.
One major aerosol trend is increased forest fires in the western U.S. The NOAA Chemical Sciences Division is in the middle of the five year Fire Influence and Regional and Global Environments Experiment for Air Quality FIREX-AQ study. Biomass burning is a major source of light-absorbing carbonaceous aerosol. These aerosol are generally classified into two categories: black carbon (graphitic-like aerosol) and brown carbon (organic aerosol that absorbs strongly in the ultraviolet and near-visible spectral regions). I will discuss the sources and magnitude of brown carbon absorption, and present results from the southeastern U.S. and Fire Sciences Laboratory examining its lifetime and volatility.
The second major aerosol trend is the rapid decrease in SO2 emissions in the eastern U.S. Between 1995 and 2013, SO2emissions in the U.S. declined by over 70%, leading to reduced sulfate aerosol mass loading. This has caused a decrease in both sulfate aerosol mass and aerosol hygroscopicity, with large improvements in aerosol mass loading and visibility in the eastern U.S. This rapid change has many consequences. Plant photosynthesis is more efficient using scattered light than direct light, because more leaf surfaces are illuminated, and anthropogenic aerosol trends have had a small impact on carbon uptake in temperate forests due to reduced scattered light.
Contact: Kelvin Bates
Email: kelvin_bates at fas.harvard.edu
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Performance tradeoffs and eco-evolutionary interplay at high diversity
Friday, November 2
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Parsons Laboratory 48-316, 15 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Prof. Mikhail Tikhonov, Physics Department, Washington University in St Louis
Much of our understanding of ecological and evolutionary mechanisms derives from analysis of low-dimensional models: with few interacting species, or few axes defining fitness. It is not always clear to what extent such low-dimensional intuition applies to the complex, high-dimensional reality. This becomes especially relevant in the microbial context, because most naturally occurring communities harbor a strikingly large number of coexisting species. In the first part of the talk, I will describe how extending Tilman's geometric intuition into high dimensions offers insights into eco-evolutionary interplay in high-diversity ecosystems, revealing the existence of multiple qualitatively distinct dynamical regimes. Which of these regimes is realized is determined by the structure of performance tradeoffs constraining the system. Importantly, such tradeoffs, which most models simply postulate as part of a "fitness landscape", are known to themselves evolve. In the second part of the talk, I will briefly describe how an ecologically-inspired model provides a promising theoretical context for patching this gap in evolutionary theory.
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IACS Seminar: Machine Learning in the Healthcare Enterprise
WHEN Friday, Nov. 2, 2018, 1:30 – 2:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Maxwell Dworkin Building G115, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Health Sciences, Information Technology, Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Institute for Applied Computational Science at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
SPEAKER(S) Mark H. Michalski, Executive Director of the MGH & BWH Center for Clinical Data Science (CCDS)
COST Free and open to the public. No registration required.
CONTACT INFO Email: iacs-info at seas.harvard.edu
Phone: 617-496-2623
DETAILS Machine learning is an emerging technology with promise to impact a wide variety of areas throughout the healthcare enterprise. In this discussion, Dr. Michalski will review advances in machine learning and their potential impact on several areas of healthcare, with special focus in diagnostic areas. In addition, he’ll discuss some of the challenges and approaches that have been taken to translate this technology at the Partners organization.
LINK https://iacs.seas.harvard.edu/event/iacs-seminar-mark-h-michalsk-mgh-bwh-center-clinical-data-science
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Rules for Rebels: The Science of Victory in Militant History
Friday, November 2
3:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes professor MAX ABRAHMS—one of the world's leading experts on the subject of terrorism—for a discussion of his new book, Rules for Rebels: The Science of Victory in Militant History.
About Rules for Rebels
Ever wonder why militant groups behave as they do? For instance, why did Al Qaeda attack the World Trade Center whereas the African National Congress tried to avoid civilian bloodshed? Why does Islamic State brag over social media about its gory attacks, while Hezbollah denies responsibility or even apologizes for its carnage?
This book shows that militant group behavior depends on the tactical intelligence of the leaders. The author has extensively studied the political plights of hundreds of militant groups throughout world history and reveals that successful militant leaders have followed three rules. These rules are based on original insights from the fields of political science, psychology, criminology, economics, management, marketing, communication, and sociology. It turns out there's a science to victory in militant history. But even rebels must follow rules.
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Unconventional Materials and Paradigms for Water Purification and Quality Control in the 21st Century
Friday, November 2
4:00pm to 5:00pm
MIT, Building 3-270, 33 Massachusetts Avenue (rear), Cambridge
Innovations across the entire spectrum of technology, policy, business, and society are needed to address the challenge of providing an adequate amount of clean water in the 21st century. In this talk, I will present our work on exploring unconventional materials and paradigms for water purification and quality control to address this challenge. At the smallest scale, we present the development of atomically thin membranes made from a single atom-thick layer of graphene, where water can rapidly flow through engineered angstrom-sized pores that reject contaminant molecules and salt ions. I will discuss advances in pore creation, fabrication, and scale-up that illustrate the feasibility of realizing this new class of membrane that could lead to more energy-efficient, compact, and versatile water purification systems. At a larger scale, we show that the sapwood of conifers can be used as natural, chemical-free, low-cost, and easily manufactured filters to remove microbes and turbidity from drinking water. These filters exploit the naturally-occurring membranes in the xylem tissue of plants to remove microbes and present opportunities to create unique pay-as-you-go business models for household water filters with replacement costs of only a few cents. We present human-centric filter device design and field studies that illustrate the potential of xylem filters to provide clean water to people without access to existing water purification technologies. At the systems scale, we present our findings through field studies in India and technology development to address the gap in monitoring trace contaminants in water by ‘dry sampling’ – a paradigm that repurposes materials developed to easily preserve and convey water samples from the water source to a central laboratory, thereby enabling the measurement of trace contaminants that is not possible with local infrastructure. These studies illustrate the opportunities and challenges involved in fundamental research and development and its translation to ground reality to provide clean water in the coming decades.
Rohit Karnik, Associate Professor & Associate Department Head for Education, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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How to Read
Friday, November 2
6:00pm to 8:00pm
MIT, Building 7- 429, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Luke Bulman
Apprehension and comprehension of both images and text isn’t what it used to be. How? This illustrated lecture will address how we might have arrived at today's global image/text economy and how we adjust our inputs and outputs to remain responsive on a contemporary media diet.
Luke Bulman is a graphic designer who was trained as an architect. He directs Luke Bulman Office, a design practice where projects most often take the form of the book. He teaches at Yale School of Architecture and Parsons School of Design.
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Slouching Toward Utopia: Essays & Reviews
Friday, November 2
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes acclaimed writer and critic GEORGE SCIALABBA for a discussion of his latest book, Slouching Toward Utopia. He will be joined in conversation by ARTHUR GOLDHAMMER—writer, translator, and affiliate of Harvard's Center for European Studies.
About Slouching Toward Utopia
Slouching Toward Utopia is George Scialabba's fifth collection from Pressed Wafer, following What Are Intellectuals Good For? (2009), The Modern Predicament (2011), For The Republic (2013), and Low Dishonest Decades (2016). Like the others, Slouching Toward Utopia features trenchant commentary on contemporary politics and culture, couched in graceful and limpid prose. In addition to reviews of Samuel Huntington, Ivan Illich, Alexander Cockburn, and Mark Lilla, along with a dozen others, there is a symposium contribution on identity politics, two long interviews about intellectuals and American politics, and the title essay, a lecture offering an original meditation on how to get past the conventional wisdom about political morality and begin to at least stumble toward utopia.
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Saturday, November 3
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2018 HBS Energy & Environment Club Symposium
Saturday, November 3
8:00 AM – 6:00 PM EDT
Harvard Business School, Spangler Center, 117 Western Avenue, Allston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2018-hbs-energy-environment-club-symposium-tickets-50553069592
Cost: $25 – $90
Come join students, industry leaders and energy thought leaders at the 2018 Energy Symposium. This year’s theme is “Competing for Energy Capital” and will focus on how companies across the energy ecosystem are responding to increased investor pressure to provide a purpose larger than profits. Come hear oil giants, renewable start-ups and every company in between give their pitch for why they deserve to win the fight for capital.
Our 2018 Keynote speakers:
Helge Hove Haldorson – VP Investor Relations, Equinor
Basil Abul-Hamayel – CEO + President, Aramco Services Company
Bryan Martin – CEO, D.E. Shaw Renewables
The Conference will also feature:
5 panels covering topics such as energy in emerging economies, energy storage, and digitizing oil & gas operations
Career lunches with targeted recruiting companies
A start-up competition worth over $10,000 in grants
A case discussion on Enel’s transforming strategy
More information at http://energyclubathbs.org/symposium/
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Free Breakfast and Facility Tour at Greentown Labs
Saturday November 3
11:00am-1:00pm
Greentown Labs, 444 Somerville Avenue, Somerville
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/free-breakfast-and-facility-tour-at-greentown-labs-tickets-51761142972
MIT MechE alumnus Arron Acosta, CEO at RISE Robotics, is hosting an open house for MIT MechE students at Greentown Labs, the largest clean-tech incubator in the U.S., located in Somerville.
Enjoy a free breakfast and a tour of the facilities at Greentown Labs. Join Arron and other MechE alumni from companies including:
RISE – Provides Motor-to-Movement Solutions from Subsea to Space
Via Separations – Provides Molecular Filtration for Industrial Processes
Form Energy – Developing a New Class of Ultra-Low Cost, Long Duration Energy Storage Systems
Spyce – Provides Culinary Excellence, Elevated by Technology
Please Register by November 1
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MASS MEDIA EXPO
Saturday, November 3
11:00 AM – 7:00 PM EDT
WGBH, 1 Guest Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mass-media-expo-tickets-51155025057
Cost: $20 – $30
Mass Media Expo is a daylong conference and exhibition attended by over 500 film and media industry members including producers, filmmakers, craft professionals, creative agencies and production houses; and related business and creative sectors including education and innovation communities.
More information at https://www.massmediaexpo.com
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Transportation Transformation: A Conference about the New Urban Mobility
Saturday, November 3
12:00 PM – 5:00 PM EDT
MIT Stratton Student Center, 84 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 306 (Twenty Chimneys), Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/transportation-transformation-a-conference-about-the-new-urban-mobility-tickets-49430697547
In the emerging world of 'micro rentals' and shared asset ownership, the access economy pioneered by Uber, Lyft and AirBnB is expanding to local transporation options, often called Micromobility or BTW (Better Than Walking). The melding of simple existing technology like traditional bicycles and skateboards with Lithium Ion batteries and powerful computing programs has created a whole new way for people to travel relatively short distatnces.
The policy and design issues surrounding this new and growing type of personal mobility, be it personally owned electric skateboards, dockless bikes or shared electric scooters, are challenges which governments, businesses, advocacy groups and regular citizens are all struggling to address.
This conference brings together thought leaders from goverment, industry and user groups to explore the technological, policy and physical infrastructure complications we must address as we jointly move into this New Urban Mobilty future.
12:00-12:20: Welcome
12:20-12:50: Keynote Speaker
12:50-1:00 Coffee Break
1:00-2:15: Panel Discussion
Potential and current impact of emerging and existing technology-based micromobility such as scooters, micro-electric vehicles (MEVs) ebikes and onewheels.
2:15-2:30 Coffee Break
2:30-3:45: Panel Discussion
Regional infrastructure and regulatory challenges such as speed limits, licenses for users, zoning and permitting.
4:00-4:30: Q & A of All Speakers
4:30-5:00: Closing & Showroom Exhibit
Speakers, showroom exhibitors, and attendees will include many of the following:
Assaf Biderman, Founder & CEO @ Superpedestrian, Associate Director, Senseable City Lab @ MIT
Ivan Li Huang, Founder & CEO @ Bonzer
Eric Bourassa, Director of Transportation @ MAPC
Joe Barr, Director of Traffic, Parking, & Transportation @ City of Cambridge
Scott Mullen, Director of Northeast Expansion @ Lime
Mckinsey & Co.
Bird
US DOT Volpe Center
MIT Mobility Lab/Media Lab
Other municipality and regional leaders (Boston, Somerville, Brookline, MBTA, MassDOT)
Other transportation industry leaders (possibly Nissan, Toyota, Arcimoto)
Others (Boston Area Research Institute, T4MA, WalkBoston, Motivate, Livable Streets, Cambridge Systematics)
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Biophilia & Biodiversity: A Celebration of EO Wilson’s Influence
Saturday, November 3
3:00 PM – 5:00 PM EDT
Bigelow Chapel, Chapel Avenue, 580 Mt Auburn Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/biophilia-biodiversity-a-celebration-of-eo-wilsons-influence-tickets-51589406303
“… the rich, natural pleasure that comes from being surrounded by living organisms.” - EO Wilson “Biophilia”
Join us for a lively storytelling event. David Morimoto, Director of Natural Science and Mathematics within CLAS at Lesley University will lead our kickoff meeting. David will be joined by speakers from our local academic and research community, as they share stories of time spent with Dr. Wilson, his influence, and their thoughts on Biophilia.
Experience a deeper connection to Mount Auburn Cemetery with free access to all our public programs and discounts on special events by joining the Friends of Mount Auburn. Our robust roster of programs each year is made possible through your generous support.
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OCCURENCE: Everyone Knows the Disaster is Coming
Saturday, November 3
8:00 PM – 11:00 PM EDT
MIT, Building W97-160, 345 Vassar Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/occurence-everyone-knows-the-disaster-is-coming-tickets-49294166178
“If Gregg Araki were to direct a lost John Hughes script about sullen teenagers and hired Matmos to create a new wave-inspired score, the result would probably sound a lot like the darkly beautiful music of Occurrence.” – Michael Tedder
In collaboration with the students in Josh Higgason’s Lighting Design (21M.734) course, Occurrence will play a set featuring songs from their latest release Everyone Knows the Disaster is Coming.
