MIT

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Tuesday, December 14, 2010
The Response to the Gulf Oil Spill and National Energy Security
Speaker: Juliette Kayyem, Assistant Secretary of DHS for Intergovernmental Affairs
Time: 4:15p–5:30p
Location: 66-110
MITE Seminar Series sponsored by IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates

As the Assistant Secretary of DHS for Intergovernmental Affairs, Juliette Kayyem played a major role in coordinating federal, state and local efforts to respond to the Gulf oil spill, working with the White House, the Departments of Interior, Commerce, Agriculture, Labor, and Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency, Small Business Administration, and other government agencies with existing resources and programs in place to assist the response in the Gulf region. She will speak about the effort. An esteemed security and counterterrorism expert, Ms. Kayyem will also address the broader issue of energy security as a national concern.

About the Speaker

Ms. Kayyem has a unique understanding of the state and local homeland security needs, having previously served as Massachusetts' first Undersecretary for Homeland Security and the Governor's Homeland Security Advisor. She was responsible for developing statewide policies on homeland security, with a focus on all hazards strategic planning, prevention, and response; information sharing; interoperability; and energy security.

Prior to joining Governor Deval Patrick's administration, Ms. Kayyem served as Executive Director for Research at the Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, and as a lecturer in public policy at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School for Government, teaching classes on law, homeland security and national security.


Web site: mit.edu/mitei
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Initiative
For more information, contact:
Jameson Twomey
617-324-2408
jtwomey@mit.edu

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Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Foreclosures, House Prices, and the Real Economy
Speaker: Amir Sufi (Chicago Booth)
Time: 4:00p–5:30p
Location: E62-276
Foreclosures, House Prices, and the Real Economy

Web site: http://econ-www.mit.edu/files/6295
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT/Sloan Finance Seminar
For more information, contact:
Theresa Benevento
theresa@mit.edu

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Wednesday, December 15, 2010
MIT China Forum presents China's Economy: What's Next?
Speaker: Richard B. Freeman, Jun Fu, Shan Li, Qi Bin
Time: 4:30p–6:00p
Location: 32-141
In August 2010, China formally overtook Japan as the second largest economy in the world. While developed economies are still mired in low growth and high unemployment, China's economy has soared to new heights since 2008. However, there are signs of uncertainty and unease as inflation rises in China and its real estate market experiences one of history's biggest bubbles.

So what's next for China's economy? A distinguished panel of experts on Chinese economy, as well as business practitioners, will sort through these conflicting perspectives.

Panelists: Richard B. Freeman, Ascherman Chair, Harvard University Department of Economics, Jun Fu, Dean of the School of Government, Peking University, Shan Li, Vice Chairman, UBS Investment Asia, Qi Bin, Director-General, China Securities Regulatory Commission Research Center.

Reception and welcome begins at 4:30 p.m. Panel discussion is at 5:00 p.m.

Web site: global.mit.edu/index.php/initiatives/china/china-forum
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Greater China Strategy Group
For more information, contact:
Jenny Liu
(617) 258-9846
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Thursday, December 16, 2010

Expanding Computing Power to Support Research Needs while being environmentally sensitive and energy efficient

Speaker: James Cuff

Time: 7:00p–9:00p

Location: E51-345

IEEE/ACM Joint Seminar Series
Exploring the edge of computing technology.

In the past 4.5 years, Harvard University's research computing resources have grown from 200 to over 12,000 processing cores, putting significant strain on data center resources and the wide area networking infrastructure available on the Cambridge campus. I will discuss the tactics for building both the organizational and physical infrastructure which now supports over 2,000 researchers in fields as diverse as astrophysical modeling of the early universe, high speed genomic sequencing whose data output more than doubles each year, the search for the Higgs boson and advanced economic and financial modeling. This research involves large amounts of data and algorithms which may not scale well. (Some of the algorithms are NP complete.) Economies can be achieved by sharing a physical infrastructure operated by a team of research computing associates and staff. In this context the research computing group have deployed approx 2PB of storage and 40TF of GPGPU computing to support and complement traditional 12,000 core x86_64 infiniband connected systems. I will also explain the now obvious need for Harvard's active involvement in the new multi institutional Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center.

