MIT
Monday, April 05, 2010
Transportation@MIT: Reliable Route Planning with Evdokia Nikolova
Speaker: Evdokia Nikolova, EECS, MIT
Time: 12:00p–1:00p
Location: 33-116
The evolution of the different modes of transport has undeniably led to a tremendous improvement in the productivity and comfort of our society and bettered our standard of living. Yet it has brought about significant new challenges, which are seemingly reversing that trend. Although we can traverse far longer distances in an hour's time than half a century ago, we have moved further away from work, our commutes are physically and psychologically exacerbated by heavy congestion, traffic accidents have become more severe and deadly, there is more pollution. In this talk, I will address a fundamental problem in transportation: reliable route planning.
How do we get to the airport on time? Ideally we would like to take the shortest path, but in the presence of uncertain traffic what does that mean? One natural objective is to choose the path that maximizes our probability of arriving on time. We develop algorithms that bridge stochastic, nonconvex, and combinatorial optimization to solve a class of reliable route planning problems, and show how they generalize to other situations. We also ask the question: What happens when drivers have a general idea of how long it will take them to reach their destination, and while driving, ?look out of the window? and make myopic choices for their route. We show that this natural behavior can lead to vastly suboptimal route plans which exacerbate congestion, and we contrast it with the optimal routing strategy.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Transportation@MIT
For more information, contact:
Sally Chapman
sallyc@mit.edu
Monday, April 05, 2010
Profiting From Regulation: An Event Study of the European Carbon Market (Joint with Energy & Environmental Economics Workshop)
Speaker: Erin Mansur (Yale)
Time: 2:30p–4:00p
Location: E52-244
Profiting From Regulation: An Event Study of the European Carbon Market
Web site: http://econ-www.mit.edu/files/5424
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): IO Workshop (Sponsored by Analysis Group)
For more information, contact:
Theresa Benevento
theresa@mit.edu
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Community-based Energy Innovations
Time: 12:00p–2:30p
Location: 9-450B
Presentations by students:
Jacquelyn Dadakis
Eric Mackres
Joshua Sklarsky
Shiva Prakash
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): EPP
For more information, contact:
Nina Tamburello
617.253.1509
epprequest@mit.edu
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Transportation@MIT presents: Chris Zegras on "Transportation, the Built Environment and Green House Gas Emissions in Developing Cities."
Speaker: Chris Zegras, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Time: 4:00p–5:00p
Location: 3-270
Transportation@MIT Seminar Series
This semester, the Transportation@MIT seminar series will cover a variety of transportation topics including: Propulsion, Vehicles, Sources of Transportation Energy, Environmental Impacts and Climate Change, Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Urban Transportation, Automation, Transportation Networks, Dynamic System Control, and Behavioral and Economic Sciences.
Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide have reached their highest levels since before the industrial revolution. And, yet, under current trends, greenhouse gas emissions will only increase. Much of this forecast growth will occur in urbanizing areas of the developing world. After all, the 21st Century will be an urban century. Already over one-half the planet's population lives in urban areas and almost all net global population growth this Century will likely be in the world's developing cities. Thus, mitigating the climate change risk will require a strong focus on the urbanizing developing world.
In this presentation I examine the potential for altering the patterns of urban growth in developing cities as a way to mitigate transportation's contribution to the climate change risk. I first outline a basic framework for understanding the factors contributing to transportation greenhouse gas emissions, including the potential influence of the built environment - that is, the form and design of the cities we build. I then examine evidence of the relationship between urban passenger transportation energy use/greenhouse gas emissions and the built environment in two very different developing contexts: Chile and China. I end with some discussion of the implications of this evidence, including within the context of the current global climate regime.
Web site: http://transportation.mit.edu/events.php
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Transportation@MIT
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Frank DiSalvo: Materials Challenges in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells
Speaker: Frank DiSalvo, Cornell University
Time: 4:15p–5:45p
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.
Fuel cells are the only technology that theoretically can convert chemical energy to electrical energy at nearly 100% efficiency. This compares to about 35 % efficient for the average power plant and perhaps 25-30 % for transportation vehicles.
Yet many barriers remain to realizing the full promise of fuel cell technology, especially for automotive applications. The main barrier is that the materials uses in the heart of the fuel cell (the electrodes and membranes) are not up to the job. They are too expensive and have poor durability. Finally relatively few fuels can be directly used in the cells.
