[act-ma] Energy (and Other) Events - July 13, 2014
George Mokray
gmoke at world.std.com
Sun Jul 13 17:11:01 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
Watt d’Or Exhibition of Swiss Energy Innovation Award Winners
Northeastern International Village, 1155-1175 Tremont Street, Boston
until September 14
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Monday, July 14
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Coasts and Communities with Introduction to Coastal Environmental Science Lab: A Free Online Course from UMass Boston
12pm MASS Seminar - Tomas Leisner (KIT)
2:30pm Academia, Industry or Both?
5:30pm The Future of Retail
6pm Boston New Technology July 2014 Product Showcase #BNT43
7pm Science by the Pint: 2000 Years of Sea Level Change
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Tuesday July 15
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8:30am Sustainable Technology Connection Forum
4pm Tech, Drugs, and Rock n’ Roll
6:30pm GreenPort Forum: An Urban Foraging Walk
7pm From The Cell to Cancer
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Wednesday, July 16
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12pm New Discovery Tools for Digital Humanities and Spatial Data
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Thursday, July 17
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8:45am Launchpad on Demand - CLEANTECH
4pm AI Support of Teamwork
6pm Green Agriculture Comes to Dorchester
6pm Traffic Advisory, The Future of Transportation: A practical approach
7pm The Garden
7pm Enchanted Objects: Design, Human Desire, and the Internet of Things
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Friday, July 18
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10am Engineering and Reverse Engineering Reinforcement Learning Workshop
1pm Experiential Lighting: Development and Validation of Perception-based Lighting Controls
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Monday, July 21
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5:30pm Pfizer Cambridge Collaborative Innovation Events: Professor George Church of HMS, "Personal Genomics and the Next Generation of Medicine”
6pm Fresh Pond Monarch Watch: Milkweed Planting & Kick-off!
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Tuesday, July 22
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1pm Current and Emerging Uses for Wikipedia in Research
6:30pm Digital Evolution on Steroids: From Crowdfunding to Social Networks
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My rough notes on some of the events I go to and notes on books I’ve read are at:
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com
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Watt d’Or Exhibition of Swiss Energy Innovation Award Winners
Northeastern International Village, 1155-1175 Tremont Street, Boston
until September 14
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Monday, July 14
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Coasts and Communities with Introduction to Coastal Environmental Science Lab: A Free Online Course from UMass Boston
July 14 - August 21, 2014
Register at https://umb.umassonline.net/bbcswebdav/users/rrezarta.hyseni/map/index.html
Coasts and Communities is an open online course by the School for the Environment and College of Advancing and Professional Studies at University of Massachusetts Boston. This six-week course aims to introduce participants to fundamental concepts in coastal environmental science and shows how to collect and evaluate data to solve real-world local environmental problems.
Registration is now open for the Summer '14 offering of the course. Course runs from July 14 to August 21, is delivered online in CourseSites LMS, and can be taken for credit by registering through UMass Boston. This summer the course has been redesigned and expanded to include a hands-on online laboratory component through which students will be able to apply in practice concepts from a broad range of topics introduced in this course.
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MASS Seminar - Tomas Leisner (KIT)
Monday, July 14
12:00p–1:00p
MIT, Building 54-915 (the tallest building on campus)
MASS Seminar - Tomas Leisner (KIT)
Web site: http://eaps-www.mit.edu/paoc/events/mass-seminar-tomas-leisner-kit
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Atmospheric Science Seminars
For more information, contact: MASS organizing committee
mass at mit.edu
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Academia, Industry or Both?
Monday, July 14
2:30p–4:00p
MIT, Building 32-123, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Charles Cooney, David Weitz, Jack Turner
Not sure whether you want to follow a career in industry or academia? Or maybe you're interested in both? Come hear from a panel of successful professors and industry representatives.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): GSC Academics, Research, and Careers, MIT Global Education & Career Development
For more information, contact: GSC Academics, Research, and Careers
gsc-arc at mit.edu
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The Future of Retail
Monday, July 14
5:30 PM to 8:00 PM (EDT)
Harvard University, Knafel Building, 1737 Cambridge Street, Room K262, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-future-of-retail-with-stefanos-polyzoides-and-robert-gibbs-tickets-11969265395
Cost: $15-25
Bringing Retail Back: Reviving the Urban Market Share
Post War American commercial development has focused on developing in greenfield locations, ignoring many main streets and historic downtowns. While city centers have successfully rebuilt neighborhoods and attracted new residential growth, American downtowns lack even the most basic retail goods and services, and public policy often impedes positive development. Lacking access to basic necessities, urban dwellers must leave the downtown and drive to surrounding shopping centers for their desired shopping needs.
