[act-ma] Energy (and Other) Events - September 3, 2017
gmoke
gmoke at world.std.com
Sun Sep 3 10:09:39 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
----------------------------------------------------------
*******************************************
Details of these events are available when you scroll past the index
*******
———
Index
———
******
———————————
Tuesday, September 5
———————————
6pm Are Democracies in Peril?
6pm Power to the People: The New Energy Democracy
7pm The Cold War: A World History
7pm Healthier: Fifty Thoughts on the Foundations of Population
7pm Valerie Gordon Human Rights Lecture: Bryan Stevenson, Founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and Author of Just Mercy
—————————————
Wednesday, September 6
—————————————
12pm Water Law Update
12pm Working Women and Globalization: Saudi Lawyer Shihana Alazzaz
12:15pm Eric Rosenbach: Cyber Operations at the Pentagon
4pm Bio-inspiration for flight through cluttered environments: pigeon short-range visual navigation
4pm Understanding Civil Structures and Infrastructure Systems through Probabilistic Modeling and Data Analytics
6pm Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body
6pm Crash Override: How Gamergate (Nearly) Destroyed My Life, and How We Can Win the Fight Against Online Hate
————————————
Thursday, September 7
————————————
12pm What are the limits of human memory?
12:15pm A Conversation About Climate Change
2pm EPA Urban Heat Island Webinar: Understanding Your City’s Heat Island: Considerations & Approaches
5pm Combinatorics & Complexity Public Talk - Noga Alon
5pm Designing the Future of Teacher Learning
5:15pm EnergyBar Highlighting MA's Water + Energy Innovation Ecosystem
6pm Protests, Partisanship & Fixing Politics: IOP Fellows Unplugged
6pm MIT List Visual Arts Center | Public Program | Film Screening
6:30pm Sustainability Collaborative
6:30pm Climate Ready Boston
6:30pm Startup Classroom featuring Albrey Brown Previous Founder of Telegraph Academy & Director of Growth and Inclusion at Hack Reactor
7pm Author Talk with Chuck Collins
——————————
Friday, September 8
——————————
11am xTalk: Chinmay Kulkarni on "The Case for an Integrated Future of Learning and Work”
11am Saving Venice MIT-Style: A research presentation by MIT-Italy students and faculty from EAPS & CEE
12pm CID Speaker Series Seminar: Learning by Doing, Learning by Erring: Climate Resilience in the Latin American City
12:30pm Big Data Software: What’s Next?
7pm Whose Global Village?
———————————————————————
Saturday, September 9 - Sunday, September 10
———————————————————————
Reimagining Longevity Ideathon - Innovating Dementia Care in Japan, U.S. and the World
———————————
Saturday, September 9
———————————
9:30am Tour de Streets 2017
12pm Fall 2017 Mid-Cambridge PLANT SWAP
3pm Big Data and Artificial Intelligence: IP Landscape and Competitive Strategies
———————————
Sunday, September 10
———————————
11am The Boston Agricultural Exposition returns!
12pm Cambridge Carnival
———————————
Monday, September 11
———————————
7:30am 2017 Energy Storage & Microgrid Conference
12pm PAOC Colloquium: David McGee (MIT): The Patterns, Pace and Magnitude of Past Hydroclimate Changes
12:30pm Towards More Effective Building Energy Simulation
1pm Towards a “Foresightful Innovation”
5:30pm Boston Area Group for Informatics and Modeling Event: Panel on Cloud Computing for Molecular Modeling
5:30pm Residential Green Building Committee Meeting with Peter Lawrence from Biomimicry New England
6pm The Digital Threat to Democracy
6pm Star Trek Bridge Crew: Artificial Intelligence in Virtual Reality with IBM Watson AND Chef Watson Inspired Cocktails & Appetizers!
6:30pm Can you see what I hear? Using high-speed video technology to improve voice health
7pm Welcome to the Revolution
7pm Trevor Paglen | The Planet is a Sensor
————————————
Tuesday, September 12
————————————
8:30am Sustainability Is Beautiful - Roxbury E+ Housing by ISA
12:30pm Native American Speakers Series: On Wampanoag Ground
4:30pm Ford Day 2017: Autonomous Vehicle Lecture
5pm Comix, Jews ’n Art? Dun’t Esk!!
5pm Machine learning applied to fusion research: Predicting and avoiding disruption
5pm Reimagining Longevity Ideathon Pitches, Awards Ceremony and Reception
5:30pm Emerging Applications of Blockchain for Supply Chains
6pm Being Mortal: Medicine & What Matters in the End
6pm Gatekeepers: White House Chiefs of Staff
6pm Boston New Technology September 2017 Startup Showcase #BNT81 (21+)
7pm Clouds, Chemistry, and Climate Change: Why Our Current Climate Is What It Is
7pm Deadly Double Helix - Danielle Allen
----------------------------------------------------------
*******************************************
My rough notes on some of the events I go to and notes on books I’ve read are at:
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com
Memoirs of Ulysses S Grant
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2017/08/memoirs-of-ulysses-s-grant.html
----------------------------------------------------------
*******************************************
———————————
Tuesday, September 5
———————————
Are Democracies in Peril?
WHEN Tuesday, Sep. 5, 2017, 6 – 7:15 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, JFK Jr. Forum, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR JFK Jr. Forum
Institute of Politics
Harvard Kennedy School
SPEAKER(S) Marshall Ganz, Senior Lecturer, Harvard Kennedy School
Jane Mansbridge, Charles F. Adams Professor of Political Leadership and Democratic Values, Harvard Kennedy School
Khalil Gibran Muhammad, Professor of History, Race, and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School Suzanne Young Murray Professor, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University
Meghan O’Sullivan, Jean Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
Dani Rodrik, Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy, Harvard Kennedy School
Kathryn Sikkink, Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights Policy, HKS; Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor, Radcliffe Institute
Nicco Mele (Moderator), Lecturer in Public Policy and Director, Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
CONTACT INFO JFK Jr. Forum
Institute of Politics
617-495-1380
LINK http://iop.harvard.edu/forum/are-democracies-peril
———————————————
Power to the People: The New Energy Democracy
Tuesday, September 5
6:00 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
CIC Cambridge - Venture Cafe, 1 Broadway, 5th Floor, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/power-to-the-people-the-new-energy-democracy-tickets-36511948220
Cost: $8 – $12
Energy democracy is an emergent social movement that connects energy policy and social policy. The concept has been developed in response to growing concerns about socio-economic and racial inequities, the powerful influence of conventional fossil fuel energy companies on politics and policy, and the negative impacts of climate change.
Gender imbalance in the energy sector, fair access to the benefits of energy efficiency, and community-controlled sustainable and just local economic development will be discussed in light of the societal value of more diverse and inclusive participation in the renewable energy transition.
Our expert speakers will highlight opportunities for re-envisioning the renewable energy transition as a larger social transformation that redistributes power - literally and figuratively - and also strengthens societal resilience at multiple levels.
Speakers
Jennie C. Stephens, Professor of Sustainability Science & Policy & Associate Director of the Global Resilience Institute, Northeastern University
Jennie C. Stephens is Dean’s Professor of Sustainability Science & Policy and Associate Director of the Global Resilience Institute at Northeastern University. Her research, teaching, and community engagement focuses on social dimensions of the renewable energy transition, reducing fossil fuel reliance, and strengthening resilience by integrating social justice with climate-energy policy. Professor Stephens received a 2017 Arab-American Frontiers Fellowship from the National Academy of Sciences, she is a 2015-2016 Leopold Leadership fellow, and her book “Smart Grid (R)Evolution: Electric Power Struggles” (Cambridge University Press, 2015) explores social and cultural debates about energy system change (co-authored with Wilson & Peterson). Before joining Northeastern, Professor Stephens was on the faculty at the University of Vermont and Clark University. She earned her PhD (2002) and MS (1998) at California Institute of Technology in Environmental Science & Engineering and her BA (1997) at Harvard in Environmental Science & Public Policy.
Alex Papali, Green Justice Organizer, Clean Water Action
Alex has lived in the Boston area 30 years, organizing locally since high school. His areas of focus have ranged from prison issues to immigrant rights to tenant organizing–with the common goal of addressing structural causes of injustice and obstacles to sustainability. At Clean Water Action, Alex works towards 'energy democracy' with the Green Justice Campaign: fair access to the benefits of energy efficiency, clean local energy through "community microgrids," and a robust green economy for all through the collective efforts of more than 40 community, labor and environmental groups statewide. He is assisting the development of a grassroots energy group in the Worcester area, with a focus on building clean distributed energy resources that serve linguistically diverse low-income communities. He also helps coordinate the Boston Recycling Coalition, aiming to grow a world-class Zero Waste system in Boston that captures untapped economic potential and eliminates toxics and climate pollution by reimagining how we produce, consume and dispose of everything we use.
Penn Loh, Director of the Master of Public Policy Program and Community Practice for the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, Tufts University
Penn Loh is Lecturer and Director of the Master of Public Policy Program and Community Practice at Tufts University’s Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning. He partners with various community base building organizations in the Right to the City Alliance and Center for Economic Democracy. From 1996 to 2009, he served in various roles, including Executive Director, at Alternatives for Community & Environment (ACE), a Roxbury-based environmental justice group. He holds an M.S. in environmental science and policy from Energy and Resources Group of the University of California at Berkeley and a B.S. in electrical engineering from MIT. Before joining ACE, he was Research Associate at the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security in Oakland, California and a Research Analyst at the Tellus Institute for Resource and Environmental Strategies in Boston. He has published broadly on environmental and social justice issues. He has served on the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council’s Health and Research Subcommittee, the Massachusetts Environmental Justice Advisory Committee, the Massachusetts Energy Efficiency Advisory Council, the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board, and on the boards of the Environmental Support Center, the Environmental Leadership Program, New World Foundation, and Community Labor United. He is currently a trustee of the Hyams Foundation.
——————————————
The Cold War: A World History
Tuesday, September 5
7:00 PM
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Harvard Book Store welcomes Harvard Kennedy School's ODD ARNE WESTAD for a discussion of his latest book, The Cold War: A World History.
About The Cold War
We tend to think of the Cold War as a bounded conflict: a clash of two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, born out of the ashes of World War II and coming to a dramatic end with the collapse of the Soviet Union. But in this major new work, Bancroft Prize-winning scholar Odd Arne Westad argues that the Cold War must be understood as a global ideological confrontation, with early roots in the Industrial Revolution and ongoing repercussions around the world.
In The Cold War, Westad offers a new perspective on a century when great power rivalry and ideological battle transformed every corner of our globe. From Soweto to Hollywood, Hanoi, and Hamburg, young men and women felt they were fighting for the future of the world. The Cold War may have begun on the perimeters of Europe, but it had its deepest reverberations in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, where nearly every community had to choose sides. And these choices continue to define economies and regimes across the world.
Today, many regions are plagued with environmental threats, social divides, and ethnic conflicts that stem from this era. Its ideologies influence China, Russia, and the United States; Iraq and Afghanistan have been destroyed by the faith in purely military solutions that emerged from the Cold War.
Stunning in its breadth and revelatory in its perspective, this book expands our understanding of the Cold War both geographically and chronologically, and offers an engaging new history of how today's world was created.
——————————————
Healthier: Fifty Thoughts on the Foundations of Population
Tuesday, September 5
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
Harvard Coop, 1400 Mass Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dr-sandro-galea-healthierfifty-thoughts-on-the-foundations-of-population-health-tickets-35918534303
Dr. Sandro Galea -
Public health can rightly claim its share of victories: healthier cities, widespread sanitation, broader availability of nutrient-rich food, and reductions in violence and injury. But for all these gains, today we face a new set of challenges, ones complicated by political and professional shifts that threaten to fundamentally change the health of populations. Healthier is both an affirmation and an essential summary of the current challenges and opportunities for those working in and around the improvement of population health. The 50 essays combine unity and clarity of purpose with granular coverage of diverse subject matter. They champion an approach to health that is consequentialist and rooted in social justice — an expansion of traditional, quantitatively motivated public health that will both inform and inspire any reader from student to seasoned practitioner. Galea's cogent, incisive arguments for the urgency of population-level interventions in health guarantee that his perspective, currently at the forefront of public health, will soon become conventional wisdom. A key text of interest to health policy makers, civil servants, workers at state and local departments of health, and students in public health and health sciences.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH, is the Robert A. Knox Professor and Dean at the School of Public Health at Boston University. A physician and epidemiologist interested in the social production of health of urban populations, his work explores innovative cells-to-society approaches to population health questions with an overall aim of advancing a consequentialist approach to population health scholarship. He is a past president of the Society for Epidemiologic Research and an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine.
——————————————
Valerie Gordon Human Rights Lecture: Bryan Stevenson, Founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and Author of Just Mercy
Tuesday, September 5
7:00pm to 9:00pm
Northeastern, Matthews Arena, 238-262 St. Botolph Street, Boston
The annual Valerie Gordon Human Rights Lecture celebrates the memory of the late Valerie Gordon ’93, a fierce advocate for human rights in the US and internationally. The lecture brings outstanding lawyers, judges, scholars and advocates who work to advance human rights to deliver a keynote address at the law school. In conjunction with the lecture, the law school’s chapter of the Black Law Students Association sponsors a human rights essay contest for first year law students. The author of the winning essay is given “The Spirit of Valerie Gordon” award, presented at the lecture each spring.
Editorial Comment: EJI has launched their Lynching in America project (https://lynchinginamerica.eji.org) which will include a museum and memorial in Montgomery, AL and a website mapping all historical instances of lynching in the USA.
—————————————
Wednesday, September 6
—————————————
Water Law Update
Wednesday, September 6
12:00 – 1:00 (EDT)
Webinar
RSVP at http://nationalaglawcenter.org/consortium/webinars/waterlawupdate/
This webinar summarizes recent legislative developments and case law from around the country that impact agriculture and agribusiness. The status of the Waters of the United States Rule will be analyzed. Recent case law on exempt wells, water rights and regulatory takings, and other important topics will be discussed. The webinar will include an analysis of the possible impacts of Des Moines Water Works decision. Practical impacts for the producer and agricultural law will be emphasized throughout the webinar.
Sign-in info is available here: http://nationalaglawcenter.org/consortium/webinars/waterlawupdate/
————————————————
Working Women and Globalization: Saudi Lawyer Shihana Alazzaz
Wednesday, September 6
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM EDT
Harvard, Pound Hall, Room 100, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/working-women-and-globalization-saudi-lawyer-shihana-alazzaz-tickets-36776641926
Join the Harvard Women's Law Association and the Middle East Institute for a talk with visiting Saudi lawyer, Shihana Alazzaz. Lunch will be provided.
Shihana Alazzaz, one of the first women lawyers working in Saudi Arabia, is at the forefront of women proving themselves in the workplace across the globe and she provides support, training and advice to women who have faced considerable barriers in their professional fields. Her personal story of perseverance and persistence has led her to advocate for women's welfare and success in law and other professions. She will talk about challenges, achievements and opportunities derived for her work in Saudi Arabia and presented against a backdrop of a globalized, networked economy.
ABOUT SHIHANA ALAZZAZ
Shihana Alazzaz is one of the first women licensed to practice law in Saudi Arabia and is passionate about mentoring other young women in her field. Born and raised in Riyadh, she left at the age of seventeen in order to study law in the United Kingdom. In 2008, Alazzaz graduated with an Honors LLB degree and received further training in Dubai and Kuwait before accepting a job at Baker and McKenzie Law Practice in New York, a position she accepted because at that time the Saudi Ministry of Justice did not issue licenses to women to practice law in the Kingdom. In her new job, Alazzaz provided legal advice on topics including defense, aviation, telecommunications, healthcare and securities.
In 2012, Saudi regulations regarding the right of women to practice law changed, prompting Alazzaz to return to Saudi Arabia and obtain her law license. She was offered a position opening the new Riyadh office of Vinson and Elkins LLP, one of the world’s leading law firms dealing with the energy sector. She rose to the position of Counsel. Her work focused on energy, oil and gas, power, mining, and petrochemical and infrastructure projects. When she first started at V&E, Alazzaz was the only women working at the office, so she started an internship program to recruit talented young female law students. Since then, twelve young women entering their final year of law school have completed 6 month internships at V&E, giving them valuable training before entering the workforce. Alazzaz was also integral to the creation and management of Tomouh, an organization dedicated to fostering the careers of ambitious young people in the Gulf Region. Recently, Alazzaz has been appointed as Head of Transactions at the Public Investment Fund in Saudi Arabia.
