[act-ma] Energy (and Other) Events - January 31, 2016
George Mokray
gmoke at world.std.com
Sun Jan 31 10:37:49 PST 2016
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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Index
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Full event information follows the Index and notices of my latest writings.
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Monday, February 1
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11:30am Regulating Greed Over Time: An Important Lesson For Practical Recommender Systems
12pm Conserving Nature’s Stage: Climate Change and the Geophysical Underpinnings of Biodiversity
12pm Lunch Talk: Current Intelligence Politics in Germany and the Future of the Transatlantic Digital Dialogue
12:15pm The Past as Proof
12:30pm Innovation & Human Rights
4pm Corporate Philanthropy Between Empire and Nation: Tata and the Making of Modern India
5:30pm Askwith Forum: The American Dream in Crisis: Can Education Restore Social Mobility?
7pm Start-up War Stories and Beer
7pm bioChanges #4
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Tuesday, February 2
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8am Boston TechBreakfast: February 2016
12pm Biodiversity change through time: the recent past, current challenges and a vision for the future
12pm Engineering open production efficiency at scale
12:30pm Innovate Tufts – Innovation in Action: Mapping the Arc from Insight to Implementation
5:30pm Creativity and Entrepreneurship
6pm Art of Jazz: Form/Performance/Notes Opening Reception
6pm BASG Feb. 2: Buildings of the Future - How LEED and Living Buildings are Changing our Landscapes
6:30pm Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design 2015: Madrid RÍO
7pm Republic of Spin: An Inside History of the American Presidency
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Wednesday, February 3
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8:15am DEAN'S SYMPOSIUM - Beyond Ferguson: Social Injustice and the Health of the Public
12pm Bob Schieffer - The Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire
12pm Thrill, Spills and Chills of Post-Disaster Planning in New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward
3:30pm Teaching Polymers the Meaning of Life and Nanographene Quantum Confinement
4pm Innovative Polymers for Printable Photocells: Multiscale Theory for Materials Design
4pm Uncharted Waters? Novel ecosystems in the marine environment
4:15pm Does the Environment Still Matter? Daily Temperature and Income in the United States
5pm Iraq in 2016: Trends, Drivers, and Future Vision
5pm BlueTech Innovation & Entrepreneurship in Massachusetts and Beyond
5:30pm The CRISPR Catch-22: An Innovation Series Event
7pm Cambridge Forum: Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age
7pm Native Plant Gardens: Learning by Example
7pm Spring Generator Dinner: IDEAS Global Challenge
7:30pm Homeplace Under Fire
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Thursday, February 4
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11am Genetics and Genomics of Autoimmune Diseases
12pm Geospatial Innovation and Environmental Applications: The Geo Career Path
2:30pm The Intersection of Environmental History and Oceanic History
3pm The Soul of Anime, and How Japanese Manga and Music Defy Zombie Capitalism
3:30pm Climate Nationalism: Understanding Public Opinion on Climate Change in China
4pm Maker Culture: Fireside Chat with Joel Spolsky, CEO, Stack Overflow
4pm Starr Forum: Africian Repats
4:15pm Household Workers Unite! A Conversation between Scholars and Activists
5:30pm EnergyBar!
6pm Architecture Lecture: Fred Turner, The Politics of Interactivity in Cold War America
6pm Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)
6:30pm Intro to Boston’s Culinary Community
7pm Cybersecurity from China’s Perspective
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Friday, February 5
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7:30pm HMS Academy Medical Education Grand Rounds - Culture, Climate, and Our Community: The intersection of the generations
9am MIT Breaking the Mold Conference
10am Transforming Nanodevices to Nanosystems
1pm Leveraging Smart Data and Internet of Things to Realize Mass Customization
6pm Film screening: How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr. Foster?
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Saturday, February 6
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1pm Harvard Ed Portal First Anniversary Celebration and Open House
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Monday, February 8
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12pm MIT Atmospheric Science Seminar (MASS)
12pm Webinar: The Importance of (Big) Data for Healthcare Safety-Net Organizations
12:15pm Playlist from the Terrestial Analog: Towards an Ecology of Outer Space
4pm The Paris Climate Deal: An Inside Account of How it Happened
4pm The Devil is Here in These Hills: West Virginia's Coal Miners and Their Battle for Freedom
6pm Prather Lecture: The Public Choices You Make: From Engagement to Advocacy
6pm Writers Speak: Colm Tóibín in Conversation with Claire Messud
6pm Boston New Technology February 2016 Product Showcase #BNT62
6pm DOCUMENTARY SCREENING: Blue Gold: World Water Wars (2008)
6pm Architecture Lecture: Jan Haeraets, Terrace Gardens in Mughal Kashmir
7pm Using Intelligent Algorithms to Design Intelligent Algorithms
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Tuesday, February 9
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12pm Walter V. Robinson, Boston Globe
12:30pm New Entrepreneurship in the Post-3.11 Tohoku Region
2:30pm The Present & Future of Automated Driving: Technology, Policy and the Human Factor
4pm Controversy! A Reporter's Perspective on Global Climate and Energy Debates: with Coral Davenport
4:30pm Migrants' Rights in the UN Human Rights Committee
4:45pm Making Good Energy Choices: The Role of Energy Systems Analysis
5pm Forensic DNA Testing: Why Are There Still Bumps in the Road?
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My rough notes on some of the events I go to and notes on books I’ve read are at:
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com
Solar IS Civil Defense
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/01/27/1475632/-Solar-IS-Civil-Defense
Trump's Tribute to Paddy Chayefsky: He's Now Performing "Network" Playing All the Parts
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/01/30/1477187/-Trump’s-Tribute-to-Paddy-Chayefsky:-Hes-Now-Performing-“Network,”-Playing-All-the-Parts
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Monday, February 1
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Regulating Greed Over Time: An Important Lesson For Practical Recommender Systems
Monday, February 1
11:30am to 1:00pm
Havard, Maxwell Dworkin 119, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Cynthia Rudin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
There is an important aspect of practical recommender systems that we noticed while competing in the ICML Exploration-Exploitation 3 data mining competition. The goal of the competition was to build a better recommender system for Yahoo!'s Front Page, which provides personalized new article recommendations. The main strategy we used was to carefully control the balance between exploiting good articles and exploring new ones in the multi-armed bandit setting. This strategy was based on our observation that there were clear trends over time in the click-through-rates of the articles. At certain times, we should explore new articles more often, and at certain times, we should reduce exploration and just show the best articles available. This led to dramatic performance improvements.
As it turns out, the observation we made in the Yahoo! data is in fact pervasive in settings where recommender systems are currently used. This observation is simply that certain times are more important than others for correct recommendations to be made. This affects the way exploration and exploitation (greed) should change in our algorithms over time. We thus formalize a setting where regulating greed over time can be provably beneficial. This is captured through regret bounds and leads to principled algorithms. The end result is a framework for bandit-style recommender systems in which certain times are more important than others for making a correct decision.
If time permits, I will discuss a separate project, which is an approach to decision tree (rule list) learning. This new method does not have the disadvantage of greedy splitting and pruning that haunts decision tree algorithms. It yields sparse logical models in a computationally efficient way. It is a fierce competitor for decision tree methods on a wide variety of problems, and it is more principled.The work on multi-armed bandits is joint work with Stefano Traca, Ed Su, and Ta Chiraphadhanakul.
The work on decision lists is joint with Hongyu Yang and Margo Seltzer.
Speaker Bio: Cynthia Rudin is an associate professor of statistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology associated with the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and the Sloan School of Management, and directs the Prediction Analysis Lab. Her interests are in machine learning, data mining, applied statistics, and knowledge discovery (Big Data). Her application areas are in energy grid reliability, healthcare, and computational criminology. Previously, Prof. Rudin was an associate research scientist at the Center for Computational Learning Systems at Columbia University, and prior to that, an NSF postdoctoral research fellow at NYU. She holds an undergraduate degree from the University at Buffalo where she received the College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Senior Award in Sciences and Mathematics, and three separate outstanding senior awards from the departments of physics, music, and mathematics. She received a PhD in applied and computational mathematics from Princeton University. She is the recipient of the 2013 INFORMS Innovative Applications in Analytics Award, an NSF CAREER award, was named as one of the "Top 40 Under 40" by Poets and Quants in 2015, and was named by Businessinsider.com as one of the 12 most impressive professors at MIT in 2015. Her work has been featured in Businessweek, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Times of London, Fox News (Fox & Friends), the Toronto Star, WIRED Science, U.S. News and World Report, Slashdot, CIO magazine, Boston Public Radio, and on the cover of IEEE Computer. She is presently the chair of the INFORMS Data Mining Section, and currently serves on committees for DARPA, the National Academy of Sciences, the US Department of Justice, and the American Statistical Association.
Center for Research on Computation and Society
Contact: Carol Harlow
Email: harlow at seas.harvard.edu
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Conserving Nature’s Stage: Climate Change and the Geophysical Underpinnings of Biodiversity
Monday, February 1
12 pm
Arnold Arboretum, Weld Hill, 1300 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain
The Arnold Arboretum presents Mark Anderson, Director of Conservation Science, The Nature Conservancy’s Eastern U.S. Region, for a discussion about “Conserving Nature’s Stage: Climate Change and the Geophysical Underpinnings of Biodiversity.” Bring lunch or join us for pizza after the lecture.
More at: http://green.harvard.edu/events/conserving-nature%E2%80%99s-stage-climate-change-and-geophysical-underpinnings-biodiversity#sthash.d7RpOLys.dpuf
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Lunch Talk: Current Intelligence Politics in Germany and the Future of the Transatlantic Digital Dialogue
Monday, February 1
12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Boston University, Pardee School of Global Studies, 121 Bay State Road (1st floor), Boston
Open to BU community and others with a research interest in the topic.
RSVP at: http://www.bu.edu/european/news/calendar/?eid=178762
Lunch provided.
Speaker(s): Dr. Thorsten M. Wetzling, Prof. Joseph Wippl
The Boston Eric M. Warburg Chapter of the American Council on Germany and the Center for the Study of Europe at Boston University cordially invite you to a discussion and Luncheon with Dr. Thorsten M. Wetzling, Leader of the Privacy Project at the Berlin-based think tank Stiftung Neue Verantwortung, on Current Intelligence Politics in Germany and the Future of the Transatlantic Digital Dialogue. Moderated by Joseph Wippl, Professor of the Practice of International Relations at Boston University and former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer.
After two years of berwachungsdebatte (surveillance debate) in Germany and halfway through the NSA-inquiry committee within the German Bundestag, the German government has now begun to discuss ideas on how to reform the current intelligence laws and oversight regime. The presentation sets the scene for understanding post-Snowden, post-Paris intelligence politics in Germany. Next, it introduces the main findings of a recent study on the oversight regime for German SIGINT activities including its main policy recommendations. Finally, the presentation assesses the future of US-German security cooperation against the backdrop of the Safe Harbor decision of the European Court of Justice.
More info: http://www.bu.edu/european/news/calendar/?eid=178762
RSVP at: http://www.bu.edu/european/news/calendar/?eid=178762
Contact organization: Center for the Study of Europe
Phone : 617-358-0919
Contact name: Elizabeth Amrien
Source: http://www.bu.edu/calendar/?uid=178783@17.calendar.bu.edu
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The Past as Proof
Monday, February 1
12:15pm - 2pm
Harvard, Malkin Penthouse, 4th Floor, Littauer Building, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Jill Lepore, Harvard, History
Abstract: In the last decades of the twentieth century, literary scholars, intellectual historians, and historians of the law and of science became fascinated by epistemological questions about the means by which ideas about evidence police the boundaries between disciplines. This fascination produced invaluable interdisciplinary work on subjects like the history of truth and the rise of empiricism and of objectivity. For all the fascination with questions of evidence, though, very few scholars have investigated the nitty-gritty, stigmata-to-DNA history of the means by which, at different points in time, and across realms of knowledge, some things count as proof, and others don’t. This talk traces a key transformation in the history of evidence—the turn from “facts” to “data”—through a very nitty-gritty examination of a murder in Vermont in 1919.
Biography: Jill Lepore is the David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History at Harvard University. She is also a staff writer at The New Yorker. In 2012, she was named Harvard College Professor, in recognition of distinction in undergraduate teaching. Much of Lepore's research, teaching, and writing explores absences and asymmetries of evidence in the historical record. Her books include The Name of War (1998), winner of the Bancroft Prize; New York Burning (2005), a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; and Book of Ages (2013), Time magazine's Best Nonfiction Book of the Year, winner of the Mark Lynton History Prize and a finalist for the 2013 National Book Award for Nonfiction; and The Secret History of Wonder Woman (2014), a New York Times bestseller. Her next book, Joe Gould's Teeth, will be published in 2016.
The Harvard STS Circle is co-sponsored by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Contact Name: Shana Rabinowich
Shana_Rabinowich at hks.harvard.edu
More at http://sts.hks.harvard.edu/events/sts_circle/
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Innovation & Human Rights
Monday, February 1
12.30pm to 1.45pm
Tufts, The Fletcher School, 160 Packard Avenue. Mugar 200, Medford
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/innovate-tufts-innovation-human-rights-tickets-20936309064
Topic: How can the Internet be harnessed for social justice? We discuss this and other topics related to human rights with panelists from organizations working at the nexus of technology and social justice.
The panel on Innovation and Human Rights will focus on imaginative developments that advance human rights and global accountability. Innovation comes in many forms such as new products or tools that make it easier for people to document or map human rights abuses, or that allow dissidents to circumvent oppressive surveillance regimes. It can also mean finding new ways to talk about human rights, harnessing the power of technology to capture the attention of the public and effect change. This panel will bring together a number of speakers from different organisations all of whose work is defined by such an innovative approach and are engaged in working for social justice and human rights.
Panelists: Nathan White (Access Now), Farieha Aziz (Bolo Bhi), Tanya Henderson (Mina's List)
Moderator: Professor Kim Wilson (Fletcher School)
Nathan White – Senior Legislative Manager, Access Now
Nathan White is the Senior Legislative Manager for Access Now, a global platform promoting open communications for all through innovative policy, user engagement, and technical support initiatives.
Farieha Aziz – Co-Founder & Director, Bolo Bhi
Farieha Aziz is a Karachi-based, award-winning journalist. Farieha co-founded Bolo Bhi, a nonprofit promoting gender rights, government transparency, internet access, and digital security. Previously, Farieha worked for Newsline from 2007 to 2012 and taught high-school literature. She holds a Masters in English Literature and is currently petitioning a case in Islamabad challenging the government’s Internet censorship.
Tanya Henderson – Founder & Executive Director, Mina's List
Tanya Henderson, Esq. is an international human rights and gender lawyer with a professional background in grass-roots advocacy, policy-making, and the role of women in peace building and conflict prevention. Tanya's work has spanned the globe from Argentina to Pakistan, Rwanda, and Afghanistan. In 2014, Tanya founded Mina's List, a nonprofit seeking to realize women's equal (50%) and substantive political representation in national governments around the world. She holds a Bachelors in Political Science from UMass Boston, a JD from Suffolk University Law School, and an LLM from the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy.
Kim Wilson (Moderator) - Lecturer, International Business and Human Security, The Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy
Kim Wilson, Lecturer in International Business and Human Security, began her interest in development when she entered the microfinance field in its infancy, after a career in mainstream venture financing. She began as a volunteer, a first step that led her to professional employment as a loan officer, MFI director, and investment fund advisor for both non-profit and for-profit microfinance ventures. She also oversaw the microfinance portfolio of a large international NGO. Her work in microfinance has led her to service in other sectors critical to rural development such as water, agriculture, and education. She is a Senior Fellow at Fletcher’s Center for Emerging Market Enterprises and also at the Feinstein International Center. She graduated from Wellesley College and Simmons Graduate School of Management. She is interested in the financial resilience of households and markets at the base emerging market economies. She is the 2009 recipient of the James L. Paddock teaching award at The Fletcher School.
