[act-ma] Energy (and Other) Events - May 11, 2014
George Mokray
gmoke at world.std.com
Sun May 11 11:36:23 PDT 2014
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) Events
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-i-do-and-why-i-do-it.html
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Event Index - full Event Details available below the Index
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Monday, May 12
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12pm The role of low-level convective heating in tropical weather and climate
12:10pm The terrestrial biosphere and air quality
12”15pm Air Force 101, the Air Force Nuclear Enterprise, and the B-52
2:30pm How Casinos Use Your Personal Data to Keep You Coming Back for More
3pm NSE Seminar: "Evolving Radiation Detection Challenges in Nuclear Safeguards and Security”
4pm Radcliffe Institute Fellows' Presentation Series: "Come Back Volume and Space”
5:30pm Investing in Nature: Conservation and the Bottom Line
6pm Innovation Excellence 2014 Innovation Cities Tour
6:30pm Science by the Pint: Physical Modeling and High Performance Computing
7pm Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation
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Tuesday, May 13
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ACT | Resonating MIT - all day through Sunday, May 17
12pm Webinar: Bridging Class Divides to Create Community Resilience
12:30 Does Size Matter? A Tale of Performing Welfare, Producing Bodies and Faking Identity
12:30pm Program on U.S.-Japan Relations, Associate's Panel: Globalization and the Japanese Economy
5pm 14th Annual Henry W. Kendall Memorial Lecture: Ice Sheets and Sea Level: Is the Long Tail Attached to a Dragon?
5:30pm Understanding Global Innovation Economies
5:30pm Technovation 2014 – Regional Pitch Night - MassTLC Education Foundation
6pm Noam Chomsky
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Wednesday, May 14
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10am Enhancing Nuclear Security Culture Internationally
12pm III-nitride Nanowires & Heterostructures: Growth & Optical Properties on Nanoscale
12pm NE Food Policy Webinar
2:30pm xTalks: Big Data Where Art Thou? Identifying and Harnessing Sources of Data for MOOC Data Science
3:45pm Bill Dietrich -- University of California, Berkeley
4pm Radcliffe Institute Fellows' Presentation Series: "Recent Works”
4:30pm Aging Successfully - "What's Best for You? Where, Why, What, When and Who?
6pm Cambridge’s Getting to Net Zero Task Force
7pm A Nuclear Weapons Free World? History and Prospects
7pm Key Issues: Election 2014
7pm MIT $100K Launch Competition Finale
7pm Deciding on Divestment from Fossil Fuels: From Congregations to Kitchen Tables
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Thursday, May 15
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8am Beyond the Affordable Care Act: What Works Best in Public Health? A Symposium on Comparative Effectiveness Research in Prevention
12:15pm Faith and Firepower: The Iranian Revolutionary Guards and the Iran-Iraq War
1:30pm Climate Action Liaison Coalition's event: "Building a New Economy to Stop Climate Change”
4pm Can You Hide in an Internet Panopticon?
4pm Brown at 60: A Pathway to Inclusion
5pm Cultivating Compassion and Serving the World
5:30pm MIT Enterprise Forum Innovation Series Event: How Will Drones and Other Flying Robots Shape Your Everyday Life?
6pm Race To Solar
6pm Digital Rendezvous for May! Speaker Todd Chapin of Zipcar!
6pm “Megacentralities: Re-envisioning Mexico City” with Sol Camacho
6:30pm Conversation About Food
6:40pm Shadows of Liberty
7pm Gas Leaks Forum
7:30pm Building the Future Spacesuit
8pm Human Impacts Boston: Putting Some Steam into Climate Change Innovation
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Friday, May 16
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12pm Urbanization, Land Cover Change, and the Carbon Cycle
12pm Europe’s New Frontlines: How the Ukraine Crisis Changes Strategic Thinking in Germany and Beyond
3pm Risk Implications of the Deployment of Renewables for Investments in Electricity Generation
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Saturday May 17
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8:30am Sustainable House of Worship Workshop
9am Drawing for Understanding in Field Science: A Workshop for Middle and High School Educators
10am EarthFest -live bands (Free)
11am Franklin Park Kite & Bike Festival (FREE)
12pm A Window on Eternity: Exploring Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park
1pm Foraging walk and Introduction to Silver Maple Forest
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Sunday, May 18
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Boston Enviro-Film Festival
9am Breaking down the language barrier between developers and journalists
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Monday, May 19
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11am xTalks: Expertise in Science and Engineering, How it is Learned and Taught
12:15pm Building Trust from the Bottom Up: U.S.-Chinese Engagement on Nuclear Issues
5:30pm Challenge Demo Day 2014
6pm Bee-Wise...Know Your Fresh Pond Pollinators!
6pm Philippe Petit discusses Creativity: The Perfect Crime
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Tuesday, May 20
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12:30pm You, me, and my computer
12:30pm Cytoskeletal Control of Bacterial Growth
6pm Book Launch: The Social Machine
6pm Hemlock: A Forest Giant on the Edge
6pm Race To Solar
6pm Boston Quantified Self Show&Tell #BQS16 (NERD)
7pm Why Consumers Alone Can’t Save Our Fish
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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
Clean Energy in 2050
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2014/05/clean-energy-in-2050.html
Technology4Democracy
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2014/05/technology4democracy.html
Cambridge, MA: Energy and Environment Test Bed
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/11/1298616/-Cambridge-MA-Energy-and-Environment-Test-Bed
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Monday, May 12
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The role of low-level convective heating in tropical weather and climate
Monday, May 12
12pm-1pm
MIT, Building 54-915 (the tallest building on campus) Access Via 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
Courtney Schumacher (Texas A&M)
The heating associated with precipitating convective systems in the tropics is a fundamental driver of the large-scale circulation.
MASS Seminar
Web site: http://eaps-www.mit.edu/paoc/events/calendars/mass
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Sponsor(s): MIT Atmospheric Science Seminars
For more information, contact: MASS organizing committee
mass at mit.edu
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The terrestrial biosphere and air quality
May 12, 2014
12:10 pm
Arnold Arboretum, Weld Hill, Jamaica Plain
Daniel Jacob, Vasco McCoy Family Professor, SEAS
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Air Force 101, the Air Force Nuclear Enterprise, and the B-52
WHEN Mon., May 12, 2014, 12:15 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Belfer Center Library, Littauer-369, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR International Security Program
SPEAKER(S) Douglas C. Gosney, research fellow, International Security Program
CONTACT INFO susan_lynch at harvard.edu
LINK http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/events/6379/air_force_101_the_air_force_nuclear_enterprise_and_the_b52.html
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How Casinos Use Your Personal Data to Keep You Coming Back for More
WHEN Mon., May 12, 2014, 2:30 – 4 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, K354, at 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Ethics, Information Technology, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Technology in Government and Topics in Privacy
SPEAKER(S) Adam Tanner, Harvard; John Acres, CEO, Acres 4.0
NOTE Starting in the late 1990s, a former Harvard Business School professor becomes the driving force behind the casino company Caesars, making it a widely admired engine of data collection. Boosted by vast banks of computers, Caesars today knows the names of the vast majority of their clients, exactly what they spend, where they like to spend it, how often they come, and many other characteristics. How do they gather this data and how do they use it?
The first half of the talk previews findings from Adam Tanner’s upcoming book “What Stays in Vegas: The World of Personal Data –Lifeblood of Big Business –and the End of Privacy as We Know It.” In the second half, legendary slot machine developer John Acres will outline how the casino games of the future will need to incorporate ever more personal information to make them compelling to people who grew up in the Internet era.
Bio: Adam Tanner is a fellow at Harvard’s Institute for Quantitative Social Science. Details about his book are at www.whatstaysinvegas.us.
John Acres is a Las Vegas inventor and entrepreneur who has transformed modern day casino games. He created the first system that allowed casinos to track gamblers on slot machines; devised modern progressive jackpots in which prizes rise over time; and a system of instant bonuses, all features that are a staple of modern games. He is CEO of Acres 4.0, developing the enxt generation of casino games.
LINK http://dataprivacylab.org/TIP/index.html
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NSE Seminar: "Evolving Radiation Detection Challenges in Nuclear Safeguards and Security"
Monday, May 12, 2014
3:00p–4:00p
MIT, Building 24-121, access via 60 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Dr. Shaheen Azim Dewji, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Nuclear Science and Engineering
For more information, contact: Valerie Censabella
253-5456
censabel at mit.edu
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Radcliffe Institute Fellows' Presentation Series: "Come Back Volume and Space”
WHEN Mon., May 12, 2014, 4 p.m.
WHERE Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Sheerr Room, Fay House, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S) Pamela Lins, 2013-2014 David and Roberta Logie Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University
COST Free and open to the public
NOTE Pamela Lins refers to her work primarily as sculpture, although she uses the term expansively. She teaches sculpture at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art and painting at Princeton University.
LINK http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2014-pamela-lins-fellow-presentation
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Investing in Nature: Conservation and the Bottom Line
Monday, May 12
Reception 5:30 p.m.; panel 6:30 to 8 p.m.
Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, Roberts Theatre, 527 Tremont Street, Boston
Cost: $25
How can environmentally sound investment provide competitive economic and ecological return for businesses and for society? Can market-based solutions create a stronger economy and a healthier environment?
Speakers will include: Mark Tercek, president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy and author of Nature’s Fortune; and Howard Stevenson of Harvard Business School.
Click here to buy tickets to our May 12 event: https://support.nature.org/site/Ticketing?view=Tickets&id=5101
See more at: http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/massachusetts/explore/ma-future-of-nature.xml#sthash.g35IZGrm.dpuf
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Innovation Excellence 2014 Innovation Cities Tour
Monday, May 12, 2014
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
IBM Innovation Center, 1 Rogers Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/Boston_New_Technology/events/178569632/
Celebrate Innovation Success Through Stories!
Boston New Technology invites you to the inaugural event for the 2014 Innovation Cities Tour, on Monday, May 12, at the IBM Innovation Center in Cambridge, hosted by Innovation Excellence, the Disruptor Foundation and Hype Innovation!
Join us as we celebrate the Innovation Movement across the US by capturing, sharing, and spreading your stories. Our goal is to highlight innovation and innovators in each city we visit, proving that innovation is now a full-fledged discipline.
We are gathering together disruptive thinkers, doers, technologies, and resources from the Innovation Excellence community in order to inspire one another, share knowledge, discover new resources, and accelerate innovation in your city -- and beyond.
RSVP Today - Admission is Free & Space is Limited.
Your Innovation Cities Tour Hosts:
Innovation Excellence - The world's largest crowdsourced innovation community and website.
Disruptor Foundation - Founded in 2009 by Clay Christensen, Craig Hatkoff, and Rabbi Irwin Kula, the foundation does advanced research in Disruptive Innovation Theory for the common good.
HYPE Innovation (Founding Sponsor) - A leading provider of idea and innovation management software and services who will aggregate the resources and stories for us pre and post event.
IXL Center and HULT International Business School - Conveners of the Hult Prize with the Clinton Global Initiative.
The Global Innovation Management Institute - Convener of the First Global Innovation Certification.
The Creating WE Institute - Judith E. Glaser, Founder, Chairman and Author, Conversational Intelligence.
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Science by the Pint: Physical Modeling and High Performance Computing
Monday, May 12, 2014
6:30 PM
The Burren, 247 Elm Street, Somerville
Dr. Cris Cecka
“N-Bodies: What astrophysics, protein folding, machine learning, and statistics have in common and what it means for the future of computing. ”
For those who've never been, Science by the Pint is an event sponsored by an organization of Harvard graduate students called Science in the News. In between their sleepless hours of hard work at Harvard Med School, they bring cutting edge scientific research to the public in a fun and informal format. The event goes like this:
The main speaker gives a short 5-10 minute talk (not a full length lecture) about their research, then answers general questions from the audience.
The team of colleagues comes around to individual tables and spends one-on-one time answering questions over food and refreshments.
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Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation
Monday, May 12, 2014
7:00 PM
First Parish Church, 1446 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Cost: $5 tickets
Michael Pollan
Harvard Book Store welcomes bestselling author of In Defense of Food and The Omnivore’s Dilemma MICHAEL POLLAN for a discussion of Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation, new to paperback.
In Cooked, Michael Pollan explores the previously uncharted territory of his own kitchen. Here, he discovers the enduring power of the four classical elements—fire, water, air, and earth—to transform the stuff of nature into delicious things to eat and drink. Apprenticing himself to a succession of culinary masters, Pollan learns how to grill with fire, cook with liquid, bake bread, and ferment everything from cheese to beer.
Each section of Cooked tracks Pollan’s effort to master a single classic recipe using one of the four elements. A North Carolina barbecue pit master tutors him in the primal magic of fire; aChez Panisse–trained cook schools him in the art of braising; a celebrated baker teaches him how air transforms grain and water into a fragrant loaf of bread; and finally, several mad-genius“fermentos” (a tribe that includes brewers, cheese makers, and all kinds of picklers) reveal how fungi and bacteria can perform the most amazing alchemies of all. The reader learns alongsidePollan, but the lessons move beyond the practical to become an investigation of how cooking involves us in a web of social and ecological relationships. Cooking, above all, connects us.