Alazzaz is a member of the American Bar Association and the New York State Bar. While in law school she served as a Saudi representative in the U.S. Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) and later participated in the State Department’s International Visitors Program on Saudi Women in Law, visiting a number of cities across the U.S. She is a regular speaker at the University of Colorado’s Annual Conference on World Affairs and was the keynote speaker at the first German-Middle East Young Professionals Conference in Berlin. She has published articles on a variety of topics in Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, and Madame Figaro Magazine, and regularly gives motivational talks to Saudi high school and university students.
—————————————————
Eric Rosenbach: Cyber Operations at the Pentagon
Wednesday, September 6,
12:15pm - 1:30pm
1 Brattle Square - Suite 470, Cambridge
Please join us for our first seminar event of the new semester, a conversation with the new Co-Director of the Belfer Center Eric Rosenbach. Lunch will be served.*
*This event is open to the public, but seating and lunch will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
More information at http://www.belfercenter.org/index.php/events
———————————————
Bio-inspiration for flight through cluttered environments: pigeon short-range visual navigation
Wednesday, September 6, 2017 -
4:00pm to 5:00pm
Harvard, Maxwell Dworkin G115, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Andrew Biewener (Harvard University)
The ability to fly through cluttered environments is essential to the ecological and evolutionary success of many groups of flying animals, and has generated considerable recent interest in the bioengineered control of UAVs. Flight navigation and obstacle avoidance require exceptional aerodynamic maneuvering performance coordinated by rapid processing of visual cues. We examined the strategies pigeons adopt to fly past vertical obstacles versus horizontal obstacles, in which flight guidance is well described by steering control that targets gap openings between nearby obstacles. We observed that pigeons bias their flight direction toward larger visual gaps when making fast steering decisions. To negotiate horizontal obstacles, pigeons exhibited less steering, choosing gaps most aligned to their immediate flight direction, and experienced fewer collisions with obstacles; indicating that horizontal obstacle navigation is less challenging than for vertical obstacles. We found that pigeons adopt discrete wing morphing strategies to traverse vertical obstacles of varying gap width and navigated past horizontal obstacles with more variable wing extension, stroke plane and wing stroke path to reduce contact with obstacles. Pigeons also exhibited pronounced head movements when negotiating horizontal obstacles, which potentially serve a visual function. These findings demonstrate that pigeons exhibit a keen kinesthetic sense of body and wing position and are able to navigate vertical and horizontal obstacles using simple rules, with remarkable success, that may offer bio-inspired insight for the control of UAVs.
Applied Mechanics Colloquia
——————————————
Understanding Civil Structures and Infrastructure Systems through Probabilistic Modeling and Data Analytics
Wednesday, September 6
4:00pm
MIT, Building 1-131, 33 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Professor Iris Tien - Henry L. Pierce Lab Seminar Series
Abstract: Civil engineering systems, including structures and infrastructure lifelines, are critical to the functioning of society. These systems are complex, comprised of many interconnected components, and subject to hazards of increasing frequency and severity. In this seminar, I will present novel approaches for the probabilistic modeling and assessment of civil structures and infrastructure, and the use of data analytics to better understand and predict the behavior of these systems. Among the approaches I will discuss are methods to model interdependent critical infrastructure systems using Bayesian networks, predict structural risk and reliability using sensor monitoring data, and integrate varying data sources for infrastructure monitoring and assessment. I will discuss both theoretical developments in these areas and applications to real-world systems.
Bio: Dr. Iris Tien joined the faculty in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2014. She received her Ph.D. in Civil Systems Engineering in 2014 from the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Tien’s research interests are in probabilistic methods for modeling and reliability assessment of civil infrastructure systems. She has a unique interdisciplinary background that encompasses traditional topics of civil engineering, sensing and data analytics, stochastic processes, and decision making under uncertainty. A previous recipient of the NSF Engineering Innovation Fellowship, Tien was recently selected for the NSF Early Career Investigators Workshop in Smart Cities and the National Academy of Engineering U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium.
——————————————
Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body
Wednesday, September 6
6:00 PM (Doors at 5:30)
Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.harvard.com/event/daniel_goleman_and_richard_j._davidson/
Cost $5 - $28
Harvard Book Store welcomes psychologists DANIEL GOLEMAN and RICHARD J. DAVIDSON for a discussion of their book, Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body.
About Altered Traits
In the last twenty years, meditation and mindfulness have gone from being kind of cool to becoming an omnipresent Band-Aid for fixing everything from your weight to your relationship to your achievement level. Unveiling here the kind of cutting-edge research that has made them giants in their fields, Daniel Goleman and Richard Davidson show us the truth about what meditation can really do for us, as well as exactly how to get the most out of it.
Sweeping away common misconceptions and neuromythology to open readers’ eyes to the ways data has been distorted to sell mind-training methods, the authors demonstrate that beyond the pleasant states mental exercises can produce, the real payoffs are the lasting personality traits that can result. But short daily doses will not get us to the highest level of lasting positive change—even if we continue for years—without specific additions. More than sheer hours, we need smart practice, including crucial ingredients such as targeted feedback from a master teacher and a more spacious, less attached view of the self, all of which are missing in widespread versions of mind training. The authors also reveal the latest data from Davidson’s own lab that point to a new methodology for developing a broader array of mind-training methods with larger implications for how we can derive the greatest benefits from the practice.
Exciting, compelling, and grounded in new research, this is one of those rare books that has the power to change us at the deepest level.
—————————————
Crash Override: How Gamergate (Nearly) Destroyed My Life, and How We Can Win the Fight Against Online Hate
Wednesday, September 6
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard Street, Brookline
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/zoe-quinn-96-tickets-36367539289
Cost: $5 – $27
Zoe Quinn
Through her story as both target and activist, Quinn delves into the controversies, threats, and cultural battles that permeate our online lives. Crash Override provides a look at how the internet impacts our lives and culture, along with wisdom for keeping yourself and others safe online.
Event Guidelines:
Tickets are $5 or free with the pre-order of Crash Override
Tickets may only be purchased online
The reading will take place at the Coolidge Corner Theatre at 6pm
The line at the theatre will form at 5:30pm
Present your printed Eventbrite ticket for entry to the theatre
Zoe's presentation at the theatre will last an hour
Signed copies of Crash Override will be available for pickup and purchase at Brookline Booksmith following the event
Editorial Comment: Ganergate was ground zero for a lot of what we've seen in online hate since then, including the 2016 Presidential election. Might be good to listen to someone who has been through it and come out the other side.
————————————
Thursday, September 7
————————————
What are the limits of human memory?
Thursday, September 7
12:00pm to 1:15pm
Harvard, William James Hall, Room 765, 33 Kirkland Street, Cambridge
Jeremy Manning, Assistant Professor of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College
http://www.context-lab.com/
Our memory systems leverage statistical patterns in the world around us to organize and store incoming information, and to retrieve previously stored information. This enables us to recognize the situations we are in and to adapt our behaviors accordingly. For example, your might choose to behave differently on a road trip with close friends versus commuting into work with your boss, even though many aspects of your perceptual experience are preserved across those two scenarios. You might also remember different aspects of conversations from those trips when asked about them later.
In my talk, I will explore the extent to which (and the circumstances under which) these sorts of processes may be manipulated to influence memory. I’ll begin by exploring these processes using a simple word list learning task. I’ll show how we can influence memory performance (specifically, how many words people remember and the order people remember the words in). Then I’ll talk about how these same ideas can be applied to more “naturalistic” memories, such as memories for scenes in a movie or concepts learned in the classroom.
Cognition, Brain, & Behavior Research Seminar
If you have any questions, please email the 2017-2018 meeting organizers Max Krasnow or Leah Somerville.
————————————————
A Conversation About Climate Change
Thursday, September 7
12:45 PM – Pizza at 12:15
BU, LSEB 103, 24 Cummington Mall, Boston
Charles DeLisi, Metcalf Professor of Science and Engineering, Dean Emeritus, College of Engineering, Boston University
———————————————
EPA Urban Heat Island Webinar: Understanding Your City’s Heat Island: Considerations & Approaches
Thursday, September 7
2:00-3:30 pm
Webinar
RSVP at https://www.epa.gov/heat-islands/heat-island-webcast-series
This webinar will feature work in Cambridge and Baltimore on mapping and understanding urban heat islands.
Speakers:
David Sailor, Professor & Director, Urban Climate Research Center, Arizona State
John Bolduc, Environmental Planner, City of Cambridge
Kristin Baja, Climate Resilience Officer, Urban Sustainability Directors Network
For more information and to register, click here.
———————————————
Combinatorics & Complexity Public Talk - Noga Alon
WHEN Thursday, Sep. 7, 2017, 5 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Askwith Hall, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard University Center of Mathematical Sciences and Applications
SPEAKER(S) Noga Alon (Tel Aviv University)
DETAILS Noga Alon will give a public lecture titled "Graph Coloring: Local and Global" as part of the Harvard University Center of Mathematical Sciences and Applications' program on Combinatorics & Complexity.
Graph Coloring is arguably the most popular subject in Discrete Mathematics, and its combinatorial, algorithmic and computational aspects have been studied intensively. The most basic notion in the area, the chromatic number of a graph, is an inherently global property. This is demonstrated by the hardness of computation or approximation of this invariant as well as by the existence of graphs with arbitrarily high chromatic number and no short cycles. The investigation of these graphs had a profound impact on Graph Theory and Combinatorics. It combines combinatorial, probabilistic, algebraic and topological techniques with number theoretic tools. I will describe the rich history of the subject focusing on some recent results.
Combinatorics and Computational Complexity have enjoyed a rich history of interaction leading to many significant developments in the two fields, such as the theories of NP-completeness, expander graphs, pseudorandomness, and property testing. Lately these fields have seen many new points of intersection such as in the development of the polynomial method (used, for example, in recent advances on the cap-set problem as well as in development of optimal list-decodable codes), the method of interlacing families of polynomials (yielding Ramanujan graphs and the resolution of the Kadison-Singer problem), and the theory of randomness extractors (yielding explicit constructions of Ramsey graphs). This special program will bring together experts in the fields to collaborate, to learn about the latest advances in the area, and to forge new connections.
———————————————
Designing the Future of Teacher Learning
Thursday, September 7
5:00pm to 6:30pm
MIT, Building 56-114, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
All across the world, educational systems are exploring new ways to encourage more ambitious teaching and learning in classrooms: shifting away from recitation and rote learning to more engaging forms of collaborative, active, problem-centered learning. For this shift in classrooms to occur, we need to dramatically increase the quantity and quality of learning opportunities available to educators in these systems, and new forms of blended and online learning experiences will be central to this growth. One crucial element in teacher learning is practice. For most teachers, opportunities for low-stakes, deliberate practice is quite limited–teachers either learn theory in graduate school of education seminar rooms or test ideas in real classrooms, with real students, with real and immediate learning needs. At the MIT Teaching Systems Lab, we are developing new forms of teacher practice spaces, technology platforms inspired by games and simulations that provide the opportunity for teachers to rehearse for and reflect on important decisions in teaching. In this participatory session, we’ll play samples of some of the practice spaces that we are developing, and discuss the theoretical foundations of our vision for the future of teacher learning.
Justin Reich is the director of the MIT Teaching Systems Lab, an Assistant Professor in the Comparative Media Studies/Writing department, and a Faculty Associate of the Berkman-Klein Center for Internet and Society. As a learning scientist, he investigates the complex, technology-rich classrooms of the future and the systems we need to prepare educators to thrive in those environments.
———————————————
EnergyBar Highlighting MA's Water + Energy Innovation Ecosystem
Thursday, September 7
5:15pm - 8:30pm
Greentown Labs, 28 Dane Street, Somerville
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/energybar-highlighting-mas-water-energy-innovation-ecosystem-tickets-30360344608
Greentown Labs recognizes cleantech and energy innovations are happening across sectors—not just in hardware and software—but also in water, advanced materials, and green chemistry. That’s why Greentown Labs is adding an 1,800 sq. ft. wet lab to its Global Center for Cleantech Innovation which is scheduled to open in October! The new wet lab will enable Greentown Labs to support startups and corporates alike working to address the water-energy nexus.
Massachusetts is proud to be home to a growing water innovation cluster comprised of many startups, investors, corporates, and public stakeholders who push the industry forward. Investment into startups developing groundbreaking technology solutions is critical to addressing our global water needs. Please join us for a panel discussion focused on this sector, highlighting:
Challenges water-based startups encounter and how to overcome them; and
Why startup and corporate partnerships in the water space is a valuable pursuit and how to bring one to fruition in your business.
We hope to see you on September 7!
Event Agenda:
5:15-5:30pm — Attendees arrive + sign-in
5:30-6:15pm — Water + Energy Innovation Ecosystem Panel
6:15-6:30pm — Refill your beverage + grab more appetizers!
6:30-7:15pm — Welcoming remarks from Greentown Labs + announcement of new sponsors!
7:15-8:30pm — 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.
We hope to see you on September 7!
—————————————
Protests, Partisanship & Fixing Politics: IOP Fellows Unplugged
WHEN Thursday, Sep. 7, 2017, 6 – 7:15 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, JFK Jr. Forum, Institute of Politics, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR JFK Jr. Forum, Institute of Politics
SPEAKER(S) Yohannes Abraham, Senior Advisor, Obama Foundation, Former Senior Advisor to the National Economic Council and Deputy Assistant, Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs, White House
Dan Balz, Chief Correspondent, The Washington Post
Jason Chaffetz, U.S. Congressman (R-UT) (2009-2017), Former Chair, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Contributor, Fox News Network
Karen Finney, Senior Advisor and Spokesperson, Hillary Clinton 2016 Presidential Campaign
Sally Jewell, United States Secretary of the Interior (2013 to 2017), CEO, Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) (200-2013)
Mark Strand, President, Congressional Institute
Lois Romano (moderator), Senior Advisor, Institute of Politics, Former Washington Post Political Reporter and Editor
CONTACT INFO JFK Jr. Forum Office
617-495-1380
LINK http://iop.harvard.edu/forum/protests-partisanship-fixing-politics-iop-fellows-unplugged
—————————————
MIT List Visual Arts Center | Public Program | Film Screening
Thursday, September 7
6:00pm to 8:00pm
MIT List Visual Arts Center, Bakalar Gallery 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/film-screening-let-the-fire-burn-2013-dir-jason-osder-tickets-35431838583
Let the Fire Burn. 2013. Directed by Jason Osder
95 min.
Let the Fire Burn presents, via television proceedings and news footage, the events leading up to and surrounding an underreported 1985 stand-off between the black liberation group MOVE and the Philadelphia Police Department.
This Thursday evening feature documentary film screening is presented in conjunction with List Projects: Civil Disobedience. Screenings take place in Bakalar Gallery.
All programs are free and open to the general public. RSVPs are required. RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/film-screening-let-the-fire-burn-2013-dir-jason-osder-tickets-35431838583
—————————————
Sustainability Collaborative
Thursday, September 7
6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Venture Cafe at Cambridge Innovation Center, 5th floor, 1 Broadway, Cambridge
The Sustainability Collaborative was spurred as an outgrowth of the Sustainability unConference and aims to provide an ongoing platform for collaboration, connections, and solutions generation. Rotating sustainability advocates are given the chance to facilitate group discussion around central sustainability themes ranging from hunger alleviation to impact investing. The goal is to raise awareness within the innovation community while strengthening the social impact ecosystem.
Hosted monthly as part of The Venture Café Foundation’s Café Night at Kendall gathering.
Please reach out to Sierra Flanigan: sierra at coalesce.earth
——————————————
Climate Ready Boston
Thursday, September 7
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Boston Nature Center, 500 Walk Hill Street, Mattapan
RSVP at http://www.massaudubon.org/get-outdoors/program-catalog#program:sanctuary=21:program_code=55165
Cost: $5 - $7
Nonmembers can join today during checkout and take immediate advantage of member prices.