Innovate Tufts: Innovation Week at Fletcher
Innovate Week at Fletcher is a week-long conference dedicated to celebrating innovation and cultivating entrepreneurship within our community. We look at innovation as it relates to multiple areas of expertise in the Fletcher community. Starting with a design thinking workshop facilitated by frog design, Innovation Week at Fletcher features panels of experts in innovation from organizations ranging from Paypal to the FBI, culminating in a Demo Night featuring entrepreneurs in the Tufts-Fletcher community.
January 29 to February 4
The Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy
http://innovatetufts.com
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Corporate Philanthropy Between Empire and Nation: Tata and the Making of Modern India
WHEN Mon., Feb. 1, 2016, 4 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, CGIS South, S354, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard South Asia Institute
SPEAKER(S) Mircea Raianu, PhD candidate, History Department, FAS; SAI Graduate Student Associate
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO sainit at fas.harvard.edu
DETAILS From one of many merchant families in the port city of Bombay in the mid-nineteenth century, Tata became India’s largest and most influential business firm by the time of independence in 1947, with interests ranging from steel to hydroelectricity, chemicals, and aviation. In parallel, Tata philanthropy took on the burden of development beyond the economic domain, from scientific research to modernist art. This talk will examine the transformation of Tata philanthropy from community-based charity to “constructive” projects on a national scale, and account for the expansive transnational set of actors brought together by Tata patronage, including scientists, technocrats, intellectuals, and artists. The talk will show how the pattern of Tata philanthropic donations was neither the expression of an underlying nationalist vision, nor a purely strategic calculus. Institutions such as the Indian Institute of Science (1909), the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (1936), and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (1947) fulfilled the imagined developmental needs of the nation-state-in-waiting, while at the same time remaining inseparably connected to the firm’s need for technology and expertise in the mills of Bombay and the new steel township of Jamshedpur.
LINK http://southasiainstitute.harvard.edu/event/corporate-philanthropy-between-empire-and-nation-tata-and-the-making-of-modern-india/
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Askwith Forum: The American Dream in Crisis: Can Education Restore Social Mobility?
Monday, February 1
5:30 – 7 p.m.
Harvard, Longfellow Hall, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge
Moderator: Paul Reville, Francis Keppel Professor of Practice of Educational Policy and Administration, HGSE
Speaker: Robert D. Putnam, Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School; author, Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis
Discussants:
Roland G. Fryer, Jr., Professor of Education, HGSE; Henry Lee Professor of Economics at Harvard University
Meira Levinson, Professor of Education, HGSE
The American Dream of equal opportunity is being threatened. A growing gap between kids from the upper third and the lower third of the social hierarchy poses serious economic, social, political, and moral challenges. In this Askwith Forum, Putnam shares insights from Our Kids, his groundbreaking examination of this new American crisis, and our speakers consider what educators can do to help restore some measure of social mobility in our society.
Type of Event: Discussion, Diversity & Equity, Forum, Lecture, Question & Answer Session
Program/Department: Alumni, AskWith Forum
Building/Room: Askwith Hall
Contact Name: Roger Falcon
Contact Email: askwith_forums at gse.harvard.edu
Contact Phone: 617-384-9968
Sponsoring Organization/Department: Harvard Graduate School of Education
Registration Required: No
Admission Fee: This event is free and open to the public.
RSVP Required: No
Gazette Classification: Education
Source: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/harvard-events/events-calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3devent%26eventid%3d116016607
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Start-up War Stories and Beer
Monday, February 1
7:00 PM
The Field Pub, 20 Prospect Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/startup-war-stories-and-beer-at-the-field-pub-in-central-sq-tickets-20795351456
Boston Entrepreneurs and Advanced Degrees (B.E.A.D) cordially invites you to join us for drinks and some networking. Please come and share war stories from your current venture, ideas for new ventures, and the latest Boston startup news.
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bioChanges #4
Monday, February 1
7:00 PM
MIT media Lab, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
bioChanges is an international collaborative community of academic researchers, industry professionals, synbio startups, product designers, biomakers, artists, architects, chefs, design engineers, entrepeneurs, fashion designers, and scientists interested in investigating emerging ideas, projects, collaborations, and opportunities within the fields of BioDesign Engineering, Synbio Innovation, Biologically inspired Robotics, Regenerative Medicine, 3D Organ Printing, and future BioDesign Labs at monthly networking events.
Event will be hosted by the tangible media group at MIT Media Lab and live streamed via youtube channel bioChanges
The last event at Imperial College London (200 attended):
http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/engineering/schoolofdesignengineering/eventssummary/event_12-1-2016-9-56-34
http:// www.biochanges.com
https://www.facebook.com/biochangesbiodesign/
Join us at 7pm on Monday the 1st of Feb in the MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, Boston for the fourth in a series of monthly social events to discuss ideas, projects, startups, and collaborations that focus on designing biology.
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Tuesday, February 2
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Boston TechBreakfast: February 2016
Tuesday, February 2
8:00 AM
Microsoft NERD - Horace Mann Room, 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA (map)
Interact with your peers in a monthly morning breakfast meetup. At this monthly breakfast get-together techies, developers, designers, and entrepreneurs share learn from their peers through show and tell / show-case style presentations.
And yes, this is free! Thank our sponsors when you see them :)
Agenda for Boston TechBreakfast:
8:00 - 8:15 - Get yer Bagels & Coffee and chit-chat
8:15 - 8:20 - Introductions, Sponsors, Announcements
8:20 - ~9:30 - Showcases and Shout-Outs!
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Biodiversity change through time: the recent past, current challenges and a vision for the future
Tuesday, February 2
12pm
Harvard, 22 Divinity Avenue, Seminar Room 125, Cambridge
Dr. Mary I. O'Connor, University of British Columbia
HUH Seminar Series
http://huh.harvard.edu/calendar/upcoming/news/herbaria
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Engineering open production efficiency at scale
Tuesday, February 2
12:00 pm
Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, 23 Everett Street, Second Floor, Cambridge
RSVP at https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheons/2016/02/Halfaker#RSVP
Event will be live webcast at https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheons/2016/02/Halfaker at 12:00 pm.
Wikipedia, largely used a synecdoche for open production generally, is a large, complex, distributed system that needs to solve a set of "open problems" efficiently in order to thrive. In this talk, I'll use the metaphor of biology as a "living system" to discuss the relationship between subsystem efficiency and the overall health of Wikipedia. Specifically, I'll describe Wikipedia's quality control subsystem and some trade-offs that were made in order to make this system efficient through the introduction of subjective algorithms and human computation. Finally, I'll use critiques waged by feminist HCI to argue for a new strategy for increasing the adaptive capacity of this subsystem and speak generally about improving the practice of applying subjective algorithms in social spaces. Live demo included!
About Aaron
Aaron Halfaker is an American computer scientist who is an employee of the Wikimedia Foundation. Halfaker earned a Ph.D. in computer science from the GroupLens research lab at the University of Minnesota in 2013. He is known for his research on Wikipedia and the decrease in the number of active editors of the site. He has said that Wikipedia began a "decline phase" around 2007 and has continued to decline since then. Halfaker has also studied automated accounts on Wikipedia, known as "bots", and the way they affect new contributors to the site. He has developed a tool for Wikipedia editing called "Snuggle", the goal of which is to eliminate vandalism and spam, and to also highlight constructive contributions by new editors. He has also built an artificial intelligence engine for Wikipedia to use to identify vandalism.
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Innovate Tufts – Innovation in Action: Mapping the Arc from Insight to Implementation
Tuesday, February 2
12:30pm to 2pm
Tufts, The Fletcher School, 160 Packard Avenue, C703, Medford
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/innovate-tufts-innovation-in-action-from-insight-to-implementation-tickets-20937047272
Topic: In this era of Big Data, recognizing patterns is as important as recognizing non-patterns. Even more crucial is decision-making in the face of either a data deluge or drought. Hear speakers from Paypal, POPVOX, and Xoom as they discuss how data and technology have transformed decision-making.
Panelists: Melissa O’Malley (Paypal), Rachna Choudhry (POPVOX), Theresa Pasinosky (Xoom)
Moderator: Ravi Shankar Chaturvedi (Moderator, IBGC)
Melissa O’Malley – Director, Global Merchant and Cross Border Trade Initiatives, PayPal
Melissa O’Malley has worked for more than 20 years in developing and implementing international communications and marketing programs for companies ranging from Swiss tech startups to French media powerhouses to her current role at PayPal. As Director of Global Merchant and Cross-Border Trade Initiatives at PayPal, Melissa O’Malley is responsible for creating and executing global programs that help millions of consumers and merchants to conveniently and safely shop and sell in the 203 markets where PayPal operates.
Rachna Choudhry - Chief Marketing Officer, POPVOX
After ten years of advocacy and lobbying for several national non-profit organizations, Rachna was frustrated with the disconnect between people and our lawmakers in Washington. Rachna leads POPVOX outreach to advocacy organizations and trade associations, content and community for individual users and relationships with Congressional staff.
Since launching in 2011, POPVOX won the social media category at South by Southwest, was ranked #10 on Mashable’s Major Tech Contributions From Entrepreneurial Women and was honored at the 2012 Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards. In 2014, Rachna ranked #6 in Digital Citizenship Project’s Digital Citizens of the Year.
Theresa Pasinosky, Senior Director of Global Brand Marketing, Xoom
Theresa Pasinosky is data-driven, multicultural marketing expert with 20 years of experience bringing financial services to market for the underserved. She is Head of Brand Management at Xoom, a PayPal Company, where she oversees Advertising, Public Relations, Research and Creative for all market segments, including China, India, Mexico, Philippines and United Kingdom. During her 10 years at Xoom, Theresa has helped grow Xoom from zero to 1.5 million active customers through marketing and product innovations.
In 2015, Theresa had two of the top 10 Spanish-language ads among Hispanics, according to Nielsen TV Brand Effect. She is a grand prize winner of the ANA’s Multicultural Awards in the Hispanic Category and a recipient of several Telly Awards for her Xoom work. Theresa is an alumna of Boston University where she earned her BS in International Relations and played Division 1 softball.
Ravi Shankar Chaturvedi (Moderator), Research Research Fellow for Innovation and Change, IBGC
Ravi Shankar Chaturvedi is a Research Fellow for Innovation and Change at IBGC where he leads the Planet eBiz study, which analyzes the forces that drive digital evolution and the future of global commerce. He has extensive experience in emerging markets, strategy and business management, and the payments industry.
Innovate Tufts: Innovation Week at Fletcher
Innovation Week at Fletcher is a week-long conference dedicated to celebrating innovation and cultivating entrepreneurship within our community. We look at innovation as it relates to multiple areas of expertise in the Fletcher community. Starting with a design thinking workshop facilitated by frog design, Innovation Week at Fletcher features panels of experts in innovation from organizations ranging from Paypal to the FBI, culminating in a Demo Night featuring entrepreneurs in the Tufts-Fletcher community.
January 29 to February 4
The Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy
http://innovatetufts.com
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Creativity and Entrepreneurship
WHEN Tue., Feb. 2, 2016, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Room 128, Barker Center, 12 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Classes/Workshops, Humanities, Lecture, Music
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Ludics Seminar, Mahindra Humanities Center, Harvard University
SPEAKER(S) Panos Panay, BerkleeICE (Berklee Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship).
CONTACT INFO rapti at fas.harvard.edu
DETAILS Panos Panay, founding managing director of Berklee Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship (BerkleeICE) will be discussing the role of play and games at the intersection of of creativity, music, technology, entrepreneurship, and business.
LINK http://mahindrahumanities.fas.harvard.edu/content/ludics
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Art of Jazz: Form/Performance/Notes Opening Reception
WHEN Tue., Feb. 2, 2016, 6 – 8 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, 102 Mt Auburn Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African and African American Art
SPEAKER(S) n/a
COST Free
TICKET INFO No Tickets Required
CONTACT INFO thecoopergallery at fas.harvard.edu
Phone: 617-496-5777
DETAILS On View 3 Feb to 8 May 2016
“Art of Jazz: Form/Performance/Notes,” a stunning new three-part exhibition at The Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African & African American Art held in collaboration with the Harvard Art Museums, explores the interaction between jazz music and the visual arts. With more than 70 pieces ranging from early jazz age objects to mid- century jazz ephemera to contemporary works by established African American artists, the exhibition explores the beginnings of jazz and traces how it was embraced internationally as an art form, a social movement and musical iconography for Black expression.
Please Join us at the Cooper Gallery for our opening reception on this wonderful new exhibition!
LINK www.coopergalleryhc.org
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BASG Feb. 2: Buildings of the Future - How LEED and Living Buildings are Changing our Landscapes
Tuesday, February 2
6:00 PM to 8:30 PM (EST)
Cambridge Innovation Center, Venture Cafe - 5th Floor, One Broadway, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/basg-feb-2-buildings-of-the-future-how-leed-and-living-buildings-are-changing-our-landscapes-tickets-20309089032
Cost: $10 - $12
From cool roofs to smart glass, architects, engineers, scientists, and industrial innovators have been pushing the envelope for over two decades to build healthier, more efficient, and environmentally sustainable buildings. Today, green construction and renovation continue to trend high as a pursuit of real estate owners and community planners, who recognize the social and economic advantages of utilizing materials and design elements that minimize energy, water, and toxin impacts, while maximizing renewable natural resources for lighting, HVAC, and fixtures.
We are thrilled to have the U.S. Green Building Council Massachusetts Chapter and Living Building Challenge Boston Collaborative as our co-hosts for the evening. These organizations are at the forefront of changing the landscape with their certification criteria and programs for building better, smarter environments inside and out.
Our speakers representing these organizations will be Grey Lee, Executive Director of the USGBC Massachusetts Chapter and Shawn Hesse, emersion DESIGN lead and co-facilitator of the Living Building Challenge Boston Collaborative.
Grey Lee, Executive Director, LEED AP BD&C
Grey is the chief facilitator of the US Green Building Council community in Massachusetts, serving as executive director since October 2012. He manages the organization's daily activities and leads the Chapter in achieving its mission. He has a keen interest in helping the broader community of stakeholders recognize how green buildings support and resolve many environmental, social justice, and sustainability issues. By connecting more people to the benefits of green buildings, we will be able to see a groundswell of support to change policy and change market preferences toward better buildings and urban planning. Grey has a background in commercial brokerage, real estate finance, and community engagement. He serves on the boards of two other community organizations in the Boston area and is very active with the Green Catamount alumni network of the University of Vermont. He lives in Harvard Square, Cambridge.
Shawn Hesse, NCARB, LEED® AP BD+C, O+M, LFA, Regenerative Practitioner™
Shawn leads emersion DESIGN’s Cambridge office, and focuses his work on integrating sustainability into design, planning, and policy decisions for clients ranging from fortune 500 companies to universities, cultural, and civic institutions. He has designed and consulted on some of the greenest buildings in the country including Net Zero energy projects, and LEED Platinum Certified projects. He has consulted with universities, large corporations, and cities on sustainability and climate change planning efforts, and has crafted policies for cities and universities across the US to promote green building, green jobs, carbon reduction, and resiliency.
As the first USGBC Faculty in Ohio, and one of three in Massachusetts, Shawn is part of an elite group to be recognized and trained by the USGBC, and has educated more than 3,800 people about LEED and sustainability. As a Living Building Challenge Ambassador and Facilitator for the Boston area, Shawn also provides training for organizations interested in pursuing the Living Building Challenge – the most stringent and ambitious sustainability rating system. He is an active volunteer with the USGBC, serving on a LEED Technical Working Group to write social equity into future versions of LEED, and serves on the national board of Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility, working to improve social justice in the built environment.
