[act-ma] Energy (and Other) Events - November 24, 2019
gmoke
gmoke at world.std.com
Sun Nov 24 10:27:06 PST 2019
Energy (and Other) Events is a weekly mailing list published most Sundays covering events around the Cambridge, MA and greater
Boston area that catch the editor's eye.
Hubevents http://hubevents.blogspot.com is the web version.
If you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe to Energy (and Other) Events email gmoke at world.std.com
What I Do and Why I Do It: The Story of Energy (and Other) EventsGeo
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/what-i-do-and-why-i-do-it.html
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Details of these events are available when you scroll past the index
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Index
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Monday, November 25
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11:45am The Welfare Implications of Carbon Price Certainty
12pm Program on Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate [PAOC] Colloquium
12pm Public Security and the Fate of Brazil’s Democracy
12:15pm The Way We Trust Today: Encryption as an Instrument of Decentralization
12:30pm Building energy innovation systems in Latin America: Insights from Brazil, Chile, and Mexico
12:30pm Sarah Billington | Hybrid Physical & Digital Spaces For Enhanced Sustainability and Wellbeing
1:25pm American Factory: Documentary Screening and Panel Discussion
3pm Environmental Externalities and Free-Riding in the Household
3:30pm Climate Denial, Greenwashing, and Delayed Climate Action: The Corporatization of Academia?
5pm Pizza and Politics with Caroline Adler Morales A.B.'04, Communications Director for Michelle Obama
5:30pm Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
5:30pm WISE-Boston November Meeting: Perspectives on Environmental Social Governance
6pm AUTHORS at MIT | Rebecca Thompson: Fire, Ice, and Physics
6pm GREAT LIVES WORTH RELIVING WITH MO ROCCA
7pm Designing Sustainable Urban Development
7pm Climate Grief Listening Circle in JP
7:15pm The Science and Art of Visual Communication
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Tuesday, November 26
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12pm MIT Energy for Development [E4Dev] Talk
4pm Enforcing and Protecting Rights in a Federal Context. The case of Argentina's Domestic Violence Laws
6pm Boston Green Drinks - November 2019 Happy Hour
6pm The Last Sacred Place of Poetry: Film Screening & Discussion (Central Square)
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Thursday, November 28
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Happy Thanksgiving - gratitude is healing and I thank you all for reading and using my work.
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Friday, November 29
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1pm FINAL Friday After Thanksgiving (F.A.T.) Chain Reaction
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Sunday, December 1
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12pm Solidarity Event: Sitting for Survival
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Monday, December 2
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10am New England Energy Summit
11:45am The Economic Impacts of Carbon Taxes
12pm Program on Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate [PAOC] Colloquium
12pm The Future of Home Energy Storage: A Conversation with sonnen, Inc
12:15pm Listening Like a Computer: Computational Psychiatry and the Re-coding of Psychiatric Screening
12:30pm Drivers of Health Cambridge Meeting
4pm Automating the Digitization of Historical Data on a Large Scale
4:30pm Book talk: 'The Lived Nile: Environment, Disease, and Material Colonial Economy in Egypt’
4:30pm Conservation Law Foundation's Holiday Celebration
5pm Pizza and Politics with Ruth Buffalo, North Dakota State Representative
6pm AUTHORS at MIT | Kathryn D. Sullivan Presents Handprints on Hubble
6pm An Allston Forum
6pm naeem mohaiemen | a missing can of film
7pm Searching for Life in Deep Space
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Tuesday, December 3
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8am #SpreadingFacts: Communicating Science for a Better World
9am Plaza, Parklets, & Pop-ups in the Public Realm
12pm Recreational Marijuana and CBD: Public Attitudes, Science, and the Law
12pm Que pasó: A review of the crises in Chile, Ecuador, and Peru
12:30pm Democracy, today: Fake news, social networks, and algorithms
1pm Amazon Rainforest IdeaJam
2pm Julia Greer: Materials by Design: 3D Nano-Architected Meta-Materials
3pm LivingLab Tour
5pm Advocacy Hour with Conservation Law Foundation
5:15pm Climate in Words and Numbers: How Early Americans Recorded Weather in Almanacs
6pm FORUM: American Reconciliation and Its Alternatives
6pm Can Caribbean Environmental History Teach Us Anything About Resilience?
6pm A Conversation with Stacey Abrams
6pm The Food Podcast Colloquium
6pm Black & Pink: The Records of Prison Activism and Boston's LGBTQ
7:30pm AI for Social Impact: Learning and Planning in the Data-to-Deployment Pipeline
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My rough notes on some of the events I go to and notes on books I’ve read are at:
http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com
How the Good Guys Finally Won: Notes from an Impeachment Summer by Jimmy Breslin
https://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2019/11/how-good-guys-finally-won-notes-from.html
Zero Net Energy - November 23, 2019
http://solarray.blogspot.com/2019/11/zero-net-energy-november-23-2019.html
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Monday, November 25
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The Welfare Implications of Carbon Price Certainty
Monday, November 25
11:45AM TO 1:00PM
Harvard, Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Bldg, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Sarah Armitage and Joe Aldy, Harvard University. Lunch is provided.
Contact Name: Julie Gardella
julie_gardella at hks.harvard.edu
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Program on Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate [PAOC] Colloquium
Monday, November 25
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Building 54-915, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
Alberto Naveiro Garabato
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Public Security and the Fate of Brazil’s Democracy
WHEN Monday, Nov. 25, 2019, 12 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, CGIS South, S030, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Brazil Studies Program at David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies
SPEAKER(S) Ilona Szabó de Carvalho, Cofounder and Executive Director, Igarapé Intitute
COST Free
DETAILS Brazil is the world's most homicidal country. Over 65,000 people were murdered in 2017 and more than 6,000 citizens were killed by police in 2018. A significant proportion of Brazilians are also victimized, which undermines their faith in the legitimacy of the rule of law and democratic institutions. This presentation will highlight the scope and scale of Brazil's public security crisis, the dangers of excessively repressive responses, and the threats this poses to democracy.
LINK https://drclas.harvard.edu/event/public-security-and-fate-brazil’s-democracy
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The Way We Trust Today: Encryption as an Instrument of Decentralization
Monday, November 25
12:15PM TO 2:00PM
Harvard, CGIS S050, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
Gili Vidan, History of Science/Harvard STS.
Sandwich lunches are provided. Please RSVP to via the online form by Wednesday at 5PM the week before.
sts at hks.harvard.edu
STS Circle at Harvard
http://sts.hks.harvard.edu/events/sts_circle/
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Building energy innovation systems in Latin America: Insights from Brazil, Chile, and Mexico
Monday, November 25
12:30pm - 1:45pm
Tufts, Crowe Room, 160 Packard Avenue, Medford
Zdenka Myslikova, Predoctoral Fellow, The Fletcher School
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Sarah Billington | Hybrid Physical & Digital Spaces For Enhanced Sustainability and Wellbeing
Monday, November 25
12:30pm to 2:30pm
MIT, Building 7-429, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
People in wealthy nations like the United States spend 87% of their time in buildings. Although there are hypotheses about the effect of buildings on occupant wellbeing, the evidence is sparse and few of the hypotheses have been tested at scale or over time. “Smart buildings” today primarily focus on using basic sensing, feedback and control for energy savings, temperature comfort, and security. Buildings of the future should go beyond this to infer and support the mental and physical states of the occupants. A scientific approach to designing buildings for wellbeing can both create knowledge as well as improve the physical and mental health of large populations. With new knowledge of what aspects impact wellbeing, we can design digital and physical adaptations to support occupant performance and wellbeing while encouraging pro-environmental behaviors. Physical designs and adaptations to support wellbeing include for example, a range of cement-based, polymeric and natural materials to support biophilic design principles. An interdisciplinary team with expertise in architecture, structural and materials engineering, human-computer interaction, psychology, environmental behavior, and security, privacy and law is collaborating to develop a building information platform and design adaptations that promote both environmental sustainability and occupant wellbeing and that can be easily employed in building design and management.
Sarah Billington is Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering, the Milligan Family Fellow in Undergraduate Education, and a Senior Fellow with the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University. She joined the faculty at Stanford in 2003 having previously worked as an Assistant Professor at Cornell University. She has been a Fellow of the American Concrete Institute since 2006. She received her B.S.E. with high honors in Civil Engineering & Operations Research from Princeton University with a certificate in Architecture Studies and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Her past research has focused on engineering sustainable, durable construction materials including both bio-based and cement-based composites. More recently her work is focusing on the impact of buildings and their materials on human wellbeing. She teaches a freshman seminar on structural engineering, introductory mechanics of solids, and graduate courses on building materials.
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American Factory: Documentary Screening and Panel Discussion
Monday, November 25
1:25 PM – 4:00 PM EST
Harvard Business School, Klarman Hall, Kresge Way, Allston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/american-factory-documentary-screening-and-panel-discussion-tickets-80070269331
American Factory screening and discussion with film's directors, HBS Faculty, and NE Director of AFSCME
Screening followed by discussion with Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar, American Factory Directors; Meg Rithmire, HBS BGIE Professor and China Expert; and Kris Rondeau, Director of AFSCME New England
The film profiles the launch of the Fuyao Glass factory in Moraine, Ohio, sited in a former General Motors plant. To launch the factory, Fuyao brought in hundreds of experienced Chinese factory workers to Ohio to train their U.S. counterparts. The film provides the economic and social issues this sparked, including management challenges associated with labor dynamics, a unionization effort, and managing an operation with workers from two very different cultures.
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Environmental Externalities and Free-Riding in the Household
Monday, November 25
3:00pm to 4:15pm
Harvard, Emerson Hall 210, 19 Quincy Street, Cambridge
Seema Jayachandran (Northwestern)
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Climate Denial, Greenwashing, and Delayed Climate Action: The Corporatization of Academia?
Monday, November 25
3:30pm to 5:00pm
MIT, Building 54-100, 21 Ames Street, Cambridge
This teach-in will give participants the background and tools to critically examine greenwashing by fossil fuel companies and how it relates to reputable institutions like MIT. Greenwashing is defined as “disinformation disseminated by an organization so as to present an environmentally responsible public image.” This (dis)information can take many forms, including advertising, exaggerated promises or claims, and corporate alignments with institutions that serve the public good, like universities. It is necessary for us as a concerned public to be able to identify greenwashing as a key step in empowering us to pinpoint false claims, make informed decisions about university-corporation alliances, and protect our institutional values.
The event will be held in MIT’s primary lecture hall 54-100, which has been proposed to be renamed to the “Shell Auditorium” in exchange for a $3 million donotation for renovating the space. What does MIT gain from this partnership? Join us for the greenwashing teach-in and follow up discussion to learn more.
Event details:
Expert presenters and community members will come together to understand:
What is greenwashing and how are fossil fuel companies using reputable institutions to improve their reputations and keep us burning fossil fuels?
How has Shell in particular engaged in climate denial, greenwashing, and delayed climate action?
How does greenwashing by oil companies affect climate action?
What is MIT's history and political legacy on climate change?
Beyond this event, what are some other ways that we can engage in climate action as scientists?
Presenters
Ortal Ullman (Campaign Coordinator in Climate and Energy, Union of Concerned Scientists) In their role, they work with science experts and activists to build and demonstrate support for clean energy and climate accountability campaigns.
Geoffrey Supran (Research Associate in History of Science, Harvard University; Research Associate in IDSS, MIT). Geoffrey is a world-renowned expert in the history of global warming politics; particularly the climate communications, denial, and delay tactics of fossil fuel interests. Geoffrey has briefed U.S. Senators and Governors, testified as an expert witness to European Parliament and the Philippines Commission on Human Rights, and co-authored several amicus briefs in support of climate litigation. He holds a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from MIT, where he also helped lead the fossil fuel divestment campaign Fossil Free MIT.
Patrick Brown (Postdoctoral researcher at the MIT Energy Initiative) studies technical and regulatory strategies for integrating high levels of renewable energy and energy storage onto the electric grid. He completed his Ph.D. in physics at MIT and was a leader in the Fossil Free MIT campaign.
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Pizza and Politics with Caroline Adler Morales A.B.'04, Communications Director for Michelle Obama
WHEN Monday, Nov. 25, 2019, 5 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Littauer Building Room L-166, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Institute of Politics
SPEAKER(S) Caroline Adler Morales, Communications Director for Michelle Obama
COST Free
CONTACT INFO Rsvp_IOP at hks.harvard.edu
DETAILS As the semester draws to a close, please welcome back Caroline Adler Morales '04 back to campus for a discussion on her path to and experience in the White House.
LINK https://iop.harvard.edu/calendar/events/pizza-and-politics-caroline-adler-morales-04-communications-director-former-first
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Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
Monday, November 25
5:30 - 6:30 pm
Lesley, Marran Theater, 34 Mellen Street, Cambridge
Lesley welcomes Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of our CLAS Reads text, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants.
How is it that in this era of unprecedented scientific understanding humans pose a threat to the natural world on par with the giant asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs and forever altered the earth? The answer, botanist Robin Kimmerer argues in her book, Braiding Sweetgrass, is that we have come to see ourselves as separate from nature, a distancing, ironically, encouraged in part by scientific discourse itself.
Kimmerer, a member of Potawatomi Nation, argues that this separation needs to be supplanted with a paradigm that connects us to nature by bridging heart and mind, and by developing an ethic of interdependence and reciprocity such as exists in the teachings and practices of indigenous peoples, who have lived in harmony with nature for millennia.
If the natural world as it has long existed — and which many of us revere — is to have any chance of surviving, we must learn to see nature this way, she insists.