Led by Senior Lecturer Ken Urban, Occurrence is a darkwave electro-pop trio comprised of Urban and vocalists Cat Hollyer and Johnny Hager. Urban started Occurrence as an outlet for the experimental and mostly instrumental music he was making in private. In 2013, Ken reached out to his college friend Cat Hollyer, whom he hadn’t seen in almost twenty years.Now living in Lawrence, Kansas and writing for Hallmark, Cat confessed she was looking for a creative outlet when Ken reached out, and the pair began writing songs, trading demos online. The duo eventually completed their album The Past Will Last Forever. Released in October 2016, it featured appearances from a number of actors (Henry Fool star Thomas Jay Ryan and Polly Lee from TV’s The Americans) as well as other musicians (The Pains of Being Pure at Heart’s Kip Berman and Worshipper’s Alejandro Necochea). One particularly notable contributor to The Past Will Last Forever was Johnny Hager, Ken’s boyfriend. A native of Mexico City, Johnny grew up singing opera and pop. When it was time for Occurrence to play its first-ever live show, Ken asked Johnny to join Cat on vocals. “It became clear the three of us had something special,” Ken recalls. Following that show, the trio began writing and recording new music in their Washington Heights studio. Occurrence released their latest album Everyone Knows the Disaster is Coming in June. The Southern Sounding called the album “a wiry brew of warbling electronics, fiery post-punk swagger and subtly mutated pop arrangements.”
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Sunday, November 4
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Shaping the Social Contract: Insights from the Women of Brook Farm
Sunday, November 4
2:00 pm
Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge
Performance and Community Discussion presented by New Brook Farm and the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail
Women played an important role in the Brook Farm transcendentalist utopian community in the 1840s, where they enjoyed rights and privileges equal to the male members of the community. After the demise of Brook Farm, many went on to become active in the suffrage and abolitionist movements.
In this ‘living history’ presentation, you will meet Margaret Fuller, Sophia Ripley, and other remarkable women who joined and visited this short-lived but influential community. How did they understand and live the “social contract” at Brook Farm and afterward?
Then, join a discussion of the social contract in the 21st century. What are the threads that connect women’s suffrage to #MeToo? Abolitionism to Black Lives Matter? What are our rights and responsibilities as members of a diverse community?
Dr. Kerri Greenidge, interim Director of American Studies at Tufts University and co-director of the African American Trail Project at the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy, will set the stage for the presentation and guide the discussion.
Admission is free. Refreshments provided.
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TEDxHarvardCollege "What If I'm Wrong”
Sunday, November 4
2:00 PM – 6:00 PM EST
Harvard, Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tedxharvardcollege-what-if-im-wrong-tickets-50381616772
Cost: $11 – $40
TEDxHarvardCollege is Harvard University's premier university-wide TEDx event. Staffed by undergraduates, advised by graduate students and faculty, and featuring alumni and fellows from all around the university, TEDxHarvardCollege aims to showcase the biggest ideas in the University on the world's biggest platform!
For the Fall 2018 TEDxHarvardCollege event the official theme will be about critical thinking in the broadest sense of that phrase. This includes thinking about different ways to approach tasks – common or uncommon indiscriminately – innovative thinking, life improvement, motivational speaking, management of time, money, people, or things, popularity, human nature, implications of advancement, and many other topics. Our tagline is What if I’m Wrong? This simple, yet powerful, phrase represents the first step of critical thinking– openness to change and different perspectives. Just by saying these four words, you unlock endless possibilities of growth.
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IMILONJI KaNtu in Concert
Sunday, November 4
4:00pm
Twelfth Baptist Church, 160 Warren Street Roxbury
$10 suggested donation online or at the door
Experience the songs of the people of South Africa shared by IMILONJI KaNtu Choral Society from Soweto, South Africa. Sharing A New Song is so fortunate to be hosting this award winning choir!
Founded in 1988 in Soweto, the choir was the first to express the struggle of the people in Apartheid South Africa in an organized musical context. The choir was there at the site of the struggle – at protest rallies, at funerals of victims of Apartheid and at commemoration services.
IMILONJI KaNtu was honored to sing at the inauguration of President Nelson Mandela and the elevation of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. When South Africa gained independence the choir spread a message of reconciliation to the new nation of South Africa and was a messenger of good news to the countries it visited. It continues with that mission today on its 2018 Boston Tour.
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Monday, November 5
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California's Cap-and-trade Program and Emission Leakage: An Empirical Analysis
Monday, November 5
12:00pm to 1:30pm
Harvard, Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building, HKS, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Chiara Lo Prete, Assistant Professor of Energy Economics, John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University
Lunch will be served.
HKS Energy Policy Seminar
https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/energyconsortium/seminars
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#OurWaterOurFood: Environmental justice and Indigenous Sovereignty in Canada's Arctic Offshore
Monday, November 5
12:00PM TO 2:00PM
Harvard, Bowie Vernon Room (room K262), CGIS Knafel Building, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://programs.wcfia.harvard.edu/canada_program/os_events/nojs/registration/1331874
Noor Johnson, Research Scientist, National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado, Boulder.
Noor Johnson is a cultural anthropologist whose research focuses on the politics and practices of environmental knowledge in the Arctic. Her work has examined movements for Indigenous sovereignty through activism and bureaucratic governance. She holds a Research Scientist appointment with National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she works on projects related to food sovereignty, community-based monitoring, and Indigenous data management. She is also affiliated with the Center for Science Diplomacy at the Fletcher School at Tufts University. From 2015 – 2016, she was an inaugural Fulbright Arctic Initiative Scholar researching offshore development and renewable energy. In addition to her academic research, Noor has served as a science policy and strategy advisor to non-profit and Indigenous organizations, including the National Geographic Society, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Inuit Circumpolar Council.
A light lunch will be served. Please register for this event.
Contact Name: canada at wcfia.harvard.edu
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Thoreau’s Place On (and Off) the Map of Natural History
Monday, November 5
12:10PM
Arnold Arboretum, Weld Hill Lecture Hall, 300 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain
Lawrence Buell, Powell M. Cabot Research Professor of American Literature, Harvard University
Watch live on the Arboretum’s YouTube channel if you are unable to attend in person.
Arnold Arboretum Research Talk
https://www.arboretum.harvard.edu/research/research-talks/
arbweb at arnarb.harvard.edu
(617) 524-1718
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Perfect Woman: Female Robots, Alluring Androids, and Electronic Eves
Monday, November 5,
12:15PM TO 2:00PM
Harvard, CGIS South S050, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
Julie Wosk (SUNY Maritime College).
The STS Circle at Harvard is a group of doctoral students and recent PhDs who are interested in creating a space for interdisciplinary conversations about contemporary issues in science and technology that are relevant to people in fields such as anthropology, history of science, sociology, STS, law, government, public policy, and the natural sciences. We want to engage not only those who are working on intersections of science, politics, and public policy, but also those in the natural sciences, engineering, and architecture who have serious interest in exploring these areas together with social scientists and humanists.
There has been growing interest among graduate students and postdocs at Harvard in more systematic discussions related to STS. More and more dissertation writers and recent graduates find themselves working on exciting topics that intersect with STS at the edges of their respective home disciplines, and they are asking questions that often require new analytic tools that the conventional disciplines don’t necessarily offer. They would also like wider exposure to emerging STS scholarship that is not well-represented or organized at most universities, including Harvard. Our aim is to try to serve those interests through a series of activities throughout the academic year.
Sandwich lunches are provided. Please 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 School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
STS Circle at Harvard
http://sts.hks.harvard.edu/events/sts_circle/
sts at hks.harvard.edu
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Addressing Climate Change in Haiti: Are Current Actions Matching National Priorities?
Monday, November 5
12:30 – 1:45 pm
Crowe Room, Goddard 310, 419 Boston Avenue, Medford
CIERP Research Seminar with Keston Perry
Keston K. Perry is a Postdoctoral Scholar at Climate Policy Lab at CIERP. He will speak about the Haiti Readiness Project he is currently working on, a UNDP-funded project to assist Haiti’s Ministry of Environment in developing the institutional capacity to engage with the Green Climate Fund.
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Can we heat our buildings with renewable electricity cheaper than natural gas?
Monday, November 5
12:30pm to 2:00pm
MIT, Building 7-429, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
K. Max Zhang, Associate Professor, Cornell University
Dr. Zhang's research interests focus on energy and the environment. He studies the effects of airborne particulate matters (PM) and gaseous pollutants on air quality, climate change and ecosystem, using numerical models and experimental techniques. One particular area he is working on is environmental nanoparticles. Nanoparticle pollution affects public health by depositing deeper in our lungs and moving into the blood circulation. These nanoparticles can also grow into cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). Changes in CCN concentration may affect cloud reflectivity and lifetime, thus perturbing the energy balance of the planet. His research in this area focuses on characterizing various emission sources and their transformation in the atmosphere, especially the rapid changes in the first few minutes after emission. One important goal is to establish a source-to-receptor relationship for airborne nanoparticles. The "receptor" refers to either humans or the climate system. Dr. Zhang's group has developed CTAG(which stands for Comprehensive Turbulent Aerosol dynamics and Gas chemistry), an environmental turbulent reacting flow model, to simulate the transport and transformation of multiple pollutants in complex environments. In particular, he aims to develop a mechanistic understanding on 1) near-road air pollution and its potential mitigation strategies, 2) the effects of turbulent mixing on particulate emission measurements, and 3) the impacts of plume processing on regional air quality and climate simulations.
Another major area of Dr. Zhang's research interests is sustainable energy systems. In a low-carbon economy, the production of energy will be much less centralized and most energy services will be delivered to customers via the electric grid, and electric power systems, transportation systems and building systems are seamlessly integrated. However, the transition to such a low-carbon economy will face technological, institutional, financial and environmental challenges. Dr. Zhang is working with colleagues as an interdisciplinary team addressing those challenges. His research in this area focuses on aggregating a large number of distributed and controllable energy resources such as electric vehicles to provide a wide range of cost-effective systems services. These technologies will greatly facilitate the transition to a reliable, secure, efficient and clean power system.
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xTalk with Vasilis Kostakis: New Technologies Won’t Reduce Scarcity, but Here’s Something That Might
Monday, November 5
3:00pm to 4:00pm
MIT, Building 1-390, 77 Massachusetts Avenue
In a book titled Why Can’t We All Just Get Along?, MIT scientists Henry Lieberman and Christopher Fry discuss why we have wars, mass poverty, and other social ills. They argue that we cannot cooperate with each other to solve our major problems because our institutions are saturated with a competitive spirit. But Lieberman and Fry have some good news: technology can address the root of the problem. They believe that we compete when there is scarcity, and that recent technological advances, such as 3D printing and artificial intelligence, will end widespread scarcity. Thus, a post-scarcity world, premised on cooperation, would emerge. But can we really end scarcity? And if we cannot, is there any new socio-technical alternative that would allow us to build a more free, fair and sustainable economy and society?
Vasilis Kostakis is Professor of P2P Governance at TalTech and Faculty Associate at Harvard Law School. He is the founder of the P2P Lab and core member of the P2P Foundation. In 2018, Vasilis was awarded a $1.1 grant from the European Research Council, to study the convergence of the digital commons with local manufacturing technologies. Along with an interdisciplinary team of scholars, activists, and social entrepreneurs, he focuses on how to create an economy based on locally sustainable communities that are digitally interconnected.
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Scabs: The Social Suppression of Labor Supply
Monday, November 5
3:00pm to 4:15pm
Harvard, Harvard Hall 104, 1465-1483 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Supreet Kaur, University of California, Berkeley
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Eat. Drink. Think. at EVOO featuring Chef Peter McCarthy
Monday, November 5
3:00 PM – 5:00 PM EST
EVOO Restaurant, 350 Third Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/eat-drink-think-at-evoo-featuring-chef-peter-mccarthy-tickets-51032956948
What: The Good Food Media Network is proud to present Eat. Drink. Think., a food and drink educational experience featuring local thought leaders, experts and chefs dedicated to building a more sustainable food system for all.
The second event in the Eat. Drink. Think. series will take place at EVOO Restaurant, which was recently recognized for its role in promoting sustainable food systems with the highest rating of 6 links on the 2018 Good Food 100 Restaurants™ list. Culinary and industry leaders will discuss the 2018 Good Food 100 Restaurants list and economic report—which measures restaurants’ impact on good food economies—while offering an enlightening discussion about the power of chefs, eaters and farmers to change our food system for good.
Who:
Sara Brito, Co-Founder and President, Good Food Media Network
Peter McCarthy, Owner and Executive Chef, EVOO Restaurant
Danielle Andrews, Dudley Farm Manager, The Food Project
Andy Carbone, Owner, Carne Locale
Why: Food is THE issue of our lifetime. How can we, as eaters, make a fundamental impact for a sustainable future? What if restaurants focused on food that was not only filling, but also fulfilling? It’s time to go beyond just food taste, service and ambience and explore the power of our choices and good food.
RSVP: Seating is limited. Please RSVP no later than Thursday, November 1.
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People & the Planet Lecture: ENVIRONMENTAL & ECONOMIC JUSTICE IN THE SOUTWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA COALFIELDS
Monday, November 5
4:00pm
MIT, Building E14-648, Silverman Skyline Room, Media Lab, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lecture-veronica-coptis-tickets-50962381856
Veronica Coptis is the Executive Director of the Center for Coalfield Justice in Pennsylvania. CCJ pushes for economic and environmental justice with coalfield communities through advocacy, education, and organizing.
http://www.coalfieldjustice.org
The Environmental Solutions Initiative People & the Planet Lecture Series presents individuals and organizations working to advance understanding and action toward a humane and sustainable future.
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Picturing Science and Engineering by Felice Frankel
Monday, November 5
5:00 PM – 6:00 PM EST
MIT, Building 56-114, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
MechE & ChemE Communication Labs are co-hosting a talk by Felice Frankel on visual design in science communication, where she will pre-view examples and recipes from her upcoming book "Picturing Science and Engineering." She will discuss various techniques in photography and graphics, with the focus on combining visual appeal with scientific impact.
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Cities on the Edge: Climate Adaptation, Resilience & Social Justice
Monday, November 5
5:00PM TO 6:30PM
Harvard, Nye A, B, & C, 5th floor, Taubman Bldg, HKS, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge
The Environment and Natural Resources Program (ENRP) is at Harvard Kennedy School hosts a conversation about the challenges facing coastal cities due to the effects of climate change. Panelists:
Chris Cook, Chief of Environment, Energy, and Open Space for the City of Boston and Boston Parks Commissioner;
Dawn Henning, Project Manager, City of New Haven Engineering Department;
Gina McCarthy, Director of the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment;
and Colleen Murphy-Dunning, Program Director, Hixon Center for Urban Ecology, Urban Resources Initiative (URI), Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies,
will discuss adaptation strategies and resilience efforts across sectors and opportunities for community engagement.