Join us and our co-hosts, USGBC of Massachusetts and The Living Building Boston Collaborative for this enlightening and beautiful presentation of the spaces and places that comprise our future environments. -- Carol, Holly, Tilly
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Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design 2015: Madrid RÍO
WHEN Tue., Feb. 2, 2016, 6:30 – 8 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Piper Auditorium, Gund Hall, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard University Graduate School of Design
SPEAKER(S) Ginés Garrido of Burgos & Garrido, with other team members in attendance
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO events at gsd.harvard.edu
DETAILS The 12th Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design has been awarded to Madrid RÍO, a new linear park in Madrid designed by a team led by Ginés Garrido of Burgos & Garrido, including Porras & La Casta, Rubio & Álvarez-Sala, and West 8.
The award ceremony will feature a brief presentation on the project by Ginés Garrido of Burgos & Garrido, with other team members in attendance. An exhibition on the project is on view in the Gund Hall lobby from January 19 to March 6, 2016
LINK www.gsd.harvard.edu/#/events/veronica-rudge-green-prize-in-urban-design-2015-madrid-r-o.html
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Republic of Spin: An Inside History of the American Presidency
Tuesday, February 2
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
This event is free; no tickets are required.
Harvard Book Store and Mass Humanities welcome political historian and author of Nixon’s Shadow: The History of an Image DAVID GREENBERG for a discussion of his latest book, Republic of Spin: An Inside History of the American Presidency.
About Republic of Spin
In Republic of Spin—a vibrant history covering more than one hundred years of politics—historian David Greenberg recounts the rise of the White House spin machine, from Teddy Roosevelt to Barack Obama. His sweeping, startling narrative takes us behind the scenes to see how the tools and techniques of image making and message craft work. We meet Woodrow Wilson convening the first White House press conference, Franklin Roosevelt huddling with his private pollsters, Ronald Reagan’s aides crafting his nightly news sound bites, and George W. Bush staging his “Mission Accomplished” photo-op. We meet, too, the backstage visionaries who pioneered new ways of gauging public opinion and mastering the media—figures like George Cortelyou, TR’s brilliantly efficient press manager; 1920s ad whiz Bruce Barton; Robert Montgomery, Dwight Eisenhower’s canny TV coach; and of course the key spinmeisters of our own times, from Roger Ailes to David Axelrod.
Greenberg also examines the profound debates Americans have waged over the effect of spin on our politics. Does spin help our leaders manipulate the citizenry? Or does it allow them to engage us more fully in the democratic project? Exploring the ideas of the century’s most incisive political critics, from Walter Lippmann and H. L. Mencken to Hannah Arendt and Stephen Colbert, Republic of Spin illuminates both the power of spin and its limitations—its capacity not only to mislead but also to lead.
Praise
“From Teddy Roosevelt to Barack Obama, David Greenberg has written a brilliant, fast-moving narrative history of the leaders who have defined the modern American presidency. More than that, Republic of Spin shows that behind the power to persuade is the power to inform—and also to mislead.” —Bob Woodward, associate editor of The Washington Post
More at http://www.harvard.com/event/david_greenberg/
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Wednesday, February 3
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DEAN'S SYMPOSIUM - Beyond Ferguson: Social Injustice and the Health of the Public
Wednesday, February 3
8:15 AM - 2:35 PM
Boston University, 72 East Concord Street, Room Hiebert Lounge, Boston
RSVP at RSVP at: http://www.bu.edu/sph/news-events/signature-events/deans-symposia/2016-deans-symposia-schedule/beyond-ferguson-social-injustice-and-the-health-of-the-public/
Featured speakers: Cornell Williams Brooks, President and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Mary Bassett, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. #BUSPH40 #BUSPHSymposia
More info: http://www.bu.edu/sph/news-events/signature-events/deans-symposia/2016-deans-symposia-schedule/beyond-ferguson-social-injustice-and-the-health-of-the-public/
RSVP at: http://www.bu.edu/sph/news-events/signature-events/deans-symposia/2016-deans-symposia-schedule/beyond-ferguson-social-injustice-and-the-health-of-the-public/
Contact organization: SPH Dean's Office
Contact name: Megan Keating
Contact email: keatingm at bu.edu
Source: http://www.bu.edu/calendar/?uid=178600@17.calendar.bu.edu
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Bob Schieffer - The Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
12:00-1:00pm
Harvard, Malkin Penthouse, Littauer Building, 4th Floor, 15 Eliot Street, Cambrdige
Bob Schieffer has been a reporter for more than half a century and was a part of CBS News for 46 years. He is one of the few reporters in Washington to have covered all four of the major beats: the Pentagon, the White House, Congress and the State Department. Schieffer anchored the Saturday edition of the “CBS Evening News” for 23 years, became the network’s chief Washington correspondent in 1982 and was named the anchor and moderator of “Face the Nation” in 1991. Within these roles he has interviewed every president since Richard Nixon and moderated three presidential debates. Throughout his career Schieffer has written four books, won numerous awards and covered every presidential race and nominating convention since 1972. He will be in residence at the Shorenstein Center on a visiting basis for three semesters, throughout the 2016 election season. During his time on campus Schieffer will meet with students and faculty, speak at various events for the Harvard community and participate in Shorenstein Center activities.
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Thrill, Spills and Chills of Post-Disaster Planning in New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward
Wednesday, February 3
12:00-1:00pm
Tufts, Crane Room, Paige Hall, 12 Upper Campus Road, Medford
Ken Reardon of UMass Boston will discuss his experience leading a three university effort to provide post-disaster planning and design services to the residents of New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. He will describe how planning students from Cornell, Columbia, and Illinois came together to work with ACORN, once the nation’s largest poor people’s organization, to prepare a comprehensive recovery plan that prompted local officials to reinvest $147 million in an area the once deemed too risky and costly to rebuild. Ken will describe the organizational, analytical, and political challenges of engaging residents in a “bottom-up” planning process in a highly politicized post-disaster context.
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Teaching Polymers the Meaning of Life and Nanographene Quantum Confinement
Wednesday, February 3
3:30 PM - 4:45 PM
MIT, Building 56-114, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
SEMINAR 3:30 PM REFRESHMENTS 3:00 PM
Speaker(s): Prof. Felix R. Fischer (University of California/Berkeley)
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Program in Polymers and Soft Matter (PPSM)
Contact: Gregory Sands (ppsm-www at mit.edu)
Web site: http://polymerscience.mit.edu/?page_id=2905
More info: (617) 253-0949
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Innovative Polymers for Printable Photocells: Multiscale Theory for Materials Design
Wed., Feb. 3, 2016
4 p.m.
Harvard, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Sheerr Room, Fay House, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
In a talk that touches on ways to harvest sunlight with novel polymer photocells, Milner will explain how theory is critically important to understanding the hybrid nature of these materials.
Gazette Classification: Environmental Sciences, Lecture, Science
Organization/Sponsor: Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
Speaker(s): Scott Milner, 2015-2016 Radcliffe Institute Fellow; theoretical physicist and the William H. Joyce Chair in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University
Cost: Free and open to the public
Contact Info: events at radcliffe.harvard.edu
More info: http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2016-scott-milner-fellow-presentation
Contact email: events at radcliffe.harvard.edu
Source: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/harvard-events/events-calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3devent%26eventid%3d117208847
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Uncharted Waters? Novel ecosystems in the marine environment
Wednesday, February 3
4:00PM
Harvard, Geo Museum 102, 24 Oxford Street 1st Floor, Cambridge
Ecological Systems in the Anthropocene Series Lecture featuring panelists:
JEREMY JACKSON
Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, and Ritter Professor of Oceanography, Scripps Institution of Oceanography; Senior Scientist, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
TREVOR BRANCH
Associate Professor, School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington
JOHN PANDOLFI
ARC Professorial Research Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Australia
Moderated By: MARY O'CONNOR
Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology and Associate Director, Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia
Since the retreat of glaciers poleward over 10,000 years ago, humans have left an ever increasing fingerprint on ecological systems across the globe. The environment is now dominated by people—approximately 1/3 of land area has been transformed for human use and 1/4 of global productivity diverted to human consumption. While concepts such as wilderness attempt to escape this reality, there is virtually no habitat on earth devoid of some sign of humans influence on the globe—be it chemical, thermal, or a missing or introduced species. Today, this imprint is so pronounced that scientists are actively debating naming a new geological epoch demarcated by the sign of humans on the earth system itself: the Anthropocene.
In the shadow of this debate, the HUCE seminar series "Ecological Systems in the Anthropocene" will examine the future of social-environmental systems in a globe heavily impacted by humans. Each year the series will present a set of speakers and events (e.g., seminars, panels, debates) focused on one perspective under this theme.
The theme for the first year is "Novel ecosystems, novel climates: Is today’s environment unprecedented?"
Contact Name: Erin Harleman
eharleman at fas.harvard.edu
More at: http://environment.harvard.edu/events/esa-panel#sthash.EbJhuT7r.dpuf
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Does the Environment Still Matter? Daily Temperature and Income in the United States
Wednesday, February 3
4:15PM TO 5:30PM
Harvard, Littauer 382, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Tatyana Deryugina, University of Illinois, and Solomon Hsiang, University of California, Berkeley
Seminar in Environmental Economics and Policy
https://canvas.harvard.edu/courses/5340
For further information, contact Professor Stavins (617-495-1820), Professor Weitzman (617-495-5133), or the course assistant, Jason Chapman (617-496-8054).
Contact Name: Bryan J. Galcik
bryan_galcik at hks.harvard.edu
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Iraq in 2016: Trends, Drivers, and Future Vision
WHEN Wed., Feb. 3, 2016, 5 – 6:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Malkin Penthouse, Littauer Building, Fourth Floor, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Middle East Initiative
SPEAKER(S) A public address by Saleem Al-Jubouri, speaker of the Iraqi Parliament
Moderated by Meghan O'Sullivan, Jeanne Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, HKS.
Al-Jubouri will deliver his address in Arabic, with simultaneous translation into English
COST Free and open to the public
LINK http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/events/6860/iraq_in_2016.html
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BlueTech Innovation & Entrepreneurship in Massachusetts and Beyond
Wednesday, February 3
5pm to 7pm
Tufts, The Fletcher School, Cabot 7th Floor, 160 Packard Avenue. Cabot, 7th floor, Medford
Topic: Karyn Polito, the Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts will join Ed Anthes-Washburn, Port Director of the Port of New Bedford, for this enthralling panel on the sea and new water technologies. What role does maritime trade play in the economy, both locally and nationally? What BlueTech innovations are likely to change what the future holds for maritime affairs?
Panelists: Karyn Polito (Lieutenant Governor of Mass.), Carolyn Kirk (Massachusetts Dept. of Housing & Economic Development), Ed Anthes-Washburn (New Bedford Port), Chris Rezendes (Internet of Things Impact Labs)
Student Panelists: Matt Merighi (Institute for Global Maritime Studies, F’16), Jack Whitacre (Institute for Global Maritime Studies, F’16)
Karyn Polito – 72nd Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
Karyn Polito was inaugurated in January 2015 as the 72nd Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Elected alongside Governor Charlie Baker in November of 2014 on a platform of making Massachusetts great for everyone, Lieutenant Governor Polito continues her career in public service in the new administration. She earned a B.S. from Boston College and a Masters from the New England School of Law.
Ed Anthes-Washburn – Port Director at the Port of New Bedford
Ed Anthes-Washburn is the Deputy Port Director at the Port of New Bedford, where he focuses on business development, strategic planning, grant management and environmental issues. Previously, Ed worked in port infrastructure development at the Massachusetts Seaport Advisory Council. Ed has a city planning background and a long-standing interest in maritime studies and the effects of working waterfronts on municipal and regional economies. He earned a B.S. in Urban Studies from the College of Architecture Art and Planning at Cornell University and a M.S. in Public Affairs from the University of Massachusetts-Boston.
Carolyn Kirk – Deputy Director, Massachusetts Department of Housing & Economic Development; Executive Director, Massachusetts Seaport Economic Council
Carolyn Kirk served as the Mayor of Gloucester for the past seven years before being selected by Governor Charlie Baker to become the state’s Deputy Director of Housing & Economic Development. Throughout her career, she has worked to diversify and embrace a maritime economy in Massachusetts that expands beyond fishing. In 2007, Carolyn became the first woman to be elected Mayor of Gloucester.
Chris Rezendes – Founder & Managing Director, IoT Impact LABS
Chris Rezendes is an information and technology expert with a focus in the Internet of Things (IoT) and entrepreneurial innovation. Chris founded INEX Advisors in New Bedford in 2011, an IoT consultancy partnering with IoT ventures and developing strategies for IoT startups. Chris also founded IoT Impact LABS, a venture that came out of INEX, which brings together IoT startups with small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) to run field pilots of various IoT solutions in real-world settings. These setting include cities, agriculture, marine/ maritime, energy and transportation markets. Chris was educated at Harvard University.
Innovate Tufts: Innovation Week at Fletcher
Innovate Week at Fletcher is a week-long conference dedicated to celebrating innovation and cultivating entrepreneurship within our community. We look at innovation as it relates to multiple areas of expertise in the Fletcher community. Starting with a design thinking workshop facilitated by frog design, Innovation Week at Fletcher features panels of experts in innovation from organizations ranging from Paypal to the FBI, culminating in a Demo Night featuring entrepreneurs in the Tufts-Fletcher community.
January 29 to February 4
The Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy
http://innovatetufts.com
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The CRISPR Catch-22: An Innovation Series Event
February 3
5:30 PM - 9:00 PM
Broad Institute, 415 Main Street, Cambridge
Pre-Registration is required at http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/events/the-crispr-catch-22-an-innovation-series-event/
$20 Members, $45 Non-Members, Free for Students
CRISPR / Cas9 is a 3-year-old technology that is groundbreaking, controversial and developing fast.
MIT Technology Review called it the ‘biggest biotech discovery of the century’. The technology makes gene-editing simple, affordable and precise. Right now, scientists are exploring the potential of the technology to cure a host of human diseases. Other potential groundbreaking research is being done in insects (to eradicate malaria) and animals.
But, with all of this promise, comes an ethical Catch-22.
As recently as December 2015, the International Summit on Human Gene Editing came up with some guidelines attempting to draw a line in the sand on the bioethical questions related to this technology.
On February 3 we’ll take a look at the gene-editing landscape with some of the thought leaders in this space to tackle questions such as:
How soon can we capitalize on these opportunities to solve major healthcare problems of the society?
What is the scope of problems we can really solve?
How serious are the concerns relating to ‘unethical’ use of the technology, and do we need to explicitly regulate them?
Speakers
George J. Annas, JD, MPH, William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor and Director, Center for Health Law, Ethics & Human Rights, BU School of Public Health, School of Medicine, and School of Law
George Church, Ph.D, Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Professor of Health Sciences and Technology, Harvard and MIT
Bill Lundberg, Chief Scientific Officer, CRISPR Therapeutics
Andrés Treviño, Author of "Andy & Sofia" and spokesman for stem cell research
Moderator: Antonio Regalado, Senior Editor for Biomedicine, MIT Technology Review
Event Schedule
5:30 - 6:00 Registration, Networking & Light Snacks
6:00 - 8:00 Program
8:00 - 9:00 More Networking
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Cambridge Forum: Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age
Wednesday, February 3
7:00 PM
FPC Meetinghouse, 1446 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Cambridge Forums are free and open to the public.
Cambridge Forum welcomes renowned media scholar SHERRY TURKLE for a discussion of her latest book, Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age.
About Reclaiming Conversation
We live in a technological universe in which we are always communicating. And yet we have sacrificed conversation for mere connection.
Preeminent author and researcher Sherry Turkle has been studying digital culture for over thirty years. Long an enthusiast for its possibilities, here she investigates a troubling consequence: at work, at home, in politics, and in love, we find ways around conversation, tempted by the possibilities of a text or an email in which we don’t have to look, listen, or reveal ourselves.
We develop a taste for what mere connection offers. The dinner table falls silent as children compete with phones for their parents’ attention. Friends learn strategies to keep conversations going when only a few people are looking up from their phones. At work, we retreat to our screens although it is conversation at the water cooler that increases not only productivity but commitment to work. Online, we only want to share opinions that our followers will agree with—a politics that shies away from the real conflicts and solutions of the public square.
