Speaker: Manish Bharadwaj
Time: 3:00p–5:00p
Location: 1-277
The Fellows Series
Fellows of The Dalai Lama Center for Ethics & Transformative Values at MIT share their work.
Predicting the success of any new enterprise is difficult, but most social entrepreneurs face an added challenge: their lives bear little resemblance to the people they serve. This can significantly impede their understanding of what matters most to their customer, her priorities and concerns, resources, the constraints imposed by her environment, and the interplay between agents. Bridging this gap, and not technology per se, is arguably the chief determinant of success. While there is no substitute for gaining a deeper understanding of the community, in part by immersing oneself in it, this talk will draw lessons from past successes and failures to help us avoid common traps, and improve our chances of meaningfully serving our communities.
(Acknowledgment: The title myth is courtesy Kentaro Toyama, Microsoft Research India.)
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values
For more information, contact:
The Dalai Lama Center for Ethics & Transformative Values
4-6030
info@thecenter.mit.edu
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Susan Tierney: Why is Modernizing Our Energy Technologies So Darn Hard, But Worth the Effort?
Speaker: Susan Tierney, Managing Principal, Analysis Group
Time: 4:15p–5:30p
Location: 66-110
MITEI Seminar Series
A year-long series of seminars given by leaders in the energy field sponsored by the MIT Energy Initiative.
So much work is underway to advance energy technologies to make them more efficient, have a lower carbon footprint, more accessible to communities, and so forth. And yet, it is so hard to put new energy technologies into place in domestic (and many international) markets. Why is that? Tierney discusses the array of factors arising out of national energy policy, regulatory approaches and practices, energy and other politics, investment settings, and so forth, that create tenacious barriers to the introduction of advanced energy technologies into existing systems. She also will address what is happening to overcome those obstacles and why more is needed.
Sue Tierney, a Managing Principal at Analysis Group in Boston, is an expert on energy economics, regulation and policy. Her previous positions included Assistant Secretary for Policy at the U.S. Department of Energy, Massachusetts Secretary of Environmental Affairs, Commissioner at the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities Chairman of the Board of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, and executive director of the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Council. She co-chaired the DOE Agency Review Team for the Obama Presidential Transition Team. Currently, she co-chairs the National Commission on Energy Policy, chairs the board of the Energy Foundation, chairs the Advisory Council of NREL; and is a director of World Resources Institute, Clean Air Task Force, Clean Air - Cool Planet, Evergreen Solar, and Ze-gen.
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Initiative
For more information, contact:
Jameson Twomey
4-2408
jtwomey@mit.edu
Thursday, February 04, 2010
LIDS Special Seminar Series: Future Challenges in Energy Systems and Networks
Speaker: Richard O'Neill (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission)
Time: 2:00p–3:00p
Location: 56-154
LIDS Special Seminar Series
at
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): LIDS Events Calendar
For more information, contact:
Jennifer Donovan
617-253-2142
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Old-fashioned Futures and Re-fashionable Media
Speaker: Joel Burges and Wayne Marshall
Time: 5:00p–7:00p
Location: E14-633
CMS Colloquium Series
Joel Burges and Wayne Marshall, MIT's Mellon Fellows in the Humanities (2009-11), will contribute to the rethinking of media studies at MIT by taking up the shared metaphor of fashion?the fashionable, the old-fashioned, the re-fashioned. Burges will talk about the turn away from the digital in contemporary cinema, particularly the case of Fantastic Mr. Fox, in an attempt to think about the uneven development of media over time. Marshall will discuss how popular but privatized platforms like Facebook and YouTube, pop culture fashion?and the negotiable refashionability of both?present crucial challenges to the study of media today.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Comparative Media Studies
For more information, contact:
Andrew Whitacre
617.324.0490
cms@mit.edu
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Petroleum 102: Reservoir Modeling
Speaker: Professor Ruben Juanes
Time: 5:30p–7:00p
Location: TBA
Professor Ruben Juanes, ARCO Assistant Professor in Energy Studies in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, will present an introduction to petroleum reservoir simulation. This talk is part of the Petroleum 102 lecture series of the Oil & Gas Subcommunity of the MIT Energy Club.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Club
For more information, contact:
Francisco Flores
fflores@mit.edu
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Energy Discussions: Demand Response - Managing Peak Electricity Demand
Speaker: Dan Livengood
Time: 6:00p–7:00p
Location: 26-204
A well-known challenge facing system operators on the electric grid is being able to generate enough megawatts to meet peak electricity demand. As the peak electricity demand grows, the traditional way to continue to meet the peak is to build more power plants. Instead of building more generation, an alternative strategy is to slow or prevent the growth of the peak electricity demand via demand side management. One of the many demand-side strategies for managing peak electricity demand is demand response, which targets electricity reductions during the peak hours via responses from all types of consumers. Some programs focus on securing large reductions of electricity usage from commercial and industrial consumers when called upon by the system operator. Other strategies include implementing time-varying pricing for all consumers, including residential consumers. We will discuss the pros and cons of these and other demand response strategies and the tradeoffs facing the different stakeholders when implementing these strategies as a means of producing ?negawatts? instead of megawatts during the peak hours of electricity demand.
Please prepare for the discussion by reading the articles provided on the event website. Refreshments will be served.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Club
For more information, contact:
Rebecca Walsh Dell
rwdell(at)mit.edu
Speaker: Paul Krugman
Time: 4:15p–5:15p
Location: 32-123
Paul Krugman PhD '77, Nobel Laureate, and columnist for the New York Times, will speak on the current economic crisis and related topics in his talk titled "What have we learned, if anything?". Professor Krugman is an esteemed writer and economist, famous for his self-avowed liberal perspective. A reception will follow.
Open to: MIT-only
Cost: 0
Tickets: N/A
Sponsor(s): Undergraduate Economics Association
For more information, contact:
Gary King
617-253-0951
uea-officers@mit.edu
Friday, February 05, 2010
Building an Ethical Economy: Theology & the Marketplace
Time: 5:00p–9:00p
Location: W32-141
February 5 5pm-9pm
February 6 9am-4pm
* Theology & Economics: Two Different Worlds?
* Is Capitalism a Belief System
* What is Wealth?
* What Do We Owe the Future?
Video keynote addresses by Archbishop Rowan Williams, ethicist Kathryn Tanner, and economist Sir Partha Dasgupta. On-site reflection groups to deepen learning and prepare for action. Local experts to respond to keynote addresses, answer questions, and participate in conversation. Advice and insight on organizing for justice from leaders of Boston Faith and Justice Network and Mass. Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice.
Advanced registration required.
To register: Christina English for registration details: cenglish@mit.edu
Info also at http://web.mit.edu/tac
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): The Technology and Culture Forum at MIT, Boston Faith and Justice Network, Episcopal Divinity School, the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, Life Together: The Young Adult Internship Programs of the Diocese of MA, and Mass. Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice
For more information, contact:
Christina English
617-253-4101
cenglish@mit.edu
Harvard
Climate Change & the Media Series
"The Public Divide Over Climate Change: Scientists, Skeptics and the Media."
Thanks to Fred Hapgood's Boston Lectures on Science and Engineering list
http://fhapgood.fastmail.fm/site02.html
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