The effects of not cooking are similarly far reaching. Relying upon corporations to process our food means we consume large quantities of fat, sugar, and salt; disrupt an essential link to the natural world; and weaken our relationships with family and friends. In fact, Cooked argues, taking back control of cooking may be the single most important step anyone can take to help make the American food system healthier and more sustainable. Reclaiming cooking as an act of enjoyment and self-reliance, learning to perform the magic of these everyday transformations, opens the door to a more nourishing life.
More information at http://www.harvard.com/event/michael_pollan/
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Tuesday, May 13
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ACT | Resonating MIT
Tuesday, May 13, 2014 - Sunday, May 17
All day
Various Locations
Amplifying Sonic Atmospheres, featuring student work from MIT courses 4.373 and 21M.351, visiting artists Stephen Vitiello and Scanner, and the Either/Or ensemble.
The MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology (ACT) and the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST) present Resonating MIT, the culmination of a semester-long interdisciplinary collaboration that deploys sonic interventions to amplify unexplored spatial atmospheres on MIT's historic campus. A series of performances, installations, and a mobile-ready website and app provide gateways to critical spatial inquiries using sound from the past, present, and the speculative future of the Institute. Engaging artistic, architectural, sonic engineering, and research practices, Resonating MIT proposes that listening and resonating are unique methods for understanding space and place, and using art as a catalyzer to amplify transdisciplinary exchange. This week of extra-ocular, sensorial exploration will feature new works produced by MIT students from the Spring 2014 class 4.373 Sound Installations and Sonic Interventions and the works of CAST visiting artists Stephen Vitiello and Robin Rimbaud, aka Scanner, as well as compositions by students from the class 21M.351 Music Composition performed by the avant-garde visiting artist ensemble Either/Or.
For a full list of events, visit the event website: http://bit.ly/1nM1488
Web site: http://act.mit.edu/projects-and-events/events/projects/resonating-mit/
Open to: the general public
Cost: FREE
This event occurs daily through May 17, 2014.
Sponsor(s): MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology, Center for Art, Science & Technology, Music and Theater Arts
For more information, contact: Laura Anca Chichisan
617-253-5229
act at mit.edu
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Webinar: Bridging Class Divides to Create Community Resilience
Tuesday, May 13
12pm ET
RSVP at https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1688182813867417346
Betsy Leondar-Wright of Class Action
Does your community group want to engage people from diverse class backgrounds? Do you want to increase turnout at your events, and effectively engage the public to enhance resilience in your area? If you answered *yes* to these questions, you don't want to miss this upcoming webinar with Betsy Leondar-Wright of Class Action, a vibrant nonprofit that
builds bridges across the class divide.
Building on insights from Betsy’s groundbreaking new book, _Missing Class: Strengthening Social Movement Groups by Seeing Class Cultures_, this participatory webinar will help you look through a class lens at your community work. It will offer tools to draw on the strengths of all class cultures to build cross-class alliances for change.
Register here! https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1688182813867417346
Sarah Byrnes
Institute for Policy Studies, New England Office
617.477.8630 x307
http://netransition.org
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Does Size Matter? A Tale of Performing Welfare, Producing Bodies and Faking Identity
May 13, 2014
12:30pm ET
Berkman Center for Internet & Society, 23 Everett Street, 2nd Floor, Cambridge
RSVP required for those attending in person at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2014/05/jayaram#RSVP
This event will be webcast live at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2014/05/jayaram at 12:30pm ET.
Malavika Jayaram, Berkman Fellow
Big Data doesn’t get much bigger than India’s identity project. The world’s largest biometric database - currently consisting of almost 600 million enrolled - seduces with promises of inclusion, legitimacy and visibility. By locating this techno-utopian vision within the larger surveillance state that a unique identifier facilitates, Malavika will describe the ‘welfare industrial complex’ that imagines the poor as the next emerging market. She will highlight the risks of the body as password, of implementing e-governance in a legal vacuum, and of digitization reinforcing existing inequalities. The export of technologies of control - once they have been tested on a massive population that has little agency and limited ability to withhold consent - transforms this project from a site of local activism to one with global repercussions. By offering a perspective that is somewhat different from the traditional western focus of privacy, she hopes to generate a more inclusive discourse about what it means to be autonomous and empowered in the face of paternalistic development projects. She will highlight, in particular, the varied ways in which the project is already being subverted and re-purposed, in ways that are humorous and poignant.
About Malavika
Malavika is a Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, focusing on privacy, identity and free expression. She is also a Fellow at the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, and the author of the India chapter for the Data Protection & Privacy volume in the Getting the Deal Done series. Malavika is one of 10 Indian lawyers in The International Who's Who of Internet e-Commerce & Data Protection Lawyers directory. In August 2013, she was voted one of India’s leading lawyers - one of only 8 women to be featured in the “40 under 45” survey conducted by Law Business Research, London. In a different life, she spent 8 years in London, practicing law with global firm Allen & Overy in the Communications, Media & Technology group, and as VP and Technology Counsel at Citigroup. She is working on a PhD about the development of a privacy jurisprudence and discourse in India, viewed partly through the lens of the Indian biometric ID project.
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Program on U.S.-Japan Relations, Associate's Panel: Globalization and the Japanese Economy
WHEN Tue., May 13, 2014, 12:30 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Porté Room S250, CGIS South Building, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge MA
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Program on U.S.-Japan Relations
SPEAKER(S) Miho Takizawa, Toyo University; Shinichiro Terada, KDDI Corporation; Hideaki Hirata, professor, Faculty of Business Administration, Hosei University, and visiting scholar, Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, Harvard University; Discussant: Walter Hatch, associate professor of government, Colby College
CONTACT INFO wnehring at wcfia.harvard.edu
LINK http://programs.wcfia.harvard.edu/us-japan/calendar/upcoming
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14th Annual Henry W. Kendall Memorial Lecture: Ice Sheets and Sea Level: Is the Long Tail Attached to a Dragon?
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
5:00p–6:00p
MIT, Building E15-070, Bartos Theater, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
Reception to follow lecture at 6:15 in the Ida Green Lounge, 54-923.
Speaker: Dr. Richard Alley
Dr. Richard Alley is an Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences in Penn State's College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. His research interests focus on glaciology, sea level change and abrupt climate change, and he frequently discusses earth sciences on major media outlets, including NPR, BBC and PBS. He is widely credited with showing that the earth has experienced abrupt climate change in the past, and likely will again, based on his meticulous study of ice cores from Greenland and West Antarctica.
The Henry W. Kendall Memorial Lecture Series
Web site: http://eapsweb.mit.edu/events/2014/henry_kendall_lecture
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): Center for Global Change Science, Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS)
For more information, contact: Audrey Resutek
617-324-1494
globalchange at mit.edu
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Understanding Global Innovation Economies
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
5:30p–7:00p
MIT, Building 34-101, 50 Vassar Street, Cambridge
RSVP at: bit.ly/1oPNDFv
Speaker: Professor Fiona Murray, Associate Dean of Innovation and Dr. Phil Budden, Senior Lecturer & Former British Consul General
This workshop is geared to MIT students that will be doing research, teaching and industry internships abroad and will provide an understanding of the role of innovation-driven entrepreneurship in development of vibrant regional economies.
It will take as its starting point the innovation-driven entrepreneurial ecosystems (IDEA Ecosystems) that lie at the heart of many successful regions such as Silicon Valley, Boston/Cambridge, London's TechCity and Singapore, and examine the perspective of five critical stakeholders: entrepreneurs, risk capital providers, universities, government, and corporations. Students will then be prepared to view their region through this lens, understanding not only the inner-workings of their internship organization but the larger ecosystem within which it exists.
Web site: http://misti.mit.edu/how-bring-entrepreneurship-thinking-you-organization
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies, MISTI, MIT Innovation Initiative
For more information, contact: David Dolev
ddolev at mit.edu
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Technovation 2014 – Regional Pitch Night - MassTLC Education Foundation
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
5:30 PM to 8:30
Microsoft New England Research and Development Center, 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/technovation-2014-regional-pitch-night-tickets-11303219233
Come out to the Microsoft NERD Center in Cambridge and celebrate the locally-made apps submitted for the Technovation Challenge!
Up to 7 teams will be presenting their pitches, vying for for the local Technovation crown!
ALL registered teams are welcome to set up their posterboards and show off their apps prior to the pitch contest. The first hour of the event is devoted to all teams showing off their work in a gallery style presentation!
Teachers can sign up their teams for the gallery when registering.
All teams who take part in the posterboard gallery will be considered in the pre-selection process.The pre-selection process determines which teams will pitch to the judges on the night of the event, but the selections will not be announced until the night of the event.
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Noam Chomsky
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Main Library, 449 Broadway, Lecture Hall, Cambridge
Join a discussion with Noam Chomsky on the driving forces of foreign policy.
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Wednesday, May 14
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Enhancing Nuclear Security Culture Internationally
May 14, 2014
10:00-11:30 a.m.
Harvard, Belfer Center Library, Littauer-369, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Open to the Public
Speaker: Kara De Castro, U.S. Department of Energy Attaché, Political Section, US Embassy - Islamabad
Related Projects: Managing the Atom, International Security, Science, Technology, and Public Policy
Kara De Castro has over 20 years of experience working to enhance nuclear safety and security internationally. From April 2011 to October 2013, she worked directly for the National Nuclear Security Administration, Department of Energy (DOE), leading international nonproliferation projects and providing support as an Acting Deputy Office Director. As of October 2013, Ms. De Castro is the DOE Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan. In this Project on Managing the Atom seminar, Ms. De Castro will speak on enhancing nuclear security culture internationally.
More information at http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/events/?page=1
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III-nitride Nanowires & Heterostructures: Growth & Optical Properties on Nanoscale
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
12:00p–1:00p
MIT, Building 34-401, Grier Rooms combined, 50 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Xiang Zhou, MTL Doctoral Dissertation Seminar
III-nitride nanowires are promising candidates for electronic and optoelectronic applications due to their dislocation-free structures and potential for direct integration with silicon. Meanwhile, material quality and effective band engineering inside such nanowires are crucial for device design and fabrication. In this talk, I will first demonstrate effective control over GaN nanowire size, growth rate and structural quality through careful choice of metal seed particles. Next, challenges for understanding band engineering in III-nitride nanowire heterostructures are addressed through direct nanoscale correlation of optical properties to doping, alloying and quantum confined effects. These results highlight that controlling defect formation and understanding their effects on materials properties are particularly important for developing functional devices based on nanostructured materials.
MTL Seminar Series
The MTL Seminar Series is held on Wednesdays at noon. Speakers for the series are selected on the basis of their knowledge and competence in the areas of microelectronics research, manufacturing, or policy. The series is open to the public and is free to attend.
Web site: http://www-mtl.mit.edu/seminars/spring2014.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Sponsor(s): Microsystems Technology Laboratories
For more information, contact: Valerie Dinardo
253-9328
valeried at mit.edu
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NE Food Policy Webinar
Wednesday, May 14
12-1:15 p.m
RSVP at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/280379594
The recently released New England Food Policy report (http://action.clf.org/site/Survey?ACTION_REQUIRED=URI_ACTION_USER_REQUESTS&SURVEY_ID=4340) has generated a lot of interest. The report is a scan of policies and policy gaps in five key food system areas, plus an exploration of models for regional cooperation. We hope you have found it valuable.
We are pleased to offer you several opportunities to use the report as a resource for your food system policy work.
Our first webinar will be an orientation to the report, and an opportunity to deepen your exposure to the topics. We’ll emphasize its relevance to your work, and build in time for questions and feedback.
We’ll follow with a series of six webinars. Each will focus on a particular topic from each chapter of the report. The chapter author(s) will be joined by other topic experts. There will be time for webinar conversation, too.
These webinars will take place in June, July and September. Stay tuned for details.
We offer to facilitate discussions among food policy and other groups on policy options and actions
We will be pleased to present at briefings and group meetings.
Food policy and organizing experts, Mark Winne and Amy Little, will provide training and technical assistance to individual groups that wish to dive into policy work.
Please get in touch with us (email kzruhf at verizon.net) if you are interested in these activities, including obtaining technical assistance.
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xTalks: Big Data Where Art Thou? Identifying and Harnessing Sources of Data for MOOC Data Science
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
2:30p–3:30p
MIT, Building 32-155, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Kalyan Veeramachaneni
Kalyan Veeramachaneni will talk about his work identifying and harnessing sources of data for MOOC Data Science.
Dr. Veeramachaneni is a research scientist at CSAIL and Research Project Leadear in ALFA group: Anyscale Learning For All. His research interests are with building statistical models that enable extraction of information from large amounts of data.