The case for conversation begins with the necessary conversations of solitude and self-reflection. They are endangered: these days, always connected, we see loneliness as a problem that technology should solve. Afraid of being alone, we rely on other people to give us a sense of ourselves, and our capacity for empathy and relationship suffers. We see the costs of the flight from conversation everywhere: conversation is the cornerstone for democracy and in business it is good for the bottom line. In the private sphere, it builds empathy, friendship, love, learning, and productivity.
But there is good news: we are resilient. Conversation cures.
Based on five years of research and interviews in homes, schools, and the workplace, Turkle argues that we have come to a better understanding of where our technology can and cannot take us and that the time is right to reclaim conversation. The most human—and humanizing—thing that we do.
The virtues of person-to-person conversation are timeless, and our most basic technology, talk, responds to our modern challenges. We have everything we need to start, we have each other.
Learn more at cambridgeforum.org.
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Native Plant Gardens: Learning by Example
Wednesday, February 3
7 to 8:30pm
Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge
A free lecture by Carolyn Summers , author of "Designing Gardens with Flora of the American East", presented by Grow Native Mass at the Cambridge Public Library
Landscaping with native plants is becoming the rule rather than the exception, but good examples can be hard to find. Come for a visual tour of some truly instructive native plant gardens, large and small, public and private. A diversity of styles, ranging from formal to naturalistic, will illustrate the usage of native plants in both residential and public landscapes. Our tour will travel from Sara Stein’s Garden in Pound Ridge, NY, to the New World Garden designed by Larry Weaner, to the High Line in NYC, and include many others along the way. Accompanied by design and how-to tips, this talk will be valuable for everyone from novice gardeners to seasoned professionals.
Carolyn Summers is author of Designing Gardens with Flora of the American East and an adjunct professor at Go Native U, a joint project of Westchester Community College and The Native Plant Center. She and her husband recently opened their country home, Flying Trillium Gardens and Preserve, for public tours and to showcase the importance of native plants to all landscapes.
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Spring Generator Dinner: IDEAS Global Challenge
Wednesday, February 3
7:00p–9:00p
MIT, Building E15-674, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
Working on a project to help underserved communities? Need funding?
Want to recruit new members for your IDEAS Global Challenge team?
Want to get involved, but don't yet have an idea?
Join us for dinner. Pitch an idea. Find a team.
This is one of the best venues to find a team to join, pitch your idea to woo and recruit teammates, or pitch your skills to get hired onto a team. With the final chance to submit a Scope Statement just a few weeks away (Feb 18, 2016), get started at this event!
Learn more about the IDEAS Global Challenge here: http://globalchallenge.mit.edu.
Web site: http://globalchallenge.mit.edu/events/view/441
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free, but please RSVP
Tickets: Eventbrite
Sponsor(s): IDEAS Global Challenge, Graduate Student Life Grants, MIT Public Service Center
For more information, contact: Keely Swan
globalchallenge at mit.edu
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Homeplace Under Fire
Wednesday, February
7:30 pm-9:00 pm
Regent Theatre, 7 Medford Street, Arlington
Tickets at http://www.regenttheatre.com/details/sneak_preview_of_homeplace_under_fire_presented_by_farm_aid
Cost: $10 (recommended donation)
Homeplace Under Fire is the story of the frontline, grassroots work of American farm advocates and their thirty-year fight to keep family farmers on the land.
The Farm Crisis of the 1980s drove hundreds of thousands of family farmers into foreclosure. Yet, out of that crisis arose a legion of farm advocates who have refused to stand idly by and watch their way of life go up in flames.
Ordinary Americans taught themselves extraordinary skills. As fellow farmers, farm wives, and rural leaders, they studied laws and regulations, started hotlines, answered farmers’ calls from their kitchen tables, counseled their neighbors, and went toe-to-toe with lenders – giving their all to keep neighbors on their land.
Homeplace Under Fire celebrates these advocates and their remarkable work. Thousands of farmers are alive and on their land today because of them. As Willie Nelson says in the film, these advocates are the best of America.
Directed by Charles D. Thompson and produced by Farm Aid in cooperation with the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.
RUNTIME: Approximately 40 mins, followed by a brief panel discussion and Q&A with Charles Thompson, Farm Aid representatives, and more.
This event is open to the public--all are welcome! A suggested donation of $10 per ticket will support Farm Aid’s work to bring the film to a larger audience. Reserve your tickets online now!
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Thursday, February 4
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Genetics and Genomics of Autoimmune Diseases
WHEN Thursday, February 4, 2016, 11am – 12pm
WHERE Minot Room, Countway Library, 10 Shattuck Street, Boston
SPEAKER NAME Soumya Raychaudhuri, MD, PhD
SPEAKER TITLE Associate Professor of Medicine
SPEAKER INSTITUTION Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital
SERIES/EVENT TITLE BIG Seminar
SPONSOR HMS Bioinformatics and Integrative Genomics PhD Program
SPEAKER WEBSITE http://immunogenomics.hms.harvard.edu/people.html
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Geospatial Innovation and Environmental Applications: The Geo Career Path
Thursday, February 4
12 pm
Tufts, Rabb room, Lincoln Filene Center, 10 Upper Campus Road, Medford
Most talks will be streamed lived at Bit.ly/TuftsLunchLearn
Michael Terner
With the full emergence of the cloud, open source technologies and the imperative to get GIS and mapping applications onto mobile devices the entire geospatial industry is going through a wave of innovation. This talk will describe the current technological and market conditions behind this innovation while presenting several environmentally oriented case studies, including the development of the Crucial Habitat Assessment Tool (CHAT) developed for the Western Governors' Association (WGA). The talk will conclude by discussing how the new technologies are influencing career development and hiring for geospatial jobs.
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The Intersection of Environmental History and Oceanic History
Thursday, February 4
2:30–4 pm
Harvard, HUCE Seminar Room, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge
The Harvard Environmental History Working Group hosts a panel discussion on "The Intersection of Environmental History and Oceanic History" with Sunil Amrith, Professor of History, Mehra Family Professor of South Asian Studies, Harvard University; Joyce Chaplin, James Duncan Phillips Professor of Early American History, Harvard University; and Antony Adler, STS Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
More at: http://green.harvard.edu/events/intersection-environmental-history-and-oceanic-history#sthash.XVMyJ8wn.dpuf
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The Soul of Anime, and How Japanese Manga and Music Defy Zombie Capitalism
Thursday, February 4
3:00 PM to 4:30 PM
Harvard University Lamont Library, Forum Room , 11 Quincy Street. Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-soul-of-anime-and-how-japanese-manga-and-music-defy-zombie-capitalism-tickets-20016971300
Guest speaker: Ian Condry, Professor, Global Studies and Languages, MIT
How did American publishers’ response to junk science in the 1950s contribute to Japanese animation’s current dominance in TV cartoon broadcasts worldwide? The story of Japanese popular culture demonstrates some of the keys to developing more inclusive forms of capitalism, an important issue in today’s era of worsening income inequality. Japanese anime, manga, and music offer lessons for understanding how new industries emerge from communities of shared participation. Put simply, we can learn from the contrast between zombie capitalism, in which the past devours the future, and cyborg capitalism, which centers on a symbiosis between technology and community.
Ian Condry is a cultural anthropologist and Professor of Global Studies and Languages at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the author of two books, The Soul of Anime and Hip-Hop Japan, both of which explore ethnographically how cultural movements go global. He is founder and co-director of the Creative Communities Initiative at MIT which uses fieldwork at the intersections of online and offline worlds to offer new solutions to old problems (ccimit.mit.edu).
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Climate Nationalism: Understanding Public Opinion on Climate Change in China
Thursday, February 4
3:30pm to 4:45pm
Harvard, Pierce Hall 100F, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge
John Chung-En Liu, postdoctoral fellow, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Harvard Kennedy School
Abstract
This talk will draw data from surveys, discussions on Weibo (China’s Twitter), and books to provide a snapshot of how the Chinese public understands and discusses climate change. Overall, we have found that while there is little doubt on climate science, Chinese citizens have only weak awareness and knowledge of climate change. Climate change is also low on the popular policy agenda. We especially observe that nationalism is a powerful lens to understand climate change: on the one hand, it can spur rapid responses in the name of national development; on the other hand, it can also frame climate change alarmism as a western conspiracy. As a result, the politics and science of climate change are always intertwined in China. The Chinese case suggests that taking local contexts into account is essential when communicating climate change to the public.
http://chinaproject.harvard.edu/event/climate-nationalism-understanding-public-opinion-climate-change-china
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Maker Culture: Fireside Chat with Joel Spolsky, CEO, Stack Overflow
Thursday, February 4
4pm EST (7pm PST)
Webinar
RSVP at https://generalassemb.ly/watch/joel-spolsky
Maker Culture is the path toward creating a brighter future. Fueled by constant innovation and collaboration, the movement has made it possible for more people to carve out their place in the global economy in passions and pursuits from computer hacking, to artisan beauty products, to home brewing. It champions a simple but grand idea: You can be a maker, too.
This issue, we’re celebrating the imaginative maker mentality with Joel Spolsky, CEO and Co-Founder of Stack Overflow. Join us for an interactive live stream on Thursday, February 4, when we’ll chat with Joel about how Maker Culture inspired him to create and lead his community-run sites. You can tweet your questions before and during the event using #GALive. And, if you miss it, you can still RSVP, and we’ll email you a recording afterward.
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Starr Forum: Africian Repats
Thursday, February 4
4:00p–5:30p
MIT, Building E14-648, Media Lab Silverman Skyline Room, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Panel discussion featuring Claude Grunitzky, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of TRUE AFRICA, and other guests
CIS Starr Forum
A public events series on pressing issues in international affairs, sponsored by the MIT Center for International Studies.
Please contact us at starrforum at mit.edu if you need accessibility accommodations
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/cis/
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies
For more information, contact:
617- 253-8306
starrforum at mit.edu
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Household Workers Unite! A Conversation between Scholars and Activists
WHEN Thu., Feb. 4, 2016, 4:15 p.m.
WHERE Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Sheerr Room, Fay House, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S) Moderator: Rakesh Khurana, dean of Harvard College and Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development, Harvard Business School
Lydia Edwards, Massachusetts Coalition of Domestic Workers
Premilla Nadasen, Department of History, Barnard College
Monique Nguyen, MataHari
Natalicia Tracy, Brazilian Worker Center
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO events at radcliffe.harvard.edu
DETAILS In a talk which touches on the significance of domestic worker organizing, historian Premilla Nadasen, the author of “Household Workers Unite: The Untold Story of African American Women Who Built a Movement,” will be joined by leaders of three organizations whose work led to the passage of the Massachusetts Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in 2014. Panelists will consider transformations in the occupation of household labor including the shift from a largely African American to immigrant workforce, the different historical contexts for domestic worker organizing, as well as lessons that current organizers and advocates can learn from earlier periods of activism.
LINK http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2016-household-workers-unite-conversation
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EnergyBar!
Thursday, February 4
5:30pm - 8:30pm
Greentown Labs, 28 Dane Street, Somerville
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/energybar-registration-15734106135
About EnergyBar: EnergyBar is a monthly event devoted to helping people in clean technology meet and discuss innovations in energy technology. Entrepreneurs, investors, students, and ‘friends of cleantech,’ are invited to attend, meet colleagues, and expand our growing regional clean technology community.
Light appetizers and drinks will be served starting at 5:30 pm
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Architecture Lecture: Fred Turner, The Politics of Interactivity in Cold War America
Thursday, February 4
6:00p–8:00p
MIT, Building 7-429, Long Lounge, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
MIT Architecture Lecture Series
Part of the Spring 2016 Architecture and Computation Group Lecture Series.
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Sponsor(s): Department of Architecture, Computation
For more information, contact: Hannah Loomis
617-253-7494
hloomis at mit.edu
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Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)
Thursday, February 4
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM (EST)
Workbar Cambridge, 45 Prospect Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/genetically-modified-organisms-gmos-tickets-20397212612
The public debate about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is fierce.
Supporters say that GMOs hold great promise for a fast-changing world: food can be made more bountiful and easier to grow and transport. GMOs could be a vital part of the solution to an ever-increasing global population, world hunger, and climate change.
However, critics say that the unintended risks of GMOs could outweigh these benefits: GMOs pose unknown human health and environmental side effects, and there are concerns about the fact that some GM seeds are subject to intellectual property rights owned by corporations.
Join us to get your questions answered about the science and politics of GMOs, and to form your opinion on this controversial subject.
How are GMOs different than selective breeding methods used by indigenous tribes for centuries?
What is the scientific consensus of the health and environmental impacts?
Why have European countries banned GMOs, while the US hasn't?
Why are people against limiting or labeling GMOs?
Speaker:
Prof. Parke Wilde is an Associate Professor at Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, where he teaches and writes about U.S. food policy.
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Intro to Boston’s Culinary Community
February 4
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
WeWork South Station, 745 Atlantic Avenue, Boston
Spoon University and General Assembly are pairing up to introduce you to Boston’s true innovators in the culinary community.
The conversation will cover everything from what it’s like to rise through the ranks in the culinary world, to what inspired these culinary leaders to open up their own shop(s). We will also reveal what the culinary world looks like from the inside and how you can make your mark on the industry.
About the Panelists
Mackenzie Barth CEO & Co-Founder, Spoon University
Mackenzie Barth is the CEO and cofounder of Spoon University, a food network for the next generation. She started Spoon with Sarah Adler as undergrads at Northwestern University after having worked at Food Network Magazine, The Daily Meal and Viacom and recognizing a need for a college-focused food media community. She is a graduate of the Techstars NYC ’15 program.
Jamie Bissonnette Chef and Owner, Coppa (www.coppaboston.com) & Toro (www.toro-restaurant.com)
Even as a child, Bissonnette was drawn to the kitchen eschewing cartoons for cooking shows on the Discovery Channel. With this early start, he earned his Culinary Arts degree from The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale by the young age of 19 and spent his early 20s eating and cooking his way through Paris, San Francisco, New York and Phoenix. These early experiences fed his culinary drive, teaching him expression through his daily-changing menus.
Bissonnette is a champion of nose-to-tail cuisine and is well-known locally and nationally for his exceptional charcuterie and passionate dedication to supporting local, sustainable purveyors. As chef and owner of Coppa and Toro in Boston, and Toro in New York City, Bissonnette continues to helm the kitchens of his award-winning restaurants, and can be found at nightly overseeing his menus of innovative small plates and nose to tail cooking. In September 2014, Jamie launched his debut cookbook—The New Charcuterie Cookbook: Exceptional Cured Meats to Make and Serve at Home, featuring a foreword by Andrew Zimmern. In Spring 2016, Bissonnette will open Toro Bangkok followed by Toro Dubai, new outposts of their Barcelona-inspired tapas bar alongside Ken Oringer. The duo will also debut their first project in Cambridge, MA—The Little Donkey—in late Spring 2016.
Rachel Blumenthal, Food Editor and Writer, Eater
Rachel Leah Blumenthal is a food editor and writer at Eater by day and a musician by night. Rachel completed her master’s degree in Science Journalism in 2010 at Boston University and holds a bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from the University of Rochester.
Irene Li, Co-Owner, Mei Mei Group
Irene Li co-owns and operates the Boston-based food truck, restaurant and shipping container enterprise collectively known as the Mei Mei Group. Founded with her two older siblings, their award-winning food businesses merge modern techniques and genre-bending creativity with sustainable practices and tech-savvy communications. Irene’s background of living on an organic farm, working the restaurant line, and organizing for social justice inform her leadership of the food and sourcing elements of the company. She recently graduated from Cornell University with a BA in Food Systems and Cultural Studies, received a James Beard Rising Star and Eater Young Gun nomination, and won a StarChefs Rising Star award.