This presentation will focus on the challenge to find better electrode catalysts and catalyst supports. Catalysts are easily poisoned and/or have low activity. If nearly ideal catalysts can be found, then fuel cell technology has a much better chance to transform the way we use energy and to greatly increase the efficiency of the process. Current catalyst supports are based on carbon blacks, but corrode too rapidly.
In this seminar, we will discuss the research at the Energy Materials Center at Cornell (EMC2) that is directed at addressing the above challenges.
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Initiative
For more information, contact:
Jameson Twomey
4-2408
jtwomey@mit.edu
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Oil Markets and Politics: Why the Left and the Right Both Get It Wrong
Speaker: Robert Vitalis, Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania
Time: 4:30p–6:30p
Location: E51-095
Emile Bustani Middle East Seminar
A recent history of US policy, "Imagining the Middle East," starts from the premise that longstanding US interests in control of or access to oil is to be contrasted with those dimensions of policy that are more properly understood as culturally constituted through "a framework of meaning." In fact, the idea of access to oil is no less culturally constituted. It takes a great deal of work to make it seem both tangible and commonsensical. Its materiality is a mirage.
Robert Vitalis is a professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania. The London Guardian named his last book, "America's Kingdom: Mythmaking on the Saudi Oil Frontier," a book of the year in 2006. His next book, "The End of Empire in American Political Science," moves away from the Middle East to explore the unwritten history of race and empire in American international relations theory and its critical African-American internationalist tradition.
The Bustani Middle East Seminar is organized under the auspices of the MIT Center for International Studies, which conducts research on contemporary international issues and provides an opportunity for faculty and students to share perspectives and exchange views. Each year the Bustani Seminar invites scholars, journalists, consultants, and other experts from the Middle East, Europe, and the United States to MIT to present recent research findings on contemporary politics, society and culture, and economic and technological development in the Middle East.
Web site:http://web.mit.edu/shass/temp/bustani/bustani_seminar.htm
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies
For more information, contact:
Pardis Parsa
617.252.1888
pardisp@mit.edu
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
MITEI presents Christof Ruhl, the Chief Economist at BP
Speaker: Christof Ruhl, the Chief Economist at BP
Time: 10:30a–11:30a
Location: E19-319
The subject of the talk will be Global Oil & Gas Markets.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Initiative
For more information, contact:
John Parsons
jparsons@mit.edu
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Making the Case for Arts and Culture: Why Focus on the Arts When Job Creation and Affordable Housing Are So Pressing?
Speaker: Susan Silberberg-Robinson, Emily Axelrod, Maria Rosario Jackson
Time: 12:30p–2:00p
Location: 9-450
DUSP Speaker Series
Weekly Lecture Series of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning. Light lunch served.
For a number of years, arts advocates have been looking at the impact of arts and culture in communities. From regional economic impact studies to a more focused look at impacts on social networking, there are a number of research initiatives underway across the country. This session presents information from some of those initiatives and also explores anecdotal evidence of community impact from a variety of projects, including research at the Urban Institute, insights from the newly created MetLife Innovative Space Awards, and anecdotes from almost two decades of experience at The Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence.
Susan Silberberg-Robinson is a Lecturer in Urban Design and Planning in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT. Her planning consulting practice largely centers on arts and culture and also on waterfront planning in the City of Boston. She is the Associate Director of the MetLife Innovative Space Awards which seeks to identify innovative ways organizations provide affordable artist space and engage with communities.
Emily Axelrod has been Director of the Rudy Bruner Award since 1996. Prior to this, she worked in a variety of planning positions in both the private and public sectors.
Maria Rosario Jackson is a senior research associate and director of the Urban Institute's Culture, Creativity and Communities Program.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Department of Urban Studies and Planning
For more information, contact:
Ezra Glenn
617-253-2024
eglenn@mit.edu
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
MIT Food and Ag Collaborative - Poster Session
Time: 5:45p–8:00p
Location: 32-124
Come see the projects MIT students have been working on in the field of food and agriculture! We are presenting this work in conjunction with the Legatum Center's poster session, so please stop by and learn more about how MIT students are transforming food systems.