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WISE-Boston November Meeting: Perspectives on Environmental Social Governance
Monday, November 25
5:30 PM – 7:00 PM EST
Brown Advisory, 100 High Street, #27th Floor, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wise-boston-november-meeting-perspectives-on-esg-tickets-81312791749
For our November monthly meeting, we are excited to feature perspectives on ESG research and integration!
Our guest speakers (and WISE-Boston members!) Annie Chor Joyce of MSCI, Emily Dwyer of Brown Advisory, and Emily Howes of Bank of America will share their insights this WISE-favorite topic from their perspectives as ESG Consultant, Portfolio Manager, and ESG Analyst, respectively.
To ensure active participation and meaningful dialogue, this event will include dedicated Q&A breakout sessions. Whether you are a long-time practitioner or newer to the conversation, it's a great chance to take a deep dive on this subject with fellow practitioners.
Topics will include:
Tools/frameworks for ESG measurement
Challenges and best practices of ESG integration across asset classes
Trends in client interest
Doors will open at 5:30pm for refreshments and networking. Many thanks to WISE Co-Leader Katherine Kroll and Brown Advisory for hosting and refreshments!
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AUTHORS at MIT | Rebecca Thompson: Fire, Ice, and Physics
Monday, November 25
6:00pm to 7:00pm
MIT Press Bookstore, Building N50, 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Join the MIT Press Bookstore in welcoming physicist and author Rebecca C. Thompson to discuss her latest book, Fire, Ice, and Physics: The Science of Game of Thrones.
Game of Thrones is a fantasy that features a lot of made-up science—fabricated climatology (when is winter coming?), astronomy, metallurgy, chemistry, and biology. Most fans of George R. R. Martin's fantastical world accept it all as part of the magic. A trained scientist, watching the fake science in Game of Thrones, might think, “But how would it work?” In Fire, Ice, and Physics, Rebecca Thompson turns a scientist's eye on Game of Thrones, exploring, among other things, the science of an ice wall, the genetics of the Targaryen and Lannister families, and the biology of beheading. Thompson, a PhD in physics and an enthusiastic Game of Thrones fan, uses the fantasy science of the show as a gateway to some interesting real science, introducing GOT fandom to a new dimension of appreciation.
Even the most faithful Game of Thrones fans will learn new and interesting things about the show from Thompson's entertaining and engaging account. Fire, Ice, and Physics is an essential companion for all future bingeing.
Rebecca C. Thompson, PhD, is a physicist and author of the popular Spectra series of comic books about physics. She is Head of the Office of Education and Public Outreach at Fermilab, the particle physics research facility near Chicago. She served as Director of Public Engagement for the American Physical Society from 2008 to 2019.
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GREAT LIVES WORTH RELIVING WITH MO ROCCA
Monday, November 25
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
JFK Library, Smith Hall, Columbia Point, Dorchester
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/great-lives-worth-reliving-with-mo-rocca-tickets-74351048989
Mo Rocca, correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning and frequent panelist on NPR’s Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, discusses his new book, Mobituaries: Great Lives Worth Reliving, featuring remarkable lives of leaders, innovators, and artists worthy of greater attention. Rick Berke, co-founder and executive editor of STAT and former longtime reporter and editor at The New York Times, moderates.
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Designing Sustainable Urban Development
Monday, November 25
7:00 PM
Robbins Library, 700 Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington
Christoph Reinhart, Ph.D., Professor of Architecture, Director, Building Technology Program and Sustainable Design Lab, MIT. Dr. Reinhart is an international leader in urban design, especially recognized for architectural “daylighting”—the use of natural light to illuminate building interiors—and urban-level environmental building performance analysis. The design tools developed by the Reinhart lab are used by architects and urban planners in more than 90 countries.
Modern urban development requires a multi-dimensional design approach to encompass energy-efficient architecture, pedestrian-friendly access to shops, entertainment, work and schools, and vibrant outdoor spaces. Using sophisticated computer-modeling, the Sustainable Design Lab at MIT combines and analyzes many elements for optimal, healthy urban environments. In this presentation, Dr. Reinhart outlines such a model based on a neighborhood proposal in Boston.
More information at http://www.scienceforthepublic.org/energy-and-resources/designing-sustainable-urban-development
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Climate Grief Listening Circle in JP
Monday, November 25
7 p.m.
14 Miles Street, Jamaica Plain
RSVP at https://xrmass.org/action/listening-circle-jp-Nov25/
Gather with fellow human beings to share and connect about the changing climate and its emotional toil.
In our fast-paced, responsibility-driven lives, there is often little space to reflect and process the impact of this profound loss of our shared home and future embedded in this unfolding ecological crisis.
Join with others and fight the temptation to dissociate and wallow in isolation. Together let us find our voice, our power and our common nature.
All all welcome.
Host contact: Christopher Collins, cmcollins8 at gmail.com, 310-600-7562
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The Science and Art of Visual Communication
Monday, November 25
7:15 PM – 8:30 PM EST
MIT, Building 3-370, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-science-and-art-of-visual-communication-tickets-83184153041
A picture is worth a thousand words - but only if made the right way to speak to the right audience
The workshop will discuss the overarching principles that are common in all forms of visual communication and - through a variety of examples and activities - will teach the participants to apply these principles to design effective figures and adapt them for various forms of science communication, including slides, posters, and manuscripts.
This professional development event is co-hosted by the MechE Communication Lab & PI TAU SIGMA - the International Honor Society for Mechanical Engineers.
Dinner will be served.
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Tuesday, November 26
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MIT Energy for Development [E4Dev] Talk
Tuesday, November 26
12:00 to 1:00 pm
Location to be announced. Contact e4dev at mit "dot" edu
Catered Lunch Provided
Jenny Aker, Professor of Development Economics
Her current work seeks to understand the impact of information technology on development outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in the areas of agriculture, agricultural markets, adult education and financial inclusion. She is working with NGOs to understand the barriers to (and impacts of) the adoption of agricultural and environmental technologies, as well as different mechanisms for providing social protection programs.
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Enforcing and Protecting Rights in a Federal Context. The case of Argentina's Domestic Violence Laws
WHEN Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2019, 4 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, CGIS South, S216, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies in collaboration with the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard Kennedy School
SPEAKER(S) Catalina Smulovitz, Vicerrectora, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella
Moderator: Kathryn Sikkink, Ryan Family Professor, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
COST Free and Open to the Public
CONTACT INFO drclas at fas.harvard.edu
DETAILS How rights are protected and implemented in a federal context? The purpose of this presentation is to analyze the impact that federalism has on the way laws are defined, legal representation is supplied and resources for implementation are allocated at the local level. Analysis focus on the implementation of domestic violence laws in the Argentinian provinces and on the factors explaining heterogeneity in right protection among these subnational districts.
LINK https://drclas.harvard.edu/event/enforcing-and-protecting-rights-federal-context-case-argentina´s-domestic-violence-laws
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Boston Green Drinks - November 2019 Happy Hour
Tuesday, November 26
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Warehouse Bar & Grille, 40 Broad Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/81731253379
Thanksgiving. That perennial affair when you gather around an overloaded feast with your beloved family, and beat your head against the bricks as you try to talk climate change and sustainability with your Stubborn Uncle Ray. It's a joyous time. Yet, it is an awesome opportunity to speak to those not in the sustainability choir. Because, Stubborn Uncle Ray expects you to be direct. You expect him to be. Because maybe, just maybe, there's a chance you could break through, and get somewhere useful.
In that spirit: This month's Boston Green Drinks falls on the Tuesday leading up to Thanksgiving. We propose a challenge. We will, as always, gather for some great conversation with sustainability professionals and hobbyists. But we can learn to do better, be more effective, and be better prepared for a productive conversation with your diversely opinioned family.
Challenge: Bring a friend or colleague to Green Drinks, who does not necessarily see eye-to-eye with you on matters of sustainability. The differences may be nuanced, or they may be fundamental. We challenge them to engage in the conversation, and we must challenge ourselves to faithfully and respectfully return the favor. Let's engage.
Basic ground rules for all of us will be:
1. Be respectful. We know these conversations can be emotionally charged. But anyone willing to faithfully engage in dialgoue, deserves respect. Deserves dignity. Dignity will be maintained.
2. That's it.
If no one of a different mind shows, we'll still have a good time and build up reserves of commaraderie as we venture to those loaded familial feasts.
Want some resources for how to approach some of these challenging conversations, productively?
Here are but a couple of starting points.
https://climateinterpreter.org/content/scientists-take-lessons-learned-communications-training
https://climateinterpreter.org/training
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The Last Sacred Place of Poetry: Film Screening & Discussion (Central Square)
Tuesday, November 26
6:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Central Square Branch, 45 Pearl Street, Cambridge
Join us for a screening of the documentary "The Last Sacred Place of Poetry" about the renowned independent Grolier Poetry Book Shop in Harvard Square.The film explores the unique place in literary and Cambridge history that the Grolier Poetry Book Shop occupies from its one-room location in Harvard Square. Following the screening, director and producer Weiying Olivia Huang will discuss the making of the film with Patrick Sylvain who is a poet, writer, translator, and academic as they discuss the film and “the Grolier.”
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Thursday, November 28
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Happy Thanksgiving - gratitude is healing and I thank you all for reading and using my work.
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Friday, November 29
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FINAL Friday After Thanksgiving (F.A.T.) Chain Reaction
Friday, November 29
1:00pm to 4:00pm
MIT, Rockwell Gymnasium 120 Vassar Street, Cambridge
For more than 20 years, the MIT Museum has hosted the Friday After Thanksgiving (F.A.T) Chain Reaction, a wild and whimsical feat of community engineering. This F.A.T will be the last F.A.T, so come to the grand finale and help make this the biggest, fattest F.A.T ever!
During the weeks before the event, students, families, and adults form teams and build contraptions that serve as links in the final chain. On November 29, the links will be connected to trigger a spectacular chain reaction. Once again, artist/engineer Arthur Ganson will be our host.
Learn more on the MIT Museum website at https://mitmuseum.mit.edu/fat
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Sunday, December 1
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Solidarity Event: Sitting for Survival
Sunday, December 1
noon
Cambridge City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at https://xrmass.org/action/solidarity-event-sitting-surival-Dec-1/
Join our friends from Awakening for Earth Sunday, December 1, from 12-1pm in front of Cambridge City Hall to hold meditative space for our planetary emergency. From Awakening for Earth:
We'll sit or stand in silence, bearing witness to the destruction the earth we love and the hope for a better future.
Come for 5 or 50 minutes...however long you can.
Show up for our children, families, ancestors, and for all living things.
We welcome you to bring signs that express your wish for our planet.
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Monday, December 2
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New England Energy Summit
Monday, December 2
10:00 AM – 3:00 PM EST
Seaport Hotel, 1 Seaport Lane, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/new-england-energy-summit-tickets-67498952183
Cost: $55
New England Power Generators Association (NEPGA) in collaboration with The Dupont Group will host the New England Energy Summit, a half-day event that will bring together industry leaders, end users and policymakers to address emerging issues and engage in impactful discussion. The Summit will be held at the Seaport Hotel Boston on Monday, December 2ndfrom 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Attendees will include industry professionals, trade association representatives and public officials from legislatures and regulatory agencies from across New England. The event will be open to the media as we set the stage for larger public policy conversations that will emerge in the 2020 legislative session.
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The Economic Impacts of Carbon Taxes
Monday, December 2
11:45AM TO 1:00PM
Harvard, Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building,79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Gilbert Metcalf, Tufts University and James Stock, Harvard University.
Lunch is provided.
Contact Name: Amanda Sardoni
amanda_sardonis at hks.harvard.edu
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Program on Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate [PAOC] Colloquium
Monday, December 2
12:00pm to 1:00pm
MIT, Building 54-915, 21 Ames Streete, Cambridge
Gabe Vecchi
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The Future of Home Energy Storage: A Conversation with sonnen, Inc
Monday, December 2, 2019
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM ET
Webinar
RSVP at https://yale.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_T9GFzbdWQru0LvQUNvwIgg
Ani Backa, Director of Regulatory Strategy and Utility Initiatives at sonnen, Inc, will discuss developments in home energy storage, including how sonnen collaborates with utilities to execute their strategy.
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Listening Like a Computer: Computational Psychiatry and the Re-coding of Psychiatric Screening
Monday, December 2
12:15PM TO 2:00PM
Harvard, CGIS S050, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
Beth Michelle Semel, HASTS, MIT.
Sandwich lunches are provided. Please RSVP to via the online form by Wednesday at 5PM the week before.
STS Circle at Harvard
http://sts.hks.harvard.edu/events/sts_circle/
sts at hks.harvard.edu
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Drivers of Health Cambridge Meeting
WHEN Monday, Dec. 2, 2019, 12:30 – 4 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Tsai Auditorium, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Conferences, Ethics, Health Sciences, Humanities, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Global Health Institute
SPEAKER(S) Julie Morita, RWJF Executive Vice President
Austin Frakt, Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Alva Ferdinand
Linda Goler Blount
Kathy Ko Chin
Harold Pollack
Bechara Choucair
Gary Sing
Betsey Tilson
Shola Olatoye
COST Free
CONTACT INFO driversofhealth at gmail.com
DETAILS Our third meeting will be held in Cambridge on Dec. 2, 2019. We’ll hear from two panels of experts, the first of which will focus on the health-related needs of different populations and the barriers to addressing them, and the second of which will focus on the role of the health system in serving the needs of various populations.