Brian Moy, Co-Owner, Shojo
Spoon University is a digital food publication and community for millennials, by millennials, that’s powered by a network of students on college campuses across the country. Spoon offers simple recipes, food news, restaurant reviews, videos and healthy living hacks, all made in a way that feels young, fresh and approachable. Spoon supports a network of 3,000+ contributors across 120 college campuses worldwide.
Website: https://generalassemb.ly/education/intro-to-bostons-culinary-community/boston/20550
General Assembly
Email: boston at generalassemb.ly
Website: http://www.generalassemb.ly
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Cybersecurity from China’s Perspective
Thursday, February 4
7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
The Mary Baker Eddy Library, 200 Massachussets Avenue, Boston
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/cybersecurity-from-chinas-perspective-tickets-20490920896
Livestream at http://csmonitor.com/world/passcode
Last year proved to be an active one for cybersecuirty. In an attempt to curb an increasing number of cyberattcks, Washington and Beijing met this past September to discuss potential solutions for peace. An agreement was reached, though some experts were quick to point out flaws.
If past trends continue, there is little reason to think that cyber threats in 2016 will be any less numerous. But despite these concerns, the agreement between Washington and Beijing could prove to be a positive step toward thwarting commercial hacking, said Ellen Nakashima, national security reporter at The Washington Post.
Will Beijing really be able to hold up its end of the deal? Can China rein in its hackers? Will China and the West forge rules of engagement in the Digital Age?
Join Passcode and The Mary Baker Eddy Library for a discussion that will address these questions and shed light on the status of cyber relations between the US and China.
Doors open at 6:00 p.m. for networking. The Mapparium will be open and will include an exclusive presentation related to the event. This event is free and open to the public and will be live streamed on csmonitor.com/world/passcode.
Panel: Adam Segal, Director, Digital and Cyberspace Policy Program, the Council on Foreign Relations
Michael Sulmeyer, Director, Cyber Security Project, Belfer Center, Harvard Kennedy School
Moderated by Mike Farrell, Editor, Passcode
Follow the conversation on Twitter via the hashtag #CSMChina and follow us @csmpasscode.
By registering for the event, you are also signing up for Passcode's email newsletter to receive related coverage and analysis. If you wish to unsubscribe, you may do so at any time.
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Friday, February 5
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HMS Academy Medical Education Grand Rounds - Culture, Climate, and Our Community: The intersection of the generations
Friday, February 5
7:30 AM to 9:00 AM
Harvard Medical School, Tosteson Medical Education Center (TMEC) Rm.250, 260 Longwood Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07ec03de0r3f7f2977&oseq=&c=&ch=
Overview: There are 4 generations practicing medicine today. Who are they, who defines them, and why does it matter? Everyone says that generations differ; is this true, and what would make generations differ? While it may be hard to disentangle all the reasons that generations appear to differ, there are 3 processes that seem to be important: 1. Lifecycle effects ( in age); 2. Period effects (seminal events); and 3. Cohort effects (major events that happen as the cohort comes of age). Each generation has its own cultural norms that vary within and across generations. Individuals may experience the culture of another generation as more or less congenial. As we each consider our own culture as "normal," we may cause others to experience us as biased and judgmental. Such experiences and perceptions affect education in medicine. In this session, we will consider education and professional development through multiple lenses: culture, the way of life of a group of people determined by their common values; climate…
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MIT Breaking the Mold Conference
Friday, February 5
9:00 AM
MIT, Media Lab, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mit-breaking-the-mold-conference-feb-5-2016-tickets-20663491058
Cost: $26.88–$47.78
Breaking the Mold is an initiative aimed at creating a safe space for open dialogue about unconscious biases, with the expressed purpose of helping participants develop approaches to managing these biases in the classroom, workplace and board room.
This year, we are are focused on structural biases - recognising that unconscious biases have been built into the policies that organisations design. We ask: what is our accountability as "principled, innovative leaders who improve the world" (MIT's Sloan's mission) in building and sustaining organisations that are wholly inclusive and allow employees to bring their true selves to work?
The February conference (agenda) explores what cutting edge academic research is saying about building diverse organisations and their impact on the bottom line.
Breaking the Mold is an initiative sponsored by the Sloan Women in Management and supported by other affinity clubs (e.g. Sloan LGBT, Black Business Students Association, Hispanic Students Association) as well as the Student Senate, Student Life Office and MIT Office of the Dean for Graduate Education.
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Transforming Nanodevices to Nanosystems
Friday, February 5
10:00am to 11:00am
Harvard, Maxwell Dworkin 119, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Max Shulaker, Stanford University
The computing demands of future data-intensive applications far exceed the capabilities of today’s electronics, and cannot be met by isolated improvements in transistor technologies or integrated circuit (IC) architectures alone. Transformative nanosystems, which leverage the unique properties of emerging nanotechnologies to create new IC architectures, are required to deliver unprecedented performance and energy efficiency. However, emerging nanomaterials and nanodevices suffer from significant imperfections and variations. Thus, realizing working circuits, let alone transformative nanosystems, has been infeasible.
As a case-study for realizing nanosystems, I will present my work on carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (CNFETs), a leading candidate for energy-efficient and high-performance digital systems. Unfortunately, substantial imperfections and variations inherent to carbon nanotubes (CNTs), combined with low current densities, restricted demonstrations to stand-alone transistors or logic gates, with severely limited performance, yield, and scalability. I will describe techniques to overcome these major challenges through a combination of new CNT process techniques and CNFET circuit design solutions. This imperfection-immune paradigm transforms CNTs from solely a scientifically-interesting material into working nanosystems such as the first microprocessor [Nature 2013] and the first digital sub-systems [ISSCC 2013, JSSC 2014, ACS Nano 2014] built entirely using CNFETs. These are the first system-level demonstrations among promising emerging nanotechnologies for high-performance and highly energy-efficient digital systems. This approach also enables high-performance CNFETs with the highest current-drive to-date (which are, for the first time, competitive with comparably-sized silicon-based transistors from commercial foundries [IEDM 2014]). All of the fabrication and design techniques are VLSI-compatible, and can be applied to arbitrary technology nodes; to illustrate, I will describe recent results from a 14 nm-node CNFET [IEDM 2015].
Beyond specific CNT technologies, I will also present my work on building new architectures to achieve high degrees of energy efficiency for emerging data-intensive applications. Such new architectures are naturally enabled by a range of beyond-silicon emerging nanotechnologies (including CNTs). I will demonstrate the first monolithically-integrated three-dimensional (3D) nanosystem architectures [VLSI Tech. 2014, IEDM 2014] with vertically-integrated layers of logic, memory, and sensing circuits. These include the largest nanosystem yet fabricated using beyond-silicon emerging nanotechnologies, with over 2 million CNFETs and over 1 million Resistive Random Access Memory (RRAM) cells, all integrated vertically over a conventional silicon substrate with over 1 million silicon transistors (all fabricated at the Stanford Nanofabrication Facility). With dense and fine-grained connectivity between sensing, storage and computation, such nanosystems can capture terabytes of data from the outside world every second, and produce “processed information” by performing in-situ classification of the sensor data using on-chip accelerators designed using CNFET logic.
I will conclude by giving my vision for how the ubiquitous computing technology that is critical for meeting society’s challenges in the 21st century can be realized by harnessing the capabilities of multiple nanomaterials and nanodevices in complex nanosystems.
Speaker Bio: Max Shulaker is a PhD candidate in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, under the supervision of Professor Subhasish Mitra and co-advised by Professor Philip Wong. He received his B.S. from Stanford University in Electrical Engineering. Max’s current research interests are in the broad area of nanosystems. His research results include the demonstration of the first carbon nanotube computer (highlighted on the cover of Nature, Sept. 2013), the first digital sub-systems built entirely using carbon nanotube FETs (awarded the ISSCC Jack Raper Award for Outstanding Technology-Directions Paper, 2013), the first monolithically-integrated 3D integrated circuits combining arbitrary vertical stacking of logic and memory (IEDM 2014), the highest-performance CNFETs to-date (IEDM 2014), and the first highly-scaled CNFETs fabricated in a VLSI-compatible manner (IEDM 2015). Max also enjoys teaching and has been a guest lecturer in several classes at Stanford. He is a Fannie and John Hertz Fellow and a Stanford Graduate Fellow.
Electrical Engineering Seminar Series
Contact: Maddie Usupova
Email: musupova at seas.harvard.edu
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Leveraging Smart Data and Internet of Things to Realize Mass Customization
Friday, February 5
1:00 pm ET / 10:00 am PT
Webinar
RSVP at http://eventcallregistration.com/reg/index.jsp?cid=59674t11ch1
In this free, live webinar, experts from the MIT Media Lab will discuss mass customization and its implications for existing business models. The presentation will be followed by a live Q&A session with the speakers.
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Film screening: How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr. Foster?
Friday, February 5
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM (EST)
BSA Space, 290 Congress Street, Boston
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/film-screening-how-much-does-your-building-weigh-mr-foster-tickets-18136305177
Cost: $8 - $12
Born in Manchester, England, on the wrong side of the tracks, Norman Foster rose from a humble working-class background to become one of the premier Modern architects of our time. Beautifully filmed in more than 10 countries and homing in on his most iconic works—including London’s Swiss Re Tower, New York City’s Hearst Building, Berlin’s Reichstag, Beijing Airport’s International Terminal, and the breathtaking Millau Viaduct over the Gorges du Tarn in France—How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr. Foster? features Norman Foster, Anthony Caro, Buckminster Fuller, Paul Goldberger, Cai Guo-Qiang, Anish Kapoor, Richard Long, Richard Rogers, Richard Serra, Deyan Sudjic, and more.
This screening is part of the BSA Space Film Series covering a variety of design topics. Complimentary refreshments and popcorn will be served.
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Saturday, February 6
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Harvard Ed Portal First Anniversary Celebration and Open House
Saturday, February 6
1-4 pm
Harvard Ed Portal 224 Western Avenue, Allston
Join Harvard Ed Portal for our first anniversary celebration and open house. Take a tour, learn about the Ed Portal’s free membership benefits, connect with friends and neighbors, get a glimpse of our various offerings, and enjoy exciting activities for all ages. Whether it’s your first time at the Ed Portal or you’re already a member, we hope to see you there!
More at http://edportal.harvard.edu/calendar/upcoming?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EdPortal_Email_012116%20(1)
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Monday, February 8
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MIT Atmospheric Science Seminar (MASS)
Monday, February 8
12:00p–1:00p
MIT, Building 54-915 (the tallest building on campus)
Speaker: Keith Seitter (AMS)
MIT Atmospheric Science Seminar [MASS] is an EAPS student-run weekly seminar series. Topics include research concerning atmospheric science, and climate. The seminars usually take place on Mondays in 54-915 from 12.00-1pm. 2015/2016 co-ordinators: Marianna Linz (mlinz at mit.edu), John Agard (jvagard at mit.edu), and Dan Rothernberg (darothen at mit.edu).
Web site: http://bit.ly/1P33yOq
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS)
For more information, contact: Marianna Linz
617-253-2127
mlinz at mit.edu
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Webinar: The Importance of (Big) Data for Healthcare Safety-Net Organizations
Monday, February 8
12:00p–1:00p
Webinar at https://sdm.mit.edu/the-importance-of-big-data-for-healthcare-safety-net-organizations/
Speaker: David Hartzband, DSc, Research Affiliate, MIT Sociotechnical Systems Research Center
Big data holds great promise for understanding the successes and failures of systems in a wide range of industries. This webinar will explore the use of big data in the healthcare system, with specific reference to a multiyear project that deployed Hadoop-based analytics at 33 Federally Qualified Community Health Centers with approximately 1.3 million patients.
The project analyzed five years of data to assess data quality and its impact on care and found that:
reporting of specific conditions was often lower than expected given known estimates for the US population;
the rates of obesity and heart disease as reported appeared especially low; and
these apparent data errors made identifying comorbidities problematic.
The speaker will explore possible system causes for these results, including:
a structural misalignment of electronic health records with actual health center practices;
impediments to proper reporting caused by sociocultural and organizational contexts; and
poor-quality data.
A Q&A will follow the presentation. We invite you to join us!
The MIT SDM Systems Thinking Webinar Series, sponsored by the System Design & Management (SDM) program, features research conducted by SDM faculty, alumni, students, and industry partners. The series is designed to disseminate information on how to employ systems thinking to address engineering, management, and socio-political components of complex challenges. Recordings and slides from prior SDM webinars can be accessed at sdm.mit.edu/news-and-events/webinars/.
Web site: https://sdm.mit.edu/the-importance-of-big-data-for-healthcare-safety-net-organizations/
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free and open to all
Tickets: See url above
Sponsor(s): Engineering Systems Division, MIT System Design & Management
For more information, contact: Lois Slavin
lslavin at mit.edu
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Playlist from the Terrestial Analog: Towards an Ecology of Outer Space
Monday, February 8
12:15PM TO 2:00PM
Harvard, HUCE Seminar Room, 24 Oxford Street, 3rd Floor, Cambridge
Sandwich lunches are provided. Please RSVP to sts at hks.harvard.edu by Wednesday at 5PM the week before.
Larissa Belcic, Harvard, GSD
The Harvard STS Circle is co-sponsored by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
STS Circle at Harvard
http://sts.hks.harvard.edu/events/sts_circle/
Contact Name: Shana Rabinowich
Shana_Rabinowich at hks.harvard.edu
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The Paris Climate Deal: An Inside Account of How it Happened
Monday, February 8
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
Boston University, Metcalf Trustee Center, One Silber Way, Boston
The Paris Climate Deal: An Inside Account of How it Happened, will feature Amb. Laurence Tubiana, Frances special representative for the December 2015 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change conference in Paris (COP21). This event will take place from 4 to 5:30 pm on Feb. 8 at One Silber Way, 9th floor. It is free and open to the public, but advance registration is required.
More info: http://www.bu.edu/pardee/the-paris-climate-deal-an-inside-account-of-how-it-happened/
Source: http://www.bu.edu/calendar/?uid=176970@17.calendar.bu.edu
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The Devil is Here in These Hills: West Virginia's Coal Miners and Their Battle for Freedom
WHEN Mon., Feb. 8, 2016, 4 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Law School, Wasserstein Hall, Room 2036 B, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Law, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Labor and Worklife Program; Harvard Trade Union Program
SPEAKER(S) James Green, author and professor of history emeritus, University of Massachusetts Boston;
Karl Klare, professor, Northeastern Law School;
Linda Kaboolian, senior research fellow, Labor and Worklife Program, Harvard Law School
COST free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO john_trumpbour at harvard.edu; 617-495-9265
DETAILS James Green discusses his new book on the deadly labor struggles in West Virginia, work that is also featured on the PBS series "The American Experience." He will be joined by panelists Karl Klare and Linda Kaboolian.
LINK http://www.law.harvard.edu/programs/lwp/htup/2016/forum/0208%20James%20Green%20Forum.pdf
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Prather Lecture: The Public Choices You Make: From Engagement to Advocacy
Monday, February 8
6 – 7 p.m.
Harvard, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge
OEB Prather Lecture
Gazette Classification: Lecture, Science
Organization/Sponsor: Co-sponsored by Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Molecular and Cellular Biology, and the Harvard Museum of Natural History
Speaker(s): The Honorable Jane Lubchenco, Oregon State University, Dept. of State's First U.S. Science Envoy for the Ocean
More info: http://www.oeb.harvard.edu/news_events/seminars.html
Contact organization: Co-sponsored by Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Molecular and Cellular Biology, and the Harvard Museum of Natural History
Source: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/harvard-events/events-calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3devent%26eventid%3d117147177
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Writers Speak: Colm Tóibín in Conversation with Claire Messud
WHEN Mon., Feb. 8, 2016, 6 p.m.