Speakers Bob Gibbs and Stefanos Polyzoides will show that sustainable development and vibrant community life are only possible with a thriving urban economy. In order to make our towns and cities more livable, we need to revive the urban market share - and soon. During this talk the speakers will review case studies including Cambridge, Charleston, and Old Town Alexandria, to discuss the future of urban retail, and the practical role tactical urbanism can play in advocating for widespread economic change.
About the Speakers
Stefanos Polyzoides
Stefanos Polyzoides is a cofounder of the Congress for the New Urbanism and, with his wife Elizabeth Moule, a partner in Moule & Polyzoides, a Pasadena, California practice since 1990. From 1973 until 1997, he was an Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Southern California. His professional experience includes the design of educational, institutional, commercial and civic buildings, historic rehabilitation, housing, and the urban design of university campuses, neighborhoods and districts.
Mr. Polyzoides has led such projects throughout the United States and around the world, in Canada, South America, Australia, China and the Middle East. He was born and educated in Athens, Greece, and later earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in Architecture and Planning from Princeton University. His career has engaged a broad span of architecture and urbanism, its history, theory, education and design.
Robert Gibbs, ASLA
Robert Gibbs, founder of Gibbs Planning Group, is considered one of the foremost urban retail planners in America and has been active in developing innovative yet practical methods for applying modern trends in commercial development to more than 300 town centers and historic cities here and abroad. Profiled in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Urban Land, Gibbs has, writes The Atlantic Monthly, "a commercial sensibility unlike anything possessed by the urban planners who usually design downtown-renewal efforts."
Gibbs believes that sustainable development and vibrant community life are only possible with a vital commercial life, and that new and old towns alike need intelligent strategies for its survival. These strategies include a well-planned retail mix, advantageous pedestrian and vehicular circulation patterns, and arresting storefront designs. Gibbs has authored many publications, including the books "Principles of Urban Retail Planning and Development" and the SmartCode Retail Module. For nearly 20 years, he has taught a course in planning and designing urban retail in the Executive Education Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
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Boston New Technology July 2014 Product Showcase #BNT43
Monday, July 14, 2014
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
NGIN Workplace, 210 Broadway Suite 201, Cambridge
Take the elevator up to the second floor and sign in at the registration table
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/Boston_New_Technology/events/188735482/
Free event! Come learn about 7 innovative and exciting technology products and network with the Boston/Cambridge startup community! Each presenter gets 5 minutes for product demonstration and 5 minutes for Questions & Answers. Please follow @BostonNewTech and use the #BNT43 hashtag in social media posts: details here.
Agenda:
6:00 to 7:00 - Networking with dinner and beverages
7:00 to 7:10 - Announcements
7:10 to 8:20 - Presentations, Questions & Answers
8:20 to 9:00 - Networking
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Science by the Pint: 2000 Years of Sea Level Change
Monday, July 14
7:00 PM
The Burren, 247 Elm Street, Somerville, MA (map)
Dr. Andrew Kemp and Dr. Simon Engelhart: 2000 Years of Sea Level Change
Reconstructions of sea level changes are applied across a range of research areas to elucidate the relationship between sea level and known climate deviations, document the size and frequency of past earthquakes, tsunamis, and storms, understand the response of Earth to waxing and waning of ice sheets and describe the ecological response of wetlands to sea-level rise.
Dr Kemp is an assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences at Tufts University with a broad interest in environmental change and coastal evolution. His research aims to produce detailed reconstructions of sea level over the last 2000 years. Dr Engelhart is an assistant professor in the Department of Geoscience at University of Rhode Island. His research interest is focused on studying the relative sea-level changes from Last Glacial Maximum to present and as well as glacial adjustment modeling. Dr Kemp and Dr Engelhart will be talking about how this paleo perspective helps inform coastal management in light of changes predicted for the 21st century and beyond
Science by the Pint is 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.
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Tuesday July 15
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Sustainable Technology Connection Forum
Tuesday July 15
8:30 AM to 10:00 AM EDT
Foley Hoag, 155 Seaport Boulevard, 13th Floor, Boston
RSVP at https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07e9e8cfhka2122698
An Early Adoption Connection to create strategic opportunities for customers to engage with innovators, at which we will convene a select group of cleantech companies to learn about the challenges faced by the private sector, present their technologies to this industry and have an opportunity to network who are seeking innovative solutions.