James Cuff is Director of Research Computing and Chief Technology Architect at Harvard. He was appointed Director of Research Computing for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 2007, previously directing Research Computing for the Life Sciences Division.


Web site:http://www.ewh.ieee.org/r1/boston/computer/cufftalk1.html
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): ACM & IEEE/CS
For more information, contact:
Dorothy Curtis
617-253-0541
dcurtis@csail.mit.edu

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Harvard

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Confronting Climate Change: Implications for City-Dwellers in Poor Countries
WHEN
Mon., Dec. 13, 2010, 4:30 – 6 p.m.
WHERE
9 Bow Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION
Environmental Sciences, Health Sciences, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR
Center for Population and Development Studies
SPEAKER(S)
Mark Montgomery, professor of economics, Stony Brook University and senior associate, Population Council

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[TUESDAY] BERKMAN LUNCHEON SERIES on THE UNSTABLE PLATFORMS AND UNEASY PEERS OF BRAVE NEW WORLD MUSIC
==================================================================================
12/14/10, 12:30pm ET, Berkman Center Conference Room @ 23 Everett St., Cambridge, MA
RSVP is required for those attending in person to Amar Ashar (ashar@cyber.law.harvard.edu)
This event will be webcast live

Topic: "The Unstable Platforms and Uneasy Peers of Brave New World Music"
Guests: Wayne Marshall, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT

Driven by the proliferation of accessible music and video-production software and the connective possibilities of the social web, public culture is being remade in the wake of user-generated content, including the ever curious category of world music. So-called platforms such as YouTube or Jamglue play host to new genres, dance steps, and remixes from around the world, incubating local scenes and circulating aspiring artists' productions to peers near and far. In contrast to its creation by a consortium of British music-industry players in the 1980s, a multinational network of grassroots producers, DJs, and bloggers are renegotiating and redefining the freighted but inclusive term. But while this bottom-up revision of world music can be seen as a valuable development, queasy connections with its earlier incarnation, and the power relations and ideas about difference it embodied, also persist.

About Wayne

Wayne Marshall is an ethnomusicologist focusing on the musical and cultural production of the Caribbean and the Americas, and their circulation in the wider world, with particular attention to digital technologies. While a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT, he's writing a book on music, networked media, and transnational youth culture. He recently co-edited and contributed to Reggaeton (Duke University Press 2009) and has published in journals such as Popular Music and Callaloo while writing for popular outlets like The Wire and the Boston Phoenix. He holds a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has taught courses at Brandeis, Brown, University of Chicago, and Harvard Extension School. He is also an active DJ and maintains and runs the blog and website, www.wayneandwax.com.

This event will be webcast live; for more information and a complete description, see the event web page: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2010/12/marshall

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Tuesday, December 14

2:30-4pm

Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building, HKS

Richard Nelson, Columbia University
“What Kind of Public R and D Support Makes Sense?”

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ARPA-E Visit: Energy Research Seminar
December 15, 2010 - 10:15am - 11:45am
lisa_matthews@harvard.edu
617-495-8883
Maxwell Dworkin Building 33 Oxford St. Cambridge, MA

Eric Toone, Jonathan Burbaum, David Shum, Nick Cizek , ARPA-E

In Spring of 2009 President Obama announced $400M in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding for a new agency – the Advanced Research Projects Agency, or ARPA-E, an Agency created in 2007 through the America COMPETES Act.

ARPA-E was created to fund high risk, high reward transformational research to reduce energy related emissions, reduce imports of energy from foreign sources, improve energy efficiency in all economic sectors, and ensure American technological lead in advanced energy technologies.

In only 15 months the agency has awarded over $350M in support of 121 projects across the energy landscape, including renewable energy, biofuels, building efficiency, carbon capture, and the electrification of transportation.