Join the Boston Nature Center for the first of three climate change discussions. In this first part we will discuss the climate impacts Boston is facing, and how the city as a whole, and individual communities are preparing to face these challenges. We will discuss mitigation actions as well.
Registration is required.
Register online or call 617-983-8500 to register by phone.
For more information, contact: bnc at massaudubon.org
——————————————
Startup Classroom featuring Albrey Brown Previous Founder of Telegraph Academy & Director of Growth and Inclusion at Hack Reactor
Thursday, September 7
6:30 PM to 9:30 PM
Dudley Cafe, 15 Warren Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bread-presents-startup-classroom-featuring-albrey-brown-previous-founder-of-telegraph-academy-tickets-36726807871
Albrey Brown is a community oriented educator interested in distributing equitable opportunities and building inclusive spaces to the those who are identified as underrepresented in tech. In 2015 Albrey founded Telegraph Academy, the first boot camp specifically geared toward people of color. Through that experience, he learned the value of raising capital, building an organization, and ultimately how to get acquired by larger organizations. Currently serving as Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Hack Reactor, his diversity and inclusion philosophy relies on a combination of data and empathy driven practices. Albrey believes that strong organizations are the best at hiring, developing, talent from all walks of life and hopes to help build a framework Silicon Valley can use to do that.
You can follow Albrey on Twitter @AlbreyBrown
Thanks to our sponsors, The Boston Foundation and The Transformative Culture Project, and our promotional partners Outside the Box Agency, Epicenter Community, and Sankofa.
Books will be available for purchase from our friends at Frugal Bookstore.
BREAD: Boston’s Racial + Economic Activated Dialogue
——————————————
Author Talk with Chuck Collins
Thursday, September 7, 2017
7:00 PM to 8:30 PM
Somerville Public Library, 79 Highland Avenue, Somerville,
Join us for an evening book talk by author of "Born on Third Base : a One Percenter Makes the Case for Tackling Inequality, Bringing Wealth Home, and Committing to the Common Good."
More about the book: "As the great-grandson of Oscar Meyer, Collins grew up in a wealthy and advantaged family. He considers himself part of the privileged 1 percent, born on third base, with only a short hop to make it to home plate. But Collins believes it's time for our society to come to a different home, one where inequality is addressed in a new way, where the economy can be made more inclusive, and where the 1 percent can engage with the other 99 to become partners in transforming the future. Collins (99 to 1: How Inequality Is Wrecking the World and What We Can Do about It, 2012) once again presents a convincing and deeply thought-provoking argument in favor of not just the need for societal change but the importance of individual action in making change happen. Written in a well-crafted, conversational style, Collins' latest is a gentle yet clear reminder to readers that real change starts by looking outside ourselves and making even the smallest connection with others."
--Gladstein, Carol Copyright 2016 Booklist
Light refreshments will be served.
——————————
Friday, September 8
——————————
xTalk: Chinmay Kulkarni on "The Case for an Integrated Future of Learning and Work"
Friday, September 8
11:00am to 12:00pm
MIT Building 24-121, 60 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Learning and work are at a tipping point: more than 20 million learners have enrolled in Massive Open Online Classes, and freelancers are expected to comprise 40% of the US workforce by 2020. My research explores a future where a dramatically larger number of people engage in lifelong learning, and where learning and work are increasingly intertwined. My talk describes recent research how freelance work can support learning.
It will also describe software systems and associated pedagogy used by 100,000+ learners in MOOCs, thousands of students in university classrooms, and freelancers on Upwork. These systems point to how leveraging peer processes at massive scale can address this societal challenge.
Chinmay Kulkarni is an Assistant Professor at Carnegie-Mellon's HCI Institute. In his research, he designs computational systems to help people work and learn better, together.
————————————
Saving Venice MIT-Style: A research presentation by MIT-Italy students and faculty from EAPS & CEE
Friday, September 8
11:00am to 12:30pm
MIT, Building 54-915, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
Join MISTI, MIT EAPS, and CEE as 10 MIT students present their research on rising sea levels in Venice.
The group's intensive workshop took place at a research camp on a small island in the Venetian Lagoon this summer to find solutions to key challenges facing Venice. Learn about how the group from MIT collaborated with Italian students and faculty from the University of Venice to join forces in the "global classroom," and join in on the plans for next summer!
————————————
CID Speaker Series Seminar: Learning by Doing, Learning by Erring: Climate Resilience in the Latin American City
WHEN Friday, Sep. 8, 2017, 12 – 1 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, 79 JFK Street, Perkins Room, Rubenstein Building 4th Floor (R-429), Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Center for International Development at Harvard University
SPEAKER(S) Carolina Zambrano-Barragán, Climate change and urban sustainability expert from Quito, Ecuador.
CONTACT INFO camila_lobo at hks.harvard.edu
DETAILS Latin America needs new approaches to face the impacts of climate change and rapid urbanization, particularly in a context of poverty and rising inequality. Cities in the region have emerged as a central actor for social and political innovation, and urban areas offer a unique scenario to pilot transformational change. In this event, Carolina Zambrano will discuss the main opportunities and challenges for climate action in Latin American cities, with a focus on urban resilience and adaptation. She will share key insights from her personal experience in Quito, Ecuador, and discuss the importance of dynamic socio-institutional frameworks and policies for climate change management.
LINK https://growthlab.cid.harvard.edu/event/learning-doing-learning-erring-climate-resilience-latin-american-city
————————————
Big Data Software: What’s Next?
Friday, September 8
12:30pm to 2:00pm
Harvard, Maxwell Dworkin G115, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Michael Franklin, University of Chicago
The Big Data revolution has been enabled by a wealth of innovation in software platforms for data storage, analytics, and machine learning. The design of Big Data platforms such as Hadoop and Spark focused on scalability, fault-tolerance and performance. As these and other systems increasingly become part of the mainstream, the next set of challenges are becoming clearer. Requirements for performance are changing as workloads and hardware evolve. But more fundamentally, other issues are moving to the forefront. These include ease of use for a wide range of users, security, concerns about privacy and potential bias, and the perennial problems of data quality and integration from heterogeneous sources. In this talk, Dr. Franklin will give an overview of how we got here, with an emphasis on the development of the Apache Spark system. He will then focus on these emerging issues with an eye towards where the academic research community can most effectively engage.
Speaker Bio: Michael Franklin is the Liew Family Chair of Computer Science at the University of Chicago where he also serves as senior advisor to the provost on computation and data science. Previously he was at UC Berkeley where he was the Thomas M. Siebel Professor of Computer Science and Chair of the Computer Science Division. He co-founded Berkeley’s AMPLab, a leading academic big data analytics research center, and served as an executive committee member for the Berkeley Institute for Data Science, a campus-wide initiative to advance data science environments. Michael is a Fellow of ACM and a two-time recipient of the ACM SIGMOD “Test of Time” award.
IACS Seminar Series
IACS Seminars are free and open to the public. Lunch will be served from 12:30-1pm on a first-come, first served basis. The talk will begin promptly at 1pm.
Host: Institute for Applied Computational Science (IACS)
Contact: Natasha Baker
Phone: 617-496-2623
Email: nrbaker at seas.harvard.edu
————————————————
Whose Global Village?
Friday, September 8
7pm
Harvard Coop, 1400 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Ramesh Srinivasan
A call to action to include marginalized, non-western communities in the continuously expanding digital revolution.
———————————————————————
Saturday, September 9 - Sunday, September 10
———————————————————————
Reimagining Longevity Ideathon - Innovating Dementia Care in Japan, U.S. and the World
Saturday, September 9 - Sunday, September 10
CIC Cambridge, 101 Main St. 15th Floor, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/reimagining-longevity-ideathon-innovating-dementia-care-in-japan-us-and-the-world-tickets-36452153372
Caring for our seniors is a growing concern for governments and economies worldwide as people live longer lives.
Longevity – along with its many blessings - can be fraught with medical, financial, psychological and social burdens that are as complex for aging individuals as for the people who love and care for them.
Yet, we believe, the longevity crisis is also a crucible from which the most creative innovations in elder care can emerge.
Entrepreneurs and innovators have a staggering opportunity to make an outsized impact for 50+ million consumers in an $8 trillion dollar senior care market in the U.S. and Japan combined.
SOMPO, one of the largest insurers and assisted living facility operators in Japan, sees first-hand the widening gap where demand for quality, dignified care at a reasonable cost far outpaces the supply. They’ve been working with innovators in Japan to deploy new technology-enabled solutions, and compassionate business models, to transform elder care.
SOMPO is now teaming up with Venture Cafe to leverage the wisdom of crowds on a global scale -- with a special focus on reimagining care for people with dementia. The prizes for the Ideathon winners are as follow:
Grand Prize $10,000
Runner Up $5,000
Third Place $2,500
In addition, SOMPO will work with the winner on a Proof of Concept in Japan (including airfare and accommodations for two people for a week). We’re eager to share what we experience daily on the frontlines of our 300 care facilities in Japan.
The ten Ideathon company finalists will also receive up to two seats to work out of a new Global Aging Innovation Hub co-working location at CIC for twelve months.
From September 9 thru 12, we’re convening entrepreneurs, business executives, academics and thought leaders in a global “ideathon” with the Venture Cafe to spark collaboration, far out ideas and new insights on how to care for people with the debilitating illness.
Your help is critical: seven million people in Japan, or twenty percent of 65+ year olds, are expected to suffer from dementia within the next 10 years. The number of people worldwide living with dementia is currently estimated at 47 million, and is projected to increase to 75 million by 2030.
We want to encourage you to look at dementia from all angles, including preventive care, home care, remote care, accessibility, financial management, and long term care in healthcare facilities.
Bring your team, or join one at the event, and work on your boldest ideas for scalable technology-enabled solutions:
How might we detect signs of dementia early and prevent rapid degeneration?
How might we ease the burden of care on home caregivers?
How might we increase social engagement among the elderly?
How will people be able to afford the care they need for a long healthy life?
How can we improve the built environment, remote services, and monitoring to ensure elders can age with grace?
We’re seeking thoughtful businesses and prototypes designed with elders at the center; and meaningful plans to accelerate the solutions from incubators into living rooms, board rooms, health care facilities, and public spaces.
———————————
Saturday, September 9
———————————
Tour de Streets 2017
Saturday, September 9
9:30am-2:00pm
DCR North Point Park, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.livablestreets.info/tourdestreets?utm_campaign=streetlife_116&utm
This annual family-friendly event features a 10-mile urban bike ride, a 4-mile family bike ride, and a 3-mile walk. Join the Emerald Network or StreetsPeeps Team or start your own! Click here to view all of the routes.
Don't care to bike or walk? Simply join us for the party! Your participation directly supports all of our programs, including Vision Zero, Better Buses, and the Emerald Network!
—————————————
Fall 2017 Mid-Cambridge PLANT SWAP
Saturday September 9
NOON to 2 pm
Rain date—in case of DOWNPOUR—is Sunday Sep. 10, 12-2
Fayette Park (near the corner of Broadway and Fayette Street), Cambridge
Bring anything you’d like to share. Elegant packaging not required, but please do write down the names of plants. We expect to have perennials, biennial seedlings, seeds, indoor plants, catalogs, pots, and lots of "whatever." Feel free to just come, chat with neighbors, talk gardening.
——————————————
Big Data and Artificial Intelligence: IP Landscape and Competitive Strategies
Saturday, September 9
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM EDT
Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/big-data-and-artificial-intelligence-ip-landscape-and-competitive-strategies-tickets-37265314559
Speaker: Jili Chung, JD, PhD, MBA, Consultant, PHYCOS International Co., Ltd. Taiwan
———————————
Sunday, September 10
———————————
The Boston Agricultural Exposition returns!
Sunday, September 10
11:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Haley House Bakery, 12 Dade Street, Roxbury
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/Boston-Permaculture/events/242605373/
LIVE ANIMALS -- LIVE MUSIC -- CIDER PRESSING -- GAMES -- DEMONSTRATIONS -- VEGGIE RACE-CAR DERBY -- & MORE !!
Join The Trustees, Haley House and Agricultural Hall to celebrate another season of urban agriculture.
Submit your prize garden gems, kitchen concoctions, canned creations, and more for a chance to win prizes and ribbons from a panel of judges. Then spend the afternoon visiting exhibits, playing games for young and old (and win even more prizes!), watching demonstrations (beekeeping, keeping backyard chickens and other fowl, mushroom-growing, composting,...), listening to music, and more. For updates, schedules, contest rules & entry forms, and more, see www.AgHall.com/fair-2017.
——————————————
Cambridge Carnival
Sunday, September 10
12-7 PM – Parade 12:30 – until;
From Putnam Avenue to Kendall Square, Cambridge
Festival 12- 7 PM
Kendall Square, Cambridge
We are looking forward to this year’s 25th Carnival! The theme for this year’s Carnival remains Cambridge Carnival, Cambridge Strong, as we unify the city in celebration of diversity and community.
Cambridge Carnival is a colorful and festive celebration rooted in African traditions. This free festival is celebrating 25 years this year and is considered a Cambridge Institution, and is the largest festival in Cambridge with thousands of attendees. The highlight of the festival is a grand costume parade accompanied by rich rhythmic musicality promoting all types of cultures. Participants can be seen as revelers masquerading through the streets in dazzling handmade costumes, dancing to the beat of the Carnival. The festival is also an opportunity to celebrate Cambridge’s diversity, enjoy international foods, and purchase multicultural crafts from around the world!
More information at http://cambridgecarnival.org
———————————
Monday, September 11
———————————
2017 Energy Storage & Microgrid Conference
Monday, September 11
7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Boston Newton Marriott, 2345 Commonwealth Avenue, Newton
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2017-energy-storage-microgrid-conference-tickets-35602401742
Cost: $175 - $250
Innovation Northeast in collaboration with the Northeast Electrochemical Energy Storage Cluster and the Hydrogen Energy Center is pleased to host the 2017 Energy Storage and Microgrid Conference, taking place at the Boston Marriot Newton on Monday, September 11, 2017. This unique conference is bringing together leaders in the energy storage and microgrid industries to the innovation epicenter: Boston, Massachusetts. Benefit from panel discussions with industry experts; Connect with early stage companies, investors, and strategic partners; Gain insight into industry leading technologies; Understand potential applications for energy storage technologies; and Network with government and leading industry stakeholders.
Website: http://www.innovationnortheast.org/
————————————
PAOC Colloquium: David McGee (MIT): The Patterns, Pace and Magnitude of Past Hydroclimate Changes
Monday, September 11
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Building 54-923, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
About the Speaker
David McGee’s research focuses on understanding the atmosphere’s response to past climate changes. By documenting past changes in precipitation and winds using geochemical measurements of stalagmites, lake deposits and marine sediments and interpreting these records in the light of models and theory, he aims to offer data-based insights into the patterns, pace and magnitude of past hydroclimate changes. His primary tool is measurements of uranium-series isotopes, which provide precise uranium-thorium dates for stalagmites and lake deposits and allow reconstructions of windblown dust emission and transport using marine sediments.
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 generally take place on Monday from 12-1pm. Lunch is provided 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.
——————————————
Towards More Effective Building Energy Simulation
Monday, September 11
12:30pm to 2:00pm
MIT, Building 7-408/Long Lounge, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Holly Samuelson
Energy simulation may be a key to unlocking the energy conservation potential of new and existing buildings. However, a number of barriers hinder the efficacy of this tool. This talk highlights research aimed at chipping away these barriers. Solutions range from improving its integration into an early design workflow to unearthing and improving sources of model inaccuracy, such as occupant behavior and urban context.
Holly W. Samuelson is an Assistant Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She teaches technical courses in architecture, specializing in the energy and environmental performance of buildings. Dr. Samuelson's research focuses on improving energy conservation and health by leveraging cutting-edge applications of computerized simulation of buildings. She came to this field as a licensed architect with almost a decade of professional experience, and she uses her knowledge of the building industry to find solutions that bridge the gap between academia and practice.