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Tech, Drugs, and Rock n' Roll
Tuesday July 15
4:00PM to 8:00PM EDT
BU, Metcalf Ballroom, 775 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215
RSVP at https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07e8rq49v25fabc5c3&c=76b43cf0-aa86-11e3-8fdb-d4ae528eb27b&ch=77bf1d40-aa86-11e3-9011-d4ae528eb27b
Boston University's Office of Technology Development announces the 5th annual Tech, Drugs, and Rock n' Roll networking event.
You and your colleagues are invited to attend! Forward to friends that may want to attend.
In honor of our 5th anniversary we've expanded and gone all digital! This is a great event that celebrates the intersection of the business and science communities. Join us for a cold drink, hot food, smooth music and a chance to meet the people behind for some exciting new discoveries. This year's event will include:
Presentation of the Innovator of the Year Award by Boston University Provost Jean Morrison.
Exhibits by various applied and translational research centers.
An array of all digital posters displaying the latest advancements and technologies in their field.
Music by Poor Old Shine, an emerging alternative americana band. For more information, visit their website at http://pooroldshine.com
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GreenPort Forum: An Urban Foraging Walk
Tuesday, July 15
6:30pm
Meet at Gallery 263, located at 263 Pearl Street, Cambridge
with David Craft
Join us for a fascinating walk to identify wild edible plants growing in and near Cambridgeport. Learn the uses and best ways to prepare plants that grow in our own environment. David Craft is an artist, musician, wild edible plant forager, scientist, and a Cantabridgian since 2002. He is the author of Urban Foraging and a board member of Gallery 263.
This is a free event. Donations to Gallery 263 are welcome.
GreenPort envisions and encourages a just and sustainable Cambridgeport neighborhood
For more information, contact Steve Wineman at steven.wineman at gmail.com
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From The Cell to Cancer
Tuesday, July 15
7:00 PM
Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge
Ana Soto, M.D., Professor, Tufts University School of Medicine, Integrative Physiology & Pathobiology
Carlos Sonnenschein, M.D., Professor, Tufts University School of Medicine, Integrative Physiology & Pathobiology
Despite decades of research, there is still uncertainty about the biological mechanism that triggers cancer. There are several rival hypotheses, and genuine progress in cancer research will depend on determining the correct one.
The prevailing hypothesis is that the accumulation of mutations in the genome of a single normal cell transforms the cell to a neoplasm. In this view, cancer is a cell-based, genetic and molecular disease. But this hypothesis does not explain all cancers, and the theory has required ad hoc arguments that, for a number of researchers, suggest a basic weakness.
Since 1999, the acclaimed Tuft University cancer researchers Drs. Ana Soto and Carlos Sonnenschein have developed a different hypothesis. In contrast to the dominant theory, they argue that proliferation is the default state of the cell, and they posit that cancer is a breakdown of tissue organization involving many cells from different embryological layers.
In this presentation, Drs. Soto and Sonnenschein explain the major cancer theories and how the differences impact research. They discuss experimental evidence for the rival hypotheses, and how such evidence leads –or not— to an explanation of carcinogenesis.
This lecture is the fourth in our 4-part series on health and environment at Cambridge Library.
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Wednesday, July 16
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New Discovery Tools for Digital Humanities and Spatial Data
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
12:00p–1:00p
MIT, Building E25-401, 45 Carleton Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Lex Berman, Web Service Manager & GIS Specialist, Center for Geographic Analysis, IQSS, Harvard University
The library catalog has evolved from the description of items in physical collections into a wide-reaching net of services and tools for managing both physical collections and networked resources. The line between descriptive metadata and actual content is becoming blurred. Librarians and catalogers are now in the position of being not only docents of collections, but innovators in digital research, and this opens up a number of opportunities for retooling library discovery tools. This presentation will present a survey of methods and projects that have extended traditional catalogs of libraries and museums into online collections of digital objects in the field of humanities. In particular, projects that use historical place names and geographic identifiers for linked open data will be discussed.
Bio: Merrick Lex Berman manages Chinese and Japanese geographic information projects such as CHGIS, the Skinner Archive, and JapanMap. He studied Asian Languages and GeoSciences at UMASS - Amherst and was a Fullbright Scholar at Academia Sinica (Taipei) in Chinese Geography. In addition to developing placename databases, web services and digital collection tools, Lex works on GIS Data Portals, geographic ontologies, and a curriculum for Quantum GIS training.