This lecture will describe the history and mission of ARPA-E, how the Agency and its projects differ from other branches of the Department of Energy, and highlight some of the revolutionary technologies currently supported by ARPA-E.

* 10:15 a.m.
Coffee Break - Maxwell Dworkin Lobby outside G125
* 10:30 –11:45 a.m.
Seminar by Dr.’s Toone, Burbaum and Shum with Questions and Answers - Maxwell Dworkin G125

Speaker Biography: Dr. Eric Toone is the Deputy Director for Technology, responsible for oversight of all ARPA-E Technology and directs the ARPA-E’s Electrofuels program; Dr. Jonathan Burbaum’s focus at ARPA-E is in advanced biotechnology applications for biofuels and the production of biologically-based chemical feedstocks; Dr. David Shum’s current focus at ARPA-E includes: 1) demand response and distributed generation, and 2) industrial energy efficiency through novel processes and materials.

Host: Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

There will also be a tea for students/postdocs with ARPA-E Fellow, Nick Cizek in Maxwell Dworkin 119 from 4:00-5:00 p.m.

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Questionable Warriors: How Masculinity Affects the Waging of War
WHEN
Thu., Dec. 16, 2010, 12:15 – 2 p.m.
WHERE
Belfer Center Library, Littauer 369, Harvard Kennedy School
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION
Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR
International Security Program
SPEAKER(S)
Maya Eichler, research fellow, International Security Program/Women and Public Policy Program
CONTACT INFO
susan_lynch@harvard.edu
LINK
http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/events/5355/questionable_warriors.html

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Other

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Boston Area Microcredit Coalition Meet Up with Fonkoze & Oikocredit
Monday, December 13, 2010 from 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM (ET)
Boston, MA

Event Details
Are you interested in learning how to reduce poverty with sustainable investments, and sharing this with your community?
Please join us at our pilot informational meeting with Oikocredit Executive Director Terry Provance, and other like minded folk. You will learn more about Oikocredit, and its mission, and how microcredit has helped elevate global citizens out of poverty. Oikocredit is one of the world’s largest sources of private funding to the microfinance sector.
Oikocredit provides credit and equity to small businesses through microfinance institutions across the developing world and directly to trade cooperatives, fair trade organizations, and small to medium sized enterprises. Oikocredit has raised over $500 million dollars, reached 17 million people through their MFI partners, and have conducted 842 projects in places like Haiti after the earthquake, in conjunction with MFIs like Fonkoze and also with organizations like the Grameen Foundation to measure MFI's and their borrower's progress out of poverty.
For more information on Oikocredit, please visit www.oikocredit.org
Register at: http://microcreditcoalition.eventbrite.com/
Date: Monday, December 13th
Time: 6-9PM
Venue: 230 Dodge Hall, Northeastern University

For additional inquiries contact Michelle Volberg, Program Manager at mvolberg@oikocredit.org or the Social Enterprise Institute at sei@neu.edu

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Tuesday Dec. 14, from 6 - 7:30 pm, there is a meeting of the Building and Grounds subcommittee of the Cambridge School Committee and the main agenda item is to hear about our sustainability initiatives. The meeting is open to the public, as always, and will be in the School Committee conference room, which is housed for this year at 15 Upton Street, b/w Magazine and Pleasant, just a few blocks from the Central Square T.

If you have ideas to share, or questions, feel free to email School Committeeperson Patty Nolan (PattyNolan@aol.com) who will pass them on to Kristin. Or you can contact Kristin yourself -- Kvonhoffmann@cpsd.us is her email address.

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State Representative Denise Provost and Somerville Climate Action present

DIRT! THE MOVIE

followed by a discussion

Tuesday, Dec 14th, 7pm
Third Life Studio, 33 Union Square
(on the section of Somerville Ave. leading into Union Sq.
Do not use Mapquest. For directions see www.thirdlifestudio.com)

Drought, climate change, and even war are all directly related to the way we are treating dirt.

