[act-ma] Energy (and Other) Events - April 30, 2017
gmoke
gmoke at world.std.com
Sun Apr 30 05:03:22 PDT 2017
Energy (and Other) Events is a weekly mailing list published most Sundays covering events around the Cambridge, MA and greater
Boston area that catch the editor's eye.
Hubevents http://hubevents.blogspot.com is the web version.
If you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe to Energy (and Other) Events email gmoke at world.std.com
What I Do and Why I Do It: The Story of Energy (and Other) EventsGeo
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-i-do-and-why-i-do-it.html
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Details of these events are available when you scroll past the index
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Index
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Monday, May 1
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8:30am Digital regulation of everyday life
12:10pm Swiss Landscape Architect Dieter Kienast´s Love for Spontaneous Urban Vegetation
12:15pm The Utility of the Future
3pm The Origins of the Origins of Life
4pm The Vienna Project: Holocaust Memory and Social Activism
4pm Focus on Russia
5pm National Security: Do we have to sacrifice our civil rights?
5:30pm Creating a Multi-Cultural Democracy: Religion, Culture & Identity in America
6pm Andrew Fisher, Big Hunger
6pm Solar Geoengineering -- w/Taylor Milsal
6pm MIT Water Innovation Prize Final Pitch Night
6pm Pitch As Performance: How Music Can Teach Us How To Pitch Great Ideas
6:30pm Walkaway: Cory Doctorow in conversation with Joi Ito
6:30pm The Future of Nature: The Energy We Need
6:30pm Clean Energy & Healthy Neighborhoods: Trees, Gas Leaks, Pipelines, Development, and YOU!
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Tuesday, May 2
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10am BUnano Inaugural Symposium
10:30am Moral Urgency of Non-Violent Movements
11am Earth System Analysis and Prediction in NASA's GMAO: from Weather to Seasons
12pm The Quantified Worker
12:30pm Fukushima Revitalization: TEPCO's Responsibility and Local Community Development
12:30pm DesignX Lecture Series: Ryan Salvas, Skanska USA
4pm Life of a Klansman: A Lecture by Edward Ball
4:15pm A Writer and Her Daughters: The Afterlife of Irène Némirovsky's Suite Française
5:30pm The Next Energy Economy: Grassroots Strategies to Mitigate Global Climate Change and How We Move Ahead
5:30pm The Social Innovation Forum presents our 14th annual Social Innovator Showcase
6pm What Makes Somerville So Sustainable?
6:30pm The Reality of CO2’s Influence on Sea-Level and Weather Events - Greater Boston Tea Party
6:30pm Cultural Intersections in Music Therapy: Music, Health, and the Person
7pm At the Broken Places: A Mother and Trans Son Pick Up the Pieces
7pm James Kirchick - The End Of Europe
7pm Rabobank-MIT Food and Agribusiness Innovation Prize Final Pitch Event
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Wednesday, May 3
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12pm Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Reveals About Who We Really Are
12pm Making the Unipolar Moment: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Rise of the Post-Cold War Order
12:30pm Engineered Nanomaterials in Agriculture: Implications and Applications
12:30pm Turkey's Civil Rights Movement: Segregation, Emancipation, and Democracy Indices
3pm xTalk: Innovative Approaches for Enhancing the 21st Century Student Experience
4pm Hurricane/Climate Interactions in the Common Era: A Tempestuous Two Millennia
4pm Global Sustainable Bioenergy
4:30pm Native American Women: Finding the Voice to Safeguard Mother Earth
4:30pm The Future of Manufacturing, the Workforce, and Society: Panel Discussion
5pm AL KOOPER Composer Forum
5pm Why would Tesla Motors partner with some Canadian? Extending the lifetime of lithium-ion batteries from a few years to many decades
5:30pm What's Real about VR/AR?
6pm I’ve Known Rivers: Slave Resistance and Environmental Consciousness
6pm Understanding the Five Star Movement and the Role of Direct Democracy in Italy
6pm The Role of Philanthropy in the Future of Our City
6:30pm Design in Boston: Creating a More Connected City
7pm Left of the Left - Anatole Dolgoff
7pm The Challenge of a Public Native Plant Garden: Maintenance, Interpretation, and Compromise
7pm The Cancer Treatment Playbook: Why we still don’t have a cure
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Thursday, May 4
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3pm Mapping the Crisis: Bottom Up Approaches to Displacement Data
4pm TREX 2017: Linking soil nutrient status with crop health using UAV-remote sensing, and examining volcanic smog (Vog) using low-cost sensors
5pm The Contingencies of Comparison: Rethinking Comparative Media
5:30pm EnergyBar! May 2017
6pm The Furniture Trust 7th Annual Eco-Carpentry Challenge
6:30pm NEUROMARKETING-PALOOZA
7pm A Stroll through the New Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument
7pm Kill It to Save It: An Autopsy of Capitalism's Triumph over Democracy
7pm America, We Need to Talk with Joel Berg
8pm Bee Boy: Performance and Community Discussion
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Friday, May 5
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1pm Innovations in Online Learning
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Saturday, May 6
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8:45am Reducing the Threat of Nuclear War
10am MIT List Visual Arts Center Public Program: Thinking Feeling: An Affect Symposium
12pm The Spring 2017 Mid-Cambridge PLANT SWAP
12pm Wake Up the Earth
12pm Mushroom Cultivation for the Intrepid Gardener
1pm SPRING GARDEN DAY
1pm Raise Up Massachusetts: Progress as Resistance Conference
3pm Rambax, MIT Senegalese Drumming Ensemble
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Sunday, May 7
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7pm Kate Raworth on How to Think like a 21st Century Economist
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Monday, May 8
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4pm Understanding and Improving Crop Responses to Global Atmospheric Change
5:30pm Harvard Institute for Applied Computational Science Project Showcase
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Tuesday May 9
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2pm IDC Design Conversation with Tata Motors
3pm Ory Zik: Why You Don’t Know Your Carbon Footprint
6pm authors at mit - Steven Sloman with Drazen Prelec -The Knowledge Illusion
6pm How Academic Institutions Play a Role in Boston's Future
7pm Harvard Coop Author Series- Nathaniel Philbrick
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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
Net Zero Energy Now
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/04/26/1656358/-Net-Zero-Energy-Now
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Monday, May 1
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Digital regulation of everyday life
Monday, May 1
8:30 - 6:30p
Northeastern, Raytheon Amphitheater, 120 Forsyth Street, Boston
RSVP at http://northeastern.edu/law/connected-futures
The everyday needs of our future human existence will be shaped by the invention, distribution and commercialization of new forms of machines, buildings, labor opportunities and energy. This conference meets at the intersection of law, business, technology and creative design. We invite industry leaders, university researchers, technologists, entrepreneurs, artists, lawyers and political advocates to join us in a far-ranging discussion.
PANELS INCLUDE:
The Internet of Future Bodies
Ubiquity of the Copy: Impact of IP on Architecture and Urban Life
The Gig Economy: Algorithms and the Communities We Create
Renewable Energy, Resilience and Innovation
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
SARAH JEONG is a lawyer and contributing editor at Vice Motherboard. She has written for numerous major media outlets. In 2017, she was named one of Forbes’
30 Under 30: Media. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Jeong was a Poynter Fellow in Journalism at Yale in 2016.
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Swiss Landscape Architect Dieter Kienast´s Love for Spontaneous Urban Vegetation
Monday, May 1
12:10PM
Arnold Arboretum, Weld Hill Lecture Hall, 1300 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain
Anette Freytag, Associate Professor, Rutgers
Arnold Arboretum Research Talk
http://www.arboretum.harvard.edu/research/research-talks/
arbweb at arnarb.harvard.edu
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The Utility of the Future
Monday, May 1
12:15pm
Harvard, Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Ignacio Perez-Arriaga, Visiting Professor, Sloan School of Management, MIT, and Professor & Director of the BP Chair on Energy & Sustainability, Instituto de Investigacion Tecnologica (IIT), Universidad Pontificia Comillas.
Lunch is provided.
Energy Policy Seminar
https://www.hks.harvard.edu/m-rcbg/cepr/seminar.html
Contact Name: Louisa Lund
louisa_lund at hks.harvard.edu
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The Origins of the Origins of Life
Monday, May 1
3:00PM
Harvard, Haller Hall (102), Geological Museum, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge
with Sophia Roosth, Frederick S. Danziger Associate Professor of the History of Science, as part of the Geobiology/Paleobiology Seminar Series jointly hosted by OEB and EPS
This talk will survey the theoretical, methodological, and institutional origins of geobiology. While thinking about the ways in which life and the planet are mutually constitutive has a long history reaching as far back as the sixteenth century, this talk will focus on the foundations of American geobiology in the mid-twentieth century. Recognizing Cold War and cybernetic developments in theories of life and its origins, I tether those concerns to shifts in ecological and environmental thinking in the 1960s and 1970s. At issue is how questions about and definitions of life and its origins reflect the times in which they are articulated; in concluding I will reflect upon how theories of life are currently being formalized and abstracted in the post-genomic era.
Contact Name: Sabinna Cappo
scappo at fas.harvard.edu
http://eps.harvard.edu/event/geobiology-seminar-0
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The Vienna Project: Holocaust Memory and Social Activism
WHEN Monday, May 1, 2017, 4 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Law School, Pound Hall 100, 1563 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Herbert C. Kelman Seminar on International Conflict
SPEAKER(S) Karen Frostig, Associate Professor, Lesley University, Director, The Vienna Project
CONTACT INFO Donna Hicks, Chair
dhicks at wcfia.harvard.edu
DETAILS Free and open to the public
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Focus on Russia
Monday, May 1
4:00p–6:00p
MIT, Building E40-497, 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Andrey Kortunov
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Security Studies Program, Center for International Studies, MIT Russia
For more information, contact: Harlene Miller
617-258-6531
harlenem at mit.edu
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National Security: Do we have to sacrifice our civil rights?
Monday, May 1
5pm
MIT, Building 32-124, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Join us in a discussion on privacy vs. security with civil rights advocate Ehsan Zaffar (Washington College of Law at American University). Zaffar is the founder of Stand With Me, a project that connects communities under threat to resources, allies and each other. He specializes in assessing the civil rights and civil liberties implications of existing and proposed national security policies, programs, and procedures. He also serves as a Senior Advisor at the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the Department of Homeland Security.
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Creating a Multi-Cultural Democracy: Religion, Culture & Identity in America
Monday, May 1
5:30PM
Sackler Auditorium, 485 Broadway, Cambridge
Winona LaDuke, award-winning activist and six-time author situated at the intersection of Indigenous rights and environmental justice, will speak on Climate Change, Indigenous Resistance, and Forging a New Democracy: Thoughts for the Present Moment in the 2017 Massey Lectures in American Studies.
Winona LaDuke is an award-winning activist and six-time author situated at the intersection of Indigenous rights and environmental justice. A graduate of Antioch College and Harvard University and a two-time vice presidential candidate for the Green Party, she resides on the White Earth reservation in Northern Minnesota. LaDuke is founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, through which she and her community established one of the country’s first tribal land trusts. Most recently, LaDuke has been engaged in the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline through Honor the Earth, the organization of which she is executive director.
The William E. Massey, Sr., Lectures in American Studies at Harvard University have been endowed by an anonymous donor to honor Mr. Massey, the Virginia businessman and philanthropist. Mr. Massey was born in Ansted, West Virginia, in 1909 and attended the University of Richmond. At the age of twenty he began to work for the A.T. Massey Coal Company, and before his retirement in 1977 he served as chief executive officer of the company and chairman of the board. Mr. Massey was president of the Massey Foundation, a private philanthropic organization that supports cultural and educational institutions. He died on February 10, 1987.
Free and open to the public.
More information at http://americanstudies.unix.fas.harvard.edu/?cat=12
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Andrew Fisher, Big Hunger
Monday, May 1
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM EDT
MIT Press Bookstore, 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge,
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/andrew-fisher-big-hunger-tickets-33006541454
Cost: $0 – $23.95
The MIT Press Bookstore and Project Bread present anti-hunger activist Andrew Fisher discussing his book Big Hunger: The Unholy Alliance Between Corporate America and Anti-Hunger Groups, at 6:00 pm on Monday, May 1, at the Bookstore.
Food banks and food pantries have proliferated in response to economic emergency. This was meant to be a stopgap measure, but manufacturing jobs never came back, recession followed, and the “emergency food system” became an industry. In Big Hunger, Fisher argues that anti-hunger advocates are missing an essential element of the problem: economic inequality driven by low wages. He takes a critical look at the business of hunger and offers a new vision for the anti-hunger movement.
This event includes a book signing. Books will be on sale at the event for 20% off, or you can purchase an event ticket that includes a discounted book.
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Solar Geoengineering -- w/Taylor Milsal
Monday, May 1
6:00 PM
Le Laboratoire, 650 E Kendall Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/Long-Now-Boston/events/239018066/
Price: $15.00 /per person
Solar Geo is a controversial idea, existing on the sidelines for many years. Now, as the need to mitigate the effects of climate change becomes more urgent, we need to examine all of our tools, in order to help future generations solve this problem. Taylor will talk about new advances in solar geo, and the arguments in favor of field testing. The Long Now Boston community is invited to participate in this discussion and share your thoughts.
Taylor is a Managing Partner at Cotor, Inc., focused on developing technical and marketing solutions for business problems. Previously, Taylor was Co-Founder and CEO of San Francisco based innovation practice, Milsal McCaull. Under her leadership, the company's clients included a diverse portfolio, from startups to the world's largest corporations. Taylor has orchestrated over $500M in transactions for projects including megawatt-scale alternative energy installations and SaaS solutions for corporate clients and major retailers. She also founded Zephyr, a mechanical engineering and design firm, with clients including Apple and HP. She is also an investor in early stage biotech companies. Taylor co-founded and produced the first TEDx. Her hobby is collecting the world’s brightest people around a dinner table to share ideas.
*$15 admission includes free drink*
*Students free with school ID (no free drink)*
Doors open at 6pm. Program starts at 6:45pm.
*Walk-ups are welcome and students are free, but please, if you know you are going, and paying, register early so we can plan accordingly.*
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MIT Water Innovation Prize Final Pitch Night
Monday, May 1
6:00p–9:00p
MIT, Building E14-648, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Watch finalists compete in the MIT Water Innovation Prize for their chance to win up to $30K in innovation grants. See how these students' innovations address the world's water challenges and hear from our keynote speakers, Mark Duey, LATAM Regional Director at Water for People and Keri Waters, Co-Founder and CEO of Calliope.
Web site: http://www.mitwaterinnovation.org/
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship, Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, MIT Water Club
For more information, contact: Krithika Ramchander
waterclub-officers at mit.edu
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Pitch As Performance: How Music Can Teach Us How To Pitch Great Ideas
Monday, May 1
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
The Loft at Berklee, 921 Boylston Street, Boston
(On the third floor of 921 Boylston Building, take a sharp right out of elevator, up the stairs, past the BIRN and the Student Activities Center.)
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/Boston-Music-Technology-Group/events/239132617/
An idea is worth very little if it isn’t presented the right way. This Meetup will teach our members how to make a great pitch by analyzing how great performers convey their messages.
Schedule:
6:00pm Arrive and snag some hot pizza
6:15pm Performance by Berklee group, Migrant Motel
6:30pm Group discussion
What message did that performance convey?
What were the strengths of the performance?
How could it improve?
6:45pm Feedback and summary
7:00pm Activity
The activity will apply the lessons learned in the group discussions to the pitches. People interested in pitching will sit in tables and get feedback and help from other attendees and facilitators.
7:45pm Pitches and final feedback
8:15-9:00pm Open Network
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Walkaway: Cory Doctorow in conversation with Joi Ito
Monday, May 1
6:30 PM (Doors at 6:00)
Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store and the Cambridge Public Library welcome columnist and bestselling author CORY DOCTOROW—author of Little Brother, Homeland, In Real Life, and Information Doesn't Want to Be Free—and MIT Media Lab director JOI ITO for a discussion of Doctorow's latest novel, Walkaway.