To enable knowledge discovery from heterogeneous data sources Veeramachaneni is interested in building large scale integrative efficient computation platforms. Currently, he is leading multiple projects focused on knowledge discovery and data science for education (MOOCs), medicine and energy.
xTalks: Digital Discourses
This series provides a forum to facilitate awareness, deep understanding and transference of educational innovations at MIT and elsewhere. We hope to foster a community of educators, researchers, and technologists engaged in developing and supporting effective learning experiences through online learning environments and other digital technologies.
Web site: http://odl.mit.edu/events/kalyan-veeramachaneni-where-art-thou-big-data-identifying-harnessing-sources-of-data-for-mooc-data-science/
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): OEIT- Office of Educational Innovation and Technology
For more information, contact: Molly Ruggles
(617) 324-9185
ruggles at mit.edu
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Bill Dietrich -- University of California, Berkeley
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
3:45p–5:00p
MIT, Building 54-915 (the tallest building on campus)
Refreshments, 3:45 pm, Ida Green Lounge
EAPS Department Lecture Series
Weekly talks given by leading thinkers in the areas of geology, geophysics, geobiology, geochemistry, meteorology, oceanography, climatology, and planetary science.
Web site:http://eapsweb.mit.edu/events/2014/spring_DLS_Dietrich
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS)
For more information, contact: Jen DiNisco
617-253-2127
jdinisco at mit.edu
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Radcliffe Institute Fellows' Presentation Series: "Recent Works”
WHEN Wed., May 14, 2014, 4 p.m.
WHERE Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Sheerr Room, Fay House, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Music
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S) Michelle Lou, 2013-2014 Radcliffe Institute Fellow, Independent Composer
COST Free and open to the public
NOTE Michelle Lou is a freelance bassist and composer. Her main interests lie in the realm of experimental new music, with recent projects that attempt to distort the perception of time and scale.
LINK www.radcliffe.harvard.edu…
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Aging Successfully - "What's Best for You? Where, Why, What, When and Who?
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
4:30p–6:30p
MIT, Building E51-Wong Auditorium, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Experts Discuss Factors To Consider That Will Support Aging Successfully
A collaborative project of MIT's Medical Department, Age Lab and Women's League, the 2014 Catherine N. Stratton Aging Successfully Lecture will bring together a distinguished panel of specialists at the forefront of effective care, technology and advocacy for us as we age.
The WHAT for many will be focused on the venue - WHERE. Like planning a trip, a key factor is deciding where you want to go. Along the way multiple decisions will need to be made - WHEN, HOW and WITH WHOM. Using the vacation planning analogy: will it be a "Staycation" enhancing services and supports at home? Or, will it be an adventure taking us to a different place or places? Our panel of experts will help us consider the factors and issues involved in the process of finding what's best for us as we age.
The moderator for the lecture is William M. Kettyle, MD, Director of MIT's Medical Department. Rounding out the panel are three specialists in different aspects of aging: John R. Anderson, MD, Chief of Geriatric Medicine at Mt. Auburn Hospital; Lisa A. D'Ambrosio, PhD, Age Lab at MIT Research Scientist; and Susan Lewin, MSW, LICSW, Geriatric Care Manager at Generations, All About Elders.
A question and answer period will follow the presentations.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Women's League
For more information, contact: Sis de Bordenave
617-253-3656
wleague at mit.edu
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Cambridge’s Getting to Net Zero Task Force
Wednesday, May 14
6:00-8:00pm
Cambridge City Hall, Sullivan Chamber
All Task Force meetings are open to the public.
Editorial Comment: Cambridge, MA is deciding whether to become one of the first cities in the world to require net zero energy zoning for all new buildings over 25,000 square feet.
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A Nuclear Weapons Free World? History and Prospects
Wednesday, May 14
7:00pm
Harvard, 1730 Cambridge Street, Room S-050, Cambridge
Lawrence Wittner will focus on the history of the world nuclear disarmament movement and its efficacy in curbing the nuclear arms race and preventing nuclear war. Not only has nuclear war been averted since 1945, but over three-quarters of the world’s nuclear weapons have been destroyed and the vast majority of the world’s nations have chosen to forgo developing nuclear weapons. The explanation for these developments lies primarily in a massive public campaign to curb the nuclear arms race and avert nuclear war. Now that even former and current government officials have come around to supporting the creation of a nuclear weapons-free world, public pressure could provide the crucial factor in bringing it to fruition. Wittner is Professor of History emeritus at the State University of New York/Albany and author of the three-part The Struggle Against the Bomb, and an abbreviated version, Confronting the Bomb, which will be available for sale at the event. He serves on the national board of Peace Action, the largest grassroots peace organization in the United States.
Elaine Scarry is the Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value at Harvard University. Scarry is the author of eight books, most recently Thermonuclear Monarchy. In this book, she contends that nuclear weapons eliminate the citizenry and the legislature from the sphere of decision-making about war. She, therefore, believes that nuclear weapons are unconstitutional and a violation of the human social contract. She describes two provisions of the constitution that can be used by citizens to require the United States to disarm.
Sponsors: Massachusetts Peace Action and Democratic Socialists of America
Contact: info at masspeaceaction.org, 617-354-2169
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Key Issues: Election 2014
Wednesday, May 14
7pm
First Parish in Cambridge, 3 Church Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge
A panel of scholars explores some of the fundamental questions newly elected representatives will have to address.
Keith Bentele of the University of Massachusetts Boston looks at poverty and inequality; Alex Hertel-Fernandez from Harvard discusses tax policy and the social safety net; and Jack Schneider of Holy Cross College looks at education reform. The panel proposes research- and experience-based policy solutions in an effort to overcome the ideological divisions that derail so much political debate. Boston University’s Michelle Johnson moderates.
The fall Congressional elections may seem far off in the future. But with Congress experiencing record low approval ratings, voters are primed to look seriously at the policy positions of aspirants for national office. What should voters be attuned to as they sort through candidates in the upcoming Congressional elections? What are the key issues of concern to the new generation of millennial voters?
Cambridge Forum
Produced in conjunction with the Scholars Strategy Network, a national group of scholars seeking to use research to improve policy and enhance democracy.
More information at http://www.cambridgeforum.org/wordpress/
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MIT $100K Launch Competition Finale
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM (EDT)
MIT, Kresge Auditorium. 48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/mit-100k-launch-competition-finale-tickets-11333333305
Keynote Speaker: Maxwell Krohn, Co-Founder & CTO of OKCupid
The MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition is a year-long educational experience designed to encourage students and researchers in the MIT community to act on their talent, ideas and energy to produce tomorrow’s leading firms. Now in its 21st year as a student organization within the MIT School of Engineering, the Competition has awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and business startup services to outstanding teams of student entrepreneurs who submitted business plans for new ventures showing significant business potential. The refinement process of the Competition, its network of mentors, investors and potential partners, and the cash prizes awarded have helped many of these teams to act on their dreams and build their own companies and fortunes.
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Deciding on Divestment from Fossil Fuels: From Congregations to Kitchen Tables
Wednesday, May 14
7-9 PM
Hancock Church, 1912 Massachusetts Avenue, Lexington
From religious congregations to universities to kitchen tables nationwide, people are debating divestment. Burning fossil fuels is the largest single contributor to human-caused climate change. If it's wrong to disrupt the planet's life systems, is it wrong to profit from such destruction? Should we get rid of our investments in the fossil fuel industry?
Join us for a thought provoking forum to address these questions:
What are the moral and financial reasons to divest from coal, oil and natural gas investments?
Is fossil fuel divestment an effective strategy to address climate change?
What are the financial implications of divestment?
What should institutions and individuals take into account when considering divestment?
How can investment in energy efficiency, renewables and green solution companies be a wise choice that will lead to a clean energy future?
Presenters
Rev. Dr. Jim Antal, General Minister and President of the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ. Jim authored the UCC Synod's move to divest.
Chuck Collins, Senior Scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies. Chuck is co-coordinator ofwww.divestinvest.org, a portal for individuals and philanthropic organizations divesting from the fossil fuel sector.
Leslie Samuelrich, President, Green Century Capital Management. Leslie's firm is in the forefront of profitable fossil free investing. She oversees Green Century's shareholder resolution program.
Cindy Davidson, Unitarian Universalist Ministry for the Earth Board Member. Cindy is active in UU Divest, and GreenFaith, and educates congregations about socially responsible investing, including shareholder advocacy.
Suggested donation is $10.
For more information, please email: Fran Ludwig at fran at mipandl.org
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Thursday, May 15
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Beyond the Affordable Care Act: What Works Best in Public Health? A Symposium on Comparative Effectiveness Research in Prevention
WHEN Thu., May 15, 2014, 8 a.m. – 1 p.m.
WHERE Martin Conference Center, Harvard Medical School, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Conferences, Health Sciences, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Comparative Effectiveness Research Initiative, Harvard School of Public Health
SPEAKER(S) Please visit event website for detailed agenda
COST There is no charge for the symposium, but registration is required. To register, visit the event website
TICKET WEB LINK http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/comparative-effectiveness-research-initiative/cer-events/comparative-effectiveness-research-in-public-health-symposium/
CONTACT INFO cbell at hsph.harvard.edu
LINK http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/comparative-effectiveness-research-initiative/cer-events/comparative-effectiveness-research-in-public-health-symposium/
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Faith and Firepower: The Iranian Revolutionary Guards and the Iran-Iraq War
May 15, 2014
12:15-2:00 p.m.
Harvard, Belfer Center Library, Littauer-369, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Open to the Public
Speaker: Annie Tracy Samuel, Research Fellow, International Security Program
Related Project: International Security
This seminar will examine how Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has analyzed the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988) in its publications on the conflict. It will explain the pervasive and persistent significance of the Iran-Iraq War for the IRGC and will reveal how scholarly oversight of the IRGC's representations of the war has produced inaccurate and oversimplified generalizations about the organization.
Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.
More information at http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/events/?page=1
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Climate Action Liaison Coalition's event: "Building a New Economy to Stop Climate Change"
Thursday, May 15, 2014
1:30pm - 4:00pm
University of Massachusetts, Ryan Hall,100 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/building-a-new-economy-to-stop-climate-change-brought-to-you-by-calc-tickets-11243071329
At SBN's 25th Annual Sustainable Business Conference on May 15, 2014, please join CALC in continuing the conversation on climate change at the afternoon Local, Green and Fair Workshops, at UMass Boston. The Climate Action Liaison Coalition (CALC) and Sustainable Business Network of Massachusetts invite you to join sustainable business leaders who are working to leverage their business to take targeted action against climate change.
Climate Action Liaison Coalition’s afternoon workshop, titled Building a New Economy to Stop Climate Change, aims to bring together leading minds from government officials, business leaders, and community stakeholders for a conversation on building the new economy.
The workshop will begin with a brief presentation and panel outlining the intersection of social justice, the economy and climate change. Our opening session will set the stage for an "open space" format where participants will set their own agenda. Gathered into small groups, participants will focus on programs ideas that they share for building a new economy. We hope that you can join us for what should be a collaborative conversation!
Speakers Include:
Quinton Zondervan, Executive Director of Climate Action Liaison Coalition
Curt Spalding, Regional Administrator for Environmental Protection Agency
Chuck Collins, Senior Scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies
Aisha Shillingford, Director of Organizing, Racial & Economic Justice Initiative for New Economy Coalition
This event is open to the public. Please visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/building-a-new-economy-to-stop-climate-change-brought-to-you-by-calc-tickets-11243071329 for more information.
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Can You Hide in an Internet Panopticon?
Thursday, May 15, 2014
4:00 PM to 5:00 PM
MIT, Building 32-G882, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Byran Ford , Yale
Many people have legitimate needs to avoid their online activities being tracked and linked to their real-world identities - from citizens of authoritarian regimes, to everyday victims of domestic abuse or law enforcement officers investigating organized crime. Current state-of-the-art anonymous communication systems are based on onion routing, an approach effective against localized adversaries with a limited ability to monitor or tamper with network traffic. In an environment of increasingly powerful and all-seeing state-level adversaries, however, onion routing is showing cracks, and may not offer reliable security for much longer. All current anonymity systems are vulnerable in varying degrees to five major classes of attacks: global passive traffic analysis, active attacks, "denial-of-security" or DoSec attacks, intersection attacks, and software exploits.
The Dissent project is prototyping a next-generation anonymity system representing a ground-up redesign of current approaches. Dissent is the first anonymity and pseudonymity architecture incorporating protection against the five major classes of known attacks. By switching from onion routing to alternate anonymity primitives offering provable resistance to traffic analysis, Dissent makes anonymity possible even against an adversary who can monitor most, or all, network communication. A collective control plane renders a group of participants in an online community indistinguishable even if an adversary interferes actively, such as by delaying messages or forcing users offline. Protocol-level accountability enables groups to identify and expel misbehaving nodes, preserving availability, and preventing adversaries from using denial-of-service attacks to weaken anonymity. The system computes anonymity metrics that give users realistic indicators of anonymity protection, even against adversaries capable of long-term intersection and statistical disclosure attacks, and gives users control over tradeoffs between anonymity loss and communication responsiveness. Finally, virtual machine isolation offers anonymity protection against browser software exploits of the kind recently employed to de-anonymize Tor users While Dissent is still a proof-of-concept prototype with important functionality and performance limitations, preliminary evidence suggests that it may in principle be possible - though by no means easy - to hide in an Internet panopticon.