LINK https://driversofhealth.org/cambridge/
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Automating the Digitization of Historical Data on a Large Scale
Monday, December 2
4:00pm to 5:00pm
MIT, Building E18-304, 50 Ames Street, Cambridge
IDSS Distinguished Speaker Seminar with Melissa Dell, Harvard University
Over the past two centuries, we have transitioned from an overwhelmingly agricultural world to one with vastly different patterns of economic organization. This transition has been remarkably uneven across space and time, and has important implications for some of the most central challenges facing societies today. Deepening our understanding of the determinants of economic transformation requires data on the long-run trajectories of individuals and firms. However, these data overwhelmingly remain trapped in hard copy, with cost estimates for manual digitization totaling millions of dollars for even relatively modestly sized datasets. Automation has the potential to massively scale up the extraction of historical quantitative data from hard copy documents, significantly expanding and democratizing access. However, the synthesis of methodology required to digitize and catalog most historical data is not available off-the-shelf through commercial OCR software, which performs poorly at recognizing irregular document layouts. Off-the-shelf tools for assembling raw unstructured output into structured databases likewise do not exist.
We develop methods for automating the digitization and classification of historical data on a large scale, illustrating their application to a rich corpus of historical Japanese documents about firms and individuals. An array of methods from computer vision, natural language processing, and machine learning are used to detect complex document layouts and assemble a rich structured dataset that tracks the evolution of network relationships between Japanese managers, government officials, and firms across the 20th century.
About the Speaker: Melissa Dell is a professor in the Economics Department and a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Her research focuses on long-run economic development, primarily in Latin America and Asia. She has examined the impacts of weather on economic growth and is currently conducting research about the long-run effects of agrarian reform and agricultural technology investments in Mexico and East Asia. She received a PhD in Economics from MIT, a master's degree in Economics from Oxford, and a BA from Harvard College.
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Book talk: 'The Lived Nile: Environment, Disease, and Material Colonial Economy in Egypt’
WHEN Monday, Dec. 2, 2019, 4:30 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, CMES, Rm 102, 38 Kirkland Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR CMES Modern Middle East Speaker Series
SPEAKER(S) Jennifer L. Derr, Associate Professor, Department of History, University of California, Santa Cruz
COST Free and Open to the Public
CONTACT INFO elizabethflanagan at fas.harvard.edu
DETAILS Jennifer L. Derr is an associate professor of History at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Her research interests include Colonial and Post-colonial Middle Eastern history, environmental history, history of science, history of medicine, and critical geography. She received her Ph.D. in History from Stanford University, her M.A. in Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University, and her B.S. in Biological Sciences at Stanford University. Her publications include "The Lived Nile: Environment, disease, and material colonial economy in Egypt" (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2019); “Labor-time: Ecological bodies and agricultural labor in 19th and early 20th-century Egypt” International Journal of Middle East Studies, 50 no. 2 (May 2018): 195-212; “The Dirty Subject of the First World War” International Journal of Middle East Studies, vol. 46 no. 4 (November 2014): 781-783; and “A Draft of the Colony: Historical Imagination and the Production of Agricultural Geography in British-Occupied Egypt”, In Environmental Imaginaries of the Middle East and North Africa, Edited by Edmund Burke III and Diana K. Davis, Athens: Ohio University Press, 2011.
CMES events are open to the public (no registration required), and off the record. Please note that events may be filmed and photographed.
LINK https://cmes.fas.harvard.edu/event/book-talk-lived-nile-environment-disease-and-material-colonial-economy-egypt
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Conservation Law Foundation's Holiday Celebration
Monday, December 2
4:30 PM – 7:30 PM EST
Citizens Bank Opera House (Boston Opera House), 539 Washington Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/conservation-law-foundations-holiday-celebration-tickets-79722465039
Celebrate with CLF this holiday season!
Join CLF on December 2nd for an evening of holiday cheer!
Conservation Law Foundation invites you to join us for our annual Holiday Celebration at the Boston Opera House on Monday, December 2nd from 4:30-7:30pm. We’d like to take the opportunity to celebrate with our friends and colleagues another momentous year in our collective work to solve some of the most pressing environmental challenges facing the people and natural resources of Massachusetts and the region. We welcome you and a guest for refreshments and holiday cheer to celebrate our shared efforts and successes!
Please register by Tuesday, November 27th.
Dress is business casual.
Arrive anytime between 4:30pm-7:30pm. We hope you can join us!
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Pizza and Politics with Ruth Buffalo, North Dakota State Representative
WHEN Monday, Dec. 2, 2019, 5 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Littauer Building Room L-166, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Institute of Politics
SPEAKER(S) Ruth Buffalo, North Dakota State Representative
COST N/A
DETAILS The final Pizza and Politics of the semester will feature Ruth Buffalo, North Dakota State Representative. Representative Buffalo made history in the 2018 Midterm Elections as the first Native American Democratic woman to be elected to North Dakota’s legislature, defeating a four-term Republican incumbent.
LINK https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/harvard-events/events-calendar/#/?i=8
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AUTHORS at MIT | Kathryn D. Sullivan Presents Handprints on Hubble
Monday, December 2
6:00pm to 7:00pm
MIT Press Bookstore, Building N50, 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
The 1st American woman to walk in space tells her experience as part of the team that launched, rescued, and repaired the Hubble Telescope.
Join the MIT Press Bookstore in welcoming former NASA astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan, author of the new book, Handprints on Hubble: An Astronaut's Story of Invention.
The Hubble Space Telescope has revolutionized our understanding of the universe. It has, among many other achievements, revealed thousands of galaxies in what seemed to be empty patches of sky; transformed our knowledge of black holes; found dwarf planets with moons orbiting other stars; and measured precisely how fast the universe is expanding. In Handprints on Hubble, retired astronaut Kathryn Sullivan describes her work on the NASA team that made all of this possible. Sullivan, the first American woman to walk in space, recounts how she and other astronauts, engineers, and scientists launched, rescued, repaired, and maintained Hubble, the most productive observatory ever built.
Along the way, Sullivan chronicles her early life as a “Sputnik Baby,” her path to NASA through oceanography, and her initiation into the space program as one of “thirty-five new guys.” (She was also one of the first six women to join NASA's storied astronaut corps.) She describes in vivid detail what liftoff feels like inside a spacecraft (it's like “being in an earthquake and a fighter jet at the same time”), shows us the view from a spacewalk, and recounts the temporary grounding of the shuttle program after the Challenger disaster.Sullivan explains that “maintainability” was designed into Hubble, and she describes the work of inventing the tools and processes that made on-orbit maintenance possible. Because in-flight repair and upgrade was part of the plan, NASA was able to fix a serious defect in Hubble's mirrors—leaving literal and metaphorical “handprints on Hubble.”
Kathryn D. Sullivan is a NASA astronaut (retired), former Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and an inductee in the Astronaut Hall of Fame.
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An Allston Forum
Monday, December 2
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM EST
Harvard Ed Portal, 224 Western Avenue, Allston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/an-allston-forum-tickets-80670488603
A moderated panel discussion on Harvard in Allston.
Please join the Harvard Ed Portal for an Allston Forum, an engaging panel discussion on Harvard in Allston.
The Forum will feature:
Frank J. Doyle, John A. Paulson Dean of the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Tom Glynn, Chief Executive Officer of the Harvard Allston Land Company
Katie Lapp, Executive Vice President, Harvard University
And will be moderated by:
Mark Ciommo, Allston-Brighton City Councilor
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naeem mohaiemen | a missing can of film
Monday, December 2
6pm - 8pm
MIT, Building e15-070, Wiesner Building, Bartos, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
In December of our war year, a Communist filmmaker disappeared. Later, a rumor circulated: He was making a different war film, embarrassing to our own side. He had left behind a 16 mm film, hidden inside a can of cooking flour. It may not have been the enemy army that killed him.
Mohaiemen’s work over the last decade has included a search for mirages such as this missing film canister. At the inflection point of digital dystopia, we still attach hope onto the analog. The revealed futility of these quests leads to new stories to take away the bitter.
BIO Naeem Mohaiemen combines essays, films, drawings, and installations to research left insurgencies and incomplete decolonizations– framed by Third World Internationalism and World Socialism. Despite underscoring a left tendency toward misrecognition, a hope for a future international left, against current silos of race and religion, is a basis for the work. He is author of Prisoners of Shothik Itihash (Kunsthalle Basel, 2014), editor of Chittagong Hill Tracts in the Blind Spot of Bangladesh Nationalism(Drishtipat, 2010), co-editor (w/ Lorenzo Fusi) of System Error: War is a Force that Gives us Meaning (Sylvana, 2007) and co-editor (w/ Eszter Szakacs) of Solidarity Must be Defended (Tranzit/ Van Abbe/ Salt/ Tricontinental, forthcoming). Naeem was a Guggenheim Fellow, and was shortlisted for the 2008 Villem Flusser Award (for the essay “Fear of a Muslim Planet: Islamic roots of Hip-Hop,” Sound Unbound, MIT Press) and the 2018 Turner Prize. His work recently exhibited at SALT Beyoglu (Istanbul), Mahmoud Darwish Museum (Ramallah), Tate Britain (London), Vasas Federation of Metalworkers’ Union (Budapest), MoMA PS1 (New York), Abdur Razzaq Foundation (Dhaka), and documenta 14 (Athens/Kassel). He received his PhD in Anthropology at Columbia University.
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Searching for Life in Deep Space
Monday, December 2
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM EST
CIC Venture Cafe, 1Broadway, Venture Cafe 5th floor, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/searching-for-life-in-deep-space-tickets-80478819315
Cost: $0 - $15
On December 2, 02019, Professor Avi Loeb takes Long Now Boston to the frontiers of cosmic discovery and exobiology!
Professor Avi Loeb is the Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of Science and Chair of Astronomy at Harvard, Director of the Institute for Theory and Computation, Founding Director of the Black Hole Initiative, Chair of both the Breakthrough Starshot Advisory Committee and the Board on Physics and Astronomy of the National Academies.
Join Avi and other Long Now thinkers at the Long Now Boston Conversation Series event at the Cambridge Innovation Center.
Doors open @ 6pm -- Come early and meet other Long Now thinkers. Presentation starts @ 7pm.
In the past few years, scientists have made huge progress probing ever more deeply into space. They have confirmed the existence of a vast multitude of earth-like planets. They have found evidence of complex chemistry in deep space and validated the claim that all life on Earth is made of stardust. Yet there is still no evidence of life originating anywhere other than on Earth.
This may change soon. Upcoming searches will aim to detect markers of life in the atmospheres of planets outside the solar system. We also have unprecedented technologies to detect signs of intelligent civilizations through industrial pollution of planetary atmospheres, space archaeology of debris from dead civilizations or artifacts such as photovoltaic cells that are used to re-distribute light and heat on the surface of a planet or giant megastructures.
At the same time, we continue to launch interplanetary and even interstellar explorations of our own. Others may notice and seek to contact us --- or we may find messages that confirm we are not alone.
Among the questions:
What are some of the advanced scientific tools and techniques we are developing in the search for extraterrestrial life? How might these benefit other scientific disciplines?
What are some of the explanations scientists have proposed to account for the discrepancy between the apparent readiness for life and the lack of evidence for life?
What are the implications of finding extraterrestrial life? Of not finding it?
Join the conversation and help us see into our future!
$15 in advance // $20 at the door. Students w/ID admitted free.
Audience participation is encouraged.
If Eventbrite tickets sell out, seating for walk-ups will unlikely be available due to room size.
About the speaker:
Abraham (Avi) Loeb is the Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard University. He has published 4 books and over 700 papers on a wide range of topics, including black holes, the first stars, the search for extraterrestrial life and the future of the universe. He serves as chair of Harvard's Department of Astronomy, founding director of Harvard's Black Hole Initiative and director of the Institute for Theory and Computation within the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He is a Faculty Member of Harvard’s Origins of Life Initiative. He also chairs the advisory committee for the Breakthrough Starshot Advisory Committee, serves as the science theory director for all initiatives of the Breakthrough Prize Foundation, as well as chair of the Board on Physics and Astronomy of the National Academies. He is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the American Physical Society, and the International Academy of Astronautics. We’re proud and excited to welcome Avi to the Long Now Boston community.
Cambridge Innovation Center is an in-kind sponsor of this Long Now Boston conversation. We are very grateful for their support.
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Tuesday, December 3
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#SpreadingFacts: Communicating Science for a Better World
Tuesday, December 3
8:00am to 6:30pm
MIT, Samberg Conference Center, 6th Floor, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/spreadingfacts-communicating-science-for-a-better-world-registration-71677528417
Cost: $22.50 - $100
The MIT Press, Technology Review, and Knowledge Futures Group present a conference on the art and practice of science communication.
There is widespread concern today that the gap between scientific and public understanding on issues such as climate change, GMOs, and vaccine safety may be growing, and ample recent evidence that lies, unfortunately, spread faster than truths.
At #SpreadingFacts, you’ll join experts in the practice and art of science communication and journalism for a day focused on understanding and maximizing the public trust in — and impact of — evidence-based research. Advances in science and technology are, after all, our strongest ammunition in facing urgent global challenges, and effective public communication a critical ingredient in ensuring and amplifying research impact.