About Walkaway
Hubert Vernon Rudolph Clayton Irving Wilson Alva Anton Jeff Harley Timothy Curtis Cleveland Cecil Ollie Edmund Eli Wiley Marvin Ellis Espinoza—known to his friends as Hubert, Etc—was too old to be at that Communist party.
But after watching the breakdown of modern society, he really has no where left to be—except amongst the dregs of disaffected youth who party all night and heap scorn on the sheep they see on the morning commute. After falling in with Natalie, an ultra-rich heiress trying to escape the clutches of her repressive father, the two decide to give up fully on formal society—and walk away.
After all, now that anyone can design and print the basic necessities of life—food, clothing, shelter—from a computer, there seems to be little reason to toil within the system.
It’s still a dangerous world out there, the empty lands wrecked by climate change, dead cities hollowed out by industrial flight, shadows hiding predators animal and human alike. Still, when the initial pioneer walkaways flourish, more people join them. Then the walkaways discover the one thing the ultra-rich have never been able to buy: how to beat death. Now it’s war—a war that will turn the world upside down.
Fascinating, moving, and darkly humorous, Walkaway is a multi-generation SF thriller about the wrenching changes of the next hundred years . . . and the very human people who will live their consequences.
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The Future of Nature: The Energy We Need
Monday, May 1
6:30PM
Microsoft New England Research and Development Center (NERD), 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/massachusetts/explore/ma-future-of-nature.xml?src=r.future
Cost: $10
The Nature Conservancy invites you to a talk and discussion exploring solutions to some of our most pressing environmental challenges as part of its Future of Nature Series.
With well-known energy sources like hydro, wind and solar at the forefront, many countries have made impressive strides transitioning to clean energy. Still, the challenges are immense: Consider that only 13% of electricity produced in the United States comes from renewable sources. As the essential push toward a low-carbon future continues, how do we balance benefits with potential risks to nature? What are the tools—technology, policy, markets and beyond—that will help us produce the clean energy we need in New England and globally, while protecting the health of our rivers and minimizing energy sprawl and other impacts? What role can lesser known renewable sources like biomass and tidal power play?
PANEL INCLUDES:
Katherine Hamilton, Partner, 38 North Solutions;
Jessika Trancik, Associate Professor of Energy Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology;
Nels Johnson, Director, North America Energy Program, The Nature Conservancy.
Networking reception 5:30pm, Talk 6:30–8pm. Registration required. Fee $10.
Contact Name: Cameron Bruns
cameron.bruns at tnc.org
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Clean Energy & Healthy Neighborhoods: Trees, Gas Leaks, Pipelines, Development, and YOU!
Monday, May 1
6:30 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
Lyric Stage Company of Boston, 140 Clarendon Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/free-forum-supporting-clean-energy-healthy-neighborhoods-tickets-32991323938
ACT I: Speakers will address problems and actions/solutions on the issues of methane gas leaks, health issues, development, climate change, trees, and environmental justice. Speakers include Rev. Mariama White-Hammond, Minister for Ecological Justice; Prof. Nathan Phillips, Dept. of Earth and Environment at Boston University; Curtis Nordgaard, MD a pediatrician who founded MA Health Care Providers against Fracked Gas; and Patrick Roche, Energy Coordinator, Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC). Moderated by Michael McCord, founder and Headmaster of the Learning Project Elementary School, there will be a brief Q&A session.
ACT II: A brief theatrical contribution to the discussion.
ACT III: Featuring 25 community advocacy groups sharing information and letting you know how you can become more involved and take ACTION. Groups such as Mass Energy Consumer Alliance, Greenovate Boston, Boston Climate Action Network (BCAN), Mothers Out Front/Downtown, HEET (Home Energy Efficiency Team), Stop W. Roxbury Lateral Pipeline/Resist The Pipeline, MASS Health Care Providers against Fracked Gas, Clean Water Action, RENEW Boston, 350 Mass for Better Future, Sierra Club Massachusetts, Conservation Law Foundation, Charles River Watershed Association, BYO Bag, Friends of the Public Garden, Emerald Necklace Conservancy, Environment Massachusetts, Arts Resource Collaborative for Kids (ARCK), West Roxbury Saves Energy, Beacon Hill Civic Association Green Committee, Codman Square Eco Innovation District, E2 Environmental Entrepreneurs/NRDC, No Fracked Gas in Mass, Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay (NABB -- Green Committee, Commonwealth Avenue Mall Committee, and Development Committee), Ellis South End Neighborhood Association, State Legistlators and Boston City Coucilors have been invited to participate. Check back here for updates!
Here’s your chance to Act Now at the Lyric Stage. We can work together to RAISE AWARENESS and TAKE ACTION
Join us for a lively and unique evening featuring a cash bar, free snacks, and chances to WIN great prizes!
PROGRAM WILL START PROMPTLY AT 6:30pm
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Tuesday, May 2
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BUnano Inaugural Symposium
Tuesday, May 2
10:00 AM – 4:00 PM EDT
BU, Metcalf Trustee Center, 1 Silber Way, 9th Floor, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bunano-inaugural-symposium-tickets-33551448285
BUnano will hold its inaugural Annual Symposium on May 2, 2017. The symposium will feature the keynote presentation by 2014 Nobel Prize winner for Chemistry, Stefan Hell. Professor Hell is the Director of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Director of Optical Nanoscopy at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, Germany. The Royal Swedish Academy has honored Stefan Hell with the Nobel Prize for his invention of the STED (Stimulated Emission Depletion) microscopy which has revolutionized light microscopy and proved particularly useful for investigating diseases and live cells. More info http://www.bu.edu/nano-bu/news/symposium/
There will be presentations from BUnano facutly members as well as poster presentations from our students. The symposium will finish with Terrier Tank - a panel featuring presentations top 4 entries of the Terrier Tank competition for $10,000 prize for best idea. More info at http://www.bu.edu/nano-bu/terriertank .
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Moral Urgency of Non-Violent Movements
Tuesday, May 2
10:30a–12:00p
MIT, Building E14, MIT Media Lab (Atrium), 3rd floor, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Marshall Ganz
Marshall Ganz grew up in Bakersfield, California, where his father was a rabbi and his mother, a teacher. He entered Harvard College in the fall of 1960, and left a year before graduating to volunteer with the 1964 Mississippi Summer Project.
Marshall found his calling as an organizer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and in 1965, he joined Cesar Chavez in his effort to unionize California farm workers. During 16 years with the United Farm Workers, Marshall gained experience in union, political, and community organizing. He became the UFW???s director of organizing and was elected to its national executive board on which he served for eight years.
During the 1980s, Marshall worked with grassroots groups to develop new organizing programs and he designed innovative voter mobilization strategies for local, state, and national electoral campaigns. In 1991, to deepen his intellectual understanding of his work, he returned to Harvard College where he completed his undergraduate degree in history and government. Marshall was awarded an MPA by the Kennedy School in 1993 and gained his PhD in sociology in 2000.
As a senior lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School of Government, he teaches, researches, and writes on leadership, organization, and strategy in social movements, civic associations, and politics.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values, MIT Media Lab Conversations Series, https://www.media.mit.edu/events/mltalks-marshall-ganz/
For more information, contact: Laura Serreta
laura_s at media.mit.edu
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Earth System Analysis and Prediction in NASA's GMAO: from Weather to Seasons
Tuesday, May 2
11:00a–12:00p
MIT, Building 54-1827 (the tallest building on campus), Cambridge
Speaker: Steven Pawson, Chief of the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (NASA Goddard)
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS)
For more information, contact: Darius Collazo
(617) 253-0251
dcollazo at mit.edu
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The Quantified Worker
Tuesday, May 2
12:00 pm
Harvard, Wasserstein Hall, Milstein East C (Room 2036, Second Floor), 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP required to attend in person at https://cyber.harvard.edu/events/2017/luncheon/05/Ajunwa#RSVP
Event will be live webcast at https://cyber.harvard.edu/events/2017/luncheon/05/Ajunwa at 12:00 pm
What are the rights of the worker in a society that seems to privilege technological innovation over equality and privacy? How does the law protect worker privacy and dignity given technological advancements that allow for greater surveillance of workers? What can we expect for the future of work; should privacy be treated as merely an economic good that could be exchanged for the benefit of employment?
About Ifeoma
I am currently a Fellow at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard for the 2016-2017 year. I will be an Assistant Professor at Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations School (ILR), (with affiliations in Sociology and Law) starting July, 2017.
I hold a Ph.D. from the Sociology Department of Columbia University in the City of New York (emphasis on Organizational Theory and Law and Society). My doctoral research on reentry was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).
I am interested in how the law and private firms respond to job applicants or employees perceived as “risky.” I look at the legal parameters for the assessment of such risk and also the organizational behavior in pursuit of risk reduction by private firms. I examine the sociological processes in regards to how such risk is constructed and the discursive ways such risk assessment is deployed in the maintenance of inequality. I also examine ethical issues arising from how firms off-set risk to employees.
My dissertation was an ethnography of a reentry organization that catered to the formerly incarcerated. In the sum of my published research, I’ve focused on three populations: 1) the formerly incarcerated, 2) carriers of genetic disease, and, 3) workers with perceived unhealthy lifestyles (obesity, smoking, etc.). Thus, my research is at the intersection of organizational theory, management/business law, privacy, health law, and antidiscrimination law.
My most recent article, Limitless Worker Surveillance, with Kate Crawford and Jason Schultz is forthcoming from the California Law Review. The Article has been downloaded more than 2,000 times on SSRN and was endorsed by the NYTimes Editorial Board. In addition to the California Law Review, my articles have been published in the Harvard Business Review, the Fordham Law Review, the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, the Ohio State Law Review, and in the Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics, among others.
I have a book contract with Cambridge University Press for a book (“The Quantified Worker,” forthcoming 2018) that will examine the role of technology in the workplace and its effects on management practices as moderated by employment and privacy laws.
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Fukushima Revitalization: TEPCO's Responsibility and Local Community Development
WHEN Tuesday, May 2, 2017, 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) Yoshiyuki Ishizaki, Executive Vice President, Deputy General Manager of Nuclear Power & Plant Siting Division, and General Manager of Fukushima Division, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings.
Daniel Aldrich, Professor of Political Science, and Director, Security and Resilience Program, Northeastern University.
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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DesignX Lecture Series: Ryan Salvas, Skanska USA
Tuesday, May 2
12:30p–2:00p
MIT, Building 9-255, 105 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Ryan Salvas
Ryan Salvas, Director of Innovation at Skanska USA will dive into his experiences of listening, designing, and building, through a series of vignettes that outline innovations that help people do better. From helping architects enjoy their work more, to empowering superintendents to run safer building sites, Ryan discusses innovation through the eyes of the people he works with every day.
Entrepreneurs in Design Lecture Series
DesignX, the venture accelerator of the School of Architecture and Planning, is presenting talks by entrepreneurs and leaders in innovation across the design fields.
Web site: https://designxlectures.eventbrite.com
Open to: the general public
Cost: 0
Tickets: https://designxlectures.eventbrite.com
Sponsor(s): DesignX
For more information, contact: Gilad Rosenzweig
617-999-5370
giladr at mit.edu
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Life of a Klansman: A Lecture by Edward Ball
WHEN Tuesday, May 2, 2017, 4 – 5 p.m.
WHERE Radcliffe, Knafel Center, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S) Edward Ball, 2016–2017 Beatrice Shepherd Blane Fellow, Radcliffe Institute; Nonfiction Writer
COST Free
CONTACT INFO events at radcliffe.harvard.edu
DETAILS At the Radcliffe Institute, Edward Ball is investigating the life of a fighter in the Ku Klux Klan in Louisiana, a member of Ball’s own family, and the role of a participant in the race terror that spread through the South after the end of the Civil War.
In this lecture, Ball will talk about his research and book in progress, which is a biography of a plain Southerner and an exploration of the roots of white supremacy.
LINK https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2017-edward-ball-fellow-presentation
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A Writer and Her Daughters: The Afterlife of Irène Némirovsky's Suite Française
WHEN Tuesday, May 2, 2017, 4:15 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, 27 Kirkland Street, Adolphus Busch Hall at Cabot Way, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Jews in Modern Europe Study Group
SPEAKER(S)Susan Rubin Suleiman, C. Douglas Dillon Professor of the Civilization of France, Harvard University; Professor of Comparative Literature, Harvard University; Faculty Associate, CES, Harvard University
CONTACT INFO Anna Popiel, apopiel at fas.harvard.edu
DETAILS The publication of Irène Némirovsky’s posthumous bestseller Suite Française in 2004, more than sixty years after the author’s death in Auschwitz, has acquired an almost legendary status. Susan Rubin Suleiman will discuss the reality behind the legend, and outline the ways in which Némirovsky’s “rebirth” as an author after being forgotten for many years transformed the lives of her daughters and others descendants.
LINK https://ces.fas.harvard.edu/events/2017/05/jews-in-modern-europe-study-group-tba
Editorial Comment: Nemirovsky is a fine writer with a fascinating life story. Success in the 1920s and 1930s in France, right of center politics and a hint of self-hating Judaism, with an unfinished book discovered and published decades after her one way journey to the Nazi death camps.
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The Next Energy Economy: Grassroots Strategies to Mitigate Global Climate Change and How We Move Ahead
Tuesday, May 2
5:30PM
Harvard, Sackler Auditorium, 485 Broadway, Cambridge
Winona LaDuke, award-winning activist and six-time author situated at the intersection of Indigenous rights and environmental justice, will speak on Climate Change, Indigenous Resistance, and Forging a New Democracy: Thoughts for the Present Moment in the 2017 Massey Lectures in American Studies.
Winona LaDuke is an award-winning activist and six-time author situated at the intersection of Indigenous rights and environmental justice. A graduate of Antioch College and Harvard University and a two-time vice presidential candidate for the Green Party, she resides on the White Earth reservation in Northern Minnesota. LaDuke is founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, through which she and her community established one of the country’s first tribal land trusts. Most recently, LaDuke has been engaged in the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline through Honor the Earth, the organization of which she is executive director.
The William E. Massey, Sr., Lectures in American Studies at Harvard University have been endowed by an anonymous donor to honor Mr. Massey, the Virginia businessman and philanthropist. Mr. Massey was born in Ansted, West Virginia, in 1909 and attended the University of Richmond. At the age of twenty he began to work for the A.T. Massey Coal Company, and before his retirement in 1977 he served as chief executive officer of the company and chairman of the board. Mr. Massey was president of the Massey Foundation, a private philanthropic organization that supports cultural and educational institutions. He died on February 10, 1987.
Free and open to the public.
More information at http://americanstudies.unix.fas.harvard.edu/?cat=12
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The Social Innovation Forum presents our 14th annual Social Innovator Showcase
Tuesday, May 2
5:30-9:00 pm
MIT, Building E14, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
The Social Innovator Showcase is an opportunity for potential funders and supporters to meet all of our 2017 Social Innovators and to learn about their approaches to solving some of our community's toughest social issues.
For more information:
Visit our website at http://www.socialinnovationforum.org/social-innovator-showcase
or contact us at rsvp at socialinnovationforum.org.
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What Makes Somerville So Sustainable?
Tuesday, May 2
6:00 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
Cambridge Innovation Center - Venture Cafe, 1 Broadway , Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/what-makes-somerville-so-sustainable-tickets-33545398189
Cost: $8 - $12
Let's talk about what cities are doing to activate people and places for a more sustainable future. Somerville, Massachusetts, under the leadership of Mayor Joseph Curtatone, has been hard at work for over a decade on dozens of initiatives that make the city and its neighborhoods a great place to live.