WHERE Menschel Hall, Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Poetry/Prose, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard
SPEAKER(S) Colm Tóibín, author of "The Master" (2004), "Brooklyn" (2009), and "Nora Webster" (2014)
Claire Messud, novelist and senior lecturer in English, Harvard University
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO humcentr at fas.harvard.edu
LINK http://mahindrahumanities.fas.harvard.edu/content/colm-tóib%C3%ADn-conversation-claire-messud
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Boston New Technology February 2016 Product Showcase #BNT62
Monday, February 8
6:00 PM
IBM Innovation Center, 1 Rogers Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/Boston_New_Technology/events/228108911/
Take the elevator to the second floor and look for our check-in table. Type your first or last name on our screen to print your name tag.
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.
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DOCUMENTARY SCREENING: Blue Gold: World Water Wars (2008)
Monday, February 8
6:00-7:30pm
Water Purification Facility, 250 Fresh Pond Parkway, Cambridge
In light of recent water-related news headlines, this documentary may be of particular interest. This award-winning film explores the possibility of future water shortages actually inciting war. Learn about the intricate and expansive political and economic struggles surrounding water use. This film also provides interesting and informative commentary on the privatization of water for profit in case studies from around the world, and makes a strong case for water activism and community action.
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Architecture Lecture: Jan Haeraets, Terrace Gardens in Mughal Kashmir
Monday, February 8
6:00p–8:00p
MIT, Building 3-133, 33 Massachusetts Avenue (Rear), Cambridge
MIT Architecture Lecture Series
Part of the Spring 2016 Architecture and Aga Khan Program in Islamic Architecture Lecture Series.
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Sponsor(s): Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, Department of Architecture
For more information, contact: Jose Luis Arguello
(617) 253-1400
jlar at mit.edu
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Using Intelligent Algorithms to Design Intelligent Algorithms
Monday, February 8
7pm
The Burren, 247 Elm Street, Davis Square, Somerville
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Tuesday, February 9
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Walter V. Robinson, Boston Globe
Tuesday, February 9
12:00-1:00pm
Harvard, Taubman 275, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge
Walter V. “Robby” Robinson is editor at large for The Boston Globe. Robinson led the Spotlight Team’s investigation that uncovered the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal. The story of the investigation was adapted into the Oscar-nominated film Spotlight, in which Robinson is played by Michael Keaton. Robinson has been city editor, metro editor, White House correspondent and foreign correspondent. He has reported for the Globe from 48 states and more than 30 countries.
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New Entrepreneurship in the Post-3.11 Tohoku Region
WHEN Tue., Feb. 9, 2016, 12:30 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Bowie-Vernon Room (K262), CGIS Knafel Building, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Program on U.S.-Japan Relations
SPEAKER(S) Hirotaka Takeuchi, professor of management practice, Harvard Business School
Moderated by Susan Pharr, Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of Japanese Politics and director, WCFIA Program on U.S.-Japan Relations, Harvard University
COST Free and open to the public
LINK http://programs.wcfia.harvard.edu/us-japan/event/hiroyuki-takeuchi-harvard-business-school-new-entrepreneurship-post-311-tohoku-region
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The Present & Future of Automated Driving: Technology, Policy and the Human Factor
Tuesday, February 9
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM
MIT, Kresge Auditorium, 48 Massachusetts Avenue, W16, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-present-future-of-automated-driving-technology-policy-and-the-human-factor-tickets-20902056614
Please join us in welcoming Mark Rosekind, Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), for a discussion with Bryan Reimer, Associate Director, New England University Regional Transportation Center and Research Scientist, MIT AgeLab, onThe Present and Future of Automated Driving: Technology, Policy and the Human Factor. This event isfreeand open to the public.If interested, please RSVP using the green "Register" button above. We are NOT able to provide parking for this event.
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Controversy! A Reporter's Perspective on Global Climate and Energy Debates: with Coral Davenport
Tuesday, February 9
4:00-5:30pm
Harvard, Littauer 230, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
A seminar and discussion with Coral Davenport, Energy & Environment Correspondent, The New York Times. One of the most respected and prolific reporters on this beat, Davenport covers Obama’s climate initiatives, the Paris COP21 Climate Accord, ADD—in other words, all things energy, environment & climate. She has recently traveled to Greenland and the Marshall Islands to see the impact of climate change firsthand.
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Migrants' Rights in the UN Human Rights Committee
Tuesday, February 09
4:30 PM - 6:00 PM
MIT, Building E40-496, 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker(s): Gerald Neuman, Co-Director of the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School
A session of the Myron Weiner Seminar Series on International Migration.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies
Contact: Phiona Lovett (phiona at mit.edu)
More info: 253-3848
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Making Good Energy Choices: The Role of Energy Systems Analysis
Tuesday, February 9
4:45p–5:45p
MIT, Building 4-270, 182 Memorial Drive (Rear), Cambridge
Speaker: Professor Sally M. Benson, Co-Director, Precourt Institute for Energy and Director, Global Climate and Energy Project, Stanford University
Driven by concerns about global warming, air pollution, and energy security, the world is beginning a century-long transition to a decarbonized energy system. Building blocks for decarbonization include dramatic efficiency improvements, renewable energy, electrification, nuclear power, natural gas as a substitute for coal, and carbon capture and storage. Given the long-term nature of the energy transition, the question becomes, how do we make good energy choices? Energy systems analysis can augment economic analysis and provide additional perspectives for answering questions such as:
Is storing renewable energy in batteries a good idea and which batteries are best?
How fast can the PV industry grow before it consumes more energy than it produces?
What's better, a battery electric vehicle or a fuel cell vehicle?
For new technologies, what aspects need to improve the most: efficiency, lifetime, materials, or cost?
This talk will provide examples of the important role energy systems analysis plays in revealing good energy choices.
Reception to follow.
Web site: http://mitei.mit.edu/calendar/making-good-energy-choices-role-energy-systems-analysis
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Initiative
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Forensic DNA Testing: Why Are There Still Bumps in the Road?
Tuesday, February 9
5 p.m.
Harvard, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Sheerr Room, Fay House, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
The use of DNA for the analysis of biological evidence has had a positive and permanent effect on all forensic testing. However, hurdles remain as the intersection between science and law has not significantly improved and continues to challenge forensic science practitioners and lawyers representing both sides of criminal cases. This talk with review current scientific and laboratory challenges and discuss the issues encountered when forensic scientists, lawyers, and judges all try to “do the right thing” together.
Gazette Classification: Law, Lecture, Science, Social Sciences
Organization/Sponsor: Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
Speaker(s): Robin W. Cotton, associate professor and director, Biomedical Forensic Sciences, Boston University School of Medicine
Cost: Free and open to the public
Contact Info: events at radcliffe.harvard.edu
More info: http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2016-robin-w-cotton-lecture
Contact organization: Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
Contact email: events at radcliffe.harvard.edu
Source: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/harvard-events/events-calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3devent%26eventid%3d117208882
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Upcoming Events
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Wednesday, February 10
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Living Politics
WHEN Wed., Feb. 10, 2016, 12 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Thompson Room, Barker Center, 12 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute at the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research
SPEAKER(S) Kerry Chance, lecturer on social studies, Harvard University
COST Free & open to the public
CONTACT INFO hutchevents at fas.harvard.edu
DETAILS A Q+A will follow the lecture.
LINK http://hutchinscenter.fas.harvard.edu/events-lectures/events/february-10-2016-1200pm/spring-colloquium-kerry-chance
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Nato 2.0: Reboot or Delete
Wednesday, February 10
12:00p–1:30p
MIT, Building E40-496, 1 Ames Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Sarwar Kushmeri (US Foreign Policy)
SSP Wednesday Seminar Series
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/ssp/seminars/index.html
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies
For more information, contact: Elina Hamilton
617- 253-7529
elinah at mit.edu
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Will Renewables Renew Democracy?
WHEN Wed., Feb. 10, 2016, 4:10 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation (foyer), 124 Mount Auburn Street, Suite 200-North, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Lecture, Science, Social Sciences, Sustainability
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation
SPEAKER(S) Moderator Muriel Rouyer, professor of political science at the University of Nantes (France) and adjunct professor of public policy at HKS
Panelists include Karine Dognin-Sauze, vice-president of Greater Lyon, and Jeremy McDiarmid, senior director for innovation and industry support at the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (“MassCEC”)
COST N/A
CONTACT INFO Maisie O'Brien
maisie_obrien at hks.harvard.edu
DETAILS
The Ash Center cordially invites you to join a discussion on the democratic opportunities in renewable energies from a transnational perspective.
Background: Climate change is an urgent matter, yet the conversation seems to be contained in international negotiations or in the highly technical energy sector, both inaccessible to most people. Renewable energies are at the epicenter of a green revolution heralded by innovative local governments in conjunction with parts of the corporate and technology sectors. Renewable energies not only represent an immense opportunity for both the Global North and South to cut emissions, but they also have the potential to mobilize a wide range of actors interested in clean energy: every-day citizens who want to pay less and consume wisely; businesses that anticipate the benefits of investing in expanding renewable energy markets; and cities dedicated to “smart government” initiatives creating innovative green solutions to carbon producing economic activities. This panel aims to bring the renewable energy conversation to the people by addressing a number of important questions: What renewable energy policies and practices already exist? Why have some been successful, while others have failed? Who are the primary actors of change? And what opportunities exist for citizens to participate in climate action?
LINK http://ash.harvard.edu/event/will-renewables-renew-democracy
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Public Space Innovation
Wednesday, February 10
5:30 PM to 8:30 PM (EST)
District Hall, 75 Northern Avenue, Boston
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/public-space-innovation-tickets-20760923481
For a millennia, public spaces have been key to civic life, as places where society comes together to debate, learn, heal and celebrate collectively.
Last year’s inaugural Public Space Invitational (PSI) in Boston made us all think about how public space can be used in ways befitting the 21st Century, by leveraging new models of engagement, lightweight hacks and technology. Examples as diverse as Lightwell (https://twitter.com/newurbanmechs/status/659800724952506368), the City Hall Stairs of Fabulousness and the exciting additions to the Greenway last summer demonstrated that the community has creative ideas that can make public space more functional and intuitive, as well as generally improve civic engagement.
Join us to discuss the role of public space in civic innovation, hear about this year’s Public Space Invitational, and dig into specifics of last year’s results from some of the inaugural PSI winners.
Speakers:
Sam and Leslie Davol of Uni (http://www.theuniproject.org/)
Michelle Laboy of LightWell
Liz LaManche of Stairs of Fabulousness
Schedule:
5:30 – 6 PM – Registration and networking
6:00 – 7:00 – Short presentations by 2015 PSI winners
7:00 - 7:30 – Q&A
7:30 – 8:30 – Post event networking
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Mass Innovation Nights Foodie 10
Wednesday, February 10
6:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Hatch Fenway, 401 Park Drive, Boston
Website: http://bit.ly/Foodie10
It’s that time of year again — time for another Mass Innovation Nights Foodie event! We’ll be featuring 11 amazing food themed startups, many of which will have their tasty treats ready for you to sample! Come out and support a night of local innovation and flavor. Head over to our website to RSVP and vote for you favorite startup! http://bit.ly/Foodie10
Mass Innovation Nights
Website: http://mass.innovationnights.com/
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Our Robots, Ourselves
Wednesday, February 10
6:30 PM
Belmont Media Center, 9 Lexington Street, Belmont
David A. Mindell, Ph.D., Dibner Professor of the History of Engineering and Manufacturing, and Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; founder and director of MIT's "DeepArch" research group in technology, archaeology, and the deep sea.
Dr. Mindell's comprehensive research reflects his unusually broad academic background in both engineering and the humanities. His technical work includes theories of engineering systems as well as pioneering technical innovations in engineering and deep ocean robotic archaeology. He has combined his many engineering achievements with historical analyses: the history of engineering, the history of automation in the military, the history of electronics and computing, and the history of space exploration.
Dr. Mindell examines our relationship with robots. How truly independent are they presently, and how autonomous can they be in the future? In the robots we use for space exploration, deep-sea research, and many other tasks. The real "brain" seems to be human, not robotic, His recent book, which he discusses, explains both the value of robots and the actual limits of robotic autonomy at a time when there is increasing controversy about the capabilities of robots.
Dr. Mindell has shared his unique perspective in several books for the general public, most recently Our Robots, Ourselves: Robotics and the Myths of Autonomy (2015). His book War, Technology, and Experience aboard the USS Monitor (2000) won the Sally Hacker Prize from the Society for the History of Technology. This was followed by Between Human and Machine: Feedback, Control, and Computing before Cybernetics in 2002. His third book, Digital Apollo: Human and Machine in the First Six Lunar Landings (2008) was awarded the Emme award for astronautical literature by the American Astronautical Society.
Contemporary Science Issues and Innovations
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Eyes on the Prize: Then & Now
Wednesday, February 10
7-9pm
WGBH Studios, One Guest Street, Brighton
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/eyes-on-the-prize-then-and-now-tickets-21117319471
The event is free and open to the public, but RSVPs are required
WGBH and WORLD Channel invite you to our studios for a look back at Eyes on the Prize, featuring clips from both the landmark civil rights series and Eyes on the Prize: Then and Now, a new special examining Eyes’ impact today, along with a panel discussion.
Almost three decades after WGBH first presented Henry Hampton’s Eyes on the Prize to the nation, WORLD began rebroadcasting the 14-part documentary in January, and the series continues every Sunday at 8pm. Join us for a conversation about what the series, produced by Blackside, Inc., means to a new generation of viewers.
Moderated by WGBH News Senior Reporter Phillip Martin, the panel discussion will include Judy Richardson, Eyes on the Prize Associate Producer and Education Director, and Melissa Nobles, Kenan Sahin Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at MIT.
A reception with light refreshments and tours of our studios will follow the presentation.
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Thursday, February 11
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TEDxPlaceDesNations: "Transforming Lives"
Thursday, February 11
8:45 AM to 2:00 PM (EST)
swissnex Boston, Consulate of Switzerland, 420 Broadway Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tedxplacedesnations-viewing-tickets-20484810620
February 11, in Geneva, TEDxPlaceDesNations will bring together 11 diverse and distinguished speakers from around the world, all with powerful and inspiring stories to tell. They are innovators, public health and energy specialists, human rights defenders and humanitarians, all of whom have made a real difference in people’s lives around the world. The speakers are: Ranyee Chiang, Cookstove Technologist; Ger Duany, Refugee Ally; Scott Foster, Energy Activator; Thabitha Khumalo, Democracy Advocate; Beeban Kidron, iRights Campaigner; Dennis Liotta, Drug Discoverer; Şafak Pavey, Inclusion Champion; Didier Pittet, Hand-washing Provocateur; Coline Rapneau, Sexual Violence Adversary; Leonardo Sakamoto, 21st Century Abolitionist; and Rohini Swaminathan, Satellite Humanitarian.
Please note: this is a moderated live-streaming. The actual event is taking place in Geneva, Switzerland.
More information on the programme and the 11 speakers is available at www.tedxplacedesnations.ch.
Join us at swissnex Boston for a moderated live-streaming of the TEDxPlaceDesNations. Ambassador Martin Dahinden will be giving remarks on the significance and the limitations of the United Nations Organization.
Agenda
Moderator TBA
8:15 – 8:45am: Doors opening, coffee
8:45 – 9:00am: Words of welcome
9:00 – 10:30am : 1st session of live streamed testimonials
10:30 – 11:15am: Break – Remarks by Martin Dahinden, Ambassador of Switzerland to the U.S.
11:15am – 1:00pm: 2nd session of live streamed testimonials
1:00 – 1:15pm: Closing remarks
1:15 – 2:00pm: Networking reception
About Martin Dahinden
Martin Dahinden was appointed by the Swiss Government as the Ambassador of Switzerland to the United States to take office in 2014. Prior to that, he served as Director of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) from 2008 to 2014 and headed the Directorate of Corporate Management of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) from 2004 to 2008.