MIT Libraries Information Science Brown Bag Talks
Information Science Brown Bag talks, hosted by the Program on Information Science, consists of regular discussions and brainstorming sessions on all aspects of information science and uses of information science and technology to assess and solve institutional, social and research problems. These are informal talks. Discussions are often inspired by real-world problems being faced by the lead discussant.
Open to: the general public
Cost: 0
Sponsor(s): MIT Libraries
For more information, contact: Shapiro, Randi
6173244988
shapiror at mit.edu
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Thursday, July 17
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Launchpad on Demand - CLEANTECH
Thursday, July 17
8:45 AM – 10:00 AM
Webinar at http://www.thecapitalnetwork.org/launchpad-on-demand/
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AI Support of Teamwork
Thursday, July 17
4:00pm to 5:00pm
Harvard, Maxwell Dworking 119, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Ofra Amir
Computer Science Colloquium Series
Contact: Meg Hastings
Email: hastings at seas.harvard.edu
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Green Agriculture Comes to Dorchester
Thursday, July 17
6:00 PM
Meet at 32 Lindsey Street, Dorchester for the installation and tour of the Urban Farm. Take a short walk to New Testament Pentecostal church, 86 Waldeck Street at Tonawanda Street for the talk with Dr. Komp
See an Urban Farm on a house lot
Meet the Urban Farmers of the Productive Collective and the UFI trainees
Touch the Aquaponics (Fish Farming) tanks and learn how they work
Watch as we install solar panels to power the Aquaponics water pump
Hear a talk on Greening Agriculture with Solar and other techniques by solar scientist and inventor, Dr. Richard Komp
Help us move Green Agriculture forward in Boston
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Traffic Advisory, The Future of Transportation: A practical approach
July 17
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
BSA Space, 290 Congress Street, Boston
RSVP to rsvp at architects.org with "Traffic 7/17" in the subject line.
Price: Free and open to the public.
Gabe Klein (http://gabeklein.com/bio), former Transportation Commissioner for Chicago and former Transportation Director for Washington, DC, will speak about how American cities can plan for the future of urban transportation. Pulling from his experiences in both cities and the private sector, he will examine new mobility ideas and concepts as well as discussing how he's engaged key stakeholder groups to accomplish large scale change in complex environments. Klein's talk will also highlight several real life examples that demonstrate how DC and Chicago achieved these changes from conception to completion.
The Traffic Advisory speaker series is part of Overhaul: The 2013-2014 Transportation Series, sponsored by the Barr Foundation and organized by the Boston Society of Architects and the Boston Foundation for Architecture, is bringing together leaders from across North America and Europe to talk to us about the role that 21st century transportation can and should play in adapting to a new period of transformative change.
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The Garden
Thursday, July 17
doors open 6:40; film starts promptly 7pm
243 Broadway, Cambridge - corner of Broadway and Windsor, entrance on Windsor
rule19.org/videos <http://rule19.org/videos>
The 14-acre community garden in South Central Los Angeles is the largest of its kind in the US. Started as a form of healing after the devastating L.A. riots in 1992, the South Central Farmers created a miracle in one of the country?s most blighted neighborhoods. Growing food. Feeding their families. Creating a community.
But now, bulldozers are poised to level their 14-acre oasis. /*The Garden*/ follows the plight of the farmers, from the tilled soil of this urban farm to the polished marble of City Hall. Mostly immigrants from Latin America, from countries where they feared for their lives if they were to speak out, we watch them organize, fight back, and demand answers:
Why was the land sold to a wealthy developer for millions less than fair-market value? Why was the transaction done in a closed-door session of the LA City Council? And not made public?
If everyone told you nothing more could be done, would you give up?
"The Garden" <http://www.thegardenmovie.com/trailer/> exposes the fault lines in American society and raises crucial and challenging questions about liberty, equality, and justice for the poorest and most vulnerable among us. As the battle lines are drawn between this group of low-income families struggling to protect a 14-acre urban farm against a
backdrop of grey and hardened skyscrapers, their cause became an international sensation that drew the attention of numerous notable activists and politicians, including Dennis Kucinich, Joan Baez, Danny Glover, and Willie Nelson./"
"Hola, Mr. Mayor. This is Joan Baez calling from the garden."
"From the ashes of the L.A. riots arose a lush, 14-acre community garden, the largest of its kind in the US. Now bulldozers threaten its future. 'The Garden' shows how the American dream can go awry when it clashes with the American way of doing politics."
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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Enchanted Objects: Design, Human Desire, and the Internet of Things
Thursday, July 17
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
This event is free; no tickets are required.