Our Speaker
First inaugurated in 2004, and now in his seventh term, Joseph A. Curtatone is the City’s longest-serving chief executive. A 1984 graduate of Somerville High School, he earned his B.A. from Boston College in 1990, a J.D. from New England School of Law in 1994, and a Mid-Career Masters in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School in 2011.
As Mayor, he has implemented a wide range of reforms and new programs that have earned both him and the City widespread recognition. Boston Globe Magazine declared Somerville “the best-run city in Massachusetts.” The national Arbor Day Foundation has designated Somerville a “Tree City” for 20 years even though 77% of the city’s surface is impermeable. America’s Promise Alliance ranked it among its “100 Best Communities for Youth.” An “Initiative on Cities” survey of mayors found Somerville to be one of the 15 most influential cities in the country -- and the only one with a population under 100,000. The National Civic League named it an “All-America City” in 2009 and again in 2015. Somerville consistently tops lists of the “Most Walkable” and “Most Bikeable” cities in the United States.
Mayor Curtatone has become a national leader in the system of better management through measurement. Delegations from other Massachusetts communities – and from cities as far away as Ireland and Korea – regularly visit Somerville for briefings on the city’s SomerStat program, a data-driven performance management system modeled on Baltimore’s CitiSTAT initiative.
Under Curtatone’s leadership, Somerville has also earned national recognition for its successful joint effort with Tufts University to implement “Shape Up Somerville,” an effective program to reduce the incidence of childhood obesity among the city’s elementary school children, which was lauded by First Lady Michelle Obama during the launch of her "Let's Move" initiative.
Join us in May to learn more about Somerville's progress and what's in store for the sustainable future.
We hope to see you there! - Carol, Holly, and Tilly
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The Reality of CO2’s Influence on Sea-Level and Weather Events - Greater Boston Tea Party
Tuesday, May 2
6:30 PM to 9:30 PM
Lir Irish Pub & Restaurant, 903 Boylston Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/Boston-Tea-Party/events/238552682/
Tom Wysmuller will be discussing The Reality of CO2’s Influence on Sea-Level and Weather Events.
Thomas Wysmuller trained as a meteorologist at New York University and at the Royal Dutch Weather Bureau in Amsterdam. He then worked for five years at NASA before, during, and after the moon landings. A fuller biography can be found here at Heartland's International Conferences on Climate Change website (ICCC 12 being held March 23-24 in Washington DC).
Climate changes. Yes. But is it driven by human activity - is it "man made global warming?" This debate has been going on for decades, and it manifests itself in our governments (in)sincere attempt to "never let a [fabricated] crisis go to waste."
Mayor Marty Walsh and former Secretary of State John Kerry announced last June that Boston would host a climate summit between the US and China. (Mayor Walsh, Secretary Kerry Announce Boston Will Host 2017 US-China Climate Leaders Summit, City of Boston).
Boston has its own "Climate-Ready Boston" initiative to deal with the effects of Climate Change. In particular, they have Climate Projections (link) prepared by their own working group.
Tom Wysmuller will attempt to bring some sanity to the hyperbole which is commonplace in the political discussion and media today. With a change in administrations, President Trump has already removed references to Climate Change from the White House web site. That is a good start, but the debate (and most likely protest) will continue unabated.
This is a first in a series of discussions we will be hosting. Stay Tuned!!
Traditional Boston Meeting notes: We will again have a social hour at 6:30 pm and have the meeting begin at 7:30 pm.
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Cultural Intersections in Music Therapy: Music, Health, and the Person
Tuesday, May 2
6:30 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
Lesley University, Washburn Lounge, Brattle Campus,10 Phillips Place, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cultural-intersections-in-music-therapy-music-health-and-the-personbook-launch-tickets-33902142220?aff=es2
This is the first comprehensive textbook on multicultural dimensions of music therapy. The editors pass the literary microphone to the authors—all music therapists who have found belonging and identity in diverse cultures. The authors examine how music therapy is relevant within an individual’s cultural context through personal and scholarly explorations.
The chapters are separated into three sections:
1) understanding oppression and bias;
2) minority cultures within North America; and
3) inclusive music therapy practice and education.
This focused examination prompts the reader to listen to myriad minority voices and engage in cultural dialogues. Light refreshments will be served. Copies of the book will be available for purchase, or you may review and purchase the book at http://www.barcelonapublishers.com/multicultural-intersections-music-health-the-person
Free and Open to the Public ~ Walk-ins welcome!
Any questions, please contact Beth Tallett at etallett at lesley.edu
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At the Broken Places: A Mother and Trans Son Pick Up the Pieces
Tuesday, May 2
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes award-winning author and professor MARY COLLINS and writer and trans advocate DONALD COLLINS for a discussion of their book, At the Broken Places: A Mother and Trans Son Pick Up the Pieces.
About At the Broken Places
In this collaborative memoir, a parent and a transgender son recount wrestling with their differences as Donald Collins undertook medical-treatment options to better align his body with his gender identity.
As a parent, Mary Collins didn’t agree with her trans son’s decision to physically alter his body, although she supported his right to realize himself as a person. Raw and uncensored, each explains her or his emotional mindset at the time: Mary felt she had lost a daughter; Donald activated his “authentic self.” Both battled to assert their rights. A powerful memoir and resource, At the Broken Places offers a road map for families in transition.
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James Kirchick - The End Of Europe
Tuesday, May 2
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
Harvard Coop, 1400 Mass Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/james-kirchick-the-end-of-europe-tickets-33628202860
Once the world’s bastion of liberal, democratic values, Europe is now having to confront demons it thought it had laid to rest. The old pathologies of anti-Semitism, populist nationalism, and territorial aggression are threatening to tear the European postwar consensus apart. In riveting dispatches from this unfolding tragedy, James Kirchick shows us the shallow disingenuousness of the leaders who pushed for “Brexit;” examines how a vast migrant wave is exacerbating tensions between Europeans and their Muslim minorities; explores the rising anti-Semitism that causes Jewish schools and synagogues in France and Germany to resemble armed bunkers; and describes how Russian imperial ambitions are destabilizing nations from Estonia to Ukraine. With President Trump now threatening to abandon America's traditional role as upholder of the liberal world order and guarantor of the continent's security, Europe may be alone in dealing with these unprecedented challenges.
Based on extensive firsthand reporting, this book is a provocative, disturbing look at a continent in unexpected crisis.
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Rabobank-MIT Food and Agribusiness Innovation Prize Final Pitch Event
Tuesday, May 2
7:00 PM – 10:00 PM EDT
MIT Building E52, 6th Floor, Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rabobank-mit-food-and-agribusiness-innovation-prize-final-pitch-event-tickets-33400996279
Join us for the final pitch event and award ceremony of the second annual Rabobank-MIT Food and Agribusiness Innovation Prize on Tuesday, May 2nd from 7:00-10:00 PM in the Samberg Conference Center on the 6th floor of MIT building E52.
The seven finalist teams for this year’s Prize, representing an inspiring and diverse range of ideas, have been paired with expert mentors and are busy refining their business plans. On May 2nd, they’ll pitch to compete for $25,000 in prize money,RaboResearch advisory support, introductions to Rabobank global offices and corporates in Rabobank’s network, airfare to and participation in Rabobank’s F&A Next event in Holland, and other in-kind and start-up support services throughout the year.
Come to learn more about their ideas, hear from our keynote speaker and celebrate with the finalists in a reception with refreshments after the winners are announced. We look forward to seeing you on May 2nd!
You can find more information about the Prize on our website or send us an email (food-ag-prize at mit.edu) if you have any questions.
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Wednesday, May 3
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Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Reveals About Who We Really Are
Wednesday, May 3
12:00pm - 1:30pm
Harvard Business School, Cotting Conference Room, Cotting House, Allston
Editorial Comment: I am assuming the Conference Room is in Cotting House but can’t be sure from the information available at HBS online
Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, The New York Times and Wharton, University of Pennsylvania
Abstract: How much sex do people really have? Does advertising work? How many Americans are racist? Is America experiencing a hidden back-alley abortion crisis? Can you game the stock market? Does violent entertainment increase the rate of violent crime? What should you say on a first date if you want a second? What’s the best place to raise your kids? Do parents treat sons differently from daughters? What makes a story go viral? How many people actually read the books they buy? In this ground-breaking work, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, a Harvard-trained economist, former Google data scientist, and New York Times writer, argues that much of what we thought about people has been dead wrong. The reason? People lie, to friends, lovers, doctors, surveys—and themselves. However, we no longer need to rely on what people tell us. New data from the internet — the traces of information that billions of people leave on Google, social media, dating, and even pornography sites — finally reveals the truth. By analyzing this digital goldmine, we can now learn what people really think, what they really want, and what they really do. Sometimes, the new data will make you laugh out loud. Sometimes, the new data will shock you. Sometimes, the new data will deeply disturb you. But, always, this new data will make you think. Everybody Lies combines the informed analysis of Nate Silver’s Signal and the Noise, the storytelling of Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, and the wit and fun of Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt’s Freakonomics in a book that will change the way you view the world. There is almost no limit to what can be learned about human nature from Big Data — provided, that is, you ask the right questions.
Bio: Seth Stephens-Davidowitz is a contributing op-ed writer for the New York Times, a lecturer at Wharton, and a former Google data scientist. He received a BA in philosophy from Stanford, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa, and a PhD in economics from Harvard. His research—which uses new, big data sources to uncover hidden behaviors and attitudes—has appeared in The Journal of Public Economics and other prestigious publications. He lives in New York City.
A buffet lunch will be available at 11:45 a.m., and the seminar will begin at 12:00 p.m.
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Making the Unipolar Moment: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Rise of the Post-Cold War Order
Wednesday, May 3
12:00p–1:30p
MIT, Building E40-496, 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Hal Brands
SSP Wednesday Seminar
Web site: https://ssp.mit.edu/events/2017/making-the-unipolar-moment
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies
For more information, contact: Elina Hamilton
617-253-7529
elinah at mit.edu
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Engineered Nanomaterials in Agriculture: Implications and Applications
WHEN Wednesday, May 3, 2017, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
WHERE T.H. Chan Harvard School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Avenue, Building. 1, Room 1302, Boston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR HSPH-NIEHS Nanosafety Center
SPEAKER(S) Jason White, Ph.D., Head of the Department of Analytical Chemistry, Vice Director of The Connecticut Agricultural Experimentation Station, New Haven, CT
CONTACT INFO agalvin at hsph.harvard.edu
DETAILS Given the current and future stresses on global food production from a changing climate and increasing population, novel and innovative approaches are needed to ensure food security and safety. Nanotechnology and nano-enabled precision agriculture have the ability to provide such solutions. However, the safe and sustainable use of nanotechnology in agriculture will be critical to long term success. This presentation will cover recent work on nanotechnology in agriculture at the CT Agricultural Experiment Station, including projects on both implications and applications. In addition, future perspectives on the type of research that must be done to ensure the sustainable use of nanotechnology in agriculture will be presented.
Biographical Sketch: I am currently Vice Director of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, as well as Head of the Department of Analytical Chemistry. I am also State Chemist. I received a B.S. in Ecology from Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA in 1992. I received my Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology from Cornell University in 1997. I did a one-year post-doctoral position at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven CT from 1997-1998 in the Department of Soil and Water. I also have adjunct status at the University of Texas-El Paso, University of Massachusetts, and Post University. I am Managing Editor for the International Journal of Phytoremediation, Immediate Past President of the International Phytotechnology Society, on the Editorial Advisory Board (SAB) of Environmental Science and Technology and Environmental Science and Technology Letters, and on the editorial boards of Environmental Pollution and NanoImpact. My primary research interests include nanotoxicology and food safety.
LINK https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nanosafety/upcoming-nanolecture-series/
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Turkey's Civil Rights Movement: Segregation, Emancipation, and Democracy Indices
WHEN Wednesday, May 3, 2017, 12:30 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Fainsod Room, Littauer Building, Room 324, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Middle East Initiative
SPEAKER(S) Sener Akturk, Associate Professor, Department of International Relations, Koç University
Moderator: Kristin Fabbe, Assistant Professor of Business Administration, Business, Government, and International Economy Unit, Harvard Business School
COST Free and open to the public
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xTalk: Innovative Approaches for Enhancing the 21st Century Student Experience
Wednesday, May 3
3:00p–4:00p
MIT, Buidling 10-105, Bush Room, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Hamish Coates
Everyone engaged in higher education wants students to succeed. Yet existing research into student success is vexed and at risk of stalling. Entrenched rituals for garnering evidence are yielding diminishing returns. Dated myths are used to identify who students are and how they experience higher education. People lack data to help plan the really meaningful experiences which flowed serendipitously in smaller and more regulated systems.
Drawing from 15 years working with hundreds of institutions in around 50 countries, this seminar presents insights from a work program executed to bring about sustained enhancement of the student experience. It concentrates on findings from recent Australian innovation which has defined new concepts for understanding higher education students, identified new data sources and assessment approaches, and engaged institutions in enhancement work and new conversations about students.
Hamish Coates is Professor of Higher Education at the Centre for the Study of Higher Education (CSHE), University of Melbourne.
xTalks: Digital Discourses
The xTalks series provides a forum to facilitate awareness, deep understanding and transference of educational innovations at MIT and elsewhere. We hope to foster a community of educators, researchers, and technologists engaged in developing and supporting effective learning experiences through online learning environments and other digital technologies.
Web site: http://odl.mit.edu/news-and-events/events/hamish-coates-innovative-approaches-enhancing-21st-century-student-experience
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): xTalks: Digital Discourses
For more information, contact: Molly Ruggles
617-324-9185
xtalks-info at mit.edu
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Hurricane/Climate Interactions in the Common Era: A Tempestuous Two Millennia
Wednesday, May 3
4:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building 54-915, (the tallest building on campus), Cambridge
Speaker: Jeff Donnelly, WHOI
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS)
For more information, contact: Brandon Milardo
bmilardo at mit.edu
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Global Sustainable Bioenergy
Wednesday, May 3
4:00PM TO 5:30PM
Harvard, Room BL-1, Weil Town Hall, Belfer Building, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://belfer.wufoo.com/forms/z1fs7ila1ydtwfe/
Across energy, agricultural and forestry landscapes, the production of biomass for energy has emerged as a controversial driver of land use change and climate mitigation. The Environmental and Natural Resources Program host a panel discussion on the myths and realities of the bioenergy expansion and new policy strategies to promote bioenergy in the context of the sustainable development goals.
Panelists: Dr. Jeremy Woods, Senior Lecturer in Bioenergy, Imperial College London (U.K.); Co-Director, Imperial College Center for Energy Policy and Technology
Professor Lee Rybeck Lynd, Distinguished Professor of Environmental Engineering Design, Dartmouth; Executive Committee Chair, Global Sustainable Bioenergy Initiative
Moderated by: Alexandre Strapasson, Giorgio Ruffolo Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Sustainability Science, Environment and Natural Resources Program
Introductory comments by: Henry Lee, Director, Environment and Natural Resources Program
Registration required. Free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.
Contact Name: Amanda Sardonis
amanda_sardonis at hks.harvard.edu
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Native American Women: Finding the Voice to Safeguard Mother Earth
Wednesday, May 3
4:30PM
Harvard, Sackler Auditorium, 485 Broadway, Cambridge
Winona LaDuke, award-winning activist and six-time author situated at the intersection of Indigenous rights and environmental justice, will speak on Climate Change, Indigenous Resistance, and Forging a New Democracy: Thoughts for the Present Moment in the 2017 Massey Lectures in American Studies.
Winona LaDuke is an award-winning activist and six-time author situated at the intersection of Indigenous rights and environmental justice. A graduate of Antioch College and Harvard University and a two-time vice presidential candidate for the Green Party, she resides on the White Earth reservation in Northern Minnesota. LaDuke is founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, through which she and her community established one of the country’s first tribal land trusts. Most recently, LaDuke has been engaged in the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline through Honor the Earth, the organization of which she is executive director.