During his long career in the Swiss diplomatic service, Martin Dahinden has served as Director of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, as a member of the Swiss Delegation to GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), at the Embassy of Switzerland in Paris, as Deputy to the Swiss Ambassador in Nigeria, and in a temporary posting at the Swiss Mission to the UN in New York. In addition, he worked in the FDFA’s Service for Disarmament Policy and Nuclear Issues, as Head of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co- operation in Europe) Service of the Directorate of Political Affairs , and held the position of Deputy Head of the OSCE Coordination Unit during the Swiss Chairmanship of the OSCE in 1996. The following year, he was sent abroad as Deputy Head of the Swiss Mission to NATO in Brussels.
Martin Dahinden was born in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1955. He earned a Ph.D. in Economics (Business Administration) from the University of Zurich. Before joining the diplomatic service, he worked as a postgraduate assistant at the university, and was then employed by a bank and a publishing house. Ambassador Dahinden is married to Anita Dahinden and they have two children, Robert and Andrea.
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X Marks the Spot - Science in the Central Pacific
Thursday, February 11
12pm
Tufts, Rabb room, Lincoln Filene Center, 10 Upper Campus Road, Medford
Most talks will be streamed lived at Bit.ly/TuftsLunchLearn
Randi Rotjan
The 2015-16 El Nino is strongest in the Central Pacific, near where the equator meets the international dateline. The closest coral reefs to this region are the Phoenix Islands, which together are owned by Kiribati and comprise the Phoenix Islands Protected Area, which is the largest and deepest UNESCO World Heritage Site on the planet. Expeditions to this remote region are providing insight into the impact and resilience of El Nino, with implications for regions that face the double jeapordy of both climate change and local human impact. Natural laboratories like the Phoenix Islands are critical benchmarks to decouple the impacts of global, versus local, influences.
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44th James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award Lecture: Unlocking the Secrets of Cancer
Thursday, February 11
4:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building 10-250, Huntington Hall, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Tyler Jacks, Director of MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and the David H. Koch Professor of Biology
Tyler Jacks, a pioneering cancer biologist and director of MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, is this year's recipient of MIT's James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award. Jacks is recognized for his leadership of MIT's cancer research community, and his influence on the field of cancer research.
The James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award was established in 1971 to recognize extraordinary professional accomplishments by full-time members of the MIT faculty. It is the greatest honor the faculty can bestow upon one of its members. A faculty committee chooses the recipient from among candidates nominated by their peers for outstanding contributions to their fields, to MIT, and to society.
Web site: http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2015/tyler-jacks-killian-award-0520
Open to: the general public
Cost: None
Sponsor(s): Information Center, Provost's Office, Killian Award Committee
For more information, contact: Joe Coen
617-253-4795
jcoen at mit.edu
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The Age of Sustainable Development
WHEN Thu., Feb. 11, 2016, 4 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Law School, Ames Courtroom, Austin Hall, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Labor and Worklife Program; Harvard Law School; Harvard Trade Union Program
SPEAKER(S) Jeffrey Sachs, director, Earth Institute, Columbia University
COST free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO john_trumpbour at harvard.edu; 617.495.9265
DETAILS Economist Jeffrey Sachs presents his new book on the path forward for achieving sustainable development
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Starr Forum: Paris Climate Talks: Now What?
Thursday, February 11
4:30p–6:00p
MIT, Building 4-270, 182 Memorial Drive (Rear), Cambridge
A panel discussion on the recent Paris Climate Talks.
Speakers: Henry Jacoby, Noelle Selin, John Sterman, Ken Oye (moderator)
CIS Starr Forum
A public events series on pressing issues in international affairs, sponsored by the MIT Center for International Studies.
Please contact us at starrforum at mit.edu if you need accessibility accommodations
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/cis/
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): The Technology and Culture Forum at MIT, Center for International Studies
For more information, contact:
617- 253-8306
starrforum at mit.edu
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Europe in Crisis: Is There a Way Out?: A Conversation with Loukas Tsoukalis
Thursday, February 11
5:00 PM - 6:30 PM
Boston University, Pardee School of Global Studies, 121 Bay State Road (1st floor), Boston
Speaker(s): Loukas Tsoukalis, Vivien Schmidt
Join us for the launch of EU Futures, a series of conversations on the emerging future in Europe. Vivien Schmidt interviews Loukas Tsoukalis, Pierre Keller Visiting Professor at Harvard's Kennedy School. Tsoukalis has taught in some of the leading universities in Europe, such as Oxford, London School of Economics, Sciences Po in Paris and the European University Institute in Florence. He is presently Professor of European Integration at the University of Athens, President of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), Greece's leading think tank, and Visiting Professor at Kings College in London and the College of Europe in Bruges.
Loukas Tsoukalis is author of The New European Economy, and What Kind of Europe? published by Oxford University Press (OUP) and translated into several languages; joint editor and author of the concluding chapter of The Delphic Oracle on Europe: Is there a Future for the European Union? (OUP, 2011); and author of the Annual Review Lecture (2011) of the Journal of Common Market Studies. He is also a regular contributor to the Sunday edition of the newspaper Kathimerini.
More info: http://www.bu.edu/european/news/calendar/?eid=178774
Contact organization: Center for the Study of Europe
Phone : 617-358-0919
Contact name: Elizabeth Amrien
Source: http://www.bu.edu/calendar/?uid=178784@17.calendar.bu.edu
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Innovation in Transportation Series
Thursday, February 11
5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Venture Cafe – Cambridge Innovation Center, 1 Broadway, 5th floor, Cambridge
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/19ZSmBnmcInxZhUjyahrevaMunOeifqtM6yb05FvUcjk/viewform
What new things can be done to get us moving in Kendall Square?
We need your brain power and innovations to solve Kendall’s transportation challenges. How can we use technology to tell us about Red Line train arrivals, capacity on the cars? How can we communicate about other options when Red Line is down? What are the top ten apps for transit through Kendall? How do we use commuter rail corridors more efficiently? Please join us, we need you!
Hosted by Venture Café Foundation and Kendall Square Association in partnership with MassDOT.
Let us know you’re interested in attending here.
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Bread & Puppet Theater: Peter Schumann's Fiddle Sermon
Thursday, February 11
5:30 PM - 7:00 PM
MassArt / Pozen Center, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, 14 Tetlow Street, Boston
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/bread-puppet-theater-peter-schumanns-fiddle-sermon-tickets-20846208571
Cost: FREE or Donation
Massachusetts College of Art and Design is proud to present Bread & Puppet Theatre, in residence at the college from February 11-21, 2016... In keeping with their long standing tradition of "sublime arsekicking puppetry," the award-winning socio-political Vermont-basedBread & Puppet Theater, featuring Artistic Director Peter Schumann and his merry troupe of puppeteers, returns to Boston as Artists-in-Residence at MassArt, bringing their signature powerful imagery, masked characters, and giant papier-mch puppets. Their eleven day residency, with events open to the public, includes a Fiddle Sermon by Peter Schumann,founder and artistic director of the Bread & Puppet Theater. Peter has performed fiddle sermons for over 20 years as part of the theater's summertime performance series at their farm in northern Vermont. The sermons, which always merge philosophy and news, are delivered while Schumann vigorously accompanies himself on fiddle. His performance at MassArt will be followed by a Q&A with B&P puppeteers and reception, which will include the opportunity to savor Schumanns home-made sourdough rye bread, spread with garlic-laden aioli, the serving of which has been a practice of his since 1963.
Bread & Puppet Theater is an internationally recognized company that champions a visually rich, street-theater brand of performance art filled with music, dance and slapstick. Its shows are political and spectacular, with huge puppets made of paper mach and cardboard. Founded in 1963 by Peter Schumann on New York City's Lower East Side, the theater has been based in Northeastern Vermont since the early 1970s. The companys performances have been described by The New York Times as"a spectacle for the heart and soul." For further information on Bread & Puppet Theater, including further details on the eleven day residency at MassArt, please visit:www.breadandpuppet.org.
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Future of the Library
Thursday, February 11
6:00p–7:30p
MIT, Building 10-250, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: David Adjaye
For the first of three visits to MIT, 2016 McDermott Award recipient David Adjaye will focus on his work with libraries. Adjaye will be joined by librarian Ginnie Cooper, Professor Jeffrey Schnapp and architects Nader Tehrani and Ana Miljacki to discuss the changing role of libraries as spaces for collections, research, technology and public engagement.
Free and open to the public but reservations strongly recommended.
Web site: http://arts.mit.edu/events-visit/mcdermott/residency-2/future-of-the-library/
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/future-of-the-library-panel-with-david-adjaye-ginnie-cooper-jeffrey-schnapp-nader-tehrani-moderated-tickets-20480128616
Sponsor(s): Arts at MIT
For more information, contact: Leah Talatinian
617.252.1888
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Where Security Meets Privacy, Gov't Surveillance, and Web Scraping!
Thursday, February 11
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Google, 5 Cambridge Center, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/boston-security-meetup/events/222546548/
Cost: $1.00 /per person
Enter the glass doors, turn left, smile and wave, head up to Floor 5.
1. Where Digital Security and Privacy Rights Intersect (6:45-7:05)
by Max Bauer
The framers designed a Constitution which prioritized freedom from "unreasonable" searches and from self-incrimination. These are bedrock principles and fundamental rights in a free society. But what makes a search "unreasonable" when it comes to digital metadata, GPS location tracking, and iPhones? And how do courts conceptualize encryption, which seems to be somewhere between incriminating testimony and a traditional lock? Clearly our founding fathers did not foresee the privacy concerns we have with twenty-first century technology. This talk will discuss how courts have determined (and struggled with) how to apply modern and quickly evolving technology to a legal framework established centuries earlier. From the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions on thermal imaging, GPS, and cell phone searches, to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's decisions on CSLI and decryption, this talk explains the current state of the law and lays a foundation for where it is headed.
About Max. An associate attorney with White & Associates, P.C., Max Bauer addresses a wide range of substantive and procedural issues in the realm of criminal defense and privacy rights law. He recently presented for Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education on the intersection between constitutional rights and modern technology at the program "When Cell Phones Become Evidence." Although he has a limited technical security background, he has hosted a cryptoparty on Tor, SSL, and PGP.
2. Digitization, Privacy and Government Surveillance (7:10-7:30)
By Alex Marthews
Moving from an analog to a digital economy has created staggering opportunities for mass digital government surveillance, but mass surveillance is bedeviled by extraordinarily high volume, high false positive rates, graft, lack of oversight and, in common with any algorithmic system, contamination from the assumptions used to program the system. This talk will give an overview of US (and some Five Eyes) surveillance programs, the legal and constitutional questions they arouse, their effects on ordinary political activities, and strategies to circumvent and undermine them.
About Alex. Restore The Fourth's National Chair, Alex Marthews is deep in the thick of battles on Capitol Hill to rein in the PATRIOT Act, and on Beacon Hill to increase police accountability. Alex previously ran nonprofits addressing poverty, housing, and girls' education in East Africa, and interned with EFF back when it was much smaller. He moved to Boston from San Jose in 2005, and gives regular talks on surveillance policy and activism. He is also the co-author of a well-known study on the effects of the Snowden revelations on internet search behavior.
Separating the Bots from the Humans (7:35-7:55)
by Ryan Mitchell
Web scrapers are often thought of as purely data collection tools; however, they can be used to probe large collections of websites for vulnerabilities and exploit found weaknesses, and they are often unfazed by traditional “solutions” like robots.txt files, AJAX loading, and even CAPTCHAs. This presentation will provide an overview of what separates the bots from the humans and give examples of how scrapers/bots can be used alongside more traditional tools to both attack and defend websites.
About Ryan. Ryan Mitchell is a software engineer at LinkeDrive in Boston, where she develops their API and data analysis tools. She is a graduate of Olin College of Engineering and is a master's degree student at Harvard University School of Extension Studies. Prior to joining LinkeDrive, she built web scrapers and bots as a software engineer at Abine, Inc. She continues to work as a freelancer building web scrapers for clients, primarily in financial and retail industries, and she volunteers weekly at the Boston Museum of Science in the Engineering Design Workshop.
Ryan is the author of two books: Instant Web Scraping with Java (Packt Publishing, 2013) and Web Scraping with Python (O’Reilly Media, 2015).
Schedule
6:00 - 6:30: Pizza
6:30 - 6:35: Cybersecurity Opener by Dawn
6:35 - 6:40: Lulzy News by Cindy
6:40 - 6:45: Tool of the month by Will
6:45 - 7:05: Where Digital Security and Privacy Rights Intersect by Max Bauer
7:10 - 7:30: Digitization, Privacy and Government Surveillance by Alex Marthews
7:35 - 7:55: Separating the Bots from the Humans by Ryan Mitchell
8:00 - 9:00: Location TBA!
Network with other security enthusiasts!
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Man of Steel | Albert Paley
Thursday, February 11
6:30p–8:00p
MIT, Building 54-100, the Green Building (the tallest building on campus)
Speaker: Albert Paley
Master blacksmith and world-renowned artist Albert Paley will present a survey of his visionary artwork, which spans four decades. Constantly aware of steel's properties, Paley is driven to embrace and push the metal beyond its inherent qualities, leading to a successful blurring of boundaries between art and architecture and craft and art. A special focus on the engineering challenges as well as the metallurgical and materials science aspects of his monumental works will also be covered.
DMSE Metal Arts Lecture Series
Web site: http://dmse.mit.edu/news/albert-paley
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, Merton C. Flemings Materials Processing Lab
For more information, contact: DMSE
617-253-3300
dmse at mit.edu
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Humanitarian Happy Hour
Thursday, February 11
6:30-8:30PM
Mead Hall, 4 Cambridge Center, Cambridge
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Friday, February 12
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Moving the Future Conference @ HBS
Friday, February 12
8:30 AM to 6:30 PM (EST)
Harvard Business School, Boston
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/moving-the-future-conference-hbs-tickets-19570160878
Cost: $10 - $40
Infrastructure is the lifeblood of the world. Trains, planes, automobiles, roads, bridges, airports, and satellites all make our modern life possible. We believe these industries are underrepresented in public debate—and for the first time at Harvard Business School, the Aviation & Aerospace Club and Transportation, Infrastructure, and Logistics Club is bringing top representatives together from these fields to discuss their future and progress.
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Predicting Public Transit Delays: Designing a Data-Driven App for Caltrain"
Friday, February 12
12:30pm to 2:00pm
Harvard, Maxwell Dworkin G115, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Jeff Yau & Harrison Mebane, Silicon Valley Data Science
Lunch 12:30pm; Talk 1pm
IACS Seminar Series
Contact: Natasha Baker
Phone: 617-496-2623
Email: iacs-info at seas.harvard.edu
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Towards the Humanoid Robots of Science Fiction
Friday, February 12
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Boston University, 8 St. Mary's Street, Room 203, Boston
CISE Seminar: Aaron Ames, Georgia Tech
More info: http://www.bu.edu/systems/february-12-2016-aaron-ames-georgia-tech/
Source: http://www.bu.edu/calendar/?uid=177614@17.calendar.bu.edu
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Blood Oil: Tyrants, Violence, and the Rules that Run the World
Friday, February 12
3:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
This event is free; no tickets are required.
Harvard Book Store and the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics welcome political philosopher and Chair of Philosophy and Law at King's College London LEIF WENAR for a discussion of his book Blood Oil: Tyrants, Violence, and the Rules that Run the World. This is the inaugural event in a new speaker series co-presented with the Safra Center, featuring leading thinkers taking on tough problems that matter to us all.
About Blood Oil
Natural resources empower the world's most coercive men. Autocrats like Putin and the Saudis spend oil money on weapons and repression. ISIS and Congo's militias spend resource money on atrocities and ammunition. For decades resource-fueled authoritarians and extremists have forced endless crises on the West—and the ultimate source of their resource money is us, paying at the gas station and the mall.