David Rose
Harvard Book Store welcomes award–winning entrepreneur and CEO of Ditto Labs DAVID ROSE for a discussion of his book Enchanted Objects: Design, Human Desire, and the Internet of Things. In the tradition of Who Owns the Future? and The Second Machine Age, an MIT Media Lab scientist imagines how everyday objects can intuit our needs and improve our lives.
We are now standing at the precipice of the next transformative development: the Internet of Things. Soon, connected technology will be embedded in hundreds of everyday objects we already use: our cars, wallets, watches, umbrellas, even our trash cans. These objects will respond to our needs, come to know us, and learn to think on our behalf. David Rose calls these devices—which are just beginning to creep into the marketplace—Enchanted Objects.
Some believe the future will look like more of the same—more smartphones, tablets, screens embedded in every conceivable surface. Rose has a different vision: technology that atomizes, combining itself with the objects that make up the very fabric of daily living. Such technology will be woven into the background of our environment, enhancing human relationships and channeling desires for omniscience, long life, and creative expression. The enchanted objects of fairy tales and science fiction will enter real life.
Groundbreaking, timely, and provocative, Enchanted Objects is a blueprint for a better future, where efficient solutions come hand in hand with technology that delights our senses. It is essential reading for designers, technologists, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and anyone who wishes to understand the future and stay relevant in the Internet of Things.
General Info
(617) 661-1515
info at harvard.com
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Friday, July 18
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Engineering and Reverse Engineering Reinforcement Learning Workshop
Friday, July 18
10:00a–1:30p
MIT, Building 46-3002, Singleton Auditorium, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Summary: Psychologists and neuroscientists routinely borrow ideas from machine learning to understand and model reinforcement learning in humans and animals. Likewise, ideas from psychology and neuroscience filter into machine learning in a variety of ways. The goal of the workshop is to highlight some of the theoretical synergies that have arisen from this cross-pollination. The symposium will cover three topics (see below), each addressed by one cognitive scientist/neuroscientist and one computer scientist.
Session 1: Intrinsic motivation and exploration
10:00-10:25: Andrew Barto (UMass Amherst)
10:25-10:50: Laura Schulz (MIT)
10:50-11:00: discussion
Session 2: Inverse reinforcement learning and theory of mind
11:00-11:25: Monica Babes-Vroman (Rutgers)
11:25-11:50: Chris Baker (MIT)
11:50-12:00: discussion
12:00-12:30: lunch
Session 3: Learning to learn
12:30-12:55: Michael Littman (Brown)
12:55-1:20: Michael Frank (Brown)
1:20-1:30: discussion
Workshop is co-organized by the MIT Intelligence Initiative (MIT I^2) and the Center for Brains, Minds and Machines (CBMM.)
Registration required.
Web site: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/engineering-and-reverse-engineering-reinforcement-learning-workshop-tickets-9207663369
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free - registration required
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/engineering-and-reverse-engineering-reinforcement-learning-workshop-tickets-9207663369
Sponsor(s): Brain and Cognitive Sciences, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT Intelligence Initiative, Center for Brains Minds and Machines (CBMM)
For more information, contact: Kathleen Sullivan
kdsulliv at mit.edu
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Experiential Lighting: Development and Validation of Perception-based Lighting Controls
Friday, July 18
1:00pm - 3:00pm
MIT Media Lab, Bartos Theater E15-070
Speaker: Matt Aldrich Thesis Defense
Host/Chair: Joseph A. Paradiso
Participant(s)/Committee: Hiroshi Ishii, Christoph Reinhart
Lighting, and its emergence as a digital and networked medium, represents an ideal platform for conducting research on both sensor and human-derived methods of control. Notably, solid-state lighting makes possible the control of the intensity, spatial, and color attributes of lighting in real-time. This technology provides an excellent opportunity to conduct new experiments designed to study how we perceive, judge, and subsequently control illumination.
For example, given the near-infinite variation of possible lighting attributes, how might one design an intuitive control system? Moreover, how can one reconcile the objective nature of sensor-based controls with the subjective impressions of humans? How might this approach guide the design of lighting controls and ultimately guide the design of lighting itself? These questions are asked with the benefit of hindsight. Simple control schemes using sliders, knobs, dials, and motion sensors currently in use fail to anticipate human understanding of the controls and the possible effects that changes in illumination will have upon us.
In this work, the problem of how humans interact with this new lighting medium is cast as a human-computer interaction. Aldrich describes the design and validation of a natural interface for lighting by abstracting the manifold lighting parameters into a simpler set of controls. Conceptually, this “simpler set” is predicated on the theory that we are capable of discerning the similarities and differences between lighting arrangements (scenes).
