[act-ma] Energy (and Other) Events - August 28, 2016
gmoke
gmoke at world.std.com
Sun Aug 28 09:50:21 PDT 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 August 29
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10am Doctoral Thesis: Intelligent Transportation Systems Leveraging Next-Generation Mobile Devices, Sensors, and Networks
5:30pm Kick Money Out of Politics in Cambridge
7pm Tell Me the Number Before Infinity: The Story of a Girl with a Quirky Mind, an Eccentric Family, and Oh Yes, a Disability
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Tuesday, August 30
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8am WISE-Boston August Breakfast
12pm New England Resilience & Transition Network Collective Inquiry on Local and Regional Food Systems
7pm The Age of Longevity: Re-Imagining Tomorrow for Our New Long Lives
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Wednesday, August 31
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6pm META Presentation and VR for PTSD
7pm Uproot: Travels in 21st Century Music and Digital Culture
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Thursday, September 1
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12pm Historical GIS and Digital Humanities based on Virtual Kyoto
5:30pm EnergyBar!
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Friday, September 2 – Monday, September 5
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Harvard Habitat for Humanity Stuff Sale
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Friday, September 2
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9am Freight Farms Open House and Farm Tour
4pm Materials and Devices for Efficient Solar and Thermal Energy Utilization
9pm Sidney Pacific Dance Party
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Sunday, September 4
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3pm Bread and Puppet: Whatforward Circus
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Monday, September 5
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7pm 2016 Science and Cooking Public Lecture Series: Science and Cooking: New Understanding, New Tools, New Foods
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Tuesday, September 6
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8am Boston TechBreakfast: September 2016
12:30pm U.S. Strategy Toward China and Japan
5pm Why the Internet Matters
6pm GMOS: SCIENCE, SUSTAINABILITY, AND CONSUMER TRANSPARENCY
7pm Substitute: Going to School With a Thousand Kids
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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
The Ecology of Freedom
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-ecology-of-freedom.html
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Monday August 29
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Doctoral Thesis: Intelligent Transportation Systems Leveraging Next-Generation Mobile Devices, Sensors, and Networks
Monday, August 29
10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Refreshments: 9:45 AM
MIT, Building 32-G882, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Jason Gao
Abstract: Urban transportation is becoming increasingly intelligent and connected, with the potential for high societal, economic, and environmental impact as it changes the way we work and live in cities. Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) of future smart cities can leverage the technological and marketplace forces of the smartphone revolution: mobile apps today already provide services for navigation, transit prediction, mobility-on-demand, and other high-level ITS applications. Challenges remain, however, in many areas, including: managing traffic congestion, accessing real-time transportation and city information on-the-go, and deploying autonomous vehicles at scale.
In this talk, I will present fully-integrated hardware and software systems with working, phone-based prototype deployments in cities. We tackle the above challenges by building new mobile devices, sensors, and networks that leverage low-cost, high-performance sensing, networking, and computing driven by the mobile computing revolution. By focusing on pushing new technologies into the device rather than infrastructure, we can realize future ITS for smart cities more rapidly. Together, these systems enable a foundation for resilient, next-generation ITS apps that blur the line between city and software.
Contact: Maria Rebelo, 617-253-5895, mr at csail.mit.edu
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Kick Money Out of Politics in Cambridge
Monday, August 29
5:30 PM - 7 PM
Cambridge City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave # 202, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/901344356637137/
Let’s set a model for good governance everywhere by becoming the first Massachusetts Municipality to publicly fund elections!
Join the Neighborhood & Long Term Planning and the Government Operations Committees at 5:30 on August 29th at City Hall to discuss clean election initiatives that will put power in the hands of voters, not donors.
If you cannot attend the meeting, make sure to write into City Clerk’s office at pcrane at cambridgema.gov to express your support of publicily funded elections in the City.
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Tell Me the Number Before Infinity: The Story of a Girl with a Quirky Mind, an Eccentric Family, and Oh Yes, a Disability
Monday August 29
7:00 pm
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, Brookline
Tell Me the Number before Infinity is an honest, moving, informative, often funny and inspiring account of a girl and her mother’s journey. Becky Taylor is a mathematical whiz, who has cerebral palsy and a B.S. in Computer Science. With her mother, Dena Taylor, M.S.W., they describe life in their family and the realities of having a disability. The Taylors’ pivotal action hugely contributed to California’s historical mainstreaming of disabled children into the public school system.
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Tuesday, August 30
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WISE-Boston August Breakfast
Tuesday, August 30
8:00 AM to 8:45 AM
Boston Public Market, 100 Hanover Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wise-boston-august-breakfast-tickets-27269732504
We are excited to announce our final Summer 2016 WISE event!
Whether you are a breakfast regular, or whether you are new to this WISE monthly offering, we hope you can join us for coffee, breakfast treats, and catching up with your fellow WISE members at Boston Public Market.
See you there!
Best,
Lindsey, Whitney and Nathalie
WISE-Boston
Women Investing for a Sustainable Economy (WISE) is a community of women contributing to the ESG* investment industry with the purpose of connecting, deepening relationships, learning and sharing expertise. Our collective aspiration is to lead ESG investing into the mainstream and to do it with fun and camaraderie. WISE members commit to "take the call" -- ready and willing to support one another.
Founded in February 2012 by Lori Choi, Lily S. Trager and Eva Zlotnicka, WISE is based in New York City, with local chapters in Boston, Washington DC, San Francisco, Toronto and London. Each chapter is run by committed Chapters Leaders and depends upon community members to host and organize monthly gatherings in homes, offices and sometimes public spaces. Additional events are planned on an ad-hoc basis around specific interests and themes or to feature external speakers, such as mentors and industry leaders. WISE currently includes over 800 contributing members representing ESG catalysts across the investment ecosystem. This includes public and private asset managers, wealth managers, investment consultants, investors, analysts, data providers, NGOs, and more.
The WISE-Boston Chapter is proudly led by Whitney Rauschenbach, Lindsey White, and Nathalie Wallace. You can reach the WISE-Boston Chapter Leaders at wiseboschapterleaders (at) gmail (dot) com. Please email wisefounders (at) gmail (dot) com with your ideas on how to further develop our community.
*We use the term ESG as a way to represent environmental, social and governance related investing approaches including: sustainable, responsible, impact, mission-related and beyond.
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New England Resilience & Transition Network Collective Inquiry on Local and Regional Food Systems
Tuesday, August 30
12pm – 1pm
Webinar
RSVP at https://nertnetwork.org/2016/07/28/collective-inquiry-local-and-regional-food/
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The Age of Longevity: Re-Imagining Tomorrow for Our New Long Lives
Tuesday, August 30
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes senior scientist at the Women’s Studies Research Center at Brandeis University ROSALIND C. BARNETT and award-winning jouranlist CARYL RIVERS for a discussion of their book The Age of Longevity: Re-Imagining Tomorrow for Our New Long Lives.
About The Age of Longevity
Long, productive lives are the destiny of most of us, not just the privilege of our great-grandchildren. The story of aging is not one of steady decline and decay; we need a new narrative based on solid research, not scare stories. Today Americans enjoy a new, healthy stage of life, between roughly 65 and 79, during which we are staying engaged in the workplace, starting new relationships and careers, remaining creative and becoming entrepreneurs and job creators.
We are in the midst of a major paradigm shift in the way we live. Our major milestones are shifting. The definition of “normal” behavior is changing. Today, we marry later or not at all; cohabitation is not just a stepping stone to marriage, but a long-term arrangement for many. Women often have their first child in their 40s, and increasingly before they marry. People enjoy active sex lives well into their 6th, 7th or even 8th decades. None of our institutions will remain the same.
People are working longer, and given the declining birth rate, older workers will be in great demand. Four generations are increasingly working side by side, learning from each other. But we must ensure that the benefits of long life are not limited to a wealthy few.
The Age of Longevity shows how we as a society can embrace the life-altering changes that are either coming in the near future or are already underway. The authors give readers a panoramic view of how they, the institutions that affect them, and the country as a whole will need to adapt to what’s ahead. They offer strategies, based on cutting-edge research, that will enable individuals, institutions, companies, and governments to make the most of our lengthening life spans. Using real life examples throughout, the authors paint a picture of what our new longer lives will look like, and the changes that need to be made so we can all make those years both more productive and more enjoyable.
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Wednesday, August 31
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META Presentation and VR for PTSD
Wednesday, August 31
6:00 PM
Cambridge Innovation Center, Venture Cafe, One Broadway, 5th Floor, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/Boston-Virtual-Reality/events/233118923/
Cost: $4.00 /per person
John Werner, META
John was the Head of Innovation at the MIT Media Lab Camera Culture group, organizer of Vision Cafe, and founder and curator of TedxBeacon. John recently joined META as the VP for strategic partnerships, and is staying in Boston to develop the augmented reality ecosystem.
Please note that unfortunately no META glasses will be available for demo during this meetup.
Dr. Andrea Webb, Draper
Dr. Andrea Webb is Group Leader of the Cognitive and Behavioral Understanding group and Principal Member of Technical Staff at Draper. She has led and been a significant contributor to the majority of Draper’s externally and internally funded Human Signals and Systems projects. Dr. Webb has designed experiments, submitted and managed IRB protocols, guided statistical analysis and model development, and led several data analytic teams during her time at Draper. She serves as the Engineering Coordinator for Human Subject Testing at Draper and ensures that Draper is compliant in human subject testing procedures and data management. She has extensive experience in experiment design, quantitative methods, and psychophysiological measurement and analysis. Dr. Webb’s research has focused on deception and malintent detection, dyadic interaction, and mental health disorders such as PTSD and depression. She has published and presented her work in a variety of peer-reviewed forums. Dr. Webb holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Utah.
Read her paper at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4309895/
We are very excited to host the following demos:
VirZOOM - VR that moves you! VirZOOM creates thrilling experiences that are powered by you! Hop on their custom exercise bike and power your way through multiple video games they have made. One of the best VR experiences out there!
OssoVR - The next generation of surgical simulation. Led by an amazing team, OssoVR is a VR experience where you can learn the steps involved with various surgeries, and actually go through the motions yourself in a realistic way. OssoVR won 2nd place at NVIDIA's GTC conference, and has been catching the attention of investors nationwide.
PLEASE NOTE: Our venue requires our guests to sign in with a photo ID at the security desk. When you RSVP you'll get a pop up question; please enter your full name as it appears on your ID. Thanks for your cooperation.