DIRT! The Movie – narrated by Jaime Lee Curtis – brings to life the environmental, economic, social and political impact that the soil has. It shares the stories of experts from all over the world who study and are able to harness the beauty and power of a respectful and mutually beneficial relationship with soil.

“The best remedy for disconnecting people from the natural world is connecting them to it again.”

www.DirtTheMovie.org- www.SomervilleClimateAction.org - www.TransitionSomerville.org

Free admission! For directions (better than Google’s) see www.ThirdLifeStudio.com

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SMB21 - Social Media for Social Change - The Mobility Edition
Thursday, December 16, 2010 from 8:30 AM - 11:30 AM (ET)
Watertown, MA

Free

Event Details
Boston's Social Media Breakfast is organized by Bob Collins and brings together social media experts, business leaders, marketers and entrepreneurs for a morning of networking, sharing of ideas and discovery.

SMB21: Social Media for Social Change - The Mobility Edition
With the holiday season upon us – it’s important to give thanks for what we have and recognize those in need. As such – our next Breakfast gathering will focus on how Social Media is being effectively used for Social Change - supporting nonprofits, charities and building communities to aid organizations and social movements.
And a key element in driving awareness and support for cause based movements is the market and cultural proliferation of mobile devices. They are quickly becoming Humankind's primary connectivity tool - for discovery, connecting, and supporting one another and causes.
SMB21 will feature presentations by some of the most advanced thinkers in cause based social marketing - bringing a fresh variety of first hand experiences and mobility driven case studies. Joining them will be Steve Krom from AT&T, who will talk about how wireless carriers are planning the next generation of network technology to make sure that innovators can do more and more with mobility to help promote and support important causes.

The Presenters
• Scott Henderson, Managing Director, CauseShift

• Laura Fitton, CEO/Founder oneforty.com

• Joe Waters, Director, Cause Marketing for Boston Medical Center
• Steve Krom, VP/General Manager for New England at AT&T

As part of the breakfast - we are holding a drive to support Cell Phones for Soldiers so please bring your old cell phones and tech gadgets. Cell Phones for Soldiers, started in 2004 by Norwell, MA teens Brittany Bergquist and her brother Robbie, uses funds from recycled cell phones to buy prepaid phone cards for active duty military members – to help connect them with their families.

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MassChallenge Holiday Party
Thursday, December 16, 2010 from 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM (ET)
Boston, MA


Event Details

Join the MassChallenge team, entrepreneurs, partners and sponsors in celebrating our first successful year, which could not have been made possible without all of you.

Feel free to bring spouses and friends, just make sure they pre-register.

Food and drinks will be provided

When: December 16, 2010 7:30pm-10:30pm
Where: MassChallenge Offices, 14th Floor
One Marina Park Drive
Boston, MA 02210

MassChallenge and the Microsoft New England Research and Development Center are co-hosting this event.

Come for Dart Capitalize from 6:30-7:30pm
Rob Toof of ProctorCam will be pitching

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Showing Thursday, Dec 16, in Cambridge:

*NOTE: Come early - 6:30pm* - for a special holiday screening of
/"*Special Space Denied: Bethlehem and The Wall*/" (20 min)

Baraka (/blessing/)

Shot in breathtaking 70mm in 24 countries on six continents, */BARAKA/*
is a transcendent global tour that explores the sights and sounds of the
human condition like nothing you've ever seen or felt before. These are
the wonders of a world without words, viewed through man and nature's
own prisms of symmetry, savagery, harmony and chaos.

From Nepal to Kenya, from Australia to Brazil, people try to cope with
the changes that have altered their landscape, crowding them together
and speeding up daily life. The film shows us these alienated people,
but also images of traditions--whirling dervishes and Tibetan
monks--that offer different, peaceful ways of existence.