Aldrich hypothesizes that this natural ordering (a metric space in a latent multidimensional basis) can be quantitatively extracted and analyzed. First, in a series of controlled experiments, Aldrich shows how one can derive this mapping and he demonstrates, using empirical evidence, how future sensor networks will eventually emulate our subjective impressions of lighting. Second, using data obtained in a user-study, Aldrich quantitatively derives performance estimates of my proposed lighting user-interface, and statistically contrast these performance results with those obtained using a traditional interface comprised of sliders and buttons. Aldrich demonstrates that his approach enables the user to attain their illumination goals while substantially reducing task-time and fatigue.
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Monday, July 21
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Pfizer Cambridge Collaborative Innovation Events: Professor George Church of HMS, "Personal Genomics and the Next Generation of Medicine"
Monday, July 21
5:30 PM to 7:00 PM (EDT)
Pfizer Inc., 610 Main Street, Cambridge (Corner of Portland and Albany street)
RSVP: This is an invitation only event. To confirm your attendance please RSVP at
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/pfizer-cambridge-collaborative-innovation-events-professor-george-church-of-hms-personal-genomics-tickets-11494354925
Personal Genomics and the Next Generation of Medicine
Join Pfizer Cambridge at our new residence for a fascinating evening led by Professor George Church, Harvard Medical School, followed by a networking reception with key partners in our new Cambridge residence; Boston-Cambridge big pharma and biotech, members of the venture capital community, renowned researchers, advocacy groups and Pfizer Cambridge scientists and clinicians.
Agenda:
5:30-6PM Registration/Gathering (please arrive by no later than 5:45PM EDT with a government issued ID to allow sufficient time for security check)
6-7PM Welcoming remarks by Cambridge/Boston Site Head and Group Senior Vice-President WorldWide R&D, Dr. Jose-Carlos Gutierrez-Ramos
Keynote speaker: Professor George Church, Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School
7-8PM Networking reception
8PM Event ends
This May, Pfizer Cambridge sites are integrating and relocating our research and development teams into our new local headquarters at 610 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02139. The unified Cambridge presence represents the opportunity to interlace Pfizer’s R&D capability in the densest biomedical community in the world, to potentially expand our already existing collaborations and to embark on forging possible new connections. These events will further drive our collective mission and passion to deliver new medicines to patients in need.
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Fresh Pond Monarch Watch: Milkweed Planting & Kick-off!
Monday, July 21
6 to 7:30pm
Lusitania Meadow, Fresh Pond Reservation, Cambridge
The monarch butterfly is now endangered worldwide, but we can take action to stop the decline, starting here. Join the effort to protect monarchs at Fresh Pond - starting with the habitat they depend on! We'll plant the milkweed monarch caterpillars need to thrive in preparation for the arrival of 28 caterpillars Reservation staff will be raising for release in August. Learn more about the project at www.cambridgema.gov/Water/freshpondreservation. For more information contact Kirsten at klindquist at cambridgema.gov or 617-349-6489. No registration necessary.
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Tuesday, July 22
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Current and Emerging Uses for Wikipedia in Research
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
1:00p–2:00p
MIT, Building 14N-132, 160 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
"Well, actually..." you begin when the topic of Wikipedia's accuracy comes up in conversation. If you've found yourself in this position, come share ways you have effectively used Wikipedia in your own research or in consultation with students and professors. Learn how to use complementary applications to guide you to valuable library resources. Join the discussion on the future of Wikipedia and the information landscape.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Libraries
For more information, contact: Stacey Snyder
ssnyder at mit.edu
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Digital Evolution on Steroids: From Crowdfunding to Social Networks
Tuesday, July 22
6:30 p.m.
Program followed by networking reception
Foley Hoag LLP, 155 Seaport Boulevard, 13th Floor, Boston
RSVP at https://www.aftau.org/steroids
With Dr. Ohad Barzilay
A tour through new advances in online innovation and entrepreneurship. A member of the Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration's renowned faculty at TAU, Dr. Barzilay's focus is technology management and information systems. A three-degree alumnus of Tel Aviv University, he's worked at several influential high-tech companies, most recently Google. His research employs state-of-the-art techniques — big data, machine learning, and econometric methods — to explore at the dynamics of online communities, social networks, crowdsourcing, and crowdfunding.
For more information, call Meredith Waltzer at 646.277.2099 or email mwaltzer at aftau.org.