This event honors the recipients of the 2018 Roy Award, the Advancing Green Infrastructure Program, a public-private partnership consisting of the Urban Resources Initiative at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, EMERGE Connecticut, Inc., the City of New Haven Department of Engineering, the Greater New Haven Water Pollution Control Authority, and Common Ground High School. The program address the issues of urban flooding and the pollution of waterways surrounding New Haven during increasingly frequent heavy rainfall events, by building and monitoring bioswales - landscaped areas adjacent to the roadway designed to capture and infiltrate stormwater runoff from the street before it can enter a piped sewer system. The program's inclusive, community-driven, science-based approach simultaneously addresses environmental and social challenges facing New Haven, a model that could be replicated in other cities and communities around the world.
More information about the Roy Award for Environmental Partnership at https://www.belfercenter.org/program/environment-and-natural-resources#!the-roy-award
Contact Name: Amanda Sardonis
amanda_sardonis at hks.harvard.edu
https://www.belfercenter.org/event/cities-edge-climate-adaptation-resilience-social-justice
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Strange Frequencies: The Extraordinary Story of the Technological Quest for the Supernatural
WHEN Monday, Nov. 5, 2018, 5 – 7 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Common Room, CSWR, 42 Francis Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Religion
SPONSOR Center for the Study of World Religions
CONTACT Shawn Higgins
DETAILS Strange Frequencies takes readers on an extraordinary narrative and historical journey to discover how people have used technology in an effort to search for our own immortality. Author Peter Bebergal builds his own ghostly gadgets to reach the other side, too, and follows the path of famous inventors, engineers, seekers, and seers who attempted to answer life’s ultimate mysteries. He finds that not only are technological innovations potent metaphors keeping our spiritual explorations alive, but literal tools through which to experiment the boundaries of the physical world and our own psyches. Join Bebergal on a journey through the attempts artists, scientists, and tinkerers have made to imagine and communicate with the otherworldly using various technologies, from cameras to radiowaves.
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Disruptive Business Model Innovation
Monday, November 5
5:30 pm – 9:00 pm
MIT Tang Center, Building E51-151, 70 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/event/get-smart-on-disruptive-business-model-innovation/
Cost: $0 - $20
Speaker Mike Grandinetti, Chief Marketing & Corporate Strategy Officer - Reduxio Systems, Global Professor of Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Marketing, Hult International Business School
Disrupt or be disrupted. There is no middle ground. Yet, the pace of disruption is relentless, and many formerly iconic companies have become extinct. The average lifespan of companies has collapsed by 80% since 1960. There is no issue that creates more fear and anxiety for executive team and boards of directors.
Increasingly, well –designed and executed innovative business models are the key basis of sustainable competitive advantage. Yet, business model design remains poorly understood. All too often, companies attempt to compete and bring new products and services to market with outdated business models, a certain recipe for failure. The pace of technological change requires companies to constantly monitor and refine their business model, lest they be rendered irrelevant. Superior business models do not arrive by accident; rather they are the result of a highly disciplined and systematic process of build-learn-adapt.
This workshop focuses on innovative business model design. Its aim is to enable participants to understand how to assess and create optimally innovative new business models for their high potential ideas.
The course provides a comprehensive foundation for additional learning in the context of innovative business model design
Course topics include:
Business Model Deep Dive
Multi-Sided Markets
Open Innovation, Open Source & Crowd-Source Models
The Innovators Dilemma & Defending Against Disruption
Learning Objectives
On completion of this course, students are expected to be able to:
Critically evaluate how new business models are designed and implemented and how “old” business models can be analyzed and refined
Apply simple yet powerful tools, frameworks and concepts such as the 9 component Business Model Canvas, visual thinking, freemium and touch-less models, the long tail, multi-sided platforms, open innovation and open business models in understanding and designing business models
Design, develop and present a new business model to disrupt an industry
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Virginia Valian: An Inclusive Academy
Monday, November 5
6:00pm to 7:00pm
MIT Press Bookstore, Building N50, 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Join the MIT Press Bookstore in welcoming Virginia Valian to discuss her book An Inclusive Academy.
Most colleges and universities embrace the ideals of diversity and inclusion, but many fall short, especially in the hiring, retention, and advancement of faculty who would more fully represent our diverse world—in particular women and people of color. In this book, Virginia Valian and co-author Abigail Stewart argue that diversity and excellence go hand in hand and provide guidance for achieving both.
Virginia Valian is Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Linguistics, and Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences at Hunter College and the CUNY Graduate Center. She is the author of Why So Slow: The Advancement of Women and coauthor of An Inclusive Academy: Achieving Diversity and Excellence.
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Power To The People
Monday, November 5
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM EST
Make Shift Boston, 549 Columbus Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/power-to-the-people-tickets-51715546592
Join us as we use music to celebrate our right to vote in the coming election. There will also be an open discussion on how far we've come, current issues and why voting matters to us all. No judgment; just learning and connecting.
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SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCERS PANEL
Monday, November 5
6:30 – 8:30 pm EST
GA Boston, 125 Summer Street 13th Floor, Boston
RSVP at https://generalassemb.ly/education/social-media-influencers-panel/boston/59780
Kira Maclean, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Kiraamaa.com
About This Event
General Assembly presents a panel discussion with some of Boston's most influential movers and shakers.
At this event, you’ll get a glimpse into the ever-changing blogger / influencer industry, and learn the inside scoop on how to adapt to the changes in today’s dynamic landscape.
Join us for:
A candid conversation on the world of social influence
Industry experts will share tips & tricks on how they got to where they are today
Open audience Q&A with panelists
A fun, informative evening, where you can meet fellow influencers, learn something new and potentially turn your blogging dreams into a reality!
About the Panelist
Kira Maclean, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Kiraamaa.com
23-year-old Kira Maclean is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Kiraamaa.com, a travel, fashion, and lifestyle website. She had the opportunity to travel extensively with her family when she was younger, and quickly discovered an insatiable desire to explore. Her desire to cultivate beautiful experiences can be seen across her social media networks, with lnstagram serving as her primary platform.
Kira was a oncology researcher at Harvard Medical School before she launched into her current career as a UX Designer. She has been immersed in the world of blogging and social media marketing for 4 years, and is based in Boston.
Follow her on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kiraamaa/
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Climate Change and the Future of the Boston Coastline
Monday, November 5
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM (Doors open @ 6pm --Come early and meet other Long Now thinkers-- Presentations start @ 7pm)
Innovation Center, One Broadway, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/Long-Now-Boston/events/255263801/
Cost: $15 in advance; $20 at the door. Students w/ID admitted free.
Obtain tickets here at Meetup, or use our Eventbrite option: https://bostonclimatefuture.eventbrite.com [CIC members use your discount at Eventbrite; Students must use Eventbrite because we can't set up student tickets here]
A Long Now Boston Community Conversation with
Kirk Bosma, P.E. Woods Hole Group and Paul Kirshen, Ph.D., UMass Boston
“Well I love that dirty water...Oh, Boston, you're my home”
Boston’s always had a special connection with its harbor, extending from its beginnings as a colonial port in 01630, through centuries of industrial activity, to its fairly recent cultural and economic reawakening. Land reclamation and waterfront construction projects have dramatically changed the region’s coastal landscape. Yet, still, the harbor protects. In the geologic scheme of things, not much has changed in 400 years.
The looming impact of global climate change paints a different picture. In a world of increasingly intense storms and melting ice packs, the tides and the storm surges are rising. This year Florence (13’ storm surge) and Mangkut (25’ storm surge) put the world on notice, while Boston had its own awakening with two record-breaking high water events, including the 15’ high water crest from the “bomb cyclone” of January 4. The need for long term thinking along our harbor and coastline has never been more urgent.
Join the Long Now Boston conversation with Paul Kirshen and Kirk Bosma, two of the region’s leading experts on climate change and coastal mitigation as they discuss looming risks to coastal communities. Poster Child projects like hurricane walls get lots of visibility, but the major study released in May concluded shore-based climate adaptation solutions are more effective than harbor-wide strategies for Boston. Radically decreasing greenhouse gas emissions could reduce the risks, but political willpower for that to happen soon is not forthcoming.
Among the topics we'll explore through a Long Now lens:
Climate change forecasts and the implications for coastal communities.
Key ways to assist coastal communities' planning for the future.
Forecasts of what Boston and the New England coastline might look like in a century
Anticipated civic + political affects: demographics, economics and social conditions
Join the conversation and be part of the solution.
Audience participation is encouraged.
The Long Now Boston Conversation Series hosts Paul Kirshen and Kirk F. Bosma to share their research on the effects of climate change on the region's coastline, and proposed risk mitigation measures.
Paul Kirshen, Ph.D., is a Professor in the School for the Environment at the UMass Boston and serves as the Academic Director of its Sustainable Solutions Lab. Paul has 30 years of experience in complex, interdisciplinary research related to water resources management, and climate variability and change. He holds Sc.B., MS, and PhD degrees in civil engineering with an emphasis on systems applications. His interest in climate change is focused on the integrated vulnerabilities of built, natural, social, and economic systems to climate change and sea level rise (SLR) and the development of adaptation strategies to these stresses.
Kirk F. Bosma, PE, is a Senior Coastal Engineer and Team Leader of the Coastal Sciences, Engineering & Planning team at Woods Hole Group.His expertise includes habitat restoration, shoreline protection, and climate change planning projects and specializes in applying numerical models to optimize engineering designs and reduce overall project life cycle costs. He also developed gray, green, and hybrid coastal engineering adaptations for fostering urban and rural resiliency in a cost-effective approach.
Cambridge Innovation Center is an in-kind sponsor of this Long Now Boston conversation. We are very grateful for their support.
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The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage, and Fear in the Cyber Age
Monday, October 29
7:30 PM – 9:00 PM EDT
Harvard Coop, 1400 Mass Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/meet-harvard-faculty-author-david-sanger-tickets-51723573601
In 2015, Russian hackers tunneled deep into the computer systems of the Democratic National Committee, and the subsequent leaks of the emails they stole may have changed the course of American democracy. But to see the DNC hacks as Trump-centric is to miss the bigger, more important story: Within that same year, the Russians not only had broken into networks at the White House, the State Department, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but had placed implants in American electrical and nuclear plants that could give them the power to switch off vast swaths of the country. This was the culmination of a decade of escalating digital sabotage among the world’s powers, in which Americans became the collateral damage as China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia battled in cyberspace to undercut one another in daily just-short-of-war conflict.
About the Author
DAVID E. SANGER is national security correspondent for the New York Times and bestselling author of The Inheritance and Confront and Conceal. He has been a member of three teams that won the Pulitzer Prize, including in 2017 for international reporting. A regular contributor to CNN, he also teaches national security policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
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Tuesday, November 6
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The State of Government Technology: ASSESSING GOVERNMENT DEVELOPMENT, DEPLOYMENT, AND USE OF TECH TOOLS
Tuesday, November 6
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM ET
Harvard, Wasserstein Hall, Milstein East C (room 2036, second floor), 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe3jVkAMy_DbHIdEppcW9BKcfaeXyr1nfW3gfEpV1HUVRy5ng/viewform
Alvand Salehi
Kathy Pham
Christopher Bavitz
Event will be live webcast and recorded at 12:00 pm on day of event at https://cyber.harvard.edu/events/2018-11-06/state-government-technology
On this US election day, we are pleased to take a close look at the inner workings of government, with a particular focus on the ways in which federal, state, and local government institutions leverage technology and technical resources to best serve citizens.
Our speakers—Alvin Salehi and Kathy Pham—bring deep expertise in federal and state government deployment of technology and in establishing policies within government to foster and promote responsible tech development initiatives. They share stories from their time in government and offer thoughts on best practices for government institutions developing approaches to technology development and procurement that enhance the provision of government services.
The event will be moderated by Berkman Klein Center co-director, Chris Bavitz.
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Robert Legvold: U.S.-Russia Relations and the Threats of the New Nuclear Age
Tuesday, November 6
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM EST
Tufts, The Fletcher School, Mugar 231, 160 Packard Avenue, Medford
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/robert-legvold-us-russia-relations-and-the-threats-of-the-new-nuclear-age-registration-50156945775
Please join the Russia and Eurasia Program at The Fletcher School for a lunch talk by Professor Robert Legvold (F67) of Columbia University. He will discuss the current state of U.S.-Russia relations and the threats of the new nuclear age. Attendance is by registration only on Eventbrite.
Robert Legvold is Marshall D. Shulman Professor Emeritus in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University, where he specialized in the international relations of the post-Soviet states. He was director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace-sponsored “Euro-Atlantic Security Initiatives” (2009-2012) and project director for “Rethinking U.S. Policy toward Russia” at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2008-2010). He also served as Director of the Harriman Institute at Columbia University (1986-1992). Before that, he served on the faculty of the Department of Political Science at Tufts University and as Senior Fellow and Director of the Soviet Studies Project at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Social Sciences. Legvold's areas of particular interest are the foreign policies of former Soviet Union states and U.S. relations with them. His most recent book is Return to Cold War (2016). His work has been published by Foreign Policy, The Brookings Institution, Routledge, The National Interest, and Foreign Affairs. He received his Ph.D. from The Fletcher School in 1967.
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"Gentrifier" with Jason Patch
Tuesday, November 6
12:30pm to 2:00pm
MIT, Building 9-217, 105 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Join the Department of Urban Studies & Planning's Housing, Community, and Economic Development Group for a conversation with Jason Patch, professor of sociology and urban studies and co-author of the book Gentrifier.
The book (co-written with John Joe Schlichtman and Marc Lamont Hill; University of Toronto Press, 2017) opens up a new conversation about gentrification that goes beyond the statistics and the clichés to examine different sides of this controversial, deeply personal issue. The book takes a close look at the socioeconomic factors and individual decisions behind gentrification and their implications for the displacement of low-income residents. Drawing on a variety of perspectives, the authors present interviews, case studies, and analysis in the context of recent scholarship in such areas as urban sociology, geography, planning, and public policy, sharing accounts of their first-hand experience as academics, parents, and spouses living in New York City, San Diego, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Providence. With unique insight and rare candor, Gentrifier challenges readers' current understandings of gentrification and their own roles within their neighborhoods. [Lunch provided.]
Jason Patch is a professor of sociology and urban studies at Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island. His research interests focus on gentrification, cities, and qualitative methodology. For the past twelve years he has lived with his family in the great city of Providence. Once, long ago, he spent a year living in Allston.
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Reflections on the Symposium on Global Health & the Social Sciences: One Year Later
Tuesday, November 6
3:30 - 5:00 pm
BU, Pardee Center, 67 Bay State Road, Boston
RSVP at https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07efslv2uk63d5faa2&oseq=&c=&ch=
Occurring almost one year ago to the day, the Symposium on Global Health & the Social Sciences marked an important occasion that brought together nearly 30 leading anthropologists, political scientists, and sociologists from around the country to contribute to evolving discussions related to the role of the social sciences in global health. The symposium resulted in a report published in June 2018 exploring the social sciences in light of five themes: global health governance, reproductive health and human rights, universalism, infectious disease response, and access to pharmaceuticals. This seminar will provide an opportunity to share what took place at the symposium, the participants' respective roles in the event, and important developments that have occurred since then.