Bio:
Bryan Ford leads the Decentralized/Distributed Systems (DeDiS) research group at Yale University. His work focuses broadly on building secure systems, touching on many particular topics including secure and certified OS kernels, parallel and distributed computing, privacy-preserving technologies, and Internet architecture. He has received the Jay Lepreau Best Paper Award at OSDI, and multiple grants from NSF, DARPA, and ONR, including the NSF CAREER award. His pedagogical achievements include PIOS, the first OS course framework leading students through development of a working, native multiprocessor OS kernel. Prof. Ford earned his B.S. at the University of Utah and his Ph.D. at MIT, while researching topics including mobile device naming and routing, virtualization, microkernel architectures, and touching on programming languages and formal methods.
Contact: Frank Wang, frankw at csail.mit.edu
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Brown at 60: A Pathway to Inclusion
WHEN Thu., May 15, 2014, 4 – 7 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Wasserstein Hall, Room 2019, Milstein West, HLS, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Film, Law, Lecture, Social Sciences, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Charles Hamilton Houston Institute, HLS; Labor & Worklife Program, HLS
SPEAKER(S) Bill Fletcher Jr., American Federation of Government Employees; Susan Moir, director, Labor Resource Center, UMass Boston; Charles Ogletree Jr., Jesse Climenko Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO john_trumpbour at harvard.edu
NOTE Sixty years after the Brown decision struck down separate but equal schooling, how far have we come in achieving inclusion in U.S. society? "Brother Outsider," a film on labor activist Bayard Rustin, explores the life of the chief organizer of the March on Washington. Rustin faced attacks not only for his civil rights activism, but also frequent taunts from U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond because of his sexual orientation. A discussion with distinguished social justice advocates follows the film.
LINK http://www.charleshamiltonhouston.org/2014/05/brown-at-60-a-pathway-to-inclusion/
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Cultivating Compassion and Serving the World
WHEN Thu., May 15, 2014, 5 – 7 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Braun Room, Andover Hall, 45 Francis Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Religion
SPONSOR Office of Ministry Studies, Buddhist Ministry Initiative
CONTACT Julie Barker Gillette, 617.496.5586
NOTE Kyabgön Phakchok Rinpoche is widely regarded as one of the most dynamic and highly trained Tibetan lamas of the current generation. At this public talk, Rinpoche will speak about how compassion is cultivated and its place in dedicating oneself to service.
This lecture is sponsored by the Buddhist Ministry Initiative.
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MIT Enterprise Forum Innovation Series Event: How Will Drones and Other Flying Robots Shape Your Everyday Life?
Thursday, May 15, 2014
5:30p–8:00p
MIT Johnson Rink 120 Vassar Street Cambridge
Cost: Free For Student and MITEF Members; $45 for the general public
Speaker: Helen Greiner is the CEO of CyPhy Works, Inc. and co-founder, former President, and Chairman of iRobot
Have you received your first package delivered by a drone yet? If not, why not?
Will unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, drones) really have civilian applications? If so, what might they be? How will advances in unmanned robotics give rise to other innovative applications ??? and how will those impact our civilian landscape? Are we ready for robots??? pervasive presence around us in these new ways? What about regulatory and privacy concerns?
Join us for this special edition of the Innovation Series to see drones in action and to hear what businesses and technological leaders are doing with and thinking about them. Our evening will feature a mini-keynote address by Helen Greiner, CEO of CyPhy Works and co-founder of iRobot, as well as live and video demonstrations of a number of flying objects. Audience members will get to interact with speakers and presenters to explore the present and very near future of drones and other related devices.
Web site: http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/events/drones/
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge
For more information, contact: Amy Goggins
617-253-3937
agoggins at mit.edu
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Race To Solar
Thursday, May 15
6 PM to 8 PM
Curtis Hall, 20 South Street, Jamaica Plain
Through the Race to Solar program, eligible nonprofits can acquire a solar electric energy system for their school, house of worship, food pantry, community center, or other building owned by their nonprofit organization.
A solar investor will own, repair and insure the panels, selling the green electricity back to your nonprofit at a rate typically lower than the organization currently pays the utility company.
The Race to Solar will help 40 nonprofits get solar installed, totaling 1 megawatt of clean, renewable energy in our communities. Through reducing the sales and marketing costs for the installer, HEET has secured a great rate and contract with SunBug Solar.
To qualify for the program your nonprofit must:
1. Participate in NSTAR’s Direct Install energy upgrade in your nonprofit.
The no-cost energy evaluation can be scheduled at your convenience. The assessor will create a report of the potential work for you to choose from. The work is 70% rebated and the remainder can be paid with a zero interest 12 month loan. The work lowers the electricity bill by 30% on average.
2. Persuade 5 small local businesses to get a no-cost energy evaluation.
This work helps your whole community become more sustainable both economically and environmentally. HEET will assist you in signing up the businesses.
3. Join a free energy-tracking online site.
Tracking with wegowise will help you quantify your savings and can help you spot future problems with your plumbing or heating systems before the problems become catastrophic.
To learn more about the program, attend a Race to Solar Workshop. Please RSVP for one of the following workshops, as refreshments and food will be provided:
Carpenter’s Center, 750 Dorchester Avenue, Boston, Tuesday, May 20th, 6 PM to 8 PM
For more information about the program contact info at HEETma.org, call 617-HEET (4338)-350, or http://www.heetma.org/race-to-solar/
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Digital Rendezvous for May! Speaker Todd Chapin of Zipcar!
Thursday, May 15, 2014
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
McGreevy’s, 911 Boylston Street, Boston
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/Digital-rendezvous/events/178588622/
Let’s kick off the nice warm weather with a little get-together! We are excited to announce our May Digital Rendezvous is going to be at McGreevy’s Tavern! AND we are so excited to announce our Speaker this month is Todd Chapin of Zipcar! This is a talk not to miss!
What is Digital Rendezvous? Well, only one of the best creative networking events in town! We have free food, a great raffle prize, our awesome speaker (Todd) and a chance to network with some awesome people from Vitamin T! Come hang out with some talented folks and talk about UX, UI, Design and development.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Todd Chapin is the Director of Product and Experience at Zipcar! He’s also the Chair of BostonCHI, a fabulous HCI/UX group here in the area that has hosted events at places like Google and Microsoft.
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“Megacentralities: Re-envisioning Mexico City” with Sol Camacho
May 15, 2014
6:00 PM
BSA Space, 290 Congress Street, Boston
Register by emailing rsvp at architects.org, Subject: Mobility 5-15
Iconic for its endless horizon of low-rise constructions, Mexico City has for years grown without the benefits of integrated planning, heavily affecting the quality of life of its inhabitants. One possibility for intervention is in the city’s roughly 45 transportation hubs, where millions of people circulate daily and where all kinds of social and economic dynamics take place. These hubs might become a new backbone for urban growth and sustainably absorb much-needed developments for a city that needs to alter its mindset about growth, programming, zoning, and public policy.
Sol Camacho is principal at Open Office.
This lecture is part of Rights of Way: Mobility and the city, a component of Overhaul: the 2013-2014 Transportation Series, organized by the Boston Society of Architects, the Boston Foundation for Architecture, Boston’s Green Ribbon Commission, and the Barr Foundation.
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Conversation About Food
Thursday, May 15
6:30-8:30 pm
EARTHOS Innovation Center, 1310 Broadway Suite 103, Somerville
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/The-Boston-Sustainable-Food-Meetup-Group/events/181907202/
Cost: Suggested donation is $15
This second of seven curated evening events will focus on food.
‘"If everyone agreed to become vegetarian, leaving little or nothing for livestock, the present 1.4 billion hectares of arable land (3.5 billion acres) would support about 10 billion people,"—E.O. Wilson
The 3.5 billion acres would ... feed 10 billion vegetarians, but would only feed 2.5 billion U.S. omnivores...’
—livescience.com
More information at http://www.earthos-institute.us/INITIATIVES_of_earthos-institute/Earthos_CONVERSATIONS.html
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Shadows of Liberty
Thursday, May 15
doors open 6:40; film starts promptly 7pm
243 Broadway, Cambridge - corner of Broadway and Windsor, entrance on Windsor
rule19.org/videos
90% of the media in the USA are controlled by 5 big for-profit-conglomerats, creating a media monopoly that manipulates our political, economical, and social world.
Shadows of Liberty reveals the extraordinary truth behind the news media: censorship, cover-ups and corporate control. Filmmaker Jean-Philippe Tremblay takes an intrepid
journey through the darker corridors of the American media landscape, where global conglomerates call the shots. For decades, their overwhelming influence has distorted news journalism and compromised its values. In highly revealing stories, renowned journalists, activists and academics give insider accounts of a broken media system. Controversial news reports are suppressed, people are censored for speaking out, and lives are shattered as the arena for public expression is turned into a private profit zone. Tracing the story of media manipulation through the years, :Shadows of Liberty" poses a crucial question: why have we let a handful of powerful corporations write the news?
FEATURING: Danny Glover, Julian Assange, Dan Rather, Amy Goodman, David Simon, Daniel Ellsberg, Norman Solomon, Dick Gregory, Roberta Baskin, Robert McChesney, John Nichols, Chris Hedges, Kristina Borjesson, and many more.
OFFICIAL SELECTION: IDFA, Sheffield Doc/Fest, HotDocs, Vancouver Intl. Film Festival, DOKFILM, Bergen Intl. Film Festival, Canberra Intl. Film Festival, Leeds Intl. Film Fest, Docs DF, London Intl. Documentary Festival, Open City Documentary Festival
Film Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SAUborWbPw&feature=c4-overview&list=UU03hWohkXnD212MZ1LRetTA
"When men yield up the exclusive privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon." ~Thomas Paine
"The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses." ~Malcolm X
"Propaganda is to a democracy what violence is to a dictatorship." ~William Blum
"Any dictator would admire the uniformity and obedience of the US media." ~Noam Chomsky
"It's hard to imagine a more potent sign of a weak, declining empire than having one's national 'credibility' depend upon periodically bombing other countries." ~Glen Greenwald
Please join us for a stimulating night out; bring your friends!
*free film & free door prizes
****[donations are encouraged]
*feel free to bring your own snacks and soft drinks - no alcohol allowed
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Gas Leaks Forum
Thursday, May 15
7:00 - 8:30pm
Nate Smith House, 155 Lamartine Street, Jamaica Plain
Did you know there are over 4000 natural gas leaks in the City of Boston alone? They suffocate tree roots, add to global warming, and can cause dangerous explosions. We also pay over $40 million for them per year through our utility bills statewide. Come learn about the problem and possible solutions with speakers from the Department of Public Utilities, Conservation Law Foundation, and Clean Water Action. Refreshments will be served.
With any questions contactninya.loeppky at gmail.com
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Building the Future Spacesuit
WHEN Thu., May 15, 2014, 7:30 – 8:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Phillips Auditorium, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
SPEAKER(S) Dava Newman
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO pubaffairs at cfa.harvard.edu, 617.495.7461
NOTE Russia, the U.S., and newcomer China all have ambitious plans for the human conquest of space. Their future destinations: the Moon, an asteroid, and eventually Mars. But 21st century exploration demands 21st century spacesuits. Come see what MIT professor Dava Newman has designed - the spacesuit of the future. Combining fashion and functionality, it provides astronauts new flexibility and range of motion. This is the end of the bulky moon look!
LINK http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/publicevents
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Human Impacts Boston: Putting Some Steam into Climate Change Innovation
Thursday, May 15
8pm
Goethe-Institut,170 Beacon Street, Boston
RSVP at http://humanimpactsboston.bpt.me
In the U.S., there is an urgent need for improved education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. STEAM education is necessary for our country to remain a leader in the global marketplace, but more importantly, this focused education is imperative to our changing planet. Climate change has already given rise to many devastating alterations to our climate system and will continue to drastically change the world that we all know. In order to mitigate and adapt to climate change, we need to foster leaders and innovators. We need to encourage "big-thinkers" who are well versed in science and technology, who are capable of dreaming big AND designing tangible solutions to issues surrounding energy use, agriculture, sea level rise, and increased extreme weather events.
The Human Impacts Institute is traveling to Boston, Massachusetts where we will host an evening event dedicated to examining education for a changing climate. Join us for an evening of engaging discussion from a diversity of Boston's community leaders and thinkers and thought-provoking performances from local artists dedicated to shedding some light on environmental and educational issues.