Co-hosts: Amy Brand, Director, The MIT Press and Co-founder, The Knowledge Futures Group; Elizabeth Bramson-Boudreau, Chief Executive Officer and Publisher, MIT Technology Review; Gideon Lichfield, Editor in Chief, MIT Technology Review
Keynote: Marcia McNutt, President, National Academy of Sciences
Speakers include:
Paula S. Apsell, Senior Executive Producer Emerita NOVA
Deborah Blum, Director, Knight Science Journalism Program, MIT
Chris Bourg, Director, MIT Libraries
Dianna Cowern, Creator, Physics Girl
Beth Daley, Editor and General Manager, The Conversation US
Mariette DiChristina, Dean, Boston University College of Communication
Cathy Drennan, Professor of Chemistry and Biology, MIT
Arielle Duhaime-Ross, Host, Reset (A podcast from Recode by Vox)
Linda Henry, Managing Director, Boston Globe Media Partners
Carolyn Johnson, Science Reporter, The Washington Post
Clifford Johnson, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southern California
David Kaiser, Germeshausen Professor of the History of Science, and Professor of Physics, MIT
Imran Khan, Head of Public Engagement, Wellcome
Thomas Levenson, Professor of Science Writing, MIT
Sunshine Menezes, Executive Director, Metcalf Institute and Clinical Associate Professor of Environmental Communication, Metcalf Institute, University of Rhode Island
Seth Mnookin, Director, Graduate Program in Science Writing, MIT
Christine O’Connell, Executive Director, Riley's Way Foundation
Ainissa Ramirez, Scientist and Author of The Alchemy of Us
John Randell, John E. Bryson Director of Science, Engineering, and Technology Programs, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Daniel M. Russell, Senior Research Scientist, Search Quality and User Happiness, Google
David Rotman, Editor at Large, MIT Technology Review
Grant Sanderson, Creator, 3Blue1Brown
Sanjay Sarma, Vice President for Open Learning, MIT
Arvind Satyanarayan, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, MIT
Charles Seife, Professor, New York University
Gabe Stein, Product Lead, PubPub
Doron Weber, Vice President and Program Director, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Rick Weiss, Director, SciLine
Ethan Zuckerman, Director, Center for Civic Media, MIT
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Plaza, Parklets, & Pop-ups in the Public Realm
Tuesday, December 3
9:00 am - 12:00 pm
The Fort Point Room, 290 Congress Street #200, Boston
Join us to learn about the new tactical public realm projects that have moved from design to implementation this year. In September 2018, the City of Boston released the “Tactical Public Realm Guidelines,” which have been instrumental for creating new spaces across the city. Learn from a panel of experts who have worked on public realm projects, including a pedestrian plaza on Birch Street in Roslindale, parklet in Jamaica Plain, and one-day pop-up plazas across the city. There will be breakout groups to discuss project specifics, including permitting, project costs, funding, timelines, community input, and materials.
8:30 AM REGISTRATION
9:00 AM PANEL PRESENTATIONS
Ginger Brown, JP Centre/South Main Street
Mark Chase, Neighborways Design
Alia Hamada Forest, Roslindale Village Main Streets
Jessica Robertson, Utile (Moderator)
Jacob Wessel, City of Boston
Stephanie Weyer, Toole Design
10:00 AM BREAK OUT SESSIONS
11:00 AM KEYNOTE SPEAKER Mike Lydon, Street Plans
For more information, please contact: Michelle Moon, Project Manager, mmoon at abettercity.org
The event is free of charge— a light breakfast will be provided.
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Recreational Marijuana and CBD: Public Attitudes, Science, and the Law
WHEN Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2019, 12 – 1 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Leadership Studio, T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Forum at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
SPEAKER(S) Robert Blendon, Professor of Health Policy and Political Analysis, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Kennedy School
Andrew Freedman, Co-Founder and Partner, Freedman & Koski; Former Director of Marijuana Coordination for the State of Colorado
Staci Gruber, Director, Cognitive and Clinical Neuroimaging Core; Director, Marijuana Investigations for Neuroscientific Discovery (MIND) Program at McLean Hospital; Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Moderator: Paul Demko, POLITICO
TICKET WEB LINK RSVP: https://theforum.sph.harvard.edu/events/recreational-marijuana-and-cbd/
CONTACT INFO theforum at hsph.harvard.edu
DETAILS In the last decade, Americans’ relationship with cannabis has transformed: today, dozens of states have legalized marijuana for medical or recreational use and American farmers can grow hemp on an industrial scale. Meanwhile, shoppers can find cannabidiol (CBD), which is derived from cannabis but does not produce a “high” like marijuana, in everything from oils to vapes, chocolate bars, cosmetics—even dog treats. Some say CBD can relieve stress, pain, anxiety, and more, with no side effects. But the evidence for many of these claims is limited, and state and federal laws around the sale of CBD are still evolving. Drawing on a newly-released poll by POLITICO and the Harvard Chan School, this Forum will examine public attitudes toward CBD products and recreational marijuana. Panelists will discuss the current state of policy and research regarding recreational marijuana in particular, and consider various solutions that have emerged to understand and regulate these rapidly growing industries.
LINK https://theforum.sph.harvard.edu/events/recreational-marijuana-and-cbd/
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Que pasó: A review of the crises in Chile, Ecuador, and Peru
WHEN Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2019, 12 – 1:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, CGIS South, S250, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies
SPEAKER(S) Alisha Holand, Associate Professor of Government
Julie Weaver, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Government
Ariel Azar, Ph.D. Candidate, Sociology, University of Chicago
COST Free and Open to the Public
CONTACT INFO drclas at fas.harvard.edu
DETAILS In this panel, Alisha Holand, Julie Weaver, and Ariel Azar discuss the ongoing political crises in Ecuador, Peru, and Chile, respectively. They help the audience to understand what happened in the three countries, discuss what the three crises have in common and on what they differ, and offer insights into the near future.
LINK https://drclas.harvard.edu/event/que-pasó-review-crises-chile-ecuador-and-peru
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Democracy, today: Fake news, social networks, and algorithms
WHEN Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2019, 12:30 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Wexner 434, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy
SPEAKER(S) David Lazer, Professor in Political Science and Computer and Information Science, Northeastern
DETAILS The Internet is increasingly the home of democracy. It is where people turn for civic information, engage in political discourse public and private, and turn to mobilize collectively. The virtual structures of the Internet are, in some ways, quite distinct from what preceded; and in other ways, they reproduce and amplify those pre-existing patterns. The Internet can be the ultimate disseminator of misinformation; as well as the ultimate educator. People have at their fingertips more diverse sources of information than ever before; yet many of the institutions for the production of political and civic information are being eviscerated. This talk will discuss the informational and social logics of the Internet — what is our democracy, today?– how they support and undermine democracy, and concludes with a discussion of what structures and practices we need from the Internet to support democracy, today.
LINK https://shorensteincenter.org/event/democracy-today-fake-news-social-networks-algorithms/
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Amazon Rainforest IdeaJam
Tuesday, December 3
1:00 PM – 3:00 PM EST
Harvard Innovation Lab, 125 Western Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/amazon-rainforest-ideajam-tickets-82263515389
“I want to help preserve the Amazon Rainforest , but how?” Join the IdeaJam, where we’ll build solutions from the ground up.
Care about the Amazon Rainforest but not sure where to start? Dive into action at the i-lab IdeaJam. We’ll use Design Thinking to brainstorm tangible solutions for preserving the Amazon.
Join us: 1-3 pm on Dec 3, inside the Confronting Climate Change exhibit at the Harvard i-lab (we’ve got food!) Sponsored by the Harvard Brazil Office and the i-lab.
After the event take a LivingLab tour of the i-lab and the various green experiments Harvard is doing to make the campus more sustainable. 3-4pm on Dec 3.
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Julia Greer: Materials by Design: 3D Nano-Architected Meta-Materials
Tuesday, December 3
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EST
MIT, Building 4-349, Pappalardo Room, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/julia-greer-materials-by-design-3d-nano-architected-meta-materials-registration-82279912433
This talk will discuss the design & fabrication of 3D nano-architected materials and their beneficial properties at the nanoscale.
Julia Greer, the Ruben and Donna Mettler Professor of Materials Science, Mechanics, and Medical Engineering, Caltech and the Director of the Kavli Nanoscience Institute at Caltech will present on the creation of extremely strong and simultaneously ultra lightweight materials that can be achieved by incorporating architecture into material design.
Greer's research at Caltech focuses on fabrication and synthesis of 3D nano-architected meta-materials using 3D lithography, nanofabrication, and additive manufacturing (AM) techniques. She and her team also investigate the materials' mechanical, biochemical, electrochemical, electromechanical, and thermal properties as a function of architecture, constituent materials, and microstructural detail.
In her talk, Greer will also describe examples where unusual mechanical properties of these nano-architected materials enable creating stimulus-responsive reconfigurable materials through electrochemistry.
This event is free and open to the public. Advance registration required.
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LivingLab Tour
Tuesday, December 3
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM EST
Harvard innovation lab, 125 Western Avenue, Lobby Area, Allston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/livinglab-tour-tickets-82516730763
Tour the i-lab building, and see what makes it a Living Lab.
Harvard is using its own operations to pilot more sustainable practices - discover them throughout Batten Hall.
Sponsored by the HBS Business and the Environment Initiative and the i-lab.
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Advocacy Hour with Conservation Law Foundation
Tuesday, December 3
5:00 PM – 7:00 PM EST
Conservation Law Foundation, 62 Summer Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/advocacy-hour-with-conservation-law-foundation-tickets-79337459477
Celebrate #GivingTuesday offline with fellow CLF members and guests!
Join CLF for our 1st ever Advocacy Hour! Enjoy after work drinks while learning more about what YOU can do to protect the environment!
On December 3rd, come learn how Conservation Law Foundation is revolutionizing recycling, transforming transportation, saving the sea, and rethinking resiliency. Our Advocates will be available to answer your questions and talk about their current work across New England.
We look forward to having you in our fossil-free building for drinks and hors d'oeuvres! Check back here soon to learn more about what vendors will be providing beer and wine for the event.
Don't forget, December 3rd is also #GivingTuesday! Join us in celebrating our online fundraising campaign reaching its goal!
Please enter Conservation Law Foundation at our Otis Street entrance. The event is located on the 2nd floor. This event is handicap accessible and there is an elevator.
Contact Katie Ardrey 617-850-1729 or kardrey at clf.org
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Climate in Words and Numbers: How Early Americans Recorded Weather in Almanacs
Tuesday, December 3
5:15PM - 7:30PM
Massachusetts Historical Society, 1154 Boylston Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.masshist.org/calendar/event?event=3033&fbclid=IwAR0PCvYsvvCDiowJRQigM79E5_g8Fyu224mA-qcCkQnnticywAqyeRcFZWo
Joyce Chaplin, Harvard University
With support from the Guggenheim Foundation, Joyce Chaplin is compiling a database of manuscript notes about weather in early American almanacs, 1647-1820. Her talk focuses on how people recorded weather in numbers (including degrees Fahrenheit) and in words, ranging from “dull” to “elegant!” These notations are significant as records of a period of climate change, the Little Ice Age, also as records of how people made sense of and coped with that climatic disruption.
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FORUM: American Reconciliation and Its Alternatives
WHEN Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2019, 6 – 7:15 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, JFK Jr. Forum, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Institute of Politics
SPEAKER(S) Danielle Allen, Director, Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, Harvard University; James Bryant Conant University Professor
Adam Serwer, Staff Writer, The Atlantic
Moderator: Jeffrey Goldberg, Editor in Chief, The Atlantic
COST Free
TICKET WEB LINK https://www.facebook.com/events/774128883000409/
CONTACT INFO benjamin_hull at hks.harvard.edu
DETAILS With the ties that bind us fraying at alarming speed, join the Director of Harvard’s Edmond J. Safra Center Danielle Allen in a conversation with The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg and staff writer Adam Serwer for a conversation about the division in America civic life and the prospects for rebuilding a more civil, functional, and unified society.
LINK https://iop.harvard.edu/forum/american-reconciliation-and-its-alternatives
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Can Caribbean Environmental History Teach Us Anything About Resilience?
Tuesday, December 3
6:00pm to 7:30pm
Northeastern Renaissance Park 909, 1135 Tremont Street, Boston
Talk by Reinaldo Funes Monzote, Visiting Professor in the MacMilan Center for International and Area Studies, Yale University; Professor of History, University of Havana
Each academic year, the Northeastern University’s Center for International Affairs and World Cultures, the Northeastern Humanities Center, and the Department of Political Science host a lecture series focused on “Contemporary Issues in Security and Resilience” (formerly “Controversial Issues in Security and Resilience”).
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A Conversation with Stacey Abrams
Tuesday, December 3
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
JFK Library, Columbia Point, Dorchester
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-conversation-with-stacey-abrams-tickets-74833576241
Stacey Abrams, New York Times bestselling author, nonprofit CEO, former Georgia House Democratic Leader and 2018 Democratic nominee for Governor of Georgia, discusses her distinguished career and continuing work on voting rights and social issues.
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The Food Podcast Colloquium
Tuesday, December 3
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EST
BU, Center for Integrated Life Sciences and Engineering, 610 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 106 B, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-food-podcast-colloquium-tickets-78648258057
Food Podcasting Symposium sponsored by the Boston University Gastronomy Program. Panelist include
Cynthia Graber - Gastropod
Sara Joyner and Kaitlin Keleher - Proof, from America's Test Kitchen
ohn Rudolph - Feet in 2 Worlds
Moderated by Kathy Gunst, Resident Chef for NPR’s Here and Now and author of the upcoming book Rage Baking—The Transformative Power of Flour, Fury and Women’s Voices.
Refreshments will be served.
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Black & Pink: The Records of Prison Activism and Boston's LGBTQ
Tuesday, December 3
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EST
The History Project, 29 Stanhope Street, 4th Floor, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/black-pink-the-records-of-prison-activism-and-bostons-lgbtq-community-tickets-72098030149
Join The History Project and Black and Pink as we explore the history of the Boston LGBTQ community's role in prison activism and prisoner pen-pal programs. We'll be discussing highlights from our collection, including Mike Riegle's Prison Project through Gay Community News, and some of the materials recently donated by Boston's Black and Pink chapter.