Schedule
6 - Doors open, demos begin, pizza is served thanks to BostonVR
7 - 7:30 - META Presentation
7:30 - 8 - Draper Presentation
8 - 8:15 - Demo intros & announcements
8:15 - 9:45 Demofest!!
9:45pm - Come with us to the afterparty at Firebrand Saints (it's right downstairs!!)
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Uproot: Travels in 21st Century Music and Digital Culture
Wednesday, August 31
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes essayist JACE CLAYTON for a discussion of his book Uproot: Travels in 21st Century Music and Digital Culture.
About Uproot
In 2001, Jace Clayton was an unknown DJ who recorded a three-turntable, sixty-minute mix called Gold Teeth Thief and put it online to share with his friends. Within months, the mix became an international calling card, whisking Clayton away to a sprawling, multi-tiered nightclub in Zagreb, a tiny gallery in Osaka, a former brothel in São Paolo, and the MoMA. And just as the music world made its fitful, uncertain transition from analog to digital, Clayton found himself on the front lines of an education in the creative upheavals of art production in the twenty-first-century globalized world.
Uproot is a guided tour of this newly opened cultural space, mapped with both his own experiences and his relationships with other industry game-changers such as M.I.A. and Pirate Bay. With humor, insight, and expertise, Clayton illuminates the connections between a Congolese hotel band and the indie rock scene, Mexican rodeo teens and Israeli techno, Whitney Houston and robotic voices in rural Moroccan song, and offers an unparalleled understanding of music in a digital age. Uproot takes readers behind the turntable decks to tell a story that only a DJ—writer—of this caliber can tell.
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Thursday, September 1
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Historical GIS and Digital Humanities based on Virtual Kyoto
Thursday, September 1
Noon - 1:30
Harvard, Room S354 CGIS South Building, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
Keiji Yano (Geography Department and Art Research Center, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan)
Abstract: Virtual Kyoto is a virtual time-space created on the computer for the purpose of investigating the past, present and future of the historical city, Kyoto. Using the cutting-edge technologies in GIS and VR, we have conducted Virtual Kyoto as a 4D-GIS that comprises a series of 3D-GIS at various points in time. From a viewpoint of Digital Humanities, Virtual Kyoto is an infrastructure to place numerous digitally archived materials associated with the city, and to disseminate Kyoto’s cultural assets to the world over the Internet (Yano et al., 2007; Yano et al. 2011). Virtual Kyoto consists of a wide variety of GIS-based geo-spatial data of Kyoto, whose most important data sources are historical maps and landscape paintings. This talk will explore Virtual Kyoto as historical GIS using some landscape paintings (e.g. Rakuchu rakugai-zu) based on the context of Digital Humanities.http://www.geo.lt.ritsumei.ac.jp/webgis/ritscoe.html
This Geography Colloquium is co-sponsored by Reischauer Center for Japanese Studies.
Lunch will be served.
Editorial Comment: Kyoto is a city close to my heart.
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EnergyBar!
Thursday, September 1
5:30 PM to 8:30 PM (EDT)
Greentown Labs, 28 Dane Street, Somerville
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/energybar-tickets-21458384606
EnergyBar is Greentown Labs' monthly networking event devoted to helping people in clean technology meet and discuss innovations in energy technology. Entrepreneurs, investors, students, and ‘friends of cleantech,’ are invited to attend, meet colleagues, and expand our growing regional clean technology community.
Our attendees typically span a variety of disciplines within energy, efficiency, and renewables. In general, if you're looking for a job in cleantech or energy, trying to expand your network, or perhaps thinking about starting your own energy-related company this is the event for you. Expect to have conversations about issues facing advanced and renewable energy technologies and ways to solve our most pressing energy problems.
Light appetizers and drinks will be served starting at 5:30 pm. Suggested dress is shop floor casual. Parking is incredibly limited at Greentown Labs and we encourage attendees to consider taking advantage of public transportation.
Hope to see you there!
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Friday, September 2 – Monday, September 5
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Harvard Habitat for Humanity Stuff Sale
Friday, September 3 – Monday, September 5
9 am–5 pm
Harvard, Science Center Plaza, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Come to the Harvard Science Center Plaza to shop 200 truckloads of student-donated micro-fridges, microwaves, lamps, mirrors, chairs, rugs, coffee tables, books, clothing, fans, storage containers, shower caddies, waste baskets, posters, room décor and more! All proceeds support Harvard Habitat for Humanity’s mission to build housing for the homeless.
Cut your expenses, support Habitat, help the planet and reduce Harvard’s disposal fees, all at the same time. All sales occur from 9 am–5 pm, weather permitting.
For more details about the Stuff Sale, contact Brian Wagner, HHH Stuff Sale Captain bwagner at college.harvard.edu.
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Friday, September 2
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Freight Farms Open House and Farm Tour
Friday, September 2
9:00 AM to 12:00 PM (EDT)
840 Summer Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/freight-farms-open-house-and-farm-tour-tickets-27191563699
Have you been curious about what it would be like to be a freight farmer? The first Friday of every month we host an educational event for prospective customers and interested community members. Take advantage of this opportunity to meet the Freight Farms team and participate in these interactive sessions: Leafy Green Machine (LGM) Tour, presentation on the LGM and what it means to become a small business farmer, and open group discussion on freight farming!
Space is limited so be sure to register and secure a spot!
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Materials and Devices for Efficient Solar and Thermal Energy Utilization
Friday, September 2
4:00pm to 5:15pm
Harvard, Pierce 209, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Gang Chen, MIT
Applied Physics Colloquia
Host: David Clarke
Contact: Sarah Lefebvre
Email: sarahl at seas.harvard.edu
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Sidney Pacific Dance Party
Friday, September 2
9:00p
MIT, Building NW86-157, 70 Pacific Street, Cambridge
Dance the night away under blacklights at the Sidney Pacific orientation dance party! Enjoy snacks, dancing, and a live DJ in the SidneyPacific courtyard. Refreshments will be served (21+ bring ID).
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Sidney-Pacific Graduate Community
For more information, contact: Brian Ward
617-452-4753
spec at mit.edu
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Sunday, September 4
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Bread and Puppet: Whatforward Circus
Sunday, September 4
3:00 pm
On the Cambridge Common, Cambridge
"... fight the anonymous monster,
the big fat Wrong."
[Peter Schumann, director]
(Cambridge, MA 02138) Bread & Puppet Theater: Whatforward Circus. Sunday, September 4, 3:00 pm. Held outdoors on the Cambridge Common, near the intersection of Mass. Ave. and Waterhouse St. [Rain venue: First Church in Cambridge, 11 Garden St.] Free performance (pass-the-hat donations); all ages welcome. For further details, call the Bread & Puppet Theater's Boston-area hotline 617-286-6694 or visit www.breadandpuppet.org.
The award-winning Vermont-based Bread & Puppet Theater takes its annual Labor Day weekend "little big tour" down from Vermont to the Boston area, this year bringing their new Whatforward Circus to the Cambridge Common, to be presented outdoors on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend.
The Whatforward Circus, in true Bread & Puppet slapstick fashion, follows the escapades of a group of stone age technology puppeteers, brass players, and percussionists, as they, according to director Peter Schumann: "check out the prominent forward moving passions and politics of our capitalist culture, and make real and unreal against-the-grain proposals to identify and fight the anonymous monster, the big fat Wrong."
As always with Bread & Puppet circus events, if some of the circus acts are politically puzzling to adults, accompanying kids can usually explain them. Sourdough rye bread will be served after the show, along with the sale of the theater's Cheap Art. The audience is also welcome to stick around and check out all the masks and puppets.
Special thanks to the Cambridge Arts Council, the Harvard Square Business Association, and the First Church in Cambridge for assisting in Bread & Puppet's return to the Cambridge Common, which has been under renovation for the past few years. The Whatforward Circus on the Common is also funded in part by the Cambridge Arts Council.
[Bread & Puppet will also be performing their Whatforward Circus on Monday September 5th, at the Bread & Roses Heritage Festival in Lawrence, MA. (www.breadandrosesheritage.org)]
BRIEF BACKGROUND ON BREAD & PUPPET THEATER
Bread & Puppet Theater is an internationally celebrated 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 maché and cardboard. Founded in 1963 by Peter Schumann on New York City's Lower East Side, the theater has been based in the North East Kingdom of Vermont since the early 1970s.
http://www.breadandpuppet.org
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Monday, September 5
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2016 Science and Cooking Public Lecture Series: Science and Cooking: New Understanding, New Tools, New Foods
Monday, September 5
7 p.m.
Harvard, Science Center Lecture Hall C, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Dave Arnold (@CookingIssues), Booker & Dax, and host of “Cooking Issues”
Harold McGee (@Harold_McGee), writer, “Curious Cook” and “On Food and Cooking”
The popular Science and Cooking lecture series returns this fall, offering members of the public the opportunity to embark on a culinary tour of four continents. The lecture series pairs Harvard professors with celebrated food experts and renowned chefs to showcase the science behind different culinary techniques. This year’s presenters will cover a wide range of topics, including beef made in a lab, the secrets of French cheese caves, and the delicious science of sweet desserts.
Now in its seventh year, the series is organized by Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).
The public lectures are based on the Harvard course “Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to the Science of Soft Matter,” but do not replicate course content.
All talks will take place in the Harvard Science Center (1 Oxford St., Cambridge, Mass., Hall C) and begin at 7 p.m., unless otherwise noted
Each presentation will begin with a 15-minute lecture about the scientific topics from that week’s class by a faculty member from the Harvard course
Seating for all lectures is first come, first seated
If you have questions regarding the public lecture series, please contact science_cooking at seas.harvard.edu.
2016 Chef Lecture Dates
Monday, Sept. 5
“Science and Cooking: New Understanding, New Tools, New Foods”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Dave Arnold (@CookingIssues), Booker & Dax, and host of “Cooking Issues”
Harold McGee (@Harold_McGee), writer, “Curious Cook” and “On Food and Cooking”
Monday, Sept. 12
"Energy, Temperature, Heat"
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Spike Gjerde, (@spikegjerde), Woodberry Kitchen
Monday, Sept. 19
“The Science of Sugar”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Joanne Chang ’91, (@jbchang), Flour Bakery, author of “Flour” and “Flour Too”
Tuesday, Sept. 27
“Medical Technology Producing Hamburgers”
Science Center Lecture Hall B, 7 p.m.