Speakers include:
Brian Swett, Chief, Environment & Energy at City of Boston
Susan Israel, The Energy Necklace Project
Hannah Sevian, Associate Professor of Chemistry at U-Mass Boston
Georg Maue, First Secretary of Climate and Energy of the Federal Republic of Germany
Xiao Xiao, Pianist and Technologist of the MIT Media Lab
David Wang, In-house Rocket Scientist at NuVu
Inspirational live performances from:
Xiao Xiao, Pianist and Technologist of the MIT Media Lab
Jimmy M. Hughes, Electronic Musician
This salon is the fifth in a creative communication series in partnership with the Transatlantic Climate Bridge of the German Embassy. As leaders in renewable energy, Germany has a lot of knowledge to share regarding successful energy policies and communication efforts. So far we have held salons in New York City, Atlanta, D.C., and Miami where we have highlighted Germany's efforts in solar technology and politics.
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Friday, May 16
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Urbanization, Land Cover Change, and the Carbon Cycle
Friday, May 16, 2014
12:00pm to 1:00pm
Harvard, Pierce Hall 100F, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Lucy Hutyra
Speaker Bio:
http://people.bu.edu/lrhutyra/
Environmental Science and Engineering Seminars
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Europe’s New Frontlines: How the Ukraine Crisis Changes Strategic Thinking in Germany and Beyond
WHEN Fri., May 16, 2014, 12 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, CGIS South Building, 1730 Cambridge Street, S050, Cambridge, MA 02138
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Transatlantic Relations Seminar, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs
SPEAKER(S) Stefan Kornelius, foreign policy editor, Süddeutsche Zeitung
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO atownes at wcfia.harvard.edu
NOTE This event is co-sponsored by the Boston Warburg Chapter of the American Council on Germany.
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Risk Implications of the Deployment of Renewables for Investments in Electricity Generation
Friday, May 16, 2014
3pm
MIT, Building 9-152, 105 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Dissertation Defense of Fernando De Sisternes
Committee: M. Webster (supervisor), I. Pérez-Arriaga (supervisor), R. Schmalensee, J. Parsons
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Saturday May 17
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Sustainable House of Worship Workshop
Saturday May 17
8:30 AM - 1 PM
South Church, 41 Central Street, Andover
Doors open at 8:30 am, the program will start promptly at 9:00 am.
A modest fee of $10 fee can be paid at the door
Registration: to register online at http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e956puzfbc6e8ff4&llr=evkqo7bab
Would your congregation like to lower its utility bills? Do you want to do your part in decreasing your use of fossil fuels that contribute to global warming? Are you interested in learning more about solar energy?
MIP&L's Sustainable House of Worship (SHOW) workshop covers all this and more, walking you through crucial questions that will give you a comprehensive view of your house of worship's energy use and the best opportunities for energy and cost savings.
In this half-day session you will learn:
How to track your energy use, cost, and carbon footprint
How to implement no-cost/low-cost projects that will have a big impact on your electricity and heating bills
How to evaluate energy-using equipment and systems to determine whether they should be updated
How to take advantage of incentives, rebates and financial help available through utility companies
How to get solar panels with no upfront cost
Who should attend: Parishes are encouraged to send two members from their environment committee, property committee, or other leadership team. Other interested members are welcome! Please forward this information to anyone in your congregation who might be interested.
For more information please contact Bill Schroeder at bill at mipandl.org
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Drawing for Understanding in Field Science: A Workshop for Middle and High School Educators
WHEN Sat., May 17, 2014, 9 – 11 a.m.
WHERE Arnold Arboretum, Hunnewell Building, Jamaica Plain
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Classes/Workshops
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Arnold Arboretum
SPEAKER(S) Donna Sartanowicz and Jill Sifantus, teachers, Brookline High School
COST Free and open to the public; registration required
TICKET WEB LINK my.arboretum.harvard.edu
TICKET INFO 617.384.5277
CONTACT INFO adulted at arnarb.harvard.edu
NOTE In this educator workshop, learn how an innovative curriculum that combines the study of art and science has strengthened learning in both disciplines. Brookline High School science and art teachers will demonstrate how they use observational drawing as a primary learning method for study of the natural world. View student work, learn some basic drawing strategies, and try your hand at sketching from the Arboretum's collections.
LINK https://my.arboretum.harvard.edu/Info.aspx?DayPlanner=1310&DayPlannerDate=5/17/2014
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EarthFest -live bands (Free)
Saturday, May 17, 2014
10:00 AM to 5:00 PM
DCR's Hatch Memorial Shell, 47 David G Mugar Way, Boston
For two decades, Radio 92.9 has hosted EarthFest, a wildly popular all-day summer concert that’s not just well-curated and family-friendly, but also completely free and open to the public.
Neon Trees will headline the 21st annual concert. The alt-rock band hit it big in 2010 with “Animals” off their debut album Habits. They release their third studio album, Pop Psychology, next Tuesday, April 22.
Here’s the full lineup for EarthFest 2014: Main Stage:
Neon Trees
The Wailers
Morning Parade
Smallpools
Winner of the local Battle of the Bands contest
Kids Planet Family Stage:
Steve Elci and Friends
Vanessa Trien and the Jumping Monkeys
More to be determined
True to its name, EarthFest—the largest free radio station concert in the country—promotes green practices while showcasing great music. Last year’s performers included Gentlemen Hall, Cracker, and headliners Vertical Horizon. The event if produced by Radio 92.9 in conjunction with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, and is presented by Whole Foods Market.
EarthFest 2014 will take place Saturday, May 17, at the DCR Hatch Shell. Gates open at 10 a.m.; the local band contest winner starts playing at 11:15 a.m.
http://www.myradio929.com/earthfest.aspx
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Franklin Park Kite & Bike Festival (FREE)
Saturday, May 17, 2014
11:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Franklin Park ZOO, Franklin Park Road, Boston
Join thousands of people in Boston's backyard - Franklin Park - to celebrate the arrival of spring! Bring your kite or make one in the park. Tour the park with a free bike rental (training wheels are available) or bring your own. Participate in interactive games and snack on a variety of food. Kites will be available for sale.
This year's event will be returning to the Playstead, between Schoolboy Stadium and the Franklin Park Zoo.
Kites can be found as cheap as $1 at the dollar tree.
Parking: extremely limited. Please use the MBTA.
MBTA bus #16, 22, 28, 44
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A Window on Eternity: Exploring Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park
Saturday, May 17, 2014
12:00pm - 6:00pm
Harvard, Haller Hall and Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street 1st Floor, Cambridge
RSVP at https://reservations.hmsc.harvard.edu/Info.aspx?EventID=17
Located in central Mozambique, the Gorongosa National Park is home to an extraordinary diversity of ecosystems and wildlife. Established in 1960, Gorongosa was nearly destroyed during Mozambique’s civil war. Thanks to a public-private partnership created in 2004 by the government of Mozambique and the U.S.-based Carr Foundation, the park is successfully restoring its wildlife populations and also developing economic opportunities for its local community.
In his new book, A Window on Eternity: A Biologist’s Walk through Gorongosa National Park, Harvard Professor Edward O. Wilson examines the near destruction and rebirth of Gorongosa and describes through prose—and photographs by Piotr Naskrecki—why Gorongosa is one of the most unique places on Earth. Pre-signed copies of A Window on Eternity will be available for purchase in the museum store.
The day’s events will highlight the history and biodiversity of Gorongosa through film, a new exhibition by nature photographer and entomologist Piotr Naskrecki, and a special conversation with Edward O. Wilson, Piotr Naskrecki, and Gregory Carr, President of the Carr Foundation.
All events are free and open to the public
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS AND LOCATIONS
12:00 Noon: Film Screening, Haller Hall
Africa: The Future (UK, 2013, 60 min.)
Narrated by Sir David Attenborough, this episode of BBC's groundbreaking six-part series on the wildlife and landscapes of Africa highlights key conservation projects and local efforts aimed at protecting this continent's most threatened species. The film features the restoration of Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park. Produced by Kate Broome. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.
1:30–3:00 pm: Film Screening, Haller Hall
Africa's Lost Eden (USA, 2010, 50 min.)
Journey with National Geographic to Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park and learn about the conservation efforts that are protecting the animals and landscapes of this extraordinary site. Directed and produced by James Byrne. Due to the nature of its content and images, this film is not recommended for children. Introduced by Gregory Carr, President of the Carr Foundation and the Gorongosa Restoration Project. Q&A with Gregory Carr follows the screening. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.
3:30–4:30 pm: Film Screening, Haller Hall
The Guide (USA, 2013, 40 min.)
The Guide is a coming-of-age tale set against the restoration of a war-torn national park in Mozambique. Raised near Gorongosa National Park, young Tonga Torcida dreams of becoming a tour guide. But when he meets famed biologist Edward O. Wilson, his new view of the world around him—and his future—places him at a crossroads. Directed by Jessica Yu. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.
5:00–6:00 pm: Special Presentation, Geological Lecture Hall
Africa’s Greatest Wildlife Restoration Story: The History and Future of Gorongosa National Park
FEATURED SPEAKERS
Edward O. Wilson (Author, University Research Professor, Emeritus, Harvard University); Piotr Naskrecki (Photographer, Associate in Entomology, Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology); and Gregory C. Carr (President, Carr Foundation and the Gorongosa Restoration Project)
Advance registration required. A reception for registered attendees follows the program (co-sponsored by the Harvard University Chapter of Sigma Xi).
http://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/lectures_and_special_events/index.php
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Foraging walk and Introduction to Silver Maple Forest
Saturday, May 17, 2014
1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Acorn Park Drive, Alewife Reservation parking lot, Cambridge
There will be signs and/or a guide at the Alewife T-station pick-up area
he Alewife Reservation is a hidden gem, a small urban wilderness in Cambridge. Jules Kobek will be helping participants identify wild edible and medicinal plants growing there. We will also visit the Silver Maple Forest, an area abutting the reservation that is slated for destruction to make way for development. In addition to tips on foraging, we'll talk about ways to help save the Silver Maple Forest.
Going by T? From the Alewife T-station passenger pickup area, cross the street ( Alewife Station Access Road) and head north, toward Arlington. After crossing a bridge over a stream, look for a sandy path on the left. Follow the path to the parking lot, where we'll be waiting.
There will be signs and/or a guide at the Alewife T-station pick-up area to direct you to the reservation meeting spot.
Jules Kobek, an experienced forager and instructor, is co-founder of DIO (Do-It-Ourselves) Skillshare.
This event is sponsored by Friends of the Alewife Reservation. For more info: http://www.friendsofalewifereservation.org or call Jules at [masked].
The path might be muddy, and there could be ticks, so dress appropriately.
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Sunday, May 18
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Boston Enviro-Film Festival
Sunday, May 18
We've got a film for you!
Across 4 venues in Boston, the Boston Environmental Film Festival brings the latest films on current environmental successes, struggles, actions and animations along with investigations about energy and the sheer beauty of the natural world.
More information at http://www.bostonenvironmentalfilmfest.com
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Breaking down the language barrier between developers and journalists
Sunday, May 18, 2014
9:00 AM to 6:00 PM
MIT Media Lab, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Hey coders, want a job in newsroom data viz? Journalists, want to build a slick interactive in a day?
Come to the MIT Media Lab on Sunday, May 18th, from 9am-6pm for a workshop on digital fluency in the newsroom. Coders will leave with some journalism chops and journalists will be conversant in digital reporting tools and (hopefully) will have a project they can post to their news site. We’ll have fun and new datasets, a plethora of visualization possibilities and of course free food and drinks.
CODERS: We have 10 slots for developers/coders who want a job at the major news organizations and who want a chance to work with veteran journalists on projects to add to their portfolio. Candidates should have an interest in journalism and digital media. Experience in dataviz, maps, interactives, new ways of presenting data, is a plus.
JOURNALISTS: We have 10 slots for journalists from print, radio, TV and/or web looking to expand their digital reporting skills.
TO APPLY: Please send us a brief note by Wednesday, May 14, to mattcatmit at gmail.com explaining why you want to participate and include a sentence or two about your background. We will notify people by email if they are accepted.*** NOTE: You must apply by email.
ITINERARY:
9-9:15am coffee and light breakfast
9:15-10:00am short introductions, meet your teammate, presenting datasets and possibilities for storytelling
10am-1pm work in teams
1-2pm lunch
2pm-5pm work in teams
5-6pm 10 minute presentations of the story, the data you used and tools you used.
6pm nearby bar
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Monday, May 19
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xTalks: Expertise in Science and Engineering, How it is Learned and Taught
Monday, May 19, 2014
11:00a–12:00p
MIT, Building 3-270, 33 Massachusetts Ave (Rear), Cambridge
Speaker: Carl Wieman
Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman will discuss how cognitive psychology research has illuminated what it means to 'think like a scientist or engineer' (i.e. expertise), and how those abilities are developed. In addition, he will connect that work to different teaching methods used in college science and engineering courses and show comparative data on the resulting learning of expertise that is achieved. He will also discuss the significance of the content expertise of the teacher in this process.