Doors and reception at 6:00pm. Reading begins at 6:30.
Free and open to the public, but tickets are required.
Talks in the Out of the Archives Series are intimate events featuring focused topics, lively discussions, and selected photos and documents from the History Project Archives. All events in this series are held at The History Project, 29 Stanhope Street in Boston, unless otherwise noted. Events are free and open to the public, but RSVPs are required.
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AI for Social Impact: Learning and Planning in the Data-to-Deployment Pipeline
Tuesday, December 3
7:30pm
MIT, Sidney Pacific Graduate Residence, MP Room 70 Pacific Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://tinyurl.com/Distinguish-Lecture
Refreshments and dinner are provided!
With the maturing of AI and multiagent systems research, we have a tremendous opportunity to direct these advances towards addressing complex societal problems. We focus on the problems of public safety and security, wildlife conservation, and public health in low-resource communities, and present research advances in multiagent systems to address one key cross-cutting challenge: how to effectively deploy our limited intervention resources in these problem domains. We present case studies from our deployments around the world as well as lessons learned that we hope are of use to researchers who are interested in AI for Social Impact. In pushing this research agenda, we believe AI can indeed play an important role in fighting social injustice and improving society.
Milind Tambe is Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science and Director of Center for Research in Computation and Society at Harvard University; concurrently, he is also Director "AI for Social Good" at Google Research India. Prof. Tambe's research focuses on advancing AI and multiagent systems research for Social Good. He is a recipient of the IJCAI John McCarthy Award, ACM/SIGAI Autonomous Agents Research Award, AAAI Robert S Engelmore Memorial Lecture award and the International Foundation for Agents and Multiagent Systems influential paper award; he is also a fellow of AAAI and ACM. For his research in and pioneering real-world deployment of security games, Prof. Tambe has received the INFORMS Wagner prize, the Rist Prize of the Military Operations Research Society, the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation Homeland security award, as well as Commendations from the US Coast Guard, LA Airport Police, and US Federal Air Marshals Service. Prof. Tambe received his Ph.D. from the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University.
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Upcoming Events
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Wednesday, December 4
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Symposium on Blockchain for Robotics and AI Systems
Wednesday, December 4
9:00 AM – 6:00 PM EST
MIT Media Lab, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/symposium-on-blockchain-for-robotics-and-ai-systems-tickets-65056169755
Cost: $0 – $250 [Discounted tickets: $20 (Normally $250), use discount code BRAIS2019-Meetup]
Discounted tickets: $20 (Normally $250), use discount code BRAIS2019-Meetup
Robotics and AI systems are starting to revolutionize many applications, from transportation to health care, assisted by technological advancements such as cloud computing and novel hardware design.
However, several of the characteristics that make these systems ideal for certain future applications such as autonomy, self-learning, knowledge sharing, can also raise concerns in the evolution of the technology from academic institutions into the public sphere. Blockchain is starting to show great potential to make robotics and AI operations more secure, autonomous, flexible, and even profitable. Therefore, bridging the gap between purely scientific domains and real-world applications.
This symposium seeks to move beyond the classical view of distributed systems to advance our understanding about the possibilities and limitations of combining state-of-the art robotics and AI systems with blockchain technology. This is a one day event (9:00 AM - 6:00 PM) and will take place at the MIT Media Lab (Dec. 4th 2019).
More details about the symposium can be found here: http://www.blockchainrobotics.org/
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The Next Step? NREL and Malta discuss Thermal Energy Storage Solutions
Wednesday, December 4
11:45 AM - 12:45 PM ET
Webinar
RSVP at https://yale.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_i-UPTGjfTd-XVl3-Br2juA
Next, we welcome Adrienne Little from Malta Inc. and Joshua McTigue from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to discuss innovative thermal energy storage solutions. Join us as we discuss thermal energy storage and its potential to balance energy demand as the global energy mix shifts towards renewable energy!
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A World Safe for Autocracy? China’s Rise and the Future of Global Politics
Wednesday, December 4
12:00pm to 1:30pm
MIT, Building E40-496 (Pye Room), 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge
Jessica Chen Weiss (Cornell University)
With the future of the U.S.-led international order in question, how will China use its growing power and influence to reshape world politics? Weiss argues that domestic political imperatives have structured Chinese interests and foreign policy behavior, reflecting a defensive effort to ensure the Chinese Communist Party’s continued rule. Drawing on her recent article in Foreign Affairs and a book-length project on China’s rise, autocracy, and the shape of international order, Weiss develops a theoretical framework to explain China’s international contributions and the domestic drivers of those efforts, with illustrations from a range of issue areas, including cyber sovereignty and digital authoritarianism, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and climate change.
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Sorting Out the Mixed Economy: The Rise and Fall of Welfare Developmental States in the Americas
WHEN Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019, 12 – 1:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, CGIS South, S216, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies in collaboration with the Charles Warren Center for American History
SPEAKER(S) Amy C. Offner, Assistant Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania
COST Free and Open to the Public
CONTACT INFO drclas at fas.harvard.edu
DETAILS In the years after 1945, a flood of U.S. advisors swept into Latin America with dreams of building a new economic order and lifting the Third World out of poverty. These businessmen, economists, community workers, and architects went south with the gospel of the New Deal on their lips, but Latin American realities soon revealed unexpected possibilities within the New Deal itself. In Colombia, Latin Americans and U.S. advisors ended up decentralizing the state, privatizing public functions, and launching austere social welfare programs. By the 1960s, they had remade the country’s housing projects, river valleys, and universities. They had also generated new lessons for the United States itself. When the Johnson administration launched the War on Poverty, U.S. social movements, business associations, and government agencies all promised to repatriate the lessons of development, and they did so by multiplying the uses of austerity and for-profit contracting within their own welfare state. A decade later, ascendant right-wing movements seeking to dismantle the midcentury state did not need to reach for entirely new ideas: they redeployed policies already at hand. In this talk, Amy Offner brings readers to Colombia and back, offering a surprising new account of the origins of neoliberalism.
LINK https://drclas.harvard.edu/event/sorting-out-mixed-economy-rise-and-fall-welfare-developmental-states-americas
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Decarbonizing the Electricity Sector
Wednesday, December 4
3:00–6:00 pm
MIT, Building E51, Wong Auditorium, 2 Amherst Street Cambridge
2019-2020 MIT Climate Action Symposia Series
The third of MIT's six Climate Action Symposia, Decarbonizing the Electricity Sector, will be held on Wednesday, December 4, 2019. Topics will include:
developments in solar energy, energy storage, and nuclear energy;
electrification in the building and transportation sectors; and
innovation opportunities for zero-carbon electricity technologies in the coming decades.
The Climate Action Symposia series aims to advance our community’s understanding and expand our capacity to generate solutions for the urgent global challenge of climate change. Over the 2019-2020 academic year, the six symposia examine the current state of climate science and policy, as well as pathways for decarbonization of the global economy. We will also look at how universities can and should contribute solutions, including MIT’s efforts under our Plan for Action on Climate Change.
Schedule, speaker bios, livestream, and more will be available at http://climatesymposia.mit.edu
Can't attend in person? Watch the livestream.
Schedule
Introduction and overview
Variable renewable energy (VRE) developments and challenges
Moderator: Jessika Trancik, MIT
Speakers:
Solar energy:
Vladimir Bulović, MIT
Moungi Bawendi, MIT
Energy storage:
Fikile R. Brushett, MIT
Yet-Ming Chiang, MIT
David Danielson, Breakthrough Energy Ventures
Yang Shao-Horn, MIT
Advances in fission and fusion
Moderator: Paul Joskow, MIT
Speakers:
Harlan Bowers, President, X-energy
Jacopo Buongiorno, MIT
Earl Marmar, MIT
Anne White, MIT
Electric vehicles: Market analysis with VRE at scale
Moderator: Jessika Trancik, MIT
Speakers:
David R. Keith, MIT
Christopher Knittel, MIT
Elsa Olivetti, MIT
Chelsea Sexton, EV industry consultant
Expanding access to electricity in a carbon-constrained world
Moderator: Robert Stoner, MIT
Speakers:
Kate Steel, COO, Nithio
Ignacio Pérez-Arriaga, MIT and Comillas University
Conclusion
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Civilizing the Internet of Things
WHEN Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019, 4 – 5 p.m.
WHERE Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Knafel Center, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Information Technology, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
SPEAKER(S) Francine Berman, 2019–2020 Katherine Hampson Bessell Fellow, Radcliffe Institute; Edward P. Hamilton Distinguished Professor in Computer Science, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
COST Free
CONTACT INFO events at radcliffe.harvard.edu
DETAILS In this lecture, Francine Berman will discuss her current work, which focuses on the social and environmental impact of the Internet of Things (IoT) — a deeply interconnected ecosystem of billions of devices and systems that are transforming commerce, science, and society, but that also has the capacity to disrupt, exploit, bias, bully, and intrude. Berman explores the larger social and environmental ecosystem needed to develop an IoT that maximizes benefits, minimizes risk, and promotes individual protections, the public good, and planetary responsibility.
LINK https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/event/2019-francine-berman-fellow-presentation
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Discriminatory and Liberatory Algorithms: Restructuring Algorithmic “Fairness”
Wednesday, December 4
4:00 PM to 5:00 PM
MIT, Building 32-G575, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Manuel Sabin , CSAIL MIT
Abstract: The nascent field of Algorithmic Fairness recognizes that algorithms have the potential to perpetuate and codify systemic discrimination and attempts the noble goal of defining notions of “Fairness” that will mitigate this. The past year, however, has seen many critiques of the field’s direction and methodologies, illustrating how the field itself is in danger or perpetuating and codifying systems of discrimination.
This talk will review Fairness and Abstraction in Sociotechnical Systems, a work that outlines five sociotechnical “traps” that Algorithmic Fairness seems to routinely fall into. I will then present ongoing work where we introduce Discriminatory & Liberatory Algorithms (DLA): a framework to restructure the terminology, methodology, and role of Algorithmic “Fairness” through a sociotechnical lens. The merit of this will be argued via its lack of susceptibility to these five “traps.”
Contact: Rebecca Yadegar, ryadegar at csail.mit.edu
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A Moral Budget for America
Wednesday, December 4
4:00pm to 6:00pm
MIT, Building 3-133, 33 Massachusetts Avenue (Rear), Cambridge
Join us in conversation with Shailly Gupta Barnes as she discusses a moral budget for America and the crucial need for a shifting of priorities on both the state and federal level. She is the Policy Director at the Kairos Center and for the National Poor Peoples Campaign. She coordinated and edited the Souls of Poor Folk: Auditing America report for the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, working closely with the Institute for Policy Studies. This report looked at the evolution of the key themes of the Campaign over the past 50 years and its findings informed the current Campaign’s Moral Agenda and Demands. Read more about the Souls of Poor Folk and Moral Agenda at the poorpeoplscampaign.org.
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Raising Wages, Raising Pollution: Unintended Environmental Consequences of Anti-Poverty Programs
Wednesday, December 4
4:15PM TO 5:30PM
Harvard, Littauer, Room L-382, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Patrick Behrer, Harvard University
Seminar in Environmental Economics and Policy
https://canvas.harvard.edu/courses/62379
Contact Name: Jason Chapman
Jason_Chapman at hks.harvard.edu
617-496-8054
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Turkey, the Kurds, the United States and the Future of Northeast Syria
WHEN Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019, 4:15 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Belfer Building, Land Hall, 4th Floor, 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Middle East Initiative
SPEAKER(S) Amy Austin Holmes, Fall 2019 Kuwait Foundation Visiting Scholar, Middle East Initiative and Associate Professor of Sociology, American University in Cairo
LINK https://www.belfercenter.org/event/turkey-kurds-united-states-and-future-northeast-syria
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Red Meat Republic: A Hoof-to-Table History of How Beef Changed America
Wednesday, December 4
4:30PM
Harvard, CGIS-S030, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
Joshua Specht, Monash University, will give a talk as part of the History and Economics Seminar series.
https://histecon.fas.harvard.edu/seminars_hec.htm
Contact Name: Emily Gauthier
gauth at fas.harvard.edu
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On Having Self-Knowledge while Lacking Self-Understanding
Wednesday, December 4
5 p.m.
BU School of Theology, 745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 325, Boston
Paul Katsafanas, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Boston University
Lecture presented by the Boston University Institute for Philosophy & Religion.
Contact: 6173533067
Email: ipr at bu.edu
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Launch Clinic with Artificial Intelligence Startups
Wednesday, December 4
5:30pm to 8:30pm
Cambridge Innovation Center , 5th Floor Havana Room, One Broadway, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.mitforumcambridge.org/event/launch-clinic-with-artificial-intelligence-startups/
Cost: $10 - $30
At the AI Themed Launch Clinic, startups present a 15-minute pitch for feedback from our panel of experts + the audience.
Launch Smart Clinics are a great place for startups to get constructive feedback on their pitch from a board-of-directors-level panel of experts and thoughtful audience members. The focus on early-stage ventures encourages a sympathetic and supportive atmosphere. Audience and panel feedback often helps presenters understand their problems and offers useful tips and solutions.
Even if you’re not quite ready to present, we encourage entrepreneurs to attend the clinics to see what our panel of experts (investors and others) are looking for in a pitch, what kind of questions they ask and their suggestions for refining the business plan.
Are you an AI company interested in presenting at this Launch Clinic? Apply here
Why Apply to Present at a Launch Clinic?