The William E. Massey, Sr., Lectures in American Studies at Harvard University have been endowed by an anonymous donor to honor Mr. Massey, the Virginia businessman and philanthropist. Mr. Massey was born in Ansted, West Virginia, in 1909 and attended the University of Richmond. At the age of twenty he began to work for the A.T. Massey Coal Company, and before his retirement in 1977 he served as chief executive officer of the company and chairman of the board. Mr. Massey was president of the Massey Foundation, a private philanthropic organization that supports cultural and educational institutions. He died on February 10, 1987.
Free and open to the public.
More informationa at http://americanstudies.unix.fas.harvard.edu/?cat=12
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The Future of Manufacturing, the Workforce, and Society: Panel Discussion
Wednesday, May 3
4:30p–6:30p
MIT, Building 34-101, 50 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Reception to follow in Stata R&D Pub
Speaker: Panelists include Professors Suzanne Berger, Amy Glasmeier, Elisabeth Reynolds, and Sanjay Sarma.
Please join us for a panel discussion on the future of the American workforce, with a focus on advanced manufacturing, workforce education solutions, and social disruption due to technological innovation. The panel will be followed by a reception to encourage additional discussion and networking (please bring 21+ ID). Co-hosted by the MIT Science Policy Initiative and the Graduate Student Council External Affairs Board.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Science Policy Initiative, GSC EAB
For more information, contact: Angela Phillips
a_phill at mit.edu
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AL KOOPER Composer Forum
Wednesday, May 3
5:00p–6:00p
MIT, Building 14e-109, MIT Lewis Music Library, 160 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Rock guitarist, songwriter, producer, educator, and musician Hall of famer.
Web site: mta.mit.edu
Open to: the general public
Cost: FREE
Sponsor(s): Music and Theater Arts, MIT Libraries
For more information, contact: Clarise Snyder
617-253-3210
mta-request at mit.edu
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Why would Tesla Motors partner with some Canadian? Extending the lifetime of lithium-ion batteries from a few years to many decades
Wednesday, May 3
5:00p–6:00p
MIT, Building 66-110, 25 Ames Street Cambridge
RSVP at http://bit.ly/mitei-dahn
Speaker: Jeff Dahn
Jeff Dahn will discuss his research group's new 5-year research partnership with Tesla Motors - the company's only university partnership. Lithium-ion batteries are used in Tesla's vehicle and energy storage products, and Dahn's research focuses on extending the lifetime of lithium-ion cells into the range of multiple decades, which is critical for energy storage applications. The key question that Dahn will address at this seminar is: How can one be "sure" a lithium-ion cell will last many decades in experiments that last only a few weeks?
MITEI Seminar Series
A year-long series of seminars given by leaders in the energy field hosted by the MIT Energy Initiative and sponsored by IHS-CERA.
Web site: http://bit.ly/mitei-dahn
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
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What's Real about VR/AR?
Wednesday, May 3
5:30p–8:00p
MIT, Buidling E15-070, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/event/whats-real-vrar/
Cost: $0 - $45
After much initial excitement, the pundits are starting to suggest that AR/VR is all hype.
Some are even questioning if the market exists!
How do we begin to process this information? How do we assess the possibility of entrepreneurial opportunities in this space?
Are we really just a step away from Star Trek's "Holodeck" or are those industry watchers right? Is VR/AR already dead?
Join us on May 3 for a deep dive into the "reality" part of augmented, virtual and mixed reality.
How are entrepreneurs overcoming obstacles in this space? What business models are likely to take hold?
Come meet and learn from some of the entrepreneurs who are creating the applications, hardware and development support systems. Experts who write about and finance this exciting new digital medium will also share their insights.
And you can try out some of the latest VR/AR hardware systems and software before and after the panel session, including VirZoom and HoloLens applications.
Our panelists include:
Sarah Downey, Principal, Accomplice VC
Ross Finiman, CEO and Founder, AR Spirit
Neil Gupta, a VR/ AR enthusiast and a key organizer of the Boston AR and VR Meetup groups
Justin Lutz, Lead Innovation Technologist, The Primacy Group
Eric Malafeew, Co-Founder and CTO and of Virzoom
Web site: http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/event/whats-real-vrar/
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free for Students; $20 MITEF Members: $45 non-members
Tickets: online
Sponsor(s): MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge
For more information, contact: Amy Goggins
617-253-3937
http://entforumcambridge@mit.edu
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I’ve Known Rivers: Slave Resistance and Environmental Consciousness
WHEN Wednesday, May 3, 2017, 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Tsai Auditorium S010, CGIS South, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Ethics, Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences, Special Events, Sustainability
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Environment Forum at the Mahindra Center is convened by Robin Kelsey (Dean of Arts and Humanities, Harvard University) and Ian Jared Miller (Professor of History, Harvard University).
SPEAKER(S) Tiya Miles, University of Michigan
CONTACT INFO humcentr at fas.harvard.edu
617-495-0739
LINK http://mahindrahumanities.fas.harvard.edu/content/“i’ve-known-rivers”-slave-resistance-and-environmental-consciousness
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Understanding the Five Star Movement and the Role of Direct Democracy in Italy
WHEN Wednesday, May 3, 2017, 6 – 7:15 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Wiener Auditorium, Taubman Building, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation
Co-sponsored by the Yes Europe Lab
SPEAKER(S) Luigi Di Maio, Vice President of the Chamber of Deputies in the Italian Parliament and a leader of the Five Star Movement
COST Free and open to the public
DETAILS The Ash Center invites you to a public discussion about empowering citizens through direct democracy with Luigi Di Maio, Vice President of the Chamber of Deputies in the Italian Parliament and a leader of the Five Star Movement, Italy's leading opposition political party. Archon Fung, Ford Foundation Professor of Democracy and Citizenship and HKS Academic Dean will provide opening remarks. This event is free and open to the public. Registration is not required.
LINK http://ash.harvard.edu/event/conversation-luigi-di-maio-understanding-five-star-movement-and-role-direct-democracy
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The Role of Philanthropy in the Future of Our City
Wednesday, May 3
6-8pm
Historic Faneuil Hall, 2nd Floor, Great Hall (Boston, MA 02109)
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/forums-on-the-future-tickets-32636238869
Sacha Pfeiffer, Moderator, The Boston Globe
Jim Canales, Barr Foundation
Paul Grogan, The Boston Foundation
Jocelyn Sargent, Hyams Foundation
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Design in Boston: Creating a More Connected City
Wednesday, May 3
6:30 – 8:30 pm EDT
GA Boston, 125 Summer Street 13th Floor, Boston
RSVP at https://generalassemb.ly/education/design-in-boston-creating-a-more-connected-city/boston/34927
In celebration of ArtWeek, General Assembly and the City of Boston are pairing up to bring together designers, entrepreneurs, and policy makers who are helping to define and redesign what makes for a better urban lifestyle in Boston.
Why it Matters?
We will be discussing everything from third spaces and urban planning to food delivery and mobile apps - we'll discuss what it means to be a Bostonian today and what living in Boston will look like in the future. Join us for a lively conversation followed by plenty of time for connecting.
By signing up for this event, you're giving our sponsors permission to contact you about upcoming events and promotions.
In Partnership With:
ArtWeek Boston
Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics
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Left of the Left - Anatole Dolgoff
Wednesday, May 3
7:00 p.m.
Somerville Public Library, 79 Highland Avenue, Somerville
Come hear Anatole Dolgoff speak on his new book, /Left of the Left: My Memories of Sam Dolgoff/.
Sam and Esther Dolgoff were IWW and anarchist militants through much of the 20th century and devoted their lives to struggles of the working class. They were colorful characters and their son Anatole is a skilled story teller. The book captures the times.
Copies will be available for purchase.
Sponsored by Boston Labor Solidarity Committee (617) 702-2784
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The Challenge of a Public Native Plant Garden: Maintenance, Interpretation, and Compromise
Wednesday, May 3
7:00pm to 8:30pm
Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge
Michael Hagen, Curator of the Native Plant Garden at the NYBG
The New York Botanical Garden’s new Native Plant Garden opened in 2013. Designed by Oehme van Sweden, it includes a diversity of microclimates on 3.5 acres of varied terrain with a planting plan of almost 100,000 native trees, shrubs, wildflowers, ferns, and grasses. Curator Michael Hagen will explain how this garden is successfully maintained, and their criteria for what constitutes “native” in species selection and the use of cultivars. This very public landscape presents native plants in a contemporary style, with an emphasis on aesthetics over recreating habitat. Michael will share his observations about how the public perceives and responds to the value of this native plant palette, along with ideas for inspiring others to “go native.”
Michael Hagen is Curator of both the Native Plant Garden and the Rock Garden at NYBG. He previously served as Staff Horticulturist for over 11 years at Stonecrop Gardens in Cold Spring, New York and was Garden Manager at Rocky Hills in Mt. Kisco, a preservation project of the Garden Conservancy.
More information at http://grownativemass.org/programs/eveningswithexperts
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The Cancer Treatment Playbook: Why we still don’t have a cure
Wednesday, May 3
7pm - 9pm
Harvard, Pfizer Hall, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge
This event will be streamed.
More information at http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/seminar-series/
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Thursday, May 4
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Mapping the Crisis: Bottom Up Approaches to Displacement Data
Thursday, May 4
3:00p–6:00p
MIT, Building 9-255, 105 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Anti Eviction Mapping Project
As part of the series of discussions DRAN has held this semester examining strategies to address displacement, we are pleased to invite you to a panel presentation and discussion on May 4th "Mapping the Crisis: Bottom Up Approaches to Displacement Data" with guests the Anti Eviction Mapping Project, one of the nations most innovative project's of data visualization, data analysis and narrative collection examining the displacement crisis, its impacts and its drivers. More details on their work below.
This event is a part of longer term work DRAN is engaged in examining ???data + displacement???. The first half of the program will be a presentation and discussion examining the work and methodologies of the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project; the second half of the program will be an interactive discussion on the considerations of data + displacement- what opportunities can innovative approaches to data collection/visualization bring to addressing the crisis? What challenges are faced? What ethical implications are there? - to collaboratively set an agenda for a convening we hope to hold in the fall.
The Anti-Eviction Mapping Project is a data-visualization, data analysis, and storytelling collective documenting the dispossession of San Francisco Bay Area residents in the wake of the Tech Boom 2.0.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Department of Urban Studies and Planning, School of Architecture and Planning
For more information, contact: Diana Xylina Bell
617-823-1755
dianaxb at mit.edu
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TREX 2017: Linking soil nutrient status with crop health using UAV-remote sensing, and examining volcanic smog (Vog) using low-cost sensors
Thursday, May 4
4:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building 48-316, 15 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Dr. Ben Kocar, MIT CEE
A team of undergraduates will present results from two studies performed on the island of Hawaii as a part of MITs CEE field-based subject Traveling Research Environmental eXperiences (TREX, 1.091/1.092). This year the students are focused on two projects: (1) examining and linking soil nutrient status with plant health, aided by the use of remote sensing data gathered with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and (2) the measurements of gaseous sulfur dioxide (SO2), a major component of volcanically-derived smog (Vog), using a network of home-built, low-cost and portable sensors. The students will present their measurements and analysis of crop nutrients, remote sensing data, and sulfur dioxide, and discuss their environmental implications. This years trip is led by MIT CEE faculty members Ben Kocar, a soil and water biogeochemist, and atmospheric chemists Jesse Kroll and Colette Heald.
Environmental Sciences Seminar Series
Hosted by: Otto Cordero (ottox at mit.edu) Serguei Saavedra (sersaa at mit.edu)
Web site: https://sites.google.com/site/sergueisaavedra/seminar
Open to: the general public
Cost: 0.00
Sponsor(s): Civil and Environmental Engineering
For more information, contact: Denise Stewart
6172588685
dstewart at mit.edu
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The Contingencies of Comparison: Rethinking Comparative Media
Thursday, May 4
5:00p–6:30p
MIT, Building 56-114, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
Brian Larkin and Stefan Andriopoulos draw on the concept of comparison to examine how the same technologies work in radically different ways across the globe, juxtaposing media practices in Africa, Latin America, and Asia as well as in Western centers. There is an assumption that media, whether print, cinema, or digital media, were developed in the West and later exported to other places which were then in the place of "catching up" with a media history that had already been established. But we know that cinema arrived in Shanghai and Calcutta at the same time as it did in London and evolved in those locations to produce different institutional and aesthetic forms. We also know that currently Seoul is far more "wired" than New York and that Lagos is developing a film industry that is rapidly becoming dominant in all of Africa. It is clear that future media centers will emerge in places far outside their traditional Western centers.
Web site: http://cmsw.mit.edu/event/contingencies-comparison-rethinking-comparative-media/
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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EnergyBar! May 2017
Thursday, May 4
5:30 PM to 8:30 PM (EDT)
Greentown Labs, 28 Dane Street, Somerville
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/energybar-may-2017-tickets-30360269383
Event Agenda:
5:00-5:30pm -- Sign-in/Registration
5:30-5:40pm -- Welcoming Remarks from Greentown Labs
5:40-8:30pm -- Celebration & Networking
About EnergyBar!
EnergyBar is Greentown Labs' bi-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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The Furniture Trust 7th Annual Eco-Carpentry Challenge
Thursday, May 4
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM EDT
District Hall, 75 Northern Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-furniture-trust-7th-annual-eco-carpentry-challenge-tickets-32449116180
In keeping with our mission to promote a circular economy, The Furniture Trust hosts an annual competition on May 5, 2017 with schools across Massachusetts challenging them to create new products from a suite of used office furniture generously donated by local companies. Students work on their projects over the course of a semester culminating in the Eco-Carpentry Challenge event in Boston, where they showcase their projects. The goal of The Eco-Carpentry Challenge is to increase awareness among high school students, teachers and the community about the value of upcycling and extending the useful life of otherwise unwanted products.
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NEUROMARKETING-PALOOZA
Thursday, May 4
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
WeWork, 51 Melcher Street, Boston
RSVP at https://neuromarketing-palooza58d97890c47df.splashthat.com
Join us at Neuromarketing-palooza. The evening's featured presentation will be "The Neuroscience of Memory," presented by Angela Gutchess, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology and Volen National Center for Complex Systems, Brandeis University. Angela will present a mix of behavioral information about memory. She'll touch upon how memories are formed; what makes something memorable; how to enhance the memory of your message in your audience; how aging and culture affect memory; etc. She'll also be presenting the corresponding brain data. As always, there will be all-you-can-eat pizza, and the entire evening is free of charge. Pre-registration is required.
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A Stroll through the New Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument
Thursday, May 4
7pm
NE Aquarium, Simons IMAX Theatre, One Aquarium Wharf, Boston
Peter Auster, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist, Mystic Aquarium and Research Professor Emeritus of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut
Scott Kraus, Ph.D., Vice President of Research, Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium
More information at http://www.neaq.org/learn/lectures/upcoming-lectures/
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Kill It to Save It: An Autopsy of Capitalism's Triumph over Democracy
Thursday, May 4
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store and Mass Humanities welcome Stonehill College's Professor of Sociology and former president of the Association for Humanist Sociology COREY DOLGON for a discussion of his latest book, Kill It to Save It: An Autopsy of Capitalism's Triumph over Democracy.
About Kill It to Save It
For decades now, American voters have been convinced to support public policies that only benefit those in power. But how do the powerful extract consent from citizens whose own self-interest and collective well-being are constantly denied? And why do so many Americans seem to have given up on quality public education, on safe food and safe streets, on living wages—even on democracy itself? Kill It to Save It lays bare the hypocrisy of contemporary US political discourse, documenting the historical and theoretical trajectory of capitalism’s triumph over democracy.