In this sweeping new book Leif Wenar, goes behind the headlines in search of the hidden global rule that thwarts democracy and development—and that puts shoppers into business with some of today's most dangerous men. Readers discover a rule that once licensed the slave trade and apartheid and genocide, a rule whose abolition has marked some of humanity's greatest triumphs-yet a rule that still enflames tyranny and war and terrorism through today's multi-trillion dollar resource trade.
Blood Oil shows how the West can now lead a peaceful revolution by ending its dependence on authoritarian oil, and by getting shoppers out of business with the men of blood. The book describes practical strategies for upgrading world trade: for choosing new rules that will make us more secure at home, more trusted abroad, and better able to solve pressing global problems like climate change. This book shows citizens, consumers and leaders how we can act together today to create a more united human future.
Praise
"This book is one of those rare manifestos that awaken people to a pressing ethical issue by changing the way they see the world. Whether or not its recommendations are practicable today, Blood Oil is a fantastically stimulating read: analytic, informative, rationally optimistic, and written with erudition and panache." —Steven Pinker, Harvard University, author of The Better Angels of Our Nature and How the Mind Works
More at http://www.harvard.com/event/leif_wenar/
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Building Community in 140 Characters or Less @ MIT Museum
Friday, February 12
5:00 PM - 8:00 PM
MIT, Building N51, 265 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker(s): Sasha Constanza-Chock, Greg Epstein, Sands Fish, Jenny Li Fowler, Devavrat Shah
Over the past decade, social media has become news anchor, matchmaker, and replaced the water cooler as our gathering area. Increasingly, it is being used to share and connect stories of people who lack access or sufficient influence to traditional media. Join us at the MIT Museum as researchers and community leaders share how local issues can turn into national stories through Retweets, Likes and Shares. And, participate in a conversation about the way digital platforms are being used to introduce diverse voices and build communities.
Featuring:
Sasha Constanza-Chock, Associate Professor, Civic Media, Comparative Media Studies/Writing, MIT
Greg Epstein, Humanist Community Chaplain, Harvard University
Sands Fish, Berman Center Fellow, Data Scientist and Computational Artist, Harvard University/MIT
Jenny Li Fowler, Manager, Social Media Strategy, MIT
Devavrat Shah, Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT
Jump-start your weekend at the MIT Museum. Enjoy performances, demonstrations, and short talks throughout our galleries. Mix and mingle; relax and unwind!
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free with Museum admission
Sponsor(s): MIT Museum
Contact: Brindha Muniappan (museuminfo at mit.edu)
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/museum/programs/secondfridays.html
More info: 617.253.5927
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International Development Hackathon 2016
Friday, February 12 at 5:30 PM - Saturday, February 13, 2016 at 5:00 PM (EST)
Collaborative Learning and Innovation Complex (CLIC), 574 Boston Avenue, Medford
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/international-development-hackathon-2016-registration-20796381537
Organized by Harvard Developers for Development, MIT Global Poverty Initiative, Tufts Entrepreneurs Society, and Tufts Empower, the 4th annual International Development Hackathon (ID Hack) will bring together hackers, technology enthusiasts, and organizations working in international development to create impact with technology.
International Development Hackathon 2016
Co-organized by Harvard, MIT, and Tufts
with Platinum Partner Qualcomm
5:30pm February 12th - 5pm February 13th
Tufts Collaborative Learning and Innovation Complex (CLIC)
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/928504190558539/
The International Development Hackathon (IDHack) is a 24-hour hackathon that brings together hackers, international development enthusiasts, and NGOs from the greater Boston area to work on projects that will make an impact on international development.
Projects are selected from NGOs, private sector comanies and governmental organizations and vetted by the organizers. Visit our website.
Schedule
5:30PM Door open for check in
5:30PM-6:30PM Networking session with sponsors
6:30-7:30PM Project pitches
7:30PM Dinner + project and group selection
8:00PM Begin hacking!
1:00AM Midnight snack
7:00AM Breakfast + coffee
12:00PM Lunch
1:30PM Deadline for project submission (code/link/etc)
2:00PM-3:00PM Projects fair + preliminary judging
3:00PM Top presentations + Closing ceremony
All skill levels welcome!
For questions: directors.idhack at gmail.com or post on our Facebook event!
Making a difference in the world, networking, great prizes...
I’D Hack for international development
... wouldn't you?
Registration is limited to current students (college, graduate school, etc.)
Unfortunately, we are unable to provide travel reimbursements for those planning to fly in. We will be offering a Lyft promo code to get to the event!
Website: http://idhack.developersfordevelopment.org/
Have questions about International Development Hackathon 2016? Contact Harvard Developers for Development, MIT Global Poverty Initiative, Tufts Institute for Global Leadership
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Saturday, February 13
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Bread & Puppet Theater: The Overtakelessness Circus
Saturday, February 13
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
MassArt / Tower Auditorium, Massachusetts College of Art & Design , 621 Huntington Avenue, Boston
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/bread-puppet-theater-the-overtakelessness-circus-tickets-20812656215
Cost: FREE or Donation
Massachusetts College of Art and Design is proud to present Bread & Puppet Theatre, in residence at the college from February 11-21, 2016... In keeping with their long standing tradition of "sublime arsekicking puppetry," the award-winning socio-political Vermont-based Bread & Puppet Theater, featuring Artistic DirectorPeter Schumann and his merry troupe of puppeteers, returns to Boston as Artists-in-Residence at MassArt, bringing their signature powerful imagery, masked characters, and giant papier-mch puppets. Their eleven day residency, with events open to the public, includes The Overtakelessness Circus which takes its title and some of its themes from Emily Dickinsons poems. Appropriate for all ages, the Circus features a team of Corporate Overlords, Pinky the Elephant, The Lizard People, a Ship of Fools, and the ever popular Bread & Puppet Brass Band, all combined to create a hectic, hilarious, and beautiful monument to "the shipwreck" of our current situation. If some of the circus acts are politically puzzling to adults, accompanying kids can usually explain them. After each performance, sourdough rye bread will be served and the audience is welcome to stay and check out all the masks and puppets and to peruse the Cheap Art,posters, and banners for sale. Bread and Puppet is participatory theater!! All are welcome to engage as citizen puppeteers! In order to perform you must attend avolunteer rehearsal/s.
Bread & Puppet Theater is an internationally recognized company that champions a visually rich, street-theater brand of performance art filled with music, dance and slapstick. Its shows are political and spectacular, with huge puppets made of paper mach and cardboard. Founded in 1963 by Peter Schumann on New York City's Lower East Side, the theater has been based in Northeastern Vermont since the early 1970s. The companys performances have been described by The New York Times as "a spectacle for the heart and soul." For further information on Bread & Puppet Theater, including further details on the eleven day residency at MassArt, please visit: www.breadandpuppet.org.
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Pena: African Heritage and its Influence in the Diasporas
Saturday, February 13
7:30 PM
encuentro5, 9a Hamilton place Boston
$5 suggested. no one turned away
Refreshments provided
Join us to commemorate and celebrate African Heritage and its influence on the many Diasporas. There are many Diasporas in the Americas
especially in the USA. We will honor our ancestors by sharing pieces of history not widely known or spoken about.
Among these facts are the collaborative relationships between those Indigenous Peoples of the Americas who had themselves been enslaved
before the Africans were kidnapped, brought to this part of the world and enslaved. This is a piece of history not mentioned and not included
in USA textbooks.
Join us on the journey and enjoy some of the African Heritage influence in music, dance and food throughout the Americas, Caribbean and parts of Europe. Bring Afrocentric music, instruments song and stories. We have gathered a diverse group of performers on the program. We need you to help make this a memorable evening!
More at https://www.facebook.com/events/1010809835624290/
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Tuesday, February 16
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Sam Feist, CNN
Tuesday, February 16
12:00-1:00pm
Harvard, Taubman 275, 15 Eliot Street, Cambridge
Sam Feist is CNN’s Washington bureau chief and senior vice president. Named to this role in May 2011, he oversees daily operations of the bureau and leads all newsgathering and Washington-based programming, including: The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, The Lead with Jake Tapper, and Inside Politics. Feist also leads the production of CNN’s campaign and election coverage, which in 2012 included the network’s record 7 Republican presidential debates, primary and convention coverage and its Emmy-Award winning election night.
More at http://shorensteincenter.org/speaker-series-sam-feist/
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Climate change and viticulture. Impacts and adaptations
Tuesday, February 16
12:00pm to 1:00pm
Harvard, 22 Divinity Avenue, Seminar Room, Cambridge
Dr. Iñaki García de Cortazar Atuari, Agroclim group of INRA agronomique (Institut national de la recherche)
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Security and Privacy in the World-Sized Web
Tuesday, February 16
12:00 pm
Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, 23 Everett Street, Second Floor, Cambridge
RSVP at https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheons/2016/02/Schneier#RSVP
Event will be live webcast at https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheons/2016/02/Schneier at 12:00 pm.
with Berkman Fellow, Bruce Schneier
We've created a world where technology permeates our economies, social interactions, and intimate selves. Facebook, fitness trackers, Uber, smart homes, electronic voting, Internet advertising, credit card payments, and countless other large-scale socio-technical systems deliver instant accessibility and functionality. Yet these systems demand continuous access to us and our information, and are vulnerable to a host of new security threats from users, from outsiders, and from the corporations and governments that control them. This talk looks back at what we've learned from past attempts to secure these systems, and forward at what technologies, laws, regulations, economic incentives, and social norms we need to secure them in the future.
About Bruce
Bruce Schneier is an internationally renowned security technologist, called a "security guru" by The Economist. He is the author of 12 books -- including the New York Times best-seller "Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World" -- as well as hundreds of articles, essays, and academic papers. His influential newsletter "Crypto-Gram" and blog "Schneier on Security" are read by over 250,000 people. Schneier is a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, a board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and an Advisory Board member of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. He is also the Chief Technology Officer of Resilient Systems, Inc.
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Energy Transitions in Germany and Japan Five Years after Fukushima
WHEN Tue., Feb. 16, 2016, 12:30 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Bowie-Vernon Room (K262), CGIS Knafel Building, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Program on U.S.-Japan Relations
SPEAKER(S) Miranda Schreurs, professor, Department of Government and Politics, Freie Universität Berlin
Moderated by Susan Pharr, Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of Japanese Politics and Director, WCFIA Program on U.S.-Japan Relations, Harvard University
COST Free and open to the public
LINK http://programs.wcfia.harvard.edu/us-japan/event/miranda-schreurs-freie-universität-berlin-energy-transitions-germany-and-japan-five
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Every Song Ever: Twenty Ways to Listen in an Age of Musical Plenty
Tuesday, February 16
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
This event is free; no tickets are required.
Harvard Book Store welcomes New York Times music critic BEN RATLIFF and assistant arts editor for The Boston Globe STEVE SMITH for a discussion of Ratliff's book Every Song Ever: Twenty Ways to Listen in an Age of Musical Plenty.
About Every Song Ever
What is listening in the digital era? Today, new technologies make it possible for us to roam instantly and experimentally across musical languages and generations, from Detroit techno to jam bands to baroque opera—or to drive deeper into the set of tastes that we already have. Either way, we can listen to nearly anything, at any time. The possibilities in this new age of listening overturn old assumptions about what it means to properly appreciate music—to be an “educated” listener.
In Every Song Ever, the veteran New York Times music critic Ben Ratliff reimagines the very idea of music appreciation for our times. As familiar subdivisions like “rock” or “jazz” matter less and less and music’s accessible past becomes longer and broader, listeners can put aside the intentions of composers or musicians and engage music afresh on their own terms. Ratliff isolates signal musical experiences—such as listening to repetition, speed, and virtuosity—and traces them across wildly diverse recordings to reveal unexpected connections. When we listen for slowness, for instance, we may detect surprising affinities between the drone metal of Sunn O))), the mixtape manipulations of DJ Screw, Sarah Vaughan singing “Lover Man,” and the final works of Shostakovich. And if we listen for closeness, we might notice how the tight harmonies of bluegrass vocals illuminate the virtuosic synchrony of John Coltrane’s quartet. Ratliff also goes in search of “the perfect moment”; considers what it means to hear emotion, by sampling the complex sadness that powers the music of Nick Drake and Slayer; and examines the meaning of certain listening behaviors, such as the impulse to document and possess the entire performance history of the Grateful Dead.
Encompassing the sounds of five continents and several centuries, Ratliff’s book is an artful work of criticism and a lesson in open-mindedness. It is a definitive field guide to our radically altered musical habitat.
Praise
"In this insightful guide to contemporary music appreciation, genre limitations are off the table …Ratliff’s scholarship shines; there’s a lot to be said for a book on music appreciation that can draw apt parallels between DJ Screw and Bernstein’s rendition of Mahler’s ninth symphony." —Publishers Weekly
http://www.harvard.com/event/ben_ratliff/
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Opportunity
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Solarize Somerville is a go!
Hello neighbors--
On this cold winter day, I'm delighted to share the sunny news that Somerville MA has been chosen by the MassCEC (Clean Energy Center) to be a Solarize Mass community! You can see the announcement here:
http://www.masscec.com/about-masscec/news/state-energy-officials-announce-five-new-communities-participate-solar-program
State energy officials today announced the selection of the first five communities to participate in Solarize Mass for 2016. The new municipalities participating in the community-based solar energy group-buying program that lowers overall costs of installing solar electric systems include Somerville and Natick, as well as Shelburne, Colrain and Conway, which have joined as a trio of partner communities....
You can learn more about the MassCEC and the SolarizeMass program at: www.solarizemass.com .
As the announcement has just been made, we don't have a lot of additional information at this time. But this selection means that we can now work with the city and the state to help residents of Somerville to decide if solar is a suitable option for them and their homes or businesses. We'll be developing and sharing educational materials, we'll have events to help people learn more and get questions answered, and we will help people to understand the processes associated with generating local, artisanal electrons.
Officially I'm the "Solar Coach" for Somerville. I am a point of contact to help people with basic solar PV issues and incentives. I'm working with folks from the city who will manage the overall project. This is a joint effort by the Office of Sustainability and Environment, with director Oliver Sellers-Garcia, and the Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development with Russell Koty.
As a Coach, I am a volunteer organizer and am not authorized to speak as a spokesperson on behalf of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or MassCEC. My job is to help people to understand the program once it's in place, and to answer questions that my neighbors may have as they consider the options. Things outside of my wheelhouse will be directed to the folks who can answer them.
You can contact me here with questions, or soon we'll have some information resources with more details. If you might want to volunteer to be on the outreach team. let me know.
Mary Mangan
Solar Coach Volunteer
somervillesolarcoach at gmail.com
[vendors should not contact me, I'm not supposed to have contact with them prior to the proposal process]
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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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The Boston Network for International Development (BNID) maintains a website (BNID.org) that serves as a clearing-house for information on organizations, events, and jobs related to international development in the Boston area. BNID has played an important auxiliary role in fostering international development activities in the Boston area, as witnessed by the expanding content of the site and a significant growth in the number of users.
The website contains:
A calendar of Boston area events and volunteer opportunities related to International Development
- http://www.bnid.org/events
A jobs board that includes both internships and full time positions related to International Development that is updated daily - http://www.bnid.org/jobs
A directory and descriptions of more than 250 Boston-area organizations - http://www.bnid.org/organizations
Also, please sign up for our weekly newsletter (we promise only one email per week) to get the most up-to-date information on new job and internship opportunities -www.bnid.org/sign-up
The website is completely free for students and our goal is to help connect students who are interested in international development with many of the worthwhile organizations in the area.
Please feel free to email our organization at info at bnid.org if you have any questions!
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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://mitenergyclub.org/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
Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/
Eventbrite: http://www.eventbrite.com/
Microsoft NERD Center: http://microsoftcambridge.com/Events/
Startup and Entrepreneurial Events: http://www.greenhornconnect.com/events/
Cambridge Civic Journal: http://www.rwinters.com
Cambridge Happenings: http://cambridgehappenings.org
Cambridge Community Calendar: https://www.cctvcambridge.org/calendar
More information about the Act-MA
mailing list