Mark Post, (@MarkPost6), Professor of Physiology at Maastricht University, co-inventor of cell cultured beef
Monday, Oct. 3
“Diffusion and Gelation in Peruvian Cooking”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Virgilio Martinez, (@VirgilioCentral), Central
Malena Martinez, (@MMVCentral), Central
Monday, Oct. 17
“Heat Transfer”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Margarita Forés, (@MargaritaFores), Cibo Restaurants
Monday, Oct. 24
"Viscosity and Polymers"
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Bill Yosses, (@billyosses), former White House executive pastry chef, author of “Desserts for Dummies” and “The Perfect Finish”
Vayu Maini Rekdal, (@youngNYchefs), co-founder of the Young Chefs Program, Ph.D. candidate at Harvard University
Monday, Oct. 31
“Emulsions and Foams”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Angel Leon, (@chefdelmar), Restaurant Aponiente
Monday, Nov. 7
“Delicious Decomposition: Tales from the Cheese Caves of France”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Sister Noella Marcellino, Abbey of Regina Laudis, subject of PBS documentary “The Cheese Nun”
Monday, Nov. 21
Title TBA
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Nathan Myhrvold, (@ModernCuisine), former Chief Technology Officer of Microsoft, co-founder of Intellectual Ventures, author of “Modernist Cuisine”
The Harvard College Course
The Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and the Alícia Foundation developed the General Education science course, “Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to the Science of Soft Matter,” which debuted in the fall of 2010. The course uses food and cooking to explicate fundamental principles in applied physics and engineering. (Watch a video about the course.)
While limited to currently enrolled Harvard undergraduates, the class, which brings together eminent Harvard researchers and world-class chefs, is available to others on-campus through the Harvard Extension School and online through the HarvardX platform (details below).
Instructors
Michael Brenner, Glover Professor of Applied Mathematics and Applied Physics and Professor of Physics; Harvard College Professor
Pia Sörensen, Preceptor in Science and Cooking
David Weitz, Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and Applied Physics
Lab Design/Implementation
Pere Castells, Unitat UB-Bullipèdia
Science and Cooking at Harvard Extension School
A version of “Science and Cooking” will be offered for credit through the Harvard Extension School in Spring 2017. Registered students will have access to the expertise and support of Harvard teaching staff, and will participate in an on-campus weekend in our cooking lab.
An online version of the course is also available as a HarvardX course.
Editorial Comment: Notice that these presentations are available as a HarvardX course online. Harvard cooks the MOOCs, online courseware.
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Tuesday, September 6
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Boston TechBreakfast: September 2016
Tuesday, September 6
8:00 AM
Microsoft NERD, Horace Mann Room, 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/Boston-TechBreakfast/events/226656128/
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 Food & Coffee and chit-chat
8:15 - 8:20 - Introductions, Sponsors, Announcements
8:20 - ~9:30 - Showcases and Shout-Outs!
~9:30 - end - Final "Shout Outs" & Last Words Boston TechBreakfast Sponsors:
Note: This is a secured facility, so you will be asked to show ID and sign in when entering the building
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U.S. Strategy Toward China and Japan
WHEN Tue., Sep. 6, 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) Joseph Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor, Harvard Kennedy 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/calendar/upcoming
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Why the Internet Matters
Tuesday, September 6
5:00pm
Harvard Law, Wasserstein Hall, Milstein East, Second Floor, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP required to attend in person at https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/node/99551#RSVP
Event will be live webcast live at https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/node/99551
an interactive discussion with Prof. Jonathan Zittrain, Berkman Klein Center Faculty Chair
Learn more about the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University -- and its network of researchers, activists, faculty, students, technologists, entrepreneurs, artists, policy makers, lawyers, and more -- in an interactive conversation lead by Berkman Klein Center Faculty Chair Jonathan Zittrain. If you’re curious about connecting with our research, our community, or our events, or are just generally interested in digital technologies and their impact on society, please join us! The conversation will be immediately followed by a reception in the same room.
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GMOS: SCIENCE, SUSTAINABILITY, AND CONSUMER TRANSPARENCY
Tuesday, September 6
6:00 PM to 8:30 PM (EDT)
Cambridge Innovation Center, 5th Floor, Venture Cafe, One Broadway, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/gmos-science-sustainability-and-consumer-transparency-tickets-26984363959
Cost: $8 - $12
The Boston Area Sustainability Group returns from its summer break on Tuesday September 6th with a topic sure to draw a diverse crowd and to inspire robust discussion. With the help of two exceptionally qualified guest experts, Gary Hirshberg and Tim Griffin, our community will explore the most recent research and consumer advocacy efforts related to genetically engineered (GE) crops and foods. As always, we welcome your open minds and thoughtful contributions to this conversation.
Recommended advance reading:
Just Label It! Website
NAS study Genetically Engineered Crops: Experiences and Prospects
GUEST SPEAKERS
Gary Hirshberg is Chairman of Stonyfield Farm, the world’s leading organic yogurt producer, and Managing Director of Stonyfield Europe, with organic brands in Ireland and France. Gary serves on several corporate and nonprofit boards including Applegate, Peak Organic Brewing, Late July, Quantum Design, Glenisk, the Danone Communities Fund and the Danone Livelihoods Fund. In 2011, President Obama appointed Gary to serve on the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations.
He is Chairman and a founding Partner of “Just Label It!,” the national campaign to label genetically engineered foods, and is co-author of Label It Now – What You Need to Know About Genetically Engineered Foods. He is the author of Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World. Gary has received twelve honorary doctorates and numerous awards for corporate and environmental leadership including a 2015 Champion for Children Award from Mount Sinai Hospital’s Children’s Environmental Health Center and a 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award by the US EPA.
Timothy S. Griffin is an Associate Professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University. At Friedman, he directs the interdisciplinary graduate program, Agriculture, Food and the Environment, and teaches classes on U.S. agriculture, and agricultural science and policy. He is also involved in the Tufts Institute for the Environment, Water: Science Systems and Society (a cross-university graduate certificate program), and the Center for International Environmental Research and Policy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts.
His current research focuses on regional food system and climate change impacts on agriculture, and he supervises doctoral students conducting research on topics ranging from precision agriculture to food access. He served as an Advisor to the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, focusing on Sustainability, and recently completed work as a member of the National Academy of Sciences study Genetically Engineered Crops: Experiences and Prospects. Before coming to the Friedman School in 2008, he was Research Agronomist and Lead Scientist with the USDA-Agriculture Research Service in Orono, ME, from 2000 to 2008. From 1992 to 2000, he was the Extension Sustainable Agriculture Specialist at the University of Maine, the first such position in the U.S. He graduated from Michigan State University (Ph.D) and the University of Nebraska (B.S. and M.S.).
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Substitute: Going to School With a Thousand Kids
Tuesday, September 6
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes National Book Critics Circle Award–winning author NICHOLSON BAKER for a discussion of his latest book, Substitute: Going to School With a Thousand Kids.
About Substitute
In 2014, after a brief orientation course and a few fingerprinting sessions, Nicholson Baker became an on-call substitute teacher in a Maine public school district. He awoke to the dispatcher's five-forty a.m. phone call and headed to one of several nearby schools; when he got there, he did his best to follow lesson plans and help his students get something done. What emerges from Baker’s experience is a complex, often touching deconstruction of public schooling in America: children swamped with overdue assignments, overwhelmed by the marvels and distractions of social media and educational technology, and staff who weary themselves trying to teach in step with an often outmoded or overly ambitious standard curriculum.
In Baker’s hands, the inner life of the classroom is examined anew—mundane worksheets, recess time-outs, surprise nosebleeds, rebellions, griefs, jealousies, minor triumphs, daily lessons on everything from geology to metal tech to the Holocaust to kindergarten show-and-tell—as the author and his pupils struggle to find ways to get through the day. Baker is one of the most inventive and remarkable writers of our time, and Substitute, filled with humor, honesty, and empathy, may be his most impressive work of nonfiction yet.
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Upcoming Events
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Wednesday, September 7
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Battling Blood in the Streets: How Can Neuroscience Promote Public Health and Support Public Policy to Prevent Community Violence?
Wednesday, September 7
4:00 PM
Harvard, Wasserstein Hall, Room 1010, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Far too many people across the country are left dead, injured, or traumatized by community violence. Communities can be safer when neuroscience, public health strategies, and collective advocacy are aligned in practice and policy. What are the best next steps to fostering a broad science-informed advocacy movement to effectively address community violence?
This panel discussion will be followed by the Petrie-Flom Center's 2016 Open House.
Panelists
Michelle Bosquet Enlow, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Harvard Medical School; Associate in Psychology, Boston Children's Hospital; Affiliated Faculty, Harvard University Center on the Developing Child
Shannon Cosgrove, MPH, Director of Health Policy, Cure Violence
Fatimah Loren Muhammad, Director, Trauma Advocacy Initiative, Equal Justice USA
Moderator: Charles Homer, MD, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Services Policy, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U. S. Department of Health and Human Services
Part of the Project on Law and Applied Neuroscience, a collaboration between the Center for Law, Brain & Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School.
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Quo Vadis? The Failed Coup and the Future of Turkey
WHEN Wed., Sep. 7, 2016, 4:30 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, CGIS Knafel 262, 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR CMES/WCFIA Seminar on Turkey in the Modern World
SPEAKER(S) Aykan Erdemir, Assistant Professor, Political Science and Public Administration, Bilkent University, Ankara, and Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Washington, D.C.; Former Turkish MP 2011-2015
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO Liz Flanagan, elizabethflanagan at fas.harvard.edu
DETAILS Unless otherwise noted in the event description, CMES events are open to the public (no registration required), and off the record. Please note that events may be filmed and photographed by CMES for record-keeping and for use on the CMES website and publications.
LINK http://cmes.fas.harvard.edu/event/quo-vadis-failed-coup-and-future-turkey
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New Vistas in Electrochemical Energy Storage
Wednesday, September 7
5:00p–7:00p
MIT, Building 66-110, 25 Ames Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Linda Nazar
Mitigating CO2 emissions and urban pollution rely upon advances in widespread integration of renewable, intermittent energy sources such as wind or solar and acceptance of plug-in hybrid electric. These technologies are dependent upon the development of their respective energy storage systems, yet it is widely acknowledged that traditional Lithium-ion batteries are approaching their limits.