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Upcoming Events
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Wednesday, July 23
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New VR Hardware and Demos
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
6:00 PM
hack/reduce, 275 Third Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/Boston-Virtual-Reality/events/190420932/
Come join us for an evening of demos and play, and bring allyour toys, because we are looking for variety. We will have hardware like hand-trackers, a low-end corner cave, 3D scanners, and more. We also welcome the new games produced in the last hackathon, favorite demos and games produced elsewhere, and your favorite VR work, as always. If you are just interested and want to see stuff, please come on by and play too.
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Panel: Why diversity matters in online journalism
Wednesday, July 23
7:00 PM
WBUR, 890 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/hackshackersboston/events/192588872/
Online news startups are popping up everywhere from legacy news organizations to new media companies, as digital entrepreneurs rethink how journalists report, promote, and present stories. But for all this digital innovation, these startups lag behind the times in one crucial area: their hiring choices.
In a much-discussed column in The Guardian, media pundit Emily Bell argued that startups, such as FiveThirtyEight, Vox.com, and First Look Media, perpetuated the status quo by hiring “clubhouses” of white men. As Bell wrote, “remaking journalism in its own image, only with better hair and tighter clothes, is not a revolution, or even an evolution.”
Gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, and experience disparities remain in many online newsrooms, despite the widely accepted view that diverse staffs produce more well-rounded news coverage.
Join the Online News Association’s Boston group for a panel discussion about diversity in online newsrooms on July 23 at 7 p.m. at WBUR. Food and refreshments will be served.
About the panelists:
Michelle Johnson is Associate Professor of the Practice, Multimedia Journalism, Boston University. Johnson is a former editor for the Boston Globe and boston.com. For more than 15 years, she has conducted multimedia workshops for professional journalists and worked with student training programs for a variety of professional journalism organizations including the Maynard Institute, the Online News Association, the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the Asian American Journalists Association and UNITY. Johnson currently oversees Boston University News Service, a web-only award-winning news site which showcases work produced by BU’s journalism students.
Zuri Berry is a sports writer and producer for the Boston Globe's Boston.com, covering the New England Patriots. He also serves as the vice president of the Boston Association of Black Journalists.
Jeanne Brooks is the co-founder and director of News Disruptors, where she designs immersive community experiences that bridge personal and digital connections. She also works for WNYC on audience development and engagement. Previously the Digital Director at the Online News Association, she led the organization’s web, social and communications strategy and produced training programs for digital journalists, including spearheading conference programming and coverage for the acclaimed ONA13 event.
Caroline O'Donovan will moderate the discussion. O'Donovan is a staff writer at Harvard's Nieman Journalism Lab, where she covers, media, technology and the future of the news business. As a Lab staffer, she's been heard on both NPR's All Things Considered and CBS radio. Previously, she was a fellow at Chicago Public Media, where she reported and produced stories in the Chicago area, as well as for American Public Media's Marketplace.
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Thursday, July 24
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Addressing Climate Change through Community Engagement and Behavior Change
Thursday, July 24
12pm
webinar
RSVP at https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/870393638
featuring David Gershon of the Empowerment Institute
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Silicon: The Most Perfectly Engineered Material
Thursday, July 24, 2014
4:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building 6-120, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Dr. Takao Abe, Shin-Etsu Handotai
Lecture by recipient of 2014 Harry C. Gatos Prize
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, EECS
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Sunday, July 27
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Cambridge Jazz Festival
More information at http://cambridgejazzfestival.org/
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Tuesday, July 29
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Democratizing Ideologies and Inequality Regimes in Digital Domains
Tuesday, July 29
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/2014/07/cottom#RSVP
This event will be webcast live on http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2014/07/cottom at 12:30pm ET
Tressie (McMillan) Cottom, Microsoft Research & PhD Student, Sociology, Emory University
Internet studies tends to conceptualize groups as collectivities anchored by shared ideas, interests, and information. Sociologists understand groups as also anchored by identity, social location, and power relationships. It's a tension between groups of affiliation versus ascription. The difference is meaningful for how we understand inequality across digital domains. How can we theoretically and methodologically understand both concepts of group in social media generally and specifically in a case study of informal learning spaces on Facebook and Twitter?
About Tressie
Tressie McMillan Cottom is completing her PhD in the Sociology Department at Emory University in Atlanta, GA.
As a stratification scholar, Tressie considers what inequality means both experientially and empirically when corporations are people, supranational corporations like Facebook and Twitter shape the public square, and education is increasingly privatized. Her research primarily mines organizational arrangements and structural processes to better understand inequality across rapidly changing social domains. Her current work examines for-profit college credentials and inequality. She also has a developing research agenda that examines the political economy of emerging “new” media organizations.