MIT Department of Architecture / Fall 2017 Lecture Series
Hosted by Assistant Professor Caitlin Mueller and the Building Technology Group
——————————————
Towards a “Foresightful Innovation”
Monday, September 11
1:00pm — 2:00pm
MIT Media Lab, Building E15 - Bartos theater, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
Foresight is the Art and Science of inventing and designing the future. It is the first and key step of innovation in a fast changing world. This presentation will involve a thrilling journey from the distant past into the long term future, and will discuss how Foresight has changed the world, and how its practice has evolved over time. The presentation will provide methodological frameworks and tools for exploring and shaping futures by combining ‘creativity’, ‘expertise’, ‘evidence’ and ‘networking’ for the purposes of:
Identifying and monitoring trends, weak signals of emerging developments and wild cards
Exploring alternative futures under complexity and uncertainty
Enabling creativity and innovation with out-of-the-box thinking
Building future visions and determining priorities
Identifying key scientific and technological areas
Developing new products, services and markets, and
Recommending policies and strategies for R&D
Topics covered are ‘anti-disciplinary’ in nature and are relevant for innovators in all scientific disciplines and at all levels of governance (international, national, corporate or individual).
Speaker Bio: Dr. Ozcan Saritas is a Professor of Innovation and Strategy at the National Research University, Higher School of Economics (HSE), Moscow; and editor-in-chief of “Foresight” - the journal of future studies, strategic thinking and policy. He worked as a Senior Research Fellow at the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research, The University of Manchester, UK. His research focuses upon innovation and policy research with particular emphasis on socio-economic and technological Foresight. With a PhD from the “Foresight and Prospective Studies Program,” he introduced the “Systemic Foresight Methodology”, and has produced a number of publications on the topic. He has extensive work experience with the international organizations including United Nations (UNIDO and UNCTAD), OECD, and the European Commission. He has been involved in large scale national, multinational and corporate research and consultancy projects on sectors including Energy, Climate Change and Renewables, Agriculture and Food, Water Resources and Sustainability, Transportation and Automotive, Information and Communication Technologies among the others; published a number of articles in respected journals; and have delivered keynote speeches in more than 50 countries across the world. Besides his research and publication activities, he designs and delivers academic and executive education courses on Foresight, Innovation Management and Strategic Planning. He has recently co-authored a book, entitled “Foresight for Science, Technology and Innovation” published by Springer, which has become one of the key readings in the field.
—————————————
Boston Area Group for Informatics and Modeling Event: Panel on Cloud Computing for Molecular Modeling
Monday, September 11
5:30 PM
Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, 250 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/Boston-Area-Group-for-Informatics-and-Modeling/events/241201631/
A panel of industry experts will present a panel on Cloud Computing for Molecular Modeling in the auditorium at NIBR at 250 Mass Avenue in Cambridge, starting at 6pm, following refreshments at 5:30pm. Further networking time with refreshments will follow the discussion. Panel members include:
Lucas Nivon, Ph.D. (discussion leader), Co-founder and CEO, Cyrus Biotechnology
Pat Lorton, Ph.D. (panelist), Chief Technology Officer, Schrodinger
Essam Metwally, Ph.D. (panelist), Senior Scientist, Chemical Computing Group
TBD representative from OpenEye
Molecular Modeling on the Cloud: Implementing complex workflows for all users
Many major advances have been made in the last 10 years in small molecule and protein modeling and design, including the design of novel protein folds and protein-binding activity into inert scaffolds. All of these have required very large amounts of computing and complex workflows with sensitive benchmarking and expert configuration. This complexity, sensitivity and large infrastructure requirements have in many cases limited these tools to very few use cases in an academic environment with access to very large shared compute resources. We propose that the public cloud provides an opportunity to circumvent infrastructure limitations while simultaneously reducing complexity and increasing accessibility.
Here we examine the previously existing infrastructure used to run these types of calculations. We consider the design requirements for a value-focused research organization in a cloud implementation of molecular modeling and design, such as maintenance cost/time, reliability, speed to answers, and correctness of answers. Then we propose various architectural instantiations of a “cloud” modeling suite of software while considering best practices in software-as-a-service tools from other fields (such as email). Finally, we outline one general solution to a cloud architecture that emphasizes these requirements and reduces user complexity. Simplification to users requires shifting complexity to cloud infrastructure and increased software development time.
We focus on one case study of a scientific workflow implementation, detailing architectural/workflow aspects and the scientific benchmarking required.
——————————————
Residential Green Building Committee Meeting with Peter Lawrence from Biomimicry New England
Monday, September 11
5:30 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
50 Milk Street, 18th Floor "Hemingway" Conf Room, Boston
The Residential Green Building Committee is focused on improving the housing stock of the Commonwealth by championing green building practices in our communities. Join us on the second Monday of each month to be a part of the movement.
This meeting's guest speaker will be Peter Lawrence of Biomimicry New England.
Residential Green Building Committee
The committee’s objectives are to work to raise the awareness of the benefits of residential green building and remodeling and to increase the quantity of projects registering for LEED for Homes. The committee, through education and outreach, will focus on the following:
Hold across MA, Lunch and LEED, education sessions and tours on topics such as Zero Net Energy, Deep Energy Retrofits and REGREEN
Help the community understand and implement LEED for Homes and residential green building, remodeling and retrofits
Ensure that our target markets are aware of available green building tools and resources
Partner with other Green Building Programs
Establish a collaborative relationship with a professional and/or community organizations
Develop case studies and green residential building content for the USGBC MA website
Committee Meetings
Please contact Kimberly Le (le.kimberly.c at gmail.com) if you are interested in joining this committee or plan on attending an upcoming meeting.
http://usgbcma.org/residential-green-building
——————————————
The Digital Threat to Democracy
Speaker(s): Heather Adkins, Molly McKew, Robby Mook, Debbie Plunkett, Matt Rhoades, Clint Watts
Moderator(s): Eric Rosenbach
Date: Monday, September 11, 2017 - 6:00pm
Where: Harvard, JFK Jr Forum, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Co-Sponsors: Defending Digital Democracy, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy
Heather Adkins, Manager Information Security, Google
Molly McKew, Foreign Policy and Strategy Consultant, Information Warfare Expert and Writer
Robby Mook, Senior Fellow, Defending Digital Democracy Project, Campaign Manager, Hillary Clinton Presidential Campaign
Debbie Plunkett, Principal, Plunkett Associates LLC, Former Director National Security Agency's Information Assurance Directorate
Matt Rhoades, Senior Fellow, Defending Digital Democracy Project, Campaign Manager, Romney-Ryan 2012 presidential campaign
Clint Watts, Senior Fellow, Center for Cyber and Homeland Security, George Washington University, Foreign Policy Research Institute Fellow
Eric Rosenbach (moderator), Co-Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Co-Director, Defending Digital Democracy Project, Chief of Staff, United States Department of Defense (2015-2017), Assistant Secretary of Defense, United States Department of Defense (2014-2015)
Cyber and digital attacks on campaigns and elections are a threat to our democracy and affect people of all political stripes. Over the past two years, nearly every election on both sides of the Atlantic has been affected by cyber-attacks. Foreign actors could target any political party at any time, and deterrence starts with strong cyber defense and public education. This discussion brings together leading voices from politics, national security and technology to examine threats and strategies for safeguarding our democratic institutions. The bipartisan initiative Defending Digital Democracy is co-sponsored by The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Institute of Politics and the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School
——————————————
Star Trek Bridge Crew: Artificial Intelligence in Virtual Reality with IBM Watson AND Chef Watson Inspired Cocktails & Appetizers!
Monday, September 11
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM (EDT)
MassChallenge, 21 Drydock Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/star-trek-bridge-crew-artificial-intelligence-in-virtual-reality-with-ibm-watson-and-chef-watson-tickets-36838576173
Discover how with IBM Watson, you can virtually explore strange new worlds,
seek out new life and new civilizations,
and to boldly go where no one has gone before...
AND enjoy Chef Watson inspired cocktails & appetizers!
During the meetup, John Cutter (Director of Product IBM Watson Developer Labs & AR/VR Labs) will discuss how by utilizing IBM Watson, the Star Trek: Bridge Crew virtual reality game applies an artificial intelligence platform with enabled voice commands.
IBM’s new “VR Speech Sandbox" (the software used to build the Star Trek: Bridge Crew feature,) is now available for all developers to adapt for their own VR applications and services. The Sandbox combines IBM’s Watson Unity software development kit with two services, Watson Speech to Text and Watson Conversation. Developers now have the opportunity to build new and innovative user interfaces, leveraging the power of voice interaction in virtual reality.
With IBM Watson’s interactive speech and cognitive capabilities, Star Trek: Bridge Crew will provide players the opportunity to use their voice and natural-language commands to interact with their virtual Starfleet crew members. This feature is part of a strategic partnership between IBM and Ubisoft.
Prior to the Star Trek discussion, Chef Doug Pollard (IBM Watson Health) and his team will be preparing the food and beverage for this event using Chef Watson technology.
Chef Watson takes a user’s inputs (ingredients to use or avoid, style of cooking, and desired dish), and creates never-before seen recipes. The ingredients it selects are based on what it has learned might pair well based on the recipes it has read, as well as what it knows about the underlying food chemistry – specifically the flavor compounds of each ingredient.
An event not to be missed!
Agenda:
6:00 pm - Registration & networking
6:30 pm - Kickoff and intros
6:35 pm - Chef Doug presents Chef Watson Inspired Cuisine
6:55 pm - Star Trek Bridge Crew: Artificial Intelligence in Virtual Reality
7:45 pm - Open Q&A
8:00 pm - Event conclusion
About the Speakers:
John Cutter is a Product Manager for IBM’s AR/VR Labs and works with AR/VR developers to create developer tools powered by Watson. John believes immersive technology like virtual reality, augmented reality & mixed reality is the next major computing platform that will change everything about how humans perceive the world (and hopefully bring humanity a bit closer). John has worked at Google and recently partnered with Ubisoft to launch voice command & control in their VR game, Star Trek: Bridge Crew. He attended the University of San Diego and currently lives in Silicon Valley.
Anamita Guha is currently the Product Manger for IBM Watson’s Developer Labs, focused on developer incentivization efforts. She holds a degree in Cognitive Science from UC Berkeley and has spent most of her career prior to IBM at early-mid stage startups. In her free time, she promotes positive psychology, pets puppies, and practices yoga.
——————————————
Can you see what I hear? Using high-speed video technology to improve voice health
Monday, September 11
6:30pm - 8:30pm
The Burren, 247 Elm Street, Somerville
Dr Daryush Mehta
More information at http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/science-by-the-pint/
——————————————
Welcome to the Revolution
Monday, September 11
7pm
Harvard Coop, 1400 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Charles Berber
When the Women's March gathered millions just one day after Trump's inauguration, a new era of progressive action was born. Organizing on the far Right led to Trump's election, bringing authoritarianism and the specter of neo-fascism, and intensifying corporate capitalism's growing crises of inequality and injustices. Yet now we see a new universalizing resistance among progressive and left movements for truth, dignity, and a world based on democracy, equality, and sustainability.
—————————————
Trevor Paglen | The Planet is a Sensor
Monday, September 11
7:00pm to 9:00pm
MIT, Building E15-001, ACT Cube, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
Trevor Paglen is an artist whose work spans image-making, sculpture, investigative journalism, writing, engineering, and numerous other disciplines. Among his chief concerns are learning how to see the historical moment we live in and developing the means to imagine alternative futures.
Paglen’s work has had one-person exhibitions at Vienna Secession, Eli & Edythe Broad Art Museum, Van Abbe Museum, Frankfurter Kunstverein, and Protocinema Istanbul, and participated in group exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Tate Modern, and numerous other venues. He has launched an artwork into distant orbit around Earth in collaboration with Creative Time and MIT, contributed research and cinematography to the Academy Award-winning film Citizenfour, and created a radioactive public sculpture for the exclusion zone in Fukushima, Japan.
This lecture is part of the Program in Art, Culture and Technology (ACT)'s Fall 2017 Lecture Series: The Edge of Knowing and Un-Knowing
September 11, 2017 through December 4, 2017
The fall 2017 ACT Lecture Series invites renowned artists and philosophers to help us challenge our habits of perception and expand our margins of thought. Artistic intelligence is drawn to the fertile edges of knowledge, engaging radically anticipatory modes of being, thinking, creating, and acting without certainty. The series will offer models for un-knowing science and technology as a way to dislocate and re-articulate knowledge production in proximity to technologies of planetary threat: how to navigate the camouflaged, the unknown, the deceptive, the trumped.
Sep 11 | Trevor Paglen | The Planet is a Sensor
Sep 25 | Cristina Ricupero | Don’t Believe A Word I Say
Oct 20 | David Reinfurt | A Post-Industrial Postscript
Nov 13 | Postcommodity | The Repellent Fence and Beyond
Dec 4 | Judith Barry | A Discussion of Several Research-Based Projects
About the ACT Lecture Series
ACT’s lecture series draws together artists, scholars, and other cultural practitioners from different disciplines to discuss artistic methodologies and forms of inquiry at the intersection of art, architecture, science, and technology.
ACT’s Fall 2017 series is conceived by Gediminas Urbonas, ACT Director, and coordinated with Marissa Friedman, Senior Communications and Public Programs Assistant, and Laura Knott, Consulting Curator.
More information on the series at http://act.mit.edu/projects-and-events/lectures-series/about-pages/fall-2017-about-series/
————————————
Tuesday, September 12
————————————
Sustainability Is Beautiful - Roxbury E+ Housing by ISA
Tuesday, September 12
8:30 AM – 10:30 AM EDT
Boston Society of Architects, 290 Congress Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sustainability-is-beautiful-roxbury-e-housing-by-isa-tickets-37289679435
Please join Deb Katz and Brian Phillips from ISA - Interface Studio Architects LLC for an exciting discussion about the Roxbury E+ project. This AIA award winning design has been able to successful incorporate the City of Boston's Energy Plus (E+) Green Building Program into the design for four 3-story wood framed houses. The Jury noted that "The design is a nice contemporary translation of the historic fabric or neighborhood."
Attendees will be able to learn the following:
Methodologies for designing urban infill housing which minimizes environmental impact using both design and technical principals (right sizing layouts, product selections, construction techniques, uses of energy renewables).
Considerations for the design of very high performance affordable buildings.
Understanding ways to incorporate Net Positive elements into market-rate housing.
Information about the Boston Energy Plus Green Building Program and how this could affect your design.
ISA-Interface Studio Architects is an architecture office engaged in design and research projects in cities across the U.S. The studio works closely with project stakeholders to produce buildings, master plans, installations, and conversations that provide innovative solutions for clients while productively addressing changing climates, lifestyles, technologies, and urban environments. The firm is led by principals Brian Phillips and Deb Katz from offices in Philadelphia, PA and Cambridge, MA.
This presentation has been submitted for 1.5 LU's.
———————————————
Native American Speakers Series: On Wampanoag Ground
WHEN Tuesday, Sep. 12, 2017, 12:30 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Divinity School, Rockefeller Room 117, 47 Francis Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Religion
SPONSOR Harvard Divinity School; Harvard University Native American Program; and Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences Committee on Ethnicity, Migration, Rights
CONTACT Tracy Wall: tracy_wall at harvard.edu or 617.495.5705
DETAILS The first speaker for the Native American Speakers Series—Language, Environment and Indigenous Rights, Ramona Peters (Wampanoag/Mashpee) sees herself as a visual historian of her culture, fulfilling this role as a teacher, spokesperson, curator, sculptor, interpreter, consultant, and activist. She serves as NAGPRA Director and Director of Historic Preservation for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe.
The Speakers’ Series is being held in conjunction with HDS 2345: Issues in the Study of Native American Religion.
——————————————
Ford Day 2017: Autonomous Vehicle Lecture
Tuesday, September 12
4:30pm to 5:30pm
MIT, Building W20: Stratton Student Center, Twenty Chimneys (W20-306), 84 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Ford VP of Research & Advanced Engineering and Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Ken Washington, will be giving the Ford Day 2017 Autonomous Vehicle Lecture.