Get feedback on what people look for when they hear pitches
Prepare yourself for the critical questions savvy investors, strategic partners and potential employees will ask you
Get tips on how to refine your business plan (it’s the business plan, not the tech, that’s under review)
Moderators
Terri Mock, COO, Cybba Inc
Nadia Shalaby, CEO, ITE Fund
Launch Clinic Schedule
5:30-6:00 pm – Networking + Pizza
6:00-6:15 pm – Introductions & Insurtech Overview
6:15-6:30 pm – Startup 1 Presents
6:30-6:45 pm – Small Breakouts: Audience + Experts
6:45-7:00 pm – Experts Share Consolidated Feedback From Breakouts
7:00-7:15pm – Startup 2 Presents
7:15-7:30 pm – Small Breakouts: Audience + Experts
7:30-7:45 pm – Experts Share Consolidated Feedback From Breakouts
7:45-8:00 pm – Startup 3 Presents
8:00-8:15 pm – Small Breakouts: Audience + Experts
8:15-8:30 pm – Experts Share Consolidated Feedback From Breakouts
8:30 pm – Wrap-up
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The Jonathan Moore Memorial Lecture on Moral Global Leadership with Amb. Samantha Power
Wednesday, December 4
6 – 7PM
Tufts, Cabot Intercultural Center, Asean Auditorium, 170 Packard Avenue, Medford
The Institute is pleased to announce that the inaugural Jonathan Moore Memorial Lecture on Ethics and Global Leadership will be held on Wednesday, December 4, at 6:00 p.m., in the ASEAN Auditorium at The Fletcher School. Ambassador Samantha Power will give the inaugural lecture.
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Boston Food Access Council
Wednesday, December 4
6 - 8pm
Boston City Hall, Room 801, O'Neill Conference Room, 1 City Hall Square, Boston
You might have previously been aware of the BFAC and attended meetings in the past. Since our last public meeting in December 2018 we have been working with a Transition Committee to develop a new structure for the council that will amplify the voices of community members and leaders and ensure a council structure that can effectively and collaboratively tackle food access issues in Boston.
Anyone is welcome to be a part of the BFAC and there will be many opportunities to be involved in shaping the BFAC’s goals and strategies in addressing Boston’s food insecurity issues. At varying levels of involvement and commitment you can bring your voice to the table, as a BFAC Member, Voting Member, Steering Committee member, or by participating in one of the BFAC Working Groups. It’s an exciting time for the BFAC and we are looking forward to focusing the work of the BFAC on food access topics most important to you.
Please note: If you would like to become a Voting Member of the BFAC, you must attend both the September and December meetings. If you would like to become a Steering Committee member, you should also attend the September meeting to learn how to run for the Steering Committee in December. More about the new structure of the BFAC will be discussed on September 25th. Please share this information with anyone in your network who might be interested in contributing to this conversation. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to respond to me, reach out at bostonfoodaccesscouncil at boston.gov or call 617-635-3717.
Look forward to seeing you at the BFAC meeting in September.
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Sustainability in the Philanthropic Sector
Wednesday, December 4
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EST
WeWork, 31 Saint James Avenue, #6th Floor, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sustainability-in-the-philanthropic-sector-tickets-81544029387
Cost: $0 – $30
Philanthropy experts present on “Sustainability” from the RISE Framework for Social Change
Join the Learning by Giving Foundation (LxG) and its Emerging Leaders Council for an in-depth conversation on sustainability in the community; “Is the organization financially healthy and stewarding the resources entrusted to it responsibly?” This event is the third in a four-part series of events for emerging leaders in New England who are interested in philanthropy and social impact, and want to learn how to make their giving impactful.
At this event, philanthropy experts will present on “Sustainability” from the RISE Framework for Social Change, an evaluation tool developed by Rebecca Riccio, Director of the Social Impact Lab at Northeastern University which focuses on the nonprofit hallmarks of Relevance, Impact, Sustainability, and Excellence in Management and Operations.
This event is free but all attendees are strongly encouraged to support LxG and our partner nonprofits with a donation of $30. Drinks and food will be provided.
Speakers: Stephen Pratt, Impact Catalysts
Stephen M. Pratt is the President of Impact Catalysts, a partner to social enterprises and philanthropies. Impact Catalysts helps people who have dedicated their lives to social impact develop the systems, tools, and processes that catalyze impact.
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How to Start a Revolution
Wednesday, December 4
7:00pm
The First Parish in Cambridge, Unitarian Universalist, 1446 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Writers Lauren Duca and Martin Lukacs, author of The Trudeau Formula, discuss collective action and non-violent protest with members of the climate action group, Extinction Rebellion.
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Fruit from the Sands: The Silk Road Origins of the Foods We Eat
WHEN Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019, 7 – 8:15 p.m.
WHERE Arnold Arboretum, Hunnewell Building, 125 Arborway, Jamaica Plain
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Arnold Arboretum
SPEAKER(S) Robert Spengler, Director of the Paleoethnobotany Laboratories, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
COST $5; free for students
TICKET WEB LINK https://my.arboretum.harvard.edu/Info.aspx?DayPlanner=2092&DayPlannerDate=12/4/2019
CONTACT INFO adulted at arnarb.harvard.edu
617-384-5277
DETAILS From almonds and apples to tea and rice, many foods that we consume today have histories that can be traced out of prehistoric Central Asia along the tracks of the Silk Road to kitchens in Europe, America, China, and elsewhere in East Asia. The exchange of goods, ideas, cultural practices, and genes along these ancient routes extends back five thousand years, and organized trade along the Silk Road dates to at least Han Dynasty China in the second century BC. Robert Spengler presents a broad array of archaeological, botanical, and historical evidence, narrating the story of the origins and spread of agriculture across Inner Asia and into Europe and East Asia. Through the preserved remains of plants found in archaeological sites, he identifies the regions where our most familiar crops were domesticated and follows their routes as people carried them around the world, shaping the course of human history.
LINK https://my.arboretum.harvard.edu/Info.aspx?DayPlanner=2092&DayPlannerDate=12/4/2019
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Resilience and Recovery - "Solving Complex Problems" (Subject 12.000) Final Presentation
Wednesday, December 4
7:00pm to 10:00pm
MIT, Building 10-250, Huntington Hall , 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Come see this year’s Terrascope students present their proposals for making recovery from future storms in Puerto Rico faster, more sustainable, and more equitable. Questions welcome from the audience as well as the panel.
Free and open to the public. Reception to follow.
Can’t make it? Watch our live stream on our Twitter or Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/MITTerrascope/
The class "Solving Complex Problems" (Subject 12.000) is part of MIT's Terrascope program.
For more information, contact:
Elise Chambers (617-253-4074) - terrascope at mit.edu
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Thursday, December 5
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Climate Change and Coffee: What Will We Be Drinking in Thirty Years?
Thursday, December 5
12:00-1:00pm
Tufts, Multi-purpose Room, Curtis Hall, 474 Boston Avenue, Medford
Kim Elena Ionescu, Chief Sustainability Officer, Specialty Coffee Association
Are you a coffee drinker? If so, you’re in good company – coffee is the most popular beverage (besides water) in the United States. And while it’s easier than ever for coffee lovers to find a good cup of coffee in unlikely places (think: airports), coffee farming is becoming increasingly difficult: chronically low market prices in coffee-producing countries, the rising cost of farming inputs like fertilizer, and labor scarcity are all taking a toll on growers worldwide and prompting many farmers to leave coffee altogether. Certifications (like fair trade), producing-country institutions, and popular press articles have succeeded in raising some awareness of these threats to coffee’s future, but our focus on immediate economic needs risks may lead us to underestimate the role of climate change as a contributing factor to the obvious instability, as well as a complicating factor to any solutions that fail to consider its current and potential impacts.
In her role as Chief Sustainability Officer of the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA), a membership association for the coffee industry worldwide, Kim Elena Ionescu raises awareness, develops strategy, and leads action to address the social, environmental, and economic challenges facing the coffee industry. Prior to joining the SCA in 2015, Kim spent a decade buying coffee and directing sustainability for Counter Culture Coffee, a roasting company based in Durham, North Carolina, where she resides with her husband and two daughters. Kim graduated from Tufts University in 2003 with a BA in English and Spanish and promptly began working in a coffee shop to support herself while she looked for a “career-path job”, never suspecting that a career in coffee awaited her.
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When David Challenges Goliath: Insubordination from Smaller States, Rising Power Status Dissatisfaction, and Conflict
WHEN Thursday, Dec. 5, 2019, 12:15 – 2 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, One Brattle Square, Room 350, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR International Security Program
SPEAKER(S) Alex Yu-Ting Lin, Research Fellow, International Security Program
CONTACT INFO susan_lynch at harvard.edu
DETAILS Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first-come, first-served basis.
LINK https://www.belfercenter.org/event/when-david-challenges-goliath-insubordination-smaller-states-rising-power-status
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Nanolecture event: Global Health Impacts of Nanotechnology Law
WHEN Thursday, Dec. 5, 2019, 1 – 2 p.m.
WHERE HSPH building 1, floor 13, room 1302, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Health Sciences, Law, Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR HSPH-NIEHS Nanosafety Center
SPEAKER(S) Ilise Feitshans, Fellow, International Law of Nanotechnology; European Scientific Institute, Archamps Technopole
CONTACT INFO harvardchannano at hsph.harvard.edu
DETAILS Europe is creating methods for regulating nanotechnology which may become a prototype for science governance globally. When nanotechnology applications pose unquantified risk, several Paneuropean projects attempt to balance two competing social needs: creating a culture of innovation and discovery while protecting safety of consumers and workers and protecting environmental and human health. The European Food Safety Authority, several agencies involved in the Registration Evaluation and Assessment of Chemicals (REACh) and the European Medical Agency are examples of established areas of law creating a new system that allocate responsibly before any harm occurs rather than using retrospective tools such as enforcement penalties and litigation. Additionally, the NANORIGO (NANOtechnology Risk Governance) project has a broad mission that includes creating a Risk Governance Council for nanotechnology. The project is mandated to address: Commercial application of Safe by Design Moving from Nanosafety to Governance. This lecture describes nanotechnology’s basic laws and NANORIGO plans with a view understanding nanotechnology's impact for health systems implementing precautionary principles under law, which holds implications for European federalism and may change the face of trade law governing commerce globally.
LINK https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nano/events/nanolecture-series/next-lectures/
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Mobility Innovation Night, Transforming our Transportation Future
Thursday, December 5
3:00 PM – 8:00 PM EST
Venture Cafe Cambridge, One Broadway, Fifth Floor, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cics-mobility-innovation-night-transforming-our-transportation-future-tickets-80281894307
In partnership with CIC, save the date for Venture Cafe’s Mobility Innovation Night conference, taking place on December 5, 2019. Mobility is defined broadly as the movement of people and goods and includes innovations around autonomous vehicles, urban air mobility, vehicle electrification, urban micro-mobility, logistics, telematics, shared mobility, public transit, and other important topic areas.
Mobility Innovation Night will convene entrepreneurs, corporates, the public sector, academia and investors working to create new technologies and solutions, and to solve some of the most pressing problems centered around transportation in the Greater Boston area. Come and join the dialogue!
Full details coming soon @ https://venturecafecambridge.org/event/mobility-innovation-night-transforming-our-transportation-future/
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African Twilight: Vanishing Ceremonies of the African Continent
WHEN Thursday, Dec. 5, 2019, 4 – 6 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Center for African Studies Lounge, 3rd Floor, 1280 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Art/Design, Humanities, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Harvard Center for African Studies, Harvard Art Museums, Cooper Gallery at the Hutchins Center, Houghton Library, Peabody Museum
SPEAKER(S) Carol Beckwith, Angela Fisher
COST Free
CONTACT INFO africa at harvard,edu
DETAILS For the last forty years American born Carol Beckwith and Australian Angela Fisher have journeyed over 300,000 miles travelling through 44 countries and recording over 150 cultures on the African continent. Their recently published double volume book, African Twilight, the subject of this lecture, is the magnum opus of these two pioneering documentary photographers of African tribal cultures and ceremonies.
Their lecture will feature highlights from African Twilight, a fifteen-year study and visual homage to the vanishing traditions of the continent. Fisher and Beckwith seek out remote communities to record sacred ceremonies, celebrating Africa’s powerful art forms and boundless creativity. Their presentation will range from Maasai warrior initiations in Tanzania to the courtship rituals of the Ariaal of Kenya, from the masquerades of the spirit world in Burkina Faso to the royal rituals of the Kuba Kingdom in DR Congo.
LINK https://africa.harvard.edu/event/african-twilight-vanishing-ceremonies-african-continent
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T.L. Taylor, “Play as Transformative Work”
Thursday, December 5
5:00pm
MIT, Building E15, Tables opposite room 320, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge
Professor of Comparative Media Studies T.L. Taylor will explore the ways game live streamers are transforming their otherwise private play into public entertainment. She will focus on this new form of creative labor and offer a challenge to current models of IP and fandom, suggesting the work of professional live streamers is not easily captured by non-commercial frameworks nor simple work/play dichotomies.
T.L. Taylor is Professor of Comparative Media Studies and co-founder and Director of Research for AnyKey, an organization dedicated to supporting and developing fair and inclusive esports. She is a qualitative sociologist who has focused on internet and game studies for over two decades. Dr. Taylor’s research explores the interrelations between culture and technology in online leisure environments. Her book Raising the Stakes: E-Sports and the Professionalization of Computer Gaming (MIT Press, 2012) chronicles the rise of esports and professional computer gaming. Her book about game live streaming – Watch Me Play: Twitch and the Rise of Game Live Streaming (Princeton University Press) – is now out and is the first of its kind to chronicle this emerging media space.