This presentation will focus on the challenge to find better electrochemical energy storage systems that go "beyond Li-ion" batteries. Topics will encompass multivalent intercalation batteries and cells that operate on the basis of "chemical transformations," which represent exciting new technologies that could meet the needs for high energy density storage. Yet many barriers remain to realizing their full promise, especially for automotive applications. They require cleverly designed materials for the electrodes, different electrolyte strategies than those used for Li-ion batteries and advanced electrode architectures. If the hurdles can be overcome, then energy storage technology has a much better opportunity to change the way we manage energy.
In this seminar, Nazar will discuss the research in the Electrochemical Energy Research Centre lab at the University of Waterloo that is aimed at addressing the above challenges.
MITEI Seminar Series
Web site: http://energy.mit.edu/event/nazar/
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/97-seminar-new-vistas-in-electrochemical-energy-storage-beyond-lithium-ion-batteries-with-waterloos-registration-27352456935
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Initiative
For more information, contact: MIT Energy Initiative
miteievents at mit.edu
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Thursday, September 8
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Systems Thinking for Social Change: A Book Discussion with David Stroh
Thursday, September 8
10:00 AM to 11:30 AM (EDT)
NonProfit Center, 89 South Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/systems-thinking-for-social-change-a-book-discussion-with-david-stroh-tickets-25931208944
Cost: $10
David Stroh brings his extensive experience as an organizational and community consultant to answer two questions with attendees.
How does thinking systemically enable diverse stakeholders to collaborate more effectively in achieving breakthroughs around complex social problems and leveraging limited resources?
How can we harness the cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and spiritual dimensions of systems thinking to catalyze social change?
David illustrates his discussion using examples of how people have applied the principles and tools of systems thinking to achieve improvements in such areas as ending homelessness and increasing affordable housing; providing equitable access to resources including early childhood development, education, and healthcare; and reforming the criminal justice system.
By answering these core questions, the workshop will help foster an understanding of
Why non-obvious system forces thwart people’s best intentions
The differences between systems and conventional thinking
When to integrate systems thinking into a social change initiative
The benefits of using systems thinking as both an analytic and strategic planning tool
How to make systems thinking accessible to the larger community
About the Presenter
David Peter Stroh is an internationally recognized consultant, author, and speaker who works with organizations and communities across the nonprofit, private, and public sectors to develop social change initiatives that improve system-wide performance over time. His nonprofit clients have included the WK Kellogg Foundation, Open Society Institute, Omidyar Group, Funders Together to End Homelessness, and ProUnitas. His book Systems Thinking for Social Change: A Practical Guide for Solving Complex Problems, Avoiding Unintended Consequences, and Achieving Lasting Results (Chelsea Green, 2015) has been praised as "an essential - and long overdue - guide to applied systems thinking" that "shows you how to enlist others in the effort" by "masterfully weaving metaphor, story, and practical tools" using "down-to-earth language." The book will be available for purchase at the workshop.
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Five Easy Theses: Commonsense Solutions to America's Greatest Economic Challenges
WHEN Thu., Sep. 8, 2016, 11:45 a.m. – 1 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Bell Hall (5th Floor Belfer Building, HKS), 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Lecture, Social Sciences, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government and the Malcolm Weiner Center for Social Policy
SPEAKER(S) James M. Stone, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Plymouth Rock; former Chairman and Commissioner of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission
CONTACT INFO Please RSVP to mrcbg at hks.harvard.edu.
Lunch will be served.
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New England Resilience & Transition Network Collective Inquiry on Local and Regional Food Systems: The “Omnivore’s Delight” Diet Challenge
Thursday, September 8
12pm – 1pm
Webinar
RSVP at https://nertnetwork.org/2016/07/28/collective-inquiry-local-and-regional-food/
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Workshop on the Sustainability of the World's Food and Farming Systems
WHEN Thu., Sep. 8, 2016, 4 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard,CGIS South Building, 1730 Cambridge Street, Room S250, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Weatherhead Center for International Affairs
SPEAKER(S) Christopher Bosso, Professor of Public Policy at Northeastern University.
DETAILS “Why the Farm Bill is Now About Food Stamps”
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"Innovation" and "Engagement": Experiments with What Industry Buzzwords Can Mean in Practice
Thursday, September 8
5:00p–6:30p
MIT, Building 3-133, 33 Massachusetts Avenue (Rear), Cambridge
CMS/W alum Sam Ford (S.M., CMS, '07) has spent most of the last decade exploring points of connection and contention between the media and marketing industries and media studies. Starting last year, that work has taken him to Univision's Fusion Media Group (a portfolio of media companies which includes Fusion, Univision Digital, Univision Music, The Root, Flama, The Onion, A.V. Club, Clickhole, Starwipe, and El Rey), leading a team that has been building the conglomerate's approach to experimentation outside of the company's core day-to-day operations.
In this colloquium, Sam will be joined by his colleague Federico Rodriguez Tarditi to discuss what they have learned thus far from Fusion Media Group's experiments with exploring new ways of telling stories, new approaches to building relationships with key publics important to our portfolio, new ways of working internally, and new types of roles/positions in the company.
Web site: http://cmsw.mit.edu/event/fision-what-industry-buzzwords-can-mean-in-practice/
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies/Writing
For more information, contact: Andrew Whitacre
617-324-0490
cmsw at mit.edu
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Co-op Power Urban Community Shared Solar - Greater Boston Training
Thursday, September 8
5:30 PM to 7:00 PM (EDT)
WeWork South Station, 745 Atlantic Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/co-op-power-urban-community-shared-solar-greater-boston-training-tickets-27317796264
Co-op Power's Direct-Ownership Community Solar Training is for energy leaders interested in gaining hands-on experience developing and owning a shared solar project in their community, realizing energy savings, and stimulating the clean energy economy in their region. After many policy changes in solar over the past year, the Community Solar team at Co-op Power has worked to stay ahead of the curve in developing shared solar models that will work for our members. This local-scale, direct ownership model is best suited to rural landscapes and can move forward in any Investor-Owned-Utilty area.
More details about the program are available here.
The training will be offered by Isaac Baker and Ben Underwood, the VPs Co-op Power's Community Solar program. The training will be held at our Boston office location and will focus on next steps communities in Greater Boston can do to bring community solar to their region.
The location is just across the street from South Station and should be highly accessible by public transit.
For more information, please contact Isaac at Isaac at cooppower.coop. Light refreshments will be available.
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Cambridge Climate Protection Action Committee
Thursday, September 8
6:00 pm
City Hall Annex, 344 Broadway, 2nd floor community meeting room, Cambridge
The main topics of this meeting will be commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy financing and other committee business. The agenda for the meeting will be posted on the Community Development Department website at http://www.cambridgema.gov/CDD/climateandenergy/climatechangeplanning/climateprotectionactioncommittee
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Carl Hiaasen at the Brattle Theatre
Thursday, September 8
6:00 PM (EDT)
Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.harvard.com/event/carl_hiaasen1/
Cost: $5 - $28.75
$5 tickets on sale August 16 at 9am
Online pre-sales (ticket + book) on sale August 2
This event includes a book signing
Harvard Book Store welcomes CARL HIAASEN, bestselling author of Bad Monkey and Skinny Dip, for a reading from his latest novel, Razor Girl.
Learn more at http://www.harvard.com/event/carl_hiaasen1/
All pre-sales tickets include a copy of Razor Girl, admission into the event, and a $5 coupon for use in the bookstore. Pre-sales tickets (online only) are available for two weeks, after which a $5 ticket option will also go on sale. Books bundled with pre-sale tickets may only be picked up at the venue the night of the event, and cannot be picked up in-store beforehand.
$5 tickets will also be available at Harvard Book Store and over the phone at 617-661-1515. Unless the event is sold out, any remaining tickets will be on sale at the door of the venue when doors open.
Tickets are non-refundable and non-returnable.
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Organize Your Emotions, Optimize Your Life: Decode Your Emotional DNA--and Thrive
WHEN Thu., Sep. 8, 2016, 7 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Coop, 1400 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Coop
SPEAKER(S) Margaret Moore and Edward Phillips, MD
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO Karen Porter
hbooks at bncollege.com
DETAILS From a top wellness coach and a Harvard Medical School professor, comes this revolutionary book that will show you how to identify and decode your nine most basic emotional needs—and coach yourself to a calmer, healthier, and happier life.
LINK www.thecoop.com
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Friday, September 9
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MIT Atmospheric Science Seminar - Daniel Rothenberg (MIT)
Friday, September 9
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Building 54-923 (the tallest building on campus)
Speaker: Daniel Rothenberg, MIT
About the Series
The MIT Atmospheric Science Seminar (MASS) is an informal student-run weekly seminar series within PAOC. Seminar topics include all research concerning the atmosphere and climate, but also talks about e.g. societal impacts of climatic processes. The seminars usually take place on Fridays from 12-1pm. The presentations are either given by an invited speaker or by a member of PAOC and can focus on new research or discussion of a paper of particular interest. 2016/2017 co-ordinators: Martin Wolf (mjwolf at mit.edu)
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Grand Challenges in Science for a Clean Energy Future
Friday, September 9
3:00p–4:00p
MIT, Building 32-123, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Cherry Murray, Director, Officer of Science, Department of Energy
Dr. Cherry Murray was confirmed by the Senate December 10, 2015 and sworn in December 18, 2016 as the Director of the Department of Energy's Office of Science. Dr. Murray oversees research in the areas of advanced scientific computing, basic energy sciences, biological and environmental sciences, fusion energy sciences, high energy physics, and nuclear physics. She has responsibility not only for supporting scientific research, but also for the development, construction, and operation of unique, open-access scientific user facilities. The Office of Science manages 10 of the Department's 17 National Laboratories.
Hoyt C. Hottel Lectureship
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/cheme/news/hottel/index_2016.html
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Chemical Engineering Department
For more information, contact: Melanie Kaufman
617-253-6500
melmils at mit.edu
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Rape during Civil War
Friday, September 9
3:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes DARA KAY COHEN, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, for a discussion of her book Rape during Civil War.
About Rape during Civil War
Rape is common during wartime, but even within the context of the same war, some armed groups perpetrate rape on a massive scale while others never do. In Rape during Civil War Dara Kay Cohen examines variation in the severity and perpetrators of rape using an original dataset of reported rape during all major civil wars from 1980 to 2012. Cohen also conducted extensive fieldwork, including interviews with perpetrators of wartime rape, in three postconflict counties, finding that rape was widespread in the civil wars of the Sierra Leone and Timor-Leste but was far less common during El Salvador's civil war.