Dr Wieman currently has a joint appointment in physics and education at Stanford University. He also served as chair of the Board on Science Education of the National Academy of Sciences and was the founder and chairman of PhET, a web-based directive of University of Colorado Boulder which provides an extensive suite of simulations to improve the way that physics, chemistry, biology, earth science and math are taught and learned. Wieman worked on education reforms at the University of British Columbia and served as Associate Director for Science in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the White House. In 2001, he won the Nobel prize in Physics. Wieman is a graduate of MIT (BS, '73).
xTalks: Digital Discourses
A forum to facilitate awareness, deep understanding & transference of educational innovations at MIT and elsewhere, xTalks fosters a community of educators, researchers, and technologists engaged in developing and supporting effective learning experiences through online learning environments and other digital technologies.
Web site: http://odl.mit.edu/events/carl-wieman-expertise-in-science-and-engineering-how-it-is-learned-and-taught/
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): OEIT- Office of Educational Innovation and Technology, Science Policy Initiative, Office of Digital Learning
For more information, contact: Molly Ruggles
617-324-9185
ruggles at mit.edu
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Building Trust from the Bottom Up: U.S.-Chinese Engagement on Nuclear Issues
May 19, 2014
12:15-2:00 p.m.
Harvard, Nye A, Fifth Floor Taubman Building, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge
Open to the Public
Speaker: Tong Zhao, Stanton Nuclear Security Predoctoral Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
Related Projects: International Security, Managing the Atom, Science, Technology, and Public Policy
This presentation seeks to address the question of whether operational-level engagement between the United States and China increases China's trust towards the United States in their nuclear relationship. And if so, why is this the case and how does it take place?
Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.
More information at http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/events/?page=1
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Challenge Demo Day 2014
Monday, May 19, 2014
5:30 PM to 7:30 PM (EDT)
Harvard Innovation Lab, 125 Western Avenue, Boston
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-deans-health-and-life-sciences-challenge-demo-day-2014-tickets-11334021363
The Deans' Health and Life Sciences Challenge Demo Day 2014
Please join us at this year's Deans' Health and Life Sciences Challenge Demo Day. Our six finalist teams will showcase their exciting ventures and technologies to the Harvard/Cambridge/Boston community. The Challenge's Co-Chairs, Dean Nohria (HBS) and Dean Flier (HMS) will also announce the winners of the Bertarelli Foundation prizes, totaling $50,000.
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Bee-Wise...Know Your Fresh Pond Pollinators!
Monday, May 19
6 to 7:30pm
Water Purification Facility, 250 Fresh Pond Parkway, Cambridge
Pollinators are what keep the world growing, and Fresh Pond Reservation is no exception! Meet one of Fresh Pond’s beekeepers to learn about bee biology, ecology and what it takes to beekeep! We’ll get to see some bees up close and visit the Lusitania hives.
For more information contact Kirsten at klindquist at cambridgema.gov or (617) 349-6489. No registration necessary.
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Philippe Petit discusses Creativity: The Perfect Crime
Harvard Book Store
Monday, May 19
6:00 PM (EDT)
Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/philippe-petit-discusses-creativity-the-perfect-crime-tickets-11283995735
Cost: $5.00
Harvard Book Store welcomes famed high-wire artist PHILIPPE PETIT for a discussion of his new bookCreativity: The Perfect Crime.
Since well before his epic 1974 walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, Philippe Petit had become an artist who answered first and foremost to the demands of his craft—not only on the high wire, but also as a magician, street juggler, visual artist, builder, and writer. A born rebel like many creative people, he was from an early age a voracious learner who taught himself, cultivating the attitudes, resources, and techniques to tackle even seemingly impossible feats. His outlaw sensibility spawned a unique approach to the creative process—an approach he shares, with characteristic enthusiasm, irreverence, and originality in Creativity: The Perfect Crime.
Making the reader his accomplice, Petit reveals new and unconventional ways of going about the artistic endeavor, from generating and shaping ideas to practicing and problem-solving to pulling off the “coup” itself—executing a finished work. The strategies and insights he shares will resonate with performers of every stripe (actors, musicians, dancers) and practitioners of the non-performing arts (painters, writers, sculptors), and also with ordinary mortals in search of fresh ways of tackling the challenges and possibilities of everyday existence.
“I enjoyed the organization of chaos, the boldness of ideas, the insanity of Philippe’s visions, the extreme discipline of planning, and the passion of the feat. It inspires to create not only on a sound concept, but also on a whim or a spark. I was thoroughly able to identify with his highs and lows and it was a great pleasure to have one so freewheeling put his methods down in a completely personal way." —Julie Taymor
Tickets are also available at Harvard Book Store and over the phone at 617-661-1515.
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Tuesday, May 20
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You, me, and my computer
May 20, 2014
12:30pm ET
Berkman Center for Internet & Society, 23 Everett Street, 2nd Floor, Cambridge
RSVP required for those attending in person at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2014/05/mccarthy#RSVP
This event will be webcast live at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2014/05/mccarthy at 12:30pm ET.
with Lauren McCarthy, artist and programmer
Can we use technology to help us be more human? To smile more, to touch and to listen to each other? What if a computer could understand and make decisions about our social relationships better than we could ourselves? Would our interactions be improved by computationally determining what to do and say? What happens if we crowdsource our dating lives and actually find love? This is a discussion of attempts to understand these questions through an artistic practice involving hacking, design and self-experimentation.
About Lauren
Lauren McCarthy is an artist and programmer based in Brooklyn, NY. She is adjunct faculty at RISD and NYU ITP, a researcher in resident at ITP, and recently a resident at Eyebeam. She holds an MFA from UCLA and a BS Computer Science and BS Art and Design from MIT. Her work explores the structures and systems of social interactions, identity, and self-representation, and the potential for technology to mediate, manipulate, and evolve these interactions. She is fascinated by the slightly uncomfortable moments when patterns are shifted, expectations are broken, and participants become aware of the system.
At Sosolimited and Small Design Firm, Lauren has worked on installations for the London Eye, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, IBM, US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Thomas Jefferson’s home at Monticello. She has also worked at Oblong Industries, Continuum and the MIT Media Lab.
Her artwork has been shown in a variety of contexts, including the Conflux Festival, SIGGRAPH, LACMA, the Japan Media Arts Festival, Share Festival, File Festival, the WIRED Store, and probably to you without you knowing it at some point while interacting with her.
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Cytoskeletal Control of Bacterial Growth
WHEN Tue., May 20, 2014, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Medical School, New Research Building - Room 1031, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Health Sciences, Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Medical School
SPEAKER(S) KC Huang, Stanford University
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Book Launch: The Social Machine
May 20th, 2014 at 6:00pm ET
Harvard Law School
RSVP required for those attending in person at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/2014/05/socialmachine#RSVP
Judith Donath, Berkman Center Fellow
Online, interface designs fashion people's appearance, shape their communication and influence their behavior. Can we see another’s face or do we know each other only by name? Do our words disappear forever once they leave the screen or are they permanently archived, amassing a history of our views and reactions? Are we aware of how public or private our surroundings are?
In “The Social Machine”, Judith Donath addresses topics such visualizing conversations and networks; portraying identity with data and history; delineating public and private space, and bringing the online world's open sociability into the face to face world. “The Social Machine” is a manifesto for balancing legibility, social responsibility and innovation -- and a manual for designing radically new environments for social interaction.
About Judith Donath
Judith synthesizes knowledge from urban design, evolutionary biology and cognitive science to design innovative interfaces for on-line communities and virtual identities. A Harvard Berkman Faculty Fellow and formerly director of the MIT Media Lab's Sociable Media Group, she is known internationally for her writing on identity, interface design, and social communication. She is the creator of many pioneering online social applications; her work and that of the Sociable Media Group have been shown in museums and galleries worldwide. Her current research focuses on how we signal identity in both mediated and face-to-face interactions, and she is working on a book about how the economics of honesty shape our world.
She received her doctoral and master's degrees in Media Arts and Sciences from MIT and her bachelor's degree in History from Yale University.
Links:
http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/social-machine
http://vivatropolis.org/judith/
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Hemlock: A Forest Giant on the Edge
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
6:00pm
Harvard, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street 1st Floor, Cambridge
Special Presentation & Book Signing with David R. Foster, Director, Harvard Forest, and Professor, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University; and Aaron Ellison, Senior Research Fellow in Ecology, Harvard Forest, and Adjunct Research Professor, Departments of Biology and Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
For millennia, eastern hemlock trees have held irreplaceable cultural value and created unique forest habitat across New England. Today, eastern hemlocks are disappearing from our forests, falling by the tens of thousands as prey to an exotic insect foe. In the new book Hemlock: A Forest Giant on the Edge, eight Harvard Forest researchers reflect on eastern hemlock's irreplaceable value to human culture, ecosystems, and scientific research. Two of the book's authors, Harvard Forest director David R. Foster and ecologist Aaron Ellison, will explain connections between eastern hemlock's modern decline and the larger challenges facing nature and society in an era of habitat fragmentation, native species loss, and global climate change.
Free and open to the public
http://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/lectures_and_special_events/index.php
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Race To Solar
Tuesday, May 20
6 PM to 8 PM
Carpenter’s Center, 750 Dorchester Avenue, Boston
Through the Race to Solar program, eligible nonprofits can acquire a solar electric energy system for their school, house of worship, food pantry, community center, or other building owned by their nonprofit organization.
A solar investor will own, repair and insure the panels, selling the green electricity back to your nonprofit at a rate typically lower than the organization currently pays the utility company.
The Race to Solar will help 40 nonprofits get solar installed, totaling 1 megawatt of clean, renewable energy in our communities. Through reducing the sales and marketing costs for the installer, HEET has secured a great rate and contract with SunBug Solar.
To qualify for the program your nonprofit must:
1. Participate in NSTAR’s Direct Install energy upgrade in your nonprofit.
The no-cost energy evaluation can be scheduled at your convenience. The assessor will create a report of the potential work for you to choose from. The work is 70% rebated and the remainder can be paid with a zero interest 12 month loan. The work lowers the electricity bill by 30% on average.
2. Persuade 5 small local businesses to get a no-cost energy evaluation.
This work helps your whole community become more sustainable both economically and environmentally. HEET will assist you in signing up the businesses.
3. Join a free energy-tracking online site.
Tracking with wegowise will help you quantify your savings and can help you spot future problems with your plumbing or heating systems before the problems become catastrophic.
To learn more about the program, attend a Race to Solar Workshop. Please RSVP for one of the following workshops, as refreshments and food will be provided:
For more information about the program contact info at HEETma.org, call 617-HEET (4338)-350, or http://www.heetma.org/race-to-solar/
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Boston Quantified Self Show&Tell #BQS16 (NERD)
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Microsoft NERD New England Research & Development Center, One Memorial Drive, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/BostonQS/events/170552132/
Cost: $7.00/per person
Please come join us on Tuesday, May 20th for another fun night of self-tracking presentations, sharing ideas, and showing tools. If you are self-tracking in any way -- health stats, biofeedback, life-logging, mood monitoring, biometrics, athletics, etc. -- come and share your methods, results and insights.
We're happy to hosted by our friends at Microsoft. Be sure to RSVP early to grab your spot! Come to meet new people, check out new hands-on gadgets and tools, enjoy healthy food, and learn from personal stories.
6:00 - 7:00 pm DEMO HOUR & SOCIAL TIME
Are you a toolmaker? Come demo your self-tracking gadget, app, project or idea that you're working on and share with others in our "science fair for adults." If you are making something useful for self-trackers – software, hardware, web services, or data standards – please demo it in this workshop portion of the Show&Tell. Want to participate in Demo Hour? Please let us know when you RSVP or contact Vincent at vmcphillip at gmail dot com for a spot.
7:00 - 8:00 pm IGNITE SHOW&TELLS
If you'd like to talk about your personal self-tracking story, please let us know in your RSVP or contact Joshua at joshuakot at gmail dot com, so we can discuss your topic. In your talk, you should answer the three prime questions: What did you do? How did you do it? What did you learn?
8:00 - 9:00 pm MORE SOCIAL TIME & NETWORKING
Talk to the speakers, chat with new and old friends, ask other people what they're tracking, and generally hang out and have a great time.
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Why Consumers Alone Can’t Save Our Fish
Tuesday, May 20
7pm
NE Aquarium, 1 Central Wharf, Boston
http://support.neaq.org/site/Calendar?id=105305&view=Detail
Dr. Jennifer Jacquet, clinical assistant professor, New York University
Seafood is one of the only wild foods (aside from mushrooms) that Westerners eat with any regularity, and demand for it is only increasing. This talk discusses the rise of consumer-based initiatives to save the world's marine life, such as seafood wallet cards and the Marine Stewardship Council’s eco-label for wild-caught fish. The principle that consumers should make a point of choosing products that reflect their ideals is a good one, but there are also challenges with initiatives that focus on end consumers—particularly because they ask us to engage as consumers rather than as concerned citizens and relate to fish as a commodity rather than as wildlife. Register here.