Light refreshments will be provided
——————————————
Comix, Jews ’n Art? Dun’t Esk!!
WHEN Tuesday, Sep. 12, 2017, 5 p.m.
WHERE Sanders Theatre, Memorial Hall, 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Center for Jewish Studies
SPEAKER(S) Art Spiegelman
COST Tickets are free if you pick up from the Box Office/You may also *purchase tickets by phone, 617-496-2222 or online www.boxoffice.harvard.edu for a small fee.
TICKET WEB LINK http://www.boxoffice.harvard.edu
TICKET INFO *Limit 4 per person/FREE PICK-UP at the Harvard Box Office, Farkas Hall, 10 Holyoke St. starting on Tuesday, August 29 until September12. Tickets will be also be available at the door at 3:00PM pending availability
CONTACT INFO Center for Jewish Studies
cjs at fas.harvard.edu
617-495-4326
DETAILS Art Spiegelman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning Artist/Illustrator and author of "Maus," "In the Shadow of No Towers," and "Breakdowns." Art Spiegelman has almost singlehandedly brought comic books out of the toy closet and onto the literature shelves. In 1992, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his masterful Holocaust narrative Maus— which portrayed Jews as mice and Nazis as cats. His comics are best known for their shifting graphic styles, their formal complexity, and controversial content. Spiegelman takes his audience on a chronological tour of the evolution of comics, all the while explaining the value of this medium and why it should not be ignored. He believes that in our post-literate culture the importance of the comic is on the rise, for “comics echo the way the brain works.
——————————————
Machine learning applied to fusion research: Predicting and avoiding disruption
Tuesday, September 12
5:00pm to 6:00pm
MIT, Building 66-110, 25 Ames Street Cambridge
In order to obtain net power from controlled thermonuclear fusion, matter (in the form of plasma) must be confined at temperatures hotter than the sun's core. Using a system of strong magnetic fields arranged in particular configurations, the conditions for net fusion energy production have just about been achieved, albeit over short timescales. While the state of this plasma system is too complicated to understand completely from first principles, machine learning can now be used to elucidate some of its integral processes, such as energy flow, state transitions, and other processes.
Magnetically-confined, high-energy density plasmas also tend to be close to stability limits. A particularly virulent instability is the ‘disruption,’ which can have catastrophic consequences. This talk will concentrate on efforts to apply machine learning to develop a real-time warning of impending disruptions, which could possibly be used to avoid them, or at least mitigate their consequences.
Speaker Bio
Robert Granetz has been working on the Alcator tokamak fusion experiments at the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center for more than forty years. His principal areas of research encompass magnetohydrodynamic instabilities and disruptions, including their prediction and mitigation. Granetz is an active contributor to the ITER Project, a multinational collaborative aiming to build the first fusion device that will produce net energy. He spent several years in Europe as a visiting scientist at the Joint European Torus, the world's largest tokamak. Granetz has also taught graduate student courses in plasma physics and fusion at MIT.
——————————————
Reimagining Longevity Ideathon Pitches, Awards Ceremony and Reception
Tuesday, September 12
5:00 PM – 9:30 PM
District Hall, 75 Northern Avenue, Boston
RSVP at
FOR REIMAGINING LONGEVITY IDEATHON AWARDS CEREMONY ATTENDEES AND ANYONE WHO IS INTERESTED IN REIMAGINING LONGEVITY
5 - 5:30 PM - Team check-ins & attendee registration
5:30 - 6 PM - Keynote presentation - Mikio Okumura, Director & Managing Executive Officer, SOMPO Nursing Care & Healthcare
6 - 7:30 PM- Team pitches w/ Q&A time
7:30 - 8:00 PM- Reception and judges pick the winners
8 - 8:15 PM Awards announcement
8:15 Reception continues
Caring for our seniors is a growing concern for governments and economies worldwide as people live longer lives.
Longevity – along with its many blessings - can be fraught with medical, financial, psychological and social burdens that are as complex for aging individuals as for the people who love and care for them.
Yet, we believe, the longevity crisis is also a crucible from which the most creative innovations in elder care can emerge.
Entrepreneurs and innovators have a staggering opportunity to make an outsized impact for 50+ million consumers in an $8 trillion dollar senior care market in the U.S. and Japan combined.
SOMPO, one of the largest insurers and assisted living facility operators in Japan, sees first-hand the widening gap where demand for quality, dignified care at a reasonable cost far outpaces the supply. They’ve been working with innovators in Japan to deploy new technology-enabled solutions, and compassionate business models, to transform elder care.
SOMPO is now teaming up with Venture Cafe to leverage the wisdom of crowds on a global scale -- with a special focus on reimagining care for people with dementia. The prizes for the Ideathon are:
Grand Prize $10,000
Runner Up $5,000
Third Place $2,500
In addition, SOMPO will work with the winner on a Proof of Concept in Japan (including airfare and accommodations for two people for a week). We’re eager to share what we experience daily on the frontlines of our 300 care facilities in Japan.
The ten Ideathon company finalists will also receive up to two seats to work out of a new Global Aging Innovation Hub co-working location at CIC for twelve months.
From September 9 thru 12, we’re convening entrepreneurs, business executives, academics and thought leaders in a global “ideathon” with the Venture Cafe to spark collaboration, far out ideas and new insights on how to care for people with the debilitating illness.
Your help is critical: seven million people in Japan, or twenty percent of 65+ year olds, are expected to suffer from dementia within the next 10 years. The number of people worldwide living with dementia is currently estimated at 47 million, and is projected to increase to 75 million by 2030.
We want to encourage you to look at dementia from all angles, including preventive care, home care, remote care, accessibility, financial management, and long term care in healthcare facilities.
Bring your team, or join one at the event, and work on your boldest ideas for scalable technology-enabled solutions:
How might we detect signs of dementia early and prevent rapid degeneration?
How might we ease the burden of care on home caregivers?
How might we increase social engagement among the elderly?
How will people be able to afford the care they need for a long healthy life?
How can we improve the built environment, remote services, and monitoring to ensure elders can age with grace?
We’re seeking thoughtful businesses and prototypes designed with elders at the center; and meaningful plans to accelerate the solutions from incubators into living rooms, board rooms, health care facilities, and public spaces.
The timeline for our Ideathon is as follows:
Tuesday July 20 - SOMPO announces Ideathon at Venture Cafe
Saturday & Sunday Sept. 9-10 - Ideathon kicks-off at Venture Cafe at CIC Cambridge
Monday Sept. 11 - SOMPO and Venture Cafe announce ten finalists to present at the final on Sept. 12th
Tuesday Sept. 12 - Finalists present & winners announced at Venture Cafe’s District Hall event
——————————————
Emerging Applications of Blockchain for Supply Chains
Tuesday, September 12
5:30 PM - 8:00 PM
MIT, Building 32-123, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/event/blockchain-new-supply-chain/?utm_source=MITEF+Cambridge+FY2016
Cost: $25 Members; $45 Non-members: $10 for Students; $5 for Student memberes
As consumers, we want to know that the food we eat is safe and (in some cases, such as fine wines) that it’s provenance is authentic. We want to know with certainty that the gold, diamonds, and electronics we buy are not funding conflicts. And that the products we buy are not counterfeits. Supply chain managers want to track condition, location, and remove friction from global supply chains. Blockchain/ distributed ledger technology holds promise in solving these problems, with applications in socially responsible supply chains, traceability/provenance/chain-of-custody tracking, anticounterfeiting, condition monitoring, customs and compliance, trade finance, and other areas that can benefit from a shared, immutable ledger.
Some of these have already been implemented, tracking millions of products; but most are still in development or pilot phase. However, the level of activity and investment is becoming intense and we expect rapid developments in this arena. In this session, we will hear from CEOs, founders, and technology experts at the companies on the forefront of this ongoing digital transformation of supply chain. You will learn:
What are the various opportunities of using blockchain in the supply chain, which hold the most potential, and what implementations are providing value right now?
How is or can blockchain be combined with other technologies, such as IoT, to tackle supply chain challenges in new ways?
What are the hurdles for widespread adoption?
You won’t want to miss this provocative and engaging session (including ample audience Q&A) with the leaders on the forefronts of these new developments.
Speakers
Samantha Radocchia, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer, Chronicled
Brigid McDermott, Vice President, Blockchain, IBM
Dan Harple, Founder and CEO, Context Labs
Dan Doles, CEO, Mojix
Bill McBeath, Chief Research Officer, ChainLink Research
Moderator
Michael Casey, Senior Advisor - Blockchain Research, MIT Media Lab
Event Schedule
5:30 - 6:00pm - Registration and Networking
6:00 - 8:00pm - Welcome & Panel Discussion
8:00 - 9:00pm - Networking
—————————————
Being Mortal: Medicine & What Matters in the End
Tuesday, September 12
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM EDT
Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard Street, Brookline
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/atul-gawande-912-tickets-33735318245
Cost: $20
Atul Gawande
Named a "Best Book of the Year" by The Washington Post, The New York Times Book Review, NPR, and the Chicago Tribune, Being Mortal is finally in paperback after two full years on the NYT-bestseller list.
Medicine has triumphed in modern times, transforming the dangers of childbirth, injury, and disease from harrowing to manageable. But when it comes to the inescapable realities of aging and death, what medicine can do often runs counter to what it should. Through eye-opening research and gripping stories of his own patients and family, Gawande reveals the suffering this dynamic has produced. Nursing homes, devoted above all to safety, battle with residents over the food they are allowed to eat and the choices they are allowed to make. Doctors, uncomfortable discussing patients' anxieties about death, fall back on false hopes and treatments that are actually shortening lives instead of improving them.
Atul will appear in conversation with novelist Jennifer Haigh.
Event Guidelines:
Tickets may be purchased online or in-store.
Price includes: 1 ticket to Atul Gawande's reading + 1 copy of Being Mortal.
You may pick up your copy of Being Mortal at Brookline Booksmith on 9/12 or before the end of September 2017.
The reading will take place
—————————————
Gatekeepers: White House Chiefs of Staff
Speaker(s): Denis McDonough, Andy Card, Mack McLarty
Moderator(s): Chris Whipple
Date: Tuesday, September 12, 2017 - 6:00pm
Where: Harvrd, JFk Jr Forum, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Denis McDonough, Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama (2013 – 2017)
Andy Card, President Franklin Pierce University (2014-2016), Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush (2001-2006)
Mack McLarty, President, McLarty Associates, Chief of Staff to President William Clinton (1993 -1994)
Chris Whipple (moderator), Documentary Filmmaker and writer, Author, The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency
—————————————
Boston New Technology September 2017 Startup Showcase #BNT81 (21+)
Tuesday, September 12
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Foley Hoag, 155 Seaport Bouelvard, Boston
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/Boston_New_Technology/events/242379378/
Cost: $12.00 /per person
his event is 21+. Find our check-in table in the lobby and present your valid photo identification to pick up your name tag.
Come learn about 7 innovative and exciting technology products and network with 150 attendees from the Boston/Cambridge startup community! Dinner, beer, wine and more are included.
This event is 21+, due to alcohol being served. Valid photo identification is required. Buy your ticket now and save 50% - price rises on September 5th.
——————————————
Clouds, Chemistry, and Climate Change: Why Our Current Climate Is What It Is
Tuesday September 12
7:00 PM
Belmont Public Library, 336 Concord Avenue, Belmont
Cziczo-Dan_120x120.jpgDaniel Cziczo, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The excess CO2 in our atmosphere will affect Earth's climate for centuries to come, and we need to understand why. Professor Cziczo is an atmospheric scientist at MIT who is an expert on the crucial role of clouds in the dynamics of climate. In this presentation, he explains the vital relationship between clouds and climate. He also discusses present options for reducing atmospheric CO2. And.. he's bringing his small cloud chamber to demonstrate cloud formation. Dr. Cziczo will show also how atmospheric conditions that lead to cloud formation are studied in his lab, at mountaintop sites, and from research aircraft. You'll never think of clouds in the same old way again! There will be plenty of time for discussion.
Science for the Public Lecture Series
————————————
Deadly Double Helix - Danielle Allen
WHEN Wednesday, Sep. 20, 2017, 7 – 9 p.m.
WHERE Cambridge Forum, First Parish Church, 1446 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Cambridge Forum, Harvard Bookstore, the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, Mass Cultural Council, and The Lowell Institute
SPEAKER(S) Danielle Allen
COST Free
CONTACT INFO director at cambridgeforum.org
DETAILS Cambridge Forum is pleased to present Danielle Allen, James Bryant Conant University Professor and Director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard, to discuss her new memoir “CUZ”. The book documents the events which conspired to cause the untimely death of her young cousin, Michael, on the streets of Los Angeles in 2009. The book looks at how a “deadly double helix” of narcotics and street gangs ultimately entrapped her cousin, as with countless others, leading to his incarceration and death. Allen asks if the current justice system only perpetuates the injustices it is meant to address?
LINK http://www.cambridgeforum.org
*****************
----------------------
Upcoming Events
----------------------
*****************
—————————————
Wednesday, September 13
—————————————
3rd Annual Tata Center Symposium: Does the developing world need a different model for entreprenuership?
Wednesday, September 13
8:00am to 5:45pm
MIT, Building E52S, Chang Building, Samberg Conference Center, Floor 7, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Please join us on Wednesday the 13th for candid discussions on entrepreneurship in the developing world with keynote speaker Nandan Nilekani and 4 distinguished panels led by MIT faculty and staff.
——————————————
MTL Seminar Series: “Forging Intelligent Systems in the Digital Era”
Wednesday, September 13
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Building 34-401, Grier Room, 50 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Gary Patton, GlobalFoundries
The pace of technological change is evolving faster than businesses can adapt, setting the stage for a new era of innovation in the electronics industry. This pace is accelerating as we enter an era of ubiquitous computing, with sensors on our bodies, in our homes and offices, and all over our cities. For the semiconductor industry, digitization, connectivity, and the Internet of Things now promise to be the enablers for the next phase of growth. However, the industry has reached a new level of maturity that demands new innovations in computing, connectivity, integration and ultra-low power applications. One technology doesn't fit all. Although traditional Moore's Law scaling is still important for semiconductor technology progress, the complexity of technology development requires a new paradigm of silicon scaling and changing market needs require innovation in differentiated silicon technology as well as system-level integration.
The industry is pursuing numerous technologies that will continue conventional scaling as well as expand beyond it. This presentation will examine the economic trends reshaping the industry, explore opportunities and approaches that can extend scaling, highlight the role of collaborative innovation to meet technical challenges and provide insight into GLOBALFOUNDRIES' vision to enable the technology for a new digital era.
———————————————
Perspectives on the U.S. Defense Budget
Wednesday, September 13
12:00pm to 1:30pm
MIT, Building E40-496 Pye Room, 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Todd Harrison is the director of the Aerospace Security Project and the director of Defense Budget Analysis at CSIS. As a senior fellow in the International Security Program, he leads the Center's efforts to provide in-depth, nonpartisan research and analysis of space security, air power, and defense funding issues. He has authored publications on trends in the overall defense budget, military space systems, civil space exploration, defense acquisitions, military compensation, military readiness, nuclear forces, and the coast of overseas military operations.
Mr Harrison served as a captain inthe U.S. Air Force Reserves. He is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with both a B.S. and an M.S. in aeronautics and astronautics.
This event is part of the Security Studies Program Wednesday Seminar Series.
———————————————
xTalk: Lou Guenier on "An Educational Revolution for a Digital World"
Wednesday, September 13
3:00pm to 4:15pm
MIT, Building 3-370, 33 Massachusetts Avenue (Rear), Cambridge
The education structure and the way we teach are among the rare fields that haven’t gone through a major innovation for the last couple of hundred years. As the world is undergoing a digital revolution, we still teach the same way we used to in the past millennium. The educational system we have now is only at the first stage of Webb’s Depth of Knowledge where it should be at the fourth.
Recently some effort has been made towards modernizing the education system, but even though the education system is a step further, it still has major limitations. 42 is an example of an innovative and disruptive educational system based on Bloom’s revised taxonomy that is entirely project-based, uses peer-to-peer learning and correcting, and changes the teacher-student relationship. This kind of novel approach is a first step, but still has limitations.