Report on the original symposium available at https://www.bu.edu/pardee/conference-report-symposium-on-global-health-the-social-sciences/
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Emile Bustani Seminar: "Confederation: The Only Possible Two-State Solution for Israel and Palestine"
Tuesday, November 6
4:30pm to 6:00pm
MIT, Building E51-376, 70 Memorial Avenue, Cambridge
Bernard Avishai, Visiting Professor of Government, Dartmouth College, Adjunct Professor of Business, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
A two-state solution can be preempted by catastrophe, inertia, demagogy, venal leaders, weak leaders—or it can be pushed off to another generation. It cannot just be “over.” Neither can you splice the word “solution” onto the words “one-state,” and promise resolution of the conflict—not unless you expect that state to be as grotesque as the continuing occupation. Yet “two states” always portended a reciprocal structure of independence and interdependence: in effect, a confederation. No other arrangement could ever have worked. Israel and Palestine must share a collective security regime, a common urban infrastructure and common business ecosystem. Talk on the Israeli center-left of “divorce” was a mirage, especially in view of Israel’s large Arab minority.
Bernard Avishai teaches political economy at Dartmouth and is the author of The Tragedy of Zionism and The Hebrew Republic, among other books. He writes regularly for the New Yorker. He is a past technology editor of Harvard Business Review, and International Director of Intellectual Capital at KPMG. He was selected as a Guggenheim fellow in 1987.
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Panel Discussion: Is deep-sea mining worth it?
Tuesday, November 6
5:00pm to 6:30pm
MIT, Samberg Conference Center, 6th Floor, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Join the world’s leading experts in deep-sea mining as they discuss and debate whether or not we should mine resources in the deep ocean.
Panelists Include:
Chris Brown, International Seabed Authority
Thomas Peacock, MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering
Kris Van Nijen, Global Sea Mineral Resources
Cindy Van Dover, Duke University
Samantha Smith, Blue Globe Solutions
Moderated by Conn Nugent, Pew Charitable Trusts
Reception with refreshments to follow!
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Enchanting Technology
Tuesday, November 6
6:00pm to 8:00pm
MIT, Museum Studio, Building 10-150, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Peter Bebergal will present a multi-media presentation based on the material from his new book Strange Frequencies: The Extraordinary Story of the Technological Quest for the Supernatural, followed by a discussion with Professor Graham Jones from MIT Anthropology and Seth Riskin, manager of the MIT Museum Studio and Compton Gallery. Light refreshments will be served. Books will be on hand for sale by the MIT Press Bookstore.
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PLASTICS
Tuesday, November 6
6:00 PM – 8:30 PM EST
The Venture Cafe - Cambridge Innovation Center, 5th Floor, 1 Broadway, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/plastics-tickets-50352640102?mc_cid=2b38192248&mc_eid=5db7b997d5
Cost: $8 – $12
Plastics are vital and problematic. Not all plastics are alike of course, and how we use them responsibly, how we eliminate unnecessary use, and how we clean up after ourselves are topics most of us need more schooling in. This evening, BASG's Amy Perlmutter helps us host the evening:
Amy Perlmutter is an independent consultant whose practice includes strategy, stakeholder engagement, communications, and facilitation to build the green economy. She was an early pioneer in the recycling field and continues to be fascinated by trash. She was the Director of Solid Waste for Passaic County, New Jersey; Recycling Director of the City and County of San Francisco; and founding director of the Chelsea Center for Recycling and Economic Development, where she worked with businesses, researchers, and government to increase the use of recycled materials in manufacturing processes in Massachusetts. She is the lead consultant for the City of Boston’s Zero Waste Plan development, on the advisory board of Zero Waste USA, an advisor to the startup, Magnomer, and a Clean Tech Open mentor.
Amy has invited Bob Malloy to teach us about plastics:
Robert Malloy is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell in the Plastics Engineering Department. He has been a faculty member at UMass Lowell since 1987. Prior to joining the faculty at Lowell, he was a faculty member at the Algerian Petroleum Institute in Annaba, Algeria. He has taught courses on the subjects of Plastics Materials, Physical Property Testing, Plastics Processing and Plastic Product and Mold Design, and is an active researcher and consultant in the areas of thermoplastic processing, plastic part design, mold design and plastics recycling. He is the author of many patents and publications including a book on the subject of “Plastic Part Design for Injection Molding”. He is a member of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE), past chairman of SPE’s Injection Molding Division, a recipient of SPE’s International Education Award and is a Fellow of the SPE. He was also inducted as a member of the Plastics Academy Plastics Hall of Fame in 2012.
And Amy has invited Janet Domenitz of MASSPIRG to talk about what's being done and can be done:
Janet Domenitz has been the executive director of MASSPIRG since 1990 and directs programs on consumer protection, solid waste reduction and recycling, health and safety, public transportation, and voter participation. Janet has co-founded or led coalitions, including Earth Day Greater Boston, Campaign to Update the Bottle Bill and the Election Modernization Coalition. Janet serves as president for the Consumer Federation of America; was a founding member of the Transportation for Massachusetts coalition and the Massachusetts Election Modernization Coalition; and serves on the Common Cause Massachusetts executive committee, Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow board of directors, and Department of Environmental Protection Solid Waste Advisory Committee. For her work, Janet has received Common Cause’s John Gardner Award and Salem State University’s Friend of the Earth Award. Janet lives in Cambridge, Mass., with her husband and two sons and every Wednesday morning she slow-runs the steps at Harvard Stadium with the November Project. Janet began working on MASSPIRG’s staff in 1980. She holds a B.A., magna cum laude, from Brandeis University.
We're looking forward to welcoming them all here with you on Tuesday evening November 6th.
PLEASE REMEMBER THAT NOVEMBER 6TH is election day. Vote EARLY!
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The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success
Tuesday, November 6
6:30 pm
Brookline Village Library, 361 Washington Street, Brookline
Too often, accomplishment does not equate to success. We did the work but didn’t get the promotion; we played hard but weren’t recognized; we had the idea but didn’t get the credit. We’ve always been told that talent and a strong work ethic are the key to getting ahead, but in today’s world these efforts rarely translate into tangible results. Recognizing this disconnect, Laszlo Barabási, one of the world’s leading experts on the science of networks, uncovers what success really is: a collective phenomenon based on the thoughts and praise of those around you.
Albert-László Barabási is the Robert Gray Dodge Professor of Network Science and a Distinguished University Professor at Northeastern University, where he directs the Center for Complex Network Research, and holds appointments in the Department of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and at the Central European University in Budapest. A native of Transylvania, Romania, he received his Masters in Theoretical Physics at the Eötvös University in Budapest and his Ph.D. at Boston University. His work has led to many breakthroughs, including the discovery of scale-free networks in 1999, which continues to make him one of the most cited scientists today.
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Media Mixer & Networking Event: Open to the Public!
Tuesday, November 6
6:30 PM – 8:00 PM EST
Artisan's Asylum, 10 Tyler Street, Somerville
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/media-mixer-networking-event-open-to-the-public-tickets-51252632002
Let's celebrate creativity by throwing another Media Mixer event! Come to our next Media Mixer hosted by Somerville Media Center & Artisan's Asylum on Tuesday, November 6 from from 6:30pm - 8:00pm held at Artisan's Asylum.
Get to meet other media makers and aspiring creatives and more at this event!
You will also get to learn more about two great Somerville resources-- the Somerville Media Center and Artisan's Asylum!
You will get information on SMC's upcoming classes, film screenings, special workshops, youth media, networking opportunities, crew calls, membership & more! You will also get to learn more about Artisan's Asylum, their many classes, space & equipment rentals, membership and tour their 40,000 square foot warehouse in the old Ames Safety Envelope facility at 10 Tyler Street.
More info on Somerville Media Center: https://www.somervillemedia.org
More info on Artisan's Asylum: https://artisansasylum.com/about/
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Food in Culture & Community with EChO & Eureka Ensemble
Tuesday, November 6
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM EST
Harvard, CGIS Knafel Building- K354, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/food-in-culture-community-with-echo-eureka-ensemble-tickets-49431816895
This fall, Eradicate Childhood Obesity (EChO) Foundation is premiering an opera called A Sweet Fairy Tale in collaboration with Eureka Ensemble, the Codman Square Health Center and Daily Table. Intended to increase awareness on the negative effects of excessive added sugar, this food opera will also help promote good nutrition in a new way for young audiences and their parents. Find out how Laurent Adamowicz and Kristo Kondakçi are engaging the community in this creative project, as well as past projects.
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Upcoming Events
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Wednesday, November 7
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Passive House Massachusetts 2018 Symposium
Wednesday, November 7
8am - 5pm
BSA Space, 2nd Floor Gallery and Rooms, Atlantic Wharf Building, 290 Congress Street, Boston
RSVP at https://passivehouseboston.givezooks.com/events/2018-passive-house-massachusetts-symposium
Cost: $53.74 - $159.24
The opening keynote event will feature a showcase of projects representing the future of Passive House in Massachusetts: a multi-family building in Cambridge, a college residence hall in Williamstown, and the largest Passive House office yet built, right in the heart of Boston.
Multi-track sessions will then feature case studies, data presentations, policy updates, and in-depth discussions on the design, engineering, financing, and construction of state-of-the-art high performance buildings, including lessons learned from other states.
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Speaker Series on Misinformation: Kathleen Hall Jamieson
Wednesday, November 7
11:30 am - 1:00 pm
Harvard, David T. Ellwood Democracy Lab, Rubenstein Building, Room 414AB, Cambridge
Speaker Series on Misinformation, co-sponsored by the NULab at Northeastern University.
Kathleen Hall Jamieson is the Elizabeth Ware Packard Professor of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication, the Walter and Leonore Director of the university’s Annenberg Public Policy Center, and Program Director of the Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands.
Five of the 15 books that Jamieson has authored or co-authored have received a total of eight political science or communication book awards (Packaging the Presidency, Eloquence in an Electronic Age, Spiral of Cynicism, Presidents Creating the Presidency, and The Obama Victory.) She recently co-edited The Oxford Handbook on the Science of Science Communication and The Oxford Handbook on Political Communication. Jamieson has won university-wide teaching awards at each of the three universities at which she has taught and has delivered the American Political Science Association’s Ithiel de Sola Poole Lecture, the National Communication Association’s Arnold Lecture, and the NASEM Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education Henry and Bryna David Lecture. Her paper “Implications of the Demise of ‘Fact’ in Political Discourse” received the American Philosophical Society’s 2016 Henry Allen Moe Prize. Jamieson is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, and the International Communication Association, and a past president of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.
Editorial Comment: Kathleen Hall Jamieson has been a scholar of American political media throughout her career. She is rigorously brilliant and has a new book out of the evidence for the how possible Russian misinformation affected the 2016 Presidential election. If anyone has the data on this, Dr Jamieson does.
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Rules for Rebels: The Science of Victory in Militant History
Wednesday, November 7
12:00-1:30pm
MIT, Building E40-496, Pye Room, 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Max Abrahms, Northeastern University
Ever wonder why militant groups behave as they do? For instance, why did Al Qaeda attack the World Trade Center whereas the African National Congress tried to avoid civilian bloodshed? Why does Islamic State brag over social media about its gory attacks, while Hezbollah denies responsibility or even apologizes for its carnage? Abrahms' forthcoming book shows that militant group behavior depends on the strategic intelligence of the leaders. The author has extensively studied the political plights of hundreds of militant groups throughout world history and reveals that successful militant leaders have followed three rules. Although counterintuitive, these rules are based on original insights from the fields of political science, psychology, criminology, economics, management, marketing, communication, and sociology. It turns out there's a science to victory in militant history. But even rebels must follow rules.
Bio: Max Abrahms is assistant professor of political science and public policy at Northeaster University. His new book, Rules for Rebels (Oxford University Press), explains why the conventional wisdom about Islamic State was incorrect.
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Cannabis and Opioids: Prevention or Treatment? (Gonson Lecture)
Wednesday, November 7
1-2pm
Cambridge Center for Adult Education, 56 Brattle Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cannabis-and-opioids-prevention-or-treatment-gonson-lecture-tickets-47516868232
Cost: $5 Admission.
Marion McNabb | MPH, DrPH; CEO, Cannabis Community Care and Research Network
While cannabis has been recreationally legal in Massachusetts for some time, researchers and public health officials have long been researching and developing medicinal uses of the substance. With opiod addiction reaching crisis levels, many continue to investigate marijuana’s effect on such addiction. Join Marion McNabb, CEO of Cannabis community Care and Research Network (C3RN), as they discuss how researchers and health professionals are addressing the opioid epidemic using cannabis as a tool locally in Massachusetts.
This talk is part of the Gonson Daytime Lecture Series at Cambridge Center for Adult Education. To view the full series lineup, go to http://ccae.org/gonsonlectures
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Let's Disagree -- Call for Participants!
WHEN Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2018, 1 – 2:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Law School
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Classes/Workshops, Education, Law, Special Events, Volunteer Opportunities
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Negotiation & Mediation Clinical Program
CONTACT INFO http://hnmcp.law.harvard.edu/letsdisagree/
DETAILS Are you dismayed by the growing partisan divide and worried that we can no longer talk to each other across differences? Be a participant in Let's Disagree! For more info and to apply, go to http://hnmcp.law.harvard.edu/letsdisagree/
Instructors and students of Harvard Law School’s “The Lawyer as Facilitator” course will host Let’s Disagree—a series of three small-group discussions, led by student facilitators as the capstone event of a semester-long workshop. We aim to convene people with diverse personal backgrounds and political views across the conservative to liberal spectrum to address polarizing civic issues. Let’s Disagree is designed to explore deep differences of opinion in a facilitated setting that encourages participants to embrace and learn from conflict—to learn to disagree passionately on matters of vital civic importance, and still maintain a strong, vital community. We welcome students, staff, faculty, and members of the greater Boston community. Let’s Disagree will meet from 1–2:30 p.m. on Oct. 31, Nov. 7, and Nov. 14, on the Harvard Law School campus. Participants are asked to commit to attending all three of the scheduled conversations and to bring a willingness to engage with respect and curiosity in a civil discussion of challenging issues. An optional 30-minute debrief with co-participants and facilitators will follow each session.