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DNA Origami meets Single Molecule Fluorescence
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
1:30pm - 2:30pm
Room 521, Wyss Institute, 3 Blackfan Circle, 5th floor, Boston
Speaker: Philip Tinnefeld, Ph.D., Professor of Biophysical Chemistry, TU Braunschweig
We used DNA origami as a biophysical tool to enhance single-molecule assays. The DNA origami serves as the molecular breadboard to arrange objects such as dyes and nanoparticles. Examples include the development of nanoscopic calibration rulers for 2D and 3D superresolution microscopy and DNA origami nano-adapters for bridging the gap between bottom-up chemistry and top-down lithography. Moreover, we arranged gold nanoparticles to create plasmonic hotspots that enable substantial increase of single-molecule fluorescence signals. In this context we present an approach to disentangle the different influences of metallic nanostructures on the radiative and non-radiative rates of single molecules.
Contact information:
alison.reggio at wyss.harvard.edu
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Boston Green Drinks - July Happy Hour
Tuesday, July 29
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Kingston Station, 25 Kingston Street, Boston
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/boston-green-drinks-july-happy-hour-tickets-11863053713
Join the conversation with sustainability professionals and hobbyists. Enjoy a drink and build your connection with our green community!
Keep sending feedback to Lyn at bostongreendrinks.com for ideas about speakers or content for the future and mark your calendar for drinks on the last Tuesday of every month. Also, if you RSVP and can't make it, e-mail us to let us know.
Boston Green Drinks builds a community of sustainably-minded Bostonians, provides a forum for exchange of sustainability career resources, and serves as a central point of information about emerging green issues. We support the exchange of ideas and resources about sustainable energy, environment, food, health, education.
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Mainstreaming Torture
Tuesday, July 29
7:00pm
Porter Square Books, Porter Square Shopping Center, 25 White Street, Cambridge
Book event with author Rebecca Gordon
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Thursday, July 31
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Fresh Pond Monarch Watch: Caterpillar Check-up & Release Prep
Thursday, July 31
1 to 3pm
Meeting Place: outside the Ranger Station, inside if raining, Fresh Pond Reservation, Cambridge
Reservation staff are raising monarch caterpillars for release! These butterflies are very endangered and we're taking action to protect them (and help our local habitats) at Fresh Pond. Come see how the caterpillars are growing, learn how you can help, and prepare crafts for our big release in August! Learn more about the project atwww.cambridgema.gov/Water/freshpondreservation. For more information contact Kirsten at klindquist at cambridgema.gov or 617-349-6489. No registration necessary.
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Mass Innovation Nights Reunion
Thursday, July 31
7:00 P.M.
200 Seaport Boulevard, Commonwealth Pier, Boston
RSVP at http://www.mcssl.com/SecureCart/ViewCart.aspx?mid=D95F4FEE-72AA-4912-9C02-D4692E2849F6&sctoken=e784d48ff4d7449883f7a385ac7370b2&bhcp=1
Cost: $20, click here to purchase tickets
More than 650 new products have launched with Mass Innovation Nights and it is time to get everyone back together again. This will be an exciting opportunity to catch up with your “classmates” and past MIN alumni as well as the many Mass Innovation Nights supporters. The alumni will get a chance to connect with each other and talk about their newest innovations while enjoying a cruise around Boston Harbor. We will also be making special announcements that night that you don’t want to miss and hosting some special guests! Don’t miss out.
Boston Event Guide is offering the cruise as part of their Summer Party Cruise Series.
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Friday, August 1
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Introduction to Programming with Imagination Toolbox - Family Friendly
Friday, August 1
9:00a–3:00p
MIT, Building 4-149, 182 Memorial Drive (Rear), Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/introduction-to-programming-with-imagination-toolbox-registration-11224654243
Cost: $25
Speaker: Daniel Wendel
In this fun, intensive, hands-on workshop, participants will learn how to program 3D games and/or science simulation models using StarLogo Nova, an online educational software tool with a graphical programming interface. If you have never programmed before, this workshop will be a great introduction. For people with prior programming experience, this workshop will provide you with experience in an easy-to-use, powerful programming tool to add to your repertoire.
Web site: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/introduction-to-programming-with-imagination-toolbox-registration-11224654243
Open to: the general public
Tickets: Eventbrite Registration Page
Sponsor(s): Scheller Teacher Education Program, The Education Arcade
For more information, contact: Carole Urbano
617-324-8217
curbano at mit.edu
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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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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/
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