Tackling the interconnected issues of globalization, neoliberalism, and declining public institutions, Corey Dolgon argues that American citizens now accept reform policies that destroy the public sector (seemingly in the public interest) and a political culture that embraces what Stephen Colbert calls “truthiness”—a willingness to agree to arguments that feel right “in the gut” regardless of fancy science or messy facts. In a narrative that stretches from the post–Vietnam War era to the present parade of political reality TV and debates over Black Lives Matter, Dolgon dismantles US common-sense cultural discourse. His original, alternative account reveals that this ongoing crisis in US policy will not cease until a critical mass of American citizens recognize what has been lost, and in whose interest.
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America, We Need to Talk with Joel Berg
Thursday, May 4
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Trident Booksellers & Cafe, 338 Newbury Street, Boston
Join author Joel Berg for a discussion of current affairs and his new book, America, We Need to Talk: A Self-Help Book for the Nation.
About the Book:
How did we get here, America? How did our relationship get so broken? And where do we go now? Starting with the premise that Americans’ most important relationship is with their nation, Joel Berg’s second book, America We Need to Talk: A Self-Help Book for the Nation, makes a case for how we must both stop blaming the nation’s problems solely on “the politicians” or “the system” and take personal responsibility to solve them. Written as both a hilarious parody of relationship and self-help books and a deadly serious analysis of the nation’s political and economic dysfunction, the book dissects how Donald Trump and other Republicans won over white, working-class voters, and includes a concrete plan to win them back, and well as a broader roadmap for reducing poverty, bolstering the middle class, and powering an overall progressive resurgence.
As an acclaimed author, a frequent voice in the national media, and the outspoken CEO of the nonprofit group Hunger Free America,Joel Berg is a respected international leader in the fields of hunger, poverty, food, and US politics. Through his biting critique, clear-headed prescriptions, and amusing charts—this book shows how average Joes and Janes can channel their anger at our hobbled government into concrete actions that will fix our democracy, make our economy work for everyone, and restore our stature in the world as a beacon of freedom, diversity, and hope. The American people are in it for the long haul, and, as in all relationships, both sides must recognize their issues and work together to fix them. This book will do more than offer comfort for sobbing progressives—it will show the path to redemption.
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Bee Boy: Performance and Community Discussion
Thursday, May 4
8:00p–10:00p
MIT, Building 32-123, Kirsch Auditorium, Stata Center, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Guillermo E Brown AKA Pegasus Warning, Charlotte Braithwaite MIT Theater
A public work-in-process showing will feature drumming, singing, chanting, interactive technologies and movement + discussion.
Bee Boy is an interdisciplinary artistic response to the violent murders of black men and women around the country, to bee colony collapse disorder, to #Blacklivesmatter, to an unjust prison/industrial complex, to human-animal-technological hybridization, to life in urban streets, and the emotional toil it takes to turn hate to love. It is a meditation on struggle and change in a world of chaos.
The composer/musician/performer Guillermo E. Brown, a rising star on the avant-garde pop-music scene, and the stage director, Princess Grace award-winner and MIT assistant professor of theater arts Charlotte Brathwaite collaborate on this original piece, which will be workshopped at MIT.
Bee Boy is inspired by the Alexander Pushkin poem The Tale of Tsar Sultan, which became an opera by Rimsky-Korsakov called Tale of Tsar Saltan. In the opera's third act, a banished knight/prince is transformed by a magic swan-bird into a bumblebee so that he can fly home to his father, who does not know he's alive. The opera's famous excerpt Flight of the Bumblebee is the basis of this experimental work. Structurally the musical interlude is divided, slowed down, chopped up, remixed, reassembled, and collaged with textsounds, bodies, and choral voices.
Web site: arts.mit.edu/bee-boy
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free and open to the public
Tickets: No tickets required
Sponsor(s): Arts at MIT, Theater Arts, Music and Theater Arts, MIT CAST (Center for Art, Science & Technology)
For more information, contact: Leah Talatinian
617.252.1888
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Friday, May 5
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Innovations in Online Learning
Friday, May 5
1:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
Harvard Business School, Allston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/innovations-in-online-learning-tickets-33321261791
You are invited to the first intimate gathering of leading entrepreneurs and innovators from industry, policy and academia to explore innovations in online learning. We hope to develop a collective understanding of the future of online learning with participants from various parts of the ed tech ecosystem.
Join us for an afternoon of engaging discussions, panels and networking. The conference will take place on the Harvard Business School campus from 1-6pm with a reception and dinner following.
EVENT AGENDA
1:00-1:30pm Registration
1:30-2:00pm Welcome and Introductions
2:00-3:00pm "State of the Union": Perspectives from different parts of the online learning ecosystem
3:00-3:30pm Break
3:30-4:45pm Breakout Sessions: Participants will be able to choose from a few options and engage in deep discussion
4:45-5:30pm Plenary Session: Moderated Discussion
5:30-6:00pm Next steps and concluding session
6:00-8:00pm Reception and dinner
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Saturday, May 6
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Reducing the Threat of Nuclear War
Saturday, May 6
8:45 am - 5:00 pm
RSVP at http://masspeaceaction.org/event/mitconf/
Cost: $8 - $20
Responding to the continuing risk of nuclear war or accident, this conference is intended to advocate and organize toward reducing the danger of nuclear war. It is not an academic conference, but rather one that addresses the political and economic realities, and attempts to stimulate and inform the kinds of social movement needed to change national policy. Locating it at MIT builds on the long tradition of support for nuclear disarmament by MIT faculty including Vicki Weisskopf, Philip Morrison, Herman Feshbach, Randall Forsberg, Bernard Feld, Henry Kendall, Kosta Tsipis, Aron Bernstein and George Rathjens. This year we mark the 50th anniversary of MLK Jr.’s historic “Beyond Vietnam” speech at Riverside Church.
{Bold = Confirmed speakers; Italic = Invited}
8:45 am. Registration and Coffee
9:15 am. Welcome from City of Cambridge: Mayor Denise Simmons
9:30 am. Program for the Day: Prof. Jonathan King (MIT, Mass. Peace Action)
9:45 am. Session I. The Need for Nuclear Disarmament
Costs and Profits from Nuclear Weapons Manufacture – William Hartung (Center for International Policy)
Reasons to Reject the Trillion Dollar Nuclear Weapons Escalation- Joseph Cirincione (Ploughshares Fund)
Nuclear Weapons Undermine Democracy – Prof. Elaine Scarry (Harvard University)
10:45 am. II. Destabilizing Factors
Chair: Hon. John Tierney (former US Representative, Council for a Livable World)
Dangers of Hair Trigger Alert – Lisbeth Gronlund (Union of Concerned Scientists).
Nuclear Modernization vs. National Security – Prof. Aron Bernstein (MIT, Council for a Livable World)
Accidents and Unexpected events – Prof. Max Tegmark (MIT, Future of Life Institute)
International Tensions and Risks of further Nuclear Proliferation – Joseph Gerson (AFSC).
12:00 pm. Lunch Workshops (Listed below)
2:00 pm. Session III. Economic and Social Consequences of Excessive Weapons Spending
Chair: Prof. Melissa Nobles (MIT):
Build Housing Not Bombs – Rev. Paul Robeson Ford (Union Baptist Church)
Education as a National Priority – Barbara Madeloni (Mass. Teachers Association)
Invest in Minds Not Missiles – Prof. Jonathan King (MIT)
Build Subways Not Submarines – Fred Salvucci (former Mass. Secretary of Transportation)
3:00 pm. Session IV. Current Prospects for Progress
Chair: Hon. John Tierney (former US Representative, Council for a Livable World)
Congressional Steps Toward Nuclear Disarmament – U. S. Representative Barbara Lee
Maintaining the Iran Nuclear Agreement – Ernest Moniz, CEO, Nuclear Threat Initiative; former U.S. Secretary of Energy
4:15 pm. Session V: Organizing to Reduce the Dangers
Chair: Jim Anderson (Peace Action New York State);
Divesting from Nuclear Weapons Investments – Susi Snyder (Don’t Bank on the Bomb)
Taxpayers Information and Transparency Acts – State Reps. Denise Provost/Mike Connolly
Mobilizing the Scientific Community – Prof. Max Tegmark (MIT)
A National Nuclear Disarmament Organizing Network 2017 -2018 – Program Committee.
5:00 pm. Adjourn.
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MIT List Visual Arts Center Public Program: Thinking Feeling: An Affect Symposium
Saturday, May 6
10:00a–5:00p
MIT, Buidling E-15, Barton Theater, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
Join us for all or part of a one day symposium inviting leading affect theorists from a variety of fields to comment on the problems of affect and the future of the humanities as institutions question power, creativity and social relations.
This event is sponsored by the MIT Literature Section and the List Visual Arts Center.
We are pleased to present this program in partnership with ArtWeek Boston.
This program is held in conjunction with the upcoming exhibition An Inventory of Shimmers: Objects of Intimacy in Contemporary Art at the MIT List Visual Arts Center.
The symposium is free and open to the general public but advanced registration is required.
To register and for more information and a full schedule of events visit:
Web site: https://listart.mit.edu/events-programs/public-program-thinking-feeling-affect-symposium
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): List Visual Arts Center
For more information, contact: Emily A. Garner
eagarner at mit.edu
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The Spring 2017 Mid-Cambridge PLANT SWAP
Saturday, May 6
NOON to 2 pm
Rain date—in case of DOWNPOUR—is Sunday May 7, 12-2
at 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. Note: You can park on Fayette St., on the half closest to Broadway; I will get a “consideration” from the city.
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Wake Up the Earth
Saturday, May 6
!2pm - 6pm
Stony Brook T Station, 100 Boylston Street at 180 Lamartine Street, Jamaica Plain
More information at https://www.facebook.com/Wake-Up-The-Earth-Festival-104250079614550/
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Mushroom Cultivation for the Intrepid Gardener
Saturday, May 6
12:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Allandale Farm, 259 Allandale Road, Brookline
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/The-Boston-Sustainable-Food-Meetup-Group/events/237552798/
Cost: $40 - $50
New England is blessed with an excellent climate for growing a wide variety of mushrooms, many of which contain rare nutritional and medicinal value. This hands-on workshop will teach you the techniques necessary to grow edible mushrooms in your landscape, whether it be a backyard, woodlot, or basement. We'll primarily focus on cultivating lion's mane and shiitake mushrooms, both renowned for their flavor, medicinal qualities, and ease of cultivation.
http://www.nofamass.org/events/mushroom-cultivation-intrepid-gardener
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SPRING GARDEN DAY
Saturday, May 6
1 to 3
Somerville Community Growing Center, 22 Vinal Avenue, Somerville
Maypole dance at 2pm, Morris dancers, & a small seed/ plant swap.
Many events through the growing season: http://thegrowingcenter.org.
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Raise Up Massachusetts: Progress as Resistance Conference
Saturday, May 6
1:00 PM – 4:30 PM EDT
UMass Boston, University Hall, 100 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/raise-up-massachusetts-progress-as-resistance-conference-tickets-33467647635
Cost: $0 – $500
Join us on May 6th for Progress as Resistance, a statewide organizing conference to move forward a progressive agenda in Massachusetts! Come together with members of the Raise Up Massachusetts coalition and activists from across the Commonwealth as we use resistance to make progress on economic, racial, and immigrant justice at home. This event will feature a briefing on how activists can engage in our campaigns and other allied progressive issues against the Trump agenda, including campaigns for a $15 Minimum Wage, Paid Family and Medical Leave, the Fair Share Amendment, labor rights, ending mass incarceration, jobs not jails, protecting public education, immigrant rights, and safe communities. Don't miss this event, sign up to join us today!
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Rambax, MIT Senegalese Drumming Ensemble
Saturday, May 6
3:00p
MIT, Stratton Student Center Steps, 84 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Under the direction of Lamine Tour??, Rambax will present its annual outdoor performance in front of the Stratton Student Center steps. The rain location is Lobdell on the 2nd floor of the student Center.
Open to: the general public
Cost: FREE
Sponsor(s): Music and Theater Arts
For more information, contact: Clarise Snyder
617-253-3210
mta-request at mit.edu
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Sunday, May 7
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Kate Raworth on How to Think like a 21st Century Economist
Sunday, May 7
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
First Church JP, 6 Eliot Street, Jamaica Plain
The ideas that shape mainstream economic thought are centuries out of date: the leaders of 2050 are being taught an economic mindset rooted in the textbooks of 1950, which in turn are rooted in the theories of 1850. Is it any wonder that those ideas fail to address today’s real needs, and that students and citizens around the world are vociferously rejecting them?
It’s time for a new set of rules and insights to guide the global economy and to help in tackling challenges for climate change and inequality to financial instability.
In Doughnut Economics, Raworth lays out seven key ways to fundamentally reframe our understanding of what economics is and does, and draws on the best emerging ideas to explain how we can turn economies that need to grow, whether or not they make us thrive, into economies that make us thrive, whether or not they grow. Her internationally acclaimed Doughnut concept has influenced leaders in settings as diverse at the United Nations General Assembly, major corporations, and the Occupy Movement.
Kate Raworth is a renegade economist focused on exploring the economic mindset needed to address the 21 st century’s social and ecological challenges. She is a senior visiting research associate at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute and a senior associate of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. Her work has been profiled in The Guardian, The Financial Times, CNN, Al-Jazeera. She lives in Oxford in the UK. See www.kateraworth.com and @KateRaworth.
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Monday, May 8
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Understanding and Improving Crop Responses to Global Atmospheric Change
Monday, May 8
4:00 pm
Harvard, Biological Labs Lecture Hall, 16 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Lisa Ainsworth, Associate Professor of Plant Biology, Adjunct Professor of Crop Sciences, USDA ARS Photosynthesis Reseach Unit, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
More information at http://environment.harvard.edu/future-food
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Harvard Institute for Applied Computational Science Project Showcase
Monday, May 8
5:30 - 7:00 PM
Harvard, Maxwell Dworkin, Ground Floor Lobby, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSewTgXiJxJPckkaS3wH8QodQ_8DXZd6fjvP3B3-cec3Y0OkKw/viewform?c=0&w=1
Come mingle with faculty and friends of the IACS while you learn about the cutting edge work of our master's and secondary field students!
Light refreshments will be served.
Please RSVP here.
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Tuesday May 9
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IDC Design Conversation with Tata Motors
Tuesday, May 9
2:00p–3:00p
MIT, Building N52-399, 265 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Pratap Bose
Join us for a design conversation with Pratap Bose, head of design for Tata Motors.
Design Conversation
The IDC hosts prominent figures from industry to offer thoughts on interdisciplinary design themes. These talks foster an ongoing and Institute-wide discourse on the evolving nature of the processes, tools and outcomes of design.
Web site: http://idc.mit.edu/events/
Open to: the general public
Cost: 0
Tickets: n/a
Sponsor(s): MIT-SUTD International Design Centre
For more information, contact: Deb Payson
617-324-8125
debp at mit.edu
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Ory Zik: Why You Don’t Know Your Carbon Footprint
Tuesday, May 9
3:00PM TO 4:00PM
MIT, Building 4-231, 182 Memorial Drive (Rear), Cambridge
16 of the last 17 years were the hottest on record. It is likely Ory Zik's 2018 presentation will start with "17 of the last 18 years were the hottest on record". The world is in the midst of a climate crisis. At the same time, essential policies (cap and trade, carbon tax, clean power plan, CAFE regulations) are either dead or dying. The market must step-in and act. Consumers and investors must hold companies and policymakers accountable. The oxygen of markets is metrics and the climate metric is carbon footprint. So why is it that we are so ‘carbon illiterate’? Why is it that nearly no-one knows the carbon footprint of anything? and what can we do to fix this situation?
A necessary condition is quantitative thinking -- not adjectives and anecdotes like ‘renewable’ and ‘sustainable’ -- but metrics rooted in data and science.
Greenometry is a new social enterprise whose mission is to readily communicate the carbon footprint of everything. Consistent, accurate, and simple metrics are a necessary condition for behavior change. Greenometry's approach combines behavioral aspects, data, and simple physics. Carbon footprinting should be geospatially tuned and harmonize water and land into a simple unifying metric.