Web site: http://food-ag.mit.edu
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Agriculture Forum
For more information, contact:
Elizabeth McVay Greene
elizabeth.greene@sloan.mit.edu
Thursday, April 08, 2010
Post-Disaster Response + DUSP: a student-faculty discussion
Speaker: Cherie Abbanat, Lorlene Hoyt, Amy Stitely, Phil Thompson, Larry Vale
Time: 5:30p–7:00p
Location: 9-450
Post-Disaster Response + DUSP: a student-faculty discussion
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Friday, April 09, 2010
Seminar on Environmental and Agricultural History
Speaker: Anne Secord, University of Cambridge
Time: 2:30p–4:30p
Location: E51-095
"Observing Nature at the Edges: British Naturalist on the Shore during the Napoleonic Wars"
During twenty two years of military action against France the British developed near-obsessive habits of watchfulness. Fears of infiltration by spies and invasion by the French combined with worries about deceptions by fellow citizens to produce regimes of vigilance and surveillance. This watchfulness extended to the study of nature, especially of organisms such as seaweeds, which did not form readily perceived natural families. British marine botanists quelled taxonomic anxiety by adopting a cautious empiricism based on scrutiny; they ascertained ?true appearances? through both self-surveillance and the continual appraisal of other observers.
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/history/www/nande/modTimes.html
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): History Office, STS
For more information, contact:
Margot Collet
253-4965
history-info@mit.edu
Friday, April 09, 2010
Clean Energy and International Development
Mathias Craig, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Blue Energy Group (MIT, MS - Civil and Environmental Engineering)
Time: 3:00p–5:00p
Location: 4-153
How can MIT graduates foster meaningful change after life in Cambridge, MA? Ask Mathias Craig, an MIT alumnus who founded Blue Energy Group. Mathias' sustainable energy organization brings jobs and hybrid wind-solar technology to remote communities in Nicaragua.
Co-sponsored by Department of Urban Studies and Planning - Environmental Policy and Planning Group; MIT Renewable Energy Projects in Action; and the MIT Wind Energy Group
Web site: http://www.blueenergygroup.org/spip.php?rubrique59
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): EPP
For more information, contact:
Kathy Araujo
kmaraujo@MIT.EDU
Friday, April 09, 2010
International Development Night @ the MIT Museum
Time: 6:00p–8:00p
Location: N51, MIT Museum
Showcasing activities, programs, and ventures pursuing international development innovations in clean energy, future cities, safe water, healthcare, microfinance,village utilities, mobiles, humanitarian innovations, and much more!
Free and Open to the public
Hosted in collaboration with the 16th Annual
International Development Conference at
Harvard's Kennedy School of Government
http://www.harvard-idc.com/
Web site: web.mit.edu/idn/events
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Graduate Student Life Grants, The Technology and Culture Forum at MIT, International Development Initiative
For more information, contact:
Laura Sampath
617-253-7052
idn-contact@mit.edu
Harvard
Monday, April 5, 2010
12:30 - 1:30 PM
"The Public Health Emergency Response to the Recent Earthquake in Haiti"
Jean-Rénald Clérismé, PhD
Member and Advisor to the Office of President René Préval
Republic of Haiti
Introduction by Dean Julio Frenk.
Q&A to follow.
A light lunch will be provided.
Harvard School of Public Health
Kresge Building, Room G1
677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA
Prather Lecture: E.O. Wilson on "Biodiversity and the Future of Biology"
WHEN
Mon., Apr. 5, 2010, 6 p.m.
WHERE
Sanders Theatre, Memorial Hall, 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge MA
TYPE OF EVENT
Environmental Sciences, Presentation/Lecture, Science
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR
The Departments of Molecular & Cellular Biology and Organismic & Evolutionary Biology at Harvard
COST
Regular: $10 (4 ticket limit per person); Students: $5; Harvard ID Holders: Free (limit of 2 tickets per person while supplies last)
TICKET INFO
617.496.2222
http://www.ofa.fas.harvard.edu/cal/details.php?ID=40839
Tuesday, April 6:
4:00 PM.
"The Superorganism."
EO Wilson
Location: Harvard Science Center
The study of insect societies is today one of the fastest growing major branches of evolutionary biology. It has revealed a great deal about the general principles of the origin and evolution of advanced social behavior, and has shed light on the enormous ecological success of the social insects (with ants and termites making up over half of the insect biomass around the world). The evolution from organism to superorganism has been the major transition between levels of biological organization, easiest to penetrate and understand.
Free, advance tickets not required.