Working towards the goal of innovating education, a seemingly upside-down education model could be applied to MIT’s education structures and programs, including residential education, open education, and strategic education initiatives. With a scalable educational model, global impact becomes a possibility.
———————————————
The Neurolaw Revolution: A lecture by Francis X. Shen
Wednesday, September 13
4:00 PM
Harvard, Wasserstein Hall, Milstein East A, Room 2036, 1585 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Rapid advances in the brain sciences offer both promise and peril for the law. In light of these developments, Dr. Francis Shen will explore how neuroscientific analysis of law may revolutionize legal doctrine and practice.
Dr. Shen is the third Senior Fellow in Law and Neuroscience in the Project on Law and Applied Neuroscience, a collaboration between the Center for Law, Brain & Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Petrie-Flom Center. Dr. Shen directs the Shen Neurolaw Lab at the University of Minnesota, is co-author of the first Law and Neuroscience casebook, and serves as Executive Director of Education and Outreach for the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Law and Neuroscience.
This lecture will be followed at 5:30pm by the Petrie-Flom Center's 2017 Open House reception.
——————————————
The Mad Cartoonists of Cairo: The Dangerous World of Middle East Censorship and the Emergence of Arab Comix
Wednesday, September 13
4:00 pm
Radcliffe, Sheerr Room, Fay House, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
Part of the 2017–2018 Fellows' Presentation Series
Lecture by Jonathan Guyer RI '18
Free and open to the public.
At the Radcliffe Institute, Jonathan Guyer is writing a book on the new wave of comic art that has electrified the Middle East and North Africa over the past decade. Through close examination of graphic narratives and conversations with artists, his project aims to address long-standing questions around the limits of free speech, the role of satire as a form of dissent, and the politics of art in authoritarian states.
——————————————
Healing the Mind: Writing Takes the Ache Away
WHEN Wednesday, September 13, 2017, 4 – 6pm
WHERE Harvard, Joseph B. Martin Conference Center Amphitheater, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston
TOPICS Medicine, Psychiatry, Public Health
EVENT TYPES Lecture, Special Event
DEPARTMENT/OFFICE Global Health and Social Medicine
LOCATION Joseph B. Martin Conference Center
RSVP REQUIRED Yes
DETAILS The Harvard Medical School Department of Global Health and Social Medicine hosts this annual lecture, which was established in 1992 as a bequest of Roger Allan Moore. Roger Allan Moore was a lawyer who represented colleges, universities, and other charitable organizations. He served as board member of the Winsor School, Boston, a trustee of Donations for Education in Liberia, and as a director of the Salzburg Seminar in American Studies, Austria. Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison, The Danio Family Professor in Mood Disorders and
Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
has made substantial contributions not just to the understanding of bipolar disorder, but also to efforts to educate the public about mental illness, to destigmatize these disorders, and to the lives of the many people who suffer from mental illness.
LINK https://hms.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_233OUaO6jUqCanX
———————————————
The Impact of Consumer Subsidies on Innovation in Solar Panel Manufacturing (Todd Gerarden)
WHEN Wednesday, Sep. 13, 2017, 4:15 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Room Littauer-382, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Lecture, Social Sciences, Sustainability
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Seminar in Environmental Economics and Policy;
Harvard Environmental Economics Program
SPEAKER(S) Todd Gerarden, Harvard University
LINK https://canvas.harvard.edu/courses/30064
—————————————
A Conversation with Dr. Harry Edwards
WHEN Wednesday, Sep. 13, 2017, 6 – 7:15 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, JFK Jr. Forum, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR JFK Jr. Forum
Institute of Politics
Harvard Men's Basketball
SPEAKER(S) Dr. Harry Edwards, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley; Author, The Revolt of the Black Athlete
James Brown, Host, The NFL Today on CBS Sports & Thursday Night Football, CBS Sports and NFL Network, Special Correspondent, CBS News, Harvard College ‘73
CONTACT INFO JFK Jr. Forum Office
Institute of Politics
617-495-1380
LINK http://iop.harvard.edu/forum/robinson-kaepernick-evolution-athlete-activism
——————————————
New England Offshore Wind: Inaugural meeting
Wednesday, September 13
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
This location is shown only to members
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/New-England-Offshore-Wind/events/242030946/
In this inaugural meeting,
1) Arne Hessenbruch and Anne-Lise Wang from Muninsight (http://muninsight.com) will give an overview of the Danish offshore wind supply chain,
2) we will discuss where the opportunities for New England based companies may be, and what kinds of partnerships will be productive,
3) canvas members' opinions for the best possible role of this meetup group.
Editorial Comment: Arne Hessenbruch goes to many of the same events I go to. He knows what he is talking about and offshore wind development is a great potential resource here in NE.
—————————————
Mass Innovation Nights #102!
Wednesday, September 13
6pm-8:30pm
District Hall, 75 Northern Avenue, Boston
RSVP at http://mass.innovationnights.com/node/add/rsvp
We cannot wait for the September Mass Innovation Nights, MIN #102 -- we are bringing you all Fintech and Financial Literacy products on September 13th at District Hall! We have 13 Fintech/Financial Literacy products ready to showcase and our State Treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg will be in attendance, ready to welcome everyone! MIN #102 is part of Boston's Fintech Week, a week filled with events and activities only focused on the Fintech sector in Boston!
——————————————
Matter of Degrees: Demystifying the science and clarifying the possibilities of climate change
Wednesday, September 13
7:00pm
Trident Bookseller, 338 Newbury Street, Boston
Join us for a book talk with a focus on the science, communication, advocacy, and opportunity of climate change. The talk will focus on both today's climate crisis and climate visionaries, their inspiring work, and the promising solutions that could bring us to 100% wind, water and solar power by 2050.
Protecting the Planet: Environmental Champions from Conservation to Climate Change
About the book:
Climate change is often associated with predictions of dire calamities. But, in the past, heroic individuals have stepped forward to meet even the most ominous ecological challenges. This book tells an inspirational story--a story both of pioneering environmentalists who raised our collective consciousness regarding nature's value and heroes of today who are working to secure a sustainable future.
One of our book's features is describing the past environmental champions who contributed mightily to our nation's conservation history. We believe the book’s message is especially important in this current White House Administration. Many of the environmental protections that our featured environmentalists worked for are under threat; we hope that getting to know the “heroes” in our book and the background on their initiatives will energize support.
Turning to the present, we recount the activities of people currently pursuing remedies for climate change--scientists, researchers, activists, artists, and celebrities. We base much of our information on recent personal interviews. We conclude with a set of actionable strategies, demonstrating that there are good reasons to hope that we can achieve a sustainable lifestyle, protect our planet as our home, and ensure the future for our children.
About the Authors:
Mariah Tinger has been devoted to nature ever since she could say “out(side).” Her first environmental hero was her father; as adults, they have conspired together to celebrate national environmental heroes. Mariah began her in-depth studies of climate change while pursuing a master’s degree in environmental management at Harvard University’s Extension School. When she is not researching or writing about climate issues, she is chasing her children or a faster marathon time in the Boston Marathon.
Budd Titlow is spending his retirement doing what he always dreamed of doing for a living. He writes natural history books, teaches ecology workshops, gives PowerPoint presentations and—ever so often—just drops everything and takes off in pursuit of wild bird photos. In his past life—as a professional wildlife biologist and wetland scientist—he protected natural resources and fostered sustainable land development practices.
——————————
The Wisdom of Finance
Wednesday, September 13
7pm
Harvard Coop, 1400 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Mihir Desai
Harvard Business School professor Mihir Desai, in his "last lecture" to the graduating Harvard MBA class of 2015, took up the cause of restoring humanity to finance. With incisive wit and a rich knowledge of literature, film, history, and philosophy to explain the inner workings finance in a manner that has never been seen before.
————————————
Thursday, September 14
————————————
2017 Tata Center Conference
Thursday, September 14
8:00am to 5:45pm
MIT, Building E52, Chang Building, Samberg Conference Center, Floor 7, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
Join us on Thursday the 14th for a showcase of special Tata Center partnerships as well as exciting lightning presentations by MIT Faculty on the newest Tata Center projects. Learn about some of the most pressing issues in the developing world, and how MIT can work together with organizations in India to solve them.
The conference will be followed by a reception (RSVP).
——————————————
Exoskeletal-Assisted Walking for Persons with Paralysis from Spinal Cord Injury
WHEN Thursday, Sep. 14, 2017, 10 – 11 a.m.
WHERE Wyss Institute, 60 Oxford Street, Room 330, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Wyss Institute at Harvard University
SPEAKER(S) Ann M. Spungen, ED.D.
DETAILS Paralysis from spinal cord injury (SCI) results in a cascade of mobility, functional, medical, emotional, and social problems. Once inpatient rehabilitation has been completed, people with SCI who are non-ambulators receive a wheelchair as standard of care. Since 2010, powered exoskeletons have become available to allow people with partial to complete motor paralyses to stand and walk over ground.
Dr. Spungen has been investigating the effects of using an exoskeleton on the medical consequences of SCI since 2010. During this presentation, she will briefly review the secondary complications from SCI, appropriate candidates for use of these devices, the training regimes needed, and the results of adding walking to the life of a person who would otherwise be a wheelchair user and at the lowest end of the activity spectrum.
LINK https://wyss.harvard.edu/event/exoskeletal-assisted-walking-for-persons-with-paralysis-from-spinal-cord-injury/
——————————————
The 27th First Annual Ig® Nobel Prize Ceremony & Lectures
WHEN Thursday, Sep. 14, 2017, 11 a.m. – 12 p.m.
WHERE Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Award Ceremonies
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Improbable Research
COST Ig Glorious: $150*; Full Price: $75, $65, $55, $35; Discounts: $5 off for students
TICKET WEB LINk https://www.boxoffice.harvard.edu/Online/mapSelect.asp
TICKET INFO *Ig Glorious tickets included the following: an Ig Nobel poster, signed by at least one Ig Nobel winner. A vintage issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. A photo taken at the Ig Nobel lectern on stage (before or after the ceremony, at the discretion of the Stage Manager). Access to our Ig Glorious Liaison, a staff member assigned to the “Ig Glorious” group for the entirety of the event. A hearty handshake!
DETAILS The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that first make people laugh, then make them think. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative — and spur people's interest in science, medicine, and technology. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative — and spur people's interest in science, medicine, and technology.
Winners travel to the ceremony, at their own expense, from around the world to receive their prize from a group of genuine, genuinely bemused Nobel Laureates, in Harvard's historic and largest theater.
LINK http://www.improbable.com/ig/2017/
——————————————
10th Annual BU Bike Safety & Sustainability Festival
Thursday, September 14
11:00 am to 2:30 pm
BU, Marsh Plaza, 735 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
Please join us for our 2017 event! By now, an annual rite of
autumn on the BU campus, our focus, as always, is a continued commitment to bicycle and pedestrian safety education. We will key on awareness, knowledge, safety, confidence and fostering a shared sense of respect for our streets. Over 60 local bikes shops and bike and pedestrian advocacy groups have been invited to this year's event. The past five years have welcomed over 5000 participants from the BU community and beyond, making this one of the largest single-day events at BU.
More information at http://www.bu.edu/sustainability/what-you-can-do/events/sustainability-festival/
———————————————
Carr Center Book Talk: I Was Told to Come Alone: My Journey Behind the Lines of Jihad
WHEN Thursday, Sep. 14, 2017, 12 – 1:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Nye A, 5th floor, Taubman Building, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education, Ethics, Humanities, Law, Lecture, Social Sciences, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
SPEAKER(S) The Washington Post’s Souad Mehkennet
DETAILS The Carr Center is delighted to host The Washington Post’s Souad Mehkennet to discuss her new book, “I Was Told to Come Alone: My Journey Behind the Lines of Jihad.”
Souad will discuss her quest to shed light on the radicalization of young Muslims, starting in the German neighborhoods from which the 9/11 plotters emerged, to the Iraqi neighborhoods where Sunnis and Shia turned against one another.
In writing the book, she gained unprecedented access to the world’s most dangerous terrorist operates, including members of ISIS, Al Qaaeda, and the Taliban.
LINK https://carrcenter.hks.harvard.edu/event/book-talk-i-was-told-come-alone-my-journey-behind-lines-jihad
———————————————
Bearing Witness to Trauma: Innovative Tools to Assist First Responder and Victim Services Agencies
Thursday, September 14
2:30pm to 4:00pm
Northeastern, Cabral Center, 40 Leon Street, Boston
The Domestic Violence Institute and Northeastern University’s Institute on Urban Health Research and Practice invite local first responders, victim service providers, public health professionals and the Northeastern community to join us for a panel discussion about vicarious trauma and the health and wellbeing of employees. We will also introduce the newly launched Vicarious Trauma Toolkit (https://vtt.ovc.ojp.gov), a first-of-its-kind online resource funded by the Office for Victims of Crime, U.S. Department of Justice.
Keynote Speaker: Kurt Schwartz
Director, Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA)
Kurt Schwartz’s strategic leadership guides and oversees the state’s preparedness, response and recovery from natural and intentional disasters, including the terrorist attack on the Boston Marathon. He previously served as the MA Undersecretary of both Homeland Security and Law Enforcement, and as a state criminal prosecutor, police officer, and EMT. He will illuminate the personal and professional impact of vicarious trauma from his broad and extensive background.
Discussants will include MA first responders and members of the national Vicarious Trauma Toolkit Team.
Light refreshments will be served.
———————————————
Cleantech Open NE - Boston Business Clinic: Tell Your Story Day
Thursday, September 14
4:00 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
Continuum, 21 Drydock Ave #410w, 19th Floor, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cleantech-open-ne-boston-business-clinic-tell-your-story-day-tickets-36829133931
This interactive business clinic will get participant teams ready to pitch their companies. Get ready to actively engage! Participant teams attending should come prepared with your elevator pitch, 10 slide deck, and executive summary.
The first portion of the evening is a private event for Cleantech Open teams, mentors, and experts only! Teams will rotate through 3 workshops: Pitch Deck, Elevator Pitch, and Executive Summary. We welcome to public to join us at for an evening of networking with the cleantech community starting at 6:30pm.
If you have any questions about the event, please reach out to Gina Bellato at gbellato at cleantechopen.org.
Schedule:
4:00 - 4:30 Teams, Mentors, & Experts Registration
4:30 - 5:20 CTO Workshop #1
5:20 - 6:10 CTO Workshop #2
6:10 -7:00 CTO Workshop #3
6:30 -7:00 Public Registration
7:15 -7:25 Welcome from Continuum
7:25 -7:45 Alumni pitching; Q & A
7:45 - 8:30 Networking
———————————————
Race, Class and #BlackLivesMatter in the Trump Era
Thursday, September 14
5:00pm to 6:30pm
MIT, Building 4-237, 182 Memorial Drive (Rear), Cambridge
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is author of From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation, published by Haymarket Books in January 2016. The book surveys the historical and contemporary ravages of racism and persistent structural inequality, including mass incarceration, housing discrimination, police violence, and unemployment.Taylor is currently an Assistant Professor in African American Studies at Princeton University.
———————————————
Starr Forum: The Trump-Putin Phenomenon
Thursday, September 14
5:00pm to 6:30pm
MIT, Building 26-100, 60 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speakers:
Julia Ioffe, Moscow born American journalist who covers national security and foreign policy topics for The Atlantic
Garry Kasparov, Chairman of the Human Rights Foundation, Russian chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, writer, and political activist. Kasparov’s books Winter is coming and Deep Thinking will be signed and sold at the event
A session of the Focus on Russia Lecture Series
Co-chairs, Carol Saivetz and Elizabeth Wood
Co-sponsors: MIT Center for International Studies, MIT Security Studies Program, MIT-Russia Program
For more info, contact 253-1965; starrforum at mit.edu
————————————————
Engineering Virality: BuzzFeed's Scientific Approach To Creating Content
Thursday, September 14
5:00pm to 6:30pm
MIT,Building 56-114, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
If you’ve heard of BuzzFeed, you probably think about our famous articles and quizzes, such as The Dress and Which State Are You Actually From?, as well as our video escapades, such as The Try Guys Try Sexy Halloween Costumes and our famous Watermelon Explosion experiment on Facebook Live. The success of our content might seem accidental, but as a result of BuzzFeed’s experimental approach to producing content, the virality of these posts is actually a very scientific and calculated effort. This talk will detail how BuzzFeed thinks about and creates content, highlighting our paradigms for the function and role of our content. We’ll also discuss the software stack that supports this experimental loop, as BuzzFeed also employs a variety of technologies to build an analytics layer. Included in that tech discussion will also be an overview of the metrics and signals BuzzFeed is interested in once content is live. Along the way, we’ll highlight some of the Comparative Media Studies learnings Walter employs on a daily basis to thrive in the BuzzFeed content ecosystem.