Zik's talk will present the foundations of his thinking, the overall platform that will enable ubiquitous carbon footprinting, and specific results on scope 2 emissions, the inclusion of water, and the carbon footprint of solar energy.
Biography
Award-winning physicist, entrepreneur, and environmentalist, Ory Zik founded Greenometry, a non-profit dedicated to quantifying the climate crisis with ‘numbers not adjectives’. Formerly founder/CEO of Heliofocus and CEO of Energy Points, Zik is the founder of Greenpeace Israel and was the curator of Israel’s national Science Museum.
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authors at mit - Steven Sloman with Drazen Prelec -The Knowledge Illusion
Tuesday, May 9
6:00p–7:00p
MIT, Building N50, The MIT Press Bookstore, 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Steven Sloman with Drazen Prelec
The MIT Press Bookstore presents Steven Sloman, Professor of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences at Brown University, in conversation with Drazen Prelec, Professor of Management Science and Economics at MIT's Sloan School of Management, discussing Steven Sloman's new book, "The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone," at 6:00 pm on Tuesday, May 9, at the Bookstore.
The human mind is both brilliant and pathetic. We have mastered fire, created democratic institutions, stood on the moon, and sequenced our genome. And yet each of us is error prone, sometimes irrational, and often ignorant. In "The Knowledge Illusion," cognitive scientists Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach argue that we survive and thrive despite our mental shortcomings because we live in a rich community of knowledge. The key to our intelligence lies in the people and things around us.
This event includes a book signing. Books will be on sale at the event for 20% off, or you can purchase an event ticket that includes a discounted book.
Web site: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/steven-sloman-in-discussion-with-drazen-prelec-the-knowledge-illusion-tickets-31725158804
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): The MIT Press Bookstore
For more information, contact: The MIT Press Bookstore
253-5249
books at mit.edu
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How Academic Institutions Play a Role in Boston's Future
Tuesday May 9
6-8pm
Boston Public Library, Copley Square in Rabb Hall, 700 Boylston Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/forums-on-the-future-tickets-32636238869
Alex Krieger, Moderator, Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design
Dr. Robert A. Brown, Boston University
Dr. Pam Y. Eddinger, Bunker Hill Community College
Dr. Zorica Pantić, Wentworth Institute of Technology
Dr. Lee Pelton, Emerson College
Dr. Valerie Roberson, Roxbury Community College
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Harvard Coop Author Series- Nathaniel Philbrick
Tuesday, May 9
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
Harvard Coop,1400 Mass Avenue, Cambridge
Valiant Ambition
A surprising account of the middle years of the American Revolution, and the tragic relationship between George Washington and Benedict Arnold. In September 1776, the vulnerable Continental Army under an unsure George Washington (who had never commanded a large force in battle) evacuates New York after a devastating defeat by the British Army. Three weeks later, near the Canadian border, one of his favorite generals, Benedict Arnold, miraculously succeeds in postponing the British naval advance down Lake Champlain that might have ended the war. Four years later, as the book ends, Washington has vanquished his demons and Arnold has fled to the enemy after a foiled attempt to surrender the American fortress at West Point to the British. After four years of war, America is forced to realize that the real threat to its liberties might not come from without but from within.
About the Author
Nathaniel Philbrick is an American author and a member of the Philbrick literary family. He won the year 2000 National Book Award for his maritime history, In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship.
http://www.nathanielphilbrick.com
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Upcoming Events
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Wednesday, May 10
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Get Smaaht: Grid Modernization in Mass
Wed, May 10, 2017
8:30 AM – 10:00 AM EDT
50 Milk Street, 16th Floor, "Edison Room,” Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/get-smaaht-grid-modernization-in-mass-tickets-33395921099
Cost: $45 – $65
Join us for a trip into the future. Learn about the electric grid that we see today and opportunities for investment on both the wires’ side and buildings’ side. Where is development is needed, planned, and in process? How do grid modernization technologies stack up against each other? How do smart buildings (green buildings) fit into the grid of the future and what opportunities might there be with time of use metering, energy storage financing, and data management?
Let's talk about electric vehicles and the demand / support that they can provide with a smart grid. How is this energy industry transforming? Is analytics as a service going to be a communication with office managers and facility staff or will a cloud-based service possibly control our building? Will batteries be used to level loads on stressed electricity feeders?
How does what we do in Massachusetts compare to progress in other states? California, Texas and Illinois have the lead but what might happen in MA to make our grid the pacesetter?
This is part of our Market Leadership Series where we encourage the professional in the room to drive the conversation and share their questions and perspective for a robust session.
Advisement: This conversation will be led by Chapter member Ben Pignatelli from the Department of Public Utilities (DPU). Ben's presentation will not reflect the views of the DPU nor will he be able to speak on behalf of the Department. His presentation will outline publically available information and the science supporting it.
About the Speaker - Ben Pignatelli:
As a technical staff member in the Electric Power Division at the DPU Ben works on regulatory and market issues associated with energy efficiency, grid modernization, and competitive electricity supply. He has evaluated the MassSave program, is reviewing public utility grid modernization plans, and reviews municipal electricity aggregation plans. Ben also manages regulatory relations with electricity supply companies through investigations, licensing, and market animation initiatives. He has held previous roles with the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) and the City of Boston. Ben is a Certified Measurement and Verification Professional (CMVP) and holds an MBA from Boston University and a B.A. from the University of New Hampshire in Political Science.
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A Path toZero? The Role of Net Zero Energy Buildings in Boston
Wednesday, May 10
8:30am - 11:30pm
Boston Medical Center, 670 Albany Street, Albany Auditorium, Boston
RSVP to discussion at http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07ee1ovzdz683bbbd2&llr=i7ljcybab
RSVP to building tour http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07ee1p243wd1e51dac&llr=i7ljcybab
Please join A Better City on Wednesday, May 10 at Boston Medical Center for a panel discussion and building tour focused on achieving net zero energy in Boston's commercial real estate buildings!
The first part of this event (8:30-10:45) will consist of a panel discussion about the viability of and pathway towards NZE buildings. Speakers will include experts with first-hand experience in getting to net zero:
John Dalzell (moderator), Senior Architect for Sustainable Development at the Boston Planning & Development Authority
Jill Kaehler, Project Leader & Lead Designer at Behnisch Architekten
Seth Federspiel, Net Zero Energy Planner for the City of Cambridge
Jacob Knowles, Director of Sustainable Design at BR+A Consulting Engineers
Bob Biggio, Senior Vice President of Facilities & Support Services at Boston Medical Center
Afterwards (10:45-11:30), a small group will have the opportunity to tour Boston Medical Center. In 2018, BMC expects to be carbon neutral through a combination of: a newly unveiled co-generation plant; a campus redesign that shrunk the campus' footprint by 400,000 sq ft, saving the campus an estimated $25 million annually on energy and operating costs; a series of HVAC upgrades that reduced emissions 20%; a three-year Memorandum of Understanding with Eversource Energy to maximize and partner on energy efficiency upgrades in 2015; and signing on to the A Better City-facilitated collaborative renewable power procurement in 2016 to cover 100% of its electricity usage.
Please note that as spaces are limited for the building tour, separate registration is required for each portion of the event.
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“Oh My Heaven”: How Does Chinese Art Domesticate the Above?
WHEN Wednesday, May 10, 2017, 4 – 5:15 p.m.
WHERE Radcliffe, Sheerr Room, Fay House, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Humanities, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S) Eugene Y. Wang, 2016–2017 Shutzer Fellow, Radcliffe Institute; the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Professor of Asian Art, Harvard University
COST Free
CONTACT INFO events at radcliffe.harvard.edu
DETAILS In this talk, Wang will uncover how heaven is differently imagined in traditional Chinese art by asking why heaven often appears in unexpected places such as tombs and caves and why going up often involves going down. Wang seeks to answer questions related to the Chinese primacy of temporality. Is heaven more of a spatial concept or temporal one in Chinese artistic imagination? Can we imagine heaven, as the traditional Chinese did, as a rotating wheel rather than stable region? What is the cognitive mechanism of heaven sightings in earthly omens? Why is the notion of heaven as the apocalyptic vision relatively alien to the Chinese habit of thought?
LINK https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2017-eugene-y-wang-fellow-presentation
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Thursday, May 11
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LIDS Smart Urban Infrastructures Workshop
Thursday, May 11
8:00a–5:30p
MIT, Building E14-648, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
The LIDS Smart Urban Infrastructures Workshop is a two-day event (May 11-12, 2017) showcasing current work and emerging research opportunities at the intersection of smart services and urban infrastructure systems. It will feature top researchers from academia, industry, and government in a series of keynote talks and panel discussions.
Web site: https://lidssmart2017.mit.edu/
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Institute for Data, Systems, and Society
For more information, contact: Jennifer Donovan
jdonovan at mit.edu
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Metals & Minerals for the Environment Symposium
Thursday, May 11
9:00a–12:00p
MIT, Building W-1, 305 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
The Metals & Minerals for the Environment Symposium will showcase the ongoing MIT research aimed at creating solutions to the social and environmental challenges most relevant to metals and minerals.
Web site: metalsandminerals.mit.edu/symposium
Open to: the general public
Cost: 0
This event occurs daily through May 12, 2017.
Sponsor(s): Environmental Solutions Initiative
For more information, contact: Suzanne Greene
6177155473
segreene at mit.edu
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Forgiveness, Reconciliation and Restorative Justice 2017 Workshops
Thursday, May 11
9:00 AM – 1:30 PM EDT
BU, 745 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/forgiveness-reconciliation-and-restorative-justice-2017-workshops-tickets-33323627868
$0 – $25
"Putting in Place the Skills of Forgiveness, Reconciliation and Restorative Justice"
Keynote Speaker: Fr. Leonel Narváez
Fr. Leonel Narváez Gomez worked for 10 years in East Africa and 10 years in Caguan and Putumayo, where he participated in the negotiations with the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). He has received many honors and is founder-president of the Foundation for Reconciliation, an institution that has been recognized with peace prizes as UNESCO Education for Peace Award 2006 and the Order of Democracy 2007 granted by the Congress of the Republic of Colombia.
Tickets
$25 General Public
$10 Students/Low Income
Free with BU-ID
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New England Machine Learning Hackathon: Hacking Bias in ML
Thursday, May 11
9:30 AM – 7:00 PM EDT
Microsoft New England R&D, 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Join us for hacking the biases, discrimination, and fairness in machine learning, algorithms, big data analytics! Our goal is to have each team develop websites to address these issues.
Prizes will be awarded at the end of the day. The winning team will receive a Surface Pro 4 for the team leader and Xbox One S FIFA '17 bundle for each team member.
Topics are being collected to form teams. Please register and note if you are interested in leading a team. Our teams currently include:
Word Biases, Max Leiserson, Microsoft Research
When you envision a nurse, a woman most likely pops into your mind. If you imagine an accomplished executive, on the other hand, it's quite likely you're thinking about a man. It's not just you, though. The machine learning algorithms that target ads at us, prune our search results, or sort resumes for recruiters are all plagued by gendered stereotypes.https://papers.nips.cc/paper/6228-man-is-to-computer-programmer-as-woman-is-to-homemaker-debiasing-word-embeddings,
Pre-Trial Fairness, Sam Corbett-Davies, Stanford,
Courts around the country use machine learned risk scores to guide them in deciding whether defendants should be detained before their trial. There is concern that these scores could be unfair to certain groups, but recent research has shown that different concepts of fairness are mutually exclusive, so policy makers must make trade offs. In this project we'll develop an interactive webpage toexplore the fairness tradeoffs inherent in risk assessments, similar to this work from Google studying fictitious loans. https://5harad.com/papers/fairness.pdf
Political influence: Who has Political Power and How Do You Measure It?, Weiwei Pan, Harvard Institute of Applied Computational Science
The unequal distribution of power among the members of a political system is one of the most pervasive facts of political life." - S. J. Brams (Measuring the Concentration of Power in Political Systems, 1968).
Racial Discrimination in Facial Recognition, Genevieve Patterson, Microsoft Research
Government agencies are rapidly adopting automatic face recognition and matching in law enforcement practices. Unfortunately, commonly used data-driven training algorithms are only as good as the data you feed them. We will explore the discriminatory effects of training deep nets on racially unbalanced collections of face images and how such training data bias can be identified and corrected.
Other topics to be added ...
AGENDA
9:30am: Doors Open, Check-In, Coffee
10am: Kick-Off & Team Orientations/Hacking
4:30pm: -7pm: Team Presentations, Dinner, Prizes and Awards
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The spatial structure of biodiversity: theory, experiments, and synthesis
Thursday, May 11
4:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building 48-316, 15 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Luis J. Gilarranz, Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies University of Zurich
Ecosystems worldwide are experiencing an unprecedented rate of degradation. This has tremendous consequences for wildlife and for the lives and the economies of all of us. After decades of research we wonder whether we have a good enough understanding of ecological systems to revert the situation. Such understanding should come from a dialogue between theoretical advances and experiments and synthesis that may support or debunk such theories.
In this talk I’m going to contrast theory against data to show that species interactions, perturbations, and dispersal routs play a big role in determining the health of an ecosystem in a certain location. Moreover, the fact that certain places seem healthier than others allows us to unveil previously undocumented effects of
anthropogenic activities. Even when ecological communities may seem healthy in terms of the presence and abundance of their constituent species, they may be losing the capacity to withstand further environmental degradation.
Environmental Sciences Seminar Series
Hosted by: Otto Cordero (ottox at mit.edu) Serguei Saavedra (sersaa at mit.edu)
Web site: https://sites.google.com/site/sergueisaavedra/seminar
Open to: the general public
Cost: 0.00
Sponsor(s): Civil and Environmental Engineering
For more information, contact: Denise Stewart
6172588685
dstewart at mit.edu
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From Taft to Trump: How Conservative Media Activists Won -- and Lost -- the GOP
Thursday, May 11
5:00p–6:30p
MIT, Building 56-114, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
As Donald Trump built his lead in the Republican primaries, the editors of National Review came out with an entire "Against Trump" issue, a full-throated -- and ultimately ineffective -- denunciation of the GOP nominee. Soon conservative media personalities were taking sides, culminating in the hiring of Breitbart's Steve Bannon to run the Trump campaign.
But the centrality of conservative media to presidential politics is not a new development. As early as the 1950s, conservative media activists were organizing third-party tickets, promoting presidential candidates, and encouraging their audiences to cast votes based on ideology rather than party. In this talk, Nicole Hemmer will explain how conservative media activists won the GOP for the right ??? and how in the era of Trump, they lost it.
Nicole Hemmer is an assistant professor at the University of Virginia's Miller Center and a research associate at the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. Her book, Messengers of the Right, a history of conservative media in the United States, was published in Penn Press in September 2016.
Web site: http://cmsw.mit.edu/event/nicole-hemmer-conservative-media-activists-won-lost-gop/
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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Green Buildings Locally and Statewide
Thursday, May 11
5:30 pm – 7:00 pm Repeats
50 Milk Street 18th Floor, "Hemingway” Room, Boston
Legislation and policy drives our industry, but who drives changes in legislation and law? Join our Advocacy committee as they interpret, suggest updates to, and advocate for advances in laws and policy related to green buildings. All are welcome to join in this high level discussion. General Questions: How can this committee reach out and build value for practitioners and the larger community? How can we accommodate both detailed issue-based discussions as well as more inviting, general discussions for new members? Make a Plan to Brainstorm, Prioritize and Select 3 Priorities for 2017 (6-6:20) Connecting our priorities to other national / local legislative agendas (USGBC, ILFI) Roles on Committee, General Communication, Decision Making Upcoming Events / 2017 Calendar Overview (6:40-7) o Confirm upcoming meetings and activities o Advocacy Roundtable with BSA: 12/8, 8:30AM o Co-Signing Fair – January. How do we want to participate? o Map out 2017 Activities and Cadence of Internal Meetings and Externally focused events We look forward to seeing you there! Here is some background on what the Chapter has been working on recently: We are still tracking our current priorites:: PACE Clean Energy Financing – we were victorious in attaining PACE for Massachusetts in 2016! Now: how can we bring this new tool to bear on green building projects throughout the Commonwealth? Net Zero Energy building code – how can we shift the conversation on codes? How can we support municipalities who are leading – like Cambridge with their Net Zero Action Plan? Net Metering Improvements – we were able to engineer reform of net metering in 2016, but we know it was a temporary fix. How do we position our advocacy efforts to ensure we see progress in early 2017? Also, we are tracking other initiatives including: Building Energy Benchmarking (BERDO & BEUDO) The MA “Stretch Code” for energy efficiency The greening of the MLS and the residential market transformation Energy efficiency education
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The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin's Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Natural World—and Us
Geological Lecture Hall (100), 24 Oxford St., Cambridge
Thursday, May 11
6:00PM
Harvard, Geological Lecture Hall (100), 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Richard O. Prum, William Robertson Coe Professor of Ornithology and Head Curator of Vertebrate Zoology, Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University.