For more information on the Prather Lecture Series, please call 617.495.5891
Wednesday, April 7
4:00 PM.
"Consilience."
EO Wilson
Location: Science Center
The boundary between science on one side and the humanities and humanistic social sciences on the other is not an intrinsic epistemological divide but a broad borderland of previously poorly understood causal relationships. The borderland is now being explored, and offers increasing opportunities for collaboration across three great branches of learning. A definition of human nature will be offered and examples from the borderland will be used to illustrate it.
Free, advance tickets not required.
For more information on the Prather Lecture Series, please call 617.495.5891
It's Easy Being Green: Prospects for the Green Party in Germany and Europe
WHEN
Wed., Apr. 7, 2010, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
WHERE
Lower level conference room, 27 Kirkland St., 02138
TYPE OF EVENT
Presentation/Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR
Center for European Studies
http://www.ces.fas.harvard.edu/
Bigger than Carnegie, Faster than Starbucks: Business Lessons from a Global Nonprofit Leader
WHEN
Thu., Apr. 8, 2010, 4 – 5 p.m.
WHERE
Spangler Auditorium, Harvard Business School, 280 Soldiers Field Road
TYPE OF EVENT
Business, Presentation/Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR
Harvard Business School
SPEAKER(S)
John Wood, founder and executive chairman, Room to Read
COST
Free and open to the public ($10 suggested donation for non-students)
TICKET INFO
Registration required
CONTACT INFO
sviv@mba2011.hbs.edu
https://www.roomtoread.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=647
International Diffusion of Microfinance
WHEN
Thu., Apr. 8, 2010, 5 – 6:30 p.m.
WHERE
Room 226, Suite 200-North, 124 Mt. Auburn, Cambridge MA
TYPE OF EVENT
Business, Presentation/Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR
Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation
SPEAKER(S)
Guy Stuart
COST
Free
CONTACT INFO
christina_marchand@harvard.edu
NOTE
In the past 30 years, microfinance has evolved from small experiments in lending to the poor in Latin America and Bangladesh to a global financial services industry with access to global capital markets. In this seminar, Guy Stuart will argue that the diffusion of microfinance across the globe is the tale of two dynamics: one in which credit-led microfinance easily diffused throughout the developing world "beneath the radar" of regulators, and another in which savings-based microfinance has struggled in many countries to take hold because of the lack of an appropriate enabling environment, most prominently government regulations.
A light dinner will be served.
SPEAKER(S)
Claus Offe, visiting professor of government, Harvard University
COST
Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO
beerman@fas.harvard.edu
NOTE
Reception to follow in the Atrium.
Saturday, April 9
16th Annual International Development Conference
http://www.harvard-idc.com/
16th Annual International Development Conference
The 2010 Harvard International Development Conference will be held April 9th-10th, 2010 at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Check back for future announcements of keynote speakers, panels, and registration details.
The Harvard International Development Conference is a student-run event providing a world-class interdisciplinary forum on global sustainable development for practitioners and academics. Each year the conference attracts over 400 participants from every corner of the world. Serving as a forum to foster dialogue among various stakeholders, including senior level policy makers, academics, and practitioners, the Conference proposes multidisciplinary strategies for economic, sociopolitical, cultural, and institutional changes.
Opening Keynote I:
Friday, April 9th, 2010, 4:30-6PM
Free and Open to the Public
Ms. Rebeca Grynspan,
UN Under-Secretary-General and Associate Administrator of UNDP
Tufts
Monday, April 5
6PM
"Inside the Activist's Study" featuring prominent journalist Amy Goodman and
environmentalist Bill McKibben.
Tufts, Barnum Hall 008.
The event is free, open to the public and no tickets are required.
"We're very excited that Amy Goodman will be returning to Tufts for our second "Inside the Activist's Study," and that our other guest is Bill McKibben. Bill's work on environmental issues is more important than ever given the pressing issues of climate change, and we know that the dialogue between one of American's best and most progressive interviewers and one of the country's leading environmental educators will yield important information in a lively format," said Communications and Media Studies Director Julie Dobrow.
The first "Inside the Activist's Study" event featuring Amy and David Goodman was at capacity and well received by students and community members alike. Modeled after the "Inside the Actor's Studio" TV show, this new series brings together prominent journalists, actors, filmmakers, and a wide-array of activist leaders to discuss the use of media to promote social change. The event features in-depth interviews and audience participation.