Walter Menendez is a Senior Data Infrastructure Engineer at BuzzFeed, based in New York. He is an MIT alum of the class of 2015, having majored in Computer Science and Engineering (Course 6-3). While at MIT, he concentrated in Comparative Media Studies, as well as having done undergraduate research in various Media Lab groups (Fluid Interfaces, Laboratory for Social Machines). At BuzzFeed, he is responsible for the development and maintanence of all of BuzzFeed’s data collection, from on-site impression collection to data warehousing solutions, empowering the analytical approach that BuzzFeed uses for the content creation cycle.
————————————————
Darwin’s Backyard: How Small Experiments Led to a Big Theory
Thursday, September 14
6:00pm
Harvard, Museum of Natural History, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge
James T. Costa, Professor, Department of Biology, Western Carolina University Executive Director, Highlands Biological Station, University of North Carolina
Charles Darwin, iconic evolutionary biologist, was a naturalist with a passion for experiments. Sometimes quirky, always illuminating, Darwin’s experiments were an ever-present part of his home life, taking over his house, garden, and greenhouse, as well as surrounding meadows and woodlands, while often involving family, friends, and neighbors as research assistants. James Costa will discuss this inventive side of Darwin, detailed in his new book, Darwin’s Backyard: How Small Experiments Led to a Big Theory. Following the lecture, visit the museum galleries, where Harvard students and museum educators will demonstrate a selection of Darwin’s experiments.
————————————————
Extreme Events & Climate Change: What We Know and What We Can Do
Thursday, September 14
7:00 pm
New England Aquarium Simons IMAX Theatre, Aquarium Wharf, Boston
RSVP at http://support.neaq.org/site/Calendar?id=107245&view=Detail
Speaker: Ellen Douglas, PE, PhD, Associate Professor of Hydrology, School for the Environment, UMass Boston
There are three truths that climate science tells us about what we can expect from climate change. The first is small changes in an average value, such as average global temperatures, will have bigger effects on the extremes. We have seen this play out in the extreme weather events that have wrought havoc across New England and the nation over the last decade or longer. Record-breaking events will always occur, but the time between these events should increase. Under climate change, records are getting broken in record time! The second truth is that our history of carbon dioxide emissions has embedded a certain amount of change into the climate system, to which we will need to adapt. The third truth is that if we don’t account for our changing climate in planning and designing, our plans and designs will be wrong. In this presentation, Ellen Marie Douglas will discuss observations of our changing climate, what changes may be in Boston’s future, and some plans for how to adapt to these changes.
———————————
Friday, September 15
———————————
Park(ing) Day
Friday, September 15
The international event when people take over car parking spaces for a day.
———————————————
Time to Walk the Walk: BU’s Climate Action Plan (Alumni Weekend Event)
Friday, September 15
9:30 am to 11:00 am
BU, George Sherman Union, Terrace Lounge, 775 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
Last fall, the BU Board of Trustees authorized the development of a Climate Action Plan to address the University’s carbon emissions and prepare for the impacts of climate change on BU’s campuses. The Climate Action Plan Task Force invites alumni to attend its upcoming public forum during Alumni Weekend to learn about the development of the University's Climate Action Plan and share their input.
———————————————
Wettability and Adhesion of Real Surfaces
Friday, September 15
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT
BU, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wettability-and-adhesion-of-real-surfaces-tickets-37305462643
For more information please contact:
Scott Allan Phone: +1201273 4184
E-mail: Scott.Allan at biolinscientific.com
Join us for a 2 hour seminar about Wettability and Adhesion, where we will go through the common ways of measuring these properties. We will also address the theory behind them and emphasize strategies how to apply these measurements to real, non-ideal surfaces which may be heterogeneous in both surface chemistry and surface roughness.
Wettability and adhesion are key parameters in numerous industries such as coatings, biotechnology and electronics. The seminar will include lecture and a demonstration of how to account for the surface roughness and wettability determination for advanced research.
You can also download our White Paper on Surface roughness and wettability:
http://www.biolinscientific.com/product/theta-topography/
———————————————
ME(DIA) RESPONSE: SELF-AWARENESS AND ACTIVISM THROUGH ART-MAKING | PART 2: BUILDING AN UNDERSTANDING
September 15
12:00PM - 2:00PM
MIT List Visual Arts Center, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/media-response-self-awareness-and-activism-through-art-making-part-2-building-an-understanding-tickets-35433206675
Join artist Kate Gilbert in a participatory workshop series infusing tools of meditation with media awareness to adorn and personalize 3D artifacts in a method representative of their response to violent imagery. This workshop, the second of a three-part series will begin with guided meditation focused on finding stillness or beauty in turmoil. Once centered, participants will personalize 3D objects/sculptures/artifacts created from accumulations of mass media images. This workshop will conclude with a discussion on how cultural tactics and creative strategies can be used to incorporate these artifacts into creative activism. Participants will leave their artifact for the next workshop participants to use and are encouraged to attend each workshop to deepen their practice of defining self and activism in a media-saturated world.
This workshop series will lead participants through the acceptance of violent imagery in media as a necessary catalyst for change, defining one’s response to violence and will culminate in a civically-engaged creative action. Participants are encouraged to attend each workshop to deepen their practice of defining self and activism in a media-saturated world.
About the Artist:
Kate Gilbert is an artist deeply committed to developing catalytic artistic practices for transformation — of our cities, our relationships, and ourselves. In her artwork, curatorial projects and public art organization Now + There she strives to facilitate joy, spontaneity and an intersectional approach to creating shared cultural experiences.
Lunch will be served.
This event is free and open to the general public. RSVP required. RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/media-response-self-awareness-and-activism-through-art-making-part-2-building-an-understanding-tickets-35433206675
———————————————
It Depends What State You’re In: Policies and Politics of the US Health Care System
WHEN Friday, Sep. 15, 2017, 1 – 5 p.m.
WHERE Radcliffe, Knafel Center, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Conferences, Health Sciences, Law, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
COST Free
CONTACT INFO http://events@radcliffe.harvard.edu
DETAILS Health care and political systems are deeply intertwined, with implications for the quality and equality of access to health care. This half-day symposium will explore the political dynamics of health care laws and the way they affect not only people as patients but also people as citizens. Health professionals, policy and public health experts, economists, sociologists, and political scientists, will draw on comparative politics and policies of the U.S. state—alone and as part of a federalist system—and on international perspectives to explore the relationships between citizens and their health care. Please register online.
LINK https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2017-us-health-care-symposium
—————————————
Shannon Mattern, Mapping's Intelligent Agents
Friday, September 15
5:00pm to 6:30pm
MIT, Building 7-408 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Mapping for machines, by machines is big business. Yet mapping’s artificial intelligences also have the potential to transform myriad design and research areas, to influence policy-making and governance, to support environmental preservation and public health – and, in the process, to pose critical questions about how our cartographic technologies conceptualize and operationalize space. And in order to fully exploit the methodological promise of cartography, those artificial intelligences – all the digital sensors and deep learning models – have to be supplemented with other cartographic intelligences and subjectivities, particularly those that extend beyond the computational “Other.” Marginalized and indigenous populations and non-human environmental actors belong on the map, too – and not merely as cartographic subjects, but as active mapping agents with spatial intelligences and worldviews quite unlike our own, and with an equal investment in the environments we share.
Speaker: Shannon Mattern is an Associate Professor of Media Studies at The New School. Her writing and teaching focus on archives, libraries, and other media spaces; media infrastructures; spatial epistemologies; and mediated sensation and exhibition. She is the author of The New Downtown Library: Designing with Communities, Deep Mapping the Media City, and Code and Clay, Data and Dirt: Five Thousand Years of Urban Media (forthcoming), all published by University of Minnesota Press, and she contributes a regular long-form column about urban data and mediated infrastructures to Places Journal. You can find her at wordsinspace.net.
Organized by Moa Carlsson, PhD Candidate, Design & Computation Group at MIT, MIT Department of Architecture
————————————————————————
Saturday, September 16 - Sunday, September 17
————————————————————————
Hack MIT
https://hackmit.org
————————————
Saturday, September 16
————————————
The Future We’re Building
Saturday, September 16
8am - 5pm
Harvard Business School, Spangler Center, 117 Western Avenue, Boston
RSVP at http://www.techconferencehbs.com
Cost: $32.64 - $43.19
Welcome to the 23rd Annual Technology Conference by Tech Club, a student club of HBS
How can we use advanced sensor technology to reduce food waste? What new business models will be enabled by blockchain? How will commercial space flight become a reality? Why will virtual reality enhance our self-expression and improve our productivity? What is the future we're building, and why?
Our speakers not only see the future. They are actively building it.
On September 16th, 2017, 1,200+ founders, investors, engineers, and MBA and undergraduate students from the Boston area and beyond will converge on the Harvard Business School campus to discuss and debate the future of technology. Join us as we learn how leaders are building the future of cryptocurrency, space, fintech, insurtech, food tech, healthcare, AR/VR, retail, and more! See our full agenda here.
The goal of this year’s conference is to continue the tradition of bringing industry leaders to HBS not only whose past stories would inspire and educate, but who are leading organizations that will likely dominate the next decade in technology.
If you would like to participate or host a panel, demonstrate your product in our Demo Room, or have questions, we'd love to hear from you. Please contact Karan Ahuja (kahuja at mba2018.hbs.edu) and Elyse Kim (ekim at mba2018.hbs.edu).
Keynote Speakers
Bozoma Saint John, Chief Brand Officer, Uber
Frances Frei, SVP Leadership & Strategy, Uber
Carolyn Everson, VP - Global Marketing Solutions, Facebook
Sue Siegel, CEO, GE Ventures
Deep Nishar, Managing Director, SoftBank
Eric Paley, Managing Partner, Founder Collective
Marvin Ammori, Chief Counsel, Hyperloop One
Panel Discussions, Tech Talks & Fireside Chats
AR/VR
Dr. Pattie Maes (MIT Media Lab)
Victor Luo (NASA JPL)
John Werner (Meta)
David Askaryan (Bridgewater)CRYPTOCURRENCY AND PAYMENTS
Anders Brownworth (Circle.com)
P. Bart Stephens (Blockchain Capital)
Ryan Zurrer (Polychain Capital)
FINTECH
Omer Ismail (COO, Marcus)
Adam Broun (COO, Kensho)
Blair Baldwin (CEO, Quilt)
James Hobson (CEO, Attune Insurance)
Andre Bliznyuk (Partner, Runa Capital)FOOD / AGTECH
Steve Fredette (President & Co-Founder, Toast)
Julia Cohen (Biz Ops, Bowery)
Jan Schnorr (CEO, C2Sense)
Jennifer Cheung (Principal, Amazon)
Usma Cheema (Sr. Manager - Business & Corporate, DoorDash)
GAMING
Jason Robins (CEO, DraftKings)
HEALTHCARE TECH
Umair Khan (VP of Product, Accolade)
Gina Nebesar (Co-Founder & CPO, Ovia Health)
Jessica Alston (Associate, F-Prime Capital Partners)
Andrew DiMichele (Head of Product, Onduo)
RETAIL TECH / E-COMMERCE
Chieh Huang (CEO, Boxed.com)
Brendan Wallace (Fifth Wall Ventures, Managing Partner/Co-Founder)
Susan Tynan (Framebridge, CEO/Founder)
Nick Rellas (Drizly, CEO/Founder)
Pano Anthos (Founder & Managing Director, XRC Labs)
TRANSPORTATION TECH
Karl Iagnemma (CEO, NuTonomy)
Sid Misra (CEO, Perceptiva Automata)
Tim Higgins (Reporter, Wall Street Journal)
Steve Hafner (CEO, Kayak)SPACE TECH
Louis Perna (Co-Founder, Accion)
Karl Hoose (CEO, VALT Enterprises LLC)
David Potere (Co-Founder & CEO, Telluslab)
Dan Nevius (Co-Founder & COO, Analytical Space)
Matthew Weinzierl (Professor, HBS)WOMEN IN TECHs
Natalie Villalobos (Global Lead for Women Techmakers Program, Google)
Katie Burke (Chief People Officer, HubSpot)
Tauseef Salma (Global Head for Chemicals & Industrial Services, Baker Hughes)
Caroline Ghosn (Founder & CEO, Levo)
Demos
In our Demo Room, Tech Conference 23 attendees will be able to get hands-on with the latest Virtual Reality hardware.
——————————————
Somerville Garden Club Annual Plant Sale
Saturday, September 16
9 to 1pm
Davis Square, Somerville
Great stuff, at good prices, and lots of advice. Plus books, pots, etc. Always fun, bigger and better every year.
——————————————
Sun for All Celebration
Saturday, September 16
11am - 2pm
Codman Square Park, 44 Moultrie Street, Dorchester
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/resonant-sun-for-all-celebration-tickets-37013671889
Resonant Energy will be celebrating our one year anniversary as a company with our community partners and local leaders on Saturday, Sept. 16th from 11-2 pm in Codman Park! Join us for a day of music, food, celebration, and activism on the lawn -- and see the magic driving this community forward towards a just and local transition to clean energy. Speakers will include faith leaders, policy organizers, and local solar champions leading the way in the fight for an energy system that works for our communities. This will be a family-friendly event.
Facebook Event
Eventbridge Link
Final Schedule of Events:
11 AM - 11:30: Sign in & Welcome
11:30 - 12:30: Potluck Lunch in the Park
12:30 - 1:00: Speakers, including Rev. Mariama White-Hammond.
1:00 - 2:00: Music!
Things to Bring
Potluck: A food dish to share
Picnic: Chairs or a blanket
Solar Design Lab: Your Electric Bill or a Rooftop Recommendation! Learn more about what solar could look like for your home, business, or nonprofit. Bring an address to explore in <10 minutes with Resonant's engineering team.
Event Sponsors
Clean Water Action
Co-op Power
Codman Square Neighborhood Council
Contact: Please reach out to the event organizer, Isaac Baker, with any questions relating to the Affordable Solar Celebration: Isaac at resonant.energy
——————————————
Dance Mile Boston
Saturday, September 16
11:30am - 3pm
City Hall Plaza, City Hall Square, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-dance-mile-boston-ma-registration-34981784459
Cost: $0 - $10
Experience the newest form of Social Fitness – Dance Mile!
Dance Mile is an INTERACTIVE FESTIVAL capped by a one hour dance parade through town.
Participants are led through the city by a custom sound truck, amazing MC’s, & your favorite DJ’s!
Dance Mile combines exercise & entertainment resulting in an extraordinary fitness experience.
WHAT’S INCLUDED
Dance through one of the most iconic areas in BOSTON!
ZUMBA warm up, professional dance acts
Bib number & bedazzling station for the whole family
Access to vendor village & festival
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
11:30 – 1:00 – Registration
1:00 – 1:30 PM – Warm Up & Dance Acts
1:30 – 2:30 PM – The Boston Dance Mile
2:30 – 3:00 PM – Cool Down
——————————————
The Ig Informal Lectures
Saturday, September 16
1:00 pm
MIT, Building 10-250, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
A half-afternoon of improbably funny, informative, informal, brief public lectures and demonstrations:
The new Ig Nobel Prize winners will attempt to explain what they did, and why they did it.
Several past winners will return, to share their adventures:
Thomas Thwaites (2016 Biology Prize — living as a goat)
John Culvenor (2003 Physics Prize — Analysis of the forces required to drag sheep across various surfaces)
Everyone will be available for you to talk with, both before and after the lectures.