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Upcoming Events
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Wednesday, May 21
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Enhancing Nuclear Security Culture Internationally
WHEN Wed., May 14, 2014, 10 – 11:30 a.m.
WHERE Harvard, Belfer Center Library (Littauer-369), 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Law, Science, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Project on Managing the Atom
SPEAKER(S) Kara De Castro has over 20 years of experience working to enhance nuclear safety and security internationally. From April 2011 to October 2013, she worked directly for the National Nuclear Security Administration, Department of Energy (DOE), leading international nonproliferation projects and providing support as an Acting Deputy Office Director. As of October 2013, Ms. De Castro is the DOE Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan.
For more than 10 years, Kara De Castro led the Department of Energy sponsored project to enhance nuclear security culture in the Russian Federation. She jointly planned and designed the systematic program that includes a sound regulatory basis, a comprehensive training program, and assessment tools. She also led the establishment of nuclear security culture enhancement programs in Ukraine and Belarus. Kara De Castro has worked closely with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and has drafted nuclear security culture guidance documents for use in the IAEA program.
Kara De Castro started her career at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) working to enhance safety at Russian and Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plants. Ms. De Castro later became the Head of BNL’s Consolidation and Sustainability Group, supervising the group providing technical support to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s International Material Protection and Cooperation Program.
CONTACT INFO atom at hks.harvard.edu
LINK belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu…
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"Innovative State: How New Technologies Can Transform Government."
Wednesday, May 21
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Harvard, Fainsod Room (Littauer 324), 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Discussion with Aneesh Chopra, former (and first) U.S. Chief Technology Officer. Co-sponsored with the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government.
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Risk and Resilience in the Built Environment: Planning for Operational Resiliency
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM EDT
Webinar Registration at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/499994241?utm_source=May+2014+Event+Update&utm_campaign=May+2014+Events&utm_medium=email
Risk and Resilience in the Built Environment: Refining the role of Developers and Property Managers
Resilience in the built environment has been a hot topic since super storm Sandy. But resiliency is more than just the physical environment - its also the operations of our companies and organizations within those facilities. Resilience of organizations and communities rests on three pillars: People, Processes and Places (technology and infrastructure). Community and organizational Resilience is a function of how each pillar can compensate for possible (and probable) deficiencies in the other two. While developers and property managers have developed an expertise in mitigating and preparing for risks related to “places”, the first two pillars could be better integrated into project planning and property management practices.
To be able to achieve systemic resilience it is important to understand the nature of the “people” and “process” pillars. Using the “risk” and “resilience” lenses, this presentation will outline the psychological and cultural elements that make up the “people” pillar, and the organizational dynamics that comprise the “process” pillar. Finally, we will review practical issues related to planning and management of the “places” pillar that can mitigate risks associated with “people” and “processes”.
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Climate Dynamics of Condensible-rich Atmospheres
WHEN Wed., May 21, 2014, 4 – 5 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Geological Museum, Haller Hall (Room 102), 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Origins of Life Initiative
SPEAKER(S) Raymond T. Pierrehumbert, University of Chicago
CONTACT INFO origins at cfa.harvard.edu
LINK origins.harvard.edu
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Hellstrip Gardening: Paradise at the Curb
WHEN Wed., May 21, 2014, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
WHERE Arnold Arboretum, Hunnewell Building, Jamaica Plain
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Arnold Arboretum
SPEAKER(S) Evelyn Hadden, author
COST $15 member, $25 nonmember
TICKET WEB LINK my.arboretum.harvard.edu
TICKET INFO 617 384-5277
CONTACT INFO adulted at arnarb.harvard.edu
NOTE From coast to coast, overlooked landscapes languish in parking strips and alongside driveways and alleys. These semi-public spaces don't often support healthy lawns, but they can host thriving gardens that add beauty and provide ecological services, dramatically improving their surroundings. Evelyn Hadden will address issues such as car, foot, and paw traffic; utility and maintenance equipment; restricted root zones, contaminated soil; covenants and city regulations and present dozens of plants and ideas for increasing the green in your neighborhood. For discussion purposes, send images of successful hellstrips you have seen, or alternatively, plantings that haven’t lived up to the challenges to:adulted at arnarb.harvard.edu.
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Science in the News Lecture: Exploring Planets Near and Far
WHEN Wed., May 21, 2014, 7 – 9 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Pfizer Lecture Hall (B23), Malinckrodt Chemistry Lab
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Science in the News
SPEAKER(S) Anjali Tripathi
CONTACT INFO sitnboston at gmail.com
NOTE Come hear a Ph.D. student give an engaging and accessible lecture on his or her cutting-edge research. No prior knowledge necessary! Free refreshments!
LINK http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/seminar-series/
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Thursday, May 22
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MA Food Day planning meeting
May 22nd
6:00-7:00
Downtown Crossing 62 Summer Street, 2nd Floor, Boston
RSVP: rose.arruda at state.ma.us
MA Food Day is October 24
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Promoting a Culture of Quality and Safety in a Global Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Environment
WHEN Thu., May 22, 2014, 7:45 – 9:15 a.m.
WHERE Harvard Faculty Club, 20 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA, Room 10, 2nd floor
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Health Sciences, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Medical School
SPEAKER(S) Gary C. du Moulin, associate professor of drug regulatory affairs, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences University
CONTACT INFO debra_milamed at hms.harvard.edu
NOTE Technology Assessment in Health Care Seminar Series, final meeting of AY 2014.
Continental breakfast served.
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The Iraqi Refugee Crisis: Lessons for Syria and Beyond
May 22, 2014
12:15-2:00 p.m.
Harvard, Belfer Center Library, Littauer-369, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Open to the Public
Speaker: Jill Goldenziel, Research Fellow, International Security Program
Related Project: International Security
Despite the existence of international law designed to protect people fleeing persecution, the international community's response to population displacement varies greatly, with some people given access to resettlement in the West while others are summarily returned to their countries of origin. What explains variation in the international community's response to cases of population displacement? In this seminar, Dr. Goldenziel will explain how the political and security interests of the United States determines if, when, and how the United Nations will call mass population displacement a refugee crisis and provide those displaced with humanitarian assistance.
Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.
More information at http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/events/?page=1
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Pecha Kucha Boston
Thursday, May 22, 2014
7:00 PM to 10:00 PM (EDT)
Cambridge, MA
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/pecha-kucha-boston-tickets-11465885773
Come see 8 inspiring talks on Art , Design , Technlogy and Artisanal Chocolate making.
Presentations by:
Jeff Bartell- http://dxboston.com/speaker/jeff-bartell/
William Brierly- http://sodadrinkerpro.com/
Dave Schlafman- http://cloudkid.com/
Eric Gulliver- http://thenonfictioncartel.com/
Kelvy Bird http://www.kelvybird.com/
Jenny Wolahan- Small and Casual Productions
Spindler confections- http://spindlerconfections.com/
Edwina Portocarrero http://obm.media.mit.edu
More information at
http://www.pechakucha.org/cities/boston
http://tinyurl.com/mudwdtn
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Friday, May 23
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ReThinking Mindfulness
Friday, May 23, 2014
9:00a–5:00p
MIT, Building E51-115, Wong Auditorium, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: various
RSVP at http://www.prajnopaya.org/rethinking-mindfulness/
The mindfulness movement has grown in a remarkable way in the past few years and is accelerating. Where has this movement come from? Where is this movement going? What has been accomplished by it? What are the further applications? What impact can it have on the wellbeing of individuals and of society as a whole? ReThinking Mindfulness seeks to promote a probing and constructive conversation - and as provocative as necessary - about the mindfulness movement.
Join some of the leading thinkers and practitioners to explore and enhance our understanding of this modern phenomenon with ancient roots.
Speakers: Bhikkhu Bodhi, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Alan Wallace, Tenzin Priyadarshi, Chade-Meng Tan, Joi Ito, Pat Christen, Pattie Maes, Kevin Slavin, Tinsley Galyean, Judson Brewer, Christopher Germer
Web site: http://www.prajnopaya.org/rethinking-mindfulness/
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Tickets: http://www.prajnopaya.org/rethinking-mindfulness/
This event occurs daily through May 24, 2014.
Sponsor(s): Buddhist Community at MIT, Religious Life, Media Lab, Prajnopaya at MIT
For more information, contact: The Ven. Tenzin LS Priyadarshi
617-324-6030
metta-request at mit.edu
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Farm Raising at South Street Farm!
May 23, 2014
4:00 - 7:00 pm
South Street II, Somerville
Want to support the South Street Farm? Come volunteer with us at our “Farm Raising” on May 23 from 4-7pm at the extended South Street Farm site, 138 South Street. We will be preparing the beds and planting the first seeds! Come prepared to get dirty and celebrate spring. Volunteers of all ages are welcome.
The South Street Farm is a collaborative project of Groundwork Somerville’s Green Team and Green City Growers. The farm site will be maintained and managed by youth from Groundwork Somerville. Look for produce grown at the South Street Farm at the Union Square Farmer’s Market and the Mystic Mobile Market this summer!
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Saturday, May 24
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ReThinking Mindfulness
Saturday, May 24, 2014
9:00a–5:00p
MIT, Building E51-115, Wong Auditorium, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: various
RSVP at http://www.prajnopaya.org/rethinking-mindfulness/
The mindfulness movement has grown in a remarkable way in the past few years and is accelerating. Where has this movement come from? Where is this movement going? What has been accomplished by it? What are the further applications? What impact can it have on the wellbeing of individuals and of society as a whole? ReThinking Mindfulness seeks to promote a probing and constructive conversation - and as provocative as necessary - about the mindfulness movement.
Join some of the leading thinkers and practitioners to explore and enhance our understanding of this modern phenomenon with ancient roots.
Speakers: Bhikkhu Bodhi, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Alan Wallace, Tenzin Priyadarshi, Chade-Meng Tan, Joi Ito, Pat Christen, Pattie Maes, Kevin Slavin, Tinsley Galyean, Judson Brewer, Christopher Germer
Web site: http://www.prajnopaya.org/rethinking-mindfulness/
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Tickets: http://www.prajnopaya.org/rethinking-mindfulness/
This event occurs daily through May 24, 2014.
Sponsor(s): Buddhist Community at MIT, Religious Life, Media Lab, Prajnopaya at MIT
For more information, contact: The Ven. Tenzin LS Priyadarshi
617-324-6030
metta-request at mit.edu
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Indigenous Ecological Urban Presence
Saturday, May 24
10am-1pm
Alewife Reservation Parking Lot, Acorn Park Drive, Cambridge
Indigenous Ecological Urban Presence by Professor David Morimoto, Lesley University Understand and learn natural history from Lesley University Natural Science teacher, who has an ongoing program in South America for students. He studies the Alewife Reservation with students and Biology professor, Amy Mertl, and sees the urban wild ecosystem as an important field study destination for students, and an area which must be preserved for future generations.
Contact: 617-710-6177 or FAR at 617-415-1884
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Boston’s Urban Forest Urban Orchards Bicycle Tour
Saturday, May 24
10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Roxbury and Jamaica Plain
Meeting location TBA
Boston is full of urban orchards, but do you know where they are? Come join a leisurely bike ride through Jamaica Plain and Roxbury to discover apple, pear, cherry and plum trees. Bring your bike and helmet, water and a snack. Registration required by contacting 617-542-7696 or iinfo at bostonnatural.org
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The Future of Technology: Benefits and Risks
Future of Life Institute
Saturday, May 24, 2014
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM (EDT)
MIT, Huntington Hall, Building 10-250, 222 Memorial Drive, Cambridge (or halfway down the Infinite Corridor and up one floor)
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-future-of-technology-benefits-and-risks-tickets-11489887563
The coming decades promise dramatic progress in technologies from synthetic biology to artificial intelligence, with both great benefits and great risks. Welcome to a fascinating discussion about what we can do now to improve the chances of reaping the benefits and avoiding the risks, moderated by Alan Alda and featuring George Church (synthetic biology), Ting Wu (personal genetics), Andrew McAfee (second machine age, economic bounty and disparity), Frank Wilczek(near-term AI and autonomous weapons) and Jaan Tallinn (long-term AI and singularity scenarios).
Alan Alda is an Oscar-nominated actor, writer, director, and science communicator, whose contributions range from M*A*S*H to Scientific American Frontiers.
George Church is a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, initiated the Personal Genome Project, and invented DNA array synthesizers.
Andrew McAfee is Associate Director of the MIT Center for Digital Business and author of the New York Times bestseller The Second Machine Age.
Jaan Tallinn is a founding engineer of Skype and philanthropically supports numerous research organizations aimed at reducing existential risk.
Frank Wilczek is a physics professor at MIT and a 2004 Nobel laureate for his work on the strong nuclear force.