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World Film Premiere: Mining the Deep Sea
Thursday, December 5
5:00pm to 7:00pm
MIT, Building 4-370, 182 Memorial Drive (Rear), Cambridge
Mining materials 15,000 feet below sea could help secure a low-carbon future -
but at what cost?
You're invited to a world-premiere screening of a film about deep-sea mining produced by John Freidah, followed by a panel discussion with experts from the film.
Watch film trailer: https://youtu.be/92JDVW0_hpU
Expert Panelists
Thomas Peacock, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, MIT
Richard Roth, Director, MIT's Materials Systems Laboratory
Mathew Alford, Physical Oceanographer, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and UC San Diego
Chris Brown, Consultant, International Seabed Authority
John Freidah, Filmmaker, MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering
Cindy Van Dover, Professor of Biological Oceanography, Duke University
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FORUM: The Avoidable War
WHEN Thursday, Dec. 5, 2019, 6 – 7:15 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, JFK Jr. Forum, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Institute of Politics, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
SPEAKER(S) Graham Allison, Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School
Jane Perlez, Joan Shorenstein Fellow; New York Times Beijing Bureau Chief
Kevin Rudd, 26th Prime Minister of Australia; President of the Asia Society Policy Institute
COST Free - no ticket required
TICKET WEB LINK https://www.facebook.com/events/2534072793377429/
CONTACT INFO benjamin_hull at hks.harvard.edu
DETAILS Former PM of Australia Kevin Rudd, in conversation with Professor Graham Allison, New York Times Beijing Bureau Chief Jane Perlez on the future of U.S.-China strategic competition and world order.
LINK https://iop.harvard.edu/forum/avoidable-war
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Friday, December 6
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Boston Climate Strike
Friday, December 6
10:30 AM – 2:30 PM
Copley Square, Boston
RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/458155358153001/
On December 6th, thousands of people will gather in Boston to strike from school and work to kick off a revolution of change that will be strong enough to fight for climate justice. Join us to stand for a Massachusetts Green New Deal and an end to this climate emergency!
#StrikeWithUs #StrikeWithUsBoston #ClimateStrike #ClimateStrikeMA
DONATE: bit.ly/strike_donate
For up to date information, check out our other social media platforms @climatestrikeMA on Instagram and Twitter!
To access all of our resources (flyers, toolkits, and more) go to linktr.ee/bostonclimatestrike!
Please contact @ClimateStrikeMA or bostonclimatestrike at gmail.com with any questions.
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Atmospheric & Environmental Chemistry Seminar
Friday, December 6
12:00 pm to 1:00 pm
Harvard, Pierce Hall 100F, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Zongbo Shi, University of Birmingham, will give a talk.
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Strike to Win Action
Friday, December 6
3 PM – 6 PM
MA statehouse, Boston
RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/1211212605756481/
Directly after the Boston Climate Strike March and Rally, Sunrise Boston will be taking action to support our youth climate strikers!! Join us on 12/6 at 3:00pm at the Statehouse to demand action on climate change and to get the GREEN NEW DEAL!!
This is going to be the biggest Sunrise Boston action ever!! We are trying to get at least 300 people to demand a GND for our generation! We will be making history and we need YOU!!!! Sign up for the action here → bit.ly/sunrisebos-stw
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TEDxMIT: Operation Earth
Friday, December 6
4 pm-9:30 pm
MIT, Stata Center
RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfKbwOvrcD5we3s10GVegdRz8V6IWKhyFFF8l8y-TQ7FfBs0A/viewform
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FORUM: A Conversation with Tarana Burke
WHEN Friday, Dec. 6, 2019, 4 – 5:15 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, JFK Jr. Forum, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Institute of Politics, Center for Public Leadership
SPEAKER(S) Tarana Burke, Founder, 'me too.'
Amb. Wendy R. Sherman, Professor of the Practice of Public Leadership; Director, Center for Public Leadership
COST Free - no ticket required
CONTACT INFO benjamin_hull at hks.harvard.edu
DETAILS The 2019 Gleitsman Activist Award recipient Tarana Burke, founder of ‘me too.’ will join Amb. Wendy Sherman in a conversation on the impact of her global fight for survivor justice and her decades-long campaign to heal individuals and communities affected by sexual violence.
LINK https://iop.harvard.edu/forum/conversation-tarana-burke
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MIT D-Lab Fall 2019 Student Showcase
Friday, December 6
5:00pm to 7:00pm
MIT D-Lab, Building N51-310, 265 Massachusetts Avenue, 3rd floor, Cambridge
Final presentations and working prototypes from students in nine fall 2019 MIT D-Lab classes! Following a welcome from D-Lab, attendees will have the opportunity to speak with student teams and view all the working prototypes on display throughout the D-Lab space! Refreshments served.
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The Social Innovation Forum's Winter Reception
Friday, December 6
5:30 PM – 7:30 PM EST
Microsoft New England Research & Development Center, 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-social-innovation-forums-winter-reception-registration-73291764641
Join us on Friday, December 6 for our 16th Annual Winter Reception!
We invite our community of investors, supporters, and portfolio organizations to join us for the formal announcement of the 2020 Social Innovators and a celebration of the achievements of our portfolio organizations!
This celebratory evening will feature cocktails and hors d'oeuvres.
We look forward to raising a glass to each of you - our incredible community of leaders, volunteers, and supporters.
Email rsvp at socialinnovationforum.org with questions.
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Blockchain in the Environmental and Sustainability Industry
Friday, December 6
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
MIT, Building E51-145, Tang Center, 70 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/Boston-Blockchain-and-Decentralized-Finance/events/266600122/
Food and drinks will be provided during the event!!!
Did you know that every dollar spent restoring degraded forests can result in $30 in economic benefit?
The upcoming seminar will focus on discussions around blockchain and crypto use cases to promote green energy, environmental, sustainability initiatives. Elion Resources Group, established in 1988, engages in Desert Ecology & Salt Chemical Engineering, Ecological Industry & Energy Recycling, and Eco-environment & Green Finance. With a total asset of 15 billion US dollars, Elion has been recognized by the Chinese government and the international society, as the “National Award of Poverty Alleviation”, “National Award for Outstanding Contribution to Land Greening” and “Global Dryland Champion”. From the desert to the city, Elion aims to realize the vision of Eco-homeland featuring green mountains and clear water through its eco-environment restoration programs and related sectors of sustainable ecological industry as well as ecological finance service.
As the new venture arm of Elion, the Treelion Foundation is delivering on a mission to create a green digital finance infrastructure powered by a safe, reliable, and scalable blockchain, where carbon footprint can be digitized and exchanged. Treelion has partnered with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), British Petroleum (BP), and the Saudi Arabian government on dessert restoration and carbon emissions reduction initiatives.
Mr. Plato K. T. Yip is the CEO of the Treelion Foundation promoting blockchain-based fintech and green financing projects and the Vice Chairman of Elion International Investment Limited under Elion Resources Group, a conglomerate with a diverse portfolio spanning from ecological restoration, to clean energy and technology, investment banking, and asset management with total assets and revenue over USD 15BN and 5BN respectively. He has extensive working relationships with international organizations, governmental agencies, financial institutions and policy banks. Mr. Yip is a seasoned investment professional working primarily in private equity, mergers and acquisitions, and managing companies in China. He has extensive domain expertise in strategic consulting and business development particularly in the space of clean energy, biotechnology, and environmental services.
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Saturday, December 7
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Sunrise Boston and 350 MA Racial and Climate Justice Training
Saturday, December 7
10 AM – 3:30 PM
BU, Stone Science Building, Room STO 453, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
RSVP at https://forms.gle/DUszJ7JgBtmgiZNp7
Topics that will be covered: How do racial justice and climate justice principles fit into our campaign for a Green New Deal? How do we campaign for racial, economic, and social justice while also working towards climate justice?
This training will be capped at 30 participants and we will be sending out confirmation emails to the people that we have space for at the training.
FOOD: Breakfast, Lunch, and Snacks will be provided
Reach out to Owen Woodcock at owengw at bu.edu with any questions / concerns
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Playing For The Planet: World Music Against Climate Change
Saturday, December 7
7:00 PM – 10:30 PM EST
Community Church of Boston, 565 Boylston Street, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/playing-for-the-planet-world-music-against-climate-change-tickets-76832775901
Cost: $15 – $20
Great Music For A Great Cause! Masters of three different world musical traditions join to benefit the fight against global climate change.
The twentieth “Playing For The Planet” benefit concert showcases master musicians from three different musical traditions, in a benefit for the environmental advocacy group http://350MA.org
Featured performers include the cross-cultural violin master Beth Bahia Cohen, the Hindustani singing of Warren Senders, and the intimate jazz improvisations of Stan Strickland & Josh Rosen.
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Sunday, December 8
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When Facts Are Not Enough: Reading Atheist Fiction
Sunday, December 8, 2019
1:30 PM to 3:30 PM
Phillips Brooks House, 1 Harvard Yard, Cambridge
Rick Heller, operations manager at the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard and author of the nonfiction book Secular Meditation, will lead a discussion of novels related to atheism and will read from his work-in-progress, a novel about a secular mindfulness teacher who is charged with murder.
Is there such a thing as an “atheist novel?” Are atheists less inclined to read novels because they prefer facts to fiction? Many or most novels ignore religion but that wouldn’t make them atheist fiction. Which novels address issues and themes of particular interest to atheists? Works by Albert Camus and Salman Rushdie surely qualify. What books would you nominate?
Join us for a discussion and sharing of the arts as part of the humanist life.
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Extinction Rebellion [XR] Ecosattvas Meetup
Sunday, December 8
4 p.m.
TBA.
RSVP at https://xrmass.org/action/xr-ecosattvas-meetup/
December 8, 4-6pm. This is the first community-wide meeting of XR Ecosattvas, XR members participating in One Earth Sangha's Ecosattva Training
If you'd like to join our group for the training, but have not yet participated in any XR MA meditator events, please email Karin (karin.L.meyers at gmail.com) for more information.
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Monday, December 9
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CS50 Fair
WHEN Monday, Dec. 9, 2019, 12 – 4 p.m.
WHERE Harvard, Richard and Susan Smith Campus Center, 1350 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR CS50
COST Free and Open to the Public
DETAILS The CS50 Fair is an epic display of CS50 students' final projects. On display will be web apps, mobile apps, and more, all made by students.
Come see friends. Come chat with alumni, engineers, and recruiters. Squeeze a CS50 stress ball. Eat popcorn and candy. Win fabulous prizes in the raffle.
Also live-streamed at: live.cs50.io.
For a look at last year's CS50 Fair, see: https://youtu.be/D0JW6pnBUdg
LINK https://cs50.harvard.edu/college/
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HCED Discussion Series with Marc Doussard
Monday, December 9
12:30pm to 2:00pm
MIT, Building 9-450, 105 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
HCED will host a discussion with Marc Doussard.
Marc Doussard's research examines urban economic development through changes to footloose and placebound industries. His book Degraded Work (University of Minnesota Press) documents the restructuring of local-serving industries and the paths to upward mobility opened and foreclosed by changing competitive practices.
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Boston New Technology HealthTech Startup Showcase #BNT108 (21+)
Monday, December 9
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM EST
Foley Hoag, LLP, 155 Seaport Boulevard, Boston
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/boston-new-technology-healthtech-startup-showcase-bnt108-21-tickets-79353310889
Cost: $0 – $99
See 6 innovative and exciting local HealthTech demos, presented by startup founders
Network with attendees from the Boston-area startup/tech community
Get your free headshot photo (non-intrusively watermarked) from The Boston Headshot!
Enjoy dinner with beer, wine and more
Each company presents an overview and demonstration of their product within 5 minutes and discusses questions with the audience.
Free tickets for startups and Investment Firms! See ticket page for details.
Register at least 2 days prior to save 50%. Only $15!
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Lightning Talks, Demos, and Magic Leap
Monday, December 9, 2019
6:00 PM to 9:30 PM
Venture Cafe, Cambridge
RSVP at https://www.meetup.com/Boston-Virtual-Reality/events/265871753/
Cost: $6
Come join the local XR community as we share our best work and ideas. We'll have a series of lighting talks (10 minutes each), demos, and pizza!
MAGIC LEAP
Stuart Trafford (Magic Leap) will demo and discuss the Magic Leap AR headset, a truly amazing tool.
GESTURALLY INTERACTIVE MUSIC
Gregory Osborne (Berklee) will discuss the new possibilities of using your body and in particular hand gestures to direct both visual and audio systems, opening up the possibility for gesturally interactive music videos.
MIXED-MEDIA LIVE PERFORMANCE IN VR
Professor Lori Landay (Berklee) will talk about real-time performance combining live and recorded assets in actual and virtual spaces with co-located and remote participants using the virtual reality headset Oculus Quest.
VR RACING SIMULATORS
Robert Moore (VR Motion Labs) will talk about VR racing simulators for sim racing and race driver training and race preparation. I’m currently working with the Porsche Club Of America on their eDE (electronic Driver Education) program. I do this in my Plymouth MA based 3DOF motion simulator, in VR with a Pro level instructor who is in his simulator in New York. We schedule shared private iRacing sessions where our 2 cars on on the same track and I can follow him, he can follow me or I can jump in his car or he can jump in mine. We’re discussing the track, the race line, the braking points, etc. as he brings me up to speed on the track. It’s a new initiative by the PCA and it is a very effective way to bring new drivers up to speed on the track with other drivers.