The Ig informal Lectures are a free event, organized in cooperation with the MIT Press Bookstore.
——————————————
Living in the Future
Saturday, September 16
6:00pm to 8:00pm
MIT, Building N51: MIT Museum, 265 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at https://mitmuseum.mit.edu/livinginthefuture
How do today's technologies reflect what we've seen on the big screen? Sit back, grab some pizza and popcorn, and hear from scientists and inventors about how close we are to realizing Hollywood's hopes. Learn about the real-life technology that may or may not take us back to the future.
Pizza, popcorn, and soda included! This event has sold out in the past, so register now! $10 in advance/limited tickets available at the door for $15.
———————————
Sunday, September 17
———————————
Boston Local Food Festival: New England's largets One-Day Farmer's Market
Sunday, September 17
11:00am to 5:00pm
Rose Kennedy Greenway, 185 Kneeland Street, Boston
For one spectacular day each year, Sustainable Business Network of Massachusetts transforms the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway and the City of Boston into the nation's largest local & sustainable food hub! The Boston Local Food Festival is a FREE outdoor festival that showcases farmers, local restaurants, food trucks, specialty food producers, fisher folks, and organizations focusing on healthy food and fitness from New England. The festival also features lively chef & DIY demos, a seafood throwdown competition, diverse music and performances, family fun zone and more.
The 8th Annual Boston Local Food Festival is sponsored by Food Solutions New England, Boston Public Market, The Trustees - Boston Region, & Clarke Kitchens
Festival goers learn about the benefits of sustainably grown and produced food, shop the market, eat delicious local food, participate in fun, educational activities and exhibits, engage with top local chefs and enjoy local music. Themed “Healthy Local Food for All”, the festival connects Massachusetts and New England eaters of all backgrounds with the abundance of fresh, nutritious local food choices available close to home.
The festival is a zero-waste event, meaning we divert over 91% of our waste each year and we offset 100% of our energy use! All perishable items sold are made from locally sourced products. Best of all, we bring this annual event to the community free of charge. So grab your reusable water bottles and bags and enjoy New England’s largest one day farmers market, while celebrating “Healthy Local Food for All”
More information at https://www.facebook.com/events/1761165614213781/
———————————————
E.O. Wilson: The Meaning of Human Existence
Sunday, September 17
1:30 PM
Humanist Hub, 30 JFK Street, 4th Floor, Harvard Square, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/HarvardHumanist/events/242900069/
What makes human beings supremely different from all other species? Does humanity holds a special position in the known universe?
In The Meaning of Human Existence, Pulitzer Prize–winning biologist Edward O. Wilson grapples with these and other existential questions, bridging science and philosophy to create a twenty-first-century treatise on human existence -- from our earliest inception to a provocative look at what the future of mankind.
Join us for a conversation with world-renowned author, secular humanist, and scientist E.O. Wilson about his book, the purpose of life, and what it all means for humanists and humanist communities in the 21st century.
———————————————
Sharon McGregor: From Turf to Paradise - In your own backyard (or window box)!
Sunday, September 17
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
One Fayette Park, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/Biodiversity-for-a-Livable-Climate/events/242930236/
Potuck 6:00-7:00 p.m. followed by discussion 7:00-9:00 p.m. at Helen Snively's place near Central Square.
Biodiversity for a Livable Climate has a profound, even gripping, story to tell. It is a story people want to hear because it is positive, hopeful, inspirational! The story’s overriding message is that humans can turn the climate crisis around if we join together, roll up our sleeves, and get right to ecological restoration at the local, regional, and continental scales.
Sharon McGregor is a Board Member with Biodiversity for a Livable Climate and a former administrator with Mass. Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EOEEA) who initiated the Community Preservation Act and the Department of Ecological Restoration - and also gave us the whale tail on our license plates!
Sharon will show a PowerPoint presentation telling this story as she interprets it. She will briefly present the climate urgency most of us know well as a backdrop to the nature solutions we all need to understand and participate in. She will highlight how she implemented a nature solution benefiting climate in her own back yard, by transforming it from a monoculture monotone lawn to the vibrant colorful and biodiverse ecosystem it once was. Sharon will introduce a new approach to decision making, which she says everyone should apply to their own decision-making in the home and workplace, and in general daily living. This decision-making approach places biodiversity and ecosystem health at the forefront of our decisions.
Sharon will lead us in discussion to get everyone thinking about: What is our story? What should the “I want to read that” title be? Are the main chapters identified and are they included in our story, or are we missing something? What are the most important parts of the story we want our varied audiences to hear? How do we best tell the most important parts of the story in a way that people understand and are motivated to act? How do we tell the story to the press, so that they want to report on it and do so in a way that will inspire new, aggressive actions on the nature part of the solution to the climate crisis, while maintaining (and inspiring even greater) momentum on the emissions side.
Come hear the story and help complete it.
Biodiversity for a LIvable Climate is a small non-profit so a $10 donation is requested.
———————————
Monday, September 18
———————————
PAOC Colloquium: Dan Cziczo (MIT)
Monday, September 18
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Building 54-923, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
About the Speaker
It has been known for over a century that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane warm the planet by trapping heat. What is not as well known is that particles can cool the planet by reflecting sunlight into space and by acting as the seeds on which clouds form. Particles and clouds are also of contemporary interest because it has been suggested they might affect climate by interacting with cosmic rays or be used to manipulate the Earth’s temperature.
Cziczo's research group is interested in the interrelationship of particulate matter and cloud formation. His team utilizes laboratory and field studies to elucidate how small particles interact with water vapor to form droplets and ice crystals, which are important players in the Earth’s climate system. Experiments include using small cloud chambers in the laboratory to mimic atmospheric conditions that lead to cloud formation and observing clouds in situ from remote mountaintop sites or through the use of research aircraft.
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 generally take place on Monday from 12-1pm. Lunch is provided 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.
—————————————
Starting an Energy and Clean Tech Company in Boston
Monday, September 18
4:00 PM – 6:00 PM EDT
CIC Boston, 50 Milk Street, Lighthouse East Room, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/starting-an-energy-and-clean-tech-company-in-boston-tickets-37368653649
Cleantech and energy technologies have been the subject of national attention in recent years, and Boston is a hub of innovation in this industry. From software for better energy efficiency, to connected devices for better power insights & management, to new alternative power technology, this industry has been a magnet for entrepreneurs wanting to improve the world and build successful businesses by riding the wave of market attention.
Join our panel discussion for insights on what that latest trends, challenges, and opportunities in this industry are. Whether you're a startup founder looking to navigate this space, an investor looking to stay on top of the market, or an executive looking for the latest innovations, this panel will have highlights for you.
This event is part of the Hot Industries Track at Boston Startup Week.
PANELISTS
Wanda Reindorf | Managing Director, Clean Energy Venture Group
Wanda Reindorf is a member of the Clean Energy Venture Group and is an experienced executive who has been a CFO and business consultant with VC backed start-ups through public companies. She has worked with energy companies in the areas of energy efficiency, utilities, renewable energy, smart grid, demand response and energy services, and was involved in developing early solar power plants. She brings 20 plus years of expertise in strategy, operations and finance with extensive global experience.
Sandhya Murali | CFO, Solstice Initiative
Responsible for finances, product development, solar developer relationships, and financial inclusion. Sandhya began her career in Barclays’ investment banking division in New York and London, advising on and executing public equity transactions for Technology, Media and Telecom companies, and was also deeply involved in Barclays Philanthropy. Her volunteer work included Endeavor, Women’s World Banking, and Barclays’ Social Innovation Fund. During graduate school, Sandhya worked at Buen Power Peru, a for-profit social enterprise that distributes solar lamps and water heaters to off-grid communities in Peru. She holds a BBA from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, where she received the Sustainability Certificate.
YOUR HOST
Emily Reichert | CEO, Greentown Labs
Dr. Emily Reichert serves as Chief Executive Officer of Greentown Labs, the largest clean technology startup incubator in the United States. As the organization's first employee, Emily has spearheaded the rapid growth of Greentown Labs into a global center for clean technology innovation, attracting visitors and partners from around the world.
Emily started her career at Arthur D. Little as a Ph.D. scientist and progressed into R&D, business development and general management roles. Prior to Greentown Labs, she was the Director of Business Operations at the Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry where she helped grow the angel-funded startup into a sustainable contract R&D business with a mission to minimize environmental impact of chemical products. Emily also served as a MIT Sloan Fellow in Innovation and Global Leadership as well as a Venture Labs Fellow at Flagship Ventures, a Boston-based Venture Capital firm.
—————————————
Two Ways of Knowing: Creating Ancient Maya History through Inscriptions and Archaeology
Wednesday, September 18
6:00 pm
Harvard, Museum of Natural History, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge
2017 Tatiana Proskouriakoff Lecture and Reception
Free and open to the public
Simon Martin, Associate Curator and Keeper of Collections, American Section, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
Scholars have made signifcant advances in the interpretation of ancient Maya hieroglyphs in the past forty years. The deep understanding of these inscriptions makes the study of the ancient Maya as complex and layered as that of Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Greek, or Roman civilizations—each of which combines the reading of texts with the physical remains of archaeological excavations. This important development, however, also raises issues about how the integration of textual and material evidence is best achieved. Simon Martin will explore this challenge within the context of Maya studies and review the academic debate over the ways in which history is both discovered and created.
—————————————
Guest Lecture - Les Norford
Monday, September 18
6:15 pm to 7:15 pm
BU, College of Arts & Sciences, Room 315, 685-725 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
Professor Leslie Norford is the George Macomber (1948) Professor in Construction Management in the Department of Architecture at MIT. Professor Norford’s current research focuses on interactions of buildings with the natural and built urban environment. His group studies the contributions of buildings to the urban heat island effect, the impact of urban heating on building performance, the transport of urban pollutants and control of building electrical systems to provide services to electricity distribution systems.
—————————————————————————
Tuesday, September 19 - Wednesday, September 20
—————————————————————————
Gills Club Symposium: Shark Tales – Women Making Waves
Tuesday, September 19
Doors open 5:30 pm
Lectures begin 6:00 pm
IMAX Theater at the New England Aquarium, Aquarium Wharf, Boston
RSVP at https://secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/s/HHWIs-ui2DqNrwtowEreUw
Susan Goldberg, Editorial Director, National Geographic Partners and Editor in Chief, National Geographic Magazine
Ten female shark experts from around the work share their stories and science.
September 19 participants:
Michelle Heupel, Australian Institute of Marine Science
Lisa Whitenack, Allegheny College
Cindy Tribuzio, National Marine Fisheries Service
Lisa Natanson, Apex Predator Program
Jodie Rummer, James Cook University
September 20 participants:
Wendy Benchley, renowned global voice for protecting sharks and safeguarding our seas
Alison Kock, South African National Parks
Brooke Flammang, New Jersey Institute of Technology
Kara Yopak, UNC Wilmington
Megan Winton, UMass Dartmouth
Vicky Vasquez, Pacific Shark Research Center
This two-day symposium is co-hosted by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, Gills Club, Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life, and New England Aquarium.
————————————
Tuesday, September 19
————————————
Will we adapt? Extreme heat, labor production, and adaptation to climate change
Tuesday, September 19
1 pm
Harvard Global Health Institute, 42 Church Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://globalhealth.harvard.edu/event/climate-change-and-global-health-seminar-jisung-park-phd
Please join the Harvard Global Health Institute for their Climate Change and Global Health Seminar with Jisung Park, PhD.
———————————————
ESI PEOPLE & THE PLANET LECTURE: Johan Rockström
Tuesday, September 19
4:00pm to 6:00pm
MIT, Building 10-250, Huntington Hall, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at https://environmentalsolutions.mit.edu/events/
The Environmental Solutions Initiative People & the Planet Lecture Series presents individuals and organizations working to advance understanding and action toward a humane and sustainable future.
For more information, contact:
Hannah Loomis
esi at mit.edu
———————————————
Space, Time, and Reality: A Lecture by Brian Greene
WHEN Tuesday, Sep. 19, 2017, 4:15 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Radcliffe, Knafel Center, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Science, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S) Brian Greene, Professor of Physics and Mathematics, Cofounder of Columbia University’s Institute for Strings, Cosmology, and Astroparticle Physics, Columbia University; Cofounder of The World Science Festival; Author
COST Free
CONTACT INFO events at radcliffe.harvard.edu
DETAILS One hundred years ago, Albert Einstein revolutionized our understanding of space and time, elevating them to dynamic participants in the evolution of the cosmos. Research in our era has pushed this revolution far further, suggesting that there may be additional dimensions of space and possibly even other universes. In this talk, Greene will explore these ideas visually as this lecture dives into the changes conceptions of space, time, and reality.
Professor Greene has had many media appearances, from Charlie Rose to Stephen Colbert. He is widely known to the public through his general-level lectures and writings. Register online and join us.
LINK https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2017-brian-greene-lecture
——————————————
The Stupid Terrorist: Lessons from History and the Social Sciences
Tuesday, September 19
4:30pm to 6:00pm
Northeastern, Renaissance Park, 909, 1135 Tremont Street, Boston
Please join us for a presentation by Max Abrahms, Assistant Professor of Political Science, for the first Fall semester event in the Controversial Issues in Security and Resilience Studies speaker series.
More information at https://www.northeastern.edu/cssh/internationalcenter/event/controversial-issues-in-security-and-resilience-studies-lecture/#_ga=2.1330930.2105802951.1503846943-593491830.1457895416
——————————————
Safety First: Towards Safe Consumption Facilities in Massachusetts
A Community Forum
Tuesday, September 19
5:30pm to 7:30pm
Northeastern University School of Law, 400 Huntington Avenue, Boston
The devastating toll of the opioid crisis creates an imperative for decisive, evidence-driven, and cost-effective solutions. Safe consumption facilities (SCF) reduce drug overdose, while connecting drug users to treatment and other services. Amidst mounting calls for the creation of SCFs in Massachusetts, this forum will provide stakeholders with an opportunity to review the available evidence and voice diverse perspectives on this timely and salient issue.
Coffee and refreshments will be served
——————————————
authors at mit - Mitch Resnick - Lifelong Kindergarten
Tuesday, September 19
6:00pm to 7:00pm
The MIT Press Bookstore 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
The MIT Press Bookstore presents Mitch Resnick, Professor of Learning Research at the MIT Media Lab, discussing his book Lifelong Kindergarten on Tuesday, September 19, at 6:00 pm at the Bookstore. 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.
Kindergarten is becoming more like the rest of school, with with more time spent on math worksheets and phonics flashcards than building blocks and finger paint. Resnick, an expert in educational technologies who has worked closely with the LEGO toy company for thirty years, argues for exactly the opposite: the rest of school (even the rest of life) should be more like kindergarten.
************
----------------
Opportunity
----------------
************
Greenfest Looking for Volunteers
10th Annual Boston GreenFest will be at Boston City Hall Plaza, August 11-13, 2017. It is the largest multicultural environmental music festival in the region featuring lots of local and international exhibits, performances, films, food, fashion and forums. Our goal is to educate and empower people to create a more sustainable, healthier world. We are actively building an interconnected, ever expanding network throughout our neighborhoods, city and region. From business to nonprofit, neighborhood association to academic institution, Boston GreenFest spans age, culture and industry. Celebrating our 10th anniversary, Boston GreenFest is excited to bring this wonderful free three-day festival to Boston City Hall Plaza as it is transformed into a fun interactive community classroom.
We are looking for volunteers to help throughout the weekend.
Please visit: http://www.bostongreenfest.org/
———————————
New Climate CoLab Contests:
Adaptation
Buildings
Carbon Pricing
Energy Supply
Land Use Change
Shifting Attitudes & Behaviors
Transportation
More information at https://www.climatecolab.org/
———————————
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
———————————
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
——————————
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
———————————
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
*********
------------
Resource
------------
*********
"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.
——————————
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!
————————————
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
————————————
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
———————————
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!
——————————
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/
****************************************
------------------------------------------------------
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://calendar.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 11 AM on Sundays, as Energy (and Other) Events is sent out Sunday afternoons.
More information about the Act-MA
mailing list