Can adaptation by natural selection truly account for everything we see in nature? How do animal mating displays and mate choice drive evolutionary change? What insights can they offer about the evolution of human sexuality? Drawing from his new book, The Evolution of Beauty, Richard Prum will consider Charles Darwin’s long-neglected theory of sexual selection, in which the act of choosing a mate for purely aesthetic reasons is an independent engine of evolutionary change. In a reimagining of how evolutionary forces work, Prum will reveal how mating preferences—what Darwin termed "the taste for the beautiful"—create the extraordinary range of ornament in the natural world.
Contact: hmnh at hmsc.harvard.edu
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Amazing Aquatic Athletes in the Anthropocene
Thursday, May 11
7pm
NE Aquarium, Simons IMAX Theatre, One Aquarium Wharf, Boston
Jodie Rummer, Ph.D, Associate Professor, Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University
Globally, coral reefs are at risk from human-induced stressors – such as ocean warming, acidification, and hypoxia – now more than at any time in recorded history. Dramatic effects on fish performance, distribution, and overall ecosystem health are predicted. While the evolutionary success of fish is credited to their adaptations to challenging environmental conditions, whether they can keep pace with the large-scale, rapid changes plaguing their habitats today is not known. Coral reef fishes may be at greater risk as they diversified during a time of relative stable environmental conditions, and today’s rapidly changing conditions may heighten their vulnerability.
Through her research, Dr. Jodie Rummer is tracking metabolic and swimming performance of fishes under climate-change relevant conditions, across development and species, and over multiple generations. This information is crucial for making predictions as to which species and/or populations may be most at risk from climate change and whether the fishes’ long evolutionary history will be enough to protect them from future changes in their habitat.
More information at http://www.neaq.org/learn/lectures/upcoming-lectures/
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Friday, May 12
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Bangladesh Sustainable Development Conference 2017 at Harvard University
WHEN Friday, May 12, 2017
WHERE Harvard University, WCC 2036 Milstein East C, Wasserstein Hall, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Classes/Workshops, Conferences, Environmental Sciences, Information Technology, Sustainability
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR International Sustainable Development Institute (ISDI), SHINE Initiative (Sustainability and Health Initiative for NetPositive Enterprise) of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program
SPEAKER(S) Dr. Chantal Line Carpentier, New York Office Chief for the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Dr. Ruth Goodwin-Groen, Managing Director, Better Than Cash Alliance, United Nations Capital Development Fund.
DIRECTED BY Mohammed Yousuf
COST Free and open to public
TICKET WEB LINK http://www.isdiworld.com
CONTACT INFO mohammed_yousuf at dfci.harvard.edu
DETAILS Bangladesh SDG Conference on May 12, 2017
Achieving SDG - Sustainable Development Goals through Entrepreneurship, Commerce and Investment
The organizing committee of the annual Harvard University Conference on Bangladesh invites academics, policymakers, practitioners, and experts to participate in the seminar on ‘Achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through Entrepreneurship, Commerce and Investment’ that will convene on Friday, May 12, 2017 at Harvard University. The day-long seminar will be organized by the International Sustainable Development Institute (ISDI) in cooperation with the SHINE Initiative (Sustainability and Health Initiative for NetPositive Enterprise) of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program.
The objective of this year’s conference is to bring together entrepreneurs, policymakers, and philanthropists who seek to accelerate the growth of Bangladesh through entrepreneurship, investment, and commerce. These can be powerful mechanisms for alleviating poverty and generating prosperity, which are important preconditions for achieving the SDGs. Moreover, they provide paths for empowering women, upgrading workforces, and transforming the rural economy. In this conference, we will explore the steps required to encourage these three vital facets of the development goals.
Our keynote speakers among others are Dr. Chantal Line Carpentier, New York Office Chief for the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and Dr. Ruth Goodwin-Groen, Managing Director, Better Than Cash Alliance, United Nations Capital Development Fund.
The time is: Friday, May 12, 2017; 8:30am to 5:30pm;
The venue: Harvard Law School, WCC 2036 Milstein East C, Wasserstein Hall, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
The deliberations will explore key topics including: 1) SDGs and Social Protection and Labor Standards; 2) Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in the Context of the Sustainable Development Goals; 3) SDGs: Major Challenges and Opportunities for Bangladesh; 4) Inclusive Finance and Investment for SDGs; 5) Affordable and Clean Energy: Prospect, Achievements and Challenges; 6) Infrastructure Development for Commerce and Industries and 7) Information and Communications Technologies: Accelerated Journey towards Middle Income Status.
Contact information: Mohammed Iqbal Yousuf, mohammed_yousuf at dfci.harvard.edu
LINK http://www.isdiworld.com
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NE Machine Learning Day 2017
Friday, May 12
9:30am - 5pm
Microsoft New England Research Center, Horace Mann Conference Room, One Memorial Drive, Cambridge
About
The sixth annual New England Machine Learning Day will be Friday, May 12, 2017, at Microsoft Research New England, One Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02142. The event will bring together local academics and researchers in Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and their applications. There will be a lively poster session during lunch. Submit posters at https://aka.ms/nemlposter by April 24.
Interested in helping improve fairness and reduce bias/discrimination in ML? Attend New England Machine Learning Hackathon: Hacking Bias in ML, the day before, Thursday May 11, at the same location.
Schedule
9:55–10:00 Opening remarks
10:00–10:30 Leslie Pack Kaelbling, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Intelligent robots redux
10:35–11:05 Alexander Rush, Harvard University
Structured attention networks
11:10–11:40 Lester Mackey, Microsoft Research
Measuring sample quality with Stein’s method
11:40–1:45 Lunch and posters
1:45–2:15 Thomas Serre, Brown University
What are the visual features underlying human versus machine vision?
2:20–2:50 David Sontag, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Causal inference via deep learning
2:50–3:20 Coffee break
3:20–3:50 Roni Khardon, Tufts University
Effective variational inference in non-conjugate 2-level latent variable models
3:55–4:25 Tina Eliassi-Rad, Northeastern University
Learning, mining and graphs
4:30–5:00 Erik Learned-Miller, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Bootstrapping intelligence with motion estimation
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Starr Forum: US & Mexico in the Trump Era
Friday, May 12, 2017
12:00p–1:30p
MIT, Building E15-070, Bartos Theater, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
Why build fences when we can build bridges?
Speakers: Lourdes Melgar, CIS Wilhelm Fellow and Mexico's former deputy secretary of energy for hydrocarbons.
Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan, former Mexican Ambassador to the US (2007-2013). He is a Non Resident Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution and Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the USC Annenberg Public Diplomacy School.
Free & open to the public | Lunch served
Can't attend in person? Watch it on Facebook live or on-demand on YouTube.
For more information or accessibility accommodations please contact starrforum at mit.edu.
CIS Starr Forum
A public events series on pressing issues in international affairs, sponsored by the MIT Center for International Studies.
Web site: https://cis.mit.edu/events/starr-forum-us-mexico-trump-era
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies, MIT-Mexico Program
For more information, contact:
617-253-8306
starrforum at mit.edu
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PSFC Seminar: High temperature superconductors: advantages and key challenges in their deployment for high-field magnets and large scale applications
Friday, May 12
3:00p–4:00p
MIT, Building NW17-218, 175 Albany Street, Cambridge
Plasma Science and Fusion Center Seminar Series
Speaker: Luisa Chiesa
After 25 years of development, several high temperature superconductors (HTS) are becoming engineering materials commercially available in long-length wires. Those conductors can carry enormous electrical current in strong magnetic fields while meeting various other challenges. Such characteristics enable the construction of a broad spectrum of devices useful for basic science, medicine, and energy.
In this talk, the state-of-art manufacturing, properties and challenges of key HTS conductors will be discussed with particular focus on REBCO coated conductors. The electrical, magnetic, and mechanical properties and failure mechanisms important for constructing devices will be discussed and examples of large scale projects employing those materials will be given to illustrate the positive impact those new materials could have in future generation???s magnets.
Web site: Tufts University
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Plasma Science and Fusion Center
For more information, contact: Paul Riven berg
617-253-8101
rivenberg at psfc.mit.edu
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Entrepreneurship Speaker Series with Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Organic
Friday, May 12
4:30p–6:00p
MIT, Building E40-160, 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Join us for a fireside chat with Gary Hirschberg, founder of Stonyfield Farms, and Donna Levin, EIR at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship!
Web site: http://entrepreneurship.mit.edu/events/entrepreneurship-speaker-series-gary-hirshberg-stonyfield-farms/
Open to: the general public
Cost: free, register online
Tickets: http://entrepreneurship.mit.edu/events/entrepreneurship-speaker-series-gary-hirshberg-stonyfield-farms/
Sponsor(s): Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship
For more information, contact: Greg Wymer
617-253-8653
trustcenter at mit.edu
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Saturday, May 13
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Green/Rainbow Party 2017 State Convention
Saturday, May 13
First Unitarian Church, 90 Main Street, Worcester, MA
Please pre-register at http://www.green-rainbow.org
Walk-in registration - cash or check only
Registration fee includes vegan or vegetarian lunch, and is sliding scale.
Jacqui Patterson, Keynote speaker, is the Director of the NAACP
Environmental & Climate Justice Program
Presentation. She will address environmental injustice, including how the
proliferation of climate change has a disproportionate impact on com-
munities of color and low income communities in the U.S. and around
the world.
Patricia Montes, Executive Director of Centro Presente, will speak
about immigrant needs and how the Centro Presente organization pro-
motes self-determination and self-sufficiency of the Latin American
community state-wide.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
Workshops
Election related issues, including Rank Choice Voting, lead by Voters
Choice - MA
Activism related issues, including climate issues and immigration
Brian Cady
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Watch City Steampunk Festival
Saturday, May 13
10:00am to 5:00pm
Common, Waltham
Join dozens and dozens of exceptional craft vendors, dozens and dozens of talented performers of all kinds, delicious food and drink, and more for a day of steampunk revelry like no other!
The Watch City Steampunk Festival, centered on Waltham Common, is the largest outdoor steampunk festival in America, and it's FREE! Come immerse yourself for a day in the extraordinary, time-shifting, mind-expanding culture and aesthetic of neo-Victorian fashion crossed with retro-futuristic technology.
See you in Downtown Waltham on Saturday, May 13, 2017!
More information at https://www.watchcityfestival.com
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Sunday, May 14
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JFK: A Vision for America
Sunday, May 14
6:00 PM (Doors at 5:30)
First Parish Church, 1446 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.harvard.com/event/stephen_kennedy_smith_and_douglas_brinkley/
Cost: $43.25 (online only, book included) - On Sale April 11, 2017 $5.00 - On Sale April 25, 2017
STEPHEN KENNEDY SMITH and DOUGLAS BRINKLEY in conversation with SAMANTHA POWER and RON SUSKIND moderated by FREDRIK LOGEVALL
Harvard Book Store and Mass Humanities welcome STEPHEN KENNEDY SMITH and DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, editors of JFK: A Vision for America, for a panel discussion on this new compendium of JFK’s most important speeches. The book's editors will be joined by contributors Ambassador SAMANTHA POWER and RON SUSKIND for a discussion moderated by historian FREDRIK LOGEVALL. The event will include a book signing with the editors.
About JFK: A Vision for America
Published in commemoration of the centennial of President John F. Kennedy’s birth, here is the definitive compendium of JFK’s most important and brilliant speeches, accompanied by commentary and reflections by leading American and international figures—including Senator Elizabeth Warren, David McCullough, Kofi Annan, and the Dalai Lama—and edited by JFK’s nephew Stephen Kennedy Smith and renowned historian Douglas Brinkley. Combined with over seven hundred documentary photos, it tells the story, in words and pictures, of JFK’s life and presidency, and depicts his compelling vision for America.
JFK brings together in one volume John F. Kennedy’s greatest speeches alongside essays by America’s top historians, analysis from leading political thinkers, and personal insights from preeminent writers and artists. Here is JFK at his best—thought-provoking, inspiring, eloquent, and wise—on a number of wide-ranging topics, including civil rights, the race to the moon, the environment, immigration, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and much more. JFK demonstrates the deep relevance of his words today and his lasting power and influence as an outstanding American leader and orator.
Elegantly designed and enriched by more than 500 photographs and facsimiles of Kennedy’s marginalia on drafts of speeches, his notes from important meetings, letters, and other fascinating documents, JFK is a major contribution to American history.
The august list of contributors includes Secretary John Kerry, Ambassador Samantha Power, Congressman John Lewis, Senator John McCain, Senator Elizabeth Warren, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Robert Redford, Conan O’Brien, Dave Eggers, Gloria Steinem, Don DeLillo, David McCullough, George Packer, Colum McCann, Michael Beschloss, Robert Dallek, David Kennedy, Ted Widmer, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Drew Faust, Tariq Ramadan, Pastor Rick Warren, Jonathan Alter, E. J. Dionne, Ron Suskind, Paul Krugman, Kofi Annan, Governor Jerry Brown, Paul Theroux, Jorge Domínguez, and many others.
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Gravity Hill Newsreels: 12 Short Observations About Occupy Wall Street
WHEN Sunday, May 14, 2017, 7 – 8:15 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Film Archive, 24 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Film
OPEN TO Public and Harvard community
CATEGORY Film
LIBRARY LOCATION Harvard Film Archive
DETAILS As a natural outgrowth of his ongoing project filming life on the streets of New York and reflecting on the politics of such public spaces, Cohen started making frequent trips to the Occupy Wall Street home base in Zucotti Park in October and November of 2011. Some of the twelve short films he shot there include moments of daily life in the base camp, some document meetings and marches, and some capture police raids and the dismantling of the encampment.
LINK http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/films/2017marmay/cohen.html#newsreel
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Monday, May 15
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OpenSec 2017
Monday, May 15
8:30 AM – 4:30 PM EDT
Hatch Fenway, Landmark Center, 401 Park Drive, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/opensec-2017-tickets-32267597252
Cost: $0 – $18.01
Come hear from Boston's open source security community in May! Whether you're a open-source contributor, marketer or person interested in the security space our single track conference will offer engaging panels, great networking and a keynote speaker to get you away from the office on monday!
Tentative Panels:
What is Open Source security?
Abstract: Open Source projects, however rough around the edges, often provide the backbone to many cyber solutions and products on the market. How are these companies working with the OS community and building on existing projects? How can team's best leverage these projects into their existing workflows?
Too many products, Too little time: How are companies evaluating new solutions?
Abstract: Everyday it seems the realm of Cybersecurity products continues to produce new players. From endpoint detection, threat hunting and security automation the list of potential solutions grows. How are companies evaluating new products that are shown to their teams and what bridges the gap from “That’s interesting” to “We need that” in the mind of decision makers.
Joining in: How you can get into Cyber
Abstract: Hear where the opportunities lie across the cybersecurity community and what needs companies are hoping more would learn. SOCs, security teams and startups are all feeling a talent crunch. Whether you’re a hardcore opensource contributor or a strong marketer, companies across Boston are eagerly looking for talent.