Cohen argues that armed groups that recruit their fighters through the random abduction of strangers use rape—and especially gang rape—to create bonds of loyalty and trust between soldiers. The statistical evidence confirms that armed groups that recruit using abduction are more likely to perpetrate rape than are groups that use voluntary methods, even controlling for other confounding factors. Important findings from the fieldwork—across cases—include that rape, even when it occurs on a massive scale, rarely seems to be directly ordered. Instead, former fighters describe participating in rape as a violent socialization practice that served to cut ties with fighters’ past lives and to signal their commitment to their new groups. Results from the book lay the groundwork for the systematic analysis of an understudied form of civilian abuse. The book will also be useful to policymakers and organizations seeking to understand and to mitigate the horrors of wartime rape.
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MIT GFSA Demo Day 2016
Friday, September 9
4:00 PM to 7:00 PM (EDT)
MIT, Kresge Auditorium, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/mit-gfsa-demo-day-2016-tickets-26447389855
The Global Founders’ Skills Accelerator is MIT’s premier student accelerator which concludes with a Demo Day in Cambridge, NYC and SF. The MIT GFSA Demo Day will showcase the most passionate and talented founders at MIT and their innovative, world-changing companies. From the dorm rooms to the labs, our unique teams are solving the toughest problems across many industries. Take a look at last year’s pitches here.
A networking reception with food and drinks will follow the pitches, where you can meet the founders and learn more about their companies and technologies.
Keynote Speaker: Dharmesh Shah, SM ’06, Co-founder and CTO of HubSpot
Dharmesh Shah, is a proven thought-leader for entrepreneurs developing disruptive, innovative technology. Notably, Dharmesh co-authored “Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media and Blogs”; in addition, he founded and contributes to OnStartups.com—a top ranking startup blog and community with more than 500,000 members. In 2013, Dharmesh published HubSpot’s Culture Code, which has garnered over 2.5 million views on SlideShare.
Named an Inc. Founders 40 in 2016, Dharmesh is an active member of the Boston-area entrepreneurial community, an angel investor in over 60 startups, and a frequent speaker on startups and inbound marketing. Dharmesh holds a BS in Computer Science from UAB and an MS in the Management of Technology from MIT.
If you can't make it to see the teams at MIT:
Livestream the event! Link to be provided closer to Demo Day
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Meaning and Mindfulness without Religion
Friday, September 9
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
featuring KATHERINE OZMENT and RICK HELLER discussing their books Grace Without God:
The Search for Meaning, Purpose, and Belonging in a Secular Age and Secular Meditation:
32 Practices for Cultivating Inner Peace, Compassion, and Joy—A Guide from the Humanist Community at Harvard
Harvard Book Store and GrubStreet welcome former senior editor at National Geographic KATHERINE OZMENT and journalist RICK HELLER for a discussion of their books Grace Without God: The Search for Meaning, Purpose, and Belonging in a Secular Age and Secular Meditation: 32 Practices for Cultivating Inner Peace, Compassion, and Joy—A Guide from the Humanist Community at Harvard. Together they will discuss the many ways secular Americans can find connection—to self and others—through enhanced awareness and the creation of community outside traditional religious structures.
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Saturday, September 10
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2016 Boston Festival of Indie Games
Saturday, September 10
9:00 AM to 8:00 PM (EDT)
MIT, Johnson Athletic Center, 120 Vassar Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2016-boston-festival-of-indie-games-tickets-26337421938
Cost: $0 - $15
The Boston Festival of Indie Games celebrates independent game development in New England and neighboring regions. Our goal is to create an inclusive environment for everybody who enjoys and appreciates games in any shape or form. The festival seeks to support and showcase the efforts of independent game developers, as well as youth programs focused on game development and related fields.
We encourage attendees of our annual festival to participate and play games in different formats: video games, location-based games, tabletop games and more! The games featured at the annual festival are innovative and refreshing, demonstrating both the budding and the established talent of game makers in the American northeast.
The Boston Festival of Indie Games is a registered non-profit with the State of Massachusetts, dedicated to fostering the next generation of game developers. Through youth and small-business outreach initiatives culminating in the yearly festival, the Boston Festival of Indie Games strives to strengthen the game development industry of New England.
Tickets are on sale from July 1 to September 10. Single badges are $15, groups of 4 are $50, and kids under 12 are free.
WHEN
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The fall 2016 Mid-Cambridge PLANT SWAP
Saturday September 10
NOON to 2 pm
Rain date—in case of DOWNPOUR—is Sunday Sep. 11, 12-2
Fayette Park, (near the corner of Broadway and Fayette Street), Cambridge
Bring anything you’d like to share. Elegant packaging not required, but please do write down the names of plants. We expect to have perennials, biennial seedlings, seeds, indoor plants, catalogs, pots, and lots of "whatever." Feel free to just come, chat with neighbors, talk gardening.
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Cooking Demonstration and Tasting with Celebrity Chef Mark Olive
WHEN Sat., Sep. 10, 2016, 4 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Science Center Lecture Hall C, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Co-sponsored by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology and the Harvard Art Museums.
COST $10
TICKET WEB LINK https://reservations.hmsc.harvard.edu/Info.aspx?EventID=19
TICKET INFO Advance registration required. Visit the registration link and indicate whether you would like a standard or vegetarian tasting.
DETAILS Mark Olive is Australia’s most renowned Indigenous chef. He has been cooking for more than 30 years, and his charismatic style and creative approach to food have earned him an esteemed reputation and a large following in Australia and around the world.
Olive is also a host of cooking, lifestyle, and travel shows, and his series, The Outback Café, is seen in living rooms across the globe. He has a passion for fusing native and Indigenous Australian ingredients with contemporary cooking techniques to create a dynamic and unique gastronomic philosophy.
To celebrate the Harvard Art Museums’ special exhibition Everywhen: The Eternal Present in Indigenous Art from Australia, on view until September 18, 2016, Olive will offer a cooking demonstration and tasting featuring Indigenous Australian ingredients.
LINK https://www.peabody.harvard.edu/mark-olive
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Sunday, September 11
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Massachusetts and the Carceral State Conference: September 11
Sunday, September 11
9:00 AM to 4:00 PM (EDT)
Harvard Law School, Wasserstein Hall, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/massachusetts-and-the-carceral-state-conference-september-11-tickets-27339673700
On Sunday, September 11, 2016, join criminal justice activists from across Massachusetts for a day of skill and strategy building to invigorate the movement to replace state’s criminal justice system with community justice. Whether you’re already active or are looking to get involved, this day is for you! It’s free and open to all. There will be opportunities to learn about the great work that is being done for justice reform in Massachusetts and to improve your skills and understanding of the movement.
Sunday’s conference will run from 9 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. at Harvard Law School, Wasserstein Hall, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge MA. There will be workshops, panels, networking opportunities and activist art. Lunch is provided. Workshop presenters include the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, Young Abolitionists, National Alliance on Mental Health -- and many more!
This event is being organized by the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School, the Coalition for Effective Public Safety, the Criminal Justice Policy Coalition and the National Lawyers Guild – Massachusetts Chapter. Harvard Law School is easily accessible by public transportation: the Harvard Square stop on the Red Line or the following bus lines: 1, 66, 68, 69, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 77, 78, 86, 96. Metered street parking is also available. For questions, please contact Rachel Corey, 617-807-0111, director at cjpc.org
To ensure your spot in the workshops being offered, sign up here (read below for descriptions of workshops).
Schedule for the day:
9-9:45am: Welcome (Milstein B)
9:40am-9:55am: Poetry by Mass LEAP (Milstein B)
10am-10:50am: Workshop slot (Various rooms)
11am-11:50pm: Workshop slot (Various rooms)
12pm-12:50pm: Workshop slot (Various rooms)
1-2:30pm: Lunch and panel (Milstein B)
2:30-2:45pm: Poetry by Mass LEAP (Milstein B)
2:50pm-3:45pm: Affinity groups (Milstein A, B, C)
Workshop Schedule: Register here.
10am-10:50am slot:
Lobbying 101: Interactive workshop explaining the MA legislative process, and presenting key ideas/talking points on criminal justice issues, and have workshop participants role play legislative meetings and report back on the effectiveness of their lobbying efforts. Presented by Sana Fadel, Deputy Director at Citizens for Juvenile Justice and Lizz Matos, staff attorney at Prisoners Legal Services. Room 2012.
Twitter 101: Learn how to use Twitter for social activism. For beginners. Presented by Jean Trounstine and Jasmine Gomez. Room 2004.
Diversity, Inclusion & Mental Health: An interactive workshop that provides an introduction to the major principles of diversity & inclusion that will raise sensitivity and awareness of participants while allowing opportunity to discuss the role implicit bias, discrimination, mental health stigma and race plays on diverse groups and community engagement followed by a 15 minute Q&A session. Presented by Dr. Matthieu Bermingham, Diversity Committee Chair & Florette Willis, Diversity Director of Outreach & Inclusion from NAMI Massachusetts State Office. Room Milstein A.
11am-11:50am slot:
Legal Observer Training: Training activists to become Legal Observers (TM) to help preserve the rights of activists and other demonstrators engaging in political demonstrations and protests for progressive causes. Legal Observers are part of a legal defense team provided pro bono by the National Lawyers Guild to support activists engaged in the struggle for social and economic justice. Presented by lawyers Jeff Feuer and kt crossman for the National Lawyers Guild. Room 2012.
#ByeAnita: Learn about the strategies and tactics that made the #ByeAnita campaign in Cook County, Illinois successful in unseating DA Anita Alvarez. Presented by Veronica Mooris-Moore of Fearless Leading by the Youth. Room 2009.
How To Use The Media and Make Sure You Don't Get Used: A presentation of the Massachusetts and national media landscape. You'll learn how to work the system to get in the most outlets possible, how to form relationships, and which outlets are related to which. Presented by Chris Faraone of DigBoston and a co-founder of the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism and Howard Manly of the Bay State Banner. Room 2004.