For more info and to apply, go to: http://hnmcp.law.harvard.edu/letsdisagree/
LINK http://hnmcp.law.harvard.edu/letsdisagree/
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Political Geometry: The Mathematics of Redistricting
WHEN Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2018, 4 – 5 p.m.
WHERE Radcliffe, Knafel Center, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Research study, Science, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S) Moon Duchin, 2018–19 Evelyn Green Davis Fellow, Radcliffe Institute; mathematician, and senior fellow, Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, Tufts University
COST Free
CONTACT INFO events at radcliffe.harvard.edu
DETAILS In this lecture, Duchin will explain her long-term project on the geometry of gerrymandering, an application of mathematics to civil rights. She has worked to build a national network of collaborators doing wide-ranging work on mathematical and computational interventions in electoral redistricting.
LINK https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2018-moon-duchin-fellow-presentation
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The Environmental Bias of Trade Policy
Wednesday, November 7
4:15PM TO 5:30PM
Harvard, Littauer-382, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Joseph Shapiro, University of California, Berkeley
Seminar in Environmental Economics and Policy
https://canvas.harvard.edu/courses/44157
Support from Enel Endowment for Environmental Economics and the Department of Economics is Gratefully Acknowledged.
casey_billings at hks.harvard.edu
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Engineering the Future We Want, Eric Schmidt
Wednesday, November 7
4:30pm to 5:30pm
MIT, Stata Center, Building 32-123, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Eric Schmidt is Technical Advisor to Alphabet Inc., where he advises its leaders on technology, business and policy issues. Eric joined Google in 2001 and helped grow the company from a Silicon Valley startup to a global leader in technology. He served as Google’s Chief Executive Officer from 2001-2011, and as chairman from 2011-2018. Prior to Google, Eric held leadership roles at Novell and Sun Microsystems, Inc. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University as well as a master’s degree and Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. He was a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Eric is Chairman of the Department of Defense’s Innovation Board and was awarded the Medal for Distinguished Public Service by Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter. Eric is a member of NASA’s National Space Council User Advisory Group which is chaired by the Vice President.
He is the co-author of The New Digital Age and How Google Works, and serves on the boards of the Mayo Clinic and the Broad Institute. He’s a Gulfstream pilot, and his philanthropic efforts through The Schmidt Family Foundation focus on climate change, including support of ocean and marine life studies at sea, as well as education, specifically cutting-edge research and technology in the natural sciences and engineering.
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Modern HERstory: Stories of Women and Nonbinary People Rewriting History
Wednesday, November 7
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes acclaimed writer and activist BLAIR IMANI—founder and executive director of Equality for HER—for a discussion of her debut book, Modern HERstory: Stories of Women and Nonbinary People Rewriting History.
About Modern HERstory
With a radical and inclusive approach to history, Modern HERstory profiles and celebrates seventy women and nonbinary champions of progressive social change in a bold, colorful, illustrated format for all ages. Despite making huge contributions to the liberation movements of the last century and today, all of these trailblazers come from backgrounds and communities that are traditionally overlooked and under-celebrated: not just women, but people of color, queer people, trans people, disabled people, young people, and people of faith. Authored by rising star activist Blair Imani, Modern HERstory tells the important stories of the leaders and movements that are changing the world right here and right now—and will inspire you to do the same.
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Fighting Back Against Climate Change: Altering Earth’s Atmosphere
Wednesday, November 7
7 to 9:00 p.m.
Harvard Medical School, Armenise Auditorium (in Goldenson Hall), 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston
More information at http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/seminar-series/
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Thursday, November 8
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2018 Conference: Disaster Risk Reduction, Response and Sustainable Reconstruction
Capacity Building for Equitable Planning and Development
Thursday, November 8
8:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
University of Massachusetts Boston, Campus Center Ballroom
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2018-conference-disaster-risk-reduction-response-and-sustainable-reconstruction-capacity-building-registration-17044865652
An event of the Center for Rebuilding Sustainable Communities after Disasters (CRSCAD), McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston (UMass Boston). Co-sponsored by the College of Advancing and Professional Studies.
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2018 Social Innovator Encore
Thursday, November 8
8:30 AM – 10:00 AM EST
Brown Rudnick LLP, 1 Financial Center, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2018-social-innovator-encore-registration-47091096738
Did you miss the May Showcase? Join us for our “Encore” event on Thursday, November 8, 8:30 - 10:00 am. This free event will begin with breakfast and networking and then our 2018 Social Innovators will take to the stage to pitch their solutions to our community’s most challenging social issues.
2018 SOCIAL INNOVATORS
ACT Lawrence
Establishing Financial Education as a Building Block for Success
Track Partner: MassMutual Foundation
Community Boating Center
Advancing Education in New Bedford
Track Partner: Schrafft Charitable Trust
Fathers' Uplift
Anything Goes: Innovative, Effective, and Sustainable Approaches to Our Region's Toughest Social Issues
Track Partner: Boston Open Impact
GreenRoots
Improving Access to Healthy Living
Track Partner: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
PAIR (Political Asylum / Immigration Representation) Project
Promoting the Successful Advancement and Integration for Immigrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers
Track Partner: Immigrant and Refugee Funder Collaborative
Partners for Youth with Disabilities
Supporting Accessibility and Opportunities for Young People with Disabilities
Track Partner: Liberty Mutual Insurance
The Renew Collaborative
Addresssing Homelessness in Massachusetts
Track Partner: Highland Street Foundation
Strategies for Youth
Breaking the Cycle of Incarceration
Track Partner: Stifler Family Foundation
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CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE: A PANEL DISCUSSION
Thursday, November 8
8:30 – 10:30 am EST
GA Boston, 125 Summer Street 13th Floor, Boston
RSVP at https://generalassemb.ly/education/cultural-diversity-in-the-workplace-a-panel-discussion/boston/60742
In 2018 diversity and inclusion is a hot topic for discussion, but how do we identify the key why's and how's of cultural diversity? In this panel discussion, we bring together key influencers in the Boston business scene who are at the forefront of cultural inclusion. We will discuss on why diversity in cultural backgrounds has such an impact on a company, and ultimately is a beneficial contributor to our economy.
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Bringing the Ocean Ashore: Ichthyology and Infrastructure in Pacific Waters
Thursday, November 8
12:00-1:00pm
Tufts, Multi-purpose Room, Curtis Hall, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford
Anthony Medrano, Ziff Environmental Fellow, Department of History, Harvard University
On August 25, 2016, the National Park Service turned 100. The very next day, President Obama made history by signing a proclamation expanding the size of the Hawaiian Archipelago's Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, making it the largest marine protected area in the world. And yet, while we know how this protected geography came to be—it was established by President Bush in 2006 and enlarged by President Obama in 2016—we know far less about the ways in which the U.S. came to understand and value the Pacific’s biological diversity. This presentation uses the career of Alvin Seale (1871-1958) to show how the overlooked study of fish was central to bringing the ocean ashore and knowing the wealth and wonders of the Pacific environment. Through Seale’s currents in and around this great ocean, the talk suggests that today’s national marine monuments not only stem from the historical interplay between fish, science, and infrastructure but that the legacy of these interactions is at the heart of knowing these Pacific waters and the threats they face in the age of climate change.
Dr. Anthony Medrano is a Ziff Environmental Fellow at Harvard University, where he looks at the history and legacy of human-ocean interactions in the Indo-Pacific region. His current book project, Modern Fish: Science, Industry, and the Rise of Urban Southeast Asia, tells the story of how regional waters fueled the rapid growth of cities, infrastructures, plantations, and mines in the decades from the late nineteenth century to the end of the interwar period. Broadly, Dr. Medrano's research examines how the marine environmental past shapes, and is shaped by, our global environmental present. Prior to receiving his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2017, he studied at Humboldt and Hawaii as well as the University of Indonesia and the National University of Malaysia.
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What’s Environment Got to Do with It? –Agency, Accountability & the People’s Health
Thursday, November 8
1:00PM TO 2:00PM
Harvard, Room 1302, Building 1, HSPH, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston
Nancy Krieger, Professor of Social Epidemiology, American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professor, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Dr. Krieger is Professor of Social Epidemiology, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Director of the HSPH Interdisciplinary Concentration on Women, Gender, and Health. She has been a member of the School’s faculty since 1995. Dr. Krieger is an internationally recognized social epidemiologist (PhD, Epidemiology, UC Berkeley, 1989), with a background in biochemistry, philosophy of science, and history of public health, plus 30+ years of activism involving social justice, science, and health. In 2004, she became an ISI highly cited scientist, a group comprising “less than one-half of one percent of all publishing researchers, with her ranking reaffirmed in the 2015 update.” In 2013, she received the Wade Hampton Frost Award from the Epidemiology Section of the American Public Health Association, and in 2015, she was awarded the American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professorship.
Contact Name: Monica Russell
mjrussell at hsph.harvard.edu
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Energy & Cleantech Mini-Conference
Thursday, November 8
3:00 PM to 8:00 PM
The Venture Cafe, 1 Broadway, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/TechnovationHub/events/255732846/
Venture Cafe’s Energy & Cleantech mini-conference https://vencaf.org/energyconnect/ takes place on November 8th, 2018.
This special ‘conference night’ event seeks to bring together the brightest minds who are building, funding, and innovating in the Greater Boston area’s Energy & CleanTech communities. Come prepared to not only hear the best ideas and see the latest technologies but also to participate in building Boston’s CleanTech Industry.
AGENDA AT A GLACE:
3:00 – 8:30 PM NETWORKING
3:00 – 5:00 PM OFFICE HOURS
4:15 – 5:15 PM FUNDING ENERGY & CLEANTECH VENTURES
5:30 – 6:30 PM ENTREPRENEUR PANEL: HOW I BUILT IT
5:30 – 8:00 PM ENERGY & CLEANTECH DEMOS
6:00 – 8:00 PM ENERGY & CLEANTECH FLASH TALKS
6:45 – 8:00 PM ENERGY & CLEANTECH SHARK TANK
1) Office Hours, 3:00 - 5:00 PM
Early stage ventures and prospective entrepreneurs have an opportunity to sign up for Office Hours during this event. Entrepreneurs may sign up for 30-minute consultations with a variety of experts.
2) Funding Energy and CleanTech Ventures, 4:15 - 5:15 PM
Details Coming Soon.
3) Entrepreneur Panel: How I Built It, 5:30 - 6:30 PM
Details Coming Soon.
4) Energy and CleanTech Demos & Info Tables 5:30 - 8:00 PM
Hear from several experts on what they look for when investing in Robotics/AI startups. This panel will address popular methods of funding, as well as personal experiences from the investors featured. Moderated by Fady Saad of MassRobotics.
Sign up to demo your startup: bit.ly/vc-energydemo18
5) Energy and CleanTech Flash Talks, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
These sessions will be community-generated, lightning sessions comprised of 30 minutes of content and 15 minutes of networking for each session.
Sign up to present a flash talk: bit.ly/vc-cleantalk
(Dealine to apply is October 25th, 2018)
6) Energy and CleanTech Shark Tank, 6:45 - 8:00 PM
These sessions will be community-generated, lightning sessions comprised of 30 minutes of content and 15 minutes of networking for each session.
Sign up to present a flash talk: bit.ly/vc-clean-pitch18
(Dealine to apply is October 25th, 2018)
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Starr Forum: The Rise of Populism
Thursday, November 8
4:30pm to 6:00pm
MIT, Building E15-070, Bartos Theater, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
Experts discuss the growing political trend in US, Turkey, and India
Speakers:
Sana Aiyar on India
Sana Aiyar is associate professor and the Class of 1948 Career Development Chair of history at MIT. She received her PhD from Harvard University in 2009 and held an Andrew Mellon postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University in 2009-10. From 2010 to 2013 she was Assistant Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her broad research and teaching interests lie in the regional and transnational history of South Asia and South Asian diasporas, with a particular focus on colonial and postcolonial politics and society in the Indian Ocean.
Pippa Norris on the US
Pippa Norris is a comparative political scientist who has taught at Harvard for more than a quarter century. She is ARC Laureate Fellow and Professor of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney, the Paul F. McGuire Lecturer in Comparative Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and Director of the Electoral Integrity Project. Her research compares public opinion and elections, political institutions and cultures, gender politics, and political communications in many countries worldwide. She is ranked the 5th most cited political scientist worldwide, according to Google scholar. Major honors include, amongst others, the Skytte prize, the Karl Deutsch award, and the Sir Isaiah Berlin award. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Recent publications include a new edited book, on Electoral Integrity in America with OUP, and a book with Ronald Inglehart on "Cultural Backlash" forthcoming with CUP.
Aysen Candas on Turkey
Ayşen Candaş (PhD 2005, Columbia University Political Science) is an Associate Professor of Political Science, Bogazici University, Istanbul. Interests in democratization and de-democratization processes, constitutionalism, basic rights of women, of ethnic, religious and sexual minorities in Turkey and Muslim majority countries, seculars of Turkey, social policies associated with regime types, freedom of conscience, freedom of expression, liberal and democratic rights, indivisibility of basic civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights
Moderator:
Elizabeth Leeds
Elizabeth Leeds is a senior fellow at WOLA where she advises work on citizen security and human rights in Brazil. She is a leading expert on police reform and other issues of citizen security in Brazil, having conducted extensive research and field work on the topics over the last four decades. From 1989-1997 she was the Executive Director of the Center for International Studies at the Massachusettes Institute of Technology (MIT). As a Ford Foundation Program Officer for Governance and Civil Society in the Foundation’s Brazil Office, 1997-2003, she developed the Democratic Policing Initiative. She is the co-founder and Honorary President of the Brazilian Forum for Public Safety, begun in 2005, which is a leading independent voice on public safety policies and law enforcement in Brazil, facilitating regular dialogue with relevant actors. Currently, she serves as a Research Affiliate at the Center for International Studies at MIT. She received her PhD in political science from MIT.
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Dudleian Lecture: Kristallnacht 1938: Crescendo and Overture
WHEN Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018, 4:30 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Sperry Room, Andover Hall, 45 Francis Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Religion, Special Events
SPONSOR Harvard Divinity School
CONTACT HDS Dean's Office
DETAILS Peter Hayes (Ph.D., Yale, 1982) specializes in the histories of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust and, in particular, in the conduct of the nation’s largest corporations during the Third Reich. He will give this year's Dudleian Lecture on "Kristallnacht 1938: Crescendo and Overture."