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Lisa Beal, RSMAS: U Miami
Monday, May 15
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT Building 54-923 (the tallest building on campus), Cambridge
Broadly, my research interests are in large scale ocean circulation and the role of the oceans in climate and climate change. In particular, the measurement of Western Boundary Currents, such as the Agulhas Current, in terms of their structure, transports, water masses, and mixing, and the estimation of basin-wide thermohaline fluxes in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. I use a variety of oceanographic instrumentation, including lowered and shipboard acoustic velocity profilers, and moored arrays of current meters and CTDs (Conductivity, Temperature, Depth). I study the role of the Agulhas system in the broader context of regional and global climate through analysis of ocean eddy-resolving coupled climate models. My service work revolves around increasing the diversity of our scientific community, including the retention of women in oceanography, and the advancement of capacity and resources to support a sustained measuring program of the Greater Agulhas System off South Africa.
About this Series
The PAOC Colloquium is a weekly interdisciplinary seminar series that brings together the whole PAOC community. Seminar topics include all research concerning the physics, chemistry, and biology of the atmospheres, oceans and climate, but also talks about e.g. societal impacts of climatic processes. The seminars take place on Monday from 12-1pm in 54-923. 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. 2016/2017 co-ordinators: Tom Beucler (tbeucler at mit.edu), Deepa Rao (drao at mit.edu), Madeleine Youngs (myoungs at mit.edu) and Catherine Wilka (cwilka at mit.edu)
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The Efficiency of Race-Neutral Alternatives to Race-Based Affirmative Action: Evidence from Chicago's Exam Schools - joint with IO
Monday, May 15
4:00p–5:30p
MIT, Building E62-650, 100 Main Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Glenn Ellison and Parag Pathak (MIT)
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Microeconomic Applications
For more information, contact:
economics calendar
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Access to Justice Through Technology
Monday, May 15
6:00 PM to 7:30 PM
Social Law Library, 1 Pemberton Square, Boston
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/Boston-and-Cambridge-Legal-Hackers/events/238603262/
Hello Legal Hackers,
Thanks again to everyone who attended the Civic Engagement MeetUp last Thursday. As usual, we had great Q&A sessions and the venue had to kick us out!
Our next MeetUp will take place on May 15, 2017 from 6pm to 7 30pm. Location and panel at Social Law Library, 1 Pemberton Square, Boston, MA. Please save the date and RSVP!
Our topic: Access to Justice through technology. It seems apparent that many people do not have adequate access to the judicial system. From criminal justice to immigration, from predatory lending to employment issues, the burden on the underserved is severe. How can technology help? There are many interesting initiatives, including apps that help avoid parking tickets or create immigration applications, to video conferencing, to crowdfunding public interest lawsuits. We might also finally learn what access to justice really means!
As usual, we expect a lively panel with members of the judiciary, the legal and the tech community:
Marc Lauritsen will join us to speak about his involvement in the Access to Justice Commission's latest project and his work on lawhelpinteractive, which aided millions.
Quentin Steenhuis of the Greater Boston Legal Services will tell us about combining his roles as an advocate and a systems administrator together with his view on the opportunities for the technology to assist those needing most help.
More participants will be announced soon!
Come to learn, to discuss, and to debate with us!
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Hostage: Guy Delisle in conversation with HILLARY L. CHUTE
Monday, May 15
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes cartoonist and animator GUY DELISLE—author of Burma Chronicles, Jerusalem, Pyongyang, and Shenzhen—and comics scholar HILLARY L. CHUTE—author of Outside the Box, Graphic Women, and Disaster Drawn—for a discussion of Delisle's latest book, Hostage.
About Hostage
How does one survive when all hope is lost?
In the middle of the night in 1997, Doctors Without Borders administrator Christophe André was kidnapped by armed men and taken away to an unknown destination in the Caucasus region. For three months, André was kept handcuffed in solitary confinement, with little to survive on and almost no contact with the outside world. Close to twenty years later, award-winning cartoonist Guy Delisle (Pyongyang, Jerusalem, Shenzhen, Burma Chronicles) recounts André’s harrowing experience in Hostage, a book that attests to the power of one man’s determination in the face of a hopeless situation.
Marking a departure from the author’s celebrated first-person travelogues, Delisle tells the story through the perspective of the titular captive, who strives to keep his mind alert as desperation starts to set in. Working in a pared down style with muted color washes, Delisle conveys the psychological effects of solitary confinement, compelling us to ask ourselves some difficult questions regarding the repercussions of negotiating with kidnappers and what it really means to be free. Thoughtful, intense, and moving, Hostage takes a profound look at what drives our will to survive in the darkest of moments.
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Tuesday, May 16
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MIPS Seminar: Air Pollution and Brain Development: Attributable Risk for Neurodevelopmental Disorders
WHEN Tuesday, May 16, 2017, 9:30 – 10:30 a.m.
WHERE HSPH BLdg I, Rm 1302, 665 Huntington Avenue, Boston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Molecular & Integrative Physiological Sciences, Harvard Chan School of Public Health
SPEAKER(S) Deborah A. Cory-Slechta, Ph.D., Professor of Environmental Medicine, Pediatrics and Public Health Sciences, U of Rochester School of Medicine
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Massachusetts Clean Energy Day
Tuesday, May 16
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM EDT
Massachusetts State House, 24 Beacon Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/massachusetts-clean-energy-day-tickets-32635894840
Cost: $0 – $250
Massachusetts Clean Energy Day will showcase the growing vitality of the clean energy industry and the importance of consistent policy support as a means of catalyzing the state’s - and our region’s - economy.
Tentative Agenda
11:00 am - 2:00 pm Clean Energy Business Showcase * (Open to the Public - please register as General Admission)
12:30 pm - 1:00 pm Speaking Program and Clean Energy Champion Awards
Secreatary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Matthew A. Beaton
1:00 pm - 5:00 pm Small Group Meetings with Key Legislators (NECEC Members only)
*NECEC Members have the unique opportunity to exhibit at the State House! Participation in the Showcase is strongly encouraged, even if your team will be participating in legislative meetings during the afternoon. Showcase tables offer additional visibility throughout the day to additional Legislators, legislative staff and members of the public.
Legislative Meetings and Exhibition Space are open only to NECEC Members in good standing. Learn more about NECEC Membership and join today!
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Talk: Aki Sasamoto: Talk on Good Food
WHEN Thursday, May 18, 2017, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, 24 Quincy Street, Level 3, CRC/bookshop, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Humanities, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts; Cambridge Arts Council
SPEAKER(S) Aki Sasamoto is a New York-based, Japanese artist, working with sculpture, dance, video, sound, and installation. Her installations are arrangements of sculpturally altered found objects, in which Sasamoto weaves constructed narratives that are personal yet open to relation and reflection. As part of her practice she collaborates with musicians, choreographers, scientists and scholars, and plays multiple roles of dancer, sculptor, or director.
Aki Sasamoto's recent performances include "Food Rental" at the High Line, New York (2015); "Wrong Happy Hour/The Last Call" at Parasophia, Japan (2015); and "Sunny in the Furnace" at The Kitchen, New York (2014). Sasamoto has participated in solo exhibitions such as "Delicate Cycle," SculptureCenter, Long Island City, New York (2016); "No Choice," Harmony Murphy Gallery, Los Angeles (2015); "Wrong Happy Hour," JTT, New York (2014). Additionally she has participated in group exhibitions such as the 3rd Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kochi, India (2016); 11th Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai, China (2016), "Roppongi Crossing 2013: Out of Doubt" at the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2013); "A LIKENESS HAS BLISTERS" at CCS Bard Hessel Museum, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY (2012); Gwangju Biennale 2012, Gwangju, South Korea (2012); and the "Whitney Biennial," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2010).
COST Free
CONTACT INFO ccva at fas.harvard.edu
DETAILS Sasamoto will discuss the use of food and metaphor in art making. This talk is in collaboration with the Cambridge Arts Council exhibition, "Common Exchange," on view May 14–Sep 30, 2017.
LINK http://ccva.fas.harvard.edu/aki-sasamoto-talk-on-good-food
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Dr. James O’Connell, author of Stories from the Shadows: Reflections of a Street Doctor
Tuesday, May 16
6 – 7:30 p.m.
COMMONWEALTH SALON, CENTRAL LIBRARY IN COPLEY SQUARE, 700 BOYLSTON STREET, BOSTON
Three decades ago, James O’Connell, MD, was fresh out of Harvard Medical School and on his way to a prestigious oncology fellowship at Sloan-Kettering. His mentor, a legendary Boston doctor-humanitarian, asked him to head up a new pilot medical program for the city’s homeless men, women, and children—Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP). Dr. O’Connell thought he’d put in a few years, and then get back on track with his “real” career. But along the way, he fell in love with the challenges of homeless medicine, his patients, and their stories, now collected in Stories from the Shadows. O’Connell tells the history of homeless medicine in Boston, largely through the treatment, triumphs, and tragedies of some of his most memorable patients.
As president of BHCHP with an active practice working with people who live outside, Dr. O’Connell has become an international expert on homeless medicine, helping transform it into a highly respected specialty with a strong research base.
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How Glaciers Affect Earth and Climate
Tuesday, May 16
6:30 PM
Belmont Media Center, 9 Lexington Street, Belmont
Jack Ridge, Ph.D. Professor and Chair, Glacial and Quaternary Geology, Geomorphology, Tufts University
North American Glacial Varve Project
Professor Ridge is an expert on glacial cycles, with emphasis on how the last deglaciation in the northeastern U.S. influenced climate in North America. This investigation involves a reconstruction of the changes in the sediments left by ice sheets (varves) over centuries. The varve records provide crucial information about climate changes over long periods of time. The varve records also indicate when ancient habitation was possible or not.
More information at http://www.scienceforthepublic.org/coming-events/may-16-how-glaciers-affect-earth-and-climate
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Playsentations - 2.00b Toy Product Design Presentations
Tuesday, May 16
7:30p–10:00p
MIT, Building 10-250, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Join us for Toy Product Design Presentations! 16 teams will present their original toy concepts based on the theme "Animate!" Afterwards, there will be opportunities to test the toys and good ole' cookies + milk!
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/2.00b/www/index.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): 2.00b Toy Product Design
For more information, contact: 2.00b-ta at mit.edu
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Opportunity
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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. Members share the responsibility for making yogurt in our kitchen located just outside of Davis Sq. in FirstChurch. No previous yogurt making experience is necessary.
For more information checkout.
https://somervilleyogurtmakingcoop.wordpress.com
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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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Cambridge Coalition Solar Access Campaign is part of the DOE SunShot Solar in Your Community Challenge with a goal of 40 new solar electric systems installed in Cambridge, with a focus on serving low-to-moderate income communities.
Coalition partners include Green Cambridge, which works to create a more sustainable city and to protect the environment for the health and safety of all, Resonant Energy, a community-based solar developer, Solstice, helping every single household in America go solar, and Sunwealth, a solar investment firm.
More information at http://www.resonant.energy/sap-overview/
hat tip Cambridge Civic Journal
http://www.rwinters.com
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Resource
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"Greening Our Grid" Report Released April 24, 2017
MAPC is excited to announce the release of “Greening Our Grid,” a fact sheet and a case study detailing MAPC’s strategy to use municipal aggregation to help build new renewable energy in New England.
“Greening Our Grid” highlights MAPC's work with the City of Melrose as a case study for MAPC's innovative green municipal aggregation strategy. Melrose recently completed its first year of implementation. The city’s results demonstrate that economic and environmental goals can be met simultaneously, and provide a compelling example for others to follow.
The case study and fact sheet further describe the renewable energy strategy overall, why it can have a real impact on our electricity grid, and MAPC’s program to help other municipalities follow Melrose's lead. Arlington, Brookline, Gloucester, Hamilton, Millis, Somerville, Sudbury, and Winchester are poised to roll out their green aggregations within the year.
MAPC believes that municipal aggregation offers an opportunity for communities to leverage the collective buying power of their residents and businesses to transform our electric grid to cleaner sources of energy, while also providing cost savings and price stability for electricity. The fact sheet and case study will be useful tools for cities and towns that are exploring green municipal aggregation, as well as for those that already have active aggregation programs.
Check out “Greening Our Grid” today at http://www.mapc.org/greening-our-grid, and contact Patrick Roche, MAPC Clean Energy Coordinator, at proche at mapc.org for more information about MAPC's program.
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Cambridge Climate Change Game
Extending our work on face-to-face games, the MIT Science Impact Collaborative has developed a digital game on the health impacts of climate change that you can play alone on your computer or on your mobile phone. The game should take about 10-20 minutes. We would appreciate it if you could play the game at your convenience.
Play the game at http://www.doublecoconut.com/climate/
Any and all feedback on the game should be directed to Ella Kim at ella at mit.edu.
Thank you for your time and consideration!
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Sustainable Business Network Local Green Guide
SBN is excited to announce the soft launch of its new Local Green Guide, Massachusetts' premier Green Business Directory!
To view the directory please visit: http://www.localgreenguide.org
To find out how how your business can be listed on the website or for sponsorship opportunities please contact Adritha at adritha at sbnboston.org
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Boston Food System
"The Boston Food System [listserv] provides a forum to post announcements of events, employment opportunities, internships, programs, lectures, and other activities as well as related articles or other publications of a non-commercial nature covering the area's food system - food, nutrition, farming, education, etc. - that take place or focus on or around Greater Boston (broadly delineated)."
The Boston area is one of the most active nationwide in terms of food system activities - projects, services, and events connected to food, farming, nutrition - and often connected to education, public health, environment, arts, social services and other arenas. Hundreds of organizations and enterprises cover our area, but what is going on week-to-week is not always well publicized.
Hence, the new Boston Food System listserv, as the place to let everyone know about these activities. Specifically:
Use of the BFS list will begin soon, once we get a decent base of subscribers. Clarification of what is appropriate to announce and other posting guidelines will be provided as well.
It's easy to subscribe right now at https://elist.tufts.edu/wws/subscribe/bfs
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The Boston Network for International Development (BNID) maintains a website (BNID.org) that serves as a clearing-house for information on organizations, events, and jobs related to international development in the Boston area. BNID has played an important auxiliary role in fostering international development activities in the Boston area, as witnessed by the expanding content of the site and a significant growth in the number of users.
The website contains:
A calendar of Boston area events and volunteer opportunities related to International Development - http://www.bnid.org/events
A jobs board that includes both internships and full time positions related to International Development that is updated daily - http://www.bnid.org/jobs
A directory and descriptions of more than 250 Boston-area organizations - http://www.bnid.org/organizations
Also, please sign up for our weekly newsletter (we promise only one email per week) to get the most up-to-date information on new job and internship opportunities -www.bnid.org/sign-up
The website is completely free for students and our goal is to help connect students who are interested in international development with many of the worthwhile organizations in the area.
Please feel free to email our organization at info at bnid.org if you have any questions!
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Boston Maker Spaces - 41 (up from 27 in 2016) and counting: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zGHnt9r2pQx8.kfw9evrHsKjA&hl=en
Solidarity Network Economy: https://ussolidarityeconomy.wordpress.com
Bostonsmart.com's Guide to Boston: http://www.bostonsmarts.com/BostonGuide/
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Links to events at over 50 colleges and universities at Hubevents: http://hubevents.blogspot.com
Thanks to
Fred Hapgood's Selected Lectures on Science and Engineering in the Boston Area: http://www.BostonScienceLectures.com
MIT Events: http://events.mit.edu
MIT Energy Club: http://mitenergyclub.org/
Harvard Events: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/harvard-events/events-calendar/
Harvard Environment: http://environment.harvard.edu/events/calendar/
Sustainability at Harvard: http://green.harvard.edu/events
Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/
Eventbrite: http://www.eventbrite.com/
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
Take Action MA: http://takeactionma.com
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