Healing, Reconciliation, and Accountability Outside the Criminal Justice System: The Intergenerational Justice Program (IJP) supports families of murder victims and families of people incarcerated for murder as they navigate the criminal justice system from arrest through re-entry. IJP fills a major gap in the field with our explicit focus on family engagement and community involvement to address the impact of homicide on both sides. Re-entry programs tend to have a narrow focus on the individual (often younger, often for non-violent offenses) while IJP expands the resources available to people who have been convicted of violent crimes and their families. The focus of IJP is to ensure that all families have what they need to live in peace after a homicide. This workshop will describe our model for healing, reconciliation, and accountability and how we provide practical support for families on both sides. Facilitators will discuss the dangers of dividing communities into "victim" and "offender" and other institutional barriers the criminal justice system has imposed on families seeking justice and healing. Facilitators will also address the impact of racism and poverty on our communities that results in disparate numbers of poor people of color becoming both offenders and victims, often part of the same families and from the same neighborhoods. Families and communities of color need more support, resources, and community-led processes rather than the typical systemic response to violence: more police, swifter prosecution, and longer prison sentences. Facilitators will be from the partners of IJP: The Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, SPAN Inc, and VISIONS Inc. Milstein A. This workshop runs for 2 hours, so it will start in the 11am timeslot, and go through the 12 o'clock time slot until 12:50pm.
12pm-12:50pm timeslot:
Independent Journalism and Public Records Requests: Jamie Folk and Johnathan Cohn discuss their investigations of the Boston 2024 organization and the Annie Dookhan case and how they went about them. Learn how to make your own media and public records requests. Room 2012.
Abolition now!: An introduction to the concept of prison abolition, including a history of police from slavery to mass incarceration. Presented by Young Abolitionists. Room 2009.
Healing, Reconciliation, and Accountability Outside the Criminal Justice System cont.
To ensure you have a spot in each of the workshops you want to attend, sign up here.
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Cambridge Carnival
Sunday, September 11
12-7 pm
Kendall Square, Cambridge
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Monday, September 12
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Environmental Advocacy Roundtable
Monday, September 12
8:30 AM to 10:00 AM (EDT)
50 Milk Streetm EDISON room on the 16th Floor, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/environmental-advocacy-roundtable-tickets-27340054840
The purpose of the Environmental Advocacy Roundtable is to bring together the many diverse groups advocating for awareness, education, legislation, and regulation to maximize the positive environmental impact of the built environment in Massachusetts. The roundtable allows organizations to set goals, plan, and network towards this purpose.
The discussion will be lead by the Advocacy Committee of the USGBCMA and AIA of Massachusetts. We’re looking forward to another robust roundtable like the one we had in May.
Please, feel free to share this event link with others in your organizations. Also, please, send along your thoughts for the agenda to Kate Bubriski.
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PAOC Colloquium - Peter Huybers (Harvard)
Monday, September 12
12:00p–1:00p
MIT
Speaker: Peter Huybers, Harvard
The PAOC Colloquium is a weekly interdisciplinary seminar series that brings together the whole PAOC community. Seminar topics include all research concerning the physics, chemistry, and biology of the atmospheres, oceans and climate, but also talks about e.g. societal impacts of climatic processes. The seminars take place on Monday from 12-1pm. Lunch is provided after the seminars to encourage students and post-docs to meet with the speaker. Besides the seminar and lunch, individual meetings with professors, post-docs, and students are arranged.
https://eapsweb.mit.edu/paoc-colloquium-peter-huybers-harvard
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS)
For more information, contact: Christine Chen
ccy at mit.edu
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Webinar: Building an AI Product to Improve High-Tech Sales
Monday, September 12
12:00p–1:00p
RSVP at https://sdm.mit.edu/building-an-ai-product-to-improve-high-tech-sales/
Speaker: Bryan Pirtle, SDM Fellow; Co-Founder and CTO, Nova.ai
Abstract: Today, almost every industry is being disrupted by the emergence of intelligent software. While software was once used simply to improve efficiency and workflow, now more and more businesses are demanding that software help them make smarter, more data-driven decisions. Perhaps surprisingly, this is even true in sales, especially in the high-technology sector. Modern technology sales teams demand software that offers a competitive edge in an increasingly complex and globalized world.
In this webinar, SDM fellow Bryan Pirtle, chief technology officer of Nova.ai, a sales technology startup, will:
1) provide an overview of the current technology sales ecosystem;
2) explain how his team successfully built an artificial intelligence (AI) product for the contemporary technology sales organization; and
3) explore how the trend toward smarter software and AI products is changing the way people buy and sell.
A Q&A will follow the presentation. We invite you to join us!
MIT SDM Systems Thinking Webinar Series
Sponsored by the System Design & Management(SDM) program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the MIT SDM Systems Thinking Webinar Series 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 here.
Web site: https://sdm.mit.edu/building-an-ai-product-to-improve-high-tech-sales/
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free and open to all
Tickets: Pre-registration recommended. See url above
Sponsor(s): MIT System Design & Management
For more information, contact: Lois Slavin
sdm at mit.edu
Editorial Comment: I for one welcome our new robotic sales overlords.
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A Precinct Too Far: Distance to the Polling Place and Turnout Inequality
Monday, September 12
4:00p–5:30p
MIT, Building E52-164, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Speaker: Enrico Cantoni (MIT)
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Public Finance/Labor Workshop
For more information, contact:
economics calenda
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The Terror Years: From al-Qaeda to the Islamic State
Monday, September 12
6:00 PM (Doors at 5:30)
Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge,
RSVP at http://www.harvard.com/event/lawrence_wright2/
Cost: $5 - $29.75 (book included)
Harvard Book Store welcomes Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Looming Tower LAWRENCE WRIGHT for a discussion of his latest book, The Terror Years: From al-Qaeda to the Islamic State.
About The Terror Years
With The Looming Tower, Lawrence Wright became generally acknowledged as one of our major journalists writing on terrorism in the Middle East. Here, in ten powerful pieces first published in The New Yorker, he recalls the path that terror in the Middle East has taken, from the rise of al-Qaeda in the 1990s to the recent beheadings of reporters and aid workers by ISIS.
The Terror Years draws on several articles he wrote while researching The Looming Tower, as well as many that he’s written since, following where and how al-Qaeda and its core cultlike beliefs have morphed and spread. They include a portrait of the “man behind bin Laden,” Ayman al-Zawahiri, and the tumultuous Egypt he helped spawn; an indelible impression of Saudi Arabia, a kingdom of silence under the control of the religious police; the Syrian film industry, at the time compliant at the edges but already exuding a feeling of the barely masked fury that erupted into civil war; the 2006–11 Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza, a study in the disparate value of human lives. Other chapters examine al-Qaeda as it forms a master plan for its future, experiences a rebellion from within the organization, and spins off a growing web of worldwide terror. The American response is covered in profiles of two FBI agents and the head of the intelligence community. The book ends with a devastating piece about the capture and slaying by ISIS of four American journalists and aid workers, and our government’s failed response.
On the fifteenth anniversary of 9/11, The Terror Years is at once a unifying recollection of the roots of contemporary Middle Eastern terrorism, a study of how it has grown and metastasized, and, in the scary and moving epilogue, a cautionary tale of where terrorism might take us yet.
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2016 Science and Cooking Public Lecture Series: Energy, Temperature, Heat
Monday, September 12
7 p.m.
Harvard, Science Center Lecture Hall C, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Spike Gjerde, (@spikegjerde), Woodberry Kitchen
The popular Science and Cooking lecture series returns this fall, offering members of the public the opportunity to embark on a culinary tour of four continents. The lecture series pairs Harvard professors with celebrated food experts and renowned chefs to showcase the science behind different culinary techniques. This year’s presenters will cover a wide range of topics, including beef made in a lab, the secrets of French cheese caves, and the delicious science of sweet desserts.
Now in its seventh year, the series is organized by Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).
The public lectures are based on the Harvard course “Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to the Science of Soft Matter,” but do not replicate course content.
All talks will take place in the Harvard Science Center (1 Oxford St., Cambridge, Mass., Hall C) and begin at 7 p.m., unless otherwise noted
Each presentation will begin with a 15-minute lecture about the scientific topics from that week’s class by a faculty member from the Harvard course
Seating for all lectures is first come, first seated
If you have questions regarding the public lecture series, please contact science_cooking at seas.harvard.edu.
2016 Chef Lecture Dates
Monday, Sept. 12
"Energy, Temperature, Heat"
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Spike Gjerde, (@spikegjerde), Woodberry Kitchen
Monday, Sept. 19
“The Science of Sugar”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Joanne Chang ’91, (@jbchang), Flour Bakery, author of “Flour” and “Flour Too”
Tuesday, Sept. 27
“Medical Technology Producing Hamburgers”
Science Center Lecture Hall B, 7 p.m.
Mark Post, (@MarkPost6), Professor of Physiology at Maastricht University, co-inventor of cell cultured beef
Monday, Oct. 3
“Diffusion and Gelation in Peruvian Cooking”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Virgilio Martinez, (@VirgilioCentral), Central
Malena Martinez, (@MMVCentral), Central
Monday, Oct. 17
“Heat Transfer”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Margarita Forés, (@MargaritaFores), Cibo Restaurants
Monday, Oct. 24
"Viscosity and Polymers"
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Bill Yosses, (@billyosses), former White House executive pastry chef, author of “Desserts for Dummies” and “The Perfect Finish”
Vayu Maini Rekdal, (@youngNYchefs), co-founder of the Young Chefs Program, Ph.D. candidate at Harvard University
Monday, Oct. 31
“Emulsions and Foams”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Angel Leon, (@chefdelmar), Restaurant Aponiente
Monday, Nov. 7
“Delicious Decomposition: Tales from the Cheese Caves of France”
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Sister Noella Marcellino, Abbey of Regina Laudis, subject of PBS documentary “The Cheese Nun”
Monday, Nov. 21
Title TBA
Science Center Lecture Hall C, 7 p.m.
Nathan Myhrvold, (@ModernCuisine), former Chief Technology Officer of Microsoft, co-founder of Intellectual Ventures, author of “Modernist Cuisine”
The Harvard College Course
The Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and the Alícia Foundation developed the General Education science course, “Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to the Science of Soft Matter,” which debuted in the fall of 2010. The course uses food and cooking to explicate fundamental principles in applied physics and engineering. (Watch a video about the course.)
While limited to currently enrolled Harvard undergraduates, the class, which brings together eminent Harvard researchers and world-class chefs, is available to others on-campus through the Harvard Extension School and online through the HarvardX platform (details below).
Instructors
Michael Brenner, Glover Professor of Applied Mathematics and Applied Physics and Professor of Physics; Harvard College Professor
Pia Sörensen, Preceptor in Science and Cooking
David Weitz, Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and Applied Physics
Lab Design/Implementation
Pere Castells, Unitat UB-Bullipèdia
Science and Cooking at Harvard Extension School
A version of “Science and Cooking” will be offered for credit through the Harvard Extension School in Spring 2017. Registered students will have access to the expertise and support of Harvard teaching staff, and will participate in an on-campus weekend in our cooking lab.