MICROTASKING IN VR
Casey Armstrong will talk about what could happen, hypothetically, if microtasking platforms came to VR in the future and why he thinks developers should start experimenting now. What is microtasking? Microtasking is work done in bite-sized chunks on platforms like Mechanical Turk, Swagbucks, and Fold.it. Microtasks can come in any form. However, in their most popular forms, microtasks range from labeling-and-cleaning data for data-science, to writing short product-descriptions, to answering surveys, to playing video games that train AI.
WRAPVR
John Joseph will talk about wrapVR; a lightweight toolkit that abstracts the specifics of VR SDK / hardware interaction in Unity, making it easier for developers to start creating interactions and behaviors in VR.
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The Science & Cooking Public Lecture Series
Guest Speaker: Jose Andrés, Think Food Group, minibar, Jaleo
Jose Andrés (@chefjoseandres), Think Food Group, minibar, Jaleo
Monday, December 9
7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Harvard, Science Center, Hall C, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge
The Science & Cooking Public Lecture Series, organized by Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), is based on the Harvard course “Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to the Science of Soft Matter;” however, public lectures do not replicate course content.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Seating for all lectures is first come, first seated
Each presentation will begin with a 15-minute lecture about the scientific topics from that week’s class by a faculty member from the Harvard course
The lectures are free and open to the public
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2.009 final prototype launch
Monday, December 9
7:30pm to 10:30pm
MIT, Building W16: Kresge Auditorium, 48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
RSVP at http://009ignite.com/notify
8 teams launch their new product prototypes in the annual final presentation event
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Tuesday, December 10
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Systems Thinking Webinar: Atanu Mukherjee, “Enabling a gasification-based sustainable industrial economy for India”
Tuesday, December 10
12:00pm to 1:00pm
Webinar
RSVP at http://sdm.mit.edu/news-and-events/webinars/
Join us for a free webinar on Tuesday, December 10 at 12:00 PM EST with Atanu Mukherjee, SDM alumnus and president of the engineering consulting firm M. N. Dastur & Co. (P) Ltd.
About the talk: The need for cheap and sustainable energy will continue to expand as industrial and economic growth accelerates. The challenge is to architect energy systems and feedstocks for a future industrial economy which is sustainable, economically viable, socially integrative and future-proof while leveraging the resource endowments of the nation. While renewables are a good carbon neutral energy complement, a growing industrial economy will need cost-effective and clean primary or base load energy. Similarly, as India is completely dependent on imported crude and crude based feedstocks for its industry and the economy, crude volatility and geo-political disruptions can severely destabilize the nation. The country has limited gas or oil reserves but has the 5th largest coal reserves in the world. By gasifying the vast reserves of Indian high ash coal and by cost effectively capturing the carbon using carbon capture technology, use and sequestration, India can enable an entire gasification value chain based on syn-gas and clean coal technology. The synthesis of such an energy and industrial feedstock system requires systemic architectural considerations on technology options, sustainability, economics, trade, finance, logistics and – importantly – government policy.
About the Speaker: Atanu Mukherjee is the President of M. N. Dastur & Co. (P) Ltd, an engineering consulting firm. He advises the energy, materials and commodity industry globally in the areas of strategy, technology, operations and finance, working with governments, national and international institutions, private equity firms, and investors. He also serves as visiting faculty at the Indian Institute of Management. Prior to his work in the energy and commodity industry, Atanu was in senior leadership positions at Microsoft and Digital Equipment Corporation. He is an alumnus of the System Design and Management program and holds a graduate degree from the National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Bombay.
About the series: The MIT SDM Systems Thinking Webinar Series, sponsored by the System Design & Management (SDM) program, features research conducted by SDM faculty, alumni, students, and industry partners. The series is designed to disseminate information on how to employ systems thinking to address engineering, management, and socio-political components of complex challenges. Recordings and slides from prior SDM webinars can be accessed on our website: http://sdm.mit.edu/news-and-events/webinars/
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Books at Baker
WHEN Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019, 3:30 – 5 p.m.
WHERE Harvard Business School, Aldrich Hall 210, Soldiers Field Road, Allston
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Baker Library and HBS Working Knowledge
SPEAKER(S) William R. Kerr, The D’Arbeloff Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School
COST Free
CONTACT INFO For more information, please contact Dina Gerdeman at: dgerdeman at hbs.edu
DETAILS William R. Kerr, The Gift of Global Talent: How Migration Shapes Business, Economy & Society
In the global race for talent, the United States has managed to compete with other countries for the best and brightest, attracting people who have transformed U.S. science and engineering, reshaped the economy, and influenced society at large. Yet while America is getting caught up in thorny debates about immigration policy, countries like China and India are catching up. In "The Gift of Global Talent," William R. Kerr takes the reader on America’s bumpy ride, from a joyous celebration at the Nobel Prize ceremony to angry airport protests against the Trump administration’s travel ban. The book explains the controversies of the H-1B visa used by firms like Google and Apple, delves into the superstar firms that global talent flows produce, and explores how the United States can become even more competitive in attracting tomorrow’s talent.
LINK https://www.library.hbs.edu/Articles/Books-Baker
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SystemsThatLearn at CSAIL Lecture Series: Using Technology to Track and Trace Live Goods from Supplier to Retailer
Tuesday, December 10
4:00pm to 5:00pm
MIT, Building 32-D463 , Star Conference Room, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
This talk covers work being done in the Retail and Consumer Products industries where there is a need to track and trace live goods including plants and food. The technical aspects of how to implement this will be covered including where Internet of Things (IoT) sensors are leveraged to provide location, status, and state to know previous, current, and future provenance of products materials, and consumer goods. Blockchain, sensors, and analytics will be covered in specifically how they are used in various examples.
Speaker: Martin Wolfe, IBM
Martin Wolfe is currently the Global CTO for Retail, Consumer Products, and Agribusiness at IBM. He is a Distinguished Engineer with backgrounds in systems engineering, software development, cloud computing, Blockchain technology and leads the definition of architecture standards in Consumer focused industries.
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Sports Rehabilitation – Game Changing Innovations
Tuesday, December 10
6:00pm to 9:00pm
Cambridge Innovation Center, 5th Floor Havana Room One Broadway, Cambridge
Winning in This Growth Marketplace
Learn from a panel of experts in the sports rehabilitation space about how they started their companies and how they funded, grew, and protected their innovations.
The goal of the sports rehabilitation industry is to provide innovations that allow people to achieve their athletic goals by preventing injuries, maintaining health, and alleviating pain during exercise. Sports rehabilitation technology provides relief to professional and amateur athletes suffering from pain, injury, or illness involving the musculoskeletal system.
Hear from our panel of experts:
Moderator
Mark Solomon, Principal, Hamilton Brook Smith Reynolds – Protecting Rehabilitative Innovations Through Patent and IP Strategy
Speakers
Michael Emmerling, CEO-Founder-Inventor, K-Neesio LLC, NuNee– An Innovative Solution to Relieve Knee Pain
Samuel A. Miller, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Boston Biomotion - Advanced Movement Training to Maximize Sport Performance
Michael Salerno, Co-founder, Hatchleaf– Connecting the Life Science Innovation Ecosystem to Accelerate Technology Commercialization
David Santopietro, Founder and CEO, EvenKeel- Advanced Orthotics System to Support Foot Injuries
Darrell Wong, Counsel, Hamilton Brook Smith Reynolds
Agenda
6:00-6:30pm - Registration
6:30-8:00pm - Panel discussion
8:00-9:00pm - Networking with refreshments in the Venture Cafe
Mark Solomon, Principal, Hamilton Brook Smith Reynolds – Protecting Rehabilitative Innovations Through Patent and IP Strategy
Michael Emmerling, CEO-Founder-Inventor, K-Neesio LLC, NuNee– An Innovative Solution to Relieve Knee Pain
Samuel A. Miller, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Boston Biomotion – Advanced Movement Training to Maximize Sport Performance
Michael Salerno, Co-founder, Hatchleaf– Connecting the Life Science Innovation Ecosystem to Accelerate Technology Commercialization
David Santopietro, Founder and CEO, EvenKeel- Advanced Orthotics System to Support Foot Injuries
Darrell Wong, Counsel, Hamilton Brook Smith Reynolds
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SOLUTIONS with/in/sight: Catalytic Combinations for Prostate Cancer and Beyond
Tuesday, December 10
7:00pm to 8:00pm
Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, 76-156, Auditorium, 500 Main Street, Cambridge
Illuminating the science behind an ongoing clinical trial, Professor Michael Yaffe and his clinical and biotech collaborators tell the story of how a synergistic drug combination discovered at the Koch Institute revived an all but forgotten drug class and shows great promise for combatting resistant tumors. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s David Einstein shares clinical perspectives from the trial, and Trovagene’s Mark Erlander talks about the Plk-1 inhibitor that proved crucial for the introduction of this combination into prostate cancer. Achieving more together than they ever could on their own, this dynamic team embodies the powerful synergy they are bringing to patients.
Presenters:
Michael B. Yaffe. MD, PhD, Director, MIT Center for Precision Cancer Medicine
David H. Koch Professor of Science, Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering
Jesse Patterson, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Yaffe Lab, Koch Institute
David Einstein, MD, Medical Oncologist, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Instructor, Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Mark Erlander, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer, Trovagene Oncology
Check-in opens at 6:45pm. Coffee & dessert will follow the presentations.
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Environmental Voter Project's Spring Internship Program is now accepting applications at https://www.environmentalvoter.org/jobs/intern
Can you help us spread the word by forwarding this email to anybody who might be interested in joining us this winter/spring?
Located in our Boston office, our Spring Internship Program is great for anybody who's interested in learning more about environmental politics, cutting-edge voter turnout techniques, and data analytics.
All interested parties are encouraged to apply.
Click here for more information and details on how to apply.
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Science for the People seeks proposals for articles, art, and other content for the upcoming issue, “A People’s Green New Deal” (Volume 23, Number 2, Summer 2020). Deadline for submissions: Friday, January 10, 2020.
More information at https://magazine.scienceforthepeople.org/submissions/
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Living With Heat - Urban Land Institute report on expected climate impact in Boston
https://boston.uli.org/about/impact/
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Solar bills on Beacon Hill: The Climate Minute Podcast
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-cs87v-b6dbac
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Envision Cambridge citywide plan
https://www.cambridgema.gov/CDD/News/2019/5/~/media/A0547DC0640E4ABD86B519CA6FEEFF38.ashx
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Climate Resilience Workbook
https://sustainablebuildingsinitiative.org/toolkits/climate-resilience-guidelines/climate-resilience-workbook
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Sustainable Business Network Local Green Guide
SBN is excited to announce the soft launch of its new Local Green Guide, Massachusetts' premier Green Business Directory!
To view the directory please visit: http://www.localgreenguide.org
To find out how how your business can be listed on the website or for sponsorship opportunities please contact Adritha at adritha at sbnboston.org
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Boston Food System
"The Boston Food System [listserv] provides a forum to post announcements of events, employment opportunities, internships, programs, lectures, and other activities as well as related articles or other publications of a non-commercial nature covering the area's food system - food, nutrition, farming, education, etc. - that take place or focus on or around Greater Boston (broadly delineated)."
The Boston area is one of the most active nationwide in terms of food system activities - projects, services, and events connected to food, farming, nutrition - and often connected to education, public health, environment, arts, social services and other arenas. Hundreds of organizations and enterprises cover our area, but what is going on week-to-week is not always well publicized.
Hence, the new Boston Food System listserv, as the place to let everyone know about these activities. Specifically:
Use of the BFS list will begin soon, once we get a decent base of subscribers. Clarification of what is appropriate to announce and other posting guidelines will be provided as well.
It's easy to subscribe right now at https://elist.tufts.edu/wws/subscribe/bfs
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The Boston Network for International Development (BNID) maintains a website (BNID.org) that serves as a clearing-house for information on organizations, events, and jobs related to international development in the Boston area. BNID has played an important auxiliary role in fostering international development activities in the Boston area, as witnessed by the expanding content of the site and a significant growth in the number of users.
The website contains:
A calendar of Boston area events and volunteer opportunities related to International Development - http://www.bnid.org/events
A jobs board that includes both internships and full time positions related to International Development that is updated daily - http://www.bnid.org/jobs
A directory and descriptions of more than 250 Boston-area organizations - http://www.bnid.org/organizations
Also, please sign up for our weekly newsletter (we promise only one email per week) to get the most up-to-date information on new job and internship opportunities -www.bnid.org/sign-up
The website is completely free for students and our goal is to help connect students who are interested in international development with many of the worthwhile organizations in the area.
Please feel free to email our organization at info at bnid.org if you have any questions!
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Boston Maker Spaces - 41 (up from 27 in 2016) and counting: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zGHnt9r2pQx8.kfw9evrHsKjA&hl=en
Solidarity Network Economy: https://ussolidarityeconomy.wordpress.com
Bostonsmart.com's Guide to Boston: http://www.bostonsmarts.com/BostonGuide/
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Links to events at over 50 colleges and universities at Hubevents: http://hubevents.blogspot.com
Thanks to
MIT Events: http://calendar.mit.edu
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
Boston Science Lectures: https://sites.google.com/view/bostonsciencelectures/home
Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/
Eventbrite: http://www.eventbrite.com/
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
Adam Gaffin’s Universal Hub: https://www.universalhub.com/
Extinction Rebellion: https://xrmass.org/action/
Sunrise Movement: https://www.facebook.com/SunriseBoston/events/
Mission-Based Massachusetts is an online discussion group for people who are interested in nonprofit, philanthropic, educational, community-based, grassroots, and other mission-based organizations in the Bay State. This is a moderated, flame-free email list that is open to anyone who is interested in the topic and willing to adhere to the principles of civil discourse. To subscribe email
mbm-SUBSCRIBE at missionbasedmassachusetts.net
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