/?A masterpiece. Dialogue free, it's brilliant in its simplicity; a
series of slow-moving shots mesmerise the audience into a meditation on
life on Earth/." ~ Sam Toy, Empire

/"...An awesome cinematic world tour...../" ~Stephen Holden, New York Times

(DVDs will be available for purchase)

*When/where*
6:30 pm, doors open for refreshments, extra
*7pm, film starts promptly*
243 Broadway, Cambridge - corner of Broadway and Windsor,
entrance on Windsor
*rule19.org/videos *

Please join us for a stimulating night out; bring your friends!
free film, free refreshments, & free door prizes.
[donations are accepted]

"/You can't legislate good will - that comes through education./" ~
Malcolm X

*UPandOUT film series - see rule19.org/videos *

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Common Security Clubs: Building Resilient Communities

Time
Thursday, December 16 · 7:00pm - 8:30pm
Location
Nate Smith House 155 Lamartine Street Jamaica Plain, MA
Created By
Jamaica Plain Forum
More Info
How do we prepare for economic and ecological change? In response to our insecure times, congregations and communities are forming “Common Security Clubs” to build resilience and strengthen community ties. This J.P. Forum will be an overview of how the clubs work ¬and an opportunity to join or help start one in your community.

Common Security Clubs are small groups where individuals find connection, the information they need, and avenues to a new kind of security based on mutual aid and support. Sometimes called “Resilience Circles” or “Economic Security Support Groups,” clubs meet for six initial sessions to learn, support each other, and take action in order to create a new economy that serves everyone in harmony with the planet.

Join us for an interactive evening about the Common Security Clubs. Through presentations, discussions and activities we will learn about the current economic and ecological moment, realize that we are all in it together, and look at ways to take action as a community.

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New England Electricity Restructuring Roundtable
December 17, 2010 - 9:00am - 12:30pm
http://www.raabassociates.org/main/roundtable.asp?sel=103
Foley Hoag LLP 155 Seaport Boulevard, 13th Floor Boston, MA 02210

"Patrick Administration's Second Term Energy Vision" & "Changes to New England's Forward Capacity Market"

Fresh from Governor Patrick's recent election victory, Massachusetts Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary, Ian Bowles will lay out the Administration's energy vision and plans for its 2nd term. Assuming the Patrick Administration isn't planning on resting on its first-term laurels, expect to hear about important potential developments for Massachusetts with implications for all of New England.

Our panel for the day will explore a timely topic--New England's controversial Forward Capacity Market (FCM). The objective of FCM is to purchase sufficient capacity (as opposed to energy) for reliable system operation for future years at competitive prices, where all resources, both new and existing, and supply- and demand-side, can participate. Although the FCM has been in place for several years, major debate continues around how much to pay for capacity resources (a multi-billion dollar issue), and other important FCM design features. The most recent round of stakeholder briefs on the future of FCM were filed at FERC in September, and a FERC order may be issued prior to our Roundtable. Joining us to discuss FCM are several leading stakeholder experts, including:

Commissioner Paul Roberti, Rhode Island PUC

Bob Ethier, Chief Economist, ISO-New England

Peter Fuller, Director, Market/Regulatory Affairs, NRG Energy
Brian Forshaw, Director of Power Supply, CT Municipal Energy Cooperative (and NEPOOL Participants Committee Chair)

Please Note: the FCM panel will go first, followed by Secretary Bowles, who will present at around 11:15 --- after our special holiday networking break.

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Upcoming

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MIT Independent Activities Period
January 3 - 28
http://web.mit.edu/iap/

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Resource

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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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Artisan Asylum http://artisansasylum.com/

Sprout & Co: Community Driven Investigations http://thesprouts.org/studios

Greater Boston Solidarity Economy Mapping Project http://www.transformationcentral.org/solidarity/mapping/mapping.html
a project by Wellesley College students that invites participation

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Links to events at 60 colleges and universities at Hubevents http://hubevents.blogspot.com

Thanks to

Fred Hapgood's Selected Lectures on Science and Engineering in the
Boston Area http://fhapgood.fastmail.fm/site02.html

Boston Area Computer User Groups http://www.bugc.org/

http://www.mitenergyclub.org/calendar/mit_events_template

http://www.environment.harvard.edu/events/calendar/

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