An online version of the course is also available as a HarvardX course.
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Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman: Conservation Heroes of the American Heartland
Monday, September 12
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge,
Harvard Book Store welcomes bestselling author of Earth: The Sequel MIRIAM HORN for a discussion of her latest book, Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman: Conservation Heroes of the American Heartland—the story of a huge, largely hidden, and entirely unexpected conservation movement in America.
About Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman
Many of the men and women doing today’s most consequential environmental work—restoring America’s grasslands, wildlife, soil, rivers, wetlands, and oceans—would not call themselves environmentalists; they would be too uneasy with the connotations of that word. What drives them is their deep love of the land: the iconic terrain where explorers and cowboys, pioneers and riverboat captains forged the American identity. They feel a moral responsibility to preserve this heritage and natural wealth, to ensure that their families and communities will continue to thrive.
Unfolding as a journey down the Mississippi River, Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman tells the stories of five representatives of this stewardship movement: a Montana rancher, a Kansas farmer, a Mississippi riverman, a Louisiana shrimper, and a Gulf fisherman. In exploring their work and family histories and the essential geographies they protect, Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman challenges pervasive and powerful myths about American and environmental values.
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Tuesday, September 13
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The Art of Discovery
WHEN Tuesday, September 13, 4:30 p.m.
WHERE Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Johnson-Kulukundis Family Gallery, Byerly Hall, 8 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Exhibitions, Humanities
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO events at radcliffe.harvard.edu
DETAILS Opening Reception: , Johnson-Kulukundis Family Gallery, Byerly Hall, 8 Garden Street, Radcliffe Yard, Cambridge, MA 02138
From September 14–October 29, the exhibition will be open Monday through Saturday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
At the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, art is integrated with other forms of study and deeply embedded in its programming. Each year, fellows pursue individual projects in a community dedicated to inquiry across the arts, sciences, social sciences, and humanities. The Art of Discovery introduces viewers to the bold work of members of our 2016–2017 fellowship class, which transcends the fault lines of standard academic disciplines to explore complex topics and reveal new insights about their own fields of study.
The event is open to the public and provides a chance to see the new exhibition and meet the participating fellows, including:
Amahl Bishara, Anthropology
Alexei Borodin, Mathematics and Applied Sciences
Chris Bowler, Biology
Tania Bruguera, Visual Arts
A.K. Burns, Visual Arts
Gidon Eshel, Earth and Planetary Sciences
Alyssa A. Goodman, Physics
Lamia Joreige, Visual Arts
Kathleen Ossip, Poetry
Dimitrios Psaltis, Astronomy
Adam Tanaka, Urban Planning
Conevery Bolton Valencius, History
Hala Zreiqat, Material Science
LINK http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2016-art-discovery-exhibition-opening
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Saudi Arabia's Sectarian Strategy at Home and Abroad
Tuesday, September 13
4:30p–6:30p
MIT, Building E51-315, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Prof. David Commins
Sectarian enmity toward Shiism is a constant in Saudi history. It goes back to Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab's attack on all forms of idolatry. Today's anti-Shiite discourse blends classic Wahhabi doctrine with contemporary political concepts in ways that cast Shiism as a threat to national unity. The new discourse developed in the 1980s in response to the Iranian revolution and Shiite activism at home. Since then, Al Saud have alternately mobilized and curtailed anti-Shiite narratives according to political calculations. Presently, Saudi Arabia's sectarian strategy draws on latent Sunni prejudice against Shiism to achieve two goals: To defeat Iran's ambitions in the Gulf and the Levant, and to suppress internal dissent. There is nothing remarkable about a state seeking to maximize its international security and domestic stability. Riyadh's mobilization of xenophobic theology, however, creates strains with the United States, carries the risk of blowback from wars in Yemen, Iraq, and Syria that is reminiscent of the 1980s Afghan jihad, and may jeopardize plans for internal structural reform.
David Commins is professor of History at Dickinson College.
Emile Bustani Middle East Seminar
The Emile Bustani Middle East Seminar is organized under the auspices of the MIT Center for International Studies, which conducts research on contemporary international issues and provides an opportunity for faculty and students to share perspectives and exchange views. Each year the Bustani Seminar invites scholars, journalists, consultants, and other experts from the Middle East, Europe, and the United States to MIT to present recent research findings on contemporary politics, society and culture, and economic and technological development in the Middle East.
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/cis/bustani/
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Radius/T&C, Center for International Studies
For more information, contact: Dain Goding
617-252-1888
dain at mit.edu
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Ingredients
Tuesday, September 13
6pm
Brookline Interactive Group theater, 46 Tappan Street, Brookline
(Third Floor of BHS' Unified Arts Building)
Cost: $5
This film explores the shortcomings of America's industrialized food system against the rising local food movement.
2016 Summer Film Series: The Real Cost of Food
Another tantalizing selection of engaging films and local food snacks
Learn more and reserve your ticket at http://www.bountifulbrookline.org/p/programs.html
Questions?
Contact us at bountifulbrookline at gmail.com
See you at the movies!
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Artist Talk: Leo Villareal
Tuesday, September 13
6:00p–8:00p
MIT, Building E-15, Bartos Theater, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Leo Villareal
Join us for a talk given by Leo Villareal in Bartos theatre followed by a reception in the lobby of the building E52.
6:00 PM Talk by Leo Villareal in Bartos Theatre E15
7:00 PM Dedication of Light Matrix (MIT) and Reception in lobby of E52
MITs Public Art Collection reaches across the Institute and may be enjoyed by MIT students and visitors alike. Outstanding examples of work by Alexander Calder, Pablo Picasso, and other major artists grace the MIT campus for all to view. Leos work is the latest in a long line of outstanding commissions of public art at MIT and we hope you can join for this talk with Leo.
Leo Villareals work is focused on stripping systems down to their essence to better understand the underlying structures and rules that govern how they work. He is interested in lowest common denominators such as pixels or the zeros and ones in binary code. His most well known works include the Bay Lights on the San Francisco Bay Bridge and his work in the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.
The talk and reception are free and open to the public but registration is required.
Web site: https://listart.mit.edu/events-programs/artist-talk-leo-villareal-his-new-work-light-matrix-mit
Open to: the general public
Cost: FREE
Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/leo-villareal-artist-talk-and-dedication-tickets-27004499184
Sponsor(s): List Visual Arts Center
For more information, contact: Mark Linga
617-253-4680
mlinga at mit.edu
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Boston New Technology September 2016 Startup Showcase #BNT69
Tuesday, September 13
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Foley Hoag, 155 Seaport Boulevard, Boston
RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/Boston_New_Technology/events/233498606/
Free event! Come learn about 7 innovative and exciting technology products and network with the Boston/Cambridge startup community!
Foley Hoag is in the Seaport West building (entrance on B Street). Please bring identification and check in at our desk in the lobby. Then, take an elevator to the 13th floor. Enter the glass doors and walk down the hall to your right.
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How Restorative Development Can Address Climate Change
Tuesday, September 13
6:30 PM
Belmont Media Center, 9 Lexington St, Belmont MA
William Moomaw, Ph.D. is a former professor emeritus of International Environmental Policy at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (he retired in 2014). Dr. Moomaw was founding director of both the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy (CIERP) and Tufts Climate Initiative, and co-founder for the Global Development and Environment Institute.
Dr. Moomaw was a lead author for a number of United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports, and was a co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the IPCC. He serves on the boards of major organizations, such as The Climate Group, the Consensus Building Institute, and the Center for Ecological Technologies. He is also on the board of Soil4Climate.
Dr. Moomaw discusses the concept and strategy of restorative development. Here's a quote from a Tufts Fletcher Forum article: "Restorative development seeks to restore degraded systems. Restorative development has the potential to address some of the gravest of climate risks and adaptation priorities: increased droughts, floods, and extreme events, as well as their associated impacts on different sectors. By increasing the resilience of natural systems, these socio-ecological systems may be able to better manage extreme events associated with climate change."
Dr. Moomaw has worked for decades on legislation in energy, forestry, and ozone layer protection. He was an early innovator in cross-disciplinary training of students to address global environment issues and climate change. His many research contributions included quantitative indicators of environment and development, negotiation strategies for environmental agreements, water and climate change, and technology and policy implications for climate change.
William Moomaw was an author for the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment on Nitrogen and serves on the Integrated Nitrogen Committee of the EPA Science Advisory board. He was the first director of the Climate, Energy and Pollution program at the World Resources Institute, and directed the Center for Environmental Studies at Williams College where he held an endowed chair in chemistry.
Contemporary Science Issues and Innovations
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Opportunity
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The Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tuft University is pleased to accept applications to its Online Graduate Certificate Program in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems.
This program, in its third year, is ideal for professionals engaged in a variety of food-related businesses and organizations, as well as others interested in implementing sustainable practices for their organizations, partners, and communities.
Because the program is 100% online, students can live and work anywhere in the world and study with the Friedman School’s renowned faculty, while earning graduate credit from Tufts University.
Course offerings and descriptions are below (courses may be completed individually or as a part of the graduate certificate program):
NUTC 261: Sustainability on the Farm (fall semester, begins September 6, 2016)
Agriculture is the single largest user of land and water and, thus, has broad environmental impacts. Gains in yield productivity over the last five decades have met increasing demands without increasing agricultural area in the U.S., but environmental, economic and social costs have been considerable. In this first course of the series, the farm level primary costs and benefits will be analyzed, along with a profile of current conventional and alternative approaches to food production in the U.S. Students will examine the policy response to environmental and conservation concerns, focusing on the balance between meeting increased demand while mitigating environmental and social costs.
NUTC 262: Sustainable Food Systems and Markets (spring semester)
The food sector, one of the largest components of the U.S. economy, includes transforming raw agricultural products and moving them to retail points of contact. Although highly integrated and increasingly global, the food system does not provide equal access to all consumers and significant food losses occur at all stages of the supply chain. In this course, students will analyze causes of the market failure to provide equal access; explore solutions to minimize losses within the food system; and evaluate alternative supply chains, including values-based, direct to consumer, and food hubs.
NUTC 263: Sustainability and the Food Consumer (summer semester)
Every day, we make numerous choices about what to eat - and what not to eat. How do consumers and households make these choices, and how can the environments in which we make these choices be shaped to enhance sustainability without sacrificing our health or enjoyment of food? In this course we draw upon insights from economics, psychology, marketing, and nutrition to explore topics such as current food consumption patterns, determinants of food choice, the role of food labeling and market-based initiatives in enhancing sustainability, and the impact of regulation and "nudges" on consumer behavior around food.