Prof. Hayes is the author or editor of 12 books. They include the prize-winning Industry and Ideology: IG Farben in the Nazi Era (1987, 2001) and Lessons and Legacies: The Meaning of the Holocaust in a Changing World (1991). From 2006 to 2010, he served as the only American member of the Independent Historians Commission on the History of the German Foreign Office in the Third Reich and the Federal Republic, which resulted in the publication of a bestseller in Germany entitled Das Amt und die Vergangenheit. Most recently, he has produced three major works on the Holocaust: The Oxford Handbook of Holocaust Studies (co-edited with John K. Roth, 2010), an extensive anthology called How Was It Possible? A Holocaust Reader (2015), and a compact analytical synthesis, Why? Explaining the Holocaust, that W. W. Norton & Company released in 2017. He is currently writing (with Stephan Lindner of Munich) Profits and Persecution: German Big Business in the Third Reich, which is under contract in English with Cambridge University Press and in German with Beck Verlag.
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Brian Michael Bendis: The 2018 Julius Schwartz Lecture
Thursday, November 8
5:30pm to 7:00pm
MIT, Building 32-123, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
MIT Comparative Media Studies/Writing is thrilled to welcome award-winning comics creator Brian Michael Bendis, a New York Times bestseller and one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics, for the 2018 Julius Schwartz lecture.
For the last eighteen years, Brian’s books have consistently sat on the top of the nationwide comic and graphic novel sales charts. Now with DC Comics, he is the co-creator and consulting producer of the Peabody Award-winning Jessica Jones on Netflix from Marvel TV. For Marvel entertainment, Bendis was the monthly writer of the bestselling Defenders, Jessica Jones, Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Guardians of the Galaxy series.
The introduction of the multiracial Spider-Man, Miles Morales, made the front page of USA Today and went on to become an international hotbed political topic featured on Fox News, CNN, The Daily Show, Conan O’Brien, Howard Stern and many others.
The news of a new ‘Iron man’ character in the form of 15-year-old Riri Williams made massive international headlines when the story broke in Time magazine. Her solo debut as Invincible Iron man debuted in the top five nationwide.
Before that, Brian completed a 100 issue run on the X-Men franchise with the debut of ALL NEW X-MEN and UNCANNY X-MEN and 9 years helming Marvel’s popular AVENGERS franchise by writing every issue of the NEW AVENGERS plus debuting the hit books AVENGERS, MIGHTY AVENGERS and DARK AVENGERS along with the wildly successful ‘event’ projects AVENGERS VERSUS X-MEN, HOUSE OF M, SECRET WAR, SPIDER-MEN, SECRET INVASION, AGE OF ULTRON, SIEGE and CIVIL WAR 2.
In delivering the 2018 Julius Schwartz Lecture, Brian follows comics and science fiction legends Neil Gaiman (video) and J. Michael Straczynski (video).
The Julius Schwartz Lecture is hosted by the Comparative Media Studies/Writing program at MIT and was founded to honor the memory of longtime DC Comics editor Julius “Julie” Schwartz, whose contributions to our culture include co-founding the first science fiction fanzine in 1932, the first science fiction literary agency in 1934, and the first World Science Fiction Convention in 1939. Schwartz went on to launch a career in comics that would last for 42 years, during which time he helped launch the Silver Age of Comics, introduced the idea of parallel universes, and had a hand in the reinvention of such characters as Batman, Superman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, and the Atom.
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Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past
WHEN Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018, 6 – 7 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Presented by Harvard Museum of Natural History in collaboration with the Allen Discovery Center at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, funded through The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group
SPEAKER(S) David Reich, Professor, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Senior Associate Member, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT
COST Free and open to the public
DETAILS David Reich, Professor, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Senior Associate Member, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT
Sweeping technological innovations in the field of genomics are enabling scientists to extract and analyze ancient DNA — genetic material from human remains dating back up to hundreds of thousands of years — as never before. This research is revealing new insights into our lineage as modern humans and has become as important as archaeology, linguistics, and the written word in understanding our past. David Reich, author of "Who We Are and How We Got Here," will discuss the potential of ancient DNA for revealing the history of our species.
Evolution Matters Lecture Series
Lecture & Book Signing. Free and open to the public.
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Why Religion?: A Personal Story
Thursday, November 8
6:00 PM (Doors at 5:30)
Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge
Cost: $6 - $29.75 (book included)
Harvard Book Store and Mass Humanities welcome preeminent academic ELAINE PAGELS for a discussion of her latest book, Why Religion?: A Personal Story.
About Why Religion?
Why is religion still around in the twenty-first century? Why do so many still believe? And how do various traditions still shape the way people experience everything from sexuality to politics, whether they are religious or not? In Why Religion? Elaine Pagels looks to her own life to help address these questions.
These questions took on a new urgency for Pagels when dealing with unimaginable loss—the death of her young son, followed a year later by the shocking loss of her husband. Here she interweaves a personal story with the work that she loves, illuminating how, for better and worse, religious traditions have shaped how we understand ourselves; how we relate to one another; and, most importantly, how to get through the most difficult challenges we face.
Drawing upon the perspectives of neurologists, anthropologists, and historians, as well as her own research, Pagels opens unexpected ways of understanding persistent religious aspects of our culture.
A provocative and deeply moving account from one of the most compelling religious thinkers at work today, Why Religion? explores the spiritual dimension of human experience.
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Uber Advanced Technologies - Company Presentation
Thursday, November 8
6:00pm to 7:30pm
MIT, Building 32-155, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
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Is America Losing Its Miracle Machine?
Thursday, November 8
6:00pm to 8:00pm
MIT, Building 3-270, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
In the twentieth century, America led the world in scientific and technological innovation, with federally funded basic research leading to breakthroughs ranging from the Internet to the Human Genome Project. Over the last several decades, everything from the rise of autonomous weapons to the potential eugenics applications of genetic editing tools has made clear that the rate of discoveries outpaced our ability to predict their moral and ethical consequences. How the scientific community addresses these essential questions could mean the difference between a dystopian and a manageable future.
Eric Lander, president and founding director of the Broad Institute and a principal leader of the Human Genome Project, and Maria Zuber, MIT Vice President for Research and the E. A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics, will be joined by Communications Forum director Seth Mnookin for a wide-ranging discussion on the ethical issues entangled in innovation and the real, and sometimes devastating, effects of invention without culpability.
Speakers:
Dr. Eric Lander is the president and founding director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. A geneticist, molecular biologist, and mathematician, he has played a pioneering role in the reading, understanding, and biomedical application of the human genome and was a principal leader of the Human Genome Project.
Dr. Maria Zuber is the MIT Vice President for Research and the E. A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics. Dr. Zuber was principal investigator for the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL), the first woman to lead a NASA spacecraft mission, and the first woman to lead a science department at MIT. In her role as Vice President for Research, Dr. Zuber oversees research administration and policy for more than a dozen interdisciplinary research laboratories and centers.
Moderator: Seth Mnookin is the director of the MIT Communications Forum and director of MIT’s Graduate Program in Science Writing. His most recent book, The Panic Virus: The True Story Behind the Vaccine-Autism Controversy, won the “Science in Society” award from the National Association of Science Writers.
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Why aren't we moving? An inside look at the MBTA.
Thursday, November 8
6:00p - 8:30p
Alley powered by Verizon, 10 Ware Street, Cambridge
You are on your way to work when the train comes to a screeching halt. Or maybe your train has been replaced by shuttle service once again. Perhaps, the board says your train is one minute away and ten minutes later you're still standing on the platform. Public transportation can drive us crazy while also being a significantly better option than braving Boston traffic. We longingly admire European cities transit and wonder why can't Boston do the same?!
At our next Civic Series event, join us to learn what is going on behind the scenes in our transit system, dispel some of our favorite transit myths, and get your lingering questions answered such as:
What is a cascading delay?
Why can't transit fund itself?
How is the money flowing and being allocated?
What is all the fuss about the green line extension?
What exactly is happening underground?
AND SO MUCH MORE!
The event will be presented by transportation expert, Matthew Ciborowski, Senior Planner at Arup and lifelong transportation devotee. The presentation will be followed by an extensive Q&A, beer, and snacks!
More information at https://civicseries.org/event/why-arent-we-moving-an-inside-look-at-the-mbta/
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Fall BINJ Get Together & Fundraiser
Thursday, November 8
6 PM – 9 PM
Good Life Boston, 28 Kingston Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/266542384000214/
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Diplomacy and Intrigue in the Arctic
Thursday, November 8
7pm
NE Aquarium, Simons IMAX
RSVP at http://support.neaq.org/site/Calendar?id=107767&view=Detail
David Balton, Senior Fellow, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; Former Ambassador for Oceans and Fisheries, U.S. Department of State
The Arctic region is undergoing profound changes, driven primarily by a warming climate. The nations and peoples of the Arctic are struggling to adapt to these changes. Over the past decade–and despite all manner of friction in the relationship between the United States and Russia–a new international architecture for governing the Arctic is beginning to emerge. Ambassador David Balton, who has played a key role in building this architecture, will review the state of play and consider what may lie ahead in the coming years.
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Urban Planning Film Series: Flag Wars
Thursday, November 8
7:00pm to 9:00pm
MIT, Building 3-133, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
FLAG WARS (2003): Shot over a four-year period, Linda Goode Bryant and Laura Poitras' Flag Wars is a poignant and very personal look at a community in Columbus, Ohio, undergoing gentrification. What happens when gay white homebuyers move into a working-class black neighborhood? As the new residents restore the beautiful but run-down homes, black homeowners must fight to hold onto their community and heritage. The inevitable clashes expose prejudice and self-interest on both sides, as well as the common dream to have a home to call your own. Winner of the Jury Award at the South by Southwest Film Festival, Flag Wars is a candid, unvarnished portrait of privilege, poverty and local politics taking place across America. An Independent Television Service (ITVS) and National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC) co-presentation. A Diverse Voices Project (DVP) Selection.
"One of the things we reveal in Flag Wars is how privilege and prejudice operate simultaneously. As a lesbian, I am aware that I can be a target for violence and discrimination, however, I am also aware that my class and race privilege open doors for me every day of my life. My sexuality does not erase these privileges.... I especially want Flag Wars to be seen by queer audiences and to raise debate around class and race in the queer community." ---Laura Poitras, Director
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Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents
Thursday, November 8
7:30 PM (Doors at 6:30)
Back Bay Events Center, 180 Berkeley Sttrry, Boston
RSVP at http://www.harvard.com/event/pete_souza2/
Cost: $50.00 (book + signed bookplate included)
Harvard Book Store is thrilled to welcome back PETE SOUZA—Chief Official White House Photographer for President Obama and author of the #1 New York Times best seller Obama: An Intimate Portrait—for a presentation of his highly anticipated new book, Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents.
Please Note
This event does not include a book signing. All tickets include a copy of Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents and a bookplate pre-signed by the author.
About Shade
As Chief Official White House Photographer, Pete Souza spent more time alongside President Barack Obama than almost anyone else. His years photographing the President gave him an intimate behind-the-scenes view of the unique gravity of the Office of the Presidency—and the tremendous responsibility that comes with it.
Now, as a concerned citizen observing the Trump administration, he is standing up and speaking out.
Shade is a portrait in Presidential contrasts, telling the tale of the Obama and Trump administrations through a series of visual juxtapositions. Here, more than one hundred of Souza's unforgettable images of President Obama deliver new power and meaning when framed by the tweets, news headlines, and quotes that defined the first 500 days of the Trump White House.
What began with Souza's Instagram posts soon after President Trump's inauguration in January 2017 has become a potent commentary on the state of the Presidency and our country. Some call this "throwing shade." Souza calls it telling the truth.
In Shade, Souza's photographs are more than a rejoinder to the chaos, abuses of power, and destructive policies that now define our nation's highest office. They are a reminder of a President we could believe in, and a courageous defense of American values.
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Friday, November 9
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Disability and Citizenship: Global and Local Perspectives
WHEN Friday, Nov. 9, 2018, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
WHERE Radcliffe, Knafel Center, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Conferences, Education, Health Sciences, Law, Lecture, Social Sciences, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
COST Free
CONTACT INFO events at radcliffe.harvard.edu
DETAILS This conference will explore ways in which contemporary notions of disability are linked to concepts of citizenship and belonging. Leaders in advocacy, education, medicine, and politics will consider how ideas of community at the local, national, and international levels affect the understanding of and policies related to disability — and how this has manifested itself, in particular, in higher education. Register online.
LINK https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2018-disability-and-citizenship-conference
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Problem Solving: The Foundation of Innovative Leadership
Friday, November 9
12:00pm to 1:00pm
Webinar
RSVP at https://professional.mit.edu/problem-solving-foundation-innovative-leadership-webinar?utm_source=mit-calendar&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=dpp-psfil-2019&utm_term=webinar&utm_content=leadership
What separates innovative leaders from their non-innovative counterparts? According to MIT's Dr. David Niño, it takes a creative mind and top-notch problem-solving skills. The better you can see and define problems, the more effective you can be as a leader who inspires creativity within your organization.
Join us online this November 9, 2018 at 12:00pm EST for a free 60-minute webinar that explores the critical connection between leadership and innovation, and the role problem-solving plays in creating opportunities to innovate. You'll gain a better understanding of:
A leader's role in the innovation process
What types of leaders succeed and why
The importance of identifying and solving problems
How leaders can inspire creative work environments
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Fires, Smoke, and Urban Air Quality in the Western U.S.
Friday, November 9
12:00PM
Harvard, 100F Pierce Hall, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Professor Dan Jaffe, University of Washington
In the past two decades, the area of wildland fires has approximately doubled from what it was in the preceding two decades, with most of that increase occurring in the Western U.S. This has given rise to many days in the west with the worst air quality every measured in America. As a result of research on air quality impacts from smoke over the past few years we have made great progress in understanding some key aspects of the atmospheric chemistry. For example:
Over the last 3 decades PM2.5 has increased at the 98th percentile due to wildfires over a large portion of the western U.S. (McClure and Jaffe 2018, PNAS).
Analysis of a large number of smoke events from 18 monitoring locations in the Western U.S. shows that average O3production rates are enhanced by ~1-2 ppb/hour during the daytime, compared to non-smoke days. This is due to a large enhancement from VOCs and a smaller enhancement from NOx. During days with smoke influence, maximum daily 8-hour averaged O3 (MDA8) generally increases with the daily mean PM2.5 with an average slope of ~0.5-1 ppb per ug/m3 up to approximately 60 ug/m3, but with a large degree of variability. Above this level, O3 production appears to be suppressed, most likely due to photolysis effects.