An American environmentalist and writer, Bill McKibben is the founder of 350.org http://350.org, an international climate campaign. Bill frequently writes about global warming, alternative energy, and the risks associated with human genetic engineering. Beginning in the summer of 2006, he led the organization of the largest demonstrations against global warming in American history. His books include /The End of Nature; The Age of Missing Information;The Comforting Whirlwind: God, Job and the Scale of Creation; A Year of Living Strenuously; Enough; Wandering Home, Deep Economy: the Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future. Bill is a frequent contributor to various magazines including The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, Orion Magazine, Mother Jones, The New York Review of Books, Granta, Rolling Stone, and Outside. He is also a board member and
contributor to Grist Magazine.
Amy Goodman is the host and executive producer of Democracy Now!, a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program airing on over 800 TV and radio stations in North America. David Goodman is a contributing writer for Mother Jones and co-author of Static: Government Liars, Media Cheerleaders and the People Who Fight Back.
For more information about this event or the Communications and Media
Studies program at Tufts University, please visit
http://ase.tufts.edu/cms/. For information on the Peace and Justice
Studies program, please visit http://pjs.tufts.edu/. For more
information about the Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service,
please visit http://activecitizen.tufts.edu
Contact: Julie Dobrow, (617) 627-4744, Dale Bryan, (617) 627-2216
Thursday, April 08, 2010
CIERP presents Climate Change and Economic Development
Speaker: Dr. Rosina Bierbaum
Time: 12:00p–2:00p
Location: Alumnae Lounge, 15 South Campus Road on the Tufts Meford/Sommerville Campus
The Energy, Climate, and Innovation Program in Fletcher's Center for International Environment and Natural Resource Policy and the International Development Group Present:
Climate Change and Economic Development
Featuring distinguished guest speaker:
Dr. Rosina Bierbaum, Dean of the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources and Environment and Co-Director of the World Bank's World Development Report 2010
Dr. Bierbaum has served as Dean of the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources and Environment since October 2001. In April 2009, President Obama named her to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). She was selected in April 2008 to author the recently released World Development Report 2010. This report features a different topic every year, with the 2010 edition focusing on helping states to think about how sustainability, mitigation, adaptation to climate change, and development can be achieved simultaneously.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Campus Events, CIERP
For more information, contact:
Mieke Wansem
Mieke.Wansem@tufts.edu
Other
April 9, 2010
12 noon - 2:00 p.m.
Patrick Bond on South Africa, the World Bank, and Climate Justice
encuentro 5, 33 Harrison Ave, 5th floor, Boston, MA
South Africa now has its 4th post-Apartheid president... But the country is more unequal than ever! It is also under consideration for a World Bank loan to "modernize" it ailing electrical power generation and distribution infrastructure. Revamping its grid would normally be a decisive opportunity to set a new course, redress inequalities and develop a green strategy. But activist-intellectual Patrick Bond warns that the opposite seems likely with the Bank loan. It will strengthen the private sector and sharpen the gap between rich and poor: urban residents prepay their electricity at 4 times the rate of large transnational corporations. Further, the proposed loan will finance the world's 4th largest coal-fired plant and raise rates on working people.
On April 8, 2010, the World Bank will make its decision. Patrick Bond will reflect on the outcome on Friday, April 9, 2010, from noon to
2:00 p.m. at encuentro 5 (in Boston's Chinatown, see below for more
information).
Also invited to the conversation is Tufts University professor, William Moomaw who consulted with the World Bank and who is in support of the loan.
This Bank critic meets Bank supporter discussion allows for a reasoned engagement of ideas.
For Patrick Bond's biography, see:
http://www.nu.ac.za/ccs/default.asp?10,24,8,55
For William Moomaw's biography, see: http://fletcher.tufts.edu/faculty/Moomaw/
This event is hosted at encuentro 5, 33 Harrison Ave, 5th floor,
Boston, MA 02111. It is within blocks of the Orange, Red and Green
line stops (Chinatown, Downtown Crossing and Boylston). See
http://www.encuentro5.org for more directions. Also check website for
updates before coming to the event.
Down:2:Earth Boston - April 9,10,11
Hynes Convention Center, Boston, MA
A variety of events including talks by James Hansen and Mayim Bialik, workshops on everything from the future of energy to butter-making and special features such as our Local Bites event and a Water Sculpture by Christine Destrempes.
http://d2eboston.com/
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