To learn more:
Visit our website: http://nutrition.tufts.edu/certificates
View the SAFS Program 1-page Information Sheet: http://nutrition.tufts.edu/sites/default/files/documents-forms/SAFOneSheetFINAL.pdf
Register for our August 8th Virtual Open House: http://bit.ly/gradcerts-virtualopenhouse
Read about some of our Graduate Certificate students: http://nutrition.tufts.edu/news/work-learn-live-online-programs
Connect with the Program Director: nutritioncertificates at tufts.edu
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Last fall, Solve (solve.mit.edu/) convened technologists, philanthropists, business leaders, policymakers, and change agents like you from around the world to examine and address problems where technology, business innovation, and smart policy can be leveraged to bring about real and lasting change.
The Solve program is organized around four “pillars”: Fuel, Learn, Cure, and Make. This year’s program poses three “challenges” within those pillars. Of particular note to the sustainability community are the Fuel challenges:
Fuel:
Carbon price
How can new technologies (including digital currencies like Bitcoin) be used to put a price on emissions of carbon and other greenhouse gases?
Negative carbon emissions
How do we remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in a way that is scalable, economical, and ethical?
What can you do right now?
The program is actively seeking proposals for these Fuel challenges. We encourage you to log in to the Solve CoLab platform (http://solvecolab.mit.edu) to propose solutions. A distinguished panel of judges will select semifinalists, who will present their solutions at the Solve at HUBweek event, September 27 and 28, 2016. Registration for the Solve at HUBweek events is now open at www.hubweek.org.
Thank you for your continued support of the Solve program. Together, we can bring about real and lasting solutions to the world’s most challenging problems.
Editorial Comment: I’ve alerted my contacts in the Geotherapy movement for enhanced soil carbon sequestration about this opportunity. May they pick up on it.
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Discounted Solar for Somerville
As part of the State’s Solarize Mass program, local volunteers and the City of Somerville recently launched the Solarize Somerville campaign to make it easier and cheaper for residents and small businesses to install solar panels.
The program, which is offering information and guidance, free site consultations, and solar panel discounts through November, has set an ambitious goal to inspire at least 200 property owners to sign up for solar —and each of those private solar installations will also benefit the community directly. For every 400 kW in signed private contracts through the program, the program’s solar vendor SolarFlair will donate a system of up to 5 kW for a public or community purpose. All are invited to the program kickoff at a Meet the Installer event on Tuesday, July 26 at 6-7:30 p.m., 167 Holland St. Additional events on topics such as solar basics, financing, and solar for multifamily homes will be announced.
Unique to the program is its neighbor-to-neighbor approach: trained resident volunteers and a designated volunteer Solar Coach are available essentially as mentors. They can, for example, walk anyone through the process, provide general loan program and tax incentive information, and share their own solar experiences. The campaign’s webpage and blog offers useful information, tips, and a link to websites where you can estimate the solar potential of your home and roughly calculate how much solar could save you on your energy bills at www.somervillema.gov/sustainaville/solarize.
Somerville is one of the most urban communities ever to participate in Solarize Mass, which makes the neighbor-to-neighbor approach especially helpful due to some of the unique challenges here such as multi-family houses with more than one owner. Winter Hill resident Mary Mangan, the program’s volunteer Solar Coach, went through that process and is ready to share helpful tips.
"I'm excited to work with our eager volunteers to help our neighbors understand the benefits of solar power. As a co-owner of a two-family home with solar, I can also offer some insights about how that process went for us," said Mangan.
Also key to the program is the selection of a designated vendor, which allows the program to offer reduced cost installation through bulk purchasing. Through a competitive process, SolarFlair, based in Ashland, MA, was selected. They were also the selected installer for the communities of Arlington, Hopkinton, Mendon, Brookline, Carlisle-Chelmsford, Newton, and Quincy.
"We're excited to be the selected installer for Solarize Somerville, and look forward to speaking with any home or business owners that are interested in reducing their electric bills while also making a great investment," said Matt Arner, the owner and President of SolarFlair.
Quick facts:
Solar systems can be purchased outright (with a payback of about 4-5 years). The Mass Solar Loan program offers rates of 3.25% or less.
Or, for no money down owners can choose a power purchase agreement (PPA), where the system is owned and maintained by a third party, and residents buy back the electricity at a discounted price.
More on-site renewable energy is critical to reducing carbon emissions. It also saves money for residents.
Tax incentives for solar installations include:
Federal Tax Credit: A 30 percent federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) is available for qualified residential and commercial projects
Massachusetts Personal Income Tax Credit: The lesser of 15% of the total cost of the solar electric system or $1,000, for qualified clean energy projects
Five-year Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS): Business owners can depreciate solar electric systems over a five-year schedule
For more information or to sign up for a free site consultation:
Visit the Solarize Somerville webpage at www.somervillema.gov/sustainaville/solarize for
Helpful information and FAQs
To contact a volunteer or Solar Coach Mary Mangan to discuss solar options and incentives
To set up an appointment for a free site consultation directly with SolarFlair
To find out about events
To volunteer for Solarize Somerville
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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
Solar map of Cambridge, MA
http://www.mapdwell.com/en/cambridge
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Hey Cambridge residents!
Did you know the City of Cambridge is trying to win the $5 million Georgetown University Energy Prize? It was created to develop a cleaner and more efficient energy future. Energy efficiency and conservation are the best ways to save energy and minimize environmental impact. In that effort, Cambridge is hoping all residents will get a no-cost energy assessment in order to make their homes more efficient and comfortable. Let us know you're interested here: http://cambridgeenergyalliance.org/sign-up-for-an-assessment
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
Again, let us know you're interested here: http://cambridgeenergyalliance.org/sign-up-for-an-assessment and someone will be in contact with you shortly to give you personally tailored contact information on how you can get your no-cost home energy assessment. Renters are also eligible!
Any action to save energy in the home will help Cambridge win this competition while protecting the environment. For additional ideas on how to save energy, please see the Cambridge Energy Alliance website at http://cambridgeenergyalliance.org/resources/interactivehome
Please share with your Cambridge friends and family and ask them to get a free energy assessment!
Want to be more involved? Become a neighborhood Block Captain! Block Captains help their community members sign up for and complete no-cost home energy assessments through the MassSave program. Our team will give you the tools and guidance needed to recruit neighbors to get an assessment and improve the efficiency of their homes. Participation is welcome at whatever level you are able to commit to.
If you are interested in becoming a Block Captain, please fill out the form at http://tinyurl.com/blockcaptainsurvey and someone from the Cambridge Energy Alliance will be in contact with you shortly. If you know someone who might be interested, please let them know about this opportunity!
Questions? Contact jnahigian at cambridgema.gov
Cambridge Energy Alliance
http://www.cambridgeenergyalliance.org/winit
@cambenergy
http://facebook.com/cambridgeenergyalliance
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Sunny Cambridge has just launched! Sunny Cambridge is the city-wide initiative that makes it easy for all types of residents to get solar power for their homes. Cambridge has lined up local solar installers through the EnergySage Solar Marketplace, which helps you request, receive, and compare solar quotes 100% online with support available every step of the way.
The City of Cambridge is working on many levels to reduce energy use and GHG emissions to make the city more sustainable. As a semifinalist in the nationwide competition for the $5 million Georgetown University Energy Prize, Cambridge Energy Alliance is encouraging residents to take actions to save energy, save money, and protect the environment. Get involved by signing up for a no-cost home energy assessment at the Cambridge Energy Alliance home page (www.cambridgeenergyalliance.org/winit)
and going solar at http://www.sunnycambridge.org
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Sustainable Business Network Local Green Guide
SBN is excited to announce the soft launch of its new Local Green Guide, Massachusetts' premier Green Business Directory!
To view the directory please visit: http://www.localgreenguide.org
To find out how how your business can be listed on the website or for sponsorship opportunities please contact Adritha at adritha at sbnboston.org
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Boston Food System
"The Boston Food System [listserv] provides a forum to post announcements of events, employment opportunities, internships, programs, lectures, and other activities as well as related articles or other publications of a non-commercial nature covering the area's food system - food, nutrition, farming, education, etc. - that take place or focus on or around Greater Boston (broadly delineated)."
The Boston area is one of the most active nationwide in terms of food system activities - projects, services, and events connected to food, farming, nutrition - and often connected to education, public health, environment, arts, social services and other arenas. Hundreds of organizations and enterprises cover our area, but what is going on week-to-week is not always well publicized.
Hence, the new Boston Food System listserv, as the place to let everyone know about these activities. Specifically:
Use of the BFS list will begin soon, once we get a decent base of subscribers. Clarification of what is appropriate to announce and other posting guidelines will be provided as well.
It's easy to subscribe right now at https://elist.tufts.edu/wws/subscribe/bfs
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The Boston Network for International Development (BNID) maintains a website (BNID.org) that serves as a clearing-house for information on organizations, events, and jobs related to international development in the Boston area. BNID has played an important auxiliary role in fostering international development activities in the Boston area, as witnessed by the expanding content of the site and a significant growth in the number of users.
The website contains:
A calendar of Boston area events and volunteer opportunities related to International Development - http://www.bnid.org/events
A jobs board that includes both internships and full time positions related to International Development that is updated daily - http://www.bnid.org/jobs
A directory and descriptions of more than 250 Boston-area organizations - http://www.bnid.org/organizations
Also, please sign up for our weekly newsletter (we promise only one email per week) to get the most up-to-date information on new job and internship opportunities -www.bnid.org/sign-up
The website is completely free for students and our goal is to help connect students who are interested in international development with many of the worthwhile organizations in the area.
Please feel free to email our organization at info at bnid.org if you have any questions!
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Boston Maker Spaces - 27 and counting: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zGHnt9r2pQx8.kfw9evrHsKjA&hl=en
BASEN / Boston Solidarity Network Economy: http://ba-sen.tumblr.com
Bostonsmart.com's Guide to Boston: http://www.bostonsmarts.com/BostonGuide/
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Links to events at over 50 colleges and universities at Hubevents: http://hubevents.blogspot.com
Thanks to
Fred Hapgood's Selected Lectures on Science and Engineering in the Boston Area: http://www.BostonScienceLectures.com
MIT Events: http://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
If you have an event you would like to see here, the submission deadline is 12 PM on Sundays, as Energy (and Other) Events is sent out Sunday afternoons.
More information about the Act-MA
mailing list