Because O3 is difficult to predict from Eulerian photochemical models, we have developed a statistical approach using Generalized Additive Modeling (GAM) that can be used to estimate the smoke influence on O3. This approach shows that fire emissions can result in enhancements in the O3 max daily 8-hour average (MDA8) of up to 30 ppb, but again with a large degree of variability. The GAMs also show that the strongest influence from fires is on photochemically active days, with much lower influence on other days.
The question of climate change influence on the increasing area burned is complex. The general pattern of forests in America has changed dramatically over the past 100 years due to fire suppression, while average and extreme temperatures have increased, as has lightning. Throw in the effects from human ignitions, predators like Pine Bark Beetle and Spruce Bark Beetle, which damage forests and leave them more susceptible to fires, and the problem gets even more complex. Given the millions of people that were exposed to very unhealthy air quality over the past few years, and the many more who will be exposed in the future, it is important to review our advice for reducing personal exposure. Based on my observations and data in 2018, this advice needs significant rethinking.
Contact Name: Kelvin Bates
kelvin_bates at fas.harvard.edu
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IACS Seminar: Bottlenecks, Representations, and Fairness: Information-Theoretic Tools for Machine Learning
WHEN Friday, Nov. 9, 2018, 1:30 – 2:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Maxwell Dworkin Building G115, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Ethics, Information Technology, Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Institute for Applied Computational Science at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
SPEAKER(S) Flavio P. Calmon, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering, Harvard University
COST Free and open to the public. No registration required.
CONTACT INFO Email: iacs-info at seas.harvard.edu
Phone: 617-496-2623
DETAILS Information theory can shed light on the algorithm-independent limits of learning from data and serve as a design driver for new machine learning algorithms. In this talk, Dr. Calmon will discuss a set of flexible information-theoretic tools that can be used to (i) understand fairness and discrimination by machine learning models and (ii) characterize data representations learned by complex learning models. He will illustrate these techniques in both synthetic and real-world datasets, and discuss future research directions.
LINK https://iacs.seas.harvard.edu/event/bottlenecks-representations-and-fairness-information-theoretic-tools-machine-learning
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Extracting Energy from Water: Electricity Generation from Wastewaters, Using Microbial Fuel Cells, and from Natural or Engineered Salinity Gradients
Friday, November 9
3:00pm (Reception at 2:45pm)
MIT, Building 66-110, 25 Ames Street, Cambridge
Bruce E. Logan, Ph.D., Evan Pugh Professor, The Stan and Flora Kappe Professor Director, Engineering, Energy & Environmental Institute
Penn State University
Abstract: To reduce CO2 emissions, new methods are needed to reduce energy consumption and also to exploit additional carbon-neutral energy sources for electricity generation. In the US, our water infrastructure consumes ~30 gigawatts of electrical power, which is clearly unsustainable for a world where 1-2 billion people still lack adequate access to potable water supplies or sanitation. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are being examined as a new method of wastewater treatment. In an MFC, certain bacteria can degrade organic matter and directly produce electricity, making it possible to both treat wastewater and produce power. At many locations in the US and around the world, treated wastewater is often discharged into the ocean, but salinity differences between this water and seawater could provide an additional source of power. I will summarize recent advances in MFCs and SGE technologies, and present research on how these processes have inspired new, low- energy methods for brackish water desalination.
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Threshold: Emergency Responders on the US-Mexico Border
Friday, November 9
3:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes Harvard assistant professor IEVA JUSIONYTE for a discussion of her latest book, Threshold: Emergency Responders on the US-Mexico Border.
About Threshold
Emergency responders on the US-Mexico border operate at the edges of two states. They rush patients to hospitals across country lines, tend to the broken bones of migrants who jump over the wall, and put out fires that know no national boundaries. Paramedics and firefighters on both sides of the border are tasked with saving lives and preventing disasters in the harsh terrain at the center of divisive national debates.
Ieva Jusionyte’s firsthand experience as an emergency responder provides the background for her gripping examination of the politics of injury and rescue in the militarized region surrounding the US-Mexico border. Operating in this area, firefighters and paramedics are torn between their mandate as frontline state actors and their responsibility as professional rescuers, between the limits of law and pull of ethics. From this vantage they witness what unfolds when territorial sovereignty, tactical infrastructure, and the natural environment collide. Jusionyte reveals the binational brotherhood that forms in this crucible to stand in the way of catastrophe. Through beautiful ethnography and a uniquely personal perspective, Threshold provides a new way to understand politicized issues ranging from border security and undocumented migration to public access to healthcare today.
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Walkable City Rules: 101 Steps to Making Better Places
Friday, November 9
7:00 pm
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, Brookline
Nearly every US city would like to be more walkable—for reasons of health, wealth, and the environment—yet few are taking the proper steps to get there. The goals are often clear, but the path is seldom easy. Jeff Speck’s follow-up to his bestselling Walkable City is the resource that cities and citizens need to usher in an era of renewed street life. Walkable City Rules is a doer’s guide to making change in cities, and making it now.
Jeff Speck is a city planner and urban designer who, through writing, lectures, and built work, advocates internationally for more walkable cities. As Director of Design at the National Endowment for the Arts, he oversaw the Mayors’ Institute on City Design and created the Governors’ Institute on Community Design. He is author of Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time and the co-author of Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream as well as The Smart Growth Manual.
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In My Father's House: A New View of How Crime Runs in the Family
Friday, November 9
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and National Book Award–winning author FOX BUTTERFIELD for a discussion of his latest book, In My Father's House: A New View of How Crime Runs in the Family.
About In My Father's House
The United States currently holds the distinction of housing nearly one-quarter of the world's prison population. But our reliance on mass incarceration, Fox Butterfield argues, misses the intractable reality: As few as 5 percent of families account for half of all crime, and only 10 percent account for two-thirds. In introducing us to the Bogle family, the author invites us to understand crime in this eye-opening new light. He chronicles the malignant legacy of criminality passed from parents to children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren. Examining the long history of the Bogles, a white family, Butterfield offers a revelatory look at criminality that forces us to disentangle race from our ideas about crime and, in doing so, strikes at the heart of our deepest stereotypes. And he makes clear how these new insights are leading to fundamentally different efforts at reform. With his empathic insight and profound knowledge of criminology, Butterfield offers us both the indelible tale of one family's transgressions and tribulations, and an entirely new way to understand crime in America.
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No Sanctuary: Teachers and the School Reform That Brought Gay Rights to the Masses
Friday, November 9
7:00pm
Porter Square Books, 25 White Street, Cambridge
School can be a special sort of nightmare for LGBTQ youth, who are sometimes targets of verbal or physical harassment with nowhere to turn for support. No Sanctuary tells the inspiring story of a mostly unseen rescue attempt by a small group of teachers who led the push to make schools safer for these at-risk students. Their efforts became the blueprint for Massachusetts’s education policy and a nationwide movement, resulting in one of the most successful and far-reaching school reform efforts in recent times. Stephen Lane sheds light on this largely overlooked but critical series of reforms, placing the Safe Schools movement within the context of the larger gay rights movement and highlighting its key role in fostering greater acceptance of LGBTQ individuals throughout society.
Stephen Lane is a high school teacher. He lives in Concord, Massachusetts, with his wife and son.
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Escape Velocity Party
Friday, November 9
7 PM-9:30 PM
Brookline Teen Center, 40 Aspinwall Avenue, Brookline
RSVP at https://tedxbeaconstreet.com/tedxbeaconstreet-escape-velocity-party-2018/#registration
On November 9th, join us at the Brookline Teen Center—a 1930s-era auto body garage—to kick off our season 7 of TEDxYouth at BeaconStreet and TEDxBeaconStreet. In addition to our party to kick-off the weekend, we’ll also be screening the film “High School 911” (trailer HERE) followed by a youth activism panel and Q&A about how to start your own movement of change.
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Saturday, November 10 – Sunday, November 11
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Sourcing Boston: A Food Security and Resilience Hackathon
Saturday, November 10, 9:30 AM – Sunday, November 11, 2:00 PM EST
Northeastern, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sourcing-boston-a-food-security-and-resilience-hackathon-tickets-50755791940
Visualizing the impact of climate change and other shocks to Boston's food system
How stable and just is Boston's food system? What does it look like, in size and complexity?
On the weekend of November 10th and 11, Northeastern University’s College of Arts, Media and Design and the Global Resilience Institute will host “Sourcing Boston,” a hackathon where participants will explore data – from economic to environmental science to urban planning – to tell compelling stories and draw insights about food insecurity, economic disruption and resilience.
In partnership with Thomson Reuters Labs and RStudio, this event will challenge participants to leverage data, analytics and visualization to find new ways of telling stories and deriving insights about how climate change and other shocks can disrupt food systems, supply chains and basic infrastructure in Boston.
Who can sign up and who will be there?
The event is open to both students from Northeastern and greater Boston, as well as professionals from any field. It will be kicked off with lightning talks on resilience data, and visualizing and communicating risk.
Who will be giving lightning talks?
Tim Reardon, MAPC
Brian Romer, Thomson Reuters Labs
Liz Allen, Northeastern University's Global Resilience Institute, Feeding Cities in an Era of Climate Change: A Case Study of Seattle’s Food-Energy-Water Nexus
What kind of stories are we looking for?
Identify current food deserts and predict where new ones might be emerging in Boston
Visualize the web of food imports by land, sea or air into New England
Design a contingency plan for food and other supplies in a post-disaster Boston
Integrate social media and government data to paint a picture of food insecurity in the region
Analyze Boston’s food infrastructure to predict where it might fail first in the event of a disaster
What kind of datasets will be available?
Massachusetts agricultural census data
NASA Earth Observatory data
Boston food access data
Curated food riot data 2007-2016*
NOAA sea level rise data, FEMA flood risk data, NASA historic sea levels data
U.S. Census food security questionnaire data
Media coverage of food security stories
Many more!
*Data provided exclusively by Thomson Reuters Labs
What tools will be at your disposal?
Whatever you’re comfortable working with
RStudio and RShiny for data analysis and visualization
Knight Lab digital storytelling tools
LeafletJS, Datawrapper and Carto.com for mapping
How will projects be judged?
A panel of Northeastern professors and industry experts will judge projects on the following criteria:
Clarity: Does the project make sense and communicate well? Is it easy to understand, use and gain insight from?
Accuracy: Are the data correctly sourced, well-curated and well cleaned? Can we trace the sources back to verify the results?
Interesting Research Question and Analytic Value: Can you provide data-driven answers which are hard to get elsewhere?
Aesthetics: Is it beautiful and a joy to use?
Extensibility: Could this be extended and/or incorporated into a larger system?
What are the prizes?
$1,000 in prizes.
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Saturday, November 10
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Careers in Conservation Fall 2018
Saturday, November 10
9:00 AM – 4:00 PM EST
Harvard, Mallinckrodt Chemistry Lab, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/careers-in-conservation-fall-2018-tickets-49662890041
Careers in Conservation (CiC) is an annual event, hosted by the Harvard College Conservation Society, which provides inspiration, career advice, and connections for students from Harvard and nearby Boston area universities who are interested in pursuing careers in any of many disciplines within the field of conservation. CiC includes renowned speakers from the field, various workshops for students to gain more information on various subfields within conservation, and an interdisciplinary panel. We are also expanding our networking opportunities this year, inviting more alumni and representatives from various organizations in the hopes of connecting with students with potential job/internship opportunities and mentors. Lunch will be provided free to attendees.
This year's event line-up includes:
A keynote address by Rand Wentworth, Louis Bacon Senior Fellow in Environmental Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School and President Emeritus of the Land Trust Alliance
5 engaging workshops: Conservation Law & Policy with Steve Small, Conservation Biology with Onja Razafindratsima, Conservation Government with Paul Phifer, Conservation Communications with Clarisse Hart, and Conservation Finance with Nathalie Woolworth
An interdisciplinary panel with Dr. Kelly Kryc (Director of Marine Conservation Policy and Leadership at Anderson Cabot Center of Ocean Life), Dr. Richard Wrangham (Professor of Biological Anthropology at Harvard University), and Charles Tracy (Landscape Architect at the National Park Service)
This event is made possible by our generous sponsors: Harvard Forest, Harvard Office for Sustainability, Harvard Office of Careers Services, Harvard University Center for the Environment (HUCE), and Academics for Land Protection in New England (ALPiNE).
Please reach out to harvardconservation at gmail.com with any questions. We look forward to seeing you there!
*Note, the exact timing of the event is likely to be around 9am-4pm, but is subject to change.
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TEDxYouth at BeaconStreet
Saturday, November 10
10:30 AM- 3:30 PM
Lincoln School, 19 Kennard Road, Brookline
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tedxyouthbeaconstreet-2018-nov-10th-lincoln-school-registration-50373297890
On November 10th, TEDxYouth at BeaconStreet will return to the Graham Gund designed Lincoln School in Brookline! Some of the most inspiring minds and youth speakers in the world will converging in Brookline to kick off our 7th season of Youth Talks. TEDxYouth at BeaconStreet is one of the most celebrated independently organized TED events in the world, providing free access to thousands in person and featuring talks that have been viewed hundreds of millions of times.
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IMILONJI KaNtu Workshop
Saturday, November 10
2:00 PM 4:00 PM
Arlington Town Hall, 730 Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington
RSVP at https://www.sanschorus.org/events-container/2018/11/4/dont-miss-imilonji-kantus-boston-tour-arlington-6s7jg
Cost: $40 online or at the door, $50 for workshop and concert
Participate in this amazing afternoon showcasing songs, dances, costumes and the different cultures of many tribes of South Africa. You will have an opportunity to learn some songs and dance moves if you choose!
Experience the songs of the people of South Africa shared by IMILONJI KaNtu Choral Society from Soweto, South Africa. Sharing A New Song is so fortunate to be hosting this award winning choir!
Founded in 1988 in Soweto, the choir was the first to express the struggle of the people in Apartheid South Africa in an organized musical context. The choir was there at the site of the struggle – at protest rallies, at funerals of victims of Apartheid and at commemoration services.
IMILONJI KaNtu was honored to sing at the inauguration of President Nelson Mandela and the elevation of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. When South Africa gained independence the choir spread a message of reconciliation to the new nation of South Africa and was a messenger of good news to the countries it visited. It continues with that mission today on its 2018 Boston Tour.
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IMILONJI KaNtu's Concert @ Arlington Town Hall with Sharing A New Song and Boston City Singers
Saturday, November 10
7:30 PM 9:30 PM
Arlington Town Hall, 730 Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington
RSVP at https://www.sanschorus.org/events-container/2018/11/4/dont-miss-imilonji-kantus-boston-tour-arlington-6s7jg-cjgzr
Cost: $20 online or at the door
Experience the songs of the people of South Africa shared by IMILONJI KaNtu Choral Society from Soweto, South Africa. We are so fortunate to be hosting this award winning choir!