Ting Wu is a professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Personal Genetics Education project.
http://www.thefutureoflife.org/events
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Urban Farming: From Vision to Reality - A Swiss Perspective
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
6:45 PM to 9:15 PM (EDT)
swissnex Boston, Consulate of Switzerland, 420 Broadway, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/urban-farming-from-vision-to-reality-a-swiss-perspective-tickets-11545572117
The idea of supplemental food production beyond rural farming operations and distant imports is not new and has been used during war times and the Great Depression when food shortage issues arose. As early as 1893, citizens of a depression-struck Detroit were asked to use any vacant lots to grow vegetables. They were nicknamed Pingree's Potato Patches after the mayor, Hazen S. Pingree, who came up with the idea. He intended for these gardens to produce income, food supply, and even boost self-independence during times of hardship.
In 2010, New York City saw the building and opening of the world's largest privately owned and operated rooftop farm and the City of Boston approved a new rule making it legal to start a commercial farm inside citiy limits in December of last year. But urban farming is not only popular in the USA. In Switzerland, the start-up company Urban Farmers launched its business in July of 2011 and started a fresh revolution.With its past success in mind andwith modern technology, urban agriculture today can be something to help both developed and developing nations.
Please join us for presentations and a panel discussion with Urban Farmers from Switzerland and Boston, representatives from academia and local government as well as a food consultant to discuss questions like how does the Swiss landscape in UF looks like today? Pros and Cons of acquaponics; How sustainable will urban farming be in the futur? What factor plays climate change and urban pollution in UF? How important can UF become in securing enough food for everyone?
Program:
6:45 - 7:15: Doors open, registration and refreshments
7:15 - 8:00: Welcome and presentations by panelists
8:00 - 8:45: Moderated Q & A session
8:45 - 9:15: Networking Reception
About the speakers:
Didi Emmons, Food Consultant and author, Boston
Andreas Graber, Founder and Director R&D of "Urban Farmers", Zurich
Edith Murnane, Director of Food Initiatives, City of Boston
Jennifer Hashley, Project Director, New Entry Sustainable Farming Project, Tufts University
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The Human Scale: Bringing Cities to Life
Tuesday, May 27
6:00 pm
BSA Space, 290 Congress Street, Boston
RSVP at https://online.architects.org/bsassa/evtssareg.custid?p_event_id=1248
By 2050, 80 percent of the world's population will live in urban areas. Life in a megacity is both enchanting and challenging. Matthew Lister from Gehl Studio in New York City will lead a Q&A after the screening.
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Wednesday, May 28
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Lessons from an Outlier Case: The Indian Nuclear Tests and Theories of Nuclear Proliferation
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
10:00-11:30 a.m.
Harvard, Fainsod Room, Littauer-324, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Open to the Public
Speaker: Sven-Eric Fikenscher, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
Related Projects: Managing the Atom, International Security, Science, Technology, and Public Policy
Past research on the demand-side of nuclear proliferation largely suggests that states cross the nuclear threshold as a result of material cost-benefit calculations, provided that they have the technical ability to do so. Common explanations for a country’s decision to go nuclear highlight its lack of security, the scientific community’s interest in acquiring nuclear weapons, and an “inward-looking” government’s desire to boost domestic support. However, a separate literature emphasizes normative and psychological elements, such as the lack of norms and democratic institutions, as well as the worldview and emotions of leaders.
India’s decisions to conduct nuclear tests in 1974 and 1998 and taking preparations for tests but ultimately refraining from carrying them out in the early 1980s, 1995, and 1996 present a challenge to both meta-theoretical approaches. While most of the above-mentioned concepts cannot explain India’s nuclear policy, others might account for some incidents but are hard to reconcile with all. This triggers the question of what we can learn from the empirics to make the theoretical arguments more conclusive. It is suggested that substantial insights about the blind spots of several proliferation models can be derived from the broader IR theories invoked by the respective propositions.
More information at http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/events/?page=1
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Opportunity
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Intern with Biodiversity for a Livable Climate!
Biodiversity for a Livable Climate (BLC) is a nonprofit based in the Cambridge, MA area. Our mission is to mobilize the biosphere to restore ecosystems and reverse global warming.
Education, public information campaigns, organizing, scientific investigation, collaboration with like-minded organizations, research and policy development are all elements of our strategy.
Background: Soils are the largest terrestrial carbon sink on the planet. Restoring the complex ecology of soils is the only way to safely and quickly remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the ground, where it’s desperately needed to regenerate the health of billions of acres of degraded lands. Restoring carbon to soils and regenerating ecosystems are how we can restore a healthy hydrologic cycle and cool local and planetary climates safely, naturally, and in time to ensure a livable climate now and in the future.
Our Work: immediate plans include
Organizing the First International Biodiversity, Soil Carbon and Climate Week, October 31-November 9, 2014, and a kick-off conference in the Boston area, “Mobilizing the Biosphere to Reverse Global Warming: A Biodiversity, Water, Soil Carbon and Climate Conference – and Call to Action” to expand the mainstream climate conversation to include the power of biology, and to help initiate intensive worldwide efforts to return atmospheric carbon to the soils.
Coordination of a global fund to directly assist local farmers and herders in learning and applying carbon farming approaches that not only benefit the climate, but improve the health and productivity of the land and the people who depend on it.
Collaboration with individuals and organizations on addressing eco-restoration and the regeneration of water and carbon cycles; such projects may include application of practices such as Holistic Management for restoration of billions of acres of degraded grasslands, reforestation of exploited forest areas, and restoring ocean food chains.
Please contact Helen D. Silver, helen.silver at bio4climate.org for further information.
781-316-1710
Bio4climate.org
SharedHarvestCSA.com
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Online Collaborative Explorations focusing on "Scientific and Political Change"
April-May 2014
Collaborative Explorations (CEs) are an extension of Project-Based Learning (PBL) and related approaches to education in which participants shape their own directions of inquiry in response to a scenario in which the problems are not well defined. The online CEs consist of live 60-minute sessions each week for a month and exchanges on a private community between sessions. The format is designed to address the needs of onlne learners who want to:
participate for shorter periods than a semester-long MOOC
dig deeper, make "thicker" connections with other learners
connect topics with their own interests
learn without needing credits or badges for MOOC completion.
In short, online CEs are "moderately open online collaborative learning."
Schedule:
April: Preparing people to be informed participants in political
debates about science, technology, and social change
May: Science-policy connections to improve responses to extreme
climatic events
Day and time is set to suit the people who register.
Open to the public--please spread the word.
For more information and link for registering:http://collabex.wikispaces.com
Organized in collaboration with UMass Boston's Science in a Changing World graduate track: http://www.cct.umb.edu/sicw
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Share an opportunity to take part in a fun project, One Day on Earth: Your Day. Your City. Your Future, a multi-city participatory media-creation event. On April 26th, 2014, hundreds of filmmakers, non-profit organizations, and inspired citizens in 11 U.S. city-regions will document stories that they believe most affect the future of their city.
The idea is to have people, organizations, and groups across the Boston region film on the same day within a 24-hour duration (on Saturday, April 26, 2014) to tell their stories. Video stories submitted to One Day in Boston will result in a 90 minute film — a localized version of One Day on Earth. Video submissions not included in the 90 minute piece will feature in a geo-tagged film archive featuring the people, stories, and events of Greater Boston. Participation is voluntary. You can make your own film, partner with a videographer/film-maker, or reach out to Cecily Taylor, producer of the Boston project at Cecily.Tyler at onedayonearth.org.
It is a great way to document stories about our lives, our families, our organizations, our communities, and our city. We encourage you to get involved and participate to showcase our city. You can learn more about this project by clicking on the following links:
One Sheet and Press Kit: http://yourdayyourcity.org/boston/2014/03/01/press-kit/
One Day in Boston - participate: http://onedayinboston.org/#participate
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/605133916238534/
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Climate Stories Project
http://www.climatestoriesproject.org
What's your Climate Story?
Climate Stories Project is a forum that gives a voice to the emotional and personal impacts that climate change is having on our lives. Often, we only discuss climate change from the impersonal perspective of science or the contentious realm of politics. Today, more and more of us are feeling the effects of climate change on an personal level. Climate Stories Project allows people from around the world to share their stories and to engage with climate change in a personal, direct way.
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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. Membership in the coop costs $2.50 per quart. 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://sites.google.com/site/somervilleyogurtcoop/home
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Cambridge Residents: Free Home Thermal Images
Have you ever wanted to learn where your home is leaking heat by having an energy auditor come to your home with a thermal camera? With that info you then know where to fix your home so it's more comfortable and less expensive to heat. However, at $200 or so, the cost of such a thermal scan is a big chunk of change.
HEET Cambridge has now partnered with Sagewell, Inc. to offer Cambridge residents free thermal scans.
Sagewell collects the thermal images by driving through Cambridge in a hybrid vehicle equipped with thermal cameras. They will scan every building in Cambridge (as long as it's not blocked by trees or buildings or on a private way). Building owners can view thermal images of their property and an analysis online. The information is password protected so that only the building owner can see the results.
Homeowners, condo-owners and landlords can access the thermal images and an accompanying analysis free of charge. Commercial building owners and owners of more than one building will be able to view their images and analysis for a small fee.
The scans will be analyzed in the order they are requested.
Go to Sagewell.com. Type in your address at the bottom where it says "Find your home or building" and press return. Then click on "Here" to request the report.
That's it. When the scans are done in a few weeks, your building will be one of the first to be analyzed. The accompanying report will help you understand why your living room has always been cold and what to do about it.
With knowledge, comes power (or in this case saved power and money, not to mention comfort).
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Free solar electricity analysis for MA residents
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHhwM202dDYxdUZJVGFscnY1VGZ3aXc6MQ
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HEET has partnered with NSTAR and Mass Save participating contractor Next Step Living to deliver no-cost Home Energy Assessments to Cambridge residents.
During the assessment, the energy specialist will:
Install efficient light bulbs (saving up to 7% of your electricity bill)
Install programmable thermostats (saving up to 10% of your heating bill)
Install water efficiency devices (saving up to 10% of your water bill)
Check the combustion safety of your heating and hot water equipment
Evaluate your home’s energy use to create an energy-efficiency roadmap
If you get electricity from NSTAR, National Grid or Western Mass Electric, you already pay for these assessments through a surcharge on your energy bills. You might as well use the service.
Please sign up at http://nextsteplivinginc.com/heet/?outreach=HEET or call Next Step Living at 866-867-8729. A Next Step Living Representative will call to schedule your assessment.
HEET will help answer any questions and ensure you get all the services and rebates possible.
(The information collected will only be used to help you get a Home Energy Assessment. We won’t keep the data or sell it.)
(If you have any questions or problems, please feel free to call HEET’s Jason Taylor at 617 441 0614.)
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Resource
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Sustainable Business Network Local Green Guide
SBN is excited to announce the soft launch of its new Local Green Guide, Massachusetts' premier Green Business Directory!
To view the directory please visit: http://www.localgreenguide.org
To find out how how your business can be listed on the website or for sponsorship opportunities please contact Adritha at adritha at sbnboston.org
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Free Monthly Energy Analysis
CarbonSalon is a free service that every month can automatically track your energy use and compare it to your past energy use (while controlling for how cold the weather is). You get a short friendly email that lets you know how you’re doing in your work to save energy.
https://www.carbonsalon.com/
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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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Artisan Asylum http://artisansasylum.com/
Sprout & Co: Community Driven Investigations http://thesprouts.org/
Greater Boston Solidarity Economy Mapping Project http://www.transformationcentral.org/solidarity/mapping/mapping.html
a project by Wellesley College students that invites participation, contact jmatthaei at wellesley.edu
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Bostonsmart.com's Guide to Boston http://www.bostonsmarts.com/BostonGuide/
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Links to events at 60 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://events.mit.edu
MIT Energy Club: http://www.mitenergyclub.org/events/calendar/
Harvard Events: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/harvard-events/events-calendar/
Harvard Environment: http://www.environment.harvard.edu/events/calendar/
Sustainability at Harvard: http://green.harvard.edu/events
Mass Climate Action: http://www.massclimateaction.net/calendar/events/index.php
Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/
Eventbrite: http://www.eventbrite.com/
Microsoft NERD Center: http://microsoftcambridge.com/Events/tabid/57/Default.aspx
Startup and Entrepreneurial Events: http://www.greenhornconnect.com/events/calendar
High Tech Events: http://harddatafactory.com/Johnny_Monsarrat/index.html
Cambridge Civic Journal: http://www.rwinters.com
Cambridge Happenings: http://cambridgehappenings.org
Boston Area Computer User Groups: http://www.bugc.org/
Arts and Cultural Events List: http://aacel.blogspot.com/
Boston Events Insider: http://bostoneventsinsider.com/boston_events/
Nerdnite: http://boston.nerdnite.com/
More information about the Act-MA
mailing list