Founded in 1988 in Soweto, the choir was the first to express the struggle of the people in Apartheid South Africa in an organized musical context. The choir was there at the site of the struggle – at protest rallies, at funerals of victims of Apartheid and at commemoration services. It became the serenading voice of hope for the many families that felt isolated by the system.They were honored to sing at the inauguration of President Nelson Mandela and the elevation of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. When South Africa gained independence the choir spread a message of reconciliation to the new nation of South Africa and was a messenger of good news to the countries it visited. It continues with that mission today.
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Monday, November 12
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Digital Resistance: How the Internet Facilitates Responses to Racial Microaggression
Monday, November 12
12pm
BU, 96 Cummington Hall, Room SOC241, 96 -100 Cummington Street, Boston
Robert Eschmann
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The Mystery of Smith’s Aspen: Uncovering the genetic identity and climate change vulnerability of a hybrid Pleistocene relic
Monday, November 12
12:10PM
Arnold Arboretum, Weld Hill Lecture Hall, 300 Centre Street, Boston
Jake Grossman, Arboretum Putnam Fellow
Watch live on the Arboretum’s YouTube channel if you are unable to attend in person.
Arnold Arboretum Research Talk
https://www.arboretum.harvard.edu/research/research-talks/
Contact Name: arbweb at arnarb.harvard.edu
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Cultures of Nuclear Security: How Different Countries Decide How to Protect their Nuclear Facilities
Monday, November 12
12:15PM TO 2:00PM
Harvard, CGIS South S050, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
Matthew Bunn (Harvard Kennedy School).
The STS Circle at Harvard is a group of doctoral students and recent PhDs who are interested in creating a space for interdisciplinary conversations about contemporary issues in science and technology that are relevant to people in fields such as anthropology, history of science, sociology, STS, law, government, public policy, and the natural sciences. We want to engage not only those who are working on intersections of science, politics, and public policy, but also those in the natural sciences, engineering, and architecture who have serious interest in exploring these areas together with social scientists and humanists.
There has been growing interest among graduate students and postdocs at Harvard in more systematic discussions related to STS. More and more dissertation writers and recent graduates find themselves working on exciting topics that intersect with STS at the edges of their respective home disciplines, and they are asking questions that often require new analytic tools that the conventional disciplines don’t necessarily offer. They would also like wider exposure to emerging STS scholarship that is not well-represented or organized at most universities, including Harvard. Our aim is to try to serve those interests through a series of activities throughout the academic year.
Sandwich lunches are provided. Please 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 School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
STS Circle at Harvard
http://sts.hks.harvard.edu/events/sts_circle/
sts at hks.harvard.edu
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Outbreak Culture: The Ebola Crisis and the Next Epidemic
Monday, November 12
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM EST
Harvard Coop, 1400 Mass Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/meet-pardis-sabeti-lara-salahi-tickets-51832957772
The award-winning genetic researcher who helped tame the Ebola epidemic pairs up with a prize-winning journalist to tell the story of what happened and what would have to change to prevent the next outbreak from spiraling out of control.
About the Authors
Pardis Sabeti is Associate Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Harvard University. A member of the Broad Institute and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Sabeti was named a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, a National Geographic Society Emerging Explorer, and one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2015. She is also the recipient of an NIH New Innovator Award and a Richard Lounsbery Award from the National Academy of Sciences.
Lara Salahi is an award-winning multimedia journalist and author, and assistant professor of Broadcast and Digital Journalism at Endicott College.
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Tuesday, November 13
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Bad Apples: A new disease and its impacts, farm to fork
Tuesday, November 13
12:00PM TO 1:00PM
Harvard, HUH Seminar Room 125, 22 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge
Megan Biango-Daniels, Postdoctoral Scholar, Wolfe Lab, Dept. of Biology, Tufts University
Abstract: The United States is the world’s second-largest apple producer. Before this economically important crop makes it to grocery shelves, it faces numerous fungal pathogens, a problem compounded by its long postharvest storage. Fungal rots contribute to the 10-15% of apples that are lost between the farm and the grocery store. Paecilomyces niveus (Byssochlamys nivea) is an important heat-resistant food spoilage mold of fruit products that produces patulin, a mycotoxin often associated with moldy apples. This understudied ascomycete was found in a third of New York orchard soils sampled. My work demonstrated for the first time that the fungus is a plant pathogen, capable of infecting fruit through wounds in the orchard and postharvest. When infected apples are used for apple juice concentrate, they harbor hard-to-kill ascospores that can survive the extended thermal processing used. This work suggests P. niveus may be introduced to wounded fruit from orchard soils and go on to cause spoilage and mycotoxin problems in processed products. Due to its superficial similarity to other diseases, Paecilomyces rot may be overlooked. In proposing a novel explanation for the episodic nature of P. niveus contamination, this research links an apple disease with food spoilage.
Herbaria Seminar
https://huh.harvard.edu/calendar/upcoming/taxonomy/term/20301
Contact Name: Claire Gallagher
cgallagher at fas.harvard.edu
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Re-Engineering Humanity: ETHICS AND GOVERNANCE OF AI
Tuesday, November 13
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM ET
Harvard, Wasserstein Hall, Milstein East C (room 2036, second floor), 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScGNmbgsDnxg6hroY4WzCeCwm62nUHRw8yVv3jLww7XHSt6eA/viewform
Brett Frischmann
Event will be live webcast and recorded at 12:00 pm on day of event at https://cyber.harvard.edu/events/2018-11-13/re-engineering-humanity
Every day, new warnings emerge about artificial intelligence rebelling against us. All the while, a more immediate dilemma flies under the radar. Have forces been unleashed that are thrusting humanity down an ill-advised path, one that’s increasingly making us behave like simple machines? Brett Frischmann will discuss what’s happening to our lives as society embraces big data, predictive analytics, and supposedly smart environments. He will explain how the goal of designing programmable worlds goes hand in hand with engineering predictable and programmable people. If you're interested in understanding exactly how technology threatens the future of our society and what we can do now to build something better, join us!
Are supposedly smart digital technologies re-engineering humanity? Don't worry about the rise of super-intelligent, sentient machines. Instead, worry about the tyranny of digital tech utopianism.
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Hurricane of the New South: ‘Mud Work’ and Transformations in Black Labor on the South Carolina Sea Islands at the Dawn of Jim Crow
Tuesday, November 13
5:15PM
Massachusetts Historical Society, 1154 Boylston St., Boston
Caroline Grego, University of Colorado Boulder. Comment by Chad Montrie, University of Massachusetts Lowell.
Attendance is free, but you can subscribe online ($25) for the convenience of advance online access to the papers in FOUR series: this, our new Boston African American History Seminar, the Boston Area Early American History Seminar, and the Boston Seminar on Modern American Society and Culture.
Boston Seminar on Environmental History
https://www.masshist.org/2012/calendar/seminars/environmental-history
Contact Name: Alex Buckley
abuckley at masshist.org
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Beantown Throwdown 2018
November 13
5:30 pm – 8:00 pm
LogMeIn, 333 Summer Street, Boston
RSVP at http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/event/mitef-cambridge-beantown-throwdown-2018/
Cost: $10 - $45
Register
Home to over 60 colleges and universities, Boston has launched some of the most creative and inventive student-founded startups in the world. The Beantown Throwdown is all about celebrating and showcasing them!
Hosted at LogMeIn's Boston Headquarters, the #BeantownThrowdown will feature student teams representing a cross-section of local colleges and universities who will pitch their startups for recognition, as voted by the audience, as the winner of this annual event.
In a fun, collaborative environment, this program will also include a panel with unbridled insights from area entrepreneurs and investors.
Panelists
Kelly O'Brien, Technology Reporter, Boston Business Journal
Wafaa Arbash, Co-Founder and CEO, WorkAround
Kelsey Alpaio, Assistant Editor & Designer, Innovation Leader
Nick Meyer, Entrepreneur in Residence, Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship
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Aga Khan Program Lecture: Anna Heringer, "Architecture is a Tool to Improve Lives”
WHEN Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Piper Auditorium, Gund Hall, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard University Graduate School of Design
SPEAKER(S) Anna Heringer
CONTACT INFO Anyone requiring accessibility accommodations should contact the events office at (617) 496-2414 or events at gsd.harvard.edu.
DETAILS The vision behind, and motivation for my work is to explore and use architecture as a medium to strengthen cultural and individual confidence, to support local economies and to foster the ecological balance. Joyful living is a creative and active process and I am deeply interested in the sustainable develo p.m.ent of our society and our built environment. For me, sustainability is a synonym for beauty: a building that is harmonious in its design, structure, technique and use of materials, as well as with the location, the environment, the user, the socio-cultural context. This, for me, is what defines its sustainable and aesthetic value.
For Anna Heringer, architecture is a tool to improve lives. As an architect and honorary professor of the UNESCO Chair of Earthen Architecture, Building Cultures, and Sustainable Develo p.m.ent she is focusing on the use of natural building materials. Her diploma work, the METI School in Rudrapur got realized in 2005 and won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2007. Over the years, Anna has realized further projects in Asia, Africa, and Europe. Together with Martin Rauch she has developed the method of Clay Storming that she teaches at various universities, including ETH Zurich, UP Madrid, TU Munich. She received numerous honors: the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture, the AR Emerging Architecture Awards in 2006 and 2008, the Loeb Fellowship at Harvard’s GSD and a RIBA International Fellowship. Her work was widely published and exhibited in the MoMA New York, the V&A Museum in London and at the Venice Biennale among other places. In 2013 with Andres Lepik and Hubert Klumpner she initiated the Laufenmanifesto where practitioners and academics from around the world contributed to define guidelines for a humane design culture. She is currently appointed as Aga Khan Design Critic in Architecture at the GSD.
This event is supported by the Aga Khan Program at the GSD.
LINK https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/event/anna-heringer-architecture-is-a-tool-to-improve-lives/
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The End of the End of the Earth: Essays
Tuesday, November 13
7:00 PM (Doors at 6:30)
First Parish Church, 1446 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.harvard.com/event/jonathan_franzen/
Cost: $8 - $28.00 (book included)
Harvard Book Store welcomes renowned novelist and essayist JONATHAN FRANZEN—author of The Corrections and Freedom—for a discussion of his latest collection of essays, The End of the End of the Earth.
About The End of the End of the Earth
In The End of the End of the Earth, which gathers essays and speeches written mostly in the past five years, Jonathan Franzen returns with renewed vigor to the themes―both human and literary―that have long preoccupied him. Whether exploring his complex relationship with his uncle, recounting his young adulthood in New York, or offering an illuminating look at the global seabird crisis, these pieces contain all the wit and disabused realism that we’ve come to expect from Franzen.
Taken together, these essays trace the progress of a unique and mature mind wrestling with itself, with literature, and with some of the most important issues of our day, made more pressing by the current political milieu. The End of the End of the Earth is remarkable, provocative, and necessary.
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Witness: Lessons From Elie Wiesel’s Classroom
Tuesday, November 13
7:00 pm
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, Brookline
In the vein of Tuesdays with Morrie, a devoted protégé and friend of one of the world’s great thinkers takes us into the sacred space of the classroom, showing Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Elie Wiesel not only as an extraordinary human being, but as a master teacher.
Ariel Burger is a writer, artist, teacher, and rabbi whose work combines spirituality, creativity, and strategies for social change. A lifelong student of Elie Wiesel, he spent years studying the great wisdom traditions, and now applies those teachings to urgent contemporary questions. When Ariel’s not learning or teaching, he is creating music, art, and poetry. He lives outside of Boston with his family.
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A Crisis of Beliefs
Tuesday, November 13
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM EST
The Harvard Coop, 1400 Mass Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/meet-the-author-andrei-shleifer-tickets-51598602810
The collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 caught markets and regulators by surprise. Although the government rushed to rescue other financial institutions from a similar fate after Lehman, it could not prevent the deepest recession in postwar history. A Crisis of Beliefs makes us rethink the financial crisis and the nature of economic risk. In this authoritative and comprehensive book, two of today’s most insightful economists reveal how our beliefs shape financial markets, lead to expansions of credit and leverage, and expose the economy to major risks.
Nicola Gennaioli and Andrei Shleifer carefully walk readers through the unraveling of Lehman Brothers and the ensuing meltdown of the US financial system, and then present new evidence to illustrate the destabilizing role played by the beliefs of home buyers, investors, and regulators. Using the latest research in psychology and behavioral economics, they present a new theory of belief formation that explains why the financial crisis came as such a shock to so many people—and how financial and economic instability persist.
A must-read for anyone seeking insights into financial markets, A Crisis of Beliefs shows how even the smartest market participants and regulators did not fully appreciate the extent of economic risk, and offers a new framework for understanding today’s unpredictable financial waters.
About The Author:
Andrei Shleifer is John L. Loeb Professor of Economics at Harvard University. He holds an undergraduate degree from Harvard and a Ph.D. from MIT. Before coming to Harvard in 1991, he has taught at Princeton and the Chicago Business School. Shleifer has worked in the areas of comparative corporate governance, law and finance, behavioral finance, as well as institutional economics. He has published seven books, including The Grabbing Hand (with Robert Vishny), Inefficient Markets: An Introduction to Behavioral Finance, and A Crisis of Beliefs: Investor Psychology and Financial Fragility (with Nicola Gennaioli), as well as over a hundred articles. Shleifer is an Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and a fellow of the Econometric Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Finance Association. In 1999, Shleifer won the John Bates Clark medal of the American Economic Association. According to RePEc, Shleifer is the most cited economist in the world.
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Opportunity
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Announcing Destination 2040: The next long-range transportation plan for the Boston region
How would you improve the Boston region’s transportation system? That’s the question at the heart of the MPO’s preparations for Destination 2040, which the MPO expects to adopt in the spring of 2019.
Every four years, the MPO identifies the system’s strengths and weaknesses; forecasts changes in population, employment, and land use; and creates a plan to address existing and future mobility needs. The resulting long-range transportation plan (LRTP) allocates funding for major projects in the Boston region and guides the MPO’s funding of capital investment programs and studies.
Use the new Destination 2040 website at http://ctps.org/lrtp-dev to explore the state of the system; learn how the MPO will identify needs, revisit its vision and goals, and prioritize its investments; and share your own interests, concerns, and ideas.
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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